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i

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

OP

SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART

^■^/^ A-3~p

THE

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

LITERATURE, AND ART.

JANUARY TO JUNE, 1830.

LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY,

NEW BURLINGTON-STREET.

MDCCCXXX.

LONDON :

Printed by William Clowes,

Stamford-street.

<^?;-

:iAi. - ,.^.

CONTENTS.

Page
An Experimental Inquiry into the Physiological Effects of Oxygen

and other Gases upon the Animal System* By S. D. Broughton,

F.R.S., F.G.S., &c., &c. . . . . .1

Notice of a Submarine Forest in Largo Bay, in the Frith of Forth.
By the Rev. Dr. Fleming . . . . .21

On the " Cystic Oxide" Calculus ; and on the sensible, mechanical,
and chemical Properties of the Urine in the Diathesis. By
Robert Venables, M.B., St. Mary Hall, Oxford, &c. . 30

On the Coal-field of Sutherland. By J. Mac Culloch, M.D.,
F.R.S., &c., &c. . . . . . .40

Observations on Opium and its Tests. By Andrew Ure, M.D.,
F.R.S.,&c. . . . . . . .56

Memoir on the Geology of the Shore of the Severn, in the Parish of
Awre, Gloucestershire. By the Rev. C. P. N. Wilton, M.A., &c. 64

On the Decay of Timber, especially of Oak ; with an account of
some rudimentary Experiments, projected as a Test, whereby to
compute its probable Duration. By G. T. Burnett, Esq. . 73

Microscopic Illustrations of a few new, popular, and diverting Living
Objects, &c., &c., {reviewed) , . . ,86

On Thorina. By Professor Berzelius . . .88

On the AstacillsB of Cordiner, a Series of Crustaceous Animals.
By the Rev. John Fleming, D.D., F.R.S.E. . . 104

Fragments on Egyptian Literature . . . • M ^

Effects of Animal Charcoal on Solutions. By Thomas Graham,
A.M., F.R.S.E., &c. . . . . .120

Observations on the Mullets of the Coast of Guiana, and the Grey
Mullet of the British Coast ; with Incidental Remarks on the Air-
bladder and Stomach in Fishes. By Dr. J, Hancock, Cor. Mem.
of the Zool. Soc, &c., &c ... . . -.^25

A Description of Commander Marshall's new mode of Mounting
and Working Ships' Guns, {reviewed) .... 140

On Indigo. By Andrew Ure, M.D., F.RS., &c. . . 160

On the Velocity of Sound, and Variation of Temperature and Pres-
sure in the Atmosphere. By John Herapath • .167

Proceedings of the Royal Institution . . . .176

;iv

CONTENTS,

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

I. Mechanical Science.

Page

1 Transparent Watch 191

2 On the Elastic Force of Vapour

at high Temperatures ib,

3 On the Motion of Currents in

Liquids 194

4 On the Expansive Force of

Freezing Water ib.

5 New Hygroscope 195

Page

6 Adhesion of Metals 196

7 Effect of Solar Light upon

Magnets ib,

8 Non-interference of different

Electric Currents 197

9 Heated Air used in Iron Fur-

naces 19s

10 Preservation gf Corn in Siloes 199

II. ChemicAl Science.

Page

1 Preparation of Bromine and its

Hydrate. — Hydrate of Bro-
mine 199

2 Detection of Iodine 200

3 Preparation of Hydriodic Ether ib.

4 Chloride of Phosphorus and

Sulphur ib.

5 On the Effect of Ammonical

Gas upon Heated Metals .... ib.

6 Flviid in the Cavities of Rock

Salt 202

7 On the Formation of Steel by

■ means of Silica 203

8 Analyses of various Cast Irons

and Steels ib.

9 On Artificial Crystals of Oxide

of Iron 204

10 M. Becqnerel on Metallic Sul-

phuretSjIodites, and Bromides 205

Page

11 Preparation of Pure Oxide of

Cobalt 203

12 Properties of Cobalt ib.

13 Preparation and ' Properties of

the Bi-iodide of Mercury. ... ib.

14 On a new Compound of Mer-

cury 209

15 Reduction of Nitrate of Silver. 210

16 On some Properties of Silver. . ib.

17 Purple Precipitate of Silver... 211

18 On the Action of Alkalies on

Organic Bodies ib.

19 Preparation of Formic Acid, . ib.

20 Pelletier on a new Vogeto-alkali ib.

21 Buccina: new principle in Box-

wood 212

22 On certain Double Compounds

of the Muriates of the Vegeto»
alkalis ib.

III. Natural History.

Page

1 Method of obtaining the Skele-

tons of small Fishes 213

2 Physiological Phenomenon pro-

duced by Electricity. , 214

3 Ossified Brain 215

4 New Medicinal Substance. ... 216

5 Population of Wales ib.

6 Use of the ClJorides of Lime

and Soda in cases of Plague, ib.

Page

7 Fecundity of the \\\^r 218

8 Use of Sulphate of Soda instead

of Salt for Sheep and Cattle ib.

9 Alimentary Tubercle of Van

Diemen's Land ib,

10 Effects of Li^ht on Vegetation ib,

1 1 Luminous Points in the Hori-

zon 219

CONTENTS.

Page.
On some Points connected with the Analysis and Structure of the

Greek Tongue. By William Sankey, A.M., of the University

of Dublin, and Extraor. Mem. of the Roy. Med. Soc. of Edinb. 221

Some Remarks on the Reciprocal Action of Indigo and the Fixed
Oils. By Charles H. Weston, Esq. . . . 243

Commentary on a Paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society for 1829, p. 9, entitled " A Description of a Mi-
croscopic Doublet, by W. H. Wollaston, M.D., F.R.S., &c." By
C. R. Goring, M.D., &c. . . . . 248

On Proper Names . . . . . , 270

Remarks on the Composition of the Fin Rays, and certain other
Parts in the Anatomy of Fishes. By Dr. J. Hancock, Corr.
Memb. of the Zool. Soc, &c. &c. ... 287

On the Systems of Numerical Signs used by different Nations, and
on the Origin of the Expression of Value by Position in the In-
dian Numbers. By Alexander von Humboldt . 300

Remarks on Snake-Poisons and their Remedies, by Dr. J. Han-
cock, Corr. Memb. Zool. Soc, &c &c. . . . 330

Observations on the Relations which exist between the Force, Con-
struction, and Sailing Qualities of Ships of the Line , 336

Fragments on Egyptian Literature . . . . 349

Illustrations of the Cetetherae, including the Loripeda, Semipeda,
and Pinnipeda, or Loripeds, Semipeds, and Pinnipeds : being the
arrangement of the Seals, Dugongs, Whales, and their Allies,
indicated in Outline, by Gilbert T. Burnett,' Esq. . 355

Illustrations of the Herpornitherae ; or the Arrangement of the
Ornithorhynchus and Echidna, indicated in Outline . 362

Letter on the Philosophy of System . . 368

Supplementary Observations on Opium and its Tests. By Andrew
Ure, M.D., F.R.S., &c . . . . . 373

Proceedings at the Friday Evening Meetings of the Members of the
Royal Institution . • . . . 375

VI

CONTENTS.

MISCELLiVNEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

I.— Mechanical Science.

Page

1. Dr. Mitchell's Method of

working Caoutchouc 407

2. Force of Draught of Car-
riages »&•

3. Strength of Wine and other
Botties 408

Page

4. On the Optical Influence of
two coloured Objects on each
other 409

5. Alloy for the Construction of
Pumps and Cocks 410

II. — Chemical Science.

Page

1. New Method of preparing
Iodic Acid 410

2. On Chloride of Iodine .... 411

3. On fuming Nitric Acid —
Hyponitrous Acid, &c 412

4. Decomposition of Water by
Heat and Metals ib.

5. On Mellitic Acid — Carbon,
and Oxygen 413

6. Decomposition of Carbonic

Acid by Metals 414

7. Decrepitating Common Salt

— Condensation of Gas in

it ib.

8. lodates of Potassa. Chlo-
riodate of Potassa, &c. Bin-
iodateof Potassa 415

Tri-iodate of Potassa ib.

Chloriodate of Potassa .... 416
lodate of Soda ib.

P.««
9. Detection of Baryta or
Strontia when present with
Lime ib.

1 0. Magnesiiun. Metal of Mag-

nesia 417

11. New Metal Thorium, and
new Earth Thorina ib.

12. Sulphuret of Zinc 419

13. Pure Oxide of Cobalt ib.

14. Preparation of pure Oxide

of Nickel 420

15. Preparation of Sugar from

Starch 421

16. Estimation of the Vegeto-

Alkali in Peruvian Bark, . ib.

17. Taste of Sulphate of

Quinia 422

18. Phosphate of Quinia ib.

19. Sertuerner's supposed new

Alkali, Chinioidia ib.

CONTENTS.

VU

20. Mutual action of Iodic Acid
and Morphia ib.

21. On crystallized Acetic Acid 423

22. Pollen of Cedar ib.

23. Production of Formic Acid 424

24. On a new Acid contained in

the Urine of Herbivorous
Animals ib.

25. On the Decomposition of

Urea and Uric Acid, at
high Temperatures ....... 426

26. Bromide of Carbon 429

27. Anhydrous Subcarbonate of
Ammonia 430

28. Manufacture of Bicarbonate

of Soda ib.

29. Separation of Strontia from
Baryta 431

30. Sulphate of Potash and
Copper «i.

31. Preparation of Ciiuiabarin

the humid way ib.

32. Action of Platina on Silver. 432

III.— Natural History.

Page

1. Proportion between the Ner-

vous System and other parts 432

2. Sense of Touch ib.

3. Paralysis of one half the
Body without loss of Motion ib.

4. Spontaneous Combustion of
both Hands 433

5. Use of Belladona in cases

of Frontal Neuralgia ..... 434

6. Communication of Hydro-
phobia 435

7. On the Developement and

Growth of Cantharides. . . . 436

8. Effect of Light on Plants . . 437

P«go

9. On the size of the Pear and
other Fruits ib.

10. On the Structure of the
Cellular Tissue of the Pith
and Bark of the Cereus
Peruvianus, and the Exist-
ence therein of Prismatic
Crystals of Oxalate of Lime 438

11. Russian Diamond Mines... 439

12. On the Nature of Earths
which, without cultivation
or manure, are more or less
favourable to the Nourish-
ment and Growth of Plants 440

TO OUR READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

THE Managers of the Royal Institution having determined
to publish a Quarterly Scientific Journal, more immedi-
ately under their own direction and superintendence^ the labours
and responsibility of the Editor of the present Journal cease
and conclude with this Number.

We are sony we cannot make the arrangement in regard to incomplete
Papers, which a Correspondent suggests.

Just published, in 2 thick Vols. 8vo., price 30*.

A MANUAL of CHEMISTRY, Practical and Theoretical, con-
taining an account of all Recent Investigations and Discoveries. By W. T.
Brande, F.R.S. Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, &c. &c. New
Edition, considerably enlarged and improved, with numerous Plates, Wood-Cuts,
Diagrams, &c.

TO OUR READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

Several papers have been received, but are necessarily postponed to
our next Number.

We regret that the Appendix to Dr. Ure's paper on Opium reached us
too late for insertion in its proper place ; it shall appear (in the pre-
sent volume) in our July Number.

Want of time has prevented our compliance with Mr. Herapath s
request.

F. R. S. is informed, that an excellent abstract of the papers read to
the Royal Society is given weekly in the Literary Gazette.

The letter of Aquarius remains for consideration.

Mr. BRANDE'S MANUAL OF CHEMISTRY WILL BE
PUBLISHED EARLY THIS MONTH.

ERRATA IN THE JOURNAL of SCIENCE for JUNE, 182a.

Page 346, line 1, for Henton read Hinton.
*' 346, " 3, /or Theynsham read Heynsham,
" 346, " 12, for Kenig read Konig.
" 346, '• 14, for Perbee read Purbec.

THE

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

OF

SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART.

An Experimental Inquiry info the Physiological Effects of
Oxygen and other Gases upon the Animal System. By
S. D. Broughton, F.R.S., F.G.S., Member of the Royal
College of Surgeons, &c. &c.

Physiologists have long known that the compound of oxygen
and nitrogen, constituting the atmosphere of our globe, is the
only gaseous matter capable of supporting animal life, or of
imparting health and vigour to the constitution. . It appears,
also, from the experimental researches instituted at different
periods, that oxygen, in its pure state, is unfit for any length-
ened degree of respiration ; although it be so essentially neces-
sary to the vital functions, that it should always form a certain
portion of the air breathed by animals.

The stream of blood, transmitted from the lungs to every
part of the body, derives its scarlet colour from the absorption
of oxygen during the pulmonic circulation ; and it is only in
this state of the blood that the animal functions can be main-
tained and life preserved. A few waves of this fluid, which
have passed round the brain without oxygenated particles, are
sufficient to destroy the proper influence of the nervous system ;
while a deficient supply of natural arterial blood is attended
with a proportionate degree of functional disorder, or vitiated
vital action.

In reference to these known circumstances, it seems to be
an object of interest and importance to inquire into the causes
leading to the destruction of animal life, during the respiration

JAN. — MA.RCH, 1830. B

2 Effects of Oxygen and other Gases

of an air which, in its duly mixed state, possesses such a direct
property of maintaining the vital principle — a properly not
belonging to any other substance.

Vjirious opinions have been offered upon this subject ; and
experirpental inquiries, both of a chemical and physiological
kind, have frequently been instituted at different periods. But
the results of these do not appear to be sufficiently satisfactory
to set the question at rest. I am, therefore, disposed to draw
attention to some experiments which 1 have made myself, and
which appear to disclose facts leading to an explanation some-
what different from those hitherto received, as far as relates to
the physiology of this subject, the chemical ground being satis-
factorily occupied.

These experiments were commenced in the year 1827 ; anct^
appearing to afford conclusions opposite to those usually undisr-
stood, they were renewed in the course of 1828, and farther
prosecuted at the beginning of the last year, with the assistance
of Mr. George Wood, Mr. Miles, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Murray^
and others, well accustomed to the management of pneumatic
chemistry, and conversant with experimental physiology. The
gas itself was generally made by exposing black oxide of man-
ganese to the red heat of an iron crucible, and tested with a
taper previous to every experiment. Glass jars were inverted
upon the shelf of a water- bath, and on this a raised platform
supported the animal above the level of the surrounding water.
During the severe frosty weather, the bath was kept clos^
to a large fire, and the water was otherwise preserved at an
elevated temperature. The animals were passed quickly and
carefully through the water into the gas, which was previously
collected by a metallic worm, communicating between the bath
and the heated crucible ; and these, and all the other delicate
operations necessary, were very adroitly performed by my intel-
ligent assistants. As a preliminary step, some kittens, mice,
and sparrows, were placed under glass jars of atmospheric air,
and the duration of their lives was compared with that of others
immersed in like quantities of oxygen : the result of which
comparative experiment was this — that the animals died muck
sooner in the jars of common air than in those of unmixed
oxygen. And, when the gas was tested, after the removal of
the animals frona the atmospheric air^ it evinced the presence

upon the Animal System. 5.

of carbonic acid sufficient to extinguish a lighted paper instantly,
and to destroy animal life in a few seconds.

But, when the contents of the oxygen jars were tested after
the continued respirations of animals in them, an extinguished
taper was uniformly re -illuminated ; and other animals, then
placed under the jars, continued to live some time, and very
much as those did which were originally immersed. Small
collections of the gas were made, for the purpose of testing the
contents of the jars with a lighted taper; and, when the gas
was no longer required, the main bulk of the oxygen, also, was
similarly tested, and with the same results, as to the proportion
remaining being sufficient for the support of life and combus-
tion ; although, when portions were washed with lime-water,
they exhibited the presence of some carbon, by a white turbid
appearance.

Having premised these circumstances, I shall now proceed
to detail some of the principal experiments which I made at
different periods, and which were undertaken entirely indepen-
dent of any previous anticipation of the results, and uncon-
nected with a wish to support any theory whatever upon the
subject ; and rather, indeed, as a mere matter of curiosity, to
endeavour to place upon a more satisfactory footing certain
points which have appeared to myself and others to be imper-
fectly understood hitherto.

JSXPERIMENT I.

A kitten, of about ten or twelve days old, was immersed in
pure oxygen, and suffered no apparent inconvenience during
the first hour, but afterwards its respirations were quickened,
and the sanguiferous system was much accelerated. To this
succeeded a state of debility, and gradually a total insensibility,
with depression of the voluntary powers, and ultimately the
entire loss of them. The eyes became glazed ; and, after long
and slow inspirations, the diaphragm alone was seen to contract
slowly and feebly at distant intervals. Having continued some
time in this state, the animal was then removed, and very
shortly recovered in the open air — having been immersed three
hours, the quantity of gas being about one gallon. Some hours
elapsed before its strength was regained, but it ultimately reco-
vered altogether.

B 2

4 Effects of Oxygen and other Gases

EXPERIMENT II.

A kitten of the same brood was immersed in the same quan-
tity of pure oxygen, and exhibited similar phenomena. It was
not removed until the motion of the diaphragm had ceased
some few minutes, and it did not become reanimated. On
opening the chest, the heart was found beating strongly; and,
after its removal, forcibly contracted upon the knife when cut
across. Throughout the brain, and every part of the body, no
trace of venous blood was discoverable, but everywhere the arte-
ries and veins universally carried scarlet blood, as well as both
divisions of the heart, which exhibited the internal structure to
be entirely of a bright florid colour; and the surface of the lungs
appeared as if highly injected with vermillion.

EXPERIMENT III.

A full-grown sparrow was immersed in the remaining gas of
the last experiment. During the first hour it appeared to be
unaffected, but afterwards began to pant and gasp in a hurried
manner. In two hours and a quarter it showed no sign of
animation. It was then removed, the heart was found to be
in full action, and the vessels universally carried scarlet blood.
Several other sparrows and mice were successively immersed
in the same oxygen, and the phenomena which occurred evinced
no important deviation from the former symptoms.

EXPERIMENT IV.

A rabbit, of about three weeks old, was immersed in a glass
jar of oxygen, to the amount of about one gallon. In about
an hour its breathing was hurried and laboured, and a quick
action of the heart was evinced. Subsequently the respirations
became weaker and slower, and a state of insensibility ensued ;
the nostrils ceased acting, and the animal was on its side, with
no sign of motion but that of the diaphragm at distant inter-
vals, which continued a long time; and, at the end of five
hours, was still acting, though almost imperceptibly. It was
now removed from the jar, but exhibited no sign of sensibility.
On opening the chest, the heart was found in full action ; and,
on puncturing the aorta, the blood jetted out to a considerable
height. The diaphragm contracted slightly for a few mo-
ments, and the peristaltic motion of the viscera was going

upon the Animal System, 5

on. The diaphragm, however, ceased to act some time
before the heart discontinued to contract. The body was of a
bright scarlet hue throughout. A sparrow and another rabbit
were successively immersed in the same gas from which this
rabbit was removed, and they each breathed freely during about
an hour.

EXPERIMENT V.

A guinea-pig was immersed in a gallon of oxygen at two
o'clock in the afternoon. It was near four o'clock before any
inconvenience was manifested in its state, when its breathing
became hurried. In somewhat less than three hours it was
very weak, and gasped ; and, in less than half an hour more,
it was altogether apparently insensible. Its eyes were glazed,
and no sign of motion appeared, but the slight contractions of
the diaphragm, at long intervals. After having been in the
gas about three hours and a half, it was removed in this state,
and was soon reanimated by inflating the lungs with atmos-
pheric air, from an elastic gum bottle, through the nostrils.
The glaziness of the eyes was removed, and it began to breathe
regularly, and was completely restored, but remained very
weak all the evening, and in the morning was found dead.

EXPERIMENT VI.

A guinea-pig was placed in the same jar of oxygen from
which the last was removed — about two pints of the gas being
jadded, to make up for losses in testing and the rising of the
water during the experiment. It was seized with hurried
breathing, in about the same time as the last guinea-pig, and
was removed, after three hours had elapsed, in a state of abso-
lute insensibility ; the diaphragm acting slowly, at long intervals,
before its removal. On opening the chest, the diaphragm was,
however, quite still, but the heart was acting forcibly : the
blood was universally arterial.

EXPERIMENT VII,

A rabbit of about three weeks old was immersed in about
two gallons of oxygen, at half-past eleven in the forenoon. At
three o'clock the animal was still apparently lively and unaf
fected, and it ate some oals and cabbage, introduced through
the water under the glass. At seven, the animal's breathing

6 Effects of Oxygen and other Gases

was quickened, but it showed no signs of insensibility ; nor,
until nearly eleven o'clock, was it apparently much affectedy
when some degree of stupor and weakness was evident. At
twelve o'clock at night, twelve hours and a half after its immer-
sion, it was in a sitting posture, breathing quick, and somewhat
dull in appearance. In this state it was left, the fire allowed
to go out, and the bath to cool down to the temperature of the
room on a frosty night ; so that in the morning it was found
dead. On opening the body, the heart and blood vessels
universally contained scarlet blood* During this experiment,
as the water rose in the jar, about two or three pints of oxygen
were added : a flame was excited in a blown-out taper, intro*
duced into the jar, and a mouse breathed some time in it.

EXPERIMENT VIII.

A rabbit of about three weeks old was immersed in a gallon
of oxygen at a quarter before twelve. About one o'clock the
respiration was evidently hurried. At three o'clock the animal
was apparently insensible, its eyes glazed, and breathing feebly
and at long intervals. At the end of four hours and three-
quarters no sign of motion existed, but a slight movement of
the diaphragm occasionally, and almost imperceptibly. It
was then removed, and in about a quarter of an hour it was
reanimated by means of artificial inflation. It continued very
weak during the evening, but was quite well next day, and so
continued. The gas in this case was nearly half of it breathed
by the guinea-pigs of the sixth and seventh experiments, and
the other half consisted of fresh oxygen.

EXPERIMENT IX.

At five o'clock in the evening a rabbit of about three weeks
old was immersed in the same oxygen from which the last was
4:aken, with the addition of a quart of fresh oxygen to make
up for losses. In about an hour the animal breathed very
quick, and in four hours and a quarter it was apparently insen-
sible, and breathing slowly and slightly. At the end of four
hours and three-quarters no movement was at all perceptible.
It was then removed into the air, and it began to gasp, upon
artificial inflation being applied. But the air was unfortunately
sent in too strongly by an assistant, and it escaped into the
abdomen, which put an end to the means of restoration. On

upon the Animal System. f

opening the chest, the heart was in full action, and no venous
blood to be seen in any part of the body.

EXPERIMENT X.

At a quarter past two p. m. two rabbits of three or four weeks
old were immersed in about two gallons of oxygen, a portion
of which was fresh, and the remainder had been breathed by
the rabbit of the last experiment. A thermometer applied to
the groin indicated a temperature of about 90 degrees in each
rabbit, previous to the experiment. One was a black and the
other a yellow rabbit, the latter being much the largest. In an
hour they appeared to breathe quick, but were both lively.
The lesser rabbit was apparently distressed long prior to the
other. At eight o'clock, five hours and three-quarters after
immersion, it was in a prostrate and insensible state, breathing
only by the diaphragm, and slowly. The larger rabbit was on
its side, weak, and gasping occasionally, but lively when
roused. At eleven this rabbit was in the same state, but its
head falling under the rising water around, accidentally put a
stop to its feeble respirations, and it was therefore removed
prematurely. A thermometer was immediately introduced into
the abdomen, and indicated 87 degrees. On opening the
chest the heart was in full action, and no venous blood was
perceptible, the animal having been immersed nine hours
altogether. The lesser rabbit was then removed, a very feeble
action of the diaphragm, and now and then a gasp appearing,
but wholly insensible. In the open air, however, its renewed
gasps restored animation in some degree, the glaziness of the
eyes went off, it uttered cries, and attempted motion. It was
then pithed, and the thermometer being inserted into the ab-
domen rose to 88 degrees. The heart was in full and strong
action, and the blood scarlet, the circulation evidently con-
tinuing throughout the body. The peristaltic motion of the
bowels had not ceased. The contents of this jar, as usual,
rekindled a blown-out taper.

EXPERIMENT XI.

A rabbit of about three or four weeks old was immersed in
a gallon of fresh oxygen at one o'*clock p. m. In about an
hour its respiration was quickened, and in two hours it was

8^ Effects of Oxygen and other Gases

very weak, and apparently losing its sensibility. Nearly a
quart of oxygen was added during the experiment, to makeup
for the rising of the water. About seven, having been in the
gas nearly six hours, it was convulsed and expired, and was
removed in five minutes without any sign of motion. On
opening the chest, the heart was in full action, and the dia-
phragm still. No venous blood was perceptible. The gas
remaining after the experiment rekindled a blown-out taper.

N. B. In all these experiments the surface of the lungs ap-
peared much injected. The blood, also, was observed to be
very transparent, and to coagulate remarkably quick. The
right side of the heart was always much more filled than the
left. I am not aware of any other circumstances omitted to
be noticed as belonging to the experiments detailed.

Some of the principal experiments undertaken for the purpose
of ascertaining the nature of the influence exercised by oxygen,
in its unmixed state, over the animal functions, having been thus
described, it will be perceived that, in some respects, my results
confirm those of others, but are yet opposed to many, and afford
also rather a novel view of the subject. At least, the authorities
into which I have looked do not appear to have anticipated
some of my conclusions. I may here observe, that experi-
ments, of the nature which I have cited, should not be
confined to small animals, such as mice, and birds of the
size of sparrows ; for they are not so well calculated as larger
animals to afford satisfactory and clear demonstrations when
their internal organs are to be examined. Therefore, feeling
it constantly necessary to appeal to the internal state of the
animal, I have selected accordingly rabbits, kittens, and gui-
nea-pigs, as the best adapted to my purposes, these being at
once sufficiently large and manageable. Many of the older
experimenters, as Dr. Priestley and others, deduce their con-
clusions from mice. Dr. Priestley found, that if the tempera-
ture of the bath was kept up, the mice lived longer than when
surrounded by a medium of a low degree ; and hence he drew
this inference — that the oxygen itself is not destructive. This,
however, appears to me to be an unwarranted inference, for
I did not find (although latterly the weather was extremely
severe) that the preservation of an elevated temperature made

vpon the Animal System, flf

such a difference in the experiment as was sufficient to account
either for the final result, or the general phenomena presented
to my notice. Both in the experiments conducted at a distance
from the fire, and without heating the bath, during a severe
frost, and in those wherein the temperature was kept up, the
action of the sanguiferous system continued some time after the
motion of the diaphragm had ceased, and a similar progressive
insensibility occurred. Possibly the final termination of life
may be quickened somewhat by extreme cold in and around
the bath, as the means of increasing the force of the debili-
tating cause.

Another inference in Dr. Priestley's experiments is, that the
carbonic acid generated by the animal respiring oxygen, has
less effect upon a second animal placed under the glass than
on the first, from the greater vigour of the former coming fresh
out of the atmospheric air. But upon reference to my expe-
riments, this does not appear, no appreciable difference being
noticed.

Lavoisier observed, in his early experiments, some indica-
tions of increased vascular action, but none in his latter inves-
tigations, nor indeed any change whatever. His first conclu-
sions, however, are most probably correct.

Messrs. Dumas and Richerand observed a great degree of
pulmonary excitement when animals breathed oxygen during a
long time ; and M. Richerand remarks, that they consume no
more oxygen than when immersed in so much common air.
From the experiments of Dr. Beddoes, however, this conclu-
sion is controverted. And I am disposed to coincide with this
last author in the opinion he entertains, that the fact is not as
M. Richerand supposed, and that animals confined in the gas
become completely, as it were, oxygenated. Dr. Beddoes
observed the very florid injection of the lungs and pleura,
the long retention of contractility in the heart, the rapid coa-
gulation of the blood, and the very slight deterioration of the
gas, — all of which facts were so obvious in my experiments.
1 do not, however, feel disposed to refer the state of the lungs
and pleura to inflammation, as this author does ; but rather to
congestion, from inefficient respiratory action.
- Sir Humphry Davy also employed mice, and found that
they ultimately died when immersed in oxygen ; but he

10 Effects of Oxygen and other Gases

offers no explanation of this result. He imagined that less
oxygen was consumed than when common air is breathed.
Can the difference of opinion upon this point arise from the
animals, being saturated with oxygen, returning it back again
unaltered ? The state of the gas, after every experiment,
seems to favour this question. Whether it be so or not, my
experience tends to subvert the conclusion of this author, which
is — that the fatal effects are independent of excess of oxygen,

Messrs. Allen and Pepys found — that more of oxygen was
consumed) than is sufficient for the production of carbon. They
also observed that the blood gave off a corresponding quantity
of nitrogen ; and that the diminution of the volume of air was
found to be greater in pure oxygen than in ordinary respiration.
My experiments, in general, appeared to corroborate these
observations.

The experience of M. Magendie shows the respiration of
pure oxygen to be fatal to animal life, and to exhibit a similar
tendency when the gas is mixed in proportions differing from
those of the atmosphere. This opinion seems to prevail in
France ; and it is expressed, alsOj by the valued testimony of
Dr. Prout. All the facts which we possess are decidedly in
favour of this opinion, as far as I can judge of them.

Without quoting particular authorities any farther, I find it
is generally observable that some circumstances of a physiolo-
gical nature have been apparently overlooked in trying the
effects of oxygen upon the animal functions ; while the chemical
phenomena have been more fully investigated, and especially
by the recent researches of Messrs. Allen and Pepys, leaving no
points, perhaps, upon this ground incompletely treated. From
the constancy of the most important facts in my experiments, I
am inclined to think that I am justified in believing many of the
results, arrived at by others, to be unsatisfactory hitherto ; and
their occasional apparent contradiction of each other strengthens
this notion.

We may refer to the invariable manner in which animals,
after remaining some time unaffected by breathing pure oxygen,
begin to be excited, and their respiration and sanguineous cir-
culation become greatly increased ; and to the gradual state of
debility and subsequent insensibility following, with loss of
voluntary motion, and the cessation of the diaphragm's con-

upon the Animal System, 11

tracting long before the heart ceases to act with vigour, and to
urge the blood through the vessels. When we refer to these
phenomena, and find, also, that the renewal of an atmospheric
circulation of air through the lungs is capable of completely
restoring animation, we appear to be presented with a train of
circumstances strikingly analogous to those which accompany
the absorption of certain poisons into the blood.

The facts, of which I do not find mention made elsewhere,
and which induce this analogous assumption, are the pheno-
mena described as arising during the respiration of oxygen : —
such ^s — the universal appearance of arterial blood; the gra^
dual cessation of sensibility and voluntary motion ; the long-
continued breathing only by a slow and feeble action of the
diaphragm ; the full continuance of the heart's pulsations, cir^
culating nothing but arterial bloody after the diaphragm has
become still ; the restoration of sensibility and voluntary power
by atmospheric inflation ; and the maintenance of animal heat
within the body during the immersion in oxygen.

These appear to me to be circumstances well worthy of con-
sideration, and necessary to be taken into account, when the in-
fluence of pure oxygen upon the animal functions is the object
of our inquiry. And, in reference to these circumstances de-
tailed, perhaps the following positions may be deemed satisfac-
torily established — some of which are corroborated by the
experience of others.

1. Animals immersed in equal quantities of atmospheric air
and of pure oxygen, separately, live during different periods ;
those in the former dying sooner than those in the latter air.

2. The gas, remaining after atmospheric respiration, contains
carbonic acid in excess, sufficient instantly to extinguish a
lighted taper, and to destroy animal life in a few seconds.

3. The gas remaining, after the respiration of pure oxygen,
re-illuminates a blown-out taper, and sustains animal life, during
variable periods, as in the first instance of immersion.

4. The gas of pure oxygen is not much deteriorated by the
respiration of animals; while that of the atmospheric compound
is rendered wholly unfit to sustain life and flame.

5. The tendency of an excess of oxygen is to increase the
action of the pulmonic and aortic circulation, in the first in-

12 Effects of Oxygen and other Gases

stance, and to produce direct debility, insensibility, and loss of
voluntary power in the second, involuntary action continuing
indefinitely.

6. The invasion of the symptoms from breathing oxygen
does not generally occur in less time than about an hour ; and
the sensibility of the animal is not uniformly affected at the
same period.

7. The invasion of the symptoms seems to depend much
upon the size, strength, and age of the animal employed.

8. Death is ultimately the constant result of breathing oxy-
gen, pure or in excess.

9. If the motion of the diaphragm has not entirely ceased
more than about two or three minutes, animation may be
restored by atmospheric inflation of the lungs ; and, as the
blood acquires free access to common air, the functions of the
brain are renewed.

10. The contractility of the heart and intestinal canal is
retained long after the functions of the brain have ceased, or
when sensibility, voluntary motion, and the action of the
diaphragm, no longer exist.

11. Animals, having breathed oxygen during a certain time,
circulate no venous blood in any part of the body ; the whole
mass throughout being of the brightest, transparent, arterial
colour.

12. Animal heat is kept up, during the whole period of
immersion in oxygen, above the ordinary temperature of the
surrounding media, though apparently a few degrees lower
than the usual degree of the animal.

13. Quick coagulation of the blood takes place, after death^
from the respiration of oxygen.

Such are the facts indicated by the experiments and obser-
vations which I have made upon oxygen, at different periods ;
and which appear to suggest some important reflections relative
to the physiological and pathological relations of animal life to
the principal component of the atmosphere surrounding our
globe ; while they tend, also, to place the respiration of pure
oxygen in a point of view that may, perhaps, be considered, in
some respects, novel and interesting to science.

Encouraged by the novelty and constancy of my resultS|

upon the Anmal System, 1^

and directing my experiments exclusively to their physiological
tendency, I instituted similar researches into the effects of
other gases, as I considered that such a comparative inquiry
was wanting to complete the ultimate objects to wliich my
attention was directed ; although I am aware that this latter
ground is already so well cultivated by others as to render it
almost unnecessary to go over it myself.

I. EXPERIMENTS WITH NITROUS OXIDE GAS.

Having carefully prepared some nitrous-oxide over night, in
order that it might become purified by standing upon water,
the following morning 1 placed a stout healthy kitten under
the glass vessel containing the gas, the animal being raised
above the water, and with other precautions, as practised in the
experiments with oxygen. The effects of the gas were soon
apparent, and in a little more than a quarter of an hour the
kitten fell on its side quite motionless, having breathed quick
and staggered to and fro at the least efforts to move. Being
taken from the vessel, it gradually recovered in the open air,
and regained its strength in the course of the evening. Another
kitten of the same brood, about a fortnight old, was similarly
affected in the gas, and having remained half an hour under
the glass, did not recover in this open air. The temperature of
the atmosphere was that of an ordinary summer's day. The
animal was immediately opened, when the blood was found to
be universally florid and more transparent than commonly, —
the vessels of the brain, pleura, and lungs, being highly
injected.

Some sparrows lived only four or five minutes in nitrous
oxide, breathing rapidly; and on being opened they exhibited
the same florid appearance and highly injected membranes.
The heart in each was found palpitating.

A frog being placed under a glass jar of this gas, did not seem
to be affected in any way ; but in the morning it was found
dead, and the blood vessels were found injected throughout.
Some mice were immersed in vessels of this gas, and were
almost immediately affected with a staggering and hurried
breathing. They lived about seven or eight minutes; and on
being examined, the heart was found palpitating in each. A

14 Effects of Oxygen and other Gases

rabbit of about three weeks old was similarly immersed, and
in little more than a minute its heart appeared to act strongly,
and its breathing was hurried and laborious. It then reeled
and staggered, and with difficulty poised itself, finally resting
against the side of the glass in a state of stupor. The respira-
tions became weaker and slower, and the nostrils ceased to
move. In about two hours and a quarter the diaphragm was
perfectly inactive. The animal was then removed and opened,
when the pleura, lungs, and brain, were found highly injected
with thin florid blood. Another rabbit of the same brood was
immersed in the same gas from which the first was taken, and
it fell apparently dead in about two minutes. It was removed
and resuscitated in the open air. After these experiments a
lighted taper was extinguished in this gas.

When the experiments with the nitrous-oxide are compared
with those conducted with oxygen gas, it is observable that the
results are ultimately very similar, but that the effects are much
sooner apparent, more urgent, and resemble rather those of
intoxication from alcohol. The combination of azote with
the oxygen in the nitrous-oxide seems to account for this dif-
ference, and the absorption of the oxygen may explain the
similarity of appearance upon dissection when the state of the
organs is compared with that derived from breathing pure
oxygen. The nitrous-oxide, like the oxygen, seems to bear
an affinity to poisonous substances in its effects, and is de-
structive to animal life when undiluted with atmospheric air.

II. EXPERIMENTS WITH NITROGEN.

Several sparrows were immersed in nitrogen gas, and fell
dead in about thirty seconds, having gasped and struggled im-
mediately on immersion. Some mice exhibited similar phe-
nomena. In all these animals the right ventricle of the heart
was found full and distended with dark blood, and the vessels
of the brain, pleura, and lungs, were collapsed.

A frog was placed under a glass vessel of nitrogen, and
remained more than two hours unaffected, at the termination
of which period it began to gasp a little, and then appeared dull
and lethargic. Next morning it was found dead. The blood
was universally dark coloured.

upon the Animal System, 13

A rabbit of two or three weeks old was immersed in nitrogen,
and fell dead, after gasping and struggling, in about thirty,
seconds. Two or three minutes having elapsed, it was removed,
and the blood vessels of the lungs and brain were collapsed,
the right ventricle of the heart was full of dark blood, and its
irritability was not extinct. Coagulation in all these cases
occurred, but not immediately. Another rabbit of the same
brood fell dead also in about thirty seconds, and, being removed,
was resuscitated and lived.

From the phenomena exhibited in these experiments, it
appears, that undiluted nitrogen is quickly fatal to animal life,
suspending the functions of the brain almost instantaneously,
as soon as a few waves of blood have passed through that
organ ; but, that the lungs are perfectly capable of receiving
and circulating the gas during a few seconds, until the sensibi-
lity of the nervous system becomes destroyed. It is neverthe-
less known, that nitrogen is largely separated from the atmos-
pheric air absorbed in ordinary respiration, and that its supply
is necessary to the animal economy.

Ill, EXPERIMENTS WITH CHLORINE.

Some glass vessels being charged with chlorine, several mice
were successively immersed in this gas, and they fell dead in
less than thirty seconds. On opening these animals, the heart
was found palpitating in each, and the peristaltic motion of
the intestinal canal continued, and was kept up by irritating ifc
with a probe. The vessels of the brain were collapsed. The
lungs were tinged with the yellow colour of the gas, and the
peculiar odour of chlorine was perceptible throughout their
structure. Several sparrows were similarly immersed and ex-
hibited the same phenomena. Coagulation took place as usual
under ordinary circumstances.

A rabbit of two or three weeks old was immersed in chlorine,
and it died in less than half a minute. On opening the thorax
the heart was found acting freely, and on puncturing the aorta
the blood jetted forcibly out to a considerable distance. The
peristaltic motion of the bowels was also going on. The vessels
of the brain were in a collapsed state. The lungs were very
much distended, and they were tinged with yellow ; and when
removed from the chest to, a distance they emitted the odour of

16 Effects of Oxygen and other Gases

chlorine. The right ventricle of the heart was distended with
dark blood. The eyes were much glazed in each experiment.

It has generally been thought that chlorine is incapable of
passing the epiglottis ; but, from the above observations it is
evident that this gas enters the bronchial tubes in the act of
inspiration. A portion of it probably circulates through the
brain, suspending the cerebral functions without directly de-
stroying the action of the involuntary organs, contractility re-
maining long after the destruction of animal life, as is evinced
by the activity of the heart and the intestinal canal.

IV. EXPERIMENTS WITH SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN.

My attention was next directed to sulphuretted hydrogen,
the common gas of privies, which proves so destructive to life,
for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the animal
organs after immersion in this gas, and of observing whether
it actually enters the bronchial tubes.

It is generally stated that sulphuretted hydrogen destroys
life by producing what is erroneously termed asphyxia^ or, in
other words, that the animal functions cease from the want of
the vivifying influence of oxygen, although in fact the heart
continues to act.

A rabbit of two or three weeks old was placed under a glass
vessel filled with this gas. It gasped and died in somewhat less
than half a minute. I removed it after allowing it to remain
about two minutes and a half, and on opening the thorax found
the heart palpitating freely, and the peristaltic motion of the
bowels continuing, but the diaphragm was still. The blood
was universally of a thick and very dark brown tint, no
arterial blood being discoverable. The lungs were collapsed.
The brain seemed to be tinged with a dark-brown colour,
and portions of it being removed to some distance off, afforded
the intolerable odour of this gas. The surface of the liver and
intestines generally was suffused with a dark- brown tint. This
experiment was repeated, and mice and sparrows also were
employed with similar results.

It appears evident from these experiments with sulphuretted
hydrogen, that the gas enters into the circulation by the lungs,
and that passing through the brain it suspends the cerebral
functions without directly destroying the spontaneous action of

upon the Animal System. 17

involuntary muscles, the heart continuing to act after the sus-
pension of animal life and the cessation of the diaphragm and
lungs, and the left ventricle distributing dark-coloured blood
through the body. The absorption of the gas itself thus ap-
pears to act like a subtle poison ; and as in cases of mere
exclusion of common oxygenated air, when respiration is
suspended for a longer period, the speedy restoration of the
action of the diaphragm and lungs, and the introduction of
atmospheric air, appear to offer the surest method of recovery ;
and the substitution of warmth and friction for the destructive
use of tobacco injections and bleeding is essential. Bichat
and Chaussure having found that the application of galvanism
in cases of immersion in the gas of privies produces a depo-
sition of sulphur, confirms the result of my experiment as to
the entrance of sulphuretted hydrogen into the circulation.

V, EXPERIMENTS WITH HYDROGEN GAS.

A kitten of about a fortnight old was placed under a glass
vessel of hydrogen gas. It fell dead in less than half a minute,
after gasping and struggling, and on being removed into the
air it recovered. Another kitten of the same brood, being
similarly immersed, was affected in the same manner, but
having lain about three minutes in the gas, after falling insen-
sible, it did not recover in the open air. It was then opened,
and the circulation was found to be stopped, the right ventricle
being distended with dark blood, and the brain and lungs
collapsed. A frog was immersed in hydrogen, but it exhibited
no signs of inconvenience. In the morning it was found dead,
and the blood was uniformly dark coloured.

Several sparrows were immersed in hydrogen, and they fell
dead in two or three seconds. On opening them the circu-
lation was still, the right ventricle distended with dark blood,
and the brain and lungs collapsed.

The hydrogen gas appears in these instances to be admitted
through the bronchial tubes, and, like the preceding gas, to be
destructive in the same manner as certain poisonous substances
act upon the centre of the nervous system. It is remarkable
in the experiments with hydrogen, that no contractility could
be excited by mechanical irritation in the heart and bowels.
The renewal of atmospheric air in the lungs within the space
JAN.—MARCH, 1830. C

lo Effects of Oxygen and other Gases

of threie minutes ihduces restoration of their action and re-
covery of animation.

VI. EXPERIMENTS WITH CARBURETTED HYDROGEN.

In order to ascertain the effects of this gas, I placed a kitten
of about a fortnight old under a glass vessel carefully charged.
It made two or three rapid gasps, and fell dead in *a few seconds.
Having removed it, artificial respiration was employed, and it
Recovered. Another kitten of the same brood was similarly
affected ; but, being left about three minutes in the gas, it was
not resuscitated. On opening the thorax the heart was still,
the blood dark, the right ventricle full, the vessels of the brain-
nearly empty, and the lungs collapsed. Several sparrows im-
mersed exhibited . similar phenomena. This gas also appears
to enter into the circulation, darkening the blood, and destroy-
ing sensibility after a few waves of the deteriorated blood have
passed through the brain.

VII. EXPERIMENTS WITH NITROUS GAS.

Several sparrows were immersed in nitrous gas, and after a
few rapid gasps they fell dead. The heart was still, and did
hot contract on being irritated. Mice placed in the gas exhi-
bited the same phenomena. A young rabbit lived only a few
seconds in this gas. The blood appeared to have lost much
of its arterial character, the right ventricle was distended, and
the vessels of the brain and lungs were collapsed.

The nitrous gas, as might be expected, seems to act directly
upon the centre of the nervous system, while it appears also to
suspend the contractility of the involuntary organs of motion.

VIII. EXPERIMENTS WITH CARBONIC ACID GAS.

Several sparrows being immersed in this gas, they died iii
somewhat less than three minutes, having gasped and struggled
violently. Upon disse.ction the brain and lungs appeared to be
collapsed, the right ventricle was distended with dark blood,
and the circulation was still. Some kittens of about a fortnight
old were next made the subjects of experiment. None of
them shewed any signs of life after three minutes' exposure to
the influence of the gas. At first they gasped and breathed in
a hurried manner, and then "fell insensible and motionless, after

upon the Animal System. 19

long and slow inspirations. Having removed one of these
kittens instantly as it fell^ it was restored to life by warmth and
artificial respiration. The other, being kept about four minutes
under the glass, did not recover by similar means. The blood
was uniformly dark, and the circulation still. The lungs were
collapsed, and the vessels of the brain contracted.

Animals immersed in carbonic acid gas appear to be de-
stroyed much slower than in other gases uncombined with
oxygen, the general difference being between about half a thi-
nute and three minutes, the latter being about the average
duration of suspended animation from drowning and hanging,
in cases of recovery. The cause of death may probably be the
same therefore, namely, the want of oxygenated air for the
circulation of the brain, for without the red particles of the
blood, the cerebral functions cannot go on, and insensibility is
directly brought about in animals of hot blood. It is remark-
able, that in the experiments with carbonic acid gas, the bodies
of the animals were very sensibly elevated in their temperature
throughout the whole inside, as if they had been exposed to
the influence of a fire.

In reviewing generally the facts developed in the experi-
ments here detailed, it is observable, that all the gases em-
ployed are, in fact, perfectly capable of passing the epiglottis,
and do, more or less, enter into the circulation through the
air-passages of the lungs. And, excepting the carbonic acid
gas, each seems to destroy life much in the same manner, and
in far less time,^than from the mere exclusion of common air.
The phenomena attending the respiration of these gases appa-
rently lead to this supposition — that they act upon the prin^
ciple of certain poisonous substances, which are known to
suspend the functions of the brain, and quickly destroy sen-
sibility, while the organic property of vital contractility survives
the animal life in most instances some time after all conscious-
ness has ceased.

The comparison which may be drawn from the experiments
upon the oxgenated gases and those without oxygen, while it
shows the first to be ultimately destructive to sensibility, though
tending to prolong animal life to a degree far beyond any other
gases, displays the relations of oxygen to animal life in a very
striking point of view. This comparison suggests also some

C2

20 Effects of Oxygen and other Gases.

valuable considerations ; and these, however curious the re-
searches of chemists have been, and of whatever practical
importance, principally belong to the department of the phy-
siologist.

If the poisonous principle, upon which the gases now^ enume-
rated act, be inquired into, it may probably be referred to the
sedative class of poisons, which operate so quickly and so decid-
edly on the centre of the nervous system to the suspension of sen-
sibility, and frequently without interfering directly with vital con-
tractility. It does not appear that they act until they absolutely
reach the brain, and then with variable intensity, according to
circumstances casually influencing their effects. But, in my
experiments, the constancy of effect was very marked ; and
the smaller the animal the quicker was the operation upon the
brain, arid the larger, the slower was the effect. So that, when
the gases are pure and carefully preserved, no variations occur
to render the results doubtful and precarious, and the modifi-
cations of the results may be usually anticipated. Although it
is not my object at present to indulge in any speculative ideas
which may arise out of these experiments — which, in some
instances, are confirmed by modern physiologists, who have
themselves corrected former errors — yet I cannot avoid the
opportunity afforded me, from my facts, of referring to the
unscientific method, even now not quite extinct, of attempting
reanimation, in cases of suspended sensibility from exposure to
certain gases. The inutility and mischief of the treatment al-
luded to cannot be too strongly and frequently pointed out ;
nor can the plain and simple indications of nature, as deve-
loped by experiments, be too fully made manifest, from refer-
ence to the principle on which the noxious gases operate upon
animal life, and which it is the province of the physiologist to
investigate and make known.

21

JVotice of a Submarine Forest in Largo Baijt in the Frith of
Forth. By the Rev. Dr. Fleming, Flisk,

Nearly eight years have elapsed since I transmitted, to the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, the description of a submarine
forest, "which could be traced for several miles along the
southern margin of the estuary of the Tay, and on the north
side of the county of Fife. The paper referred to occupies
a place in the ninth volume of the Transactions of that asso-
ciation. Last autumn, 1 was successful in detecting a second
example of a submarine forest, at the opposite side of the
same county, and on the northern margin of the Frith of Forth.
It may be readily met with in walking along the sands during
ebb-tide, from the village of Lower Largo, to Corn-cockle-burn,
on the west side of Kincraig or Ely-ness.

The rocks on which the strata, connected with the submarine
forest, rest, belong to the carboniferous epoch ; and, though
occupying a high place in the series, and abounding with coal,
they exhibit, in many of their beds, that reddish-brown colour
which has procured, for the lower portions of the formation,
the denomination '^ old red sandstone." They are intimately
connected with the several varieties of trap. The soft bed,
on which the forest more immediately rests, consists of firmly-
laminated clay, of a brown colour, similar to the hue of many
of the rocks in the neighbourhood. With the exception of the
roots of the trees, to be mentioned afterwards, I was not suc-
cessful in detecting in it any traces of organic remains ; but,
judging from the thinness and continuity of its laminae, and the
absence of marine exuviae, it might probably be referred, with
considerable propriety, to lacustrine silt. Over the surface of
this silt, there is a thin covering of sand and fine gravel, irre-
gularly distributed, and not continuous. This, too, is probably
of fresh-water origin. Over these the bed of peat reposes,
which serves in a more definite manner to indicate the changes
which have taken place on this part of the coast.

The peat is composed exclusively of the remains of land
and fresh-water plants, such as commonly occur in such
deposits. Along with these, however, appear, and rather

22 Submarine Forest in Largo Bay,

frequently interspersed, the remains of trees, particularly of
the birch, the hazel, and the alder. The nuts of the hazel,
were likewise observable. The roots of some of the trees
still occupied their original position, having grown on the
surface of the clay, and spread their branches among its
layers. I was able to trace the divisions of one of these roots,
belonging apparently to an alder, from the trunk, or rather
stump, to an extent of more than six feet ; and in three direc-
tions, into the clay which had thus originally served as a soil.
I may add^ that the clay at present affords a dwelling to the
Pholas Candida, which forms therein its vertical burrows, con-
fined, however, to those places from which the covering of
peat has been removed. The peat itself is penetrated by in-
numerable vertical cells, containing a spio, which is probably
undescribed, and may, for the present, be denominated Spio
emarginatus. So numerous are these small worms in some
places, that the peat, when broken across, seems to be com-
posed of living threads. Perhaps the clay and the peat may
have other inmates, but at the period of my visit, they hap-
pened to be greatly covered with sand, which prevented so
minute an inquiry as was desired.

The phenomena presented by the series of strata now under
consideration, seem to render it probable that the subsoil, or
laminated brown clay, was derived from the neighbouring
rocks of the coal formation ; here remarkable, as already
noticed, for their peculiar brown colour. The matter thus
obtained, seems to have been conveyed into a lake, and there
deposited, not hurriedly, like diluvium, but at successive, though
irregular intervals. To this mode of fornaatioq may be re-
ferred the firmness of its ingredients, and their laminated, or
stratified arrangement. It appears equally probable, that the
waters of this lake were, to a certain extent, suddenly with-
drawn, so as to enable what may be denominated land
vegetation to commence. The change, indeed, appears to
have been accompanied by some disturbance, as the filni of
gravel distributed over the clay testifies. During the lapse of
a considerable period, the clay served as a soil, and supported
a forest of birch, alder, hazel, and perhaps other trees. These
at last shared the fate of many other ancient forests of Northern
Europe. Decay commenced, and the harbingers and pro-

in the Frith of Forth . 23

rooters thereof, the lichens and mosses, multiplied, until the
whole was transformed into a bed of peat. Subsequent to
this period, that remarkable change took place, by which this
laminated clay, with its ancient forest, and more recent peat,
became subject to be covered at every tide with the waters of
the sea.

The existence of these remarkable strata, and even in some
degree their value, were found, upon inquiry, to be known in
the neighbourhood. The peat had been carted off many years
ago, in considerable quantity, to serve as a compost, or manure,
to the corn lands in the neighbourhood. The clay, however,
has hitherto been permitted to retain undisturbed possession of
its bed, though apparently well adapted for the purpose of
brick or tile-making, and certainly most suitable for fertilizing
the neighbouring sandy plains or downs, at present consigned to
the purposes of a rabbit-warren, but which might soon be
rendered fit for supporting better stopk, if the resources at
hand were suitably employed.

The occurrence of a bed of peat, with the stumps of trees
in the clay, and their prostrate stems in the mass of vegetable
matter above, had not failed to give rise to speculations on the
subject, so that even the voice of tradition has not been silent.
The late Rev. Spence Oliphant, minister of the parish of
Largo, has recorded the leading features of the tradition in
the history of the parish, published in the ^' Statistical Account
of Scotland," vol. iv., p. 537. *' Largo Bay extends from
Kincraig Point, to that of Methul, making a diameter of nearly
seven miles in length, and marked by a ridge of sand. The
included bay forms a semicircle of about ten miles of sea
coast. The above ridge is called by fishermen, the Dyke. Of
this there is a tradition, although probably not well founded,
among the oldest inhabitants of Largo, that there was formerly
a wall or mound, running from Kincraig Point to that of
Methul, containing within it a vast forest, called the Wood of
Forthy In spite, however, of the doubt expressed by the
author just quoted, concerning the value of the voice of tra-
dition, regarding the ** Wood of Forth," the phenomena still
visible on the shore attest its authenticity. But how can we
account for the existence of a tradition on the subject ? Has
the record been handed down through a succession of ages

24 Submarine Forest in Largo Bay,

from the period when the forest existed, or was destroyed by
being covered with the tide ? The existence of the peat ex-
cludes any such supposition, for it demonstrates the destruc-
tion of the forest by ordinary causes, and the substitution, pro-
bably for ages, of a peat- moss, no uncommon occurrence
before the submergence began to take place ^. It is probable
that the tradition on the subject arose from an opinion ex-
pressed by some early and meritorious observer, whose very
name is now unknown, and by whose influence it became
enrolled in the legends of the neighbourhood. The laborious,
and generally accurate Sir Robert Sibbald, appears, from no
notice being taken of the report in his '^ History of Fife and
Kinross," to have been unacquainted with the phenomena on
this part of the coast, and likewise with that tradition, which,
though recorded at a more recent period, was accompanied
with suspicions of its accuracy.

The natural history of submarine forests does not appear
to have attracted that degree of attention from geologists which
their importance might have secured, when they are viewed
as indications of the changes which have taken place on our
shores. Even the variety of situations in which they have
been detected on our coast, from Orkney to Cornwall, might
have excited the speculative observer to inquire if similar
causes had operated in the different localities simultaneously,
or in succession, — and led him at the same time to determine
whether the phenomena of submerged forests was confined
to what may be denominated the '' Modern Epoch" of the
earth's history, or had occurred during any of the antecedent
periods.

That deservedly celebrated observer, Dr. Borlase, in re-
ference to the submarine forests of Mount's Bay in Cornwall,
considered that the ground had sunk or subsided, in conse-
quence of earthquakes, and became liable to be covered at
full tide with twelve feet of water.

Dr. Correa de Serra, taking into account the soft matter

* The existence of the fruit of the hazel, in submarine forests, has been con-
sidered by some as indicating the destructive change to have taken place in autumn.
Such a conclusion requires us to believe, that the hazels in the same year pro-
duced their first fruit, and suffered death. P'or if they had produced fruit during a
succession of vears, the nuts must have been lying in the soil below, independent of
the period of the year iu which the trees were destroyed.

in the Frith of Forth, 25

on which the Lincolnshire submarine forest reposes, con-
sidered its present depressed line, as the effect of subsidence
suddenly acting by means of an earthquake, and this sub-
sidence he defined to be the natural consequence of gravity,
slowly, though perpetually, operating in soft ground.

Professor Play fair, in his invaluable illustrations of the
** Huttonian Theory,*" regards the subsidence, which brought
the forest within the reach of the tide, as constituting a part
of that alternate depression and elevation of the surface, which,
in his opinion, probably extends to the whole mineral kingdom-

In the paper in the Transactions of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, already referred to, I endeavoured to explain the
present depressed state of submarine forests, by supposing that
their present site had formerly been a lake, which in suc-
cession had passed into a marsh and wood ; that the barrier
having been removed by the encroachments of the sea, a
partial drainage took place, followed by subsidence and sub-
mergence.

In the '« Annals of Philosophy," for November 1823, p. 344,
Professor Henslow endeavoured to shew, *' that an increase of
elevation, above the original surface of the ocean, has actually
taken place," by water added to the earth at the time of the
Deluge, by means of a comet : that in consequence of this
elevation, beds of peat, containing vast numbers of trees, are
now found in some situations, extending under the bed of the
ocean.

In the same work, for April 1825, p. 255, Professor Sedg-
wick, without excluding the occasional operation of several
of those agents which have been already referred to, has
offered the following explanation of the phenomena of sub-
marine forests. — •^' The mean elevation of the sea about every
part of our coast, is unquestionably constant ; but the actual
level of high-water at any given place, is dependent on the
velocity and direction of the tidal currents, the contour of the
coast, and a number of circumstances which are entirely local.
In proof of this assertion, it is only necessary to appeal to the
fact, that in extensive bays and estuaries, the sides of which
gradually diverge towards the open sea, the tides occasionally
rise (through the operation of a common hydrostatical law)
to an elevation which is many times greater than the rise of the

SIS Submarme Forest in Largo Bay^

same tides on more open parts of the coast. Any set of
causes which greatly modify the form of a deeply indented
coast, must, therefore, inevitably produce considerable local
effects upon the level of high-water."

Such appear to be some of those views whfch different ob-
servers have entertained regarding the origin of submarine
forests. They exhibit an unsettled state of opinion, which
ought to excite to farther inquiry. Yet it need not be con-
cealed that the phenomena themselves furnish satisfactory
evidence by which several of the foregoing hypotheses may be
sv^ccessfully opposed.

If the mean level of the ocean be assunied as constant, and
the submergence of the land be regarded as the consequence
of a general subsidence, connected with earthquakes, we might
expect to find the remains of forests occurring, indiscriminately,
on all kinds of subsoil, or on such as trees and moss are asso-
ciated with at present. But as far at least as my observatioris
and reading extend, the submarine forests of this country
occupy exclusively a subsoil of lacustrine silt, a deposit indi-
cating satisfactorily the existence of a lake preyious to the
growth of the forest, c^nd the formation of the peat. And if
the waters of the ocean have risen in their level, in consequence
of an addition to th^ir mass, no matter frona whence derived,
and have overflowed tracts of land, clothed at the time with
wood ; the subsoil of these forests should certainly exhibit all
the variety which would be displayed by any extensive wooded
tract at present, if subjected to inundation or submergence.

The assumption of the permanence of the mean level of the
sea, at any part of the coast, does not appear to be entirely free
from objections. When we take into consideration the various
currents which traverse the ocean, those rivers of the deep, as
they may be denominated, such as the Gulf Stream, it does not
seem unreasonable to suppose, that the mean level of the
ocean, at those places against which the currents strike, may
exhibit occasional irregularities. These may arise from changes
either iq the velocity or direction of the current, at the place,
produced by alterations in the form of the headlands, or the
distribution of the sand-banks, and altogether independent of
the tidal wave. It appears to be owing to some such combina-
tion of causes, that the waters of ^he Red Sea maintain a con-

in the Frith of Forth, 2?

stant elevation, of between four and five fathoms, above the
neighbouring waters of the Mediterranean, at all times of the
tide. In such circumstances, if the elevated waters of the Red
Sea were either suddenly or slowly to assume the mean level
of the Mediterranean, there would be left on its deserted shores,
stratified or irregular deposits, containing the remains of marine
animals, phenomena well calculated to puzzle the advocates
for the universal permanency of the mean level of the ocean.
On the other hand, were the waters of the Mediterranean to
assume the mean level of the Red Sea, many tracts would be
inundated permanently, and others during every flood, which
at present are strangers to Neptune's influence. But leaving
the question of the permanency of the mean level of the ocean,
let us advert to the changes which may take place in the mean
level of flood tide, as applicable to the case of submarine forests.

The mean level of the sea, at any place, may readily be
determined by taking the excess of the mean of the two con-
secutive high water marks above the intermediate low water.
If the ordinary neap tides of any place give a rise of ten feet
of water, we may here assume an elevation or depression equal
to five feet from the mean level. But if during spring tides,
at the same place, the rise be sixteen feet, these grounds will
be covered at the time of flood with three feet of water, which
the neap tides did not reach, while a corresponding portion of
the channel will be exposed at the time of ebb^ which at the
same period, in neaps, was submerged three feet. Should this
condition of things be altered by any change in the form of the
coast, or the extent and inclination of the inclined planes of
the channel, the progressive motion of the tide wave may be
altered in its velocity, direction, and elevation. If now, for
example, instead of sixteen feet of tide, the waters rise to forty-
two, as at King's Road, Bristol, the land on the neighbouring
shore may be covered during flood with a column of water
thirteen feet in height, which at a former period was beyond
the influence of the tide.

If changes, such as have now been referred to, were to take
place on a coast covered with a forest growing near the former
level of high water, or with a bed of peat where a forest for-
merly grew, it is obvious that submergence of the spot would
take placp, and that a submarine forest would be formed.

28 Submarine Forest in Largo Bay,

If the opening of the connecting entrance of the Mediterra-
nean with the Atlantic, at the Straits of Gibraltar, were by any
means enlarged, high and low water marks, in the former,
would be removed to a greater distance from each other, and
places would be periodically covered by the one and uncovered
by the other, which, at present, may be considered as protected,
in consequence of the imperfect communication with the ocean
diminishing the oscillations of the tidal wave. Similar occur-
rences must have frequently taken place in the creeks and
estuaries of our own shores.

If the opening of the Red Sea into the Arabian Sea, by the
Straits of Babelmandel, became more contracted, by the in-
crease of coral reefs or sand-banks, the tidal waves of that gulf
would experience a corresponding diminution, and instead of
rising at high water, two or three feet above the mean level,
they would become confined in their oscillations to a few inches,
as in the Mediterranean at present. If the elevation of the
mean level of the tide, at high water, became thus diminished,
pools formerly filled with sea water and occupied by marine
plants, might pass into fresh-water lakes, and a layer of peat
might be formed of plants common to such a situation, covering
or intermixed with the remains of the anterior marine vegeta-
tion. Such changes seem on the continent to have taken place
at Linum, near Berlin, and in the vicinity of Drontheim. And
there is some reason to suppose that similar changes had
occurred at the Parret, in Somersetshire, where leaves of a
zostera have been found, according to the observations of
Mr. Horner.

But these changes which may take place in the level of high
water, though they may afford an explanation of submarine
forests situate above the mean level of the sea, furnish no evi-
dence applicable to such as present themselves in an inferior
position, or below the mean level of the sea. The submarine
forest described by Dr. Correa de Serra, is stated as extending
to the lowest ebbs in the year, or probably eight or nine feet
below the mean level of the sea. The Somerset submarine
forest is situate '* considerably below the level of the sea, and
now only to be seen at low water," Both the examples in Fife
likewise extend below the mean level of the sea.

According to the views which I have adopted and illustrated

in the Frith of Forth. 29

in the paper already referred to, there occurs a considerable
difficulty with respect to the barriers of those lakes which pre-
viously occupied the place of the forests and the silt of which
at present forms their subsoil. Dr. Correa de Serra justly ob-
serves that •* an exact resemblance exists between maritime
Flanders and the opposite low coast of England, both in point
of elevation above the sea and of internal structure and arrange-
ment of their soils.'* To me it does not seem extravagant to
connect the phenomena presented by the modern strata of both
shores, and to lead the fancy back to that period when the
space now occupied by the German Ocean was a fresh -water
lake. To maintain such a state of things we have only to ima-
gine the continuity of the chalk beds of Dover and Calais, and
those of a similar sera of Sutherland and Jutland. The last
is indeed no slight stretch of the imagination, and, in the
absence of other proof, might deserve to be denominated ex-
travagant. But in this neighbourhood there are other evi-
dences indicating that fresh-water lakes existed where the sea
now prevails, in the lacustrine silt over which it flows ; and
there are terraces and hills of fresh- water gravel which point
out the former existence of sea-ward barriers of which not a
trace remains. If such a lake ever existed, as the magnificent
one alluded to, its drainage, and the consequent subsidence of
its marshy margin, might serve to explain several interesting
phenomena, as well as the character of those submarine forests
which now present themselves beFow the mean level of the sea.
But 1 fear that this notice has already extended too far to per-
mit me to enlarge any farther on such topics.

February 15, 1830.

30

On the " Cystic Oxide^^ Calculus ; and on the sensible, mecha-
nical, and chemical Properties of the Urine in this Dia~
thesis. — By Robert Venables, M.B., St. Mary Hall,
Oxford ; Physician to the Chelmsford Provident Society,
&c. &c.

The occurrence of calculi of this description is so extremely
rare, that an opportunity of meeting with one may be con-
sidered as an era in practical medicine. Whether their occur-
rence be really so rare, or that many opportunities pass un-
heeded in consequence of the inattention so generally prevalent
with respect to the more obscure forms of urinary disease, it is
not my object on the present occasion to inquire. The cystifc
oxide was discovered by Dr. Wollaston for the first time in
1805 ; and in 18 LO, when he first published an account of its
properties in the Philosophical Transactions, he had met with
only two instances. Soon after Dr. Wollaston's description.
Dr. Henry, of Manchester, discovered two specimens in his
private collection*; but nothing seems to be known with
respect to the histories of these cases.

Dr. Marcet met with three instances of this singular sub-
stance, and he has published a summary history of each, so
far as he had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with it.
For the details, imperfect as they are, I must refer to his work
on " Calculous Disorders |." Mr. Brande met with two in-
stances, the histories of which are also confined and unsatis-
factory. The reader desirous of further information is referred
to Mr. Brande's account J.

Dr. Prout, at the time of publishing the second edition of
his very valuable work on the urinary organs, had met with
only one instance. The detail appears to me the most valu-
able history extant, because it describes the general and very
singular properties of the urine : objects of primary importance
in calculous and all other urinary affections. Hence then it
appears, that during a period of nearly twenty-five years —
from 1805 to 1830 — only ten instances of the cystic oxide
have been noted in the whole of the medical experience of

• Henry, Med. Chirurg. Trans, vol. x. p. 140. f Pages 90—96.
X Royal lusU Journal; vol. viii. p. 71.

Dr. Venables on the Cystic Oxide, &c. ^

Great Britain ; and in only one of these have the properties 6f
the urine been observed and described.

Although the instance, the particulars of which 1 am about
to detail in this paper, will not perhaps be considered as adding
much to the stock of information already extant upon this sin-
gular species of urinary concretion, still I am induced to bring
it under the review of the scientific ; not only because repeated
observations upon so rare a form of urinary derangement must
be valuable, but also having had the case under my immediate
superintendence for a considerable time, frequent opportunities
of attending to the properties of the urine occurred to me ; and
which, as tending to confirm in a great degree the very accu-
rate description of Dr. Prout, will no doubt prove acceptable.

„j, , ,, HISTORY OF THE CALCULUS.

Mechdittt^takd sensible characters. — The calculus was about
the size of a very large nut, and passed naturally with the urine
through the urethra, by a female, a patient of Mr. Richard
Cremer's, a respectable surgeon in this town, who gave it to
me with a request that I would examine it, and ascertain its
nature and chemical composition. It had a dull whitish ap-
pearance, and the outer surface was studded with a few spark-
ling shining crystals, which on examination proved to be the
triple phosphate. The calculus itself in its external characters
and appearance closely resembled the triple one. Its figure
or shape approximated very much to that of the kidney. It
weighed rather move than twelve grains. On being sawed
through, it seemed of a waxy nature, though of much firmer
consistence than wax, clogging the teeth of the saw, and giving
occasion for frequent cleaning during the operation. Its tex-
ture was not laminated ; its fracture was crystalline, and, as
has been described, seemed to have a highly refractive density.
The specific gravity was 1.714285.

Chemical characters. — Before the blow-pipe it gave out a
peculiar foetid odour, of a somewhat animal nature, but very
distinct from that of the lithic acid, leaving a black spongy
mass, which when further and more strongly urged, dissipated,
leaving a minute portion of whitish ash, not alkaline. Heated
with nitric acid upon a slip of laminated platina, it readily dis-
solved, and oil being heated over a spirit-lamp till the acid was

32 Dr. Venables on the Cystic Oxide, &c.

evaporated, a brownish, black, brittle residue remained, which
burned, and gradually dissipated, on intensely heating the
platina before the blow-pipe, leaving a whitish stain. It was
insoluble in water, alcohol, the acetic, citric, and tartaric
acids, and in the neutral carbonate of ammonia.

It was readily dissolved by the nitric, sulphuric, muriatic,
and phosphoric acids, by the pure, and the carbonates of the
fixed alkalies, and by lime and barytic water. The neutral
carbonate of ammonia precipitated it from its acid solutions,
and the citric, and acetic acids, precipitated it when held in
solution by the alkalies and their carbonates.

Although these characters fully satisfied me that this sub-
stance could be nothing else than the cystic oxide, still, as I
had never before seen a single specimen, I sent a portion of it
to my friend Dr. Prout, who fully confirmed my views of its
nature, and at the same time, strongly urged obtaining, if pos-
sible, the particulars of the case, and instituting an examina-
tion into the properties of the urine. The result I shall now
proceed to detail.

HISTORY OF THE CASE.

The patient is a labourer's wife, residing at Mashberry,
in this neighbourhood, aged forty-seven, stout, corpulent
habit of body, sallow complexion, but in other respects healthy
looking. Has had several children, living and healthy. Not-
withstanding her general healthy appearance, she suffers very
much from constant pains in the loins, mostly obtuse, resembling
lumbago, but frequently assuming the acute character of active
inflammation of the kidneys, requiring copious depletion and
other powerful antiphlogistic measures for their relief. Mr.
Cremer informed me that, at such times, the inflammatory
affection of the kidneys assumed a very acute character.

She has frequently passed small calculi, similar to that
given to me. The passing — if the calculi be of any size — is
generally preceded by sharp and severe pains in the loins, ex-
tending in the direction of the bladder, and along the course of
the ureter. These pains gradually become more and more
severe, *' till a feeling as if something dropping into the bottom
part of the body*," when relief is obtained ; and generally after

* I use the patient's own words in expressing her feelings.

Pr. Venables on the Cystic Oxide, &c. 33

an interval of a day or two a calculus is voided. Upon one
occasion a great number of small ones, about the size of small
peas, were passed, all of which were connected together like
beads on a string. None of these, however, have been pre-
served, nor has their nature been positively ascertained.

OF THE URINE.

Sensible and mechanical properties. • — On the 30th June,
1828, 1 for the first time obtained a specimen of the urine passed
by this patient. It was passed in medium quantity. It was
of a greenish-yellow colour, something like the rind of a melon
when nearly ripe. The taste was slightly saline. The smell
was very peculiar, and, I am satisfied, characteristic, as I had
never before met with any thing similar. The only thing that
I consider bears the slightest resemblance to it is the odour of
the sweet-briar. If we imagine this odour adulterated with a
foetid urinous one, some idea, though I acknowledge an inade-
quate one, may be formed of the smell of this urine. Its con-
sistence was oily, that is, the finest kind of oil, and its specific
gravity 1.022. It was opalescent and turbid, apparently from
the mechanical suspension of an opalescent impalpable powder.
On being allowed to remain at rest, only a part of this amor-
phous pulverulent mass subsided to the bottom of the vessel.
What separated seemed to subside enveloped in a kind of
mucus mixed with coagulated fibrine ; but a sufficient quantity
to render the urine opalescent remained in permanent me-
chanical suspension, although left at rest for several days. The
upper surface of the fluid, however, for the depth of about two
lines, became rather clearer, so as to resemble a film of oil
floating on a denser and more opake fluid. That the opales-
cence arose from the mechanical suspension of an amorphous
powder, became evident by passing the urine through a filter,
it passing through clear and transparent, of a deep sherry-wine
colour, slightly tinged with green. What remained on the filter
consisted principally of the cystic oxide *, intermixed with a

♦ Hence it may be inferred that the cystic oxide exists for the most part in a
state of mechanical suspension, rather than of chemical solution, in the urine.
This would still further appear from the fact that acetic acid and the other preci-
pitating re-agents threw down very little — indeed scarcely any more — cystic oxide
from the Jillered urine, though this principle was abundantly separated by the

JAN. — MARCH, 1830. D

34 Dr. Venables on the Cystic Oxide, &c.

little animal matter— principally mucus and fibrine — and a
small proportion of the triple phosphate.

Chemical characters. — This urine faintly reddened litmus
paper; but this was clearly not the consequence of the re-
agency of a free acid. No decided alkaline re-agency suc-
ceeded, even after an interval of several days, nor did the filmy
deposit of the triple phosphate form on the surface *. Acetic
acid and spirit of wine threw down a scanty precipitate of cystic
oxide. Neutral carbonate of ammonia, however, threw down
a copious precipitate, consisting principally of the triple phos-
phate intermixed with the cystic oxide in greater abundance ;
and a filmy layer of the triple crystals speedily formed on the
surface of the urine. Ammonia produced nearly similar re-
sults, but the triple salt was more abundant, while there was.
no sensible portion of the cystic oxide mixed with the preci-
pitate. When the urine was evaporated to one-half or one-
third its original bulk, the acetic acid and alcohol threw down
the oxide in quantities sufficient to recognize its properties and
prove its identity.

This urine was also very deficient in urea ; as not a particle
separated on the addition of nitric acid, even when evaporated
down to nearly the consistence of a thick syrup. Lithic acid
was not separable even on the addition of the concentrated
mineral acids to the urine evaporated to one-third its original
quantity. This principle, however, was not wholly deficient,
as was proved by evaporating to dryness, removing the phos-
phates, &c., and then treating the residue with nitric acid on a
slip of platina, heating and subsequently evaporating to dry-
ness. On exposing to the vapour of heated ammonia an am-
moniacal purpurate was formed, easily recognized by its colour.

same re-agents before filtration. The mechanical suspension of the oxide may also
serve to explain the readiness with which this substance separates and concretes
into calculous masses in the kidneys, where the diathesis prevails ; and it supports,
if it do not absolutely confirm, the opinion advanced by Dr. Marcet, and confirmed
by all the histories hitherto detailed, that calculi of this description are exclusively
^f renal origin.

* In the two last respects this specimen differed considerably from the one
noticed by Dr. Prout. In the instance which occurred to him, " the mine soon was
covered with a greasy-looking film and at the same time speedily became alka-
line." But in this case the patient for a fortnight before had been taking alkaline
remedies, which will easily explain the tendency to become alkaline, as observed
by Dr. Prout. These characters, therefore, must be looked upon as arti/lcial, rather
than the natural and genuine result of- the "Cystic Oxide Diathesis."

Dr. Venables on the Cystic Oxide, &c. 35

Serum in small proportion was an occasional, but not constant,
ingredient.

The treatment consisted in the exhibition of the muriatic
acid, and sulphate of morphia, with ipecacuanha, acetic extract
of colchicum, and extract of hyoscyamus, in small doses, in
the form of pills. The state of the bowels was also carefully
watched, and any tendency to constipation was obviated by
means of castor oil, or some other mild aperient. This plan
was persevered in for a considerable time, Mr. Cremer having
kindly undertaken to supply her with whatever medicines 1
might consider necessary for her relief. This plan was at-
tended with considerable benefit, and I believe she has not ex-
perienced a severe attack of renal inflammation since that period.

On several subsequent occasions, and during the period of
her taking the medicine, I have had opportunities of examining
the urine. It would be useless to enumerate the individual
results, as it would only lead to a repetition of what has been
already stated. The only thing necessary to observe, is, that
the specific gravity varied, being sometimes higher, sometimes
lower, but never exceeding 1.025, nor falling below 1.020;
There was less of the cystic oxide in mechanical suspension,
and relatively more in solution, although the absolute quantity
of this principle was diminished. The urine indicated more
strongly an acidulous re-agency, and the quantity of lithic acid
was sensibly, though not materially, increased ; but what is of
paramount importance, the patient's sufferings were very much
alleviated.

OBSERVATIONS.

On reviewing the foregoing facts, several circumstances
deserving of particular notice present themselves for considie-
ration. We first observe a deficiency amounting almost to a
total absence of two natural principles — urea and lithic acid —
existing in comparatively great abundance in healthy urine.
Hence we can readily admit the exclusive tendency of this
diathesis, and easily explain the great purity of cystic calculi,
as remarked by WollaSton *, Prout, Marcet, and others, who

* The first specimen discovered by Dr. Wollaston had a loose coating of the
phosphate of lime. This might have been produced by an immoderate indulgence
m alkaline remedies, or been furnished accidentally from the prostrate gland.
That it was artificially, rather than naturally produced, may be inferred from
the fact of the same, patieni— a boy about five years old— having died after the
fonnatiou of another stone, which consisted almost wholly of lithic acid.

D 2

36 Dr. Venables on the Cystic Oxide, &c.

have enjoyed tlie most extensive opportunities of observation.
The almost total absence of Hthic acid prevents the possibility
of any contamination with this principle or its compounds,
while the tendency in the urine to alkalescence during the pre-
valence of the cystic oxide diathesis, would be unfavourable to
the separation of the lithic acid, even if it existed in larger
quantity. The absence of urea removes one source of the
formation of alkali in the urine, and of course the precipitation
of the phosphates. Urea, especially in mucous, and several
other disordered states of the urine, speedily undergoes decom-
position, evolving ammonia or its carbonate 3 hence the excess
of phosphoric acid in the superphosphates of ammonia and of
magnesia, &c., by which the latter is held in solution,
being neutralized, the triple salt precipitates. But as the urea
is so deficient in this diathesis, it is evident a very powerfully
operative source of contamination with the phosphates is sup-
pressed.

The faintly acidulous reaction noticed in tjiis urine was
owing unquestionably to the superphosphates of ammonia,
magnesia, &c. ; and it must be observed that the excess of
acid in super-salts is in a very different state from that of a
free acid; for although in excess as it is termed, it is still in
combination, and so long as the combination exists, incapable
of exerting the full chemical reagencies of a free or uncombined
acid. It is upon these principles that we may explain the fact
of the comparatively large proportion of the cystic oxide in
mechanical suspension, and the small quantity of the same
principle in actual solution. Probably the affinities of the
oxide and excess of phosphoric acid for each other were infe-
rior to those of this excess for the alkaline bases with which
it was combined. Or, to speak more chemically, " the sum
of the quiescent exceeded that of the divellent affinities,'*
and consequently the intregrity of the super-salts was pre-
served.

Hence, too, we can explain the readiness with which the
cystic oxide, when abundantly secreted, separates, as already
observed, from the urine in the kidney, and concretes into cal-
culous masses before reaching the bladder. When the specific
gravity of the urine is high, and the quantity of cystic oxide
secreted not superabundant — and this principle, even when

Dr. Venables on the Cystic Oxide, &c. 37

concreted, not being of very high specific gravity, — in a state
of minute or impalpable mechanical division its specific gravity
will scarcely exceed that of the urine ; it will remain in
suspension and be evacuated with this fluid. But if the
specific gravity of the urine be low, and the quantity of oxide
secreted relatively abundant, of course there will be an imme-
diate subsidence, and that in the kidney, — and a renal con-
cretion will be the consequence.

All preceding observations infer se\-e re disease of the kidneys
in this diathesis. The present history fully confirms this infe-
rence. The frequent attacks of nephritis, the pains in the
Teno-lumbar regions, the coagulable fibrine, the albuminous
and other morbid qualities of the urine, fully attest this con-
clusion, and indeed scarcely leave a doubt of its correctness.

Whether disease of the bladder be an essential consequence,
the facts at present known are not sufficient to decide. In the
present case, I think, there can be little doubt of its being
affected in some degree; and as most of those cases, with the
histories of which we are best acquainted, appear to have termi-
nated rather suddenly — a very frequent occurrence in diseases
of the bladder and kidneys, this may be considered as
strengthening the presumption of the bladder being more or
less diseased, or, at all events, liable to become so.

With respect to the medical treatment adapted to such cases
we scarcely know any thing from experience. This arises from
the limited field of inquiry necessarily presented, from the
rarity of the affection, to those competent to the task. With
but one or two exceptions, the opportunities of acquiring prac-
tical information occurred to those who probably had not
devoted, and consequently had not qualified, themselves for
inquiries of this description ; and who possibly were uncon-
scious at the moment of the nature of the disease entrusted to
their care. "As to the remaining species of calculi," says
Dr. Marcet, *' and especially the cystic oxide, since these are
soluble both in acids and alkalis, the use of the one or the
other class of re-agents must be determined by collateral cir-
cumstances and by future trials*."

Dr. Prout observes, *^ With respect to the medical treatment
to be adopted, this will depend on circumstances. In the first
* On Calculous Disorders, Ed. 2d., p. 181.

^ Dr. Venables on the Cystic Oxide, &C.

place, great attention should be paid to the digestive functions ;
and if the urine be acid, the alkaHs may be taken with advan*
Uge ; on the contrary, if alkahne, the muriatic acid *."
, These precepts being founded on strictly chemical principles,
and as being too exclusive, will not be found to answer in
gctual practice. In rare and obscure forms of disease, in
which the sources of observation and experience are limited,
and in which morbid anatomy and pathology have contributed
but little to our instruction, we must found our principles of
treatment upon reasoning and analogy. In all cases of serous
urine; and in tendencies to an alkaline condition of this fluid,
indicating positive or approaching disease of the bladder ; I
am disposed to regard mercury as highly prejudicial ; and in
the same light I view the alkalis, and those salts which tend
to produce an alkaline condition of the urine. Of this de-
scription are the salts formed with an alkaline base, and a de*
jstructible or vegetable acid. I believe an alkaline condition of
the urine, if kept up for any length of time, is of itself capable
of inducing disease of the bladder f, even without any previous
disposition ; and this opinion is founded upon experience, not,
however, sufficiently conclusive to be admitted as a general
established principle. Upon these grounds I cannot but
deprecate the use of the alkalis, and alkaline salts compounded
with a destructible acid, in the cystic oxide diathesis in which
there is a tendency to urinary alkalescence 'l, and to a deposi-
tion of the phosphates with at least a disposition to, if not
positive disease, of the bladder. I advance it, however, only
as a general principle, subject to occasional modification.

* On the Urinary Organs, Ed. 2d., p. 169.

f I believe it is an observed fact, that disease of the bladder is a much more fre-
quent occurrence lately than in former periods. This perhaps some may be inclined
to attribute to the increased attention of the present day, and superior methods of
discrimination now prevalent. This will in part account for the observation, but
not to the full extent. I think the increased prevalence may be in a great measure
iittributed to the empirical and inconsiderate indulgence in several fashionably
medicines — as Seidlitz powders, &c. — and the popular practice of rendering hard
malt hquor mild and brisk by the addition of carbonated alkalis.

I The urine, in most instances of the progress of the above case, was neutral,
even during the exhibition of the muriatic acid ; and when the quantity of lithic
acid increased, it seemed to me combined with lime and soda, &c., forming lithates
with these bases, but perfectly white, and which of itself infers a tendency in the
urine to become alkalescent. The very minute proportion in which these lithates
existed, did not permit a satisfactory and unequivocal verification of their distil-
guishing characters.

Di*. Venables on the Cystic Oxide, &c; 3d

^ The solution, and even permanent sblutiori, of the cystic
oxide, seems upon every principle of analogy and reasoning,
to form an essential feature in the treatment. This, if my
views be correct, cannot be safely nor advantageously at-t
tempted by means of the alkalis ; therefore we must have
recourse to those acids capable of exerting a solvent power
upon this principle. Indeed they appear to me superior in
every respect to the alkalis ; and in this view, though pos-
sibly upon different grounds, I am supported by Dr. Prout,
who says that the muriatic acid, " if the irritation present would
permit it, might, perhaps in all cases, be employed advan-
tageously, not only with the view of retaining the cystic oxide
in solution, but of inducing the lithic acid diathesis*."

It is a problem of no easy solution, whether an. acid intro-
duced into the stomach be identically the same which, reaching
the kidneys and mixing with the urine in a free state, gives to
this fluid its acid reagency ; or whether this effect be the result
of more remote and less direct operations. Indeed the problem
hardly admits of unequivocal demonstration. Analogy, how-
ever, would infer the affirmative proposition. We know that
turpentine, nitre, and other similar salts, resist the decom-
posing powers of the stomach, making their way through the
kidneys unaltered, and may be chemically detected in the
urine. Hence, then, we may infer that the fixed or more un-
decompoundable acids will do the same. Upon these prin-
ciples I prefer the phosphoric acid to all others, for it certainly
seems to produce less irritation, and by holding the super-
abundant mucus in solution, thus favours its expulsion. Howr
ever, I have not had much opportunity of trying it in the cystic
oxide diathesis, although I have in the phosphatic and in
catarrh us vesicae. .

Inflammatory action should be subdued and arrested by
sufficient depletion and an active antiphlogistic regimen.
Leeches, or occasional cupping the loins, sacrum, and the
hypogastrium, will prove highly serviceable; and the insertion
of permanent issues in the reno-lumbar regions will conduce
much towards suspending the progress of organic disease in
the kidneys.

♦ Op. Cit., p. 169,

40 Dr. Venables on the Cystic Oxide, &c.

The bowels should be kept moderately open, and the diges-
tive functions be properly attended to and regulated. The due
action of the skin should be promoted by an occasional resort
to the warm bath, and the exhibition of mild diaphoretics.

I know of nothing superior to small doses of the sulphate of
morphia, combined with acatic extract of colchicum, ipeca-
cuanha, and hyoscyamus, hop, &c. These means I have
found valuable in analogous conditions of the urine, and can
recommend them from experience by no means confined.
Such means steadily persevered in, I am inclined to hope,
may prove highly beneficial; and in cases not marked by
unusual severity, may possibly suspend the advance of the
disease, or at all events, defer to a distant period the fatal
termination.

■**oiq ^?yi^i\ owJi Vj inaoai -^i

P. S. — Although all the facts in the history of this disease,
and all the information extant upon the subject, leaves not a
doubt of the renal origin of this species of calculus, and fully
prove the greater correctness of the name, " renal, or nephritic
oxide,'' suggested by Dr. Marcet; yet, as neither he nor
Dr. Prout, nor any of those who have preceded me upon this
affection, have ventured to alter the name given to it by its
discoverer, I have not deemed it prudent to attempt any inno-
vation, and have, therefore, in this paper adopted the name
originally bestowed upon it by the late Dr. Wollaston.

On the Coal-field of Sutherland, By J. Mac CuLLOcn^ M.D.,
F.R.S., &c. &c.

Although the " coal-field" of Sutherland was known to
Mr. Williams, and has more recently been examined in a
professional manner by an experienced surveyor, no account
of it has yet been laid before the public. The singularity of
its geographical position, nevertheless, and the peculiarity of
its geological connexions, render it an object of great interest
to a geologist ; and they have induced me to draw up the fol-
lowing account. The circumstances of this Journal must be
an excuse for not adding the map which belongs to it.

The total space which this deposit occupies is, as far as

On the Coal-field of Sutherland, 41

relates to its superficial area, very inconsiderable ; but it ex-
tends for some miles along the shore, yet in an interrupted
manner. In no place does it far exceed a mile in breadth ;
and, in some, it is not more than a few yards wide. It must
therefore be considered that the real position of this ** coal-
field" i« under the" sea td the eastward; and that the part
which alotte is open to investigation is the edge or boundary,
which reposes on the subjacent rocks that form the solid mass
of the land on this side of Sutherland. --^i* "'a'^' >^ ^ "'^i ' ",

The interior land, which forms the boUhdftiyof this deposit,
consists of a very irregular group of mountains, which are here
divided nearly at right angles to the coast line by many valleys,
giving passage to sundry streams from the higher country be-
yond it.

These mountains in one or two places protrude into the sea,
and thus both terminate and intersect the " coal-field." In
all parts they come down near to the shore, being thus sepa-
rated from the sea only by the variable and often inconsider-
able breadth of the secondary tract, which contains the coal.
The elevation of this hilly ground is not very great, rarely
reaching to one thousand feet ; and the general outline is
rounded and lumpish, unmarked by rocky protuberances or
precipitous faces.

It was already remarked that a great tract of granite occurred
on this coast, and I may now add that the hills thus described
consist chiefly, through their whole extent, of this rock.

With respect to the aspect of the land which contains the
secondary strata and the coal, it is far from being level in all
parts. On the contrary, in many places it forms low undu-
lating hills, and in others rises in an even manner from the
flat shore, so as to conform in its inclination to the acclivities
of the hills by which it is bounded. Where the rivers, which
have been described as holding their courses through the in-
tervals of the mountains, traverse those undulating or elevated
parts of the secondary strata, they often form deep sections ;
by which the order of the stratification is exposed to view, and
considerable facility aflforded in determining (he nature and
succession of the whole series down to the subjacent rock.
In other parts, where the shore is flat, the strata being elevated
pi different angles, that order can be traced, but to a much

J9 Pn the Coal-field of Sutherland^,

mor6 limited extent and less satisfactorily, by following thew
elevated edges along the sea line, where the investing covering
of earth has been removed. As the ebb is here considerable,
the geologist will find his investigations much facilitated by
choosing the time of low water for his operations.

The mass of granite described in the first part of this paper
divides the sandstone of Caithness from this deposit; but
while, on that side, the conglomerate strata occur in small
quantity and are fine grained, often much resembling granite,
and commonly composed of a very limited number of ingre-
dients, no indication was observed of that well-known variety
of conglomerate which is composed of many primary rockss,
and in which the fragments are of various and generally of
large dimensions.

But on that side of the granite where this coal-field lies, the
first substance found reposing on it is a conglomerate of a
coarse texture, formed of many different rocks ; these being
loosely agglutinated by gravel and sand of the same materials.
The fragments are often so large as to reach to many hundred
pounds in weight. The substances of which they consist are
chiefly gneiss, granite, micaceous schist, argillaceous schist,
and sandstone.

Where this conglomerate first appears, it forms an insulated
liigh rock, now unconnected with the granite ; but lower por-
tions of it skirt the cliffs of that rock for a certain space along
this part of the shore. Its extent, however, is not considerable;
while, in many places, it forms a very thin bed. Tracing it
along the granite, it at length disappears either partially or
entirely, and in many parts of the coal-field it is altogether
absent ; so that the next strata in the order of succession come
into contact with the fundamental granite of the mountains.
I did not succeed in finding, in the northern part of this deposit,
any of the ordinary red sandstone to which it must be sup-
posed to belong, or any rocks resembling those which occur on
the northern side of the granite ; but to the southward there
is found interposed between it and the granite, that series of
red sandstone which extends into the southern parts of Sutherr
land and into Cromarty. It may be concluded that the conglo-
merate lying near the granite, on the northern part of the coal-
field, is partial and evanescent, and that the secondary strata^

On the Coal-field of Sutherland* 43

which belong to the coal formation here, are in immediate
contact with the granite throughout the greater part of their
extent.

There is, indeed, no difficulty in ascertaining the truth of
this statement by open examination ; since I have, in one
place, traced the coal itself within a few feet, or eveii inches
of the granite ; the interval being filled by a shale. In many
other places, the sandstone, shale, or limestone, in the series
may be traced, if not absolutely in contact with it, yet, to a
distance so very short, as to render it probable that nothing
is interposed, and to render it certain, at least, that not much
of the conglomerate, if any, can be present.

Before describing the remaining substances that occur in
this coal-field, it is necessary to mention all that could be
discovered respecting the order of succession of the particular
strata in the deposit. That, indeed, appears so irregular, that
no accurate notion can be formed of it, nor any detailed and
(Certain description given. As the strata are commonly thin,
and the different substances are repeated many different times
in alternation, it is not difficult to understand how this ap-
parent irregularity arises. A certain order may really pervade
the whole, although no two distant places may agree in ex^
hibiting the same order of succession. From the tenuity of
any one stratum, as it becomes diminished in its progress, it
gradually vanishes ; and thus, a new order appears to be the
consequence ; while the same taking place in other places,
with regard to other substances on other strata, an appearance
of complete irregularity is the result. And thus, in no two
places does this series exhibit precisely the same number of
beds, or the same proportions, or arrangement of the different
substances of which it is composed. As similar appearances
are, however, by no means uncommon, it is unnecessary to
dwell on them ; it is sufficient to have mentioned the fact,
as an apology for not attempting to give with precision the
order of succession among the remaining strata to be described.
In describing them, I shall, however, notice these which, from
occurring most generally, or always, in the lowest situations
where they exist, may be considered as those which follow the
fundamental conglomerate wherever they are found ; or which,
when that is not present, repose immediately on the granite.

44 On the Coal-field of Sutherland.

The first of these to be noticed, is a conglomerate with a
basis of limestone, containing generally fragments of argil-
laceous schist (shales) or of sandstone, or both, or fragments
of other limestones. More rarely it contains fragments of
gneiss and of granite, and occasionally also of quartz and of
felspar. This conglomerate, from the places in which it oc-
curs, seems immediately to follow the fundamental conglo-
merate already described ; although, from the nature of its
position in the sea, the contact cannot be traced I I'coiildnot
discover it in those parts of the field most remote from the
granite ; although it may exist deep beneath the surface, where
the strata are inaccessible. This position is indeed to be ex-
pected ; as it approaches very nearly in character to the funda-
mental conglomerate ; differing from it in little else than the
smaller sizes of the fragments, and the calcareous nature of
the basis.

The strata which seem to follow next in order to this, con-
sist of a grey limestone, varying in its aspect in different parts.
It is sometimes large, granular, or else of a fine grain, and
very smooth, even fracture^ and it is also occasionally schistose.
In some places it alternates with thin beds of shale. In others
it contains fragments of charcoal ; or else the calcareous sub-
stance is intimately mixed with carbonaceous matter, or the
coaly ingredient alternates in thin laminae with the limestone*
These parts of the calcareous strata, I must, however, remark,
seem to be the upper part of this deposit.

The reasons why it is judged that these limestones follow
immediately after the calcareous conglomerate are, that their
position on the shore where they occur, seems to justify that
conclusion, and because, in other cases, it is remarked, that
where a bed of conglomerate, similar to the fundamental one
of this place, is followed by a calcareous conglomerate, that is
succeeded by simple calcareous strata. The causes of this
order of succession must be very obvious.

Other limestones in this part of the series consist solely of a
calcareous conglomerate; that is, the basis is a simple lime-
stone, containing imbedded fragments of other limestones. But
these also seem, like the carbonaceous beds, to belong to a
higher part of this series.

The organic remains which occur in the calcareous strata,

On the Coal-field of Sutherland. 45

also appear to lie in the upper beds of this part of the deposit.
They form a different set of calcareous strata ; but the animal
exuviae are frequently intermixed in the same stratum with
the carbonaceous matter vvhich appears to have been derived
from vegetables. The species of organic substances which I
had an opportunity of examining, are far from numerous; and
they are so very often obscure, from being mutilated and im-
bedded in an unusually compact limestone, that it was impos-
sible to determine all their species, if indeed they are all to
be found ainong,^t)^se.\^l}iql^, n^tuj^U^^s^ in, t^ jlepartment
have ascertained, ,^,^,J^,^ \,,.,^'^^^^:^^^ ^'^l/.!rfi^

In the genus ammonites, five or six well marked species,
vith a probability, from impressions and fragments, of there
being even two or three more. Two gryphites. Two, or perhaps
more, belemnites. Many apparent fragments of spiral uni-
valves ; and two, which prove to belong to turritella and nerita.
Also a buccinum. Among bivalves, species in the genera
pecten, modiola, plagiostoma, terebratula, mya, ostrea, trigo-
nia, cardium, and apparently some others, which, from the im-
perfection and small number of my specimens, were unassign-
able. Besides these, I find abundance of the spines of echini,
some flustrse, some joints of encrini, and other fragments which
seemed to surpass all powers of analysis. I need not be more
minute, as the purposes of geology, such as I view that
science, are accomplished, as far as my purposes are concerned,
by this enumeration. The question of extinct zoology is of a
far different nature : but I see no necessity for confounding
them ; and this does not form the present pursuit. As to the
vegetable fragments, it is abundantly easy to describe forms,
and stripes, and much more : but I have not discovered to
what this tends, where the remains are so very obscure as they
are here, or as I at least find them. ,J

After leaving these calcareous strata, the strata which succeed
consist of various shells and sandstones, with occasional small
laminae and larger beds of coal, and some thin and partial beds
of sand, apparently resulting from the decomposition of some
of the most friable sandstones. It would be quite fruitless to
attempt to describe the order of succession in these repeated
alternations ; since they present every where that irregularity

4d On the Coal-field of Sutherland.

of recurrence and of dimensions which I noticed at the begitining
of this part of the subject.

The sandstone is sometimes of a pure white, but rarely very
solid ; much oftener it is extremely friable. Occasionally it
contains fragments of the same kind of sandstone, or presents,
what is not very common, a simple white sandstone conglo-
merate. In one or two places, I remarked that it was inter-
sected in every direction by laminar veins of great tenuity,
reticulating in an intricate manner, and of a whiter colour than
the body of the rock. They are also harder; since, on the
exposed surfaces, they protrude in the manner so often seeu
in granite, where similar veins exist. I should also here ob-
serve, that among these sandstone beds, there occur conglo-
merates with a sandstone base, containing fragments of shale
<5r of limestone, or of both. The variety of appearance which
they hence present is considerable, but requires no further
description. The shales are of various colours and of different
degrees of solidity or tenacity. Bluish-black, black, and paler
grey, are among the most common; but red, yellow, and
purple are not unfrequent. That which is requisite to be said
respecting the coal, will better find its place in the historical
account of the workings at Broras.

Such is the variety bf substances, and the general order of
succession in this coal-field, as far as it can be ascertained,
and as far indeed as it seems either necessary or useful that it
should be known.

• For those who are desirous of seeing more particularly the
minute arrangements occurring in the upper part of the series,
I shall content myself with referring to the working section of
the Brora coal. I shall, in terminating this part of the
subject, content myself with summing up, in the most
general manner, the order of succession in the inferior parts,
as far as that could be deduced with any probability. Arid,
to render it more useful, I shall exhibit it as it occurs in
difi*erent places.

Granite.

Coarse conglomerate of various rocks.

Calcareous conglomerate of various rocks in a calcareous base.

Grey compact, and granular limestone.

On the Coal-field of Sutherland. 4t

Grey limestone, with charcoal in fragments, or with carbonaceous
matter in laminae, or diffused through the rock.

Limestone, with various organic remains ; also bituminous.

White sandstone conglomerate.

White sandstone, shales, coal, and limestone in numerous and
very irregular alternations.

This enumeration comprises as complete a general series
from the granite upwards, as this coal-field appears to afford ^
but it does not pretend to give the number of the strata.

The next series shews a simpler order of things, the lower
conglomerate being absent : and of the following, I may as
well remark here, that they are detailed to shew what takes
place in those cases where the granite touches the coal-field
in such a manner as to exclude the lower strata ; or else,
where, in the progress of deposition of the successive strata,^
the lower have gradually disappeared —

Granite. j

Calcareous conglomerate. -j

Limestone. ^

Limestone, with carbonaceous matter and shells.
Sandstone, shale, limestone, and coal, in different alternations.

Granite.

Limestone, with or without shells and carbonaceous matter. '

Sandstone, coal, and shale, in alternations. ^

Granite. Shale. Coal. Sandstone. Shale. Sandstone, &c.

. Granite. Sandstone. ShaJe. Sandstone. Limestone. Sandstone.

Considering the phenomena which often take place at the
junction of granite with the primary rocks, it will naturally be
asked whether these strata are any where fractured or fissured,
or whether they any where contain granite veins. Some frac-
tures have been found in the coal strata at Brora, but none of
the latter appearances were observed during my researches ;
and from the want of such appearances in the red sandstone,
formerly described as similarly situated with respect to this
granite, it is probable that there is no interference of the granite
with this set of secondary strata. It must, on the contrary, be
considered, that they have been deposited on the previously
formed basis of the granite ; whether or not they may have,
since that period, undergone any change of position. I am
thus led to consider the present state of their inclination^ wbiolv

48 On the Coal-field of Sutherland.

is the last subject connected with the history of these strata yet
remaining to be noticed.

This inclination is exceedingly irregular and inconsistent.
At the coal works at Brora, it is about 12'^, or varies from 10°
to 15° ; dipping to the south-east. Here I must remark, they
lie at some distance from the foot of the hills. Near the
northern parts of the field, the inclination varies from 20° even
to 60° and 70° ; and in some places, they are even vertical. In
one or two situations, I observed them reversed in contact,
although no intervening veins were present. It seems also to
be a sort of general rule, that as they approach the hills, the
angle of inclination increases ; although exceptions to this law
occur. If the dip is not invariably to the south-eastward, that
must still be considered the predominant one ; a circumstance
which might be expected from the position of this field with
respect to the hills. The exceptions, however, which occur,
are neither unfrequent nor trifling ; as the dips are often found
to be north or south, and at every possible angle, even in a
very narrow space.

Before proceeding further in the history of these strata I
must interpose a few remarks, as a continuation of the same
fact which forms a remarkable circumstance in the first portion
of this paper ; the granite is succeeded by what will presently
be seen to be a very remote portion of the secondary strata
and without the intervention of any primary strata. By the
manner in which these strata succeed to the granite, it is plain
that the order is not entire throughout; but that different
members of the series, where it is complete, come into contact
with the fundamental rock. As it has also been already in-
ferred that this granite is not posterior to the strata, but that
they have been deposited on that rock, it follows from the cir-
cumstances stated in the preceding paragraph, that the inferior
strata have, in certain parts, ceased in succession to be depo-
sited, thus admitting the upper members to come into contact
with the fundamental rock. This occurrence is, however, so
common in other cases where secondary strata occupy the
geological situations commonly called basins, that it needs
excite no surprise. The present fact is, however, as yet a
solitary occurrence ; it is the only instance known, in which
strata so high in the usual order of succession, are found ia

On the Coal' field of Sutherland, 49

contact with that rock which is the lowest of all, whether se-
condary or primary.

The last general consideration in this case relates to the
disturbance of the coal strata in this field, which 1 have shown
to be considerable. It is undoubtedly a common occurrence
everywhere ; yet, as a great variety of substances, reaching to
a great depth, are in all such cases found beneath those strata,
the nature or the places of the cause which have led to thera
are entirely out of the reach of conjecture. Here, the lowest
rock, the granite, is immediately in contact with the secondary
strata J and if these disturbances have been produced by partial
elevations, or subsidencies in the foundation, it is in that rock
that they must be sought. In other cases, among the pri-
mary strata, where it seems probable that the disturbances of
these have been produced by changes in the condition of the
subjacent granite, that probability rests chiefly on the intrusion
of this substance in the forms of veins, on its peculiar and
irregular obliquity to the strata at the places of mutual con-
tact, and on circumstances which have so often been discussed
that it is unnecessary to repeat them. But here no veins
have been discovered; and it seems, on the contrary, pro-
bable, that the secondary strata in question have been de-
posited originally on the solid granite, whatever posterior,
changes they may have undergone. The granite, therefore,
not having been protruded in a fluid state beneath them, what-
ever changes of figure it may have undergone capable of pro-
ducing the disturbance of the strata, must have been effected
by causes acting at a greater depth within the earth, and suf-
ficiently powerful to alter the form of the solid rock above,
together with the angles or inclinations of the strata that lie
upon it. I need only add, that these phenomena, on this
side of the granite mass, are ample evidences of what, in the
former part of this paper, where the sandstone alone is con-
cerned, might have appeared conjectural. ■,

I shall conclude these general remarks on this ** coal-field,"
with the following observation. These secondary strata con-
tain fragments of other secondary strata of similar character,
imbedded in the base. These also are not of the nature of
local conglomerates, or they are not such fragmented rocks as
are found on the surfaces merely, or at the junctions of dis-

JAN.— MARCH, 1830. E

50 On the Coal-field of Sutherland.

cordant strata. On the contrary, being of the character of
general conglomerates, they prove that these secondary strata
have been formed from the ruins, at least in a certain degree,
of previous secondary strata of a similar nature. To what
important conclusions this fact may lead respecting the nature
of former states of the globe, it is unnecessary to suggest ; since
it is evident that, like some other analogous facts, they prove
a series of revolutions far more complicated than geologists
in general have as yet thought fit to admit.

I shall now subjoin an account of the working of the coal
at Brora ; being indebted to the Marchioness of Staftbrd for
the facts on which it is founded.

The first coal-pit was sunk and wrought at this place by
Jane, Countess of Sutherland, in 1598 ; since which time the
workings have been occasionally carried on, but^ till lately,
with no great energy. The first working was made near the
sea-shore ; and it is probable, from the thinness of the stratum,
and the pyritical nature of the coal, that it was the uppermost
bed of this part of the field, and that which at different times
brought discredit on the nature of the whole produce. That
bed crops out to the southward of the present high road, and
near the old salt pans ; and it appears also to be found at
Strathsteven, westward of this place.

It is unnecessary to trace the intermediate history of this
work throughout to the present time ; but, forty years ago, a
company from Portsoy undertook to work it, and found a
second stratum three feet thick, of a better quality, which
was wrought by a pit forty feet deep. The outburst of that
coal is now to be seen on the banks of the river, near the
present pit.

This last attempt was commenced in 1813, in which year
the sinking of the engine and draw-pits, now in use, was com-
pleted. The stratum which is wrought, is the third in the
order of succession downwards, and lies, at the pit, about two
hundred and forty feet beneath the surface. The dip is to the
south-east, and the angle, in the miners' phrase, one in four.
The thickness of the stratum varies from three to four feet.
It appears that the workings have extended about seven hun-
dred yards forward, on the rise of the stratum ; and that about
ten acres have been excavated. It is found, moreover, that a

dn the Coal-field of Sutherland* 51

cubic yard of the bed produces about a ton of large coal ; and
the operations are in such activity, as to furnish thirty tons in
the day.

The quahty of this stratum, which is, as already remarked,
superior to that of the two which lie above it, is intermediate
between that of Newcastle arid Staffordshire. It has been
exported to the neighbouring coasts of Inverness and Cromarty ;
but a large quantity is consumed on the spot, in the salt pans
and potteries which have been established on this estate.

The engine-pit has been sunk forty-five feet lower than the
present coal ; and in the course of this proceeding, there have
been discovered two thin seams of coal, one of them nine
inches, the other sixteen inches thick. In the same pit has
been found a bed of fine brick clay — a stratum which does
not appear in the other parts of the series.

Fo\ir faults have been found in the present workings, con-
sisting of a simple subsidence of the roof, as it occurred in the
course of the excavation, but not amounting to more than
three or four feet. To the eastward of the pit, it appears par-
ticularly subject to these faults or slips, and is gradually be-
coming more irregular : but to the west, where the level has
been driven for seven hundred yards, it is more regular, though
not quite free from troubles of various kinds.

The following is the miners' section of the Brora pit,
as it stood in August 1820. I am sorry that I cannot inter-
pret the word bass, as the substance was not shown to me
when there ; but it is not of great importance.

Journal of Sinking a new Coal Pit at Broruy finished in
August 1820.

Inches.

1819.

Feet.

April

15

Black soil

1

17

Light rich sand .

3

20

Gravel .

4

May

26

Common dark blue

4

27

Live sand

• >»

31

Blue

8

»

Common coal

• »

August

13

Common dark blue

99

1820.

January

15

Black bass

.

6

n

Hard blue rock . . • 9

Mixture of limestone and white spar 3 „

E2

52 On the Coal-field of Sutherland.

1820. Feet. Inches.

January 15
August 1

Feet.

Bass and shells .

39

Black bass

G

Common blue

9

Shelly grey rock

5

Black bass

7

Hard blue rock .

7

Common blue

3

Very hard rock

1

Common blue

4

Roof of the coal, blue, intermixed

•with shells and petrifactions

.

3

Coal

,

3

Parrot .

.

3

It remains to inquire into the proper geological relations of
this deposit, to which I have hitherto applied the popular
term coal-field. I consider it to be that lignite formation
which belongs to the oolite limestone*, and this is proved by
the character of the strata, as also by the general nature of the
organic remains contained in them : this latter species of proof,
however, being one on which I lay somewhat less stress than
conchologists, particularly in the comparison of strata distant
in geographical place, and for reasons assigned in a paper
on Organic Remains in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia.

The lias, and the oolite, therefore include its limestones,
and among these presumed unvarying rocks we must seek the
different beds here found, as well as we can. The minuter
parts of this task I gladly leave to those who, as they can feel
no satisfaction till they have reduced the whole world to the
model of England, can, I hope, always find, if it is even in
their imaginations, the means of satisfying themselves.

I apply the term lignite to this formation, without hesitation ;
and the reasons are given in a paper intended for your journal
hereafter f. And as I shall then have occasion to enter on
the whole subject of these higher coal deposits, I will not touch
further on it now. I need only say, that the presence of com-
plete coal does not remove this or any other such deposit
from that division, as the chief coal deposits of the continent
belong to it, and as the essential character is found in the

* This was pointed out already in this journal, in a paper on Lignites, where
I also traced rapidly the general extent of the same series in Scotland, as it had
been formerly described in detail, in my account of the Western Islands.

f This paper is the one above alluded to.

On the Coal-field of Sutherland. 53

geological position. English geologists will then perceive that
the coal, or lignite, of Sutherland, has its well-known analogues
in the oolite coals of* England, and 1 need not therefore waste
space in extending this comparison.

It is somewhat more interesting to remark how this par-
ticular lignite deposit is scattered and dispersed about Scotland;
for the facts relating to which, I may refer to my work on the
Western Islands. On this eastern side, it is, however, in a
state of antiquity, that is, of geological antiquity; on the west,
it is far otherwise. In Sutherland, it is true, we saw but the
very edge of some basin, of the extent of which we cannot con-
jecture ; and, therefore, the quantity is very small, since the sea
has either destroyed or contains the rest. Yet its traces, at
least, extend further, even into the Murray Frith, where, how-
ever, they are but traces, appearing at two or three points to
the south of Cromarty harbour, for the last time.

In the Western Islands, a very different interference has
reduced it to the dispersed fragments which it now presents;
and even these are, as we may say, reduced still lower in space,
by occurring commonly on the very edges of the sea. The
great interference consists in the mountains, or masses of trap-
rocks, by which it is everywhere overwhelmed ; and while
these have in some measure protected it from the- sea, they
have but had the power, generally, of protecting its thin edges,
though a few exceptions occur, as in Skey, and elsewhere. As
might be expected, every species of disturbance, and obscurity,
and destruction, is also added to the mere fact of overwhelm-
ing, rendering the whole a task to investigate, which I observe
has become abundantly easy, since it has been done ; since
the entire analysis has been given, and every, the most dis-
jointed atom, traced out, and referred to the general deposit.
How often it had all been passed by before, as inexplicable,
appears to have been forgotten by those who now find the
whole so plain and easy. If I can yet point it out where I
have reserved it for others to discover, I should have been
little satisfied of the originality of any discoveries, had they
discovered these places also.

But I may terminate tbis paper, referring to that work for
details and drawings which will enable any one now to pro-
duce a map of the lignite and oolite formation of Scotland,

54 On the Coal-field of Sutherland,

with the exceptions at which I have hinted. Of these, the
Sutherland coal-field is at least the most continuous and con-
spicuous portion.

Fig. 1.

General view of the Junction of the Granite and Sandstone j reduced to
a plain surface.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Enlarged view of the Junction. Portions of Granite assuming the

appearance of stratification.

View of the undulations in the Sandstone where near the Granite.
Fig. 5.

Conglomerate. Granite. Red sandstone.

View of the commencement of the Conglomerate of the Coal-field.

Fig. 6.

Coal-field. Granite. Red sandstone.

Kelative position of the Coal-field and the Red Sandstone to the Granite.

On the Coal-field of Sutherland,

55

Fi^. 7.

Stnu containing coal

Oranlte.

Greneral notion of the nature of the Sutherland Coal-field.

EXPLANATION OF THE CUTS.

Fig. 1. This represents the general view of the whole line of the junc-
tion, reduced to an imaginary section by the omission of all the pictu-
resque irregularities. The extent is also condensed. The apparent
stratification of the upper surface of the granite is represented near the
cave, where it is accessible to the hand.

Fig. 2. Is an enlarged drawing of the interesting part near the cave,
where the apparent stratification of the granite is more distinctly re-
presented.

Fig. 3. Represents other portions of the surface of the granite. The
sandstone strata have disappeared here for a certain space, so as to leave
the granite forming a step or shoulder ; and on it are seen portions of
the same apparently stratified granite as that which occurs near the
cave.

Fig. 4. Represents a point where the depressions or irregularities in
the surface of the granite are attended by corresponding inequalities in
the incumbent sandstone.

Fig. 5. Sketch of a view on the coast, pointing out the commence-
ment of the conglomerate.

Fig. 6. General notion of the mode in which the granite separates the
sandstone of Caithness from the coal-field of Sutherland.

Fig. 7. A general imaginary section of the coal-field, founded on the
succession of strata observed in different parts of it. The true position
of the granite to it could not be represented, even in many sections,
from the peculiar mode in which the strata are related to that rock ; but
the present mode of delineating it serves to shew that it is in contact with
all the members.

56

Observations on Ojnum and its Tests. By Andrew Ure,
M.D.,F.R.S., &c.

Few subjects of chemical research are more interesting to
medical science than the constitution of opium. The poppy,
like every other vegetable, must vary in the quality of its se-
creted juices, with soil, climate, and season; whence corre-
sponding changes will ensue in the nature of the inspissated
product. Did the anodyne and soporific virtue of this medi-
cine reside in one definite principle, chemical analysis might
furnish a certain criterion of its powers. It has been pretty
generally supposed that this desideratum is supplied by Ser-
tiirner's discovery of morphia. Of this narcotic alkali not
more than seven parts can be extracted by the most rigid
analysis from one hundred of the best Turkey opium ; a quan-
tity, indeed, somewhat above the average result of many skilful
chemists. Were morphia the real medicinal essence of the
poppy, it should display, when administered in its active saline
state of acetate, an operation on the living system commen-
surate in energy with the fourteen-fold concentration which
the opium has undergone. But so far as may be judged from
the most authentic recent trials, morphia in the acetate seems
to be little, if any, stronger as a narcotic than the hetero-
geneous drug from which it has been eliminated. Mr. John
Murray's experiments* would, in fact, prove it to be greatly
weaker ; for he gave two drams of superacetate of morphia to
a cat, without causing any poisonous disorder. This is per-
haps an extreme case, and may seem to indicate either some
defect in the preparation, or an uncommon tenacity of life iq
the animal. To the same effect Lassaigne found that a dog
lived twelve hours after thirty-six grains of acetate of morphia
in watery solution had been injected into its jugular vein. The
morphia meanwhile was entirely decomposed by the vital forces,
for none of it could be detected in the blood drawn from the
animal at the end of that period f . Now, from the effects pro-
duced by five grains of watery extract of opium^ injected by
Orfila into the veins of a dog, we may conclude that a quantity

* Ediii. Phil. Jonrn. vii. 388.
f Annales de China, et Phys. xxv. 102.

Dr. Ure on Opium and its Tests, 57

of it, equivalent to the above dose of the acetate of morphia,
would have proved speedily fatal.

Neither can we ascribe the energy of opium to the white
crystalline substance called narcotine^ extracted from it by the
solvent agency of sulphuric ether ; for Orfila assures us that
these crystals may be swallowed in various forms by man, even
to the amount of two drams in the course of twelve hours, with
impunity ; and that a dram of it dissolved in muriatic or nitric
acid may be administered in the food of a dog without pro-
ducing any inconvenience to the animal. It appears, however,
on the same authority, that thirty grains of it dissolved in acetic
or sulphuric acid caused dogs that had swallowed the dose to
die under convulsions in the space of twenty-four hours, while
the head was thrown backwards on the spine. Oil seems to be
the most potent menstruum of narcotine ; for three grains dis-
solved in oil readily kill a dog, whether the dose be introduced
into the stomach or into the jugular vein.

Since a bland oil thus seems to develop the peculiar force
of narcotine, and since opium affords to ether, and also to am-
monia, an unctuous or fatty matter, and a resin (the caout-
chouc of Bucholz) to absolute alcohol, we are entitled to infer
that the activity of opium is due to its state of composition, to
the union of an oleate or margarate of narcotine with morphia.
The meconic acid associated with this salifiable base has no
narcotic power by itself, but may probably promote the activity
of the morphia.

Hence, though the weight of morphia obtainable from a given
variety of opium may by no means represent the total essence
of the drug, yet its quantity is most probably proportional to
the powers of the opium. But morphia exists in the state of
a meconate, and its quantity must be in equivalent ratio to
that of the meconic acid. On this principle, a ready mode
seems to offer of trying the comparative narcotic powers of
different opiums. Let a grain or two of each be dissolved in
a little dilute alcohol, and then diffused through such a body
of water as will make the liquid nearly colourless. Pour each
liquid into a graduated glass cylinder, and add to it a few drops
of red muriate (or tincture of muriate) of iron. The character-
istic brown-red tint will immediately appear, of a depth pro-
portional to the meconic acid, and equivalent to the morphia

98 Dr. Ure on Opium and its Tests,

present ; for the previous dilution with water has been so great
as to remove the inequalities of colour in the original spiri-
tuous solutions. Let the darker shades be now lightened with
water till the tints of the whole be uniform ; and the relative
volumes of the liquids will afford an approximate measure of
the qualities of the several opiums. It is obvious that a double
quantity of any given opium will take a double volume of water
to bring its meconate of iron to the standard shade. By this
means different tinctures of opium may be very expeditiously
compared in narcotic power.

I have tried in this ready way Turkey, English, and East
Indian opium, and have found the results to harmonize suffici-
ently with their known powers determined by other methods.
An improved East Indian opium, of which Dr. Chambers gave
me a specimen, approaches by this test very closely to the
quality of fine Turkey opium.

The employment of red muriate of iron as a re-agent for de-
tecting the meconic acid of opium has been frequently resorted
to, under different modifications, since Vogel first pointed out
the singular sensibility of that acid to the peroxide ferreous
salts. I have found solution of acetate of lead, faintly acidu-
lated with vinegar, the preferable re-agent for separating meco-
nic acid, in the form of a meconate of lead, from solution of
opium. The slight excess of acetic acid prevents any of the
morphia from falling down with the oxide of lead. Twenty-
seven grains of washed, but still impure meconate of lead, may
be obtained from one hundred grains of good opium — a result
which I obtained both from the Turkey and the above East
Indian. By treating this insoluble salt, diffused in water, with
the equivalent quantity of sulphuric acid, or by a stream of
sulphuretted hydrogen gas, the meconic acid is set free, and
may be procured in small crystalline grains by slow evapora-
tion of the filtered liquid. These grains, once concreted, are
very difficult of solution in water, and may therefore be washed
with this fluid. Of the washed grey-white grains, a solution
perfectly colourless strikes a deep brown-red with a drop of
permuriate of iron.

Another process for procuring meconic acid has been pre-
scribed. The magma obtained by boiling magnesia in a
watery infusion of opium, is to be washed first with proof

Dr. Ure on Opium and Us Testa. 59

spirit, to extract the narcotine and resin, and then with strong
alcohol to dissolve out the morphia. The residuary meconate
X)f magnesia is to be digested in dilute sulphuric acid, and the
meconic acid is to be thrown down from that solution by
acetate of lead. The meconate of lead is to be washed, then
(diflfused in water, and decomposed by a stream of sulphuretted
hydrogen gas. The meconic acid is set free and dissolved,
and may be procured, it is said, in impure, scaly crystals, by
evaporation.

On this process it may be remarked, that the sulphuric
iEicid of the sulphate of magnesia is unnecessarily dragged
along, to the injury of the meconic acid ; for sulphate of lead
is formed simultaneously with meconate, on adding the acetate
of that metal to the mixture of the magnesian sulphate and
meconic acid ; and these two insoluble salts, the sulphate and
meconate of lead, afterwards evolve their acids simultaneously
to the sulphuretted hydrogen gas.

Whereas, by throwing down the meconic acid by the just
quantity of acidulous acetate of lead, washing the precipitate,
and decomposing it, either by the equivalent dose of sulphuric
acid or by sulphuretted hydrogen, we at once obtain a rela-
tively pure meconic acid.

From the circumstance of magnesia precipitating both the
meconic acid and morphia from an opium solution, it may be
inferred, that meconic acid will form an insoluble compound
with magnesia. But this is by no means the case, for if we
heat a solution of meconic acid with magnesia in excess, no
meconic acid is withdrawn from the liquid, for it strikes as
deep a red, with permuriate of iron, as before the magnesia
was presented to it ; but acetate of lead separates the whole
of the meconic acid from solution or tincture of opium ; so
that the supernatant liquid occasion^ merely a faint, greenish-
brown colour, with red nitrate of iron.

Among the criminal abuses of the diffusion of knowledge
which characterize the present times, the administration of
opium, or its tincture, concealed in various vehicles, by the
lower orders, with the most felonious purposes, holds a con-
spicuous place. An atrocious crime of this nature was brought
specially under my notice, about a year ago, in examining, by
desire of the magistrates of Glasgow, the conteats of the

60 Dr. Ure on Opium dnd its Tests,

stomach of a man who had fallen a victim to these mur-
derous devices. Here the laudanum had been largely mixed
with strong beer, and was sensible to the smell, in the
liquor extracted by the stomach-pump. One portion of that
liquor, treated with acetate of lead, afforded an insoluble pre-
cipitate, from which an acid, strongly-reddening permuriate of
iron, was separated by the agency of the sulphuric. Another
portion afforded directly, with a few drops of the permuriate
of iron, an evident reddish-brown tinge, very different from the
drab or fawn-coloured precipitate occasioned in strong beer
of the same quality by the same salt of iron. Other experi-
ments were made, which it is unnecessary to detail at present.
The chemical facts, joined to a body of circumstantial evi-
dence, led to a conviction of the guilty pair, a man and wife,
who were accordingly executed.

It was suggested, by the ingenious counsel for the culprits,
that muriate of iron, as a test for opium, was fallacious, since
it would give the same redness with sulpho-cyanic acid, a
substance present in human saliva, as it does with the meconic
acid of opium. I was not then aware that this curious acid,
of modern discovery, did exist in the saliva, and thought it
merely a ruse de plaideur. But, even if ambiguity had been
occasioned by this test, the characteristic smell of opium
could not be set aside.

Since that period, the elaborate work of Tiedemann and
Gmelin, Sur la Digestion^ has come in my way, which con-
tains proofs, apparently sufficient, of the existence of sulpho-
cyanate of potash in the saliva of man. Treviranus, indeed,
in his *' Biologia," published in 1814, had remarked that the
human saliva gave a sensible redness to the permuriate of
iron.

I have recently repeated and varied Gmelin's researches,
and have found them entitled to confidence. My own saliva,
and that of many other persons, in its natural flow, as well as
provoked by smoking tobacco, acquires a blood-red hue, with
a few drops of permuriate of iron, such as would give to water
merely a faint, straw-yellow tinge. Saliva, simply distilled in
a glass retort, at a gentle heat, which did not brown a particle
pf the mucus, afforded a colourless water, that reddened lit-
mus paper, and grew red with a few drops of the ferreous salt.

Dr. lire on Opium and its Tests, Gl

The distilled liquid was also heated, with a few grains of
chlorate of potash, and muriatic acid, in order that the result-
ing oxide of chlorine might acidify the sulphur of the sulpho-
cyanic acid. This actually happened ; for the liquid now pre-
cipitated a sulphate of barytes from the muriate.

The preceding mode of simple distillation which I adopted,
obviates those sources of fallacy in Gmelin's experiments, on
which Berzelius comments in his Scientific Annual*, He
observes, that in his own researches on the saliva, made some
time back, he had tried to produce, with the peroxide salts of
iron, the reaction noticed by Treviranus, without success ; but
that he had not treated the dried extract of the saliva with
alcohol, as Tiedemann and Gmelin did. •' What share," asks he,
** may the boiling with alcohol have on these phenomena ?
That sulpho-cyanogen can be formed from sulphuret of
carbon, and ammonia, with alcohol, we know from Zeise's
investigations. May it not be inferred, that an analogous pro-
duct at least, if not the same, may result from the re-action of
alcohol on the dried constituents of saliva?"

When so skilful a chemist as Berzelius doubts of the real
presence of sulpho-cyanic acid in the simple saliva, after he
had seen Tiedemann and Gmelin' s evidence of the fact, my
doubts, in entire ignorance of their work, will not appear un-
natural. That a member of that poisonous family of acids, at
whose head stands the formidable Prussic acid, should be swal-
lowed by man, not merely with impunity but with advantage,
every day of his life, is very marvellous. But that it is so, my
experiments prove beyond suspicion, since no such re-action
as Berzelius alludes to can have place in simple distillation.

If into a little saliva, contained in a wine-glass, a drop or
two of the red muriate of iron be poured, a few rusty-brown
spots may be all that appear j but on adding a few drops more
of the muriate of iron, and stirring the mixture, a florid blood-
red colour will result in the whole liquid. Gmelin has shewn
that the sulpho-cyanic acid is associated with potash in the
saliva of man ; and with soda, in that of sheep.

From the similarity of colour between saliva treated with
permuriate of iron, and blood diluted with water, it occurred

* Jahre's Berichte, vol. vii. p. 301,

6t Dr. Ure on Opium and its Tests.

to me that the iron known to exist in the blood is probably in
the state of a sulpho-cyanate. A series of experiments was in
consequence instituted to determine the truth of this conjecture j
but the results have not hitherto enabled me to determine
whether sulpho-cyanic acid be one of the constituents either
of human blood, or that of the sheep, however liberally it is
supplied to the stomachs of both by the saliva.

Blood freed in a great measure from its fibrin atid albumen,
was rendered slightly alkaline by carbonate of potash, and then
passed through a filter, with the view of separating the oxide
of iron from the sulpho-cyanate of potash, possibly formed.
The filtered liquor was next slightly supersaturated with phos-
phoric acid, and the mixture was distilled in glass at a gentle
heat. A colourless liquid came over, which did not change the
colour of litmus paper, but afforded, with a drop of permuriate
of iron, a tint faintly inclined to red, when compared with an
equal volume of water, to which a drop or two of the same
muriate had been added.

It deserves to be noted, that the red colour produced by
the action of permuriate of iron on meconic acid, or a Aveak
solution of opium, has a brownish tint, distinguishable from
the deep orange-red of sulpho-cyanate of iron, diluted to the
same degree with water ; and by further dilution, the meconate
of iron merely pales its shade, but the sulpho-cyanate changes
it, somewhat abruptly, to a golden yellow.

When opium is dissolved in porter (good London), the de-
tection of the drug becomes much more difficult than when it
is dissolved in strong beer ; for permuriate of iron produces
with porter (lightened with an equal volume of water) nearly
the same brownish colour, whether it be used as delivered by
the brewer, or mixed with laudanum to the extent of thirty
drops in two-ounce measures. A very copious grey-coloured
precipitate is thrown down from London brown stout by solu-
tion of acetate of lead — nearly as copious, in fact, as from por-
ter drugged, as above, with tincture of opium. And when
these two precipitates, washed on filters, are decomposed by
a little dilute sulphuric acid, they afford two liquids, which
strike nearly the same red-brown tints with permuriate of iron.
It is difficult to resist the evidence thus disclosed of the pre-
sence of opium in genuine London porter. Tincture of hop,

Dr. Ure on Opium and its Tests. 63

diffused through water, becomes, with a few drops of permu-
riate of iron, a greenisli liquid, quite different from the diluted
porter treated in the same way.

Porter becomes turbid when supersaturated with water of
ammonia, and lets fall a brown sediment, which, collected and
washed on a filter, bears some resemblance to impure morphia,
but possesses a very remarkable peculiarity : it neither reddens
with nitric acid, nor does it suffer morphia mixed with it to
be thereby reddened, or at least the redness is merely momen-
tary, and passes on the slightest heat into a light yellow shade.
This precipitate I shall make the subject of future researches.
Tincture of hops, which becomes slightly turbid on mixing
with water, is rendered limpid by supersaturation with am-
monia.

It might be imagined that bone-black (animal charcoal)
would decolour porter, so that the agency of permuriate of iron
on its supposed meconic acid might be made more manifest ;
but this process is at best fallacious ; since bone-black, boiled
with a portion of dilute solution of opium, deprives it almost
entirely of the power of affecting permuriate of iron ; while the
corresponding portion receives from that salt a deep red-brown
colour.

Whenever morphia can be obtained apart, its identity may
be determined by decisive characters ; the bright red colour
imparted by it and its acetate to nitric acid, and the greenish-
blue tint, to red muriate of iron.

I have not found the tincture of galls the delicate re-agent
for morphia, even to ij^^j^ part, which Dublane, the suggester
of this test, announced. It affords, with a solution of acetate
of morphia, a grey precipitate, which reddens with a drop of
nitric acid ; but tincture of galls cannot be used where gelatine,
and other animal matters, attractive of tannin, are present.
Even aided by alcohol, prescribed by Dublane for dissolving
out the tannate of morphia from the tannates of gelatine and
albumen, it will not answer ; for Vauquelin tried, in this way,
two portions of urine, one; which contained morphia, and the
other not ; and he had the same result from both — because
alcohol dissolves a great deal of the animal matter precipitated
by the tincture of galls, and thus complicates the experiment.
Glasgow, Dec. 19, 1829.

64

Memoir on the Geology of the Shore of the Severn, in the
Parish ofAwre, Gloucestershire.

(Communicated by the Rev. Charles Pleydell Neale Wilton, M.A., of St. John's
College, Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, one of His Majesty's
Assistant Chaplains in the Colony of New South Wales, and Editor of the
Australian Quarterly Joiurual.)

The interesting researches of individuals, of whatever descrip-
tion they may be, if not made generally known, will lose all
their value, and must of necessity die with them. As it is
by the concentration of the investigations of many, that we can
hope to arrive at any degree of perfection in scientific subjects,
and as that which may remain unnoticed by one man may be
developed by another, so is it the duty of every one to con-
tribute his own share to the general fund. The present is
not the age in which to sit down quietly within our own homes,
framing theories, and then wondering at the creatures of our
imagination ; but it is, on the contrary, that of active and
spirited research — an age in which fact is, for the m.ost part,
substituted for hypothesis, and the results of a careful inves-
tigation for the visions of fancy. In no one subject of science
does the public mind appear to take greater interest at the
present day, than in the study of geology ; and however parties
may disagree as to the period or periods, the mode or modes»
in and by which the present appearance of things on the sur-
face of the earth has prevailed, still it is gratifying to observe
them going on amicably together, keeping the same end in
view, the enlargement of knowledge and the extension of truth.

During the period of five years, in which I held the curacy
of Awre in Gloucestershire, when that excellent and learned
man, the late Ven. Charles Sandifold, M.A.*, Archdeacon of
AVells, was Vicar, it was my practice, from time to time, more
particularly after the high tides which wash away great por-
tions of the bank of the Severn, to examine with attention
the geological phenomena of its shore.

In my researches, several new and interesting particulars,
which form the subject of the present paper, were presented to
my notice. In many instances, however, from not possessing

♦ Formerly Tutor of Trinity Hall. See a memoir of him in the Gentleman's
Magazine for June, 1826.

Geology of the Shore of the Severn.

B5

the advantage of examining arranged collections, or of con-
sulting the larger and more expensive works upon the subject, I
have been under the necessity of giving only the generic names
of some of the fossil bodies, and of leaving the determination
of their species until a more favourable opportunity. In the
annexed plate will be seen the whole extent of the shore of
the Severn, in the parish of Awre, from its most extreme point
north, adjoining the parish of Newnham to its extreme point
west, bordering on the parish of Lidney, and in which the
particular spots mentioned in this memoir are pointed out.
The whole extent of the shore rather exceeds six and a half
miles, and the scale in the plate is that of two inches to a
mile.

a

\

^e.

%,

i

lb

/A|

S.
S-

*^«

CfiH

et^-

a, Commencement of the Parish of
Awre.

b, Box-Pile.

c to d, Bed of Clay.
d, Hampstells.
e,/, ^r, Muddy Shore.
A, The Durable.
JAN.—MARCH, 1830.

I, The Woodend.

k, Bream's Pile.

/, Gatcomb.

wi,The Stream at Purton Passage,

which divides the Parishes of Awre

and Lidney.
n, n, Barrows.

F

68 Beology of the Shore of the Severn,

TKe strata in which the organic remains, &c., are respec-
tively found, are, in the order of their position^

1st, AUuvium.

2d, Diluvial Gravel.

3d, Blue Lias.

Upon reference to the different histories of the County of
Gloucester, I find no further account of any fossil organic re-
mains being then known to have been found in the parish of
Awre, than that of the remains of the pentacrinite, in the no-
tice of the point k, in the accompanying drawing, where Sir R.
Atkyns informs us *' pentagonal stones are found," (Atkyns's
History of Glou., p. 123, fol.) Bigland, speaking of the
same point on the shore, observes (p. 102), '* Pentagonal
stones, which, when immersed in vinegar, seem to have mo-
tion, are found on this strand." Rudder, also,, in his history,
(p. 248,) notices the existence of the pentacrinite in the same
locality.

The parish of Awre, in that part of it which is bounded by
the Severn, commences about 150 yards above the point b at
a. From a to 6 the shore is muddy and the bank low, ex-
posing about half a foot of clay beneath the vegetable mould.
From 6 to c is a cliff of red marl, varying in height from about
forty to seventy feet, in some parts traversed by veins of
-a greyish blue, the shore being covered with fragments of the
same, washed down by the action of the tide. In the clay,
which prevails from c to d, 1 found the teeth of deer, one
about three and the other two feet below the surface ; and in
the interval between the places where these teeth were dug up,
I discovered, at the depth of nine feet, a sort of iron shovel,
much corroded, accompanied by fragments of red pottery and
carbonized wood*. From the action of the tide below high-
water mark, several feet beneath the stratum of clay in which
the above-mentioned teeth were found, a vast collection of
wood and hazel-nuts is brought to light — the remains, pro-
bably, of trees which once grew near the spot where they now
lie. The incursion of the tide which first deposited them,
and probably at no very remote period, is still in course of

* See Quarterly Journal of Science, &c., No, XL, p. 413.

-Geology of the Shore of the Severn, '6*7

action* ; and sudden inundations, of but recent date, have been
known to take place. In the old Register Bookf of the parish
the inundation of the Severn, in the great storm of November,
1703, is recorded by the vicar. It has been observed, that
** those who perished in the waters on that occasion, in the
Hoods of the Severn and the Thames, on the coast of Holland,
and in ships blown away and never heard of afterwards, are
computed to have amounted to 8000 ;" and •' in one level in
Gloucestershire, on the banks of the Severn, 15,000 sheep
were drowned.'* Of the 9th of January, 1737, the same
Register contains the following remark: '* This night, about
nine, a violent storm bf wind arose, and, it being high water,
the sea-wall was broken, and the whole level was five feet
under waterj."

But to continue the description of the shore. From d to e
the bank is high, consisting of clay, incumbent immediately
about d upon the remains of branches and roots of trees, &c.,
and from thence to e upon blue lias, and the shore is generally
covered with mud, although, at certain periods, when the wind
blows strong upon it, the blue lias appears, presenting to the
geologist specimens of several species of petrifactions hereafter
to be enumerated. From the point e to h the shore is marshy
and flat, containing no organic remains of any kind. At the

• About thirty-three years ago, a house of no inconsiderable antiquity was
standing upon a stratum of gravel at the Woodend, the point i in the drawing.
The bank of the Severn has since that period been gradually washed away, and to
such a degree, that the spot where this house formerly stood, is now nearly the
edge of low-water mark, at a little above which, remains of the well, attached to
the house, may now be seen on the surface of the blue lias.

f The Register of the parish of Awre commences, * Anno Regis Octavi XXX*.
Anno Dom. 1538,' that is, one year after the dissolution of monasteries. It is
altogether a curious relic. From the year 1687 to 1725, the entries of marriages,
baptisms, and burials, have each annexed to them the sign of the star then pre-
dominant ; and the entry of a marriage in 1736 has before it the figure of a comet
—doubtless Cupid was. m this instance, more than ordinarily ardent. The ances-
tors of the most ancient family in this parish, and who were formerly seised of
considerable lands within it, whose first representative in this country probably
came over with William the Norman, have their name written in the reign of King
John, as De ^u>re— thus, William de Awre; and in several parts of this Register, as
of Awre — thus, Charles of Awre. This has been of late years, as it is at present,
abbreviated to Awre — thus, William Awre, who is now residing with his family
in the parish.

X Pepys, in his Memoirs (vol. i. p. 133), in speaking of the forest of Deane,
which bounds the parish of Awre on its north-eastern side, observes, * Feb. l7,
1661, 2.— Great talke of this late great wind. We have letters from the forest of
Deane, that above 1000 oakes, and as many beeches, are blown down in one walke
there.'

F 2

68 Geology of the Shore of the Severn.

point hf which is called the Dumhle, is a bank composed of a
subfluvial forest, being in the thickest part from sixteen to
twenty feet in depth below the wall erected to resist the incur-
sions of the tide. At the top of this bank of roots, branches,
&c., to the depth of a foot below its surface, I have found hazel-
nuts in great abundance ; and at the bottom of it, reposing on
the blue Has, lie the trunks of large trees, retaining their shape
and bark, but easily to be broken asunder, being thoroughly
saturated with water.

The only remains found in the alluvium, near the point 1c,
or Bream's Pile, are those of the teeth of horse, deer, ox, and
dog, in a mixture of mould and clay, besides the jaw-bones
and teeth, with other bones, of deer, stag, ox, and hog, dis-
covered amidst ashes*, pottery, &c., and one tooth of deer
amidst iron-slag ; these teeth exactly corresponding with others
found in the subjacent diluvial gravel.

From the point A: to m are cliffs of red marl, varying from
about twenty to eighty feet in height, against the base of which
the tide beats at high water, covering the shore with detached
fragments of the cliff. These are again oftentimes buried

* In one of my walks along the shore of the Severn, near the point k, I was
struck with the appearance of layers of ashes on the side of the bank, which had
been exposed to view by a late fall of the earth, occasioned by the action of a
high tide. On digging down into the bank, from the surface, I came at once
upon a sort of burying-place, in which, mixed with ashes, the bones above
mentioned, and carbonized wood, were several large iron nails, much corroded,
fragments of black and red pottery, and the greater part of an ancient quern, or
hand-mill, in gritstone. At about the distance of two miles from this spot, between
the points i and k, the bank of the river, for a considerable length, is one con-
tinuous line of ashes, cinders, and iron-slag, mixed with fragments of similar
pottery. In the adjoining forest of Deane, are many undoubted remains of iron-
mines, which are commonly reported to have been worked by the Romans. The
antiquity of these is mentioned by Pepys, in his Memoirs, vol. i. p. 157. He is
recording a discourse which he held with Commissioner Pett, " most of which,"
he observes, " was concerning the forest of Deane, and the timber there, and iron-
works, with their great antiquity, and the vast heaps of cinders which they find,
and are now of great value, being necessary for the working of iron at this day,
and without which they cannot work." The spot on the river, where this bed of
ashes, &c., is found, is distant about five miles from the parish of Lidney, where
are to be seen, in the park of the Right Hon. C. B. Bathurst, the remains of a
Roman station, where have been dug up coins of the several Roman emperors,
from Augustus to Honorius. In this gentleman's extensive collection of antiqui-
ties, discovered there, are fragments of pottery and querns, exactly similar to
those found at Awre. Not far from the river, in the same parish of Awre, it may
be remarked, are two large barrows, marked nn in the drawing. Under all the
circumstances, I am induced to conclude, that Awre was a Roman-British village
or settlement, and that the iron-ore, which was dug from the mines, in the neigh-
Ijouring forest of Deane, was conveyed to the banks of the Severn, in the parish of
Awre, where it was smelted and shipped from thence to Glovemia; the ancient city
of Gloucester, ^d to other parts of the country.

Geology of the Shore of the Severn, 09

either by sand or mud, the change in deposition arising from
the variation of the wind, whether it blows on or off the
shore. During the very hot weather in the month of July,
1825, the salt of the waters of the Severn was precipitated to
the depth of one-tenth of an inch over this part of the shore at
low water, and the ledges and hollows of these cliffs were
covered with a similar substance — a phenomenon which was
noticed by me in the twentieth volume of Mr. Brande's Jour^
nal of Science, &c.

The organic remains of the alluvium on the shore of the
Severn in the parish of Awre are but few, being, as it was
before stated, with the exception of those discovered amidst
the pottery, &c. at the point k, teeth of horse, deer, ox, and

We now come to the fossils at the graveT, which lies imme-
diately beneath the clay or mould. From a to A there is no
stratum of gravel — from a to e the clay is found reposing on
lias, burned trees, &c. ; and through e, f g, the shore is covered
with mud and rushes. From the exponement of the subfluvial
wood at h to the south, the gravel commences incumbent on
the sand, which reposes on the blue lias, extending from h
to k.

The organic remains, &c., of the gravel are as follows : —

Ammonites Birchii.
A species of Astrea.

„ Caryophyllia.

Fungia.
Belemnite.
Madrepora Porpites.
Mya.

Small rounded fragments of Oolite.

Pentacrinite — ^very rare, only two small specimens of the verte-
brae of this animal having hitherto been found in the gravel
Petrified wood — siliceous.
Stones, pierced by Teredo Navalis.
Serpula.

Terebratula lampas.
„ dentata.
Gryphsea arcuata (incurva of Sowerby), in great abundance.

[A respectable farmer of the village of Awre informed me
that he makes use of this fossil as a medicine for oxen

!?0 Geology of the Shore of the Severn,^

or cows. When from heat they are troubled with what
he termed red or bloody water, he beats the gryphaea to
a fine powder, with which, mixed with whey, he
drenches the animal, and the complaint is immedi-
ately cured.]

Large blocks, composed of fragments of shells, mixed up
together by a calcareous cement, containing specimens of
Pecten, spines of Echinus ^ Ostrea Edulis, Serpula Buccinumy
Mya, and Pentacrinite. These blocks are found at the bottom
of the gravel, immediately reposing on the lias, and some of
ihem have been known to weigh from 80 lbs. to 1 cwt.

Rib of Horse.
Teeth of do.

Fragments of the horn of a stag, Elephas Cervus of Cuvier,
ten feet below the surface of the bank of the river, at the
bottom of the gravel, imperfectly mineralized.

Jaw of Deer.
Teeth of do.

Fragments of Os Frontis of Ox.

Radius of do.

Horn of do.

Metacarpus of do.

Astragalus of do.

Teeth of dp.
Teeth of Hog.

The organic remains of the blue lias are,

Ammonites gigantea.
I have found a specimen of this species measuring two feet
eight inches in diameter*.

• In the New Monthly Magazine for July, 1827, p. 316, we read the following
notice : — " As some labourers were lately taking down the vicarage-house at Awre,
in this county (Gloucester), they discovered several extraneous fossils imbedded in
claystone. It is very probable they came from Church Rock, in the river Severn,
which is not far distant. The house, it appears, has been standing four or five
centuries, and the stones exactly correspond with those now seen in the remains of
the abovementioned rock, which is impregnated with numerous fossil shells of
various species. A large Cornu Ammonis, more than three feet in diameter, and
a beautiful specimen of the Plagiostoma Gigantea, are removed from the old vicar-
age walls into the collection of Mr. R. Ryder." This gentleman (Mr. Ryder) has
resided in the parish of Awre for upwards of twenty-six years, at but a short dis-
tance fromt the "Severn. During that period he has constantly visited the shore,
and has made a most valuable collection of its fossils. Specimens (I believe) of
all the organic remains enumerated in this memoir are in his possession ; and I
know that he feels peculiar pleasure in shewing his collection to any one who, like
himselfj takes a lively interest in geological inquiry.

.Oeology of the Shore oj the Severn, ?f|

. Innumerable casts of the same in lias. * '^

Ammonites Parkinsoni.
„ Bucklandi.
„ Also in Pyrites.

The fragment of an ammonite in limestone I found, having
in its solid interior, when broken, other shells — Serpula,
Ostrea-P«cfunculuSf Pentacrinite^ and spines of Echines —
a circumstance which is recorded in the eighteenth volume of
Mr. Brande's Journal.

Astarte.

Avicula inequivalvis.

Belemnite.

Entrochius.

Gryphaea Aricuta, very abundant, in entire beds.

Modiola.

Nautilus Obesus,

Ostrea.

Patella.

Peutacrinite — a few capitals of this species have been found,
and one of them very beautiful, and attached
to the stem.
.' „ Another species. ♦.

Pecten.

Plagiostoma Gigantea.
.. . . covered with Ostrea.

,, transversa,

t. „ costata.

Spirifer.
I ; Terebratula dentata.

Trochus Similis.

Casts of the same.

Casts of Solen.
-- : Fragment of the spine of a fish resembling Balistes,

„ chelate claw of a crab.

i . Spines of Echinus.

Vertebrae of Ichthiosaurus.

„ Plesiosaurus. •'

Bovey Coal, in small pieces.

Besides the abovementioned catalogue of fossils, five of 9
pew description have been discovered in the blue lias : — ,

1. A species of Alcyonium.
* * 2^ Cast of an unknown tooth. . ..J

75^ Geology of the Shore of the Severn.

3. A shell (see the annexed figure) which was discovered by Mr. R.
Ryder, of Awre, (see note, p. 70,) and which I have, therefore, named

-half inch, the smallest spe-
1 l-5th inch, the largest-sized ^ clmen hitherto found.

Byderia hitherto found.

Shewing the hinges of (a).

Rydei-ia. Respecting this shell, the late Mr. Parkinson, author of the
" Organic Remains of a Former World, &c.," writes thus to Mr. Ryder.
** It is curious, that amongst those fossils with which you favoured
me, there is not a single separated valve, by which, of course, I am
prevented determining the genus ; but which, I believe, is new. They
are very interesting indeed, from their long, and even fistular termi-
nations.'' Only one single valve of this shell has hitherto been found.
This was only a very minute one, and broke to pieces immediately, on
being touched. The only locality of this fossil is at the point i, or the
Woodend.

4. Specimens of a sort of carbonized wood, much resembling Bovey Coal ;
in which occurred, traversing its fractures in small lamellar pieces, a
white substance, not hitherto met with in that matrix, and which, on
examination by Mr. Brande, proved to be sulphate of barytes. This
was found near the point i.

5. The petrified trunk of a tree, fourteen feet long, not far distant from
the locality of No. 4, traversed by veins of sulphate of barytes, pre-
senting a form exactly similar to that of the coal of No. 4. Upon this
mineral, Mr. Brande, in writing to me, observes : ♦• The veins in the
petrified wood, of which I duly received the specimens from Mr.
Powell*, are, as you very reasonably anticipate, sulphate of barytes. It
is an interesting fact, that the same substance should be found travers-
ing both the wood and coal."

From the preceding memoir, it is worthy of observation, that
we find three periods distinctly marked out, in which the same
species of animals have existed alive on the earth, and pro-
bably not far from the spot where their remains are found,
mz., prior to the Deluge; at the time of the formation of the
alluvial deposition ; and during some portion of the period

* My very good and particular friend, the Savilian Professor of Geometry at
Oxford, •'

Geolo(ji/ of the Shore of the Severn. 73

when the Romans held possession of Great Britain. The ex-
termination of these from the neighbourhood of the locahty of
their remains is not to be wondered at, when we consider, among
other instances, the total extirpation, by the chase, of the wolf,
and the bear, the boar and the beaver, from England — the
gradual destruction of the wild turkey in America, as the
population advances, and of the kangaroo of New South
Wales — an animal which is now rarely to be met with in
situations where, twenty years ago, it might be seen in herds.
The remains also of the Elephas Cervus — a species resembling
the red deer, or stag, which have been found abundantly in
peat-bogs and sand-pits in England, France, Germany, and
Italy*, were, it appears, discovered on the shore of this
parish, in their well-known locality, the diluvial gravel — one
of the matrices, containing the fragments of the other species,
as before mentioned, collected. It might be a question, per-
haps, not altogether irrelevant to the subject of the present
memoir, to put to the reader, whether it be more reasonable
to suppose, that the animals, whose remains have there been
found, and who have existed alive subsequently to the Deluge,
were descended from the corresponding antediluvian animals
duly preserved in the Ark, from the surrounding ruin, or that
they were newly created, together with those of extinct or
unknown genera and species, after the Noachic catastrophe |.

On the Decay of Timber, especially of Oak ; with an Account
of some rudimentary Experiments projected as a Test whereby
to compute its probable Duration.

[7b the Editok of the Quarterly Jouhnal of Sciencb.]

My dear Sir,

Many experiments have been made by architects, en-
gineers, and others, to ascertain the comparative strength of
timber used in buildings, machinery, and such like important
works of art ; but I know not that any have been devised, by

* See Professor Jameson's Mineralogical Notes, annexed to Cuvier's " Theory
of tlie Earth."

t See my " Remarks on certain parts of Mr. Granville Penn's Comparative
Estimate of the Mineral and Mosaical Geologies,'* on this subject — of a New
Creation, p. 38. Rivington, 1826.

W .Mr. Gilbert Burnett on the Decay

which, previous to using them, their probable durability may
be determined, — a subject of at least equal, if not greater,
importance ; and to some rudimentary trials on this point I
beg shortly to call your attention.

The experiments by which the hardness, gravity, stiffness,
elasticity, toughness, tenacity, &c., of different kinds of wood,
and of differently treated specimens of the same kind, may be
computed, are so simple and so easily performed, that almost
every work on carpentry teems therewith ; hence it would be
foolish here to repeat in detail such as but confirm previous
observations, and increase the number, rather than add to the
extent, of facts already known and published. Suffice it, then,
to generaHze these points in the words of Tredgold, who ob-
serves, that ** the oak is universally allowed to be the best of
woods ;" not that it is either the hardest, the heaviest, or the
toughest — in single qualities it yields to many ; it is in their
conjunction that its superiority consists: thus many kinds of
wood are heavier, as guiacum and teak ; many harder, as
ebony and box ; many tougher, as yew and ash ; many easier
to work, as fir and poplar ; but none other as yet is known in
which the several most important properties are combined in
so great a degree, or so apportioned to be useful, as in the oak,
and no oak is equal to British oak, *' No nation," (said Bacon
long ago, in his advice to Villiers,) " no nation doth equal Eng-.
land for oaken timber, wherewith to build ships."

The experience, however, of the last fifty years would lead
almost to the denial of this boasted, this so long cherished
superiority : when we find on record, that some of our ships
have rotted on the stocks, needing repairs even before they
have been launched ; that others, more fortunate, have, never-
theless, in three, five, seven, or ten years, proved not sea-
worthy; and that, of the best modern-built ships, the average
duration seldom exceeds twelve or fifteen years. Much discredit
has consequently attached to oaken timber, and especially,
though most injudiciously, to British oak ; it having once been
given in evidence by some ship-builders (but on very insufficient
grounds) that it is less durable than that of foreign growth.
It has also been disparagingly compared to locust and other^
woods, which have been found, in some cases, to outlast oak as
posts and spurs, not considering the other qualities in which.

Qf Timber, especially Oaky Sfc, '. 75*

oak is so decidedly superior ; and that the brittleness of locust
(which is yet a very valuable wood) renders it useless for many
of those more important purposes to which oak is peculiarly
adapted and applied. Nichols, who was formerly surveyor of
jhe royal woods, speaks decidedly on this point : he says, *' oak
is the only timber of any consequence made use of for build-
ing ships for the navy, or, I believe, ever will with good effect."

It is to the durability of oak, however, that I propose
chiefly to restrict my present observations ; for when I find, as
I do, from specimens in my own possession, that oaken tim-
ber built into Prince John's palace at Eltham ; into Windsor
Gastle, of the time of Edward III. ; from the Spanish Armada,
wrecked in 1588 ; from Greensted church, built A.D. 1010,
are all good, strong, firm, and sound, after being in their
variety of situations several centuries, I cannot but contend
that oak, in conjunction with its other qualities, is, when pro-
perly selected and applied, a most enduring wood. Eltham
Palace and Windsor Castle give evidence of its durability in
ordinarily dry situations for upwards of five hundred years at
least ; the wreck of the Armada, * croped* up a few years since
in Tobermoray Bay, had been submerged between two and
three hundred years ; and the rough oaken walls of Greensted
church have been exposed to heat and cold, wet and dry, for
about eight centuries and a quarter, and are still so strong and
sound as to defy all calculation as to the ages they yet may
probably endure.

I have said that the sensible qualities of oak have been long
made the subject of inquiry ; and what, to ship-builders, mill-
wrights, &c., is of equal, if not greater import, its power of
endurance, especially its endurance when subjected to the in-
fluence of weather, to the frequent changes from wet to dry,
and from heat to cold, to which ships and mill-work, and such
like most important structures, are constantly and inevitably ex-
posed, has occasionally, though with much less success, forced
itself upon their attention. The extreme variability in the du-
ration of wood thus subjected to atmospheric changes is so
notorious, that certain kinds have long been almost exclusively
appropriated to certain purposes, and the oak has been pre-
eminently famed for endurance between wind and water, where
most other woods, however tough, or stiff*, or heavy, they may

76 Mr. Gilbert Burnett on the Decay

be, rapidly decay. But this general principle has been too
universally, far too empirically pursued, and oaken timber
has been contracted for merely as oak, and used merely be-
cause it is called oak, in docks, wharfs, ships, campshoding,
&c. &c., without due reference being had to the kind of oak,
its maturity, seasoning, &c. ; and hence the astonishing facts
that some ships have lasted upwards of a century, while others
have been worthless even before they have been fully built ;
that dock and flood-gates, posts, &c. &c., are often found to
be rotten and useless in ten or fifteen years, while others last
sound and strong for ages. These matters have not unfre-
quently excited the attention of the public, and have occa-
sionally been discussed in the highest assemblies of the state.

Many causes have been assigned for this premature decay
(for premature it must surely be esteemed) ; as, when we know
that vessels, built in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and early part
of the eighteenth century, lasted from fifty to a hundred years,
no absolute necessity can exist for those of the nineteenth being
often utterly worthless in a fifth— aye, in less than a twentieth
part of the forementioned time.

From the facts elicited by the investigations which have hence
been instituted, the most probable causes of decay, in our
modern oaken structures, may fairly be attributed to the use of
immature^ ill-chosen, and worse-seasoned wood. The inordinate
supply which, during the last war, was demanded by our dock-
yards, led to the introduction not only of inferior foreign timber,
but also to the premature and almost indiscriminate appli-
cation of our own ; whence resulted that lamentable decay,
[destruction ?] to cure and to account for which so much has
been written, said, and done. Essays have . been published
upon the felling, the seasoning, and the choice of wood ; trea-
tises have appeared on rot, i. e., upon ordinary decay; and
volumes have abounded on that appalling scourge, misnamed
the dry-rot: the which, if they have not greatly explicated the
problem, have at least gone far to shew that much, very much,
may be written on a subject, about which little, very little, is
truly known.

Perhaps the authority of Linnaeus, who arranged all the
British oaks as but varieties of one and the same species,
which he called Quercus Jlobur, not a little favoured the

of Timber f especially Oak, Sfc. 77

indiscriminate application of their timber for naval purposes,
as we find that, in the charter of the Shipwrights' Company,
red wood was proscribed as inadmissible to the dockyaids,
and, along with sappy timber, was ordered to be removed ;
and both *' strictly prohibited and restrained from being used
in or upon any ship or other vessel." Marty n, however, as Ray
and Bauhin had done long before him, emphatically insisted
upon the distinction being made between our sessile-fruited and
stalk-fruited oaks, the latter of which gives a lighter and more
lasting wood, when exposed to atmospheric influences, than the
former ; and the Durmast or Downy oak would seem to yield
a darker and less enduring timber than either of the others. —
(Vide Flora Rustica, Botanical Diversions, &c.)

These important distinctions, now generally established, were
formerly either little known or less attended to ; for Nichols,
in his book, observes, " The plantations made in the New
Forest, about the year 1700, were of the Durmast oak, the
timber of which is not so durable as the true Enghsh kind.
And we are told in a late Number of the Quarterly Review,
which, nevertheless, confounds the Q. sessiliflora with the Q.
pubescens, that the wrong oak still '' abounds, and is propa-
gated vigorously in the New Forest, and other parts of Hamp-
shire, in Norfolk, and the northern counties, and about Lon-
don." This picture seems to me far too highly coloured :
certainly in the neighbourhood of London, and within twenty
or five-and-twenty miles thereof, it is comparatively rare to
meet with either the sessile-fruited or the downy oak. Since
the botanical characters have been popularly familiar, the pre-
ference has most properly been given to the cultivation of the
stalk-fruited oak (Q. pedunculata ;) but as I have elsewhere
observed (vide '^ Amoenitates Quernese,") the timber of the ses-
siliflora is far from worthless, it being both tougher and stronger
than the pedunculata, though less enduring and elastic ; and
the pubescens affords, for many purposes, a valuable wood.

I cannot forbear correcting a botanical error which seems
to have lately become prevalent, for it has been repeated in
several influential publications of the day, namely, that the
Q. sessiliflora is not a native species. It is probably true, that
the downy oak is not indigenous to Britain ; but even this is
doubtful. Miller tells us, that it was brought to this country by
the Duke of Richmond; and hence the mistake ha? probably

1J8 Mr. Gilbert Burnett on the Decay

arisen, as many botanists believe Q. pabescens only a variety
of Q. sessiliflora ; which, however, in its ordinary type, would
appear to have been always the prevailing oak of our northern
counties, as the pedunculata is of the south and eastern shires;
Miller, at one time, considered it to be the ** common oak
of England," but this could only have arisen from some very
partial survey, though less so than that which induced M. Fou-
geroux to describe the pubescens as our common native species.
The sessiliflora being, as I am informed, the common oak of
our northern provinces, as the pedunculata is of the southern,
may not improbably justify, or at least explain, the prejudice
which has so long existed against north-country-built ships, as
less durable than those constructed in our southern ports.
' Much confusion hath existed, and doth still exist, as to the
names of our native oaks. All three were considered varieties
of his Q. Robur by Linnaeus. When subsequently distin-
guished, the term Robur has been considered synonymous with
pedunculata by some botanists, and, by others, with both sessi-
liflora and pubescens. Wildenow, Alton, and most continental
authors, call the sessile-fruited oak Q. Robur ; Smith, Salis-
bury, and most English writers, give the title Robur to the
stalk-fruited kind. I am persuaded, that it belongs more
properly to the Downy oak, Q. pubescens, than to either
of the others; that is, the qualities of the pubescent wood
agree more closely with those ascribed by ancient authors
to the timber of their Robur, than does that of either of
the former species. It will be remembered, that the terms
Q. Robur, Q. Suber, Q. JEgilops, &c. &c., were unknown to
the ancients; ih fit Quercus indicated one tree, Robur another,
Suber another, and so on. The assembling the whole under
the common generic term Quercus, with the adjunction of
specific names, has been a modern invention ; and although
Vitruvius says the Robur is less liable to warp than the Quer-
cuSf Pliny declares, '* as for the oke Robur, it will corrupt
and rot in the sea." — *' Robur marin^ aqua corrumpitur." He
also observes, " Robur exalburnatum ;" and Martyn states, that
the Durmast forms much less alburnum, in comparison to its
heart-wood, than the other oaks. Again, Festus Pompeius
writes, " Materiam qua^ plurimas venas rufi colori hahet Robur
dictam;'* and thus the colour of the timber of the Durmast
0ak^ called by the French, from its darkness, chene noir^ mH

of Timber^ especially Oak, Sec ^0

rather accord with the name Robur, a Robus, the obsolete form
of rubeus, red, than does the lighter, hard timber ofpedunculata,
which, although more durable, is not, as shewn by Tredgold, so
strong as (i. e. it breaks with a less weight than) the sessiliflora.
Moreover, Pliny decides the question, by recording, of the
ancient Robur ^ '^ Fiuviisque demersum nulla marcoris tabe con-
ficitur, sed in mare putret" which can never apply to our Bri-
tish naval oak.

** It is readily confessed, that pedunculata is a very unsatis-
factory name, very indeterminate, as many other oaks have
peduncled acorns, and very trifling for so important a tree.""
Hence is it, that as one oak has several names, and one name
signifies several oaks, I have proposed, in my ** Amoeni-
tates Querneae," to avoid the confusion in which this nomen-
clature seems involved (and which is even increased by the
assertion lately made, that the Quercus pedunculata of the
Continent is different from our native pedunculated oak,
although both have similar names), by calling the British
naval or pedunculated oak, Q. navalis, or ship-oak — the free-
growing and more stately oak, with sessile aeorns and smooth
leaves, Q. Regalis, or royal oak ; and the slower-growing oak,
with downy leaves, which holds its foliage much later in the
season^ and yields the reddest and darkest wood, Q. Robur.
The other oaks, sometimes named as species and sometimes
as varieties, I am inclined to believe the latter, perhaps mule
plants, formed by the mutual impregnation of the three before-
named species.

The evidence already within our reach, although not wholly
unexceptionable, would seem to prove, that much of the varia-
bility in the duration of oaken timber, formerly attributed to
the nature of the soil on which it grew, and to certain dis-
eases affecting trees, is in a great measure referrible to the
kind of oak, and the purpose to which the wood of the several
species may be applied. The timber of the Durmast oak, the
darkest in hue and most curiously veined, seems well fitted
for furniture and ornamental purposes ; the sessiliflora, being
both tougher and stronger than the pedunculata, and, as well
as the pubescens, very durable, if not exposed to weather, is
best adapted for domestic architecture ; its more rapid growth
and very elegant form will also fit it for shrubberies and honMl
plantations ; while the endurance of the pedunculata between

S(J Mr. tjrilbert Burnett on the Decay

wind and water/where the others are most perishable, will ever
establish its pre-eminence e.^ the naval oak ; for when thus ex-
posed to atmospheric influence, as Nichols writes in the work
already quoted, '^ the trueEnglish wood, for firmness, strength,
and durability, is preferable to any other for ship-building,
and is well known all over the world.''

As the botanical diagnosis, however, serves only when we
can procure either fruit or leaf, and as soil, disease, or too
rapid growth, niay probably, I think frequently, deteriorate
the timber even of the true naval oak ; as cupidity may fell
trees that are immature, and mistake or fraud purvey, as true
naval oak, timber of the other species or of foreign growth, a
test by which the prospective durability of wood designed for
important uses, as for ship-building, &c., may be computed
by experiments on samples, cannot be esteemed a useless ap-
plication of science to the common purposes of life ; and I doubt
not your willingness to devote a few pages of the Journal of
Science to the present observations, which shall conclude with
a notice of some rudimentary trials which promise fairly to
achieve this end, and which, although it would be wrong to
generalize on so comparatively few experiments, I am in-
duced to publish in the present form, that my views may be
corrected or verified sooner, and on a larger scale, than they
could be by individual means ; and that persons, having opportu-
nities to procure specimens of timber from different countries,
from different soils in this island, and of different kinds, ages,
&c. &c. &c., even if they do not wish to be at the trouble of
examination themselves, may forward them for me to the
Royal Institution, that I may test their relative value.

It may not be improper to state, for the information of those
unversed in physiological enquiries, that wood, even of the
most solid, firm, and hardest kinds, is entirely composed, as
to its intimate texture, of tubes and cells, differing in size, form,
and situation, in different tribes of plants, and more or less
replete with matter of very different sorts, upon which its
chief strength and substance, and all its most important
characters as timber principally depend. In the light and
porous woods of many quickly-growing trees, as the poplar, the
ligneous matter deposited one season, is, in great part, reab-
sorbed to support the rapid increase of the next ; but in the
heavy, firm, and solid wood of more slowly-growing trees, for

of TimheTt especially OaJe, Sfc, 6l

example, take the oak, so far from living on the principal, as does
the spendthrift poplar, although some change takes place in
the heart-wood for many years, the cells are not left void, but
more and more substance is deposited in these ligneous recep-
tacles, by which the alburnum becomes converted into dura-
men, and the duramen becomes gradually matured ; for,
although vegetable anatomists in general distinguish only two
kinds of wood, the sap and the heart, or spine, in large trees
there are many gradations of each ; and although the vital func-
tions are more energetic in the one, the other is not devoid of
activity, and ought not to be considered dead. When life is
totally extinct in the centre of a tree, chemical changes, more
or less rapidly, ensue ; the duramen is unable to resist external
influences, and it absorbs extraneous and often hurtful sub-
stances, which the living parts eschew. You may remember
shewing me a specimen of a beech-tree, some of the heart-
wood of which was dead, and which had become stained by
water draining through forge ashes, that had been cast in a
heap near its trunk, but the alburnum and the outer hve rings
of the duramen had resisted that external impression, to
which the whole were equally exposed, but which the lifeless
portion had no power to avoid.

Much too little stress has hitherto been laid upon the pre-
mature cutting of timber ; we hear, indeed, the practice repro-
bated, of falling fourscore young oaks, when their aggregate
contents were considerably less than what is often found in a
single tree ; but there, the objection seems rather to have been
made to the quantity than the quality of the wood. As great
an error occasionally, though not so frequently, occurs, of
allowing trees, designed for timber, to stand too long. This has
also been, and very properly, objected to ; but here the objec-
tion has been made to the chances of injury that the tree
may get, the diminution of timber by the loss of limbs, or the
hollowing of the trunk : but, besides these, another most im-
portant objection would seem to me to consist in allowing the
heart-wood to become too far indurated, by which that balance
of qualities, which constitute the great superiority of good
English oak, is considerably interfered with, and if any decay
occur, the durability must also be correspondingly impaired.

Ordinary decay in timber, and, indeed, in most vegetable

JAN. — MARCH, 1830. G

82 Mr. Gilbert Bufnett on the Decay

substances, consists in a change occurring in the contents of their
intimate cellular structures, by which the matter therein con-
tained is either dissolved and carried away, leaving the cells
more or less empty ; or decomposition, and the formation of new
chemical combinations, is favoured, by which the quality of the
wood, or whatever it may be, becomes essentially altered. By.
maceration in different menstrua, the matter deposited may be
dissolved, and the cellular structures thus exhibited aflford a
number of very beautiful anatomical preparations : and thus it
happens in natural as well as artificial processes, that vegetable
substances kept perfectly dry or immersed in menstrua, in
which their peculiar matters are insoluble, or which, instead of
favouring, check their proximate principles from undergoing
decomposition, and producing new compounds, will last un-
hurt, or but little changed, for ages ; but if the matter be
soluble in the menstruum applied, or the reverse of the former
circumstances occur, then solution and decomposition, that is,
decay will, more or less, rapidly ensue.

Timber exposed to atmospheric changes is subject, more or
less, to all these influences, and those woods, the ligneous mat-
ter of which is the most soluble in water, will, cceteris paribus,-
the most speedily decay ; but it often happens, that the de-
composition (as in fossil timber) produces a matter less cor-
ruptible than the original, at least on the outer surface, and
thus defends the internal parts — sometimes the whole becomes
thus changed. More frequently, however, the decompositions
that take place, generate various gases, e. g., carbonic acid
carburetted hydrogen, &c., &c., in abundance, the elasticity
of which cannot fail to rupture the delicate tissues of which
the cells are formed ; and these fissures, minute and almost
inappreciable as they may be thought, in fact are potential
capillary tubes : moisture is again applied, is again absorbed,
and by these means pervades the intimate structures, even
more readily and more extensively than before. By sea-water,
salts are also carried in, which often crystallize ; or during
cold weather the water freezes, and either of these processes
will sufficiently account for many of those cracks and fissures,
which do not occur from violent exsiccation. The solution
and deposit is sometimes so complete and general, as to trans-
fprm a block of wood into stone, as may be seen in almost
every museum ; and the fissures just noted, which are always

\of Timber y especially Oak, 8c^ ^

occurring in their slighter forms, in very severe winters such
as that just passed, produce much more notable effects. In
this country, as well as in the south of France, many large and
hollow trees, especially cork-trees, have been split, and their
trunks rent in pieces, by the congelation of water contained
within them, and this has taken place with so sudden and so
great a force, that the noise produced has been said to have
been heard at a considerable distance, resembling the discharge
of a musket.

. A just estimate of these various circumstances will tend to-
explain the successive stages of decay, and to elucidate some
phenomena apparently paradoxical ; e. ^., that a light soft
wood, as cedar, should be more lasting than harder, heavier,
and more solid timber, than elm, many kinds of oak and beech;
that fir, when exposed to weather, should so rapidly decay,
although the resin with which it abounds is insoluble in water;
that some woods are almost exempt from the attacks of worms,
while others are so peculiarly prone thereto ; and that imma-
ture and ill-seasoned timber becomes speedily infested by dry-
pot; which, in fact, is the decomposition of the ligneous mate-
rial, favoured by heatj moisture, and confined air: in which
circumstances, wood, the matter of which is but half elaborated,
assimilated, or matured, either from too early, or wrong sea-
soned felling, almost inevitably is found to perish.

Such being the philosophy of decay, the practical application^
of these principles is all that now remains, and it is so obvious
that it need not detain us long. To test the probable dura-
bility of any untried timber, or any doubtful specimens of a
known kind, which was the object mooted at the commence-
ment, shall form the conclusion of the present essay ; and the
means by which wood may be subjected in rapid succession,
and during a short period, to similar or equivalent influences
to those which occasion its decomposition when exposed to the
atmosphere for ages, are those experiments the results of which
have suggested the foregoing observations.

The strength, elasticity, stiffness, tenacity, toughness, &c.,
being ascertained in the usual way by taking rods of the wood
to be examined, of 2 inches square, and 3 feet long, with 24
or 30 inches between the fulcral points, and suspending weights
to the centre of each rod, noting in what time, in what degree,
iv G2

84l Mr. Gilbert Burnett on the Decay

and by what weight each bends and breaks : the probable
durability should be tested by taking equal portions of each
rod, and steeping them for equal periods, both in hot and in
cold water, then drying them and steeping them again for eight
or ten times, once a day, and the quantity of extract contained
in the respective waters will be a tolerable criterion of the rela-
tive solubility of ligneous material possessed by each.

Dutch wainscot, American clap-board, French and Norway
oak tinge the water deeply, and all part with a consider-
able proportion of their substance ; good English oak yields
comparatively little. Of English oak, the pedunculata parts
with much less of its substance, and much less speedily, than
does the sessiliflora, and that less than the pubescens; yet
specimens of young and immature timber of the naval oak I
have found to be little better than the inferior foreign plank.

I purposely avoid indulging, at the present stage of the in-
quiry, in any prolix details of the various experiments, to a
statement of the general results of which I have endeavoured to
confine myself: however, to take a few examples, I find, from
notes made by Mr. Waterworth, who assisted in the manipu-
lations, the average solubility of the ligneous material, in six
specimens of oak submitted to experiment, to have been as
follows : — 1* ; 2- ; 25 ; 3- ; 4* ; 5* 5 to 5*25 ; i. e. when equal
weights, say 450 parts, of mature, well- seasoned British naval
oak ; of the same, ill-seasoned ; of the same, immature ; of pu-
bescent oak, of choice Norway oak, and of right Dutch wain-
scot, were steeped in equal quantities of water, say 1800 parts,
at the same temperatures, and for the same periods, the rela-
tive losses, as ascertained by the increased densities of the
several infusions, and the weight of the extracts obtained by
evaporating equal quantities of each, averaged, of the Nor-
way, double that of the good British naval oak ; of the Dutch,
four times as much ; and of the pubescent, five to six times
as great : the loss of the immature and ill-seasoned British
naval oaks, as compared with mature and well-seasoned spe-
cimens, averaged two and a half and three times as much :
therefore, if the loss of the good naval oak be taken, as 1*, that
of the Norway will be 2* ; of the ill-seasoned, 2*5 ; the imma-
ture, 3- ; the Dutch 4* ; and the immature pubescent, 5* to 5-25,

Subsequently to repeated infusions in water of different tem-
peratures, the specimens still wet should be put out of doors

of Timber J especially Oak^ Sfc.

85

during a sharp frost, and alternately frozen and thawed ten or
twelve times, by which their relative powers of resisting varia-
tions of temperature will be tested ; as by the former experi-
ments it is proposed to ascertain their capacities for enduring
the change from humidity to drought. In the trials which I had
made this last winter, the specimens of Norway and French oak,
though both good of their kind, after being frozen eight times
exhibited the appearance shewn in the accompanying sketch :

while the English, submitted to similar ordeals for the same
periods, and at the same times, withstood the effects both of
drought and moisture, heat and cold, with but little change, I
might almost say totally unhurt; of .t^ifi the second figure may
serve as an example. .< , . j,,. ,,+ ,.

(The medullary rays, which pass downward from right to left, are, however, in
the wood-cut, certainly too strongly marked.)

Other similar specimens were also steeped in a saturated
solution of Glauber's salt, and then the salt allowed to crys-
tallize, which process, alternated with the dissolving of the crys-
tallized salt, was repeated several times with an effect similar
to, though less powerful than, the frost ; fig. 3. has been drawa
from a specimen thus treated.

It would be wrong, as i have before observed, to generalize too
boldly from the few trials already made, which, however, have
been sufficiently numerous and satisfactory in their results to
encourage the belief that the experiments detailed promise

v86 Mr. Gilbert Burnett on the Decay of Timber, <^c.

•fairly to become useful as a test of the probable durability of
timber when exposed to atmospheric influences ; and hence I
forward them to the Journal of Science in their present rudi-
mentary state, both in order that they may be submitted to
more speedy and extensive proofs than individual opportunities
can offer, as well as with the hope that persons who may meet
with samples of oak, and yet not wish to be at the trouble of
the experiments, will send them to -me for examination.
Beheve me to remain.

Yours, ever truly,
22, Great Marylebone-street Gilbert T. Burnett.

Microscopic Illustrations, of a few new popular and diverting
Living Objects, with their Natural History, 8fc., conjoined
with accurate Descriptions of the latest Improvements in the
new Microscopes, the best Methods of constructing their
Mountings, Apparatus, 8fc., and complete Instructions for

- using them, illustrated by highly .finished coloured En-
gravings from magnified Drawings of the actual living Sub-
jects. By C. R. Goring, M.D., and Andrew Pritchard.
Legent hcec nostra nepotes, London, Whittaker and Co.
Royal 8vo. boards.

Microscopes having of late undergone a complete revo-
lution in their construction, it is, therefore, natural to ex7
pect new works upon them ; the present is one of such a class,
of which it forms a first part ; — it may be it is written some-
what in advance of the spirit of the present age ; rather for
posterity than for the present generation : for the new micro-
scopes are, as yet, only in the possession of scientific persons,
and have not found their way to the public at large ; never-
theless, we conceive that the present publication cannot fail,
in its own time, to recommend itself generally, for it is as*
sociated with elaborate descriptions and beautiful coloured
engravings of a variety of diverting and popular objects,
many of which are the same, if we mistake not, which
have already conferred much high gratification on the public,
in the exhibition of the achromatic solar microscope.

The exordium or preface of this work is strongly tinged
with that admiration of the Supreme Intelligence which the
contemplation of the microscopic world so naturally inspires 3
and contains some arguments which appear to us to be
original. Chapters II. III. and VII. are devoted to the
description of the larva and pupa of a beautiful species of

Microscopic Illustrations, 8!Z^

gnat, the larva and chrysalis of the ephemera raarginata,
and the larva of a British hydrophilus, or water- devil.

The rest of the work is occupied with a dissertation on the
best possible ways of constructing the mechanical parts and
apparatus of microscopes, — a description of the operative,
aplanatic engiscope, (achromatic, compound microscope,)
and the most improved methods of observing with it, &c.
Dr. Goring wishes to introduce a more accurate definition of
the names of microscopes, (p. 48) by terming all those instru-
ments which operate by means of a magnified image, engi-
scopes, and the rest simple, or compound microscopes, ac-
cording to their nature. We wish him much success in this
hopeful scheme, but think he should have learnt to spell this
said word engiscope, right ; we beg to acquaint him, that the
Greek upsilon is always rendered in English by a y, and
that the correct orthography of the word is engyscope.

With respect to the operatic, aplanatic engiscope, we
shall observe, that it is, of course, one of the new micro-
scopes ; yet, we must confess, that, with a few immaterial ex-
ceptions, we see very little new about it ; at least in its
mechanical structure and apparatus, we are confident that
there is nothing in it which has not already been executed,
in detail at least ; it would appear that he has merely selected,
from a variety of constructions, both English and foreign,
those parts which he conceives to be most valuable and
effective and combined them together ; and, perhaps, in this
case, he has acted more wisely than if he had, by striving
after originality, produced a construction much more different
than this from those of our best makers.

The instructions for managing it (and it includes the
simple microscopes, and Amician reflector) are, however,
certainly both novel and elaborate, and written with great
perspicuity. No one could have delivered them, who had
not been long and intimately acquainted with the best
methods of observing with microscopes ; and whatever may
be the description of the instrument which a microscopist
may use, he cannot, we think, fail to derive both pleasure
and advantage from reading them. We shall conclude by
selecting two passages, which we think are a fair example of
the quaint but forcible style in which the book is written.

*' Now, courteous disciple, I shall endeavour to instruct thee
how to manage thy tackle, and will, moreover, have the extreme
complaisance to suppose thee (in all microscopic matters, at least)
one of the awkward squad, as stupid as an owl, and as ignorant
as a cart-horse. I will tell thee as well as I can, all that thou art
to do, and all that thou art not to do, I will try to make thee
know the right end of thy instrument from the wrong one ; how

88] Microscopic Illustrations^

to put a fly's eye before the object-glass, and a fool's eye before
the eye-piece ; with many other things equally curious, important,
and interesting j and if perchance, I shall succeed in teaching
thee how to deal with the instrument under consideration, toge-
ther with the Amician reflector, the management oi all others thou
canst meet with will be as easy to thee, as the guidance of a cock-
boat to the seaman who can work a line-of-battle ship." — p. 61.

** Courteous reader, I have endeavoured to supply the place of
a viva voce lecture on the instrument, and to infuse into thee
such knowledge as I possess, touching the management of the
aplanatic engiscope, &c. I hope it will be found sufficient for
ordinary objects ; but under the head of Test Objects, I shall enter,
into the subject still more minutely, and give still more precise
and specific instructions, as the case may seem to require. I
cannot help thinking, however, that the directions already given
will be found much more explicit, clear, and intelligible, as well
as more full, particular, and diffuse, than any others hitherto
given in print. Valeant quantum valere possimt. By their as-
sistance, thou shaltbe enabled to enter into a course of researches,
very nearly as profitable to thyself and fellow-creatures, as if thou
Avert engaged in the sublime and important occupation of deter-
mining whether the small star of e Bootis is of a greenish-blue,
or bluish-green, or whether some nebula is very gradually, or
very suddenly, much brighter in the middle." — p. 90.

On Thorina. By Professor Berzelius.

[Continued from p. 302 of last Volume..]
2. EXAMINATION OF THORINA AND ITS METALLIC RADICAL.

Thorina is reduced neither by carbon nor by potassium ; but
thorium can be isolated either when the double fluoride of
horium and potassium, or when anhydrous chloride of thorium
s mixed with potassium and heated. The latter mode succeeds
best, and gives the purest thorium. Chloride of thorium is
prepared from thorina, by mixing with carbon, and heating to
redneijs in a stream of chlorine gas. The decomposition of
the chloride of thorium takes place with a very slight detona-
tion, accompanied, if the chloride of thorium be altogether free
from water, only by the development of heat without light,
and it can be safely enough performed in glass. Even the
fluoride produces with potassium a very slight detonation.

To satisfy myself that thorina is not reduced by potassium,
I mixed anhydrous sulphate of thorina with potassium in
slight excess, and heated the mixture in a covered porcelain
crucible. The decomposition took place, with an exceedingly

Professor Berzelius on Thorina, 89

violent detonation, which heated the crucible from within to
whiteness ; and the excess of potassium was driven between
the crucible and the lid, and there burned with a very bright
flame. After cooling, water separated sulphuret of potassium,
and left a snow-white earth.

When chloride of thorium is detonated with potassium, there
is obtained a dark-gray mass, which at first, as is usual in such
reductions, gives out hydrogen gas. This, however, soon
ceases, and a gray, heavy metallic powder remains. This
powder is dark-lead gray ; after drying, can be pressed toge-
ther into a compact mass, and, when pressed with a polished
agate, becomes of an iron-gray colour, takes the metallic lustre,
and seems to have the same degree o{ metallicity as aluminum.
It is not oxidized by water, either warm or cold ; but, when
gently heated in the air, it kindles and burns with extraordinary
lustre. It changes at once into a body of fire, which can be
likened to nothing more than to the phenomenon which takes
place when a bubble of oxygen gas is introduced over mercury
to melted phosphorus. It is accompanied with a strong evolu-
tion of light ; so that the burning mass appears like a single
bright flame. Small particles of thorium, in the flame of a
spirit-lamp, burn with a white light ; and in the moment of
illumination seem to swell out to many times their former
volume. The thorina, which remains after burning, is snow-
white, and has not the slightest appearance of fusion or of
cohesion among its parts.

If thorium be treated with dilute sulphuric acid, there arises
a slight action with evolution of hydrogen gas, which speedily
ceases, and the mixture can afterwards be warmed without the
thorium being sensibly dissolved. By digestion, in this way,
with dilute sulphuric acid, a mixture of thorium and thorina
may be separated, and the thorium obtained pure. By long-
continued action, however, the thorium is diminished, and at
length entirely dissolved. The action of nitric acid upon tho-
rium is still less than that of sulphuric acid. Thorium may be
boiled in it, without the solution proceeding much more rapidly.
On the contrary, thorium dissolves with great ease in muriatic
acid, especially when aided by heat ; and the solution is accom-
panied by the evolution of hydrogen gas. Hydrofluoric acid
acts upon it as slightly as sulphuric acid : caustic alkalies, iu
the moist way, do not act upon thorium.

9d Professor Berzelius on Thorina,

2. Thorina^ which is formed by the union of the metal with
oxygen, and seems to be its only state of oxidation, has the
following properties : — It is colourless ; heavy ; soluble only in
concentrated sulphuric acid, aided by a high temperature.

Preparation of thorina from thorite. — The mineral is dis-
solved in sulphuric acid, in the way stated above in the analysis.
The solution is treated with sulphuretted hydrogen, and the
earth precipitated by ammonia. The precipitate, collected on
the filter and well washed, is dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid^
and the solution evaporated by heat. By this means, there is
formed a bulky sulphate, which is separated before the liquid
is completely evaporated, washed with boiling water, pressed
between folds of paper, dried, and heated to redness : what
remains is pure thorina.

The mother liquor and the washing still contain thorina ; the
excess of acid is saturated, as nearly as possible, with caustic
ammonia: oxalic acid is then added, so long as any precipitate
falls ; and the precipitate, washed with water, slightly acidulated
with oxalic acid. By this process, the manganese, iron and
uranium remain in solution, and the oxalate of thorina is ob-
tained on the filter. This gives, after burning, an earth tinged
with yellow, arising from a small taint of peroxide of manganese,
which attaches itself more strongly than other substances to
this earth.

Thorina may also be precipitated from this solution by adding
dry crystallized sulphate of potash, as long as any is dissolved*
The thorina falls in the form of a double salt ; and by this
process it is more completely thrown down than by oxalic acid.

To obtain the hydrate of thorina, the sulphate of thorina,
after washing with boiling, is dissolved in cold water. This
salt dissolves very slowly, but at length completely: the solu-
tion is precipitated by caustic potash, and washed upon the
filter ; the precipitate is gelatinous, like the hydrate of alumina,
but falls easily ; during washing and drying it absorbs carbonic
acid from the air ; dried in the open air, it forms itself into
glassy lumps ; in a vacuum over sulphuric acid it is obtained
in the form of a white powder ; it loses its water by a low red-
heat. The moist hydrate dissolves easily in acids ; when dry,
it dissolves with great difficulty and after long digestion ; but,
after heating to redness, it becomes altogether insoluble in
nitric and muriatic acide, '

Professor Berzelius on Thorina, 91

The hydrate of thorina is insohible in caustic alkalies. On
the other hand, both the hydrate, the carbonate, and the suh^
salts dissolve with ease in the carbonated alkalies, and in car*
bonate of ammonia. Very little is dissolved by the alkali, if
the solution is much diluted ; but they dissolve abundantly
and with ease if the solution be concentrated. If a solution
of thorina, in carbonate of ammonia, be put into a flask and
heated to + 50 (Celsius = 122 Fahrenheit) or thereabout, the
liquid becomes turbid, and much thorina is thrown down, which
is again completely taken up when the solution is allowed to
cool. The addition of caustic ammonia does not precipitate
the thorina ; and if, previous to the addition of ammonia, the
liquor were muddy, from the commencement of precipitation,
the ammonia restores its transparency.

If thorina be heated to redness with a caustic or carbonated
alkali, it does not fuse with it, but becomes insoluble in muriatic
and nitric acids, which take up only the foreign matters with
which it may be contaminated, and which, previous to this
heating with alkali, could not be removed by acids. It separates
in the form of a white milk-like mass, which, in washings
passes through the filter, like titanic acid ; an effect, however,
which may be prevented by mixing muriatic acid or sal ammo-
niac with the washing water.

Thorina, by heating to redness, becomes hard, and is after-
wards difficult to reduce to fine powder. Its specific gravity
is greater than that of any other earth, and approaches that of
the oxide of lead : I found it 9.402. The specific gravity of
the mineral thorite is therefore considerably less than might
be expected from that of the pure earth.

Before the blowpipe, it remains unchanged ; with borax it
melts with very great difficulty, and the clear glass does not
lose its transparency by flaming'^ ; but it may be saturated so
much as to become milky on cooling. In phosphoric salt, it
dissolves with great difficulty, and with carbonate of soda it does
not fuse.

The saturating power of thorina I have endeavoured to
determine by the analysis of its combination with sulphuric
acid. The sulphate, precipitated by boiling, was afterwards
dissolved in cold water, and the solution precipitated by pure
caustic potash in slight excess. The earth, fully washed and
* An intenuitting application of the flame*

92 ProFessoi' Berzelius on Thorina,

heated to redness, weighed 0.6754 grammes. The alkaline
hquid which passed through, being saturated with muriatic acid,
■and precipitated by chloride of barium, gave 1.159 grammes
sulphate of barytes. In another experiment I obtained the
proportions —

1.0515 thorina,
1.832 sulphate of barytes.

To determine the number of atoms of oxygen it contains, I
analyzed the double sulphate of thorina and potash : 0.801
grammes of the salt in crystals were dried on the sandbath }
they became opaque milk-white, and lost 0.0365 grammes of
water. This loss was not increased by a heat which melts tin.
The remaining 0.7645 grammes were dissolved in warm water,
precipitated by caustic ammonia, and heated to redness. The
earth obtained, weighed 0.265 grammes : the solution which
was left gave, by the usual treatment, 0.3435 grammes sulphate
of potash ; so that the sulphuric acid, united to the earth, was
0.156, or the same as is contained in the sulphate of potash.
This analysis for the determination of the atomic weight affords
two grounds of calculation — namely, from the sulphuric acid
and from the sulphate of potash. Calculated from the former,
the atom becomes 851.3, from the latter 841.73 : the formerly
mentioned analysis of the sulphate gives — the first, 849.664,
and the second, 836.86; the mean of all four = 844,9, is pro-
bably nearest the truth.

As alumina and the oxide of iron give, with sulphuric acid,
salts, in which the oxygen of the acid is only twice as great as
that in the base, and as these salts unite with sulphate of
potash in such a proportion that the quantity of sulphuric acid
in each of the component salts is equal, the same most likely
holds, also, in the case of thorina* — a circumstance here so
much the more probable, as the sulphate of thorina, thrown
down by boiling, seems necessarily to be a basic (sub) salt.
In this case, the earth contains three atoms of oxygen, and one
half more per cent, than is denoted by the preceding analysis,
I therefore analyzed the salt, which crystallizes by a spontaneous
evaporation from an acid solution of sulphate of thorina, but I
found the base and the acid to be here in the same ratio, the
water of crystallization only being very different. I digested

* I put these in italics, because they are not in the original; though they seem
necessary to complete the sense.

Professor Berzelius on Thorina, 93

then, with sulphuric acid, a determined weight of the sulpho-*
salt, thrown down by boiling, and afterwards evaporated over a
lamp till fumes ceased to be given off. In the greater number
of experiments, fumes ceased to be given off at a point which
denoted an increase of one half in the quantity of acid contained
by the salt ; but this quantity was by no means precise : some-
times a little more was obtained, sometimes less ; but, in the
last case, a portion of the salt did not immediately dissolve in
water. In every case, I found an anhydrous salt formed by the
presence of more sulphuric acid.

To get out of this labyrinth, I prepared and analyzed a por-
tion of anhydrous chloride of thorium. This analysis gave for
the atomic weight of thorina, .838. I regard this number,
however, as less worthy of credit than the formerly obtained
mean, since in this case the earth was coloured by some foreign
substance, probably iron.

If we take the mean of the results obtained from the sulpho-

salts, as nearest the true atomic weight, then thorina in 100

parts will consist of

Thorium 88.16i,^^
Oxygen 11.84/'""

And the hydrate of thorina will consist of

Thorina 88.25 1,^^
Water 11.75j'""

The symbol for an atom of thorium =744.9 may be Th, for
thorina Th, and for its hydrate Th H.

Thorina is distinguished generally from the other earths by
its forming with sulphuric acid a compound which, by boil-
ing, lets fall a while salt, dissolving again, though slowly, on be-
coming cold. In applying this test, however, it must be re-
marked that this precipitation is prevented by the presence of
those bases with which thorina forms double salts, from which
by boiling no appreciable quantity falls.

From alumina and glucina it is distinguished by its being
insoluble in caustic potash, by which these earths are taken up.

From ytfria, by its forming with sulphate of potash a
double salt insoluble in a saturated solution of sulphate of
potash, by which means it may sometimes be separated quan^
titively from yttria.

From zirconiaj by these two circumstances, that zirconia pre-
cipitated hot by sulphate of potash becomes afterwards, in a

94 Professor Berzefius on Thorina,

great degree, insoluble both in water and acids; and that
thorina is precipitated by the cyanide of iron and potassium,
by which the salts of zirconia are not troubled.

From protoxide of cerium, by these, that, in drying and heat-
ing to redness it does not assume the colour of the peroxide of
cerium ; and that before the blowpipe with borax and phos-
phor salt it does not give a coloured glass, either when hot or
cold, provided the earth has been previously perfectly free from,
oxide of iron.

From titanic acid, as well by its precipitating with sulphate
of potash as by the characteristic properties of titanic acid
before the blowpipe.

From the common metallic oxides^ among which, from its^
high specific gravity, it might be ranked, by its not being pre-
cipitated by sulphuretted hydrogen.

The properties which I have formerly stated it to possess in.
common with the sub-phosphate of yttria are the following : —
i. Its salts have a pure astringent taste, ii. The crystallized
sulphate treated with warm water becomes opaque, and leaves
a white skeleton of the crystalline form. iii. Most of its salts
are precipitated by boiling, and attach themselves strongly to
the sides of the glass like a white enamel, iv. Its hydrate
strongly attracts carbonic acid from the air while drying.
V. And dissolves in carbonated, but not in caustic alkalies.
vi. And the solutions of both are precipitated by prussiate of
potash, &c. But it is easily distinguished from yttria, both by
the abovementioned test and by this— that the chloride of
thorium is not thrown down by boiling, like a solution of sub-
phosphate of yttria in muriatic acidx

3d. Thorium and sulphur. When a mixture of thorium
and sulphur is heated, first the sulphur begins to distil over,
and afterwards the metal takes fire in the gaseous sulphur, and
burns with nearly the same lustre as in the open air. The
product is a yellow powder, which by pressure becomes shining,
but does not exhibit the metaUic streak. Heated in an open
glass-tube, it gives thorina and subhmed sulphur, (even after
the sulphuret of thorium has been heated to redness in a
stream of hydrogen gas,) but it does not burn with any degree
of lustre. Digested with dilute acids, it gives off at first a
small quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen, but is not sensibly
dissolved even when heated. Nitric acid also acts upon it very..

Professor Berzelius on Thorina, 9&

slightly. In cold nitro-muriatic acid also it suffers no change;
but when heated it dissolves without residue, giving off nitrous
acid gas. The solution contains sulphate of thorina.

4th. Thorium and phosphorus. When thorium is heated
in gaseous phosphorus, they unite with the development of
heat and light. The phosphoret of thorium is dark-gray, has
the metallic lustre, and resembles graphite. It is insoluble in
water. When heated, it takes fire, and is converted into the
phosphate of thorina.

5th. Salts of thorium. The salts which thorium gives, as
well with salt-formers^ as in the state of oxide with the oxy-
acids, are distinguished by a strong and pure astringent taste,
which is not accompanied by anything of sour, sweet, or bitter,
and which most resembles that of pure tannin. In taste they
also resemble nearest the salts of zirconium. Their solutions
are precipitated by oxalic acid, and by the cyanide of iron and
potassium, of a white colour, and are rendered muddy by sul-
phate of potash, which is dissolved by them.

These three re-agents distinguish them from all other un-
mixed salts, except those of the protoxide of cerium, from
which salts they are distinguished by this — that the colourless
precipitate by caustic alkali does not become yellow in the
open air, as is the case with the cerium salts. The salts of
thorina are decomposed by a red heat, and leave the earth in
an isolated state, and they lose their acids more easily than
zirconia.

(A.) Haloidsalts.

Chloride of thorium is formed by mixing thorina with pure
sugar, charring the mixture thoroughly in a covered platinum
crucible, afterwards, when heated to redness in a porce-
lain tube, passing over it a stream of dry chlorine gas. The
decomposition takes place very slowly, and the chloride of
thorium is not particularly volatile. The most of it is deposited
where the tube ceases to be red ; the mass to be decomposed,
therefore, should not be allowed to reach so far, if we wish to
make a distinct separation. The chloride of thorium deposits
itself in the form of a white crystalline ring, and white fumes^

* The following are what Berzelius calls saitbilder, ta/t-buildert—cblonnef
iodine, bromine, cyanogen, fluorine, and sulpho-cyanogen — the base of the hydro-
sulpho-cyanic acid. — Translator.

96" Professor Berzelius on Thorina.

passing over, condense on the sides of the glass receiver, into
which the porcelain tube opens. It forms there an uncrys-
taliine mass, dissolving only partially in water, and leaving on
the glass a transparent thorina, which cannot be washed off,
and which, after the glass becomes dry, adheres so strongly,
that it might be mistaken for a consequence of the action of
acid upon the glass. It is dissolved off by sulphuric, but
neither by muriatic nor nitric acids. The cause of this phe-
nomenon may be that the pulverulent chloride of thorium given
off is changed at the moment of contact with the moist air
into a subsalt, (in what way I do not understand ;) so that the
earth, separated by the action of water, will be in the same
state of insolubility as that which is obtained by burning.

With water the neutral chloride of thorium developes much
heat, and is entirely dissolved when the compact, half melted
portion is selected.

The hydrate of thorina dissolves with ease in muriatic acid.
Evaporated to a certain degree of concentration, particularly
if it contain an excess of acid, which renders the salt less
soluble, it congeals on cooling, into a straw-Hke crystalline
mass. If the evaporation be continued to dryness by a gentle
heat, a deliquescent saline mass is obtained, which, even in
dry air, neither crystallizes nor dries. Heated more strongly,
it is decomposed, the muriatic acid is driven off, and thorina
remains behind. The hydrous chloride of thorium dissolves
in strong muriatic acid, almost as easily as in water; the
chloride of zirconium, on the contrary, is almost insoluble
in muriatic acid. It dissolves also, with ease, in alcohol.

The chloride of thorium combines with the chloride of
potassium, forming a double salt, so soluble in water, as to be
almost deliquescent. It may be dried and heated to redness
in a stream of muriatic acid gas, during which process some
chloride of thorium is sublimed, a little is decomposed by the
still adhering water, but the greater part remains unchanged.
1 made use of this method, among others, for the reduction of
thorium with potassium*. The double salt may be obtained

* The attempt to obtain by the same process, an anhydrous chloride of kalium,
and aluminum for reduction, always failed, only a very small part of the chloride^
of aluminum remaining imdecomposed.

Professor Berzelius on Thorina, , 81

crystallized, although, from its being so easily soluble, with
great difficulty.

Bromide of thorium is prepared by dissolving hydrate of
thorina in hydro-bromic acid. The solution, which contained
an excess of acid, was left to spontaneous evaporation; a
tenacious, gummy-like mass, was formed, which, on driving off
the excess of acid, became of a deep orange-colour — a hue which
was not changed by several days' direct exposure to the solar
rays, at a temperature of +30® (Celsius = 86° Fahrenheit*.)

When a little bromide of potassium is added, a double salt
is formed, and the bromine speedily evaporates.

Fluoride of thorium is insoluble in water, and in hydro-
fluoric acid. It is obtained by dissolving the hydrate in fluoric
acid. When the supernatant excess of acid is evaporated,
there remains almost no residue. The fluoride of thorium is
a heavy, enamel-white powder, which is not decomposed by a
red heat, and very imperfectly by potassium.

The fluoride of thorium and potassium is a salt, insoluble
in water, which falls when a salt of thorina is mixed with
fluoride of potassium. It is not decomposed by heat; but
potassium reduces the thorium, though always silently.

Cyanide of iron and thorium is obtained when a salt of
thorina, containing no excess of acid, is mixed with a solution
of cyanide of iron and potassium. The slightest trace of tho-
rina is discovered by this means. The precipitate is heavy and
enamel-white. Acids dissolve it, and alkalies decompose it,
separating hydrate of thorina. By the red cyanide of iron and
potassium the salts of thorina are not troubled.

* I have endeavoured to find out the cause of this colouring, and found it to be
derived from a property which iodine has in a high degree, bromine in a less,
and which chlorine altogether wants, namely, that they give higher degrees of
combination than correspond witli those of oxidation (iln som svara emot oxiderna).
Iodine has this proj^erty, even with the strongest bases, potassiinn and sodium,
and gives very soluble crystalline high degrees of iodic combination, with calcium,
magnesium, &c., which, with the earthy hydrates, form insoluble subsalts. Di-
gestion, with much water, decomposes these, and separates the earth. Bromine
exhibits these high degrees of combination, which are decompose*! by water, with
the weaker metallic bases only, of which we have an example in the bromide of
calcium. Hydrate of lime, treated with bromine in excess, and afterwards eva-
porated in the vacuum of an air-pump, over dry caustic potash, gives a solid, cinna-
barred mass, which i^ decomposed by water in such a way, that a yellow powder is
separated, and a bleaching liquor formed ; but all colour is speedily lost, and
with it the bleaching property. Tlie liquid then contains bromide of calcium and
bromate of lime. In an analogous way, the orange bromide of thorium contains
a chemical combination of bromine, witn neutral bromide of thorium.

JAN.— -MARCH, 1830. H

W Professor Berzelius on Thorina,

B. OXYSALTS.

Sulphate of Thorina. — This salt is obtained when thorina,
previously heated to redness, is rubbed to fine powder, di-
gested with a mixture of equal parts of water and sulphuric
acid till all the water is evaporated, and the excess of acid
driven oflf by gentler heat. The salt which remains has an
earthy appearance. In a large quantity of cold water it dis-
solves immediately ; but, if the quantity of water be so small
as to cause the development of heat when poured upon the
salt, it takes a much longer time to dissolve. The solution,
left to spontaneous evaporation at a low temperature, deposits
transparent ciystals, and leaves at last a very sour mother
liquor^ which contains almost nothing but sulphuric acid, and
gives a very slight precipitate when saturated with ammonia.

The crystallized salt is neutral sulphate of thorina in rhom-
boedral crystals. These crystals undergo no change at the
common temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, but in
very warm and dry air they become milk-white without falling
asunder. They contain 29.4 per cent, of water, the oxygen in
which is five times that in the earth. When they fall to powder, or
are gently heated, they lose three-fifths of this water. The salt,
like the sulphate of yttria, dissolves very slowly in water, so
that the crystals may be very long in that liquid without losing
the sharp edges. In powder it dissolves more easily, and water
afterwards takes up a large quantity of it. Thrown into hot
water, the crystals lose their transparency, and become milk-
white ; and if the water be heated to boiling, they become
covered with a white deposit, which dissolves as the water
cools. If a much-diluted solution of the salt be heated
to boiling, the water becomes opalescent ; but if it be in a flat
vessel, and be blown upon, it becomes clear. These phenomena
are derived from the property which this salt possesses of losing,
at a temperature varying with the degree of concentration of
the solution, a portion of its combined water of crystalliza-
tion — becoming, from a combination of five, one with only two
atoms, and which new combination is exceedingly difficult
of solution, and continues so till it again takes up the three
other atoms. For this reason it may be washed out, with-
out great loss, after the manner already mentioned, with water

Professor Berzelius on Thorina. 99

having a temperature above that at which it is changed from
thS+5»tothS + 2U.

If a solution of sulphate of thorina be evaporated by a heat
of about 25° (Celsius = 77° Fahr), it begins, at a certain point
of concentration, to deposit a snow-white, woolly, very bulky
mass, which is a congeries of exceedingly fine, flexible, micros-
copic crystals of the salt just mentioned, precipitated by
the boiling, and the formation of which is not prevented by
excess of acid. It dissolves very slowly in cold water, espe-
cially when the quantity is small ; and commonly leaves a
transparent crystalline wool, looking like the result of a de-
composition, but which also is at last entirely dissohed. The
sulphate of thorina is insoluble in alcohol, and is precipitated
by it from its solution in water. If the precipitate be thrown
down in the cold, it contains ^\e atoms water ; if it be boiled
in a mixture of water and spirit, it contains only two atoms.

The distinction between these two salts is analogous to that
already shown by Mitscherli:h in regard to several crystallized
salts, which at different temperatures assume difierent quan-
tities of water of crystallization.
The salt is composed per cent, of

Sulphuric acid 26.260«l or 31.90=1
Thorina . . 44.273 = 1 or 53.:8al
Water . . . 29.467 = 5 or 14.32=2

100 190

I have already shown that thorina seems to form an acid
anhydrous salt, which made me uncertain how far the atomic
weight deduced from the analysis of the sulphate couki be
depended upon.

One grammeof the sulphate of thorina, thrown down by boiling,
dried in the air at 24^ (Celsius =76^ Fahr.), mixed in a platioa
cmcible with distilled sulphuric acid, which was afterwards
evaporated over a spirit-lamp till all fumes ceased to be given
off. The weight then was 1.055 grammes. It had therefore
takeD ap 19,77 gr. sulphuric acid n&orc than formerly, which
was aonoething more than half as mnch as it contained before.
In another exper im ent, 1.192 sulphate of thorina, prepared in
the Mune way, gave 0.6345 gr. thorina, which approaches very
near th« S »; but here there had evidently been formed a nea-
tral salt, which dissolved with great difficulty and slowni

H 2

100 Professor Berzelius on Thorina,

In several other experiments I obtained always varying results,
since the proof of the evaporation of the excess of acid is
always uncertain. At all events these experiments seem to
prove the existence of an anhydrous acid salt, which probably
contains twice as much acid as the neutral salt, and the cha-
racter of which is, that it fully dissolves in cold water in a few
moments, giving a solution, the evaporation of which, in what-
ever way, affords the neutral salt, leaving the excess of acid in
the mother Uquor.

To determine if thorina forms a sub-sulphate, and how it is
composed, I mixed a solution of sulphate of thorina with less
caustic ammonia than was necessary to precipitate all the
earth. The precipitate was at first re-dissolved — it was very
gelatinous, and semi-transparent. During the washing I ob-
served that, when the washing-water ceased to leave a trace on
evaporation, it still gave a precipitate with chloride of barium.
I took, therefore, a portion of the precipitate, analysed it, and
obtained 100 parts thorina and 68 parts sulphate of barytes.
The washing was then continued a couple of hours, with boil-
ing water, containing no trace of sulphuric acid — after which
the remainder, analysed, gave me 100 thorina and 50 sulphate
of barytes, from which it appears that water in washing decom-
poses this subsalt, extracting the acid and leaving the earthy
hydrate.

Sulphate of Thorina and Potash, — When in a solution of
thorina, sulphate of potash is placed in the solid form, there is
at first no precipitation, but after some time the water begins
to be opaque ; and, as the salt dissolves, there is deposited on
the inside of the glass, and precipitated through the solution,
a snow-white crystalline powder, which is this double salt. If
the solution of the thorina salt be neutral and much concen-
trated, the whole thorina it cpntains is not precipitated in this
way, since the salt soon becomes covered over with a thin layer
of the double salt, which may, indeed, be separated by shaking,
but which is never found when the salt is nearly all precipi-
tated. This was the case in the formerly-detailed analysis.
If, instead, a boiling hot solution of sulphate of potash betaken,
and added so long as any precipitate is formed, we have, on
cooling, a solution entirely free from thorina, even when it
contains acid in excess. This salt is entirely insoluble in cold

Professor Berzelius on Thorina. 101

saturated solution of sulphate of potash. It dissolves with dif-
ficulty in cold water, but very easily and readily in warm.
Left to spontaneous evaporation, the solution deposits clear
colourless crystals, which I once obtained in the form of rec-
tangular four-sided prisms united lengthwise into a cross, formed
of the plane terminations of the prisms. But these crystals
seemed to be hemitro{)ic, and had re-entering angles on the
projecting (ut at vande) sides of the prism. These crystals I
have generally obtained too small to determine their form more
nearly.

The aqueous solution of this salt, boiled in a platina vessel,
speedily covers the metal with a layer of thorina, and deposits
a subsalt insoluble in water ; but this decomposition goes on
only to a certain degree, and that which is deposited speedily
loses a portion of its acid. The salt is insoluble in alcohol. It
contains water of crystallization, which is dissipated by a gentle
heat, and leaves the crystals opaque and milk-white. It is not
changed by exposure to the air. It consists of
Sulphuric acid =3 9.3 12

= KS+ThS+H

I have been unable to form any double salt of these consti-
tuents in any other ratio. Even the acid sulphate of potash,
melted with thorina, produces this salt ; but it is not dissolved
by melting in an excess of this acid salt, as is the case with
zirconia, tantalic acid, titanic acid, &c.

Nitrate of thorina dissolves easily in water and alcohol. In
the open air the solution becomes syrupy and semi-fluid. Over
sulphuric acid, in a close vessel, it concretes into a crystalline
mass.

Nitrate of thorina and potash is very easily dissolved in
water. After spontaneous evaporation to the state of syrup, it
shoots out all at once into a mass of strawlike crystals. It is
soluble in alcohol.

Phosphate of thorina is insoluble even in excess of phos-
phoric acid. It falls in the form of a white flocky precipitate,
melting with difiSculty before the blow-pipe.

Borate of thorina is a white flocky precipitate, insoluble in
excess of boracic acid.

Potash

= 23.138

Thorina

= 33.139

Water

= 4.412

102 Professor Berzelius on Thorina,

Carbonate of thorina is precipitated by carbonated alkalies,
with the development of free carbonic acid, and is a subsalt,
whose composition I have not more nearly investigated. It is
insoluble in water impregnated with carbonic acid. The hy-
drate of thorina attracts carbonic acid from the atmosphere,
and, after long drying in the air, dissolves in acids with effer-
vescence. This does not happen when it is dried in a vacuum
over sulphuric acid.

Arseniate of thorina is insoluble in water and arsenic acid.
It is thrown down in the form of a white flocky precipitate,
both by neutral and by acid arseniates.

Chromate of thorina is a beautiful bright-yellow flocky pre-
cipitate, which in excess of chromic acid dissolves, and forms
an acid salt.

Molyhdate and tungstate of thorina are thrown down both
by neutral and by super-salts of these acids. They are in the
form of white flocky precipitates.

Oxalate of thorina is a white, heavy precipitate, insoluble in
excess of acid. In other free and diluted acids, it is very
sparingly soluble. If it is collected on the filter, and washed
with water, it speedily begins to pass milky through the paper,
which is prevented by the addition of a little oxalic acid to the
water.

Oxalate of thorina and potash is also a white powder, inso-
luble in excess of acid. It is distinguished from the former
by becoming black on burning ; and, after the carbon is burnt
off, it falls, when put in water, to a milk-white mass, and the
solution contains carbonate of potash.

Tartrate of Thorina. — Hydrate of thorina dissolves by di-
gestion in tartaric acid. If so much be added that a portion
remains undissolved, a neutral salt is obtained, white, flocky,
and sparingly soluble in ammonia, which only takes up a por-
tion of it. The acid solution has more of a sour than astrin-
gent taste, and gives, after evaporation, an acid crystalline
salt. - It is soluble in alcohol, leaving a neutral salt ; but the
solution in alcohol still contains thorina, which seems to show
the existence of a still more acid salt. Neither the acid tar-
trate, nor any of the other salts of thorina to which tartaric
acid is added, are precipitated by caustic ammonia in excess ;
and there is no sure method for separating thorina from such

Professor Berzelius on Thorina, 103

a solution but by evaporating to dryness, and destroying the
tartaric acid by a red heat.

Tartrate of thorina and potash is formed when bitartrate of
potash is digested with hydrate of thorina and water. It is a
difBcultly soluble crystalline salt, which is not precipitated
by alkalies, and is only rendered opalescent by prussiate of
potash.

Citrate of thorina. — When citric acid is digested upon
hydrate of thorina, a white flocky insoluble neutral salt is ob-
tained, while super-salt remains in solution, which may be
evaporated to a transparent syrupy mass, but does not crystal-
lize. Its taste has more sourness than astringency. Both
the neutral and the super-salt dissolve with ease in caustic
ammonia, without any sign of precipitation ; and if the solution
be concentrated, there is obtained from both a transparent
gummy-like mass, which is soluble in water. To obtain the
thorina, therefore, the citric acid, like the tartaric, must be
destroyed.

Acetate of thorina. — If hydrate of thorina, still wet, be
digested with dilute acetic acid, a thick pasty opaque mass is
formed ; and if carbonate of thorina be digested with concen-
trated acetic acid, it is decomposed with eflfervescence, a white
powder remaining at the bottom, and a small quantity being
taken into solution. Either of these being evaporated nearly
to dryness by a gentle heat, the acetate of thorina becomes in-
soluble in water ; and it may in this way be freed from other
earths, which dissolve in the form of acetates, while only a
slight trace of thorina is taken up. The acetate is heavy, ena-
mel-white, and goes like milk through the filter, unless the
washing-water contain a little muriate of ammonia. From the
neutral nitrate of thorina, acetate of potash causes no preci-
pitate, not even by boiling, which seems to indicate the forma-
tion of a soluble double salt.

Succinate of </iori/ia.— Succinate of ammonia throws down
from the neutral salts of thorina a white flocky precipitate.
The hydrate of thorina, digested with a solution of succinic
acid, changes into a thick enamel-white neutral salt, like the
acetate. Excess of succinic acid dissolves only a trace of the
neutral salt.

Formate of thorina, — Formic acid dissolves the hydrate of

,'lOi Professor Berzelius on Thorina,

thorina, 'and the salt crystallizes by spontaneous evaporation
of the water and excess of acid. The crystallized salt is
slightly soluble in alcohol. By boiling water it is dissolved,
without being disturbed by boiling; but cold water decomposes
it in such a way, that the solution becomes acid, and a certain
portion of a white sub-salt remains undissolved. The formic
acid, employed in this experiment, was prepared after the
method of Dobereiner.

C. Sulphur-Salts.

Thorium seems, like aluminum, to form no sulphur-salts
by the moist way. When I precipitated sulphate of thorina
with pure sulpharseniate of sodium, a smell of sulphuretted
hydrogen was given off; and when the yellow precipitate was
washed, and afterwards treated with muriatic acid, thorina was
extracted without the development of sulphuretted hydrogen ;
from which it seems to follow, that the sulphur- salts only throw
down a mixture of the hydrate of thorina, with the electro-
negative metallic sulphuret.

On the Astacillce of Cordiner, a Genus of Crustaceous Ani-
mals. By the Rev. John Fleming, D.D., F.R.S.E.

[Communicated by the Author.]

There are few employments, in which a naturalist can engage^
of a more disagreeable character than the collation of syno-
nimes. In some cases, he is compelled to witness, with regret,
the successful labours of original observers overlooked by
those who, unconscious of their existence, would willingly,
under other circumstances, have done ample justice to their
merits. In other cases, his attention is directed to individuals
in whom selfishness appears to predominate, who exhibit a cold
indifference towards the labours of their predecessors, and who
seem more disposed to secure the temporary applause given to
discoverers, than the honest fame of faithful recorders. There
is so great a degree of drudgery connected with the investiga-
tion of synonimes, and apparently so little discredit attached
to inaccuracy regarding them, that the task is usually avoided
ias too irksome for execution. Should it be found impracticable

On the Astacilla of Cordiner. 105

to avoid noticing the labours of those who have investigated
the subject, many individuals but too easily succeed in saving
themselves the trouble of scrutinizing the evidence, by deriving
their informatiou at second hand. The reader, in ordinary
cases, will not likely detect the indolence of the compiler, who,
in such circumstances, but too frequently claims and gains
credit for great industry of research, when all his labours con-
sisted in transcribing. It is true, that an occasional typogra-
phical error, in the reference to a page, when it can be traced
through the synonimes of subsequent authors, may reveal the
secret. But few travel in a course where such occurrences are
to be met with ; and those who may happen to detect them
are generally in a state of mind to afford a delinquent the
greatest sympathy.

In the present state of society, it is perhaps impossible to
avoid the multiplication of synonimes. The number of ob-
servers, in almost every branch of science, has increased to
such a degree as to render it unattainable for any individual
to become acquainted with all the results which they have
gained ; and it is equally impracticable to be aware of all the
truths which these observers may record in the numerous pub-
lications now open for the reception of scientific truths. It
would require, for each department of science, the hfetime of
an active individual, placed in favourable circumstances, in
order to collect the facts which have been ascertained, and
apportion to each observer the share of discovery which may
be due. Few, however competent for the task, can be ex-
pected to exhibit such devoted patriotism. But there are many
individuals, at present engaged in scientific inquiry, who are
studying Nature or tracing the labours of her votaries, and who
occasionally have it in their power to point out the progress of
discovery, and thus contribute to the formation of correct annals
of science. Under the conviction that every result of this
kind is of value, the following notices have been recorded,
which may probably have an interest with those who are en-
gaged in the study of the crustaceous animals, or who take any
pleasure in watching the progress of the British Fauna.

In the year 1784, the Rev. Charles Cordiner, of Banff,
began to publish in London, in numbers, a very interesting
work, entitled, *' Remarkable Ruins and Romantic Prospects

i06 On the AstacillcB of Cordiner.

of North Britain/* Though the professed object of the work
was the ehicidation of the remains of antiquity, the author was
induced to pubHsh twenty-four plates, containing the figures of
marine animals, chiefly obtained from the Moray Frith. A
few of these objects had been previously described in the
writings of Mr. Pennant, and other British naturalists, but the
greater part constituted additions to our Fauna. Though the
figures in general display the taste of the painter rather than
the discernment of the naturalist, and the descriptions offend
by their inflated style and want of precision, I have been able
to identify several species, of which Cordiner's figures are the
first indications. To these I have referred at the proper places
among the mollusca and radiata, in the first volume of " Bri-
tish Animals/'

Attached to the twenty-first number of the work there is a
plate marked " Astacilla, Purple Doris," &c., 1793. This
contains four figures of a crustaceous animal which was
dredged up a few leagues from the coast of Banff. The figures
express some of the attitudes and habits of the species, and
sufficiently indicate its want of accordance with any of the
species or genera at that period recognised by naturalists. The
description annexed merely states, that " the diminutive Asta-
cilla, of the generic name of lobsters, is applied at present as
a common characteristic, until one more particularly appro-
priate may be fixed on to distinguish it by ; for these are a
species that do not appear to have been yet recognised among
the varieties of British insects." It is also added, '* the eye
appeared as a regular arrangement of bright specks, in circular
rows." In reference to their dwelling he observes, *' The
AsTACiLLiE, having their residence among the tender corals,
which can only s[)read their beautiful forms in the calm and
tranquillity of those regions of the deep where winter-storms
never have power to agitate the bottom, they only can be
brought ashore with those peculiar clusters of corallines among
which they dwell ; and the many chances against falling in with
any one rare and particular species, in the wide extent of these
their dwellings, so remote from human eye, is an obvious
cause why many of these have been so long, and may yet re-
main, undehneated and unUescribed." In the plate to which
we have referred, these astacillse are represented with their

On the AsfacilltB of Cordiner, 107

projecting antennae and four anterior pairs of natatory legs free ;
while the three hind pair of prehensile ones are grasping the
stems of the tubularia indivisUf growing with other corallines
on a dead shell of the cyprina islandica. The attitudes of
the animal, exhibited in the figures, are remarkably expres-
sive, and appear to accord with its structure, especially the
arrangement of its legs.

In the year 1805, the late Mr. James Sowerby, without
apparently being aware of the previous labours of Mr. Cor-
diner, again introduced the astacilla to the notice of the pub-
lic, as an addition to our Fauna, in his valuable '* British
Miscellany," No. III., plate xv. He there designated it
under the title Oniscus longicornis, with the following specific
character : — Segments of the body, 10 ; the fourth is the length
of six others. Antennae consisting of five joints. The eight
fore-legs hairy in the inside, the others smooth ; eyes black."
This species was transmitted by the late Mr. T. W. Simmons,
as having been ** entangled in the nets off Dysart, near Inch
Keith," in the Frith of Forth. The figures bear a sufficiently
close resemblance to those of Cordiner, though on a more
reduced scale ; and the only addition, of consequence, to the
history of the animal, which was at this time communicated,
was included in the following sentence : '' The eggs are red,
and adhere to the under side of the largest segment of the
body."

This singular species of crustaceous animal, thus prominently
brought under the notice of British naturalists, appears to
have been altogether overlooked by that truly zealous and
successful systematical zoologist. Dr. Leach, in his different
treatises on crustaceology, which successively appeared in the
Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, the Linnaean Transactions, and the
Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica ; and it was
equally excluded from the collection of these articles pub-
lished by Mr. Samonelle, in his ** Entomologist's Useful Com-
pendium." Nor did it find a place in the ♦* Considerations
Generales sur la Classe des Crustaces," of M. Desmarest,
Paris, 1825. This omission is the more remarkable, as Dr.
Leach, under the article Hippolyte Sowerbai, refers to the
" British Miscellany," and Desmarest enrols the same work
in his <* Bibliographic Carcinologique." The latter author,

108 On the Jstacilla of Cordiner,

however, never probably examined the work; as Dr. Leach
having, by mistake, in quoting the "Miscellany," under the
species just referred to, named the twenly-first plate instead
of the twenty-third^ and this typographical error has been
transferred to the pages of Desmarest.

In the thirteenth volume of the Edinburgh Philosophical
Journal^ conducted by Professor Jameson (for October 1825),
the Astacilla of Cordiner was produced a second time, by Dr.
Johnston, of Berwick, not only as a new species, but as con-
stituting a new genus, under the title Leacia lacertosa. This
zealous observer perceived, as Cordiner had previously done,
that, in its characters, this crustaceous animal differed from
all the genera which had been previously instituted ; though
he considered it as associating best with the Asellides of
Lamarck, a group which includes the genera Asellus, Idotea,
Sphoeroma, Cymothoa, and Bopyrus. The name of the genus
was intended as a compliment to my valued friend, Dr. Leach,
^nd the following character was assigned to it. " Antennae,
four ; the superior very short ; the inferior nearly as long as
the body. Body linear, of nine segments; the four first, and
the four last, short, transverse, and brading appendages ; the
mid one naked, half the length of the body. Legs of two
kinds ; those attached to the anterior segments, formed for
swimming, and those to the posterior, for creeping. Caudal
segment mucronate, with two lamellae beneath, inclosing di-
vided styles."

Had this generic character been accurate in all the par-
ticulars of which it consists, a very useful addition would
thereby have been made to the systematical arrangement
of crustaceous animals. But, unfortunately, the mistakes
which have been committed in its construction are of such
a kind as to destroy its value, and to excite a regret that,
amidst several successful efforts at minute description, there
should occur any room for censure.

The body of the animal, exclusive of the head and the tail,
consists not of nine, but of seven segments, the ordinary
number of its congeners. The middle segment of the body,
or the fourth, instead of being naked, or, as it is stated in the
description, ** resembling in form the middle shield of the
lobster tribe, but peculiar in having affixed to it neither feet

On the AstacilldB of Cordiner, 109

nor other appendage," in reality possesses a pair of natatory
feet. These, however, having their origin very near to the
anterior margin of the segment, may, on a cursory view, be
regarded as in connexion with the antecedent segment — a de-
ceptive appearance, which, in the present instance, has misled.
In consequence of this mistake, the first pair of feet are as-
signed to the head, though they belong to the first segment of
the body. In the specimen now before me, the inferior
antennae, instead of having only seven joints, as represented by
EXr. Johnston in his description, possess eight, the three last
appearing to constitute a single segment.

Among the marine productions collected during Captain
Parry's first voyage to the Arctic Seas, and noticed in the Ap-
pendix which was published in 1824, a crustaceous animal
is described and figured by Captain Sabine, under the name
of Idotea Baffini, as brought up by the trawl in considerable
numbers from twenty fathoms depth, coarse sandy bottom, on
the west coast of Baffin's Bay, in latitude 71°. The propriety
of inserting this species along with the Idoteae could only have
been justified, in consequence of the resolution of the author
to follow the system of Lamarck, in which the genus Idotea is
characterised in such general terms, as to admit animals differ-
ing widely in structure from the typical species, as in the pre-
sent iristance. The same animal is retained in the genus Idotea
by Lieutenant J. C. Ross, in the appendix to Captain Parry's
Third Voyage, p. 117.

The general connexion between the Astacilla and Idotea
Baffini occurred to me at once, on comparing the very expres-
sive delineations which Mr. Cordiner has given of the one, and
Mr. Curtis of the other; and their generical connexion was
ascertained without difficulty, by comparing together specimens
of each. The example of the Arctic animal in my possession
was much infested with the campanularia volubilis. It dif-
fers chiefly from Cordiner's animal in the greater number of
segments in the last joint of the under antennae, and the greater
brevity of the fourth segment of the body.

Viewing all these circumstances in connexion, I was dis-
posed to consider the Astacilla (assuming the name employed
by Cordiner, from its priority) as a well-marked genus in the
family iDOTEADiE, and sufficiently distinguished from Idotea

110 On the Astacillce of Cor diner.

and Stenosoma by the greater length of the fourth segment of
the body, and the natatory character of the four anterior pair
of legs.

The recent publication of the third edition of the invaluable
'^ Regne Animal" of the modern Aristotle, has unfortunately
added another synonime to the group, the history of which we
have been attempting to trace. The deservedly celebrated
entomologist, M. Latreille, in the fourth volume of the work
referred to, has instituted the genus Arcturus, which is iden-
tical with Astacilla, and adds, " Je n'ai vuqu'une seule esp^ce
(^Arcfurus tuberculatus) et qui a 6te rapportee des mers du
Nonl, dans I'une des dernieres expeditions anglaises au pole
arctique," p. 139.

It would appear, from this notice, that M. Latreille was un-
acquainted with the zoological value of our Arctic voyages, and
suffered himself to describe as a new species, in the year 18<^,
an animal, the description and figure of which had been pub-
lished in this country five years before ; and in a work, too,
which might have been supposed calculated to attract the
notice of the continental observer.

The genus Astacilla consists at present of two species :

1 . A. Longicornis. The fourth segment occupying one third of the length
of the body ; terminal joint of the antennae composed of three

rings.

Astacilla, Cordiner's Ruins, No. xxi. Tab. iv.

Oniscus Longicornis, Sowerby's British Miscellany, I. p. 31., T. 15.

Leacia Lacertosa. Johnston, Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,

vol. xiii. p. 220.~East Coast of Scotland.

2.-4. Baffini. The fourth segment of the body double the length of the
third; terminal joint of the antennae composed of about twelve
rings.

Idotea Baffini, Sabine, Appendix to Parry's First Voyage, p. 228.,
T. 1., f. 4. 6.

Id. Ross, Parry's Third Voyage, Appendix, p. 117.
Arcturus Tuberculatus Latreille, R^gne Animal, iv. p. \22,— Arctic
Seas.

Manse ofFlisk, \2th January, 1830.

( 111 )

Pragments on Egyptian Literature.

i. Egyptian word for God, Among the hieroglyphical
characters whose meaning was first discovered by the late
lamented Dr. Young, is the hatchet or battle-axe, which he in-
terpreted *' God," and read " Nout," a Coptic word of similar
signification ; he, of course, considered the character as ideo-
graphic or symbolic. In this he has been closely followed by
M. ChampoUion, who says of the hatchet — '^ Noute dieu, carac-
t^re symbolique." I agree with these gentlemen as to the
signification of the character, which, when it stands alone,
beyond all controversy signifies God. I have observed, how-
ever, that, when combined with other characters, it is often de-
cidedly phonetic, representing the vowel O, or the diphthong
OU ; and I conclude that it was by this simple monosyllable,
and not by the Nout or Noute of the Coptic manuscripts, that
the ancient Egyptians expressed the idea of ** God." In fact,
the Coptic word would appear to be a derivative from the Egyp-
tian one. It seems to have properly, or, at least, originally
denoted the adjective *^ divine," not the substantive *• God."
In this sense it occurs on the Rosetta Stone, in the last line of
the hieroglyphic text. Where it is said that the decrees shall
be engraved in sacred characters, I read the adjective employ-
ed phonetically — NOUT, that is, ** divine."

This old Egyptian word O, or OU, forms a part of several
proper names, which are preserved in Greek characters ; it is
represented in them by o, co, or ou, with the article w or (p some-
times prefixed. Thus, in Apcuripis, hpitny^pccms ^ and 2e/x(f)o:yx-
pcLlr^Sy the syllables &;, tto, and (poy signify " God," or ** the
God." I will not enter at present upon an explanation of the
remaining parts of these words ; suffice it to say, that the
meaning assigned to these syllables is not a mere conjecture.
We have a compound similar to these in the proper name, Sem-
po-eris, deciphered by Dr. Young from the Enchorial MSS.
of Mr. Grey {Quart. Journ., JV. S., I. 402). Another com-
pound word, in which this element is found, is the well-known
title of the ancient Egyptian kings, of which so many inter-
pretations have been given. I have no hesitation in resolving
it into the elements Pha-Ra-0, that is, **The Sun God." It
is the enunciation of that symbol, the solar disc, with which

112 Fragments on Egyptian Literature.

the mystic titles, or prcEnomens, of all the kings, who were thus
entitled, commenced.

I am not sure whether the crosier is generally admitted to
be a character for God ; I am satisfied, however, that it is so.
It frequently occurs in the titles of kings, accompanied by some
symbol, simple or compound, which stands for an epithet, or
a combination of epithets, such as good, just, warlike, &c.
For example, the sovereign, the cover of whose sarcophagus is
at Cambridge, is called " Rameses, the Warlike God."

Either of these characters (the hatchet and the crosier) fol-
lowed by a semicircle and an oblique oval, (a group, which
Dr. Young pointed out as characteristic of the feminine gen-
der,) or by a semicircle only, forms the phonetic word, OUTHiS
or OUTH, which signifies *' a Goddess." In this instance,
and probably in the greater number of native words, the femi-
nine characteristics were sounded, a short vowel being supplied
between the two letters ; but in other cases, especially, as we
may suppose in foreign proper names, they are pleonastic.

The sitting figure, representing a God or a Goddess, which is
generally subjoined to the phonetic name of a divinity, is in
most cases pleonastic, so far, I mean, as respects the pronun-
ciation. Sometimes, however, it is required in order to com-
plete the name, and must then be read OU, OUTH, or
OUTHiS. An instance of this will be given in the next frag-
ment ; another is the following. The name of the deified
mother of the defunct, who occupied Sir T. Henniker's sarco-
phagus, is represented hieroglyphically, if Mr. Salt's plate be
correct, by the three letters PH, I and L, followed by the figure
of the Goddess Athor. It appears, from the Greek inscription,
that her name was in the genitive case (^iXourof, which would
come, according to the Alexandrian dialect, from a nominative
(piXovT, as well as from (^iKov^. I am inclined to think that the
former was her true name, and that the figure of the Goddess
is in this instance to be sounded OUT.

I will only remark farther, that, although the hatchet is to
all intents and purposes a letter, and as such has the same
power as the lituus or quails it appears to be only used in words
connected with religion. It is used occasionally as the first
letter of the word OUeB, " a priest," and as the middle letter
of the word MOUTH, a mother, when applied to a Goddess.

Fragments on Egyptian Literature, 113

In the ordinary use of this word, to denote an earthly parent,
a lituus is substituted for the hatchet ; or, more commonly,
the word is abbreviated. It is scarcely necessary to say that
I consider the vulture as a phonetic character, representing
the letter M. It is stated by Horappollo, that this bird alone
expressed the idea of "mother;" and I have sometimes been
inclined to think that the Egyptian word for that idea was
simply Ma, and that MOUTH was a contracted compound,
signifying *• mother-goddess." If this be the case, M. Cham-
pollion has only partially explained the Greek word QspfxovQi^^
which before his time was so completely misunderstood. Its
correct interpretation will be ZHeR-M*-OUTHiS, that is,
" the great mother-goddess."

ii. Names of Osiris and Isis. The hieroglyphical names of
the deities Osiris and Isis have been universally supposed to
be symbolic. The impossibility of reading them according to
the corresponding Greek names, by assigning any phonetic
value to the throne, the character with which they both com-
mence, is very obvious. I am, nevertheless, decidedly of opi-
nion, that the names are phonetic ; and I consider the throne
to represent the letter S. The characters which compose the
name of the male deity are a throne, an eye, a solar disc, and
a hatchety or figure of a God, Of these, however, either the
second or third is generally omitted ; the former as a vowel,
the latter for abbreviation's sake ; just as the final N is omitted
in writing the word SoTeN, king, and other letters in
other instances, where the characters which are written
are sufficient to determine the meaning : but all the four ele-
ments above enumerated occur, amongst other places, on
a cippus in the Borgian Museum. {Precis, pL xii.) The
three first of these characters may be read SIRE ; the fourth,
we have seen, in the last fragment, is O or OU ; and it was, by
different persons and in different places, pronounced with or
without the article, and placed before or after the distinguish-
ing appellation of the deity. Hence were formed the several
words, Sireou, Sirepou, Ousire and Pousire, all signifying
*• the God Sire ;" which were pronounced by the Greeks,
some slight changes having been made in the vowels, and the
terminations having been accommodated to the genius of their
language, Se/^ior , Sspa'jnf or 'Lxpocmf, Ompis and Bot/ff/pij-. The

JAN.— MARCH, 1830. I

114 Fragmmis on Egyptian Literature.

signification of these four words was vulgarly supposed to be
very different ; and it is no wonder that they should appear to
differ widely in their origin, when the meaning of the elements,
or ou and 9r or ^, was unknown or unattended to. Plutarch,
however, in his Treatise on Isis and Osiris, expressly identifies
Sirius with Osiris ; and it is abundantly manifest that Osiris
and Serapis, each of them the consort of Isis, and the God of
the Infernal regions, were one and the same deity. It has
been said, indeed, by some moderns, that Serapis was a Gre-
cian deity, introduced into Egypt by Ptolomy Soter. This,
however, is a mistake. Ptolomy procured from the town of
Sinope, and transported into Egypt, a statue, which was wor-
shipped as that of '' the Infernal Jove." When it was brought
to Alexandria, it was called " Serapis," which was the name
of the Egyptian deity, who had similar attributes ; but we are
no where told that it was worshipped under the name Serapis
at Sinope, nor that Serapis was previously unknown to the
Egyptians. Authors have inferred the latter from his being
omitted by Herodotus in his enumeration of the Egyptian
deities ; but this omission may be explained in an equally
satisfactory manner, by supposing him to have been mentioned
by the Father of History under another name, namely, that of
Osiris. The identification of Busiris with this many-named
deity is less easy, as the latter name has been seldom men-
tioned ; I consider it, however, to be a highly probable con-
jecture. I do not speak of Busiris, the name of a place, for
which a different derivation must be sought.

We have thus three, and possibly four, different ways of
reading this phonetic name ; a name which is compounded of
two parts, one signifying *• God," the other, **Sire," of uncertain
signification. I have formed an opinion as to the meaning of
this last word ; but as I see a very different derivation of it, in
support of which plausible arguments may be adduced, I shall
for the present suspend my judgment. I will only add, that,
when the name of this deity is prefixed to that of a deceased
person in funeral records, the character for " God" is some-
times omitted. It should then, in my opinion, be read simply—
Sire.

I now pass to the hieroglyphic names of the wife and sister
of Osire. One of these consists of four feathers, the second

Fragments on Egyptian Literature. J 15

of which is reversed; and is read without difficulty ESI. It is
a considerable time since I have read this name in the inscrip-
tion copied by Mr. Salt from the little temple which he exca-
vated at Philoe, and published by him in his Essay. {PL v.
fig. 3: an obvious inaccuracy occurs in the figure.) I am not
aware that this name has been read by any one else ; nor have
I observed it elsewhere.

The name of the Goddess is most commonly expressed by a
throne^ with the semicircle and oblique oval. Sometimes we
have a star^ a reversed feather, or a hent line (such as occurs
in the name of Ptolaemous on the Rosetta stone) in place of the
throne. All of these (as Mr. Salt has long since remarked
respecting the three last-mentioned) represent phonetically the
name SoTHiS, by which this deity was commonly known*.
Properly, indeed, this appears to have been the name of the
dog-star; but we know from Diodorus and Horapollo, that the
Egyptians supposed this star to be the dwelling of — or rather
a personification of — the goddess Isis.

It would seem that the astronomers have confounded the
names of the husband and wife in speaking of this star ; it is
now called Sirius, in place of Sothis. Anciently., Sirius was a
name for the Sun, and it is so used by Hesiod, and others of
the Greek poets ; but Virgil applies it to the dog-star, and in
later times the error, for such it doubtless is, has been almost
universal.

iii. Pedigree of Rameses the Great. In the present state of
things, that person must be considered as very rash who should
give an opinion, founded on merely probable grounds, respect-
ing any point in Egyptian history or chronology. It is hard to
say how soon some monument may be discovered in that
country which may decide the question one way or other, or
which may, at least, furnish additional grounds on which an
opinioii may be founded. In the present instance I do not
mean to commit the fault that I have pointed out. Suspend-
ing my own opinion as to the parentage of the Egyptian hero,
I would merely point out the un warren tablei nferences that

* In one of the figures (37) of M. Champollion's letter to M. Dacier, there is
a still different variation of this name. The first S seems to be the weight or
roller — the character which is used in the name of Osorchon, tlie son of Shishonk;
and the second is the broken line or two sceptres M. ChampoUion, most unwar*
rantably, asserts that the signs of this name are incomplete.

12

116 Fragments on Egyptian Literature,

have been made by M. Champollion and others on the subject ;
I would refer to the authorities on which they propose to rely,
and shew that these very authorities would rather authorize an
opposite conclusion.

M. Champollion always speaks of Rameses the Great as the
grandson of Rameses Meiamoun, and as the son of Araeno-
phisj who succeeded that prince ; and who, it has been thought,
was the Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea. This he
does on the authority of Manetho, as quoted by Josephus,
which, he says, is confirmed by the genealogical table in the
palace at Abydos. '' Manetho," says M. Champollion (Precis,
p. 275), "giving an account of the second invasion of the
Shepherds into Egypt, in the reign of Amenophis III., father
of Sethos, says, in effect, that * the king, troubled at the news
of the arrival of these strangers, set out in order to fight with
them, after having intrusted his son Sethos, who was then five
years old, and who was also called Rameses, from Rampses
his father, to a sure friend.' Further on, Manetho relates that
* Amenophis the third, not having been able to resist the
Shepherds, retired with his son into Ethiopia, where he re-
mained many years; but at length, having gathered together
an Ethiopian army, he re-entered Egypt, along with his son
Rampses, who himself commanded at that time a body of
troops.'"

M. Champollion has here given, accurately enough, the
words of Josephus {Cont. Apion., i. 26, 27); but he has com-
pletely misapplied them. Had he attended to the context, he
would have seen that the Amenophis and Rampses, who are
spoken of in this passage, are not, as he imagines, the last king
of the xviiith dynasty and the first of the xixlh, but the third
and fourth kings of the xixth. Josephus expressly says that
this Amenophis reigned 518 years after the first expulsion of
the Shepherds, that is, after the commencement of the xviiith
dynasty ; and he proves this from the words of Manetho. The
princes of the xviiith dynasty reigned in all 393 years. Then
came the two brothers Sethos and Hermeus, who commanded
the xixth dynasty, and whom he identifies with the Egyptus
and Danaus of the Greeks. Sethos, says Manetho, cast the
other out of Egypt, and reigned fifty-nine years, as did his son
Rhampses after him sixty-six years. Amenophis is mentioned

Fragments on Egyptian Literature, \VJ

by Manetho as the next king ; and the commencement of his
reign is subsequent to the expulsion of the Shepherds by Teth-
mosis 393+59 + 66=518 years. (See Josephus, Cont. Apion.,
i. 26.)

.Now, whatever opinions may be entertained respecting the
correctness of Manetho's statements, in the whole or in part,
it is plain, from what has been said, that he does not state
that Rameses, or Sethos, the founder of the xixth dynasty,
was the son of Amenophis ; and, in the absence of such a
statement, his mention of the dynasty being changed, would
seem to imply, that he was not so related to his predecessor.

I turn now to the table of Abydos, which has been supposed
to confirm this pedigree of Rameses, but which appears to me
to furnish a strong presumptive argument against it.

It is well known that, in the lowest horizontal line of this
table, the prsenomen and name of Rameses the Great are
arranged in alternate ovals ; each occurring, when the table
was complete, ten times. Over these are two other lines, which
seem to have originally contained thirty-nine different praj-
nomens, and a single name, following the last praenomen, which
is precisely the same as that in the lowest line. The sovereign,
who bore this last name and prsenomen, is admitted on all hands
not to have been the father of Rameses the Great, but his
ancestor in a remote degree. Why then, it may be asked, are
the intermediate names omitted ? It is difficult to give a satis-
factory answer to this question, if we suppose, that the kings
who reigned during this interval were interposed in genealogi-
cal succession between the two Rameses mentioned in the
table. But the difficulty would be removed, by supposing that
Rameses the Great was of a different family from his imme-
diate predecessors, but equally descended from the former
Rameses (Rameses II. of Champollion-Figeac). I would not
venture to advance this supposition, as proved by this genealo-
gical table. I merely say, that the table should not be appealed
to as confirming a different theory, when it is at least equally
reconciieable with that which I have mentioned.

I cannot, however, help remarking, that the anxiety of the
great Rameses to prove his descent from the royal stock, is, in
my mind, a strong presumptive argument against his being
the son of his predecessor, and of course universally admitted

liS Fragments on Egyptian Literature,

to belong to it. Not only did he cause this genealogical table
to be constructed in his palace, but among the titles in his first
oval he selected '* of the race of the Siin*," in addition to
the matter-of-course " Son of the Sun," between his ovals.
It is remarkable, that in this particular he was afterwards imi-
tated by Shishonk, who, it can scarcely be questioned, became
the founder of a dynasty by usurpation or conquestf.

iv. Hieroglyphical Tablet commemorative of Julius C(Esar.
—In M. Champollion's letter to M. Dacier, atid Mr. Salt's
Essay, there is a tolerably complete series of the names of the
Roman emperors, from Augustus to Commodus. Some inac-
curacies occur, indeed, in both of these publications, espe-
cially in Mr. Salt's % ; but, in general, the readings published
are correct. M. ChampoUion, in his Egyptian tour, has con-
tinued the series, having read the names of Severus and Geta ;
and it is probable, that some of the names " Antoninus,"
which occur on the temples, may be intended for the emperor
whom we call Caracalla.

* So the concluding qualification is now interpreted by M. ChampoUion, as
appears by his letters from Egypt. In his Precis he explained it Jo be " approved
by the Sun." I presume he has good grounds for his present opinion, but am
ignorant what they are ; those assigned for his former one were so weak, that I
never assented to it. I was disposed to interpret the unknown combination of cha-
racters " belonging to," or " a votary of," — equivalent to the PT at the com-
mencement of some proper names ; but, considering the advantages M. Cham-
poUion enjoys in Egypt, 1 readily yield to his corrected opinion.

f The fact of Shishonk being the founder of a new dynasty, for which we have
the express testimony of Manetho, explains an apparent inconsistency in the sacred
writings, as has been already remarked in the Christian Examiner for January,
1829. Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh ; yet Solomon's enemy, Jero-
boam, fled for refuge from him to the court of Shishak, king of Egypt, by whom
he was favourably received. This Shishak, it is observed, was of a new family,
tmconnected with Solomon, and who had probably dethroned his brother-in-law.
There may be some weight also in the remark which is there made, that the reason
why the Jewish historians do not call this prince " Pharaoh," as they do the other
kings of Egypt, was, that they considered him to be an usurper, and consequently
to have no right to that title, which, without regarding its interpretation in the
Egyptian language, was understood by foreigners to denote " the legitimate sove-
reign of Egypt."

J The principal errors in Mr. Salt's explanations are the following : — the two first
shields in his fig. 19, are not "Marcus Verus," but " Lucius Aurelius/' (LUKI
AURLI;) fig. 21 is not "Adrian," but " CElius," (ALI,) with a qualification
that 1 may hereafter explain ; fig. 23 is certainly not " Verus," it is badly executed
or copied, but seems to have been intended for '• CElius," (ALIOS.) Mr. Salt
was reluctant to read characters as L, which he considered to represent R ; and
he confounded the characters for A and U : the two latter are always distinguished
in foreign proper names, while the two former are represented by the same cha-
tacters indiscriminately. It is to these two mistakes that the false interpretations
of the ingenious and lamented gentleman are principaUy to be attributed.

Fragments on Egyptian Literature, 119

The series of hieroglyphical legends of Roman Emperors is
thus extended from Augustus, or the Christian era, to the
beginning of the third century. I am not aware, however,
that a Roman name, prior to that of Augustus, has been, as
yet, read in hieroglyphical characters by any one but myself;
and yet it is a fact, that there is a tablet in the British Mu-
seum, bearing the name of the first and greatest of the Caesars.
The gentlemen who have published the valuable paper on
Egyptian Monuments in the Transactions of the Royal Society
of Literature, have, indeed, explained this name, which occurs
in their thirty-fourth figure, as Verus, or Severus ; they think,
but are not positive, that the letters compose the word
BEERES. The first, however, a feather, is A, E, or I ; it
has neither the shape nor the reversed position of the feather
that represents S ; the third is an L or R ; the fourth an I ;
and the fifth and last an S. The last two characters, at the
end of foreign proper names, universally represent lUS or
iEUS, never a simple US. The characters, therefore, what-
ever may be the value of the second of them, cannot possibly
represent either of the names suggested in the paper ; nor is
there any which was borne by a Caesar, (and the name which
accompanies this is, unquestionably, *' Caesar,") which can
correspond with the characters already specified, except
AELIUS and lULlUS. The second character is a leg. In
the name ** Berenice," it represents a B, as well as in some
other decisive instances ; it is, therefore, unlikely, that it
should come to represent an E, or rather to be superfluous, as
would be the case if the former word were intended ; but B,
V, and U are similar letters, and easily interchanged ; and, in
point of fact, are actually interchanged in phonetic hierogly-
phics. There can, therefore, be no objection to the name being
read lULlUS ; nor is there any other name to which it can
correspond.

I have dwelt, perhaps, too much on the component parts of
this name, but 1 was induced to do so, partly by the interest-
ing nature of the discovery, and partly by the strangeness, as
it must appear, of a name, which has been so long before the
pubhc, and which is written in an alphabet, which has been for
so many years, to a great extent, known, not having been cor-
rectly read until now. Of the contents of the tablet I can say

120 Fragments on Egyptian Literature,

nothing,'"as I am not aware that a copy has been taken, and I
have had no opportunity of examining the original. From
the sketch given in the Transactions of the Royal Society of
Literature, it would appear to be votive ; and I have little
doubt that it contains, at least, an allusion to the Egyptian
victories of the Roman general^ who is represented as kneeling
before the sun and the god of war. It is to be hoped, that a
copy of this interesting inscription will be given to the public
in the next Number of the Collection of " Hieroglyphics," if
not at an earlier period.

E H .

K hy February 22, 1830.

Effects of Animal Charcoal on Solutions. By Thomas Graham,
A.M., F.R.S.E., Lecturer on Chemistry, Glasgow,

The property of withdrawing matters from a state of solution,
possessed by the charcoal of bone-black, has been investigated
in the case of soluble colouring matters of a vegetable and
animal origin. It is known, that the discolouring faculty re-
sides entirely in the charcoal, for the earthy matters and
portions of azote combined with it, possess by themselves no
such power, and the charcoal discolours without them. This
property is also greatly exalted by the state of extreme division
and porosity of animal charcoal, arising from the interposition
of foreign particles of earthy and saline matter between the
particles of carbonaceous matter in bonC; which effectually
prevents the aggregation of the carbon during calcination.
The bright, hard charcoal from the calcination of dried blood
has no discolouring power ; but the charcoal from the calci-
nation of dried blood, mixed with carbonate of potash, as in the
manufacture of prussiate of potash, proves the most efficient
discolouring form of charcoal we possess, after the alkaline car-
bonate is washed out. A very intense heat, however, destroys
entirely the discolouring power of bone-black.

The colouring matters are not destroyed or decomposed by
the charcoal, but merely withdrawn from a state of solution,
in combination with the surface of the charcoal, and may be
again dissolved out and made to appear by the action of a
more powerful solvent.

Effects of Animal Charcoal on Solutions. 121

M. Ix>witz first discovered this property of charcoal in 1791.
He used only charcoal of wood. M. Guilbert observed, that
the discolouring power of wood charcoal was improved by ex-
posing it for a considerable time, in a wet state, to the rays of
the sun. In 1810, M. Figuier, professor of chemistry at Mont-
pellier, discovered that animal charcoal discoloured with much
greater power. It has subsequently been used very extensively
by the sugar- refiners of France in clarifying their syrups. Of
bone or ivory-black, one-sixth of the weight of the raw sugar
is boiled with it for ten minutes. The charcoal and impurities
are separated by filtering, and the syrup is filtered a second
time to separate a little charcoal which comes through the first
filter, (Payen ) In the Journal de \Pharmacie, torn, iv.,
pp. 301 — 7, there is a distinct account of the mode of pre-
paring bone-black, by M. Cadet de Gassicourt ; and in the
same work, tom. viii., pp. 257 — 277, an excellent memoir on
charcoal, considered as a discolouring substance, by A. Bussy,
which was crowned by the Society of Pharmacy of Paris, and
contains everything known on the subject. It is followed by
another memoir on the same subject by M. Payen, to which a
second prize was adjudged. The substance of the preceding
memoir is given in this Journal, vol. xiii., pp. 403 — 16.

But the action of animal charcoal on solutions has been
considered hitherto only in reference to the removal of colour-
ing matters. More determinate results, however, might be ex-
pected in solutions of saline and other chemical bodies, of
which the composition is known. The investigation is also
interesting, from the light which it may throw upon the state
of combination in which bodies exist in cases of ordinary solu-
tion, as salt in water, to which (he doctrine of definite propor-
tions seems wholly inapplicable. If a solid body, such as
carbon, destroy such a combination, and take down the saline
matter attached to its surface, we may conclude that there is
an analogy between the combination of the salt with the water,
and the combination of the salt with the charcoal, and that
the former as well as the latter processes have something of a
mechanical character.

The same property is possessed by other solid bodies, in a
state of minute division, as when newly precipitated, although
not in so great a degree. And, in analytic researches, its

t^% Effects of Animal Charcoal on Solutions*

interference must be guarded against, as it may contribute, in
some cases, to increase the weight of precipitates.

The animal charcoal, employed in the following experiments,
was prepared from common bone, or ivory black, by boiling
dilute muriatic acid upon it, and afterwards washing it with hot
water till the water came off tasteless. No more than ten or
twelve per cent, of charcoal remained after dissolving out the
earthy salts. On burning this charcoal, it left a grey ash,
amounting to about one-twelfth of the original weight, insoluble
in water and acids, and almost entirely silica. Charcoal, pre-
pared in this way, M. Bussy found to go no farther in disco-
louring than one and a half times its weight of the original
ivory black.

In my first experiments, it was found that the prepared
charcoal, in great excess, had no sensible effect in impoverishing
a saturated solution of common salt at natural temperatures.
The proportion of salt remaining in solution was always as
great as water was found capable of retaining, at the same time,
at the lowest temperature which had occurred during the expe-
riment.

A solution of nitrate of lead, with the charcoal repeatedly
agitated, and occasionally tested with carbonate of soda, gave
a distinct precipitate the first day, a much less distinct the
second, and the merest trace the third day. But, on heating
the water, the charcoal part of the nitrate was re-dissolved,
and afforded a copious precipitate, with carbonate of soda and
with sulphuretted hydrogen.

The dinitrate of lead, which is soluble, was taken down
completely by the charcoal, so that no trace of it was perceived
by means of sulphuretted hydrogen. But on heating the water
over it to 200°, part was re-dissolved, as in the previous case,
but again taken down completely by the charcoal on cooling.
The action of the charcoal on the cold solution of the dinitrate
was immediate, and much more energetic than in the case
of the nitrate. The former salt, however, is much less
soluble in water than the latter. Other soluble subsalts were
tried.

2. Three grains diacetate of lead in one ounce water, with
twenty grains common ivory black ; taken down completely,
and not re-dissolved in any degree on boiling.

Effects of Animal Chardbdl on SoluViom. 12^

Four grains trisacetate of lead ; same results.
Four grains tartar emetic in one ounce water, with twenty
grains of the prepared charcoal, in the cold ; agitated occasion-
ally for several days ; still a copious precipitate, with hydro-
sulphuret of ammonia. After a second addition of twenty
grains of the charcoal, only a trace of antimony, with sul-
phuretted hydrogen.

Lime-water was deprived entirely of the lime which it con-
tains, in the cold, as Dr. Paris previously observed, so that the
liquid remaining did not act on reddened litmus.

Arsenious acid was not taken down entirely in six weeks by
great excess of the charcoal, no heat being applied.

No quantity of the charcoal could take down bisulphate of
copper.

Ammonia was added in excess to bisulphate of copper, so as
to form the deep-blue solution of ammonio-sulphate : the latter
was readily taken down by the charcoal, and the liquid became
perfectly colourless. Strong ammonia was digested in the
cold upon the charcoal containing the salt of copper, and also
boiled upon it, without dissolving a trace of it, as the ammonia
did not become blue even when poured ofif and exposed to the
air. In a certain experiment, the deep-blue colour of five
grains bisulphate of copper in half an ounce of caustic am-
monia, diluted with one and half ounces water, was much
impaired by twenty grains of the charcoal. Increasing the char-
coal every second day, by five grains at a time, with thirty-five
grains, the colour had become very slight, and was entirely
destroyed by forty grains -, nor did the supernatant ammonia
contain any protoxide of copper.

Five grains of nitrate of silver, in the same quantity of am-
monia and water, with twenty grains of the charcoal. Next
day no trace of silver in solution could be detected : two and a
half grains nitrate of silver added ; agitated occasionally with
the charcoal, but after several days there was still silver in
solution. On examining the phial containing the above mate-
rials some time afterwards, shining metallic spangles were per-
ceived among the charcoal.

The solution of chloride of silver in ammonia was also taken
down completely by the charcoal.

A solution was made of ten grains hydrated protoxide of lead

124 Effects of Animal Charcoal on Solutions,

in caustic potash, which was diluted with water till it amounted
to three ounces. Twenty grains of the charcoal, added to the
above solution, in a phial, which was then corked up, took
down so much of the oxide of lead that the white colour of the
latter substance was quite discernible among the charcoal.
Here we have the colour of the charcoal disguised in the com-
pound. Making successive additions of charcoal, the oxide of
lead in solution was reduced to a trace by ninety grains; the
last additions of charcoal floated over the heavy portion con-
taining the oxide of lead ; the supernatant solution, which had
a greenish tinge, was poured off, and the charcoal washed,
thrown on a filter, and dried at a heat which did not exceed
212°. When dry, innumerable metallic particles were visible
in it ; so that the oxide of lead is easily reducible by the char-
coal attached to it.

The oxide of zinc was withdrawn entirely by the charcoal
from solution in caustic ammonia.

A deep-red solution was made of five grains iodine in fifteen
grains pure hydriodate of potash, dissolved in two ounces
Avater. Forty grains of the charcoal were added before the
colour of the iodine was wholly removed from the solution ; the
liquid acquired a faint acid reaction ; the carbon was washed,
and dried in a filter on the sandbath without exhaling any
iodine vapours ; but on heating it strongly in a flask by a lamp,
iodine rose in vapour, and condensed on the sides of the flask
with some moisture. The iodine was afterwards re-absorbed
by the dry charcoal when cold.

Labarraque's disinfecting fluid (chloride of soda with bicar-
bonate of soda) may be boiled without being materiafly injured;
but I was surprised to find that ebullition for a few seconds of
a large quantity of that fluid, in contact with a few grains of
the charcoal, completely destroyed its bleaching power.

The same effect took place in the cold, on agitating the fluid
and the charcoal together for a few minutes. No gas was
emitted in either case. On evaporating the saline solution to
dryness, it was found to contain no notable quantity of chlorate
of soda. Twenty grains of carbon were adequate to destroy
the bleaching power of a pint of the disinfecting fluid recently
prepared.

A solution of common bleaching powder, chloride of lime,

Effects of Animal Charcoal on Solutions. 125

was destroyed by charcoal with nearly equal facility, particu-
larly when hot.

A pound of water, recently impregnated with an equal bulk
of chlorine gas, was heated rapidly to the boiling point, in con-
tact with twenty grains of the charcoal, in a glass flask pro-
vided with a perforated cork and bent glass tube, for the purpose
of collecting any gas which might be given off. Gas was
collected, but it was entirely carbonic acid, and most of the
charcoal disappeared : muriatic acid was found in the liquid.
On collecting the unconsumed charcoal in this and other cases,
and washing it several times after being dried on a sandbath, it
gave out a few drops of strong muriatic acid, when heated in a
glass tube by means of a lamp. ' ;

.L:>''ifj .^jr:

Observations on the Mullets of the Coast of Guiana ; and the
Grey Mullet of the British Coast : vnth incidental Remarks
on the Air-bladder and Stomach in Fishes. — By Dr. J.
Hancock, Corr. Memb. of the Zool. Soc, &c. &c.

There are two species of Mullet in Guiana,— one called Que-
riman, and the other Trench Mullet. In the Queriman, the gill
membrane is six-rayed ; the first dorsal fin has four spinose
rays at the middle of the back^ posterior dorsal, nine soft
rays ; pectoral, sixteen ; ventral, six, — the first ray sharp-
pointed ; anal, ten, — the three anterior spinose ; caudal,
twenty ; upper lip protractile ; head flat and blunt ; shoulder
broad ; pectoral fins approaching the shoulder, connected below
by a membrane ; tail forked ; scales large and rhombic, with
lanciform scales also at the base of the back fin; no tongue
nor teeth ; the hyoide, or pharyngial bones, are large and rough,
and nearly close the passage to the stomach, answering, as it
were, the purpose of a strainer; body, above, dusky-green-
ish, — below, silvery; eye large, black, and prominent; grows
to the extent of 28 or 30 inches in length.

In respect to internal structure, its stomach is very thick,
muscular, and fitted for triturating its food — as one would
say, from its gizzard-like structure ; in shape, similar to that
of the British mullet, but rather conical, rugous, or with
many folds of its inner membrane; it has also a reservoir, or
coecum-like process, at its posterior part, containing chyle or

12p Dr. Hancock on the Mullets of Guiana,

chyme : it is flattened at the anterior part, where the gut and
several small pyloric coecse are inserted into it. Intestines,
in a number of convolutions joined together by a plexus
of vessels ; nothing in the stomach and intestines but mud and
chyle ; heart small and angular, close to the gills ; liver, gall
bladder, and pancreas large ; the gall having a peculiar bit-
terness, which is warm and stimulant, and not unpleasant on
the tongue. In a queriman of 26 inches the intestine was 8J
feet long — nearly four times the length of its body.

It lives entirely by suction, frequents soft, muddy bottoms
near the shore on the coast of Guiana, and escapes by leaping
over the nets of the fishermen, as mentioned of the European
mullets, to which they have a strong resemblance in their ex-
ternal form, as well as habit. At times they are seen in great
numbers on the Pomeroon coast*, leaping out of the water
to the height of two or three feet, whether in sportive exercise,
or to escape some voracious fish, as the shark and byara,
is not well known : the latter supposition is most probable,
judging from their behaviour to the fishermen. The young
of this species are at times found in the trenches, along with
the Trench mullet.

The gall of this fish (as well as that of the shark and gil-
bagre) is said to be a useful ophthalmic remedy in amaurosis,
&c., as mentioned of the uranoscopus, by some ancient
writers ; and to remove specks and nebulae from the cornea,
by letting fall a single drop into the eye once a day.

I have been told by natives of Barbados, that the queriman
is very frequently caught around the coast of that island ; but
the species of this genus resemble each other so nearly, that
we cannot depend on reports of this nature. I had never an
opportunity to ascertain the fact ; but, from what we are told
of the remarkable transparency of the sea-water, and the sandy
bottom around the island, it will probably be found to be a
distinct species. — ^On the Guiana coast this fish is only found
in the most turbid waters, or where there is abundance of
drift mud, so called,. — consisting chiefly of an argillaceous
earth which is probably brought down by the rivers, floated

* I have known them to leap into the boat, and with such violence, dining this
turmoil, as almost to knock the rowers overboard, such is the extraordinary elastic
power in the tail. In like manner, the first flying-fish I had an opportunity to
examine, was one which flew on board the ship, about the latitude of Barbados. ,

and the Grey Mullet of the British Coast. 127

about, and successively deposited in banks, — forming indeed
the alluvial soil of the European settlements, and one of the
most inexhaustible and fertile soils in the world.

In the Trench mullet, Mugil incilis, as we may designate
this species, (being chiefly found in the trenches or ditches
dug for draining the flat lands of the coast of Guiana), the
scales are small, — the anal fin has twelve rays ; grows to eight
or ten inches in length ; is of a lighter colour than the queri-
man, but othenvise differs very little from a young queriman of
the same size ; the structure of the stomach is also the same,
being a sort of gizzard.

Like the latter fish, it lives entirely by suction. It delights
in water that is slightly brackish ; and although it is often
found on the coast, yet a sudden immersion in sea-water soon
kills it. I once observed, at Cape Batave, (the property of
Mr. Gilgeous) on the west coast of Essequibo, great numbers
of mullets swimming with their heads, or snouts, out of the
water. On inquiry, I found that the front dam had given way
in the night, from a high spring tide, and nearly filled the
trenches with salt water.

It appears extraordinary that this fish, although it constantly
inhabits the fresh-water trenches, is never found (not to my
knowledge at least) in the natural pools or rivulets of fresh
water ; and I am not certain whether it is ever found in the
proper salt water of the ocean, — for the water of the coast is
seldom very salt, owing to the abundance of water brought down
by the great rivers from the interior ; it appears, indeed, like
a sort of voluntary domestication, not like those shut up in
ponds ; this is not common in respect to fishes, or other
animals, although there are many plants which make their
appearance in certain places, only after the soil has been put
under cultivation.

It is rather singular, too, that this small species should obtain
the name of mullet amongst the English colonists, in prefer-
ence to the queriman, which resembles much more correctly
the British mullet.

Both species are very excellent viands, and constitute ar-
ticles of essential importance as food in Guiana, both fresh
and smoked.

12B Dr. Hancock on the Mullets of Guiana^

The only obvious distinctions between the queriman and
trench mullet, appear to be in the anal fin, and the scales on
the back of the head ; the anal fin in the queriman having
only eleven, while the trench mullet has constantly twelve-rays.
The scales on the back of the head of the former are marked
with concentric circles^ but the trench mullet shews no trace of
this character. Its scales are smaller and quite smooth ; the
head is not so angular, is less flattened, of a lighter colour,
and more delicate in appearance, i. e,, taking a full-grown
trench mullet and a queriman of the same size for comparison :
the scales in the latter are stouter, and much more developed.
But in these respects, you require to compare them together,
to observe the difference, and that with somewhat careful
attention ; being so near alike, that many think them the same
species, — that the mullet is the young of the queriman, in
the same manner as the white-bait (Clupea latulus, Cuv.) is
sometimes mistaken for the young of the shad. The lips are
protractile in both. I observed very fine setae in the lips in
both species, but less crowded in the mullet than in the
queriman. The body of the mullet is more soft and flexible
than that of the queriman, and its taste is also different,
having a peculiar delicate flavour^ different from that of other
fishes. It has a gall-bladder very small, and oval ; the que-
riman has a large, oblong, pointed gall-bladder; in both,
the liver is situated close to the anterior part of the
stomach.

The guiana mullets have twenty-four dorsal vertebrae,
that is, if we include the fan-shaped bone of the tail. The
grey mullet has the same ; and Hill says the mugil cephalus
has twenty-four vertebrae. It is probable, that all the true
mullets have about the same number ; a great similarity usually
prevails in this respect in closely allied species; as, for instance,
the three species of gadus, cod, whiting, and haddock, have
each respectively, fifty-three, fifty-four, and fifty-five.

Specimens of the queriman and trench mullet are deposited
at the Museum of the Zoological Society, in Bruton-street,
from which drawings may be made. Both of these are fish
of the finest flavour. The queriman is remarkable for having
a very large roe, or ovaria, the finest and most delicious,

and the Grey Mullet of the British Coast. 129

perhaps, of any fish known ; it is composed of two oblong,
cylindrical bodies, slightly connected at the anterior extre-
mities.

In July 1828, I, for the first time, met with a specimen of
the common grey mullet of the London market, and was
surprised to find it a non-descript species, or at least, not to
be the Mugil cephalus, as marked in Turton's translation of
the Syst. Nat. and as universally believed. Its gill-membrane,
or gill-flap, as more properly called by Dr. Fleming,* is six-
rayed, not seven, as stated in the Systema Naturae ; and
Cuvier's Elem. Hist. Nat. ; dorsal fins, 4, 8; pectoral, 18;
ventral, ^ ; anal, ^ ; caudal, 20 ; 1st dorsal at the middle of

• I have here to acknowledge an error I had fallen into, in respect to this
part ; having taken the ossicles, or arched rays, for the gill-membrane, a mistake,
owing to the bad definition of authors, some others have committed. I had
inadvertently done this, by following one who has lately published a descriptive
enumeration, and superbly figured many of the Demerara fishes.

*' In every species that has yet come beneath the author's observation, the
branchiostegous membrane has uniformly consisted of four bony rays. This
construction appears to be universal in the increased temperature of the tropical
waters, as the sea-fish have it equally with those of the rivers." See Hilhouse on
the Indians of Demerara — and " Ichthyology of the fresh-waters of the interior,"
-p. 107.

It is a misfortmie to be regretted, that we are almost as liable to embrace the
errors of anterior writers, as their best truths. I might have adduced from the
same author, on the Demerara fishes, most interesting observations respecting the
cobitis anableps, the viviparous siluri, their singular habits, &c. ; and of which, in
an unpublished ])aper on the latter genus, I have not failed to take advantage.

It 18 not Mr. Hilhouse and myself alone who have fallen into the errors just
alluded to, by a misapplication of the terms, or nomenclature of ichthyologists.
I have found skilful anatomists here, in the same error. Had we merely been in-
formed that the gill-membrane forms the lower part of the operculum, or gill-cover,
no one could have mistaken it.

By Willoughby and all the great ichthyologists prior to Linne, as Aldrovand,
Gresner, Aristotle, it was ///e»part, the ossicles or gills themselves, and not the flap
or cover which was so constantly alluded to as an essential part of the description —
and these indeed furnish a much greater variety of characteristic distinctions than
are obtained from a simple enumeration of rays in the gill-flap : for instance of the
tunny, p. 177, he says, " Branchiee. Radiosae branchiarum carunculae pectini-
formes exij^uje sunt et rotundse," &c. Of the shad, p. 227, " Branchiae utrinque
qiiatuor radiis pectinatis longis ex una tantum parte donatae ; ex altera tum globidis
turn aristis carent." Of the river-trout, p. 199— "trutta fluviatilis— branchiae 4,
prima longisismis aristis ex parte exteriore pectinata, ex interiore nuUas habet."
And of the smelt, p. 202, " Branchiee quaternae simplici radiorum serie pectinatae."

It may be remarked, that the Baron Cuvier has, in some measure, revived the
ancient characters, and thereby rendered his method more full and satisfactory.

The great work of ("uvier, now in progress of publication, furnishes a more
complete elucidation of this and otlier anatomical structures in fishes, than are to
be found elsewhere.

JAN.— MARCH, 1830. K

130 Dr. Hancock on the Mullets of Guiana,

the back,— all four of its rays are strong, sharp-pointed
spines; 2nd dorsal, unarmed, consisting of soft divaricate
twin rays, that is to say, composed of two pieces each, as in
those of the caudal fin ; tail, forked ; the pectoral fins being
set high up towards the back, pointing upwards and back-
wards ; head rather conic, or tapering, not quadrate, as said
of the M. cephalus ; the callus at the corner of the mouth
less obvious than in the queriman — lips thin and protractile,
the upper one for near an inch ; no teeth, unless the setae in
the lips may be considered as such ; dark-greenish, grey back ;
silvery belly ; about twenty inches in length (said to be a full-
grown fish). The roe, or ovaria, are small, in proportion to
the body; not half the size of the M. cephalu^ or^.th^ qf the
queriman. ^eitA i»dj ni hmn

This fish, the common grey mullet, is not described in the
Systema Naturae. It agrees in no respect with the M. cepha-
lus, which is marked for it in the English translation ; nor
with any of the species there noticed, except in the position of
the anterior dorsal fin, which is near the middle of the back,
i, e., equidistant between the snout and the insertion of the
tail ; a circumstance common, perhaps, to most of the spe-
cies of this genus. Is this fish, then, (the common grey mullet)
still a nondescript ? or where is it described ?

In its general contour, size, and appearance, it closely re-
sembles our queriman, of the Guiana coast, the labranch of
the French and Spanish colonists. On more minute inspec-
tion, however, we find it to be a very distinct species. Un-
fortunately, the entrails had been taken out, and I had no
opportunity to observe the internal structure, which I was
desirous of comparing with those of the Guiana mullets, in
both of which, the stomach is a strong, muscular viscus, like the
gizzard of gallinaceous birds ; of the figure of a short cone.
The gullet is inserted into it on the under and posterior part ;
the forepart is flat and circular, the centre perforated with
the gut. Yet those fish live entirely by suction: no ingesta
is ever found within them, except soft mud and mucus.

It is commonly supposed that the gizzard, or muscular sto-
mach, of certain birds, has been given them as a means of

and the Grey Mullet of the British Coast, 131

grinding down the hard seeds on which they feed* ; but it is
difficult to conceive how any triturating power should be re-
quired for the substances which form the nutriment of these
fishes. I think it is asserted by Spallanzani that he could
never detect anything indicative of a triturating power in the
stomach of fishes. It is doubtless a striking anomaly ; yet it
seems that a species of treat, the gallaro, is also provided
with it.

Having had opportunities, since the foregoing notices
were written f, of examining the interior structure of the
grey mullet, the following is the result of my observations.
The stomach is similar in shape and structure to that of the que-
riman, but more rounded ; that of the M. cephalus, however, as
figured in the Anatomic Comparee, is very different in shape,
being long and slender — a mere continuation, as it were, of the
oesophagus — running straight down, and terminating in an
acute cul de sac ; its form being that of the stomach of the
herring, to which M. Cuvier compares it (and is confounded,
as he observes, with the oesophagus) ; having a round globular
body attached to its middle, or at the pylorus, on which stand
several slender radiated appendages, or caeca.

The stomach of the mugil albula is of similar shape with the
cephalus, but rounded at the lower end, or cul de sac, and has
no radii attached to the muscular ball. It is only necessary to
compare the different forms of the stomach of the grey mullet
and that of the M. cephalus, as given in the Anat. Comp., tom.
v.^ p. 353, pi. 43, in order to show a specific difference which
is more remarkable than in any of the external characters ; dis-
tinguishing it most clearly from the M. cephalus.

* I observed the gizzard of a fowl filled with gravel, but not a grain in the
whole course of the canal, either above or below. What becomes of the gravel
swallowed by gallinaceous birds ? — We never observe it in the faeces : some think
it is digested, or worn down to a powder ; but whoever examines the gravel will
see this is not the case, as there are no signs of detritus, the pebbles, or gravel-
stones, retaining their corners and sharji edges.

i" The substance of this paper was wrote in July, 1828, and left at the Museum,
with Mr. Vigors, the learned secretary of the Zoological Society. Since this
period, I have seen many other specimens of the same fish ; and I have met vrith
no other species in London. Possibly, the M. cephalus (that from which the
botargo is prepared in the Levant) may inhabit some parts of the British coast,
but it is not probable, for, in that case, tne rapid system of boating, and inland car-
riage, would bring some of them to the London markets.

K 2

132

Dr. Hancock on the Mullets of Guiana^

The following is a sketch of the stomach of the grey mullet
of the natural size, the fish being a young one, fifteen inches ia
length, as it appears externally and internally, supposing it to

be transparent ; —

^ nh 10 ,Ui:g ed^ §"'('
^t lo bestanf ,rfof.n

a The anterior part ; pyloric caeca, six or eight In number ; being reservoirs

of chyle, or where chylification appears to be completed.
b The posterior part, cul de sac, or first receptacle of the food.
c The gullet, or esophagus.
d The intestine.

e The central cavity of the stomach, or gizzard, surrounded by its thick
muscular wall, which has almost the consistence of cartilage, and has
the peculiar colour, density, and firmness, of the gizzard, or ventriculous
bulbosus in birds ; its lining membrane is rugous, and peels ofF, as in
those of fowls.

/ The part next the spine, the figure being reversed, as the fish laid upon its
back when opened.

The intestine, sixty-eight inches in length ; much sand in the
stomach — i. e., in the first and second cavities only ! — not a
particle of sand could be found beyond this, or in the whole
course of the intestinal canal, which below was filled with a
thick ingesta that seemed as it were only inspissated chyle, like
thick cream ; for it loses its colour entirely from the entrance
of the duodenum, or from the pyloric apparatus, reservoirs, or
caeca. These reservoirs are, in a mass, united at the base,
digitated or divided into several lobes, which are unequal, and
surround the insertion of the duodenum ; the gut, running up
between the spine and the stomach, is inserted into the anterior
part, or that next the mouth. In the M. cephalus, it consists,

and the Grey Mutlet of the J^ntish Coast, iSS

according to the figure, of four slender rays, which are distant
and entirely unconnected (see fig. 23, pi. 43, torn. v. of the
Anat. Comp.). In this, as well as fig. 24, and perhaps 19
(the herring), it is probable that a mistake has been made by
carrying the gut, or duodenum, down over the fore-part of the
stomach, instead of the back way, or next the spine : if it be
not a mistake in the drawing, then it shows a still more extra-
ordinary disparity with our species, the grey mullet.

The air-bladder of the mullet is of the fixed kind, or a mem-
brane stretched across from side to side, covered with a pro-
duction, as it were, of the dark-coloured peritoneum — attached
along the opposite sides of the spine, and extending the whole
length of its abdominal cavity. This cavity, it appears, is
inflated with hydrogen gas ; at least I find it takes fire by per-
forating it and presenting a lighted taper. I have observed the
same in the swim-bladder of the electrical eel * (gymnotus

* The air-bladder in this fish is large and perspicuous, although said by Bloch
to be destitute of this viscus. I may also notice here that many errors of this kind
are fallen into by Linnaeus, and former writers, even by the most distinguished
naturahsts of the present age. MM. Blumenbach and Cuvier observe, that the
common mackerel (Scomber scombrus) is destitute of the swim-bladder : and they
assert the same of all the pleuronectes, and several others. In these, however, I
find the swim or air-bladder ; that of the mackerel is precisely of the same kind,
although smaller, as in the mullets — ». e., a fixed bladder, as it were a duplicature
of the peritoneum, and similar to what we observe in the gadus, or cod kind.

But what is rather singular, this fish (the mackerel), in which the greatest natur-
alists deny the existence of such an organ, contains, in fact, not one merely, but
two air-bladders, running one above the other immediately under the spine ; they
are nearly cylindric when blown up, for they are commonly found empty ; having
the usual attachments — i. e., on each side tlie spine — to the ovaria, or, in males, to
the milt, to the gills, and anterior dorsal vertebrae ; they seem to be distinct, or
without communication, as appears by inflating each cavity alternately with a
quill or small tube. I had previously observed the same structure in a sparus, sent
me by Mr.Hempson, No. 304, Oxford Street, in May, 1829, who called it a silver
starling. It appears to be a variety of S. pagrus, or a near species ; not yellow,
as in Uie gilt-head, but the whole body silvery. The same, also, was observed in
a species of clupea which was sent to me for a shad.

TTie remora, or sucking-fish (echeneis), the mullus, the cottus, and calyony-
mus genera, &c., are said to want this organ. Several of these, it is true, I have
either neglected, or had no opportunity to examine ; having, however, found the
air-bladder in most of those fishes in which authors deny its existence — in all those,
at least, which I have examined : I am incUned even to doubt whether any true
fishes exist which are not provided with some hydro-pneumatic apparatus of this
kind ; in its form and structure exceedingly diversified in different fishes. I even
find it in the lamprey, a fish presenting one of the most simple species of internal
organization. It consists, in this fish, of a slender tube, nearly the diameter of a
goose-quill, rumiing along under the spine, and having the same attachments as in
the mullet, the cod kind, &c. : in all, it occupies the part next the spine. Here
Creative wisdom appears in a dear light : the buoyant power thus preserving a

134 Dr. Hancock on the Mullets of Guianat

electricus), as also in the cod. It burns with a brilliant flame,
giving out the smell of gunpowder in its combustion. The
varieties exhibited in the form and structure of this organ, in
different fishes, are very curious. In many, it is an extremely
thin, light, and pellucid membrane, or bladder ^ properly so
termed ; in others, it is thick and spongy, or of a cellular
structure. In the gilbagre, it seems as it were a solid mass of
glue, weighing at least a pound in a full-grown fish *. At the
same time, it may be much inflated by blowing with a quill,
inserted into the anterior part, where it appears to be connected
with the gullet, and the gill apparatus.

In some fishes the bladder is not obvious, until inflated,
and this I have recently found to be the case with respect to
the cottus scorpius : — On opening this fish, I observed, as I
thought, an ovarium, which was attached by a membrane along
the spine, and by some cords to the anterior dorsal vertebrae.
Having observed this to be the usual attachments of the air-
bladder in other fishes, although there was no appearance of a
bladder in the present instance, I was induced to insert a tube
on the side next the spine, by which means the part I had
taken for an ovarium, or a membrane in contact with it, was

due position in the water ; as, in loading a vessel, no one would place the lighter
articles at the lower part of the hold.

In the pleuronectes, as in all other fishes, the bladder is placed next the spine, or
vertebral column ; but the spine in these fishes approximates nearer the anterior
part of the abdomen than to the back, which brings the bladder likewise somewhat
forward of their centre of gravity ; and this may be the reason why these fishes
swim on one side and affect the bottom — at the same time their extended fins en-
able them to preserve their horizontal position and equipoise in the water. I may
further observe, that what is here stated is more to fix the attention of naturahsts
to these apparently neglected points, than to enunciate any opinions of my own.

* It might afford a profitable article of trade taken to Eiurope, one sound con-
taining as much fine ichthyocolla as is sold in London for ten or twelve shillings j
and the fish may be caught in vast abundance on the coast of Guiana.

The gilbagre is a viviparous silurus ; its colour is yellow, which can be easily
wiped off, as the colouring substance consists merely of a coat of slime or
mucus, which invests the body of the fish. A most extraordinary kind of articu-
lation exists in the junction of the strong spine of the anterior dorsal fin with the
scapular bony helmet ; forming as perfect a hinge as could be made by art —
and in respect to composition, the two pieces are quite entire an4 inseparable,
like two links of a chain. This catenated joint (unknown to anatomical science)
may perhaps be found in some others of the armed siluri, but I have not observed it.

Two bones of great hardness and density lie in contact with the brain — doubt-
leas of the kind which are considered as the ossicula auditus, and contributing to
the sense of hearing ; although they are more than thrice the size of those in the
cod, which, M. Cuvier says, are larger than in any other fishes; each bone
weighing in a full grown fish about aeventy or eighty grains — ^aot twenty, as I had
stated by mistake in a former paper.

and the Grey Mullet of the British Coast, 135

instantly inflated into the most perfect bladder — bent behind
and extended forwards in two lobes, having an oblong horse-
shoe form* it io fnuiiuiid baa f/rioi oili in h.'ihjj.-

Being one of those fishes which are said to be destitute of
the swimming bladder, I forwarded it, with the viscus inflated,
for the inspection of Mr. Bennett, of the Zoological Society ;
he stated his belief, that it was the urinary bladder, which is
represented by M. Cuvier, in his present work, as very large
in this fish. This opinion may be correct,--it certainly comes
from the best authorities, but the viscus appeared to me to be
destitute of all the analogies of such a viscus, — and possesses
all those of a swimming bladder ; it is extremely thin and
transparent, and attached by cords, as before observed, to the
cervical vertebrcB, or at the gills, — a situation where I have
constantly observed such attachment of the air-bladder ; but in
no instance have seen a urinary bladder so connected. It is
true, having no idea of this sort in mind, it did not occur to
me to search for urethra or ureters ; but, had such existed,
they would probably have been detected in blowing up this
receptacle*

An elderly person at Billingsgate, a few days since, observ-
ing me busied in examining the viscera of certain fishes, wished
to know what the object was ; I told him it was to learn the
internal structure, — of the intestine stomach, &c. ; and the
air-bladder — this he said, although every one had it, yet I
should not find it in all ; for, in some fishes, it is so thin and
tender, as to break when the fish is caught.

This was a person having no affectation of science^ but of
long practical observation, which is infinitely better, and who
has been employed either in fishing, or at Billingsgate market,
for upwards of twenty years past. He further added (and I
thought it a shrewd remark, whether it be exactly true or not),
that in such fishes, as soon as taken out of the water, the air
rushes in, and causes the bladder to burst. The poor know-
ledge possessed by physiologists on this point will, I presume,
hardly justify a contradiction of this simple statement of the
fisherman.

It appears to me, that, in the cetacese or aquatic mammalia,
this organ is supplied by the peculiar structure and magnitude

136 Dr. Hancock on the Mullets of Guiana^

of the lung, which has capacious air-cells, lined with a strong
capsular membrane, are of firm texture, unlike those of qua-
drupeds, and invested by a strong tunic which enables this
viscus to support the requisite hydrostatic pressure. — In the
manati of the interior of Guiana, the lung is one-third the
length of the whole body — in its texture similar to the swim-
bladder in the gilbagre. M. Humboldt, reflecting on the size
of the lung in the manati, thought it strange the animal should
be compelled to rise so often to blow or spout water ; vide
Pers. Nar., v. iv., p. 448. But it seems to me a fact sufficiently
evident, that the lungs in those animals answer the double
or rather triple purpose of respiration and oxygenising the
blood, and as that peculiar kind of gasometer or buoyant blad-
der found in the true fishes. This will, I presume, be ad-
mitted by competent judges as the most rational view of the
subject ; and in which there is nothing strange, unless it be,
that so many sagacious physiologists should have passed the
affair quite unheeded.

This fish (the grey mullet) appears to be much more nearly
allied to the mugil albula, as given by Linnaeus, than to the
cephalus ; and it may be observed, that the different species of
this genus resemble one another so closely, that they are with
difficulty distinguished by the external characters, unless we
except the number of rays in the fins. ^ Inattention to such
circumstances has led naturalists into frequent errors.

Another character which has been recommended as afford-
ing the most certain distinction, I find to fail here, that is, the
number of bones in the vertebral column; in several cases,
distinct species are found to have the same number. However
valuable this may be to the anatomist, as a specific character,
it is not applicable to general use, as, for the progress of natural
history, more ready and obvious external characters are re-
quisite. *' i^>.'- -'^'^ --^- ■- ■■''-''■■''■■ ■'' '

Pendfcllt'S'figui^'(;BW Zop^^^'. iii., p. 436) appears to be

♦ With respect to the numerous ailuri of the tropics sdsO, it is quite impossible
to distinguish them by other means. I have found the number of rays in the
fins to be remarkably constant, both in these two and in other genera, although
some assert the contrary. — The method of those, therefore, Avho neglect such
specific characters must be very defective, especially for genera consisting of
numerous approximating species.

and the Grey Mullet of the British Coast, 137

tfiat of the grey mullet, and a good delineation. At the
same time, we may observe, it would answer equally well for
the queriman, (and doubtless for other species,) their resem-
blance being so exact : his description is partly applicable to
this and partly to M. cephalus ; the two species being evidently
confounded. — This, the common grey mullet, or M. britanni-
cus* and the queriman, are remarkably near species in shape,
size, and colour. The number of rays of tlie fins afford the
only well-marked difference, and in this respect they approach
very near : their disparity, however, with M. cephalus is
very evident on comparison with its description or assigned
characters.^ /o J)nfi aouHitqa-n hj <:ki»>*j.Hiv^ t>](|i

I have since tOTTSuitecI tJie**'R^gwe Animar' of Cuvier,
and, from what I observe there stated, it appears probable
tiiere are other species besides these two confounded under the
same name. He says there are three species met with in the
Mediterranean, which resemble each other very much, one of
which is the M. Cephalus of Linnajus ; he also alludes to the
existence of athick carneous stomach, p. 292, tom. ii. (1st. ed.)
It is probable that this carneous or muscular structure of the
stomach is, in some measure, common to all the true species
of this genus.

In Fleming's recent and valuable work, British Zoology, the
M. cephalus is likewise indicated as identical with the com-
mon mullet, with some alteration of the characters ; but if
Linnaeus's description be anything near correct, the mugil
cephalus and the common British mullet are two very distinct
species. In the Systema Naturaj, the rays of the fins stand
thus : —

M. Cephalus""^ * lior^ 5— i, Pect. 16, Vent, j, Anal, /g, Caudal 12.
In the Br. mul. they ^e thus 4'— 8, 18, |, |, 20.

Being favoured by the kindness of Mr. Wood, of the Strand,
with the loan of Willoughby's " Historia Piscium," I ob-
served that justly esteemed author has referred to certain in-
terior waters of France, as situations where the mullets are
caught, and describes the form of the trap, made of reeds,
■ '••'♦',

♦ It may be so called, I presiune, since it is the only one known or usually
caught on these shores.

138 Dr. HanCock on the Mullets of Guiana,

which is used for this purpose : — " Locus ubi capiuntur. In
lacurn quendam propries Martegues in Gallia magna vis mu-
gilum quotannis stato tempore, nimirum exeunte vere in-
greditur," &c., p. 275. The species here alluded to, how-
ever, must be regarded as very uncertain ; we can hardly
suppose it identical with our common grey mullet, which,
I believe, is chiefly caught only at sea, and that far from
land.

In respect to the number of the rays of the fins* in his
statement, they are as follow :***■ o> aaaaiaioi m zAomiJ em

Dorsal, y^; Pectoral, 18; Ventral, 1; AnaV/o 5

which compare with those at page 136. The small muscular
stomach and appendices are also mentioned. This description
appears chiefly to be taken from Rondelet, and not from his
own observation. He adds, ** Alga tantum ac herbis mugilem
vesci aiunt, vel limo. Piscibus certe omnino abstinet. Am-
nes subit testibus Aristotele, Strabone, Galeno, Plinio. Idem
nos experientia docet ; nam in Garumna, Rhodano, Sequana,
Ligeri, capiuntur. Rondeletius."

I imagine that, from some cause or other, the mullet was
seldom brought to this market in Willoughby's time, otherwise
that industrious author would have made us better acquainted
with it. Others, mentioned by Rondelet, are not sufficiently
defined to enable us to form any tolerable opinion as to the
species.

The grey mullets are said to be taken abundantly atTorbay,
and off the Isle of Wight, frequently along with the mackerel,
with which it appears to associate, or to have similar haunts
and habits ; that they enter the mouths of rivers, especially in
a dry time when the water is brackish, in the Thames up to
Woolwich, and the Medway to Rochester bridge, &c. ; but 1
do not know if the grey mullet ascends by the small streams,
into ponds and stagnant pools, to breed or deposit its ova in
the manner of that described by Willoughby ?

Respecting the.^. cephalus we find many allusions amongst
the Roman writers, which may be ranked with those cited by
M. Cuvier, and in Dr. Brewster's Journal of Science for Janu-
ary, 1830, vide pp. 63 and 64, respecting ** the mullets of

and the Grey Mullet of the British Coast. 139

Europe," not the genus under consideration, but th^Mullus, or
surmullet kind, the two genera having no affinities but in
name. Such, however, I conceive, are scarcely worthy the
notice of the naturalist, or man of science, as, for instance,
the puerile caprices, or downright idiotcy, displayed in their
disgusting expressions of pleasure, or affected delight, at the
sight of the dying mullets, with all the epicurean affectation
of a debauched and effeminate people.

The name of Cephale, or cephalon, was probably given it
by the Greeks in reference to the size of the head, as it were,
great head, (macrocephalus,) or more analogous to the attri-
butive nouns in the Spanish, as from cabe^a, the head, they
say cabegdn, one with a great head. It has been suggested,
however, by some of the older writers, as deriving its name
from the alleged property of causing headache when eaten at
supper.

The head of the M. cepbalus is represented square, with a
blunt snout, and several peculiarities in which it emulates the
Guiana queriman.

Since the foregoing observations were written, I have been
rather surprised to find, that a very considerable number
of the British fishes are either mistaken or ill described ; —
even the common shad of the river Thames, if not a non-
descript species, is at least mistaken for the Clupea alosa of
Linnseus. Indeed it appears there are two or three species on
this coast confounded under the name of Shad. Cuvier says the
shad (Clupea alosa) is without teeth, and ha& a^ijagle black
spot behind the gills. - i,jf; n i^.ii>|,s7 rl

:i?3l> 1i:d> io t&tra*»it»

^ -jH

( 140 )

A Description of Commander Marshairs.n^tt* mode of Mount-
ing and fForking Ships' GurisiC^&.^^ii^f, AlhenrnvlQ'-
street, London. ^' ^J^' ^ btnfr ulfln.

tity, and that dexterity in the use of instruments is acquired
by practising with them, it will appear that the efficiency of
naval force depends chiefly upon two concurring circumstances,
viz., the excellence of the ships of which it is composed,
and the powers of its artillery equipment.

The military qualities of ships of war will therefore be in
proportion to the knowledge and exertions, generally, of two
distinct classes of persons, — those who construct them, and
those who have the control, contrivance, and management of
their warlike apparatus.

The business of the naval constructor is to furnish a ship
of a given force with the best sea-going qualities, amongst
which, velocity and celerity of evolution should be of pre-
eminent consideration. He is, in fact, the contriver of a
vast locomotive machine, by which a warlike apparatus is
conveyed to a certain sphere of action ; but the efficacy of this
apparatus depends, not only upon its intrinsic powers, but also
upon those who handle it and manoeuvre the ship. Now,
admitting the skill, manual strength, and dexterity of these
agents, it ultimately appears that the effect of this appara-
tus must depe7id on its own capabilities.

The capabilities of naval artillery include its quality or
calibre ; its range; the celerity with which it may be served ;
the power of easily directing its fire on remote points or
passing objects ; and the safety with which it may be
attended.

No one, we presume, will pretend to doubt that the larger
the calibre, and the longer the range, the more destructive
will be the blow, and the wider will be the extent under com-
mand ; nor will any one scruple to admit, that the crew
which handles its guns with the most celerity (supposing
that accuracy of fire is not sacrificed) will stand the best
chance of coming off victorious : we shall proceed, therefore,
to examine how far this object, and the no less important one,
the power of directing the fire of a ship on remote points and
passing objects, have been, until now, effected ; for it is by an
entire departure from old principles that the author of the
work before us has effected decidedly the most important im-
provement that has yet been made in the means of rendering

Mounting of Naval Ordnance, 141

the heavy ordnance used on board ship easily manageable,
and equally efficient, in every position.

We are informed by Froissart, that guns were first used at
sea by the Spaniards in the year 1372 *, that is, twenty-six years
after Edward the Third had profited by them at the battle of
Cressy, which was the first occasion that these terrible en-
gines of destruction had come into anything like general no-
tice in Europe. The more general introduction of cannon
into naval combats took place in the wars between the Vene-
tians and Genoese. The latter part of the fourteenth century
was distinguished by the most rancorous contests between
these rival maritime states ; and no doubt a novel instrument
of vrarfare, as the cannon must then have been, was taken
with avidity to assist in settling their dispute for naval supre-
macy.

As the first guns were but very small, little difficulty and
labour were experienced either in transporting or managing
them in action ; but, as their use and power were increased,
it became necessary to make them much heavier ; and hence
additional contrivances became requisite to make them trans-
portable and manageable. The commonest experience taught
the first contrivers of these weighty engines of destruction,
that there was no other means of transporting them readily
from place to place, but upon rollers, trucks, or wheels, the
adoption of either of which methods depended upon the de-
gree of locomotion that was required ; the two first being
sufficient when the distance to be moved through was small,
and the last being evidently the best calculated for assisting
in military operations in the field, and passing over great
distances. In all these methods, however, of rendering
pieces of ordnance moveable by means of sledges with rollers,
trucks, or wheels, we find that, as it was necessary to give
them a diff'erent direction in a vertical plane, a contrivance
by which this might be readily effected, was common to all.
This consisted in making them move round a horizontal axis
at right angles to the axis of the piece, and placed in such a
position as to have the weight towards the muzzle of the piece
nearly ecjual to that towards the breech. Such necessity gave
birth to the addition of the trunnions, which are to be found
in almost all the ancient pieces that have been preserved.

We perceive, therefore, that the mode of mounting guns
naturally suggested by these wants, is obviously the same in
principle as that which is used to this day, and we venture to
say, that the present standing garrison-carriage has varied

* In a battle ofiP Rochelle with the English and their allies, the people of
Poitou.

142 Mounting of Naval Ordnance*

but little^ even in detail, from that in use upwards of three
and a half centuries ago ; — that is, the gun is placed between,
and allowed to rest by, its trunnions, on the edges of two
upright thick slabs of timber, extending from a little beyond
the trunnions to the hind extremity of the gun, and con-
nected with and supported by two massive axletrees, on
which iron trucks or small wheels are placed *. The part of
the gun in the rear of the trunnions, which slightly prepon-
derates, is supported by a smaller slab, placed on the axle
under the breech, and the elevation or depression is regu-
lated by a wedge inserted between this and the breech.

It is most probable that the guns used on board ship were
at first entirely of the lighter natures ; for, until the inven-
tion of port-holes, their use was confined to firing over the
gunwales of the gallies in intervals left between the oars.
Such were merely lashed on a skid, or block of wood, hol-
lowed out to receive them — a method of mounting which
probably continued down to the middle of the sixteenth cen-
tury, the lighter natures of the ordnance of that famous
English ship, the Harry Grace de Dieu, built in 1515, being
mounted in that rude manner.

When the invention of port-holes had rendered it possible
to carry heavy guns on one or more decks between the gun-
wale and the water, it is clear that, as these were capable of
being transported through the greatest distances by the ship
itself, the requisites necessary to the mounting of guns for
shipboard would appear very naturally to be those belonging
to garrison-guns, with some obvious additions, for the pur-
poses of restricting the recoil, and for working and securing
the guns in an agitated sea.

Such were, doubtlessly, the reasons which introduced the
land gun-carriage, used in permanent defences, on board ship,
with the addition of two or three ring and eye bolts in its
sides for the breeching-ropes and tackles used in the service
of the gun, and with its iron trucks exchanged for wooden
ones ; and, strange to say, that not an improvement of im-
portance has been made since their first introduction, more
than three centuries ago. They remain in principle just as
they were : a few necessary alterations in the detail may have
been made, but that is all. Upon this singular fact. Captain
Marshall, in his introductory remarks, very naturally observes,

'* That either the established carriages answer, in the most
effective manner, all the purposes required of them, or that, from
the principle upon which guns are mounted, they are incapable
of improvement."

* See diagram in page 146.

Mounting of Naval Ordnance. 143

Which of these two suppositions is correct, our author, we
think, incontrovertibly settles in the following passages, by
which it will appear that, however sufficient the common
standing garrison- carriage may be in a battery on shore,
whose point of defence or attack is determined by the direc-
tion of the embrasures, the same, when removed qa tlQ^'l
ship, is, and must be, most lamentably deficient. ,fot/ riji. '

" In the first place, a ship's gun requires to be moved quickly
in dififerent directions, and is subject to be checked very suddenly
in its motions. It is, nevertheless, placed upon a carriage whose
axletrees are immoveably bolted parallel to each other, and upon
which its weight is so disposed, that nearly the whole of it rests
upon one extremity of the carriage. When a gun is so impro-
perly placed, upon a carriage so imperfectly constructed, the in-
conveniencies in working it, as regards the violence with which it
tilts up, and the difficulty which exists in laterally moving the fore
part of the carriage, are consequences which naturally follow."

The author then observes, that as an action becomes pro-
longed, and the guns get heated, these difficulties become in-
creased ; whilst, of course, a less number of men, and those
comparatively exhausted, are left to contend with them, and
the difficulty with which the forepart of the carriage is laterally
moved, necessarily renders the oblique pointing of a ship's
guns very slow. Upon this most important particular Capt.
Marshall observes,

** It is evident, that the further guns can be pointed towards
the bow or quarter, the more powerfully will they defend the ship
and assail the enemy. It will consequently be supposed that the
size of a port will favour the limit to the angle at which a gun
can be trained or pointed across it j but this is not the case : for
the form of the old carriage generally prevents the guns traversing
through an arc so great as might otherwise be obtained, by from
18° to 24° ; and thus, as it were, the application of the instru-
ment is limited by the clumsiness of its handle,"

And with regard, to the accuracy of fire, our author re-
marks, that

" In order to discharge a correct shot from a ship in motion,
the elevation of the gun, and the line of its direction, must both
be accurately adjusted at the instant the gun is fired.*'

This again serves to expose the deficiency of the old car-
riage ; for, whilst the elevation (as Captain Marshall ob-
serves) is undergoing constant change by the rolling of the
ship, the line of direction is also altered by the ship's loco-
motion.

The comparatively little destruction made in naval combats
from such immense quantities of heavy ordnance, has evi-

144 Mounting of Na^al Ordnance.

dently proceeded from difficulties naturally attendant on their
service, from the extreme defectiveness of the common sys-
tem of mountini^, which absolutely renders firing guns on
board ship, in an agitated sea, at an opponent, almost a waste
of powder and shot. Captain M., in developing these causes
of inaccuracy and non-effect, very justly says, that

" it is absurd, as a principle, to calculate that the rolling of a
vessel shall produce a proper elevation, at the same instant that
the motion of its head is not interfering with the true line of the
gun's direction ;" and hence, " it becomes necessary that, whilst
taking aim, the marksman should have the power of changing the
elevation, or the line, of his gun, at the same instant that the
motion of the shij) may be producing the other required move-
ment ; and also, that he should be able to fire at the moment
these joint operations have produced their desired effect."

Those who are ignorant of the difficulties peculiar to the
service of naval ordnance, will, no doubt, think that the fore-
going observations are nothing more than elaborate in ex-
posing minute defects; but in reality the causes here brought
before us by Captain Marshall, trivial as they may appear,
are those which chiefly conduce to the general inaccuracy and
consequent non-effect of a ship's fire.

Captain M., in winding up this able exposition of the pro-
perties required in naval ordnance, comes to the obvious
conclusion, that,

*' contrary to all other artillery exercises, it hence appears'^that the
practice of naval gunnery requires an art similar to that of firing
at moving objects ; . . . and, consequently, before any general
system of correct firing can be hoped for in cases of this nature,
seamen must be provided with a gun-carriage better calculated
than the old one to meet the peculiar circumstances in which they
are so frequently placed."

A short but very able discussion then follows, in which it
clearly appears, from mechanical principles, that it is im-
practicable to obtain, with the present adaptation of the
standing garrison-carriage, the qualities required for the pro-
per service of a ship's gun.

It appears, therefore, that to produce the desired facilities,
either a carriage upon a perfectly novel principle must be
adopted, still mounting by the trunnions, or else a modifica-
tion of the present carriage must be effected by bidding adieu
to the ancient method of mounting.

Adhering to the old practice, many ingenious men have
endeavoured to form a gun-carriage adapted to the wants of
the naval service, but they have generally failed in some
important particular. Gover, and the celebrated Swedish

Mouniing of Naval Ordnance. l45

naval architect. Chapman, who both adopted inclined slides*,
certainly effected in a measure the objects proposed, but at
the expense of simplicity and lightness f. Sir W. Congreve
also turned his talents to the same important subject, and cer-
tainly produced a carriage wanting in nothing but stability J.
He phiced truclvs on the trunnions themselves : these trucks
moving in and out on a traversing platform attached to the
ship's side, gave, in conjunction with the traversing motion,
every facility to the simple service of the gun. Had he been
acquainted with the disagreeable accidents liable from want
of base, no doubt he would have even remedied this sole
defect ; but even then there would have been this very insu-
perable objection to the general and immediate adoption of his
system, viz., that the enormous quantity of carriages always
kept in store for our navy must all have been thrown aside.
Captain Marshall, by adopting two points (or rather axes) of
support for the gun, of which one is shifting, instead of the
single one, the axis of the trunnions, has been enabled by a
very simple modification of the old carriage to increase all its
good qualities, and to deprive it of all the serious defects
that rendered it so inapplicable to sea service. But here
our author shall again speak for himself, in his usually clear
and demonstrative style.

" The new gun-carriage consists of two distinct parts, whose
movements are independent of each other ; and which, though
jointly supporting the gun, have separate duties to perform : one
is termed the breech-carriage, the other the breast-carriage.

"The breast-carriage A, in figure 1, consists of a block of elm,
in which two plates of nearly similar form are let in flush upon
the top and bottom surfaces, and secured in their places by the
clenched bolts, 1, 2, 3, 4, (fig. 1 and 2). The upper plate is made
much thicker than the lower one, and the bolt 1 stouter than
the others. By means of these plates, termed eye-plates, the
breast-carriage is attached to the centre of the port, by the breast
bolt G (figs. 1 and 3), passing through the holes E, E, and through
the gudgeons C, D, which are fixed to the ship's side. In the
eye-plates, the holes X, X (figs. 1 and 2), form a socket in which
the spindle of the crutch H (figs. I and 4) works ; a hole having
been made through the breast-block sufficiently large to prevent
the spindle of the crutch from ever becoming tight in it. Bolted
to the under part of the breast-block, is an iron axle, d, upon
which a bushed wooden truck works, and the end of the breast-

* Chapman's slide traversed on a pivot connected with the deck.

f Gover's 24-pouiidcr carriage was more than 5 cwt. heavier than the common
24-pounder carriage.

X Congreve's carriage would be about 2 cwt. lighter than the common carriage
for a 24-pounder. Vide Congreve's " Elementary Treatise on the Moimting of
Naval Ordiiance."

JAN.— MARCH, 1830. L

146

Mounting^ 0/ Naval Ordnance^,

carriage traverses; Tlie upper gudgeon C, is fixed to' the ship's^
side, by bolts passing through the timbers, (figs. 1, 2, and 3,) and,
the top eye-plate rests upon it. The lower gudgeon, or a socket
placed upon the waterway, as most convenient, is only required
to steady the heel of the breast-bolt, and does pot support any
of the weight of the gun.*' - -• '

Fig. 2.

" The crutch H (fig. 4) is formed of wrought iron, and receives
within the lower part of it a small block of wood, upon which

Mounting of Naval Ordnance. 147

the gun rests and works. The block is made a little concave, to
receive the gun ; and, in the other direction of its upper surface,
is so cut away, or made convex, as not to interfere with the gun's
lodging on nearly the centre of the block, when it is elevated or
depressed.

"The breech-carriage B (fig. 1) is formed similarly to the old
gun carriage, with the fore part of it cut away j p, p, are iron
clamps with a hinge at o ; the lower part is secured to the front
of the breech-carriage by a bolt, and by the eye-pin g, which is
clinched at v. The upper, or moveable part, spans round the
trunnion ; and, being forelocked down to the eye pin, suspends or
attaches the front of the breech-carriage to the gun. The breech
of the gun is supported upon a bed and coin, and is elevated and
depressed by them in the usual way."

From this developement of our author'is principle^ it appears
that a gun mounted according to it, has the part between
the trunnions and the breech connected with^ and supported
upon, a two-wheeled carriage, which moves with it in every
direction ; and that between the trunnions and the muzzle it
is supported by the crutch, over the block of which, it runs
in and out.

"The circumstance (Captain Marshall says) which renders
practicable this mode of mounting long guns, in ships of war, is,
that contrary to land service, the gun is stopped in its recoil by a
strong rope or breeching, as soon as the muzzle arrives sufficiently
within the port to allow of its being conveniently loaded ; for
since it happens that the proper and usual space over which a
gun is allowed to run in (all unnecessary recoil increasing the
delay and labour of running the gun out) is, on an average of
cases, about equal to the distance of the gun's trunnion rim from
its muzzle rim, it follows that all the action which it is expedient
a gun should have, in and out of its port, js obtained by its being
made to slide backwards and forwards from its trunnion to it?
muzzle upon the stationary rest or crutch of the breast-carriage,
The gun is prevented from running out any further by the trun-.
nions or trunnion rim coming in contact with the crutch ; and
when the gun is run in, the approach of the muzzle any nearer
the crutch, or the danger of its recoiling too far through it, is not
only prevented by a stout breeching, but doubly guarded against
by a strong breast rope, fixed to the breech-carriage, and passed
round the crutch, as shown in the figure. Thus are the two parts
of the carriage prevented from approaching into contact, or of
receding too far from each other, whilst the gun itself preserves
the communication between the two parts of its carriage. The
chief novelty of this principle of mounting consists in having
removed the bearing of the gun upon its carriage, from the trun-
nions (which have now nothing to do with supporting the gun),
to a fixed point at the breech, and a moveable point somewhere
between the muzzle and the trunnions.'*

148

Mounting of Naval Ordnance.

From this description of the principle, it plainly appears
that the crutch not only becomes the axis of revolution in
elevating or depressing the gun when run out^ but also sup-
ports the muzzle and prevents it from dropping at the instant
the recoil is stopped by the breeching, which mischievous
tendency is very strongly developed in the old construction
of carriage, and more especially so from the bad manner in
which the breeching is applied. Much erroneous discussion
has been put forward on this disturbance in the recoil of a
ship's gun. Sir W. Congreve, in his ^' Elementary Treatise
on the Mounting of Naval Ordnance," attempts to account
for it by the breeching being led so as to make two sides AD,
DB, of a triangle, of which the third side, AB, is the right
line drawn from the loop at the breech of the gun to the ring-
bolt B, in the side of the ship ; — thus, he says, exerting a

lifti?ig force, varying as the line DC ^, on the rear of the
carriage, and throwing the muzzle downwards. He thence
deduces, that when DC vanishes, or the breeching is a right
line from A to B, or any other point on the ship's side, this
lifting force will disappear, and the recoil be smooth. These
conclusions are evidently derived from insufficient and unsound
mechanical reasoning ; for whether the breeching be fastened
to the ring D in the side of the carriage, or passes through
it to the loop A, at the moment the recoil is stopped the
effect will be the same: that is, the action on the carriage is
not dependent on that portion of the breeching between the
ring D and the loop A ; but depends entirely on the direc-
tion and position of that part between the ring D, and the
ring-bolt B, in the side of the ship f-

* We are not told how the line DC is drawn, but imagine that it is intended to
be perpendicular to AB.

f This will immediately be admitted, if we conceive the gun and carriage to fall
from the ship's side and to be sustained in its fall by the breeching, in which case
B would be the point of suspension, and D the point where the rope ADB is
applied-to the mass, whether it termiuates at D, or passes tlirough to A.

Mounting of Naval Ordnance, 149

Dupin also, in his ^^ Force Navale tie la Grande Bre-
tag7ie/' discusses this question erroneously. He arrives at
the conclusion that the muzzle is thrown upwards when the
recoil is checked, unless the plane of the breeching, when
tight, passes through the common centre of gravity, G, of the
gun and carriage; most likely not knowing that he was
denying a notorious fact from an imperfect, and, no doubt,
hasty consideration of the subject.

As this is a very interesting question in the service of
naval artillery, we shall here endeavour to clear it of the
obscurity with which it has generally been treated.

Taking the preceding diagram, representing a sea-service
gun, on a carriage of the usual construction, when the ship
is upright, let G be the common centre of gravity of the
gun and carriage ; this point being a little in the rear of the
trunnions, and about the height of their axis. Through G,
draw the vertical line GW -, and from the centres K and L of
the axletrees, draw KM, and KN, perpendicular to GW, and
join KG and GL. Now we may conceive that there is a given
weight at G, supported by the two inflexible lines GK and
GL given in position, and hence the whole system is capable
of turning on the point K or L, according to the magnitude,
point of application, and direction of any force that may be
applied in a plane at right angles to the platform, and paral-
lel to the axis of the gun. For instance, the elastic force of
a given quantity of powder, taking place in the axis of the
piece, will have a tendency to make the system turn about
the point L, during the recoil ; this tendency being developed
in proportion to the height of the axis above the said point.
On the contrary, if a force in an opposite direction, and at the
same height, were applied, it would, in like manner, cause
the system to turn about the point K. But, from the prin-
ciples of mechanics, the stability of the gun and carriage,
with respect to the point L, is in proportion to the line LN ;
and the stability of the system, with respect to the point K,
is proportional to the line KM. Hence, as the line WG is
generally very much nearer to K, than to L, making KM
much less than LN, it follows, that it requires a proportion -
ably larger force to overcome the stability, with regard to
the point L, than the stability with regard to the point K *.

♦ It is evident, from this step of the investigation, that if the carriage be much
shortened in the rear of the Une GW, the line LN may be so much diminished,
that the gun and carriage may be thrown backwards — a circumstance by no means
unfrequent, when it has been foolishly attempted to mount lighter and shorter
pieces of ordnance on short carriages of the same height. I or, with the same
charges of powder, the initial velocities suffer but a small decrease, and conse-
quently, the momentum of recoil is nearly the same as in the larger pieces .

150 Mountin() of Naval Ordnance:

Now, as soon as the momentum of the gun and carriage, in
the action of recoil, is overcome by the tension of the breech-
ing, applied at a point D, above the centre of the fore axle-
tree, its reacting force, in the direction DB, pulls the mass
not only tovrards the ship's side, but also gives it a rotatory
motion round the point K, or the fore-axle of the carriage ;
and if W = the weight of the gun and carriage, v = velocity
of recoil, and y = the line KP, drawn from the point K,
{Perpendicularly to the direction DB of the breeching when
tight, we have the effort to produce I'otation expressed by
yWv. But the stability of the system, With regard to the
saliie point K (putting KM = a), is expressed by aW :
hence, it depends on the relations which the two quantities
1/Wd, and aW, bear to one another, as to the effect the breech-
ing Will produce when the recoil is stopped. The tendency
ih the case before us, to turn about the fore-axle, can only
Vatiish when y or KP = o, or when the direction of the
breeching passes through the centre of the fore- axle. If,
however, the velocity of recoil be known, the breeching tnay
be so adjusted as to make the effort to turn about the fore-
axle just equivalent to the stability of the gun and carriage.
For example, if a 32-pound shot be fired with an initial
t'elocity of 1600 feet per second, from a long gUn, weighing
55cwt., mounted on a common carriage, weighing 8cwt. more,
it will appear, by making 2/Wi' = aW, and supposing that
the ship is Upright, that the quantity y, or the line KP,
should be between ^ and i of a, or the line KM, when the
effort to produce rotation about the fore-axle is just equi-
valent to the stability of the gun and carriage. But although
the bi-eeching then ceases to turn the system about the fore-
axle, it may, by its direction, exert a lifting force on the
fote-part of the carriage, if it be elevated above a parallel
to the plane of recoil ; and thus exert an effort to produce
rotatory motion about the rear axle : it may, therefore, be
generally adopted as a maxim, that to divest the breeching
of these mischievous effects in the reCoil, it should never lead
thtbugh a point in the carriage more thani of KM above the
dentre of the fore-axletree, and be carried to the ship's side,
Sb that its direction may be parallel to the deck. The best
-way, perhaps, of applying the breeching, according to this

hence, these short guns require, with regard to the hind truck L, nearly, if not
quite, as long a carriage as the longest guns of the same calibre.

It is also equally evident, that when the deck becomes inclined, and the gun is
on the lee-side, that the vertical line GW will still more approach the point K ;
and, consequently, the stability of the carriage, with respect to this point, be pro-
portionably diminished. On tiie contrary, in a weather gun, it will in like manner
De increased.

Mounting of Naval Ordnance. 151

principle, would be to pass a ring-bolt through the middle
of the fore-axletree of the carriage, making it sufficiently
long to pass through the rear axletree, and forelocking on
it, as well as on the fore axletree. The breeching may
then be led from this, to a single ring-bolt in the ship's
side, placed just above the thick Avaterway in the middle
line of the port. In this way, a gun would require about half
the length of breeching that it does at present ; but, being
a single rope, should be stouter than when the breeching is
led to two ring-bolts, if, however, two ring-bolts should be
preferred, both iiL. the carriage and in the side of the ship,
and there are some cogent arguments for having them, those
in the carriage should be placed in the middle line of the
port, so that one should be just as much above the height
before indicated, as the other is below it ; the planes of the
rings being so disposed, as to revolve about a horizontal axis ;
then, if the breeching be led through both these rings, and
fixed to two others in the ship's side, similarly disposed, in the
middle line of the port, the object in view will be effected,
without neutralizing our primary intentions, and giving, as
in the first method, a breeching, which, although consisting of
two parts, from the circumstance of being in one plane, per-
pendicular to the platform, and bisecting both port and
carriage, will never require adjustment when the carriage
is trained.

• The breast-carriage in Captain Marshall's plan will be
seen, by the most superficial investigation, to afford the
readiest means of traversing or training the gun from one
side of its port to the other, and also, of ensuring the nicest
adjustment of aim at a moving object, by means of the
tackle TT, fig. 2 of our explanatory diagrams. Indeed,
with so much facility is this operation performed, that (t
long 12-pounder, worked only by th7'ee men, was traversed
from an angle of 54° before the beam of the port, to 54°
abaft } or through an arc of 108° in the short space of 25
seconds.

• Captain Marshall states, that the aggregate of the weights
of his two carriages for a 24-pounder gun, is only Icwt. more
than the weight of the old carriage ; so that we have not
here to complain of the immense additional weight accom-
panying almost all other attempts to improve the mounting
of naval ordnance ; nor have we to make the serious objec-
tion, common to all systems that we have seen, except
Congreve's, that the deck is encumbered with a large fabric,
and the free circulation of air prevented thereby. We think
that the increase of weight might be nearly, if not quite, got

152 Mounting of Naval Ordnance,

rid of; for, no doubt, there is, at present, an excess of strength
in the cheeks, or sides of the breech-carriage, since so much
violent and percussive action is avoided, and their thick-
ness might safely be reduced. No objection can arise to
this, from the strains to which the carriage is liable when
secured at sea, for all those are diminished, in consequence of
the gun, in this circumstance, being considerably nearer the
deck than on the old system of mounting.

Every person, in the least acquainted with artillery exer-
cises, is aware of the Herculean task of mounting a heavy gun
without the apparatus called a gin ; — an apparatus which it is
impossible to use on board a ship, and the want of which can
only be supplied by strong and complicated tackling at-
tached to the beams over head, and by the assistance of many
men. This arises from the circumstance of having the whole
weight of the gun to be lifted, whilst, by the contrivance of
our author, which throws the weight on either the breech or
breast-carriage, as occasion may require, this service may be
executed v/ith the greatest ease, by a few hands, in an ahnost
incredibly short time. On board the Isis, of 50 guns, the
operations of dismounting and mounting were performed with
a 24-pounder gun, in the space of 2C, with seven men.

There is one property of Captain Marshall's carriage,
which, if made available, will contribute in no small degree
to the comfort and health of those who man our frigates. We
allude to the property of securing fore and aft. The main-
deck guns, from always being run out, cause the deck, in
rough weather, to assume the character of a reservoir of
water : for the half-ports can never be rendered sufficiently
tight to prevent it from coming in. The circumstance, too,
of the guns being frequently under the waves, and conse-
quently, dragged through them, occasions no small impedi-
ment to the ship's velocity. Now, these inconveniences are
unavoidable with the common carriage, which, if secured
inside, fore and aft, instead of projecting the muzzles outside
the ports, cannot be ready for action without serious delay.
But with the new carriage this objection does not exist,
and, moreover, it possesses the additional good property of
lowering the gun.

As the very extreme ports, at either bow or stern, are
usually armed with guns, from the nearest broadside port,
when occasion requires, it would appear, at first sight, that
Captain M.'s carriage was not capable of such an operation,
since the breech-carriage only presents two wheels to effect
it. However, our author has here again derived a singular
advantage from what certainly appears to be an unpropitious

Mounting of Naval Ordnance, 153

circumstance. He applies an axle with trucks to the breast-
carriage, lashes the crutch to the muzzle-ring, or astragal of
the gun, and thus constructs a four-wheeled carriage, of
which the gun itself becomes the perch ; and as the breast-
carriage and its trucks turn about the crutch-bolt, the whole
system is capable of taking any direction, with much greater
facility than the old carriage with its four trucks can ever
possess.

We have thus very briefly analysed the two first sec-
tions of Captain Marshall's book, in which the detail of his
construction of gun-carriages necessarily includes the deve-
lopement of its properties ; but, in the following section, the
author more particularly enters into the training, elevating y
and the action of recoiling, on all which subjects he displays
both true reasoning and professional knowledge of the wants
of naval artillery — wants that land artillerists cannot be sup-
posed to have any practical acquaintance with ; and no doubt
it is owing to the circumstance of our naval ordnance being
organized, as it were, in a department especially devoted
to the pursuits and inquiries of land artillery, that so little
has been done in accommodating heavy cannon to the ser-
vice of our marine. This is perfectly natural in result ; —
how can it be supposed that men, whose ideas from educa-
tion and long habits are indissolubly connected with a solid
and immoveable platform, and a defined routine of action, can
appreciate and know how to contend with a service where
everything is changing its position, and fresh exigencies
continually arise ? Not only the battery itself, but its very
platform, and the object at which its fire is directed, have
each their distinct motions of translation and rotation, and
require from their combinations a rapid and varying adjust-
ment. What would be said if the numerous improvements
which are daily taking place in the equipment of our land
service artillery were to be laid before a committee of naval
officers to decide upon as to efficacy r would it not be regarded
by the most common capacity as utterly inconsistent with rea-
son ? The question need not be answered here ; but do we
not behold as gross an anomaly in making a committee of
land artillery officers arbiters in a case of which they can
have as little practical knowledge as a committee of naval
officers would have of the efficiency of a new travelling-car-
riage and its limber for a siege or field gun ? The fact is,
that all improvements attempted to be made in ordnance
or its equipment are referred, no matter whether affecting
our naval or land service, to men who are by profession only
capable of pronouncing on matters connected with the latter,

iS4 Mounting of Naval Ordnance,

and this has been the main cause of placing the equipment
of sea-service ordnance so far behind that of the land service.
No one afflicted with ill health vi^ould call in a doctor of
music to improve it ; he would naturally fly to the doctor of
medicine ; in like manner, if we wish to improve our naval
artillery, we must apply to naval artilleristSj arid not to la7id
ones. If the Admiralty wish naval artillery to improve in an
equal ratio with that of the land service, they must have a.
committee of the comparatively few amongst naval officers
who have studied a subject, hitherto, it must be confessed,
too little regarded, and, what is worse, generally returning
nothing to its cultivator but disappointment and chagrin,
fl*om coming in contact with those naturally incapable of ap«
predating his motives and ideas.

We think that Commander Marshall has settled the lonjj
and vehement dispute regarding square and rounded sterns
very satisfactorily in a military point of view. As his gun-car-
riage enables the broadside guns to be pointed 45° or 50*^ abaft
the beam, and also the stern guns 45° or 50° from a fore-and-
aft-line, it immediately appears that a square-sterned ship can
produce a parallelism of fire between the broadside and stern
guns at the greatest traverse, and that whether the stern be
square or rounded, there is no point of impunity. It therefore
now becomes a question purely of naval construction, and naval
architects must decide which stern contributes most to the
sea-going qualities of ships.

Persons who are acquainted with the method of applying
the force of artillery on land, are aware that this force is
always brought to bear on some one point. The focal fire
of a battery of only a few pieces of field artillery are terribly
destructive, and in siege batteries for breaching the walls of
a fortress the same principle is adopted, with similar effi-
ciency ; but, on board ship, with the present system of mount-
ing naval ordnance, in which the training is limited to an arc
of 70°, it is scarcely possible to effect anything like focal
tiring, excepting at such distances as to render it a matter of
no importance. We cannot forbear citing here the very just
remark of our author on this important particular, in which
his gun-carriage has so much the advantage over the com-
mon one.

* Let, for instance, five well-directed broadsides, double shotted,
be all concentrated into any part of the enemy, which niay be
effected in five minutes by the new system, and there can be little
doubt but that much more decisive effects would be thus produced
on the fate of an action than the customary results of a first onset.
^ ** These principles of combined and controlled effort might also

Mounting of Naval Orctndnier 155

be applied with advantage, when closely engaged abreast, by thd
bow-division (of guns) tiring on the quarter, and the stern-divi-
sion on the bow of the enemy : by this means her decks would
be crossed by the shot diagonally^ and their effect be increased in
the proportion of an hypothenuse to a perpendiculftPi or oi radius
to the cosine of the angle of inclination." . ..;

The great increase given to the arc of traverse by Com-
mander Marshall's carriage also produces another important
advantage, viz., that of enabling the ship provided with them
to direct its guns to bear on objects at greater angular dis-
tances, and thus affording an immense advantage over an
enemy's ship furnished with the common carriage. This
subject, however, our author treats of in an earlier part of hi&
work.

At the conclusion of the fourth section, under the head
" Working," it is justly observed, from the previous investi-
gations and demonstrations,

" That a gun may be worked with more expedition upon the
new carriage than upon the old one j and, as the more laborious
parts of the exercise are rendered easy and simple, it may also be
inferred, that a brisk fire may longer be kept up, and the physical
strength of the men be longer preserved from exhaustion."

The experiments which have been made on board the Princ6
Regent, of 120 guns ; Isis, of 50 guns ; and Galatea, of 42
guns, amply confirm these deductions. Oil board the first-
mentioned ship three men only worked a long 12-pounder
more quickly than sij; men by the old carriage. A number
of experiments at sea, on board the Isis, have established the
fact, that seven men with the Hew carriage are able to fire
about a third greater number of shot from a 24-pounder in a
given time than can be accomplished by ten men with the
usual carriage. It was also equally verified on board the
Galatea, that six men can handle an 18-pounder with greater
facility than ten can with the ordinary means.

It appears that, with Commander Marshall's carriages, a
line-of- battle ship is more effectually manned with one-sixth
less men than the usual complement at present allowed iri
the English service. Here the invention assumes other in-
teresting features. The facility of increasing the number of
ships at sea with a given number of seamen is an advantage
of vital importance, and with a given number of ships it is evi-
dent that a considerable economy results in being able to dia-*
pense with a portion of the present crews *. But there is aiVr
other question of no less importance, hinging on the introduc-

* Our navy in commission at present employs 21,000 sailors, aud it tould be at
least equaUjr well nunued with 18^00 with the new carriages.

l5o Mounting of Naval Ordnance,

tion of this invention into our naval service, and that is, the
improvement of our ships in sailing qualities. The naval con-
structor, who, in preparing the design for a seventy-four gun
ship, has only to provide provision and store-room for 500
men, may indeed be said to work with a great advantage
over him who has to provide for a crew of 600 men. But
even a great amelioration of qualities would be immediately
derivable in the ships we have already by us, though con-
siderably less than that which would result from a construc-
tion de novo, made, under such favourable circumstances,
by those who know how to profit by them.

The fifth section of his work our author has chiefly de-
voted to a number of official reports of experiments made
on board his Majesty's ships the Regent, of 120 guns; Isis,
of 50 guns ; and Galatea, of 42 guns ; all of which are con-
firmatory, in the highest degree, of the truth of the inventor's
proposition,which appears, from the hint in the Introduction of
the book, to have made its way against the prejudices always
attendant on the introduction of novel plans, literally by the
force of conviction, and by that alone. This has, indeed,
operated so powerfully as to induce the Admiralty to order
one broadside of the upper deck of the Donegal, of 74 guns,
to be entirely armed with guns mounted on the proposed
system. At the conclusion of this part of the book the fol-
lowing parallel is drawn between the properties of the two
modes of mounting ; — properties which are incontrovertibly
confirmed by experiment.

Properties of the New Carriage. Properties of the Old Carriage.

" It allows the gun to be pointed at *' Prevents its gun training through a
the greatest angle across its port, which greater arc than about 68° under general
the width of the port or the length of the circumstances ; in upright sides, with
gun will admit, that is, through an arc broad waterways, a smaller angle of
of from 90° to 100°, upright sides, with training can only be obtained,
broad waterways, &c., present no obsta-
cles to the training of the guns.

" It enables a ship powerfully to defend " Does not enable a ship to defend her
her quarters by the fire of her stern and quarters by the fire of her stern or broad-
broadside guns, and thus to command side, an arc of about 20° on the quarter
every point of attack from the stern to being left unprotected,
the bow.

" A great portion of the broadside guns
may be brought to bear on what is
termed the point of impunity; and a
vessel in chase may so place herself on the
quarter of her enemy within point blank
range, as to get all her broadside guns
to bear, without those of the enemy, on
the old carriages, being able to return
the fire, the ships continuing on parallel
lines of sailing.

*' A gun trained to its greatest angle " The continued fire of a gun is very
may be fired repeatedly in that direction much retarded by the difficulties which
\^iththe same expedition as in any other, attcAd its being trained when engaged

Mounling of Naval Ordnance.

157

much before or abaft the beam of its
port ; these difficulties the irregular di-
rection of the guu's recoil frec^uently
occasions.

" A greater number of accurate shot
in a given time can be fired.

"S men to suf&cient to work

a long 12-pr,

"4 Ditto ditto a Congreve 18-pr.

*' 5 Ditto ditto a long 18-pr.

** 7 Ditto ditto a long 24-pr.

Exclusive of powder-boy.
Hence the reduced crews of sliips of war
on the peace establishment are more than
sufficient to work their guns.

•' The services of about fifty men from
each deck of long guus being dispensed
with, much less confusion aud carnage
at quarters will prevail; by requiring
fewer men, economy may be promoted,
more sliips may be equipped, or the pre-
sent crews made more efficient.

" When disabled in action, it may have
its parts quickly renewed.

" The breeching of the gun can never
get fovd of the carriage, and little or no
caution is necessary to keep the side
tackle falls clear of the recoil.

" A gun, engaged at a great angle of
elevation or depression, does not require
its quoin to be moved in order to load it.

" Guns, in the regular sized ports, may
be elevated or depressed through an
angle of at least 28°.

" A ship heeling over 10" or 12°, may
lay point blank her weather guns.

*' Weather and lee guns may be work-
ed more easily, a part of their weight
only requiring to be moved up and down
the inclined plane of the deck.

" However heated or heavily shotted
the gun may be, it never jvunps up at the
breech.

" When the guns are all laid at their
proper level on going into action^ they
will continue in this position. ' "**"»» h;'

" By a new mode of altering the line
of the gun, by moving the breast block
instead of the breech, the gun is steadily
drawn in a line with its object, and may
be fired at the same instant, the men
whilst in the act of moving the gun
being clear of the recoil.

" Gmis when secured are much nearer
the deck and lower in the ship.

* The old French carriage for ships, having only the two fore tracks, had much advantage
in this respect over those with four tracks.

" 6 men are required to work

a long 12 pr.

« 7 Ditto ditto a Congreve 18 pr.

" 9 Ditto ditto a long 18-pr.

« 10 Ditto ditto a long 24-pr.

Exclusive of powder-boy.

Hence, the full complement of men are

required to work a ship's guns.

*' In the confined space between the
guns so many men are stationed to work
them, that the decks are inconveniently
crowded, and the enemy's shot amongst
them very destructive.

" If disabled, cannol be replaced in
action without such difficulty, as to pre-
vent its being attempted.
" Serious inconveniences may arise when
the ropes attached to the carriage get
under the fore tracks, and to keep them
clear requires much attention.

" When workuig a gun much elevated
or depressed upon its carriage, the muz-
zle often requires to be levelled each
time it is loaded.

" Guns in their ports can only be ele-
vated and depressed through an arc of
about IS".

" A ship laying over 6" or 7" cannot
point her weather guns horizontally.

" When the decks are inclined, the
whole weight of the gun is moved up
and down them.

" The gun, after a few rounds, kicks
or tilts up, by which means the bed or
quoin is moved, and the decks violently
shaken.

" However carefully the elevation of
the guns may have been inspected and
adjusted, two or three rounds will move
the quoin.

" The rough motion of a handspike
applied to the breech occasions delay in
accurate pointing*, and the men being
required to stand clear before the gim
can be fired, an interval of time elapses,
in which the motion of the sliip may
alter the direction of the gim.

158 Jlfmnfting uf Naval Ordnance,

"Very little practice is required to work " To work a gun smartly in different

the gun with the greatest celerity in all directions requires very great practice

cases ; a luiitbrm proficiency in naval and skill, and to keep up a brisk fire for

gunnery may, therefore, throughout his any length of time, very exhausting

Majesty's service,be more easily attained/' pifprts." ;, ,; (

The sixth and last section, of the work under our notice,
■refers to the application of the proposed new system of
tnounting naval ordnance to steam-vessels, gun-boats and
merchant ships, and particularly to those of the latter de-
scription belonging to the East India Company. We cannot
aiford the space to enter into these particulars ; but there is
an interesting subject brought forward in the same section
with regard to restoring, the author says, the Congreve ffun
to the service of his Majesty's ships, from which they have
*^ lately been discontinued" on account of " the unsteady and
unsafe action of these guns upon their carriages."

We cannot help thinking that Commander Marshall must
here labour qnder some misinformation, and that it is hardly
possible for those who have the management of our naval
ordnance to have contemplated such a line of conduct, much
less to have put it in, execution, and thereby throw away the
services of nearly one thousand pieces of ordnance eminently
calculated by their powers * and properties for sea service.
These guns armed the upper deck of the Queen Charlotte at
Algiers, and were supposed to have fired at least one hundred
rounds a piece. In this severe trial we are told that not the
least failure or disappointment occurred whatever. Their ex-
cellence was so completely confirmed by experiment, as to
induce the Admiralty to adopt them very largely in the arma-
ment of our three decked ships of the line, and in the 46-gun
frigates. As we cannot imagine that the decease of their
talented inventor could have invested these guns with any new
properties or have neutralized their powers, we naturally infer
that their now discovered bad properties depend not on the gun,
but on some defect in the mode of mounting. As they did
not show any disposition to unsafe action at Algiers in 1816,
why should they do so now in 1830 ? If, from having been
mounted on improper carriages, they are found to develope
such bad symptoms, an alteration should be made to correct
them. Any gun mounted upon too short a carriage will
evince a disposition to upset, and it is a well-known fact that
carronades, when mounted on short and comparatively high
carriages with four trucks, will do so. Here then the remedy

• From official experiments made in 1813, on Sutton Heath, it appeared that
the point blank range of Congreve's 24-pounder of 41 cwt. and 7^ feet long was
505 yards, and that of the long 24-pounder of 50 cwt. and 9;^ feet long was 368
yards. — Fide the " Concise Account" of the Congreve 24-pounder gun.

Mounting of Naval Ordnance ^ 169

is obvious, and it should be applied. An infinite deal of
pains has been taken, and with much success, to render the
carronad^ manageable, and the same ought to be taken with
the Congreve 24-pounder and other guns of this construction,
if they really h^ve become so unsteady and unsafe. But we
are informed by Sir W. Congreve himself in hisi " Cpncise
Account" of his 24-pounder gun, that the '' more conical
form of my construction" was, subsequently to its first intro-
duction, ^opted by thosp who cpntested the palm of excel-
lence with him j and indeed any one who looks at the newly-
constructed 32-pounders, of nearly the same length and
weight as that proposed by Congreve, must acknowledge,
that, with the exception of the ugly, pevnicioijs, and useless
mass of metal about the muzzle, they possess in a great de-
gree the conical form of Congreve, and therefore its pro-
perties, bad or good, Hence a proportionate care in mount-
ing them also will be requived to deprive them of unsafe
action on their carriages, which no doubt will be given. If,
however, what our author says with respect to the rejection
of the Congreve construction of ordnance be correct, and
that, from a forgetfulness of its valuable properties, a defect
arising from equipment may have condemned it, the new
carriage returns it to its proud position of excellence, and
with an augmented developement of good properties. This
has been amply proved with the 18-pounders of this con-,
struction with which the East India Company's ship, the
Earl Balcarras, has been armed, mounted on the proposed
carriage. Commander Marshall says, *^ as they may be
worked by nearly the same number of men as carronades of
similar calibre, line of battle ships carrying even fewer men
(than we have before supposed) may now change their main
deck guns for Congreve's 32-pounders/'

Our author then proposes, with much propriety, to increase
the force of our 28-gun frigates by giving them 18-pounder
guns of Congreve's construction, as they may be worked
on his carriages " without any augmentation of their crews
or inconvenience to their narrow decks," being capable of
stowing fore and aft.

We must refer our readers to the book and its numerously
well executed and illustrative plates for a great quantity of
detail and interesting discussion. We think that the pro-
position has completely put into our hands the power of
raising the force of our ships of war, either by advancing the
calibres to what Chapman (the Swedish naval constructor)
has proposed, or by introducing, at least, the calibre of 38
throughout our navy, which, in a former Number of the

16d Mounilng of Naval Ordnance,

Quarterly Journal of Science, we have shown from the ana-
lysis of facts to be as perfectly practicable as it is desirable ;
and it is to be hoped that other maritime powers will not be
the ^rs^ to derive the advantages of an invention, whose dis-
cussion has not only thrown a new light on the badly under-
stood subject of naval gunnery, but is in itself so well calcu-
lated to produce a great simplicity and facility in some of its
operations — operations which have hitherto been to a degree
complicated and laborious ; and, what is still worse, eminently
deficient in effecting their purposes. , j.

We cannot take leave of Commander Marshall's work
without expressing our conviction that all professional men
of science will set that value on its contents which true
reasoning will always command ; and we are fully persuaded,
that, with a " fair field and no favour,'" his system of mount-
ing naval ordnance will be found to excel all other systems as
much in practice as it does in principle.

On Indigo. By Andrew Ure, M.D., F.R.S., &c.

Among the vast variety of vegetable products, there is probably
none so interesting to science, by the curious complexity of its
nature, and the protean shapes it may be made to assume, as
indigo; and, certainly, there are few more important to British
commerce and enterprise, since it constitutes the most valuable
article of export and remittance from Hindostan. At the four
quarterly sales appointed by the East India Company, no less
than twenty thousand chests of this dyeing drug are, on an
average, brought annually into the market. A very consider-
able quantity of indigo is also imported into Europe from Ame-
rica and Egypt. It is not long since the Caraca and Guatimala
indigo held a much higher character, and commanded a much
better price than that of India ; but the improvements due to
the intelligence of our planters in the East have, within these
few years, enabled them to prepare an article very superior to
the finest American. The sequel of this paper will present
satisfactory proofs of this assertion.

Indigo is procured from many different species of plants,
belonging to Tournefort's natural family of leguminous, in-
cluded for the most part in the genus called indigofera by
Linnaeus. According to Heyne, the indigofera pseudo'tinctoria

Dr. Ure on Indigo. l6l

cultivated in the East Indies, produces the best indigo ; but
others extol the indigofera anil, the ind. argentea, the ind. di-
sperma, which yields the Guatimala kind, and some the Mexi-
cana. About sixty species of the indigofera are at present
known, but those above named are in peculiar esteem. My
object in staling these differences here is chiefly to shew that
u drug obtained from such a variety of vegetable species must
necessarily vary in composition. The matter which affords the
indigo is confined entirely to the "pellicle of the leaves, and
exists in largest quantity at the commencement of maturation,
while the plant is in flower ; at a somewhat later period the
indigo product is more beautiful but less abundant; after-
wards, much less of it is obtained, and of a worse quality.
The plant is remarkable for giving a blue tinge to the urine
and milk of cows that feed upon its leaves ; a circumstance
which accords with the known permanence of the dye. The
statement of Mr. Weston, in this Journal (No. XXVII. p. 296),
agrees with these observations on the ripening of the blue
principle. He shews that the developement of this matter in
the indigo/eras goes on in the leaves, even after they are sepa-
rated from the plant and dried. When packed up for a few
weeks, more or less according to their preceding state of ripe-
ness, the leaves assume a light lead colour, which gradually
deepens into a blackish hue. The planter studies to seize the
period at which the maximum portion of colouring matter is
formed, that he may then transfer the leaves to the steeping
vat.

Three different processes are employed for extracting the
indigo, each of which must modify more or less the nature of
the product. In the first and second, the dried leaves are
operated on ; in the third, the recent plant. For the perfect
success of the two former processes, the plant should be very
speedily deprived of its water of vegetation ; hence the indigo-
fera is reaped only in fair weather. An hour and a half before
sunset, the plants are cut down, carried off the field in bundles
and immediately spread on a dry floor. Next morning, at six .
o'clock, the reaping is resumed for an hour and a half before
the sun acts too powerfully on vegetation, and the plants are
treated in the same way. Both cuttings become sufiiciently

JAN. — MARCH, 1830. M

162 . Dr. Ure on Indigo,

dry by three o'clock p.m., to permit the leaves to be separated
from the stem by threshing. The leaves are now thoroughly
jdried by exposure to the sun, then coarsely bruised, or rather
ground to powder in a mill, and packed up for the use of the
manufacturer of indigo.

From these powdered leaves, the dye stuff is extracted
either by simply digesting them in water, heated to 150° or
180° F., in as small a proportion as may be practicable, and
subsequently beating the infusion with paddles till the blue
indigo granulates, as Roxburgh recommended ; or by mashing
'the ground leaves with twice their bulk of water, at the atmos-
pheric temperature, drawing off the liquor into a vat, where it
speedily undergoes fermentation, and is beat as above with
paddles or oars, till the blue indigo forms. Some persons
prescribe the addition of lime-water at this stage of the pro*
cess ; others reject its use.

In operating on the recent plant, it is laid in bundles in the
steeping trough {trempoir)^ which contains sufficient water to
stand about two inches above plants slightly pressed down by
crossing bars of wood. A brisk fermentation soon begins, with
copious extrication of air-bubbles. This process is suffered to
proceed till the liquor has become green, and casts up a pellicle
of a copper-red hue. A sour smell is now perceived, and the
blue colouring particles seem ready to separate. This happens
commonly at the end of from ten to twenty hours, according
to the temperature of the weather. The hquor is then run off
into the beating vat, and lime-water is added, or not, according
to the fancy of the operator. In all cases of fermentation,
whether the dried leaves or the recent plant be employed, it is
proper to watch the progress of that change with solicitude ;
because, when too violent, it not only decomposes entirely
some of the indigo blue, but introduces much foreign vegetable
matter into the precipitate ; when too feeble, it is said to leave
45ome indigo unextracted.

From the differences which exist in the nature and culture
of the indigoferaf and of its treatment by the manufacturer, the
product, indigo, as found in commerce, differs remarkably in
quality and chemical composition. In this respect, it forms a
complete contrast to the simple crystaUine product sugar.

Dr. Ure on tndigo, 1B3

Besides impurities accidentally pfesent, from a bad season,
want of skill or care, the purest commercial indigo consists of
no less than five constituents— 1. Indigo-hlue, a very singular
vegetable compound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with
fully 10 per cent, of azote ; 2. Indigo-gluten, a yellow, or
brownish-yellow varnish, which differs from wheat-gluten by
its solubility in water. It has the taste of osmazome, or of
beef-soup, melts when heated, burns with flame, and affords an
empyreumatic oil along with ammonia by distillation.*— *3. Indu-
go^brown. This constituent is more abundant than the preced-
ing^' Jt \% extracted by a concentrated water of potash, made
to act on powdered indigo, previously digested in dilute sul-
phuric acid. Chevreuil's indigo-green seems to have consisted
of this substance, mixed with some alkaline matter, and indigo-
blue. — 4. Indigo-red, This is readily dissolved by boiling
alcohol out of indigo previously subjected to the action of an
acid or alkaline menstruum. The alcohol acquires a beautiful
red tinge, and leaves by its evaporation the red principle in the
form of a blackish-brown varnish. — 5. Phosphate of littie. I
have found the bone phosphate in notable quantity in some
fine indigo, constituting another feature of resemblance between
this vegetable and animal products. Hence, also, the charcoal
of indigo is most difficult of incineration, and requires, for per-
fect combustion in some cases, the deflagratory powers of nitric
acid.

Pure indigo^blue is most easily obtained from the blue vat
of the indigo-dyer; the yellow liquid of which being acidulated
faintly with muriatic acid, and exposed, with occasional agita^
tion, in a shallow basin, soon deposits the blue precipitate,
mixed, however, with a considerable quantity (more or less
according to the quality of indigo used) of indigo-red. This
must be removed from the dried blue powder, by the solvent
action of boiling alcohol, applied in successive quantities.

In my paper on the *' Ultimate Analysis of Vegetable and
Animal Substances," which the Royal Society did me the
honour to read at their Meeting in June, 1822, and to publish
in the volume of their Transactions for that year, I gave an
analysis of indigo-blue, to which I appended the following re-
marks : — •• I had intended to pursue at considerable detail

M 2

164 Dr. Ure on Indigo.

my researches on this azotized product of vegetation, but the
subject having been lately taken up by my pupil and friend,
Mr. Walter Crum, I was induced to leave it in his hands."
I then thought it likely that some slight modification might
require to be made in the weights of the constituents given by
me, for ** I did not (then) resume the subject of indigo, after
I had become most familiar with the manipulations." I have
found since that my mode of analysis was not in fault, but the
revived indigo-blue, which I employed, had not been entirely
purged of the red principle, by sufficient ebullitions with alco-
hol ; for it adheres very tenaciously. Hence that resinous
matter introduced a httle oxygen and hydrogen, more than
absolute indigo-blue contains. But the error will appear in-
considerable, if we compare the result with the analysis pre-
viously published by Dr. Thomson. The following is a view
of the ultimate constituents of indigo-blue^ as given by dif-
ferent chemists : —

Thomson.

Ure.

Crum.

Royer and Dumas.

Carbon

40.384

71.37

73.22

71.71

Oxygen

. 46.154

14.25

12.60

12.18

Azote

13.462

10.00

11.26

13.45

Hydrogen .

, 0.000

4.38

2.92

2.66

100.000 100.00 100.00 100.00

That pure indigo contains hydrogen, I have recently placed
beyond a doubt, by heating a mixture of it and calomel in a
green glass tube, the open end of which terminated in an in-
verted tube, filled with nitrate of silver. Copious fumes of
muriatic acid were evolved, and chloride of silver was precipi-
tated in its characteristic curd.

The liquor of the dyer's vat (for calico-printing) contains
indigo deoxidized by protoxide of iron, and dissolved in lime-
water. This solution, in its average state of richness, has a
specific gravity not appreciably higher than that of distilled
water, and aftbrds out of 1000 parts, by weight, not more
than 3 parts of indigo-blue, and nearly the same quantity of
carbonate of lime, equivalent to about a grain and a half of
quicklime in 1000 of the liquid; which is the proportion in
common lime-water.

If that yellow liquor be introduced into a glass globe, with a

Dr. Ure on Indigo, 165

graduated stem, previously filled with hydrogen, by plunging
the vessel into the vat, -we may transfer a portion of deoxidized
indigo conveniently to the mercurial pneumatic trough, and
measure the quantity of oxygen which a given bulk of it ab-
sorbs in becoming blue. This quantity will be proportional
to the strength and purity of the vat-liquor. I have lately
instituted a series of experiments, the results of which will,
I hope, prove interesting in reference to the problem for deter-
mining the quahty or purity, and strength, of different com-
mercial indigoes ; but they are not yet mature enough to meet
the public eye. The rigid mode of examining this drug is to
eliminate the indigo-blue from the other substances, by the
readiest artifices of analysis, and to weigh it apart. It may
be objected to the analysis of indigo, that it is too complex and
operose a process to be practicable with the despatch and to
the extent which the public quarterly sales of indigo require.
But I conceive this to be a mistake. When only one object is
pursued, various arrangements may be contrived for readily
attaining it. Under this conviction, I ventured to state, ten
years ago, in the introduction to the first edition of my Die
tionary of Chemistry, that ^' the result of numerous researches
made with that view, has shewn me the possibility of ren-
dering analysis in general a much easier, quicker, and more
certain operation, than it seems hitherto to have been in
ordinary hands." My experience since has fully justified that
statement.

Accordingly, about three years ago, I suggested to the
Honourable Court of Directors of the East India Company,
the propriety of establishing an Assay Office for Indigo in
Calcutta, to guide them in their purchases of that article, and
to enlighten the manufacturers in Bengal about the value of
their various products and processes ; and I again submitted to
their consideration, last autumn, a memorial to the same effect,
in which I detailed the advantages likely to accrue from such
establishment to indigo-planters, dealers or brokers, and con-
sumers. But the Court did not think it expedient at present
to make any alteration in their indigo department. How
much an office of this kind is wanted in London, in connexion
with the quarterly sales of indigo, the following series of ana-

No.

Price.
8. d.

3 9

Real Indigo
in 100 parts.

45?

2.

3 6

56.5

3.

a 9

46.0

4.

4 3

54.5

166 THr. Vre on Indigo.

lyses, lately executed by myself, will sufficiently demonstrate*
The quantity of indigo required for the assay need never ex-
ceed ten grains, provided a very delicate assay-balance be em-
ployed ; and by a suitable system of arrangements, the average
quality of 500 chests may be accurately determined in the
course of a day, by a diligent chemist, with four or six ordi-
nary assistants to follow his directions.

l.—rEast India Indigoes ; prices asi at tjie If^st October
Sales :-^

Broken, middling violet, and qoppery violet

spotted.
Ditto, a little being coppery violet and copper.
Ditto, middling red violet, dull violet and lean.
Large broken and square, even, middling red

violet.

5. 4 ^ 75.0 Much broken and very small, very crumbly

and limy, soft, good violet,

6. 4 9 60.0 Square and large broken, i middling violet,

and I good coppery violet.
f. 6 3 70.0 Large broken, very good ; paste, a little limy,

good violet.
§« 6 6 60.0 Square and large broken, soft, fine paste, fine

violet,
9. 6 66f Square, ditto, good red violet.

10. 7 75 Square, ditto, fine purple and blue,

11. a 3 37.5 Middling ordinary Madras.

12. 3 6 60.0 Good Madras.
J3. 4 3 58.0 Very fine ditto.
14. 2 p — Low, pale, Oude.

1§. 2 4 27| Middling ordinary Oude.

18. 3 3 54 Good Oude.

17. 19 29 Lundy, very low quality.

11,-— American Indigoes, ^^WhoHesole prices at present.

*. d. s. d.

Caraca Flor. . 6 54^ Guatimala.^'No. 5. 5 50

Guatimala, — No. 1.5 33^ „ 6. 5 3 35

2. 3 2 19 „ 7. 4 8 46

„ 3. 4 6 32^ „ 8. 4 8 33^

„ 4. 5 4 50 „ 9. 5 4 50

167

On the Velocity of Sound and Variation of Temperature and
Pressure in the Atmosphere, By John Herapath.

I. — Velocity OF Sound. ^^^ J>r»;» >n
Having communicated the discovery of some theorems, rela-
tive to the velocity of sound and the decrease of temperature
and barometric pressure in ascending in the atmosphere, to
several scientific friends, I have been prevailed on to give
them to the public before the work of which they are intended
to form a part.

It is pretty well known in the scientific world, that in pur-
suing Newton's hints of the cause of gravitation, I have been
led to a theory of the nature and constitution of airs very dif-
ferent from that generally embraced. This theory, after un-
folding to me the laws of an immense variety of phenomena, I
was anxious to apply to solving the celebrated problems of
sound and atmospheric temperature and pressure. No diffi-
culty whatever occurred in developing the general laws ; but
this was not enough. If the theory to which I had arrived
was right, I felt assured there must be some method of getting
at the exact quantities of the phenomena, without drawing on
experiments for more than indispensable elements. For in-
stance, in estimating the velocity of sound, I conceived no just
theory ought to require more from experiment than the elastic
force and specific gravity of the air. The same elements only,
I apprehended, ought to be sufficient for determining the exact
rate of diminution in temperature and pressure at any elevation.
For a long time my eflTorts were unsuccessful. At last, how-
ever, a very simple idea, which I am surprised should have so
long eluded my attempts to reduce the equations of comparison
I had previously used to equations of equality, enabled me to
solve the hitherto refractory problem of sound, and with it
several of much more importance and utility.

What probably will appear not the least remarkable is, that
this problem, which has obstinately resisted the abilities of
Newton, Euler, Lagrange, Laplace, and other eminent mathe-
maticians for 150 years, and the highest powers of analysis,
should at last yield to a process scarcely requiring simple

168 Mr. Herapath on the Velocity of Sound and

equations of algebra ; and at the same time open solutions to
other phenomena, with which 1 think I may venture to say no
analyst ever expected it ha<l the remotest connection. But
the theorems will speak best for themselves.

Let, as usual, S, £, D, g, denote the velocity of sound, elas-
ticity of the air, its density, and the velocity acquired by a
falling body at the end of the first second. Then, by the theory
alluded to,

W (1)

And if S be the velocity of sound at any elevation x, and P, p
the barometric pressures at the lower and higher stations,

and

P- (1-3^2 80

3V2 (S' -s') =gx. (3)

For, comparing these formulfe with observations, we have
D=r JE488

r/i (F -f .448)'
in which h is the altitude of the barometer at the temperature
of water freezing ; r = 10463 by Biot the ratio of the specific
gravity of mercury to that of dry air, at 32° Fahr., and baro-
metric pressure h = 76 metres, the metre being 3.28085 Eng-
lish feet, and F the Fahr. temperature. Therefore since
g = 321^ feet,

S = 1089.41 yZT^Eng. feet. ^

Now, from a mean of Captain Parry's experiments in the
north, at — 17°. 72 Fahr., it appears the velocity was 1035.2
feet per second, or, allowing for the difference in the value of
g in that high latitude, probably about 1034 feet reduced to
our latitude; our theory gives 1031.5. The French Acade-
micians, in 1738, at about 42°.8 Fahr., found it 1103.5 feet;
our theory makes it 1101.6. Dr. Gregory, by the mean of
his observations, determined the velocity to be 1107 feet at
48°62 temp. ; by our theory it should be 1108.1. In 1821,
Arago and his colleagues made the mean at 60°.62 to be
1118.43; our theoiy gives 1121.5. And from an article on

Variation of Temperature, Sec. in the Atmosphere* 169

sound not yet published, with which the author has kindly
favoured me, it appears Moll's late experiments, reduced to
dry air at 32°, give 1089.4 feet, the same as our theory. In
the same article, some of Goldingham's experiments at Madras,
when reduced to 32o, it seems make 1089.9 ; the mean of his
other experiments differing us much as 10 feet.
Collecting these observations together, we have —

Diff. Feet.
—2.5

— 1.9
+ 1.1
+ 3.1
+ 0.0

— 0.5

OBSERVERS.

Temp. Fahr.

Parry

— 17°. 72

Academicians

+ 42.8

Gregory

48.62

Arago

60.62

Moll

32.

Goldingham

32.

Observed in
Eng. Feet.

Computed in
Eng. Feet.

1034

1031.5

1103.5

1101.6

1107

1108.1

1118.4

1121.5

1089.4

1089.4

1089.9

1089.4

Mean Diff.

+ 0.12

I have no more time to devote to this part of the communi-
cation, than just to notice the extreme minuteness of the mean
difference of our theory, only 1^ inch, compared with that of
the old, amounting to 53 metres, or 174 feet. Laplace has,
indeed, contrived to reduce this difference to 13 or 14 feet, by
an ingenious, but very questionable, hypothetical assumption.
The theory from which I have deduced the preceding formula
requires no such assistance ; nor 1 believe any thing beyond
the simple definition of an air.

II. — Diminution of Temperature.

Let us now turn our attention to the other formulae. Sup-
posing/the Fahr. temp, at the higher station, F being that at
the lower, and substituting for S and s their values in (2) and
(3), we get

..{L_(|y}.lM^iia.326.>2«,e5{,-(£)*l.

(/+448)-:„dP-/=2J = 5i.„.„„. j^^

From the latter of these theorems it appears that the Fahr.
temp, decreases uniformly at the rate of 1° for every 326^ feet.

* These computations, and those that follow, are extracted from a letter in which
the metre was reckoned to be 3.281 Eng. feet.

170 Mr. Herapath on the Velocity of Sound and

The difference may, therefore, be easily computed : <« Take a
■jljjth of the altitude in yards ; subtract a ^th of this from
itself; and then add -f^ths of the part so subtracted." Thus,
if the altitude was 7600 yards —

76 ^maoU. ^i> . 'i

- 7.6

+ 1.52

69^92
And in centigrade degrees — '* To a ^^-J-^th of the alt. in fathoms
add twice a yji^th of itself, and then a-^s^th of this corrrection."
For example, in the preceding instance : —

38
.76
.076

38°.836
Applying this rule to the cases extracted by Mr. Ivory from
Ramond's collection of observations, we shall find it agree with
the observations much better than the observations, probably
by different individuals, at the same place, agree with one ano-
ther^ as the following table shews : —

PLACES.

Heights,
yards.

umere
Temp

noes
Cenl

01

Differences,

Mean
Diffs.

Observed.

Computed

Lussac's Ascent

7630

40° 3

39.0

, .

—1.3

Chimborazo

. 6427

26.9

32.8

. ,

+ 5.9

Montblanc, Geneva

f4782
14782

31.2
29.2

24.4

— 6.8 '

— 4.8

[—5.8

Pic d« Teneriffe

4077

16.5

20.8

♦ •

+4.3

Montblanc, Chamouny

. 4070

25.9

20.8

-5,1

-5.5

»» >>

26.6

— 5.8

Etna

3540

18.7

18.1

— 0.6

Montperdu, Tarbes

3408

18.7

17.4

— 1.3

Col du G^ant, Geneva

. 3346

20.4

17.1

, ,

— 3.3

Maladette

3174

17.4

16.2

, ,

-1,2

Pic du Midi, Tarbes

. 2858

15.9

14.6

-1.3 ■)

»» >»

ll.O

, .

+ 3.6

»» »» •

14.4

+ 0.2

>» »>

• . •

13.1

+ 1.5

>+1.6

> >» •

10.7

+ 3.9

'

»> »>

.

15.1

-0.5

»» >» •

10.5

+ 4,1

Coldu

Giant, Chamouny

2606

17.1

1

3.3

. ,

— 3.8

VariaHens of Temperature, ^e. in the Atmosphere. 171

PLACES.

Heights,
yards.

jjinere

Temp

Observed.

ncea oi
. Cent.
Computed

Differences.

Mean
Diffs.

Montperdu, Bareges

2354

o

18.1

12.0

— 6.1

Pic d'Eyre, Tarbes

2347

10.3

11.9

. .

+ 1.6

Pic de Montaigu

2244

11.4

U.4

0.0

Pic du Midi, Bareges

1808

10.3

9.2

-la 1

11 •

, ,

13.9

, ,

-4.7

ti •

• *

13.1

, ,

— 3.9

»» •

• •

12.5
13.4

»i' '

— 3.3
:ri^4.2

»-3.3

» •

1 1

)0.8

I»»:^J

— l.G

it f

•fn'J^jJi

13.1
13.2

• t

-3.9
-4.0 .

Puy de Dome, Clennont

1163

6.9

5.9

— 1.0

», • •

7.0

• •

— 1.1

i» •

, ,

6.9

-1.0

-2.1

»> • *

, ,

9.a

< ♦

-3.7

»» •

, ,

9.4

, ,

-3.5

B6dat du Bagneres, Tarbes

611

2.9

3.1

+ 0.2

Pont du Berges, Clermont

537

3.2

2.7

, .

-0.5

La Barrague, ditto

415

1.8

2.1

• .

+ 0.3

How the altitudes here given

were found I have not read,

but probably from barometric observations.

The mean error or difference from observations is l°.l.
This is a degree of coincidence which, in observations subject
to so many causes of error as these are, could scarcely be
expected. Were we. to allow only i° for the superior radiation
and influence of bodies at the surface of the earth, even this
trifling difference would disappear; or were the observations
at the same places to be repeated at night instead of in the
day, the time at which it is very likely they were made, it is
highly probable the difference would be reversed, and be posi-
tive instead of negative. For my part, I have no doubt that
the apparently more rapid diminution of temperature near the
surface than higher up, is owing to the observations having
been made in the day time ; and that the contrary would
happen were they made in the night, especially if the weather
was calm and clear. Dr. Wells's experiments, which in the
night manifested an increase of temperature of sometimes 12
or 16 degrees at the elevation of only a few feet, are a strong
confirmation of this.

1 72 Mr. Herapath on the Velocity of Sound and

IIT. — Barometric Depression.

Unluckily I have not a single case by me of an elevation
determined trigonometrically and barometrically, so that I am
incapable of comparing the other formula with direct experi-
ment. However, as Laplace's empirical formula is said to
agree exceedingly with observations, its co^oaparison with ours
will afford a tolerably good indirect test. ;ikl do'

For the ease of calculation, we may suppose the tempera-
tures of the upper and lower barometer to be the same, and at
32° Fahr., or Cent. With these conditions, Laplace's for-
mula (Playfair's OutHnes, vol. i. p. 240) is in Eng. fathoms

X = 10050 (l-^^).log|;

C being the negative Cent. temp, of the higher station. And
our theorem in fathoms and logs, is

a:=|l~ r|V| rh, or \o^x = logjl ~ TgW + 4.4164760.

Now Laplace's formula affording us no assistance in determin-
ing the value of C, we have no resource but to compute it from
that theorem which we have shewn to agree so well with ob-
servation. Assuming, therefore, :C = = _— , our formula

gives X = 298.29 fathoms, from which C = 3°, and conse-
quently by Laplace x = 299.3, or 1 fathom above ours.

Putting g = 1-n = |, ours gives 780.88 and C = 8°, and

hence, liaplace's 782.47, or 1.59 above ours. Again, when

■^ = .^^ = 7T» we have from our theorem 1704.8 fathoms,

and C z=i 17°. 42, and from Laplace's 1708.1, or only 3.3 more,
in an altitude of nearly two miles. In Gay Lussac's great
ascent, the temp, sunk from 30°.8 Cent, to — 9°.5 ; the baro-
meter from 1000 to 432 ; the density of the air from 1 to J;
and we are informed the height ascended, doubtless determined
from these data by Laplace's formula, was 7630 yards, or
3815 fathoms. From the barometric condition, our formula
gives 7600 yards, or 3800 fathoms, that is, 15 fathoms less in

Variation of Temperature ^ Sfc. in the Atmosphere, 173

a height of 4^ miles. The depression of temp., as we have
seen in the table, differs likewise only about 1-^°,

It should here be observed, that if Laplace's formula coin-
cided perfectly with observations at moderate heights, yet it
could not be true at greater elevations ; and the greater the
height the more it must diverge from nature ; for by that
formula, the atmosphere must be infinite in extent, a palpable
absurdity, which Laplace himself acknowledges. However,
the differences which we have shewn to exist between the two
formulae, are much within the limits of error to which pro-
bably the best observations could pretend in such heights.

There is a source of error in barometric admeasurements,
which it will be difficult for any theory to estimate or avoid ;
namely, the unequal distribution of vapour in the atmosphere.
This will in general tend to depress the lower barometer too
much, and consequently to give the altitudes too little. It is
probable this may never occasion an error of serious moment,
but it will undoubtedly always have some influence.

If we suppose D, d to denote the densities of the air cor-
responding to P, Pi the combination of our two theorems gives

or in Lussac's ^ = (.432)^ = 9"nT9«' ^^^^^"^S ^^^"^ ^^s J

by only a -j^th part.

From these instances some idea may be formed of the per-
fect fidelity with which the theorems I have given represent
phenomena. Probably it will not be hazarding too much to
affirm, that the success of them is greater than could have
been anticipated ; and that there is scarcely a parallel instance
in science in which investigations, begun and conducted so
absolutely independent of experimental aid, have been so tho-
roughly confirmed by phenomena. Their mathematical ana-
lysis will appear in the work already alluded to.

Several important consequences flow from these theorems,
besides those we have mentioned ; some of which we shall
here notice.

1st. The velocities of sound and the transmission of heat by
the air are the same.

174 Mr. Herapath on the Velocity of Sound and

2d. The total altitude of the air is equal to

rh{F-\- 448) .

80 ' il.)l.|:n

or, at a medium, better than 30 miles ; andaftt^'bUier times
varies directly as the Fahr. temp. + 448. i0iJ«n9fvi*ii 'iii\

3d. Since r and h are estimated at a common temperature,
when air is constant, the other must be constant too in the
same air; and therefore the quantity of air has nothing to do
with its total altitude. This would be the same whether there
was a half, a third, or a 100 times the quantity.

4th. Other things being alike, the altitude of an atmosphere
is reciprocally proportional to the attraction of the body it sur-
rounds at its surface, and the specific gravity of the air under
a given pressure and temperature conjointly. If, therefore,
our globe was surrounded with hydrogen, its altitude would be
about Hf times higher than our atmosphere is.

Hence a means of determining the altitude of the atmos-
pheres of any of the celestial bodies ; and reciprocally, having
the altitudes and the nature of the airs, their attractive forces.
And hence, too, a proof of the small attractive forces of
comets, which have been found by other methods, with a
means of computing them, at least approximatively.

5th. By (1) reduced to (4), it appears that the velocity of
sound at the surface is independent of the pressure of the
atmosphere; and by (2), that the pressure in the higher
regions is dependent on this very velocity^ and varies with it,
being greater or less as this is greater or less. This apparent
paradox is easily explained : for at the surface the pressure
results from the total quantity of air, but at a given altitude
from the total quantity minus that below, which depends on
the temperature at the surface, and thence on the velocity of
sound.

6th. Our barometric formula (2) requires no aid from the
temperatures of the external air. It includes all that is needful
within itself, and merely requires that the barometers be of one
or reduced to one temperature. Even this it might do without.
But as I have elsewhere remarked, Laplace's formula in this
respect is singularly helpless ; it not merely affords no means
of finding the difference of temperatures, but cannot do with-
out it.

Variation of Temperature^ Sfc, in the Atmosphere, 175

7th. By the help of the formula here given, the time sound
takes to travel over any given space, oblique as well as hori-
zontal, a problem, I believe, that has never been attempted,
may easily be determined. For instance, if a be the altitude
of the generation of sound, b that of the auditor, and q the
distance between the two, the time in seconds is

and the time of travelling vertically from the top to bottom of

the atmosphere, or the contrary, -^ — S, in which S is the hori*^

9
zontal velocity at the surface. If, therefore, S = 1089.4, as

we have computed it at 32° Fahr., this time is 4' 47''. 4.

I might here observe, by way of conclusion, that should any
one feel disposed to compute a table from our barometric the-
orem for the more easy measuring of heights, it would be
advisable td do it for 52° Fahr. The altitude being taken for
this temperature, and multiplied by twice the number of
degrees which the temperature of the lower barometer may
be above or beneath 52°, -nnnrth of the product will be the
only correction required, and is to be added or subtracted to
the preceding altitude, just as the lower barometer's tem-
perature happens to exceed or fall short of 52° Fahr.

For the Cent, thermometer, the table had better be com-
puted for temp, or the freezing point.

Proceedings of the Royal Institution,

January 227id.

Mr. Faraday on the Chevalier Aldini's proposed method of pre-
serving men exposed to flame. — We gave an account in our last
volume* of the plan which Aldini has proposed, and put into
practice, for the purpose of obtaining the above object. Since then
the Chevalier has arrived in town with his fire-proof clothings, the
power of which it was the object of Mr. Faraday to illustrate to the

* Quarterly Journal, N. S. vol. vi. p. 398.

176 Proceedings of the

assembled members. The philosophy of flame, its extinction, and
the effect of non-conductors, were first distinctly laid down ; and
then the powers of tiie apparatus already described, practically
shewn. All the experiments that could be repeated in a lecture-
room were made ; and, in place of those with double hedges of
flame, the fireman, clothed and guarded, was exposed to a large
and powerful flame from the mouth of a condensed gas vessel.
The specimens of asbestos cloth and clothing, laid by M. Aldini
upon the lecture-table, were upon so large a scale as to surpass,
probably, all that had ever been seen before them.

In the Library, Captain Grover explained a small pocket azimuth
and altitude instrument of Captain Rater's invention ; and, as
Captain Kater has not as yet given a detailed description of this
exceedingly useful instrument, the following brief account may not
be unacceptable.

The great advantages it possesses, are — extreme portability ; the
ease and accuracy with which it can be used ; and its cheapness.

A circle, three inches in diameter, is fixed to a hollow cone, which
moves upon a solid axis, and the whole is supported by a tripod
stand, into which this axis screws. At the back of the circle is fixed
a spirit level. A telescope, magnifying about eight times, to which
are fixed two opposite verniers, moves upon the circle ; there is,
also, a tangent-screw for slow motion. A ball and socket is screwed
into the back of the instrument, which serves as a counterpoise
when vertical angles are taken.

In the focus of the telescope are placed one vertical and three
horizontal spiders' threads, which are illuminated by a very inge-
niously contrived reflector, forming a portion of a hollow cone,
silvered inside, which fits upon the object end of the telescope.

The motion in azimuth is given by two projecting pieces attached
to a tube, which fits rather tightly on the conical axis ; these pieces
serve also, by being brought in a line with one of the radii of the
tripod-stand, when the telescope is directed to a star, to turn the
instrument 180^ in azimuth, so as to bring the star into the field of
view when the face of the circle is changed from left to right.

To use this instrument, it must be carefully levelled, and the
telescope being directed to a star, or other object, so that it appears
upon the horizontal wire, and upon or very near the vertical wire,
the verniers read off the apparent elevation to minutes. The circle
is then turned half-round in azimuth, and the angle being read off
by the two verniers, we have the altitude deduced from the mean
of four readings.

Royal Institution of Great Britain, 177

To take horizontal or oblique anj^les, the vertical column is un-
screwed from the stand, and the ball and socket joint screwed in
its place.

With this instrument the time may be deduced from the sun's
altitude, taken under fiivourable circumstances, to within tjiree-
lenths of a second of the truth ; and the latitude deduced from a
single observation of the pole-star will seldom differ more than
twenty seconds from the truth, or, by a mean of seven or eight
observations, it may be determined to five seconds.

The three horizontal threads with which the telescope is fur-
nished make it a very efficient equal altitude instrument.

Tlie great advantages of this instrument over a sextant, to
persons travelling on land, are the facility and expedition with
which it can be used, requiring none of those troublesome adjust-
ments which in all reflecting instruments are necessary ; being a
perfect circle, with two verniers, any errors of eccentricity are cor-
rected ; it can be used when the sun or star is in the zenith^ which
gives it an immense advantage in tropical latitudes over the
sextant, and it renders unnecessary that troublesome auxiliary, an
artificial horizon. If the sun's altitude be taken, and a different
limb be brought to the horizontal wire, when observing with the
instrument turned half round, the mean will give the apparent
altitude of the sun's centre, consequently there will be no allowance
necessary for semi-diameter.

All the parts essential to accuracy are finished in the best manner;
and those parts, where a high finish would only add to the expense,
are left in a rough state, and painted. The whole is packed in a
mahogany box, seven inches long, by four wide, and three deep,
•which also contains a zenith eye-piece. Mr. Robinson, of Devon-
shire-street, Portland-place, is the maker, and he charges seven
guineas.

This instrument, when intended for more accurate surveys, has
a horizontal as well as a vertical circle. The horizontal circle is
furnished with three equidistant verniers, and a lower telescope,
which, when directed to a fixed object, indicates any accidental
derangement which might take place in the position of the instru-
ment. The price of the instrument thus constructed is ten guineas.

Numerous presents were upon the tables, and amongst the rest,
some very fine sjyecimens of crystallized glass, from Isaac Cook-
son, jun., Esq., of Newcastle.

JAN.— MARCH, 1830. N

178 Proceedings of the

January 29 th.

This evening Mr. Fordham gave an account of his proposed
method of transferring the power of water-mills, stationary steam-
engines, or other cheap first movers, to locomotive engines and
carriages, intended to travel on common turnpike roads. His pro-
posal is to compress air by the power of these motors, and then
employ its elastic power in propelling the carriages. The following
is a brief prospectus of his plan.

The air will be condensed by the power of steam-engines, water-
mills, or any other cheap prime mover. The air, when condensed,
will be contained in strong but light iron vessels, called recipients ;
a certain number of these recipients, fixed in a frame, and opening
into one common main pipe or tube, will be called a reservoir.
Each reservoir will contain a quantity of condensed air sufficient to
propel a carriage of a certain weight, one stage of eight or ten
miles. The carriage in its appearance, or external form, will
resemble a steam-boat in miniature. The wheels will support, and
also give motion to the vehicle : the reservoir will be suspended
beneath the axle ; and the bottom of the frame should not be more
than nine inches from the ground. The machinery will consist of
two or more cylinders, with pistons, connecting rods, and the appa-
ratus for communicating motion, which is commonly used in high
pressure steam-engines. The valves must be made to close at any
part of the stroke, for it is necessary to let the air expand in the
cylinders, and it will be advantageous also to let the air pass from
one cylinder to the other ; working in each or all expansively ; and
permitting it to escape from the last into the external atmosphere.
With these conditions in view, a carriage for conveying the mail
may be made of the following weight :

Cwts. 1

Qrs.

Lbs.

Reservoir, containing 68 cubic feet

13

1

Machinery . . . .

2

3

Carriage ....

13

Condensed air .

2

Engineer and guard

3

4 Passengers, and bags

8

42
The velocity or rate of travelling of such a carriage as this, may be
fourteen miles per hour ; the expenditure of air on ten miles will
not amount to 2000 cubic feet ; the reservoir will contain upwards
of 3000 cubic feet.

4

16

4

3

30

Royal Institution of Great Britain, 179

A carriage intended to convey passengers, and not the mail, may
be made on the same plan, but the proportions of the several parts
will be different.

Cwt8. Qm, Lba.

Reservoir, containing 140 cubic feet 26 2

Machinery ....

Carriage ....

Condensed air . . .

Engineer and guard

20 Passengers, with their luggage .

84
The rate of travelling should be at the least ten miles per hour ;
the expenditure of air will be 4000 cubic feet, the reservoir will
contain 6000 cubic feet. It should be observed, that in bad
weather the reservoir may be charged with more air than the quan-
tity above mentioned. The expense of compressing the air will
vary with the cost of the power employed in condensing it, and the
quality of the machinery ; but, in general terms, it may be stated
that the power of steam produced by the combustion of one bushel
of coals will condense 2000 cubic feet of air, under a pressure of
36 atmospheres, or of 36 times 15 lbs. per square inch.

To conclude ; on roads of great traffic, the capital invested at
present in horses and carriages will be sufficient to erect stationary
engines and condensing machinery, and also to construct the loco-
motive carriages ; and, in some cases, the capital required by the
proposed plans will be less than that which is now employed.

Some clever little instruments intended to give facilities in nau-
tical surveying were laid upon the library-table by Captain Grover ;
and amongst them, one intended to lay a boat between two given
objects, in which, as in the camera lucida, one half of the eye was
occupied in looking forward, whilst, by means of a reflector, the
other half was looking directly backward.

February bth.

Mr. Burnett, on the oak, and especially the naval oak, of Great
Britain. — This subject being far too extensive to be fully enter-
tained at a single meeting, he selected some few practical points,
which most needed the exhibition of specimens and experiments
for their illustration, and contented himself with referring for other
information, which might as well be acquired in the study as in

N 2

180 Proceedings of the

the theatre, to his work, the " Amoenitates Querneae," then lying
on the table. These points were the following: —

1. The comparative durability of oak, British and foreign ; and

of the several native species.

2. Experiments, by which the value of timber for endurance be-

tween wind and water, hitherto chiefly judged of empirically,
or only discovered by premature decay, may be ascertained
previously to its employment in naval architecture, and
other important works.

3. The botanical character of the several British species, and

their varieties.

4. A notice of the many other trees included by the ancients

under the common term oak ; and of the use of acorns as
food.

5. Recollections of some of the most remarkable oaks, for size,

age, &c. &c.

The two first heads were illustrated by numerous specimens,
both of native and foreign oaks, exemplifying the very different
qualities of their timber, as to strength, stiffness, elasticity, &c. ;
and some of the examples of long enduring wood may be esteemed
antiquarian curiosities : for there w^ere upon the table specimens
from the roof of Westminster Hall (thought by many to be chest-
nut, but shewn by analysis to be oak ;) from Windsor Castle, of
the time of Edward III. ; from Prince John's palace, at Eltham,
which was an ancient house, when repaired by the Bishop of Dur-
ham, A.D. 1310 ; from the piles of the old London bridge ; from
a gun-carriage belonging to one of the vessels of the *' Invincible
Armada," wrecked A.D. 1588 ; from Greensted Church, built
A.D. 1010 — all quite sound ; besides reference being made to the
tomb of William de Valance, and the shrine of Edward the Con-
fessor, both in Westminster Abbey, which trace upwards of 550
years. The oaken coronation chairs, one of which was made for
Mary II. 340 years ago ; and the other, the date of which is lost in
antiquity, has been in its present situation more than 530 years ;
Arthurs round table, in the County Hall at Winchester; the an-
cient vessel lately found in the former channel of the Rother ; the
canoes discovered in the fens of Lincolnshire ; the stakes at Coway,
which it is said the ancient Britons drove into the bed of the
Thames, to impede the progress of Julius Caesar, may be likewise
named as remarkable oaken relics ; but the wooden figures, found
by Belzoni in the tombs at Thebes, are probably, as Tredgold

Royal Institution of Great Britain, 181

observes, the oldest now known that bear the traces of human
labour.

For an account of the rationale of those experiments, by which
the probable durability of timber was designed to be prospectively
computed, see a letter on the subject, page 73, of our present
number.

After demonstrating from specimens, aided by enlarged diagrams,
the botanical character of the several British oaks, and their most
notable varieties, Mr. Burnett took occasion to notice, that the ancient
signification of the name was much more comprehensive than that
which we assign to it at present ; formerly the word oak meant not
only the modern genus qiierciiSj but also was applied to many large
and sacred trees. Thus, Hesychius writes, Apv<i rrav ^vXov rj
^cupeou.

Hence, when estimating the value of acorns, as a former luxury,
by their present taste, regard must be had not only to the greater
size and sweetness of those produced in more southern climes ; but
also to the variety of other fruits included under the term * glans/
by us translated * acorn^ e. 'g. glans Sardinia, the chestnut ; glans
Phoenicia, the date ; glans fagi, beech mast ; Jovis glans, or juglans,
the walnut, &c. &c. ; and in the same manner from A/>t/s and
xeiTTw, or wtTTirw, Apvrerrj^, signified all ripe or fallen fruits,
A/)vOTeOT?)s, an olive, &c. : and hence, Plutarch's Bd\avo(paf^oiy or
acorn eaters, had no despicable bill of fare.

But the ancient synonymes ^a<^o9 or ^rj'^o^, and Esculus, for cer-
tain species of oak, that is to say, the tree of eating, clearly indicate
the absolute use of the true acorn as a staple article of food; and
parallel with these runs the text of Isaiah, '* to be eaten as the tiel
tree and the oak." Mr. Burnett confessed, that he could not speak
so favourably of British acorns, as of the timber of the British oak ;
other persons, however, were of a different opinion. Evelyn, when
writing on the subject, with the energy of an epicure, emphatically
exclaims, " the young acorns found in stockdove's craws, as well
as the incomparable salads taken out of the maws of partridges
at a certain season of the year (which gives them a preparation
beyond the art of cookery,) are a delicious fare;" upon this
Mr. Burnett observed, " There certainly is no accounting for
taste."

The bitterness of acorns may, however, be in a great measure
removed by maceration in hot water ; or subdued by allowing them
to germinate, and then, suddenly checking their growth, as is done
in malting barley, by which means a considerable saccharine for-

182 Proceedings of the

mation is ensured : and, as a proof that acorns make far from
despicable bread, a loaf and three dozen small biscuits were placed
upon the table as samples thereof; and, as evidence of the practica-
bility of their use in time of scarcity, were eagerly sought after, and
speedily consumed by the persons present, many of whom declared
(and their opinion has been re-echoed in several of the public
prints) that they form not merely an esculent, but a very palatable
bread.

Mr. Burnett's observation, that few persons, save those to whom
habit has rendered it familiar, form any thing Hke just estimates
of the true size of trees, is certainly correct ; and even figures
convey to many but an imperfect conception of length and breadth,
height and girth ; more familiar types should be joined thereto in
popular descriptions. When told of an oak, seven or ten feet
diameter, it scarcely arrests our attention ; but when we reflect that
the smaller of these has a width of trunk as great as the carriage-
way of Fetter-lane, near Temple Bar, or of Bedford-street, in the
Strand, we become convinced of the surprising magnitude of such
a living mass of timber. Many such illustrations were given, to
enumerate all of which would swell this report beyond its due
proportions ; let one or two suffice. The long oaken table in
Dudley Castle, a single plank cut out of the trunk of an oak grow-
ing in the neighbourhood, measured considerably longer than the
bridge that crosses the lake in the Regent's Park. The famous
roof of Westminster Hall, the span of which is among the greatest
ever built without pillars, is little more than one-third the width of
the Worksop spread oak ; its branches would reach over a West-
minster Hall, placed on either side of its trunk, and have near
thirty-two feet to spare ; the rafters of Westminster Hall roof,
though without pillars, have massive walls on each side to support
them, but in the tree boughs of sixteen feet more extent are sus-
tained at one end only. The Duke's walking-stick, in Welbeck
Park, was higher than the roof of Westminster Abbey. The arch
in the venerable Greendale oak, through which there is a road, and
through which a carriage can be, and often has been driven, is
higher than the entrance to Westminster Abbey (the Poets'
Postern). The ground plot of the Cowthorpe oak, now standing,
is greater than that of the Eddystone Lighthouse. Upon Arthur's
round table might be raised a church of equal capacity with the
parish church of St. Lawrence in the Isle of Wight ; and if the
basement of the Cowthorpe oak were substituted for the table, there
would be plenty of room, not only to build the parochial church.

Royal Institution of Great Britain, 183

but also to allow for a small cemetery beside. Indeed, with refe-
rence to the last named oak, and also some of those which the an-
cient Germans used as castles and forts, and in one of which a
hermit had his cell and chapel, Mr. B. observed, that St. Bartho-
lomew's, in the hamlet of Kingsland, between London and Hack-
ney, which, beside the ordinary furniture of a place of religious
worship, viz. desks for the minister and clerk, altar, staircase,
stove, &c., has pews and seats for 120 persons, (upwards of 100
have been in it at the same time.) This chapel is nearly nine feet
less in width, and only seventeen inches more in length than the
ground plot of the Cowthorpe oak, — in fact, the tree occupies up-
wards of thirty square feet more than does the chapel.

In the library, amongst many other interesting objects, were
some beautiful architectural models in plaster of Paris, by Mr.
Day, of Rathbone Place.

February I2th.

The subject this evening was in the hands of Mr. Ritchie. It
was Electro-dynamics, and especially Ampere's proposed applica-
tion of it to the purposes of a telegraph.

After a short view of the progress of discovery connected with
Electro-magnetism, Mr. Ritchie examined at some length the
nature and general properties of magnets. A temporary magnet,
he remarked, might be made by a powerful magnet, in the same
manner as a metallic rod might have its electricity decomposed by
the influence of another electrified body. Let P be a metallic
body electrified positively, and N P' an insulated metallic rod,
brought near P, but not within the striking distance. Then the
electricity of P will attract the negative portion of the natural elec-
tricity of N P' to N, and repel the positive to P'. Let us now sub-
stitute a bar magnet for the electrified body, and a piece of soft; iron
for the rod N P', then the magnetic fluid (which is in all probability
nothing more than common electricity) belonging to the soft iron,
would be decomposed by that in the magnet. The pole P would
either bring the opposite atoms towards itself, and repel the same
kind to the other extremity, or arrange them in opposite directions
on each side of the middle — and hence the soft iron would become
a real magnet When the electrified body was removed, the insu-
lated rod exhibited no signs of electricity ; and when the magnet
was removed, the soil iron returned to its unmagnetised state. The

184 Proceedings of the

lecturer here remarked a striking analogy between induced electri-
city and induced magnetism.

Mr. Ritchie then proceeded to remove false notions which are some-
times entertained with regard to the poles of a magnet, as if the whole
magnetic influence were concentrated in those points. He shewed
that the poles of a magnet were nothing more than those points at
which the attraction of one half of the magnet, diminished by the
repulsion of the other half, was a maximum. He candidly con-
fessed, that there were some facts connected with magnetism, which
could not well be accounted for on any theory. If a piece of very
hard tempered steel be formed into a magnet, and then broken in
the middle, two distinct and perfect magnets will result ; and if each
of these be again broken in the middle, four distinct magnets will
result, and so on, according to the number of fractures — a fact,
which has yet received no satisfactory explanation.

The lecturer then proceeded to stale, that the natural electricity
of steel might be decomposed by a current of common electricity
passing at right angles to the needle to be magnetised, and that
powerful magnets might be formed by making the electric current
circulate about a spiral of copper wire, having the needle in the axis.
By changing the direction of the threads of the spiral, as in the
annexed figure, and

placing a long steel wire in the axis, he shewed that any number of
magnets might be formed on the same pieces of steel wire. The
annexed figure exhibits the magnets thus connected.

N SN' S'N'' S"

For this curious fact we are indebted to M. Arago. He then
shewed, by experiment, that magnets might be formed by voltaic
electricity even more effectually than by electric discharges. When
the discharge from an electric jar is made to circulate round the
needle placed on the axis, the north pole is always developed at a
certain ending, depending on the direction of the current, and the
form of the spiral. When the voltaic influence is made to act in the
same manner by means of a single combination of copper and zinc,
the north pole is developed as if a current of positive electricity

Royal Institution of Great Britain, 185

passed along the spiral from the copper plate to the zinc, or, in
other words, that, as far as the metallic conductor was concerned,
the copper plate acted as the positive side of an electric jar, and the
zinc as the negative side. Mr. Ritchie thought that considerable
ambiguity still prevails with regard to the poles of the compound
battery, since the extreme plates of zinc and copper are superfluous,
and derange the regular order of the three elements when the circle
is completed. Thus, when the circle is completed in the common
trough, the arrangement of the elements is, zinc, copper, and fluid-
zinc, copper, and fluid . zinc, copper ; zinc, copper: whereas

by simply striking out the extreme plates, the regular order of the
elements is restored. The lecturer then dwelt particularly on the
fac{, observed by Oersted, that the magnetic needle invariably
places itself at right angles to the conducting wire, provided the
needle be rendered astatic. He then shewed, by the ingenious
contrivance of M. Ampere, the direction which the needle invariably
assumes, when acted on by a voltaic current. Mr. Ritchie con-
cluded, by exhibiting the Electro-magnetic Telegraph, proposed by
Ampere, by means of which, rapid communication might be carried
on between distant towns in every state of the weather.

Let a number of thick copper rods or strong wires be laid below
the public road between distant towns, and let them be connected
with the wires of delicate galvanometers in each of the towns. If
a number of letters, with the usual abbreviations, be applied to
those needles, they will, of course, be put in motion by the passage
of powerful voltaic currents. By observing the needles which are
successively put in motion in one of the towns by a current sent
along the proper wire from the other, it is obvious that a news-
paper, printing in London, may be printed at the same time in
Edinburgh and other remote towns. As experiments have not yet
been made with thick wires of sufficient length, and batteries of in-
tense powers, the lecturer concluded, by observing, that, in the
present state of the inquiry, we cannot pronounce, with absolute
certainty, with regard to the success of this ingenious project.

Arthur Kett Barclay, Esq., M.R.I., who has lately returned from
the northern parts of the continent, placed a magnificent specimen
of native platina, from the Ural mountains, upon the library-table.
It was in one piece, and weighed upwards of three-quarters of a
pound. It had evidently been rubbed or beaten over all parts of
the surface.

186 Proceedings of the

February 19 th.

Mr. Ainger, in a notice on the * Economy of the Steam Engine/
alluded to the misapprehensions which had at various times existed,
as to the saving of fuel which would result from substituting ether
or alcohol for water, as the vaporizable material ; and he endea-
voured to show, that a very simple calculation applied to the known
facts, in regard to those substances and their vapours, would have
prevented those misapprehensions, and would, indeed, have fur-
nished the same results as have been obtained from experiment.
The reasons usually assigned for proposing to use these liquids
instead of water, have been the lower temperature at which they
assume the state of vapour of a given elastic force (alcohol, for
instance, boiling at about 170°, and ether at about 100°) ; and, also,
the smaller latent heats of their vapours, as compared with steam.
The boiling point of a liquid, and the latent heat of its vapour, form,
however, only a small part of the consideration required for calcu-
lating its economy. The cost of a certain quantity of force derived
from a given bulk of liquid, depends on the boiling temperature,
the specific gravity, and the specific heat of the liquid, and, on the
latent heat, the actual weight, and the specific gravity of the vapour.
These being known, the relative costs of a certain quantity of power
derived from two or more liquids may easily be deduced, as in the
following comparison between water, alcohol, and ether.

It may be assumed, that these substances are all supplied to the
engineer at the same temperature, say 50°. To raise them to their
boiling points, they will require the following additions :

Boiling Point.

Water . . 212 - 50 = 162
Alcohol * 170 - 50 = 120
Ether . . 100 — 50 == 50
Multiply these numbers by the specific gravities of the liquids,
respectively.

Specific Gravity.

162 X 1000 == 162,000

120 X 800 = 96,000

50 X 740 = 37,000

These results would require to be multiplied by the specific heats
of the three liquids ; but, as the specific heats are not very perfectly
ascertained, and, as far as they are known, do not appear to differ
very considerably ; and, further, as the cost of heating the liquid

Royal Institution of Great Britain. 18T

forms a small part of the whole expense, the specific heats may be
safely neglected, leaving the numbers, 162, 96, and 37, to represent
the expense of elevating to the boiling temperature equal volumes
of water, alcohol, and ether.

The cost of vaporizing them will be given by multiplying the
actual weights (represented by their specific gravities) of the three
liquids by their latent heats, which are about 1000, 450, and 300.

Weight. Latent Heat.

Water . 1000 x 1000 = 1000
Alcohol . 800 X 450 = 360
Ether . 740 x 800 = 222

Add these numbers to those representing the cost of heating up
to the boiling points, respectively :

162 + 1000 = 1162 Water
96 + 360 = 456 Alcohol
37 + 222 = 259 Ether

then the last results will express the whole cost of vaporizing equal
bulks of the liquids in question ; the advantage, so far, appearing
greatly in favour of the ether and alcohol, as compared with water.
But it is now necessary to introduce another element into the cal-
culation, namely, the specific gravity of the vapour, or the volumes
of vapour produced from equal volumes of liquid. These are
nearly as the following numbers :

Water . . . 1700

Alcohol . . 610

Ether ... 800

That is to say, one cubic inch of water becomes about 1700 inches of
steam, at atmospheric pressure ; and single cubical inches of alcohol
and ether become 610 and 300 inches, at the same pressure. The
quantity of power is obviously as the bulk of the vapour, and the
cost is of consequence inversely as that bulk. If, therefore, the
cost of vaporizing be divided by the bulks of vapour respectively,
the quotients will represent the relative expense of equal units of
power derived from the three liquids.

1162 -r 1700 == .6714 Water.
456 -f- 610 = .7475 Alcohol.
259 -h 300 = .8633 Ether.

From which it appears, that, independently of the original cost of
the liquid, supposing, indeed, that alcohol and ether were supplied

188 Proceedings of the

spontaneously, as accessibly, and at the same temperature as water,
even then water would be the most economical source of power.

From this it appears, that the temperature at which a liquid
vaporizes, and the quantity of latent heat absorbed in the process,
form no criterion of its eligibility for the production of mechanical
force ; and that, therefore, there is no reason at present to expect
that power can be obtained from liquid carbonic acid gas, or any
other of the gases liquefied by Mr. Faraday, more cheaply than from
water, merely because of the low temperatures at which they become
highly elastic. Analogy, it is evident, would lead to a conclusion
exactly the reverse, and would induce an expectation that the
vapour of mercury, or even of metals vaporizing at a much higher
temperature, would furnish the most economical motive power.

Mr. Ainger then described a mode of increasing almost indefi-
nitely the power, or, in other words, of decreasing almost indefinitely
the expense of the steam-engine, which has not hitherto been suggest-
ed, and which appears to require for its realization, only the discovery
of a succession of hquids, whose boiling points should differ about
100° of Fahrenheit; whose nature should not alter by repeated distil-
lation ; and which should exert no injurious action on the substances
composing the machinery of the steam-engine. The difficulty of
finding such a series of liquids is probably insuperable ; if it were
not so, there can be little doubt that the cost of steam power would
be susceptible of an immense reduction. If, for instance, a suc-
cession of liquids could be obtained, whose boiling points were
612°, 512°, 412°, 312°, and 212^ and if the furnace were applied
to the first, and its vapour were employed to work a condensing
engine, it is clear that the vapour which was condensed at 612°,
could be made to evaporate the second liquid, by condensing the
first on the surface of the vessel containing the second, the vapour
of which would, in its turn, work a steam-engine. The condensa-
tion of the second vapour at 512° might, in like manner, evaporate
the third liquid which boils at 412°, and so on, till the water which
boils at 212° was evaporated, and which might be condensed by
injection in the usual way.

It may perhaps be thought that a cooling surface at 512° will
not sufficiently reduce the tension of a vapour at 612°, to leave any
effectual difference between the pressures on the two sides of the
piston; but it must be recollected, that a depression of 100° re-
duces the elastic force of a vapour produced at 612°, as much as of
one produced at 212°. The elastic force of common steam at

Roycd Institution of Great Britain. 189

112° is equal only to 2 J inches of mercury ; the elastic force, there-
fore, of the vapour produced at 6 J 2° would, when cooled to 512°,
be also equal only to 2 J inches of mercury. There is, it must be
confessed, a difficulty in condensin*^ by mere contact with a me-
tallic surface, as compared with condensation by an injection : but
this difficulty would, in the proposed case, be much less than in
the various schemes which have been projected to use alcohol,
ether, and liquid carbonic acid, because in the former it is pro-
posed to cool a less easily vaporized substance by one more easily
vaporized ; whereas, in the latter cases, water, which has been the
intended cooling material, is less easily vaporized than the sub-
stances it is required to cool ; a circumstance obviously unfavour-
able to the production of the effect. But for this difficulty, it is
probable that the heat employed to vaporize water might, by the
condensation of the steam, be transferred to alcohol, and from this
again to the ether ; but the question then arises, how is the heat to
be abstracted from the ether ; we have no other means than the con-
tact of a vessel containing cold water, a means v/hich is found in-
sufficient for cooling common steam, and which would, therefore,
be doubly inefficient in cooling the vapour of ether. These consi-
derations will suggest other difficulties in the construction of en-
gines to use alcohol and ether, beyond the absolute defect of
economy, which has been before explained.

February 26th.

This evening Mr. Watson developed his plan for preventing ships
from foundering at sea. This plan, as is well known, consists in
introducing air-tight copper tubes into various parts of the ship, so
as to be out of the way, and yet, by their buoyancy when immersed
in water, prevent the ship from sinking when full of the fluid. Mr.
Watson illustrated his plan by experiments on the buoyancy of dif-
ferent kinds of wood, and also by models of an 80-gun ship, fur-
nished with air-tubes. The plan is so fully before the public in
various forms, that we do not think it necessary to enter into fur-
ther details here.

In the library Captain Grover exhibited a Wollaston's double
microscope, made after the model left by Dr. WoUaston to Captain
Kater, and the first that had been constructed. Its performance
was admirable.

190 Proceedings of the Royal Institution, 8fc,

Captain Blake, who purposes shortly setting out on a journey
over land to India, also placed his portable barometer and other
instruments upon the table.

A scull, with other things, was sent by Octavius Morgan, Esq.,
M.R.I., to be laid upon the table. It was accompanied by a note,
of which the following is part : — '* I have also sent with them a
curious, and, as it seems to me, a non-descript scull, which I
found in an old closet at our house in Monmouthshire : it is appa-
rently a diluvian fossil, but has no orbits, and instead of a suture
has a strange crest. Unless it be of the Saurian tribe, I am at a
loss to give it a name, and should feel obliged if some of the scien-
tific gentlemen who attend our Friday Evenings could give me
information respecting it."

March bth.

The subject this evening was the transmission of musical sounds
through solid conductors, and their subsequent reciprocation. It
was delivered by Mr. Faraday for Mr. Wheatstone, and was a con-
tinuation of the phonic demonstrations, which have been proceeding
for the last two seasons. We expect from Mr. Wheatstone a cor-
rect account of the new matter introduced this evening, and also of
the subject generally, which shall appear in the next Number of
our Journal.

( 191 )
MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

§ I. Mechanical Science.

1. Transparent Watch. — ^A watch has been presented to the
Academy of Sciences of Paris constructed of very peculiar mate-
rials, the parts being principally formed of rock crystal. It was
made by M. Rebellier, and is small in size. The internal works
are all visible ; the two teethed wheels, which carry the hands,
are rock crystal; the other wheels are of metal, to prevent acci-
dents from the breaking of the spring. All the screws are fixed
in crystals, and all the axes turn in rubies. The escapement is
of sapphire, the balance-wheel of rock crystal, and its spring of
gold. The regularity of this watch, as a time-keeper, is attri-
buted by the maker to the feeble expansion of the rock crystal in
the balance-wheel, &c. The execution of the whole shews to what
a state of perfection the art of cutting precious stones has been
carried in modern times. — Revue Ency., xliv. 796.

2. On the Elastic Force of Vapour at high Temperatures. — A
committee, appointed by the Academy of Sciences, has been en-
gaged in carrying on experiments to determine the elastic force of
vapour at high pressures : the labours have principally devolved
upon MM. Dulong and Arago. The results have been obtained
experimentally up to 25 atmospheres, and extended to 50 by cal-
culations. That no error dependent upon the use of valves should
interfere, it was resolved to estimate the force exerted by the
columns of mercury sustained. A glass tube was therefore pre-
pared by MM. Thibaudeau andBontemps, consisting of 13 pieces,
2 metres (78.74 inches) each in length, 5 millimetres (0.2 of inch) in
diameter, and the same in thickness. Each piece was sustained by
counterpoises, so that the lower should not be crushed by the
upper, and the whole was erected in a square tower, which is the
only remains of the ancient church of St. Genevieve.

Fearing that if the steam from a boiler were made to act di-
rectly upon such a column of mercury as this tube would sustain,
it might, from intermission of its force, occasionally produce such
sudden agitation in the metal as to endanger the safety of the
whole, it was resolved to form a kind of manometer, in which the
compression of a given volume of air should be ascertained, first,
by the column of mercury, and afterwards used as a measurer of
the elasticity of vapour at various temperatures. In this way the
estimations would be as accurate as if made directly by the column
of mercury. The preparation of this instrument gave an oppor-
tunity of examining the law of Mariotti, namely, that all gases
are compressed in volume in proportion to the energy of the

192 Miscellaneous Intelligence,

compressing force. Boyle and Muschenbroek thought they saw
errors in this hivv, even when the force was not above 4 atmos-
pheres. Robison and Sulzer carried the force to 8 atmospheres,
and agreed in giving the same departure from the law, namely,
that when compressed eight times, instead of exerting a force
eight times that of the common air, it was only six times greater.
Oersted, on the contrary, found the law true to 8 atmospheres,
and even up to 60 atmospheres ; but his mode of experimenting
is not satisfactory to the French commissioners, though the results
were correct.

In the preparation of the manometer the experiments were car-
ried to 27 atmospheres, and the law found to be correct. It was
intended to ascertain if it held good with other gases than air,
but the authorities forbade the use of the old church tower for this
purpose.

There appears to have been much fear about steam at the pres-
sure of 24 or 25 atmospheres ; and, lest the boiler should ex-
plode, and blow up the old vaults, and even destroy neighbour-
ing buildings, it was determined to have it in the court-yard "of
the observatory, and make the experiments there. Ultimately,
therefore, the manometer was transferred, though with great
difficulty, and finally placed in proper communication with the
boiler.

Some important precautions were now taken to ascertain the
temperature accurately. The first was to take account of the
cooling effect of the air on that part of the thermometer exterior
to the boiler ; this was done by retaining it constantly at the same
temperature. The next was to prevent alteration in the capacity
of the bulb, by allowing the vapour to press upon it. This was
effected by putting the thermometers into gun-barrels, made thin,
closed at one extremity, and filled Avith mercury ; these, when
fitted to the boiler, were made to descend, one to the bottom of
the boiler nearly, to give the temperature of the water ; the other
to within a few inches of the water, to give the temperature of
the vapour.

The temperature and pressure were then experimentally ascer-
tained up to 24 atmospheres ; after which formula was sought for,
by which they could be extended to higher pressures, and the fol-
lowing one adopted :

e= (1 + 0.7153 0'
e being the elasticity ; t the excess of temperature above 100° C,
taking for unitylOO^ of the centigrade thermometer. This formula
nearly represents the results given by experiment up to 24 atmos-
pheres ; the greatest error has been at 8 atmospheres, and was
then 0.9 of a degree. It was more accurate for the higher pres-
sures, being calculated from them, and the commissioners have no
doubt that at 50 atmospheres the error is not more than 0,1 of a
degree.

Mechanical Science. \

193

Elasticity of the Vapour taking;

Temperature.

the Pressure of the Atmos-

phere as Unity.

Centigrade.

Fahrenheit.

1

. . 100.

. . 212.

li

. 112.2 .

. . 233.96

2

. 121.4

. . 250.52

2i

. 128.8

. . 263.84

3

. 135.1

. . 275.18

3i

. 140.6 .

. . 285.08

4

. 145.4

. . 293.72

H

. 149.6 .

. . 301.28

5

. 153.8 .

. . 308.84

5i

. 1,56.8 .

. . 314.24

6

. 160.2

. . 320.36

6i

. 163.48 .

. . 326.26

7

. 166.5 .

. . 331.70

7J ,

169.37 .

. 336.86

8

. 172.2 .

. 341.96

9

177.1

. . 350.78

10

181.6 .

. 358.88

11

. 186.3

. . 367.34

12

190.0

. 374.00

13

193.7

. 380.66

14

197.19 .

. . 386.94

15 .

200.48 .

. 392.86

16

203.60 .

. 398.48

17

206.57 .

. 403.82

18 ,

209.4

. 408.92

19

212.2 . ,

. 413.96

20 .

214.7

. 418.46

21

217.2 . .

. 422.96

22 ,

219.6

. 427.28

23

221.9 . ,

. 431.42

24 ,

. 224.2

. . 435.56

25 .

226.3 . .

. 439.34

30 ,

236.2 . ,

. 457.16

35

244.85 . .

. 472.73

40 ,

252.55 . .

. 486.59

45 •.

259.52 . .

. 491.14

50

265.89 . .

. 510.60

The members of the committee remark, that they could find
only one English table of the force of high pressure vapour; it
had been given to M. Clement by Mr. Peri<ins, but it was found
sadly erroneous: for instance, at the temperature of 215° C , or
419° F., the force in it is given as 35 atmospheres, whereas it is
really only 20, or little more than one half. In Germany a table
has been constructed by M. Arzberger, of Vienna, which rises to
20 atmospheres, and is much nearer the truth than Mr. Perkins.

JAN.— MARCH, 1830. O

194 Miscellaneous Intelligence,

It is about 3 atmospheres wrong at the highest pressure. — Bib,
Univ. xlii. p. 338.— B?//Z. Univ. A. xii. 407.

3. On the Motion of Currents in Liquids. — M. Dutrochet has
made some singular remarks on the influencing causes of the mo-
tion of currents in liquids, and has found light to affect them
considerably. He finds that difference of temperature is the effi-
cient cause, and that l-800th of a degree of difference is sufficient,
when aided by light. In the absence pf light such motion will
cease. When the windows of the experimental room are closed
so much as only to admit light enough to distinguish, whether
the circulating motion continues or not, it soon ceases ; when
re-opened, the motion recommences. When completely suspended
by the absence of light, if the table be struck with slight blows,
the vibration communicated immediately causes the motion to re-
commence ; when the liquid was again at rest, the sound of a vio-
loncello, or a bell, was occasioned, and the vibrations communi-
cated to the liquid, again caused it to acquire circulating motion.
Hence it would appear that the vibration of the particles of a
liquid favour the circulating motion which a slight difference of
temperature is competent to produce; that this previous vibration
is a necessary circumstance, and that light consequently only acts
by producing it amongst the particles of the fluid. From whence
M. Dutrochet concludes, that, in the phenomena of circulating
motion in liquids, two causes intervene — the efficient one, difference
of temperature, the favouring one, light, or any other circum-
stance which can communicate feeble vibrations to the particles
of fluid. — Uevue Ency., xlv. 234.

4. On the Expansive Force of Freezing fVater. — Experiments on
the force exerted by water when it becomes solid, have been made
in the Arsenal at Warsaw, during the winters of 1828 and 1829.
Howitzer shells were ijsed for the purpose ; they were of cast iron,
6 inches 8 lines in diameter, the aperture 1 inch 2 lines in diame-
ter, and the thickness of metal I inch and 2 lines. One, 46.29
cubical inches in capacity, was filled with water at 41° F., left
open and exposed to the air at 21° F. : the frozen water formed a
projecting cylinder of ice of the diameter of the aperture, which
in two hours was 2 inches and 2 lines in length ; this was the maxi-
mum effect, and shewed that the water, by freezing, had under-
gone an expansion of 2.31 cubic inches, or -^ of the whole volume.
Another shell, after being filled with water, had the aperture
closed by a wooden plug ; it was then exposed to the same cold
as before, the plug was driven out, and the ice occupied its place.
Another shell, after being filled with water, was closed by an iron
screw, perforated by a hole 3 lines in diameter, the temperature of
the air was the same ; after seven hours the shell was burst into
two unequal parts, the larger being thrown a foot, and the smaller
10 feet from the place ; the ice had been formed to the thickness

Mechanical Sciencei 195

of 6 lines only, the rest of the water remained fluid. Another
shell was filled with water at 46° F., the aperture closed by a
metallic screw, havint^ a passaa^e 6 lines in diameter; it was ex-
posed to the air at 28° F., the shell burst into two pieces, one of
which was thrown 4 feet off, the thickness of the crust of ice was
13 lines, and the water within remained liquid. Another shell
was filled with water at the same temperature, closed by a solid
screw, and exposed to the air at 28° F. as before ; the shell was
burst into two parts, the smaller being thrown about a foot from
the place, and the thickness of the coating of ice within was 6
lines. — Bull. Univ. F. xiii. 314.

5. New Hygroscope. — This instrument is the invention of M.
Benout, and although he calls it a hygroscope, it still has the
power to a certain degree of 9neasuring moisture present in air.
Its indications appear to be exceedingly delicate ; its action de-
pends upon the expansion and contraction of paper, when exposed
to moisture and dryness ; that used is what is known by the term
papier vegetal, which is exceedingly hygrometric, very thin and
very homogeneous. The principal piece in the instrument con-
sists of an exceedingly thin metallic plate about 10 inches long,
and -yj^ of an inch in width ; it is formed into a helix, and the
external part is covered with a plate of the paper above men-
tioned, of the same size, united to it by means of a cement unacted
upon by moisture. When this spiral is in moist air, its external
surface being hygrometric expands, whilst the inner does not, and
a motion of torsion takes place, which may be rendered evident
by a needle attached to the lower coil, and traversing over a
graduated circle. The contrary motion occurs as the instrument
becomes dry. The length of the spiral is conveniently made such
as to allow a motion of the needle, in one revolution from 60° to
100° on Saussure's scale.

This instrument is liable to certain objections, amongst which
are the following : i. As the paper becomes moist, it expands,
overcoming the elasticity of the metal, but ultimately it becomes
so soft, that though it is becoming damper, the force of the metal
overcomes the paper, and the needle returns towards dryness; this
effect only happens near to extreme moisture, at 95° of Saussure's
scale, ii. The elasticity of the metallic plate varying with the
temperature, causes that changes in heat are sufficient, by in-
fluencing the quality, to produce motions in the needle, iii. The
two parts of the spiral, the metal and the paper, being of unequal
expansion by heat, the instrument acts like Breguet's thermometer.
The effect of heat is the same with increase of moisture, as to the
motion of the needle ; the efifect of cold is the same as increased
dryness.

The sensibility of the instrument is very great ; an experiment
like one of Saussure's was repeated with it ; the instrument was
put under the receiver of a good air-pump, and when stationary,

2

196 Miscellaneous Intelligence,

rapid exhaustion was effected j in 6 or 7 seconds the needle had
risen from 45.5 to 59 j it then became stationary for a moment, and
afterwards proceeded to indicate dryness with such rapidity, that
in 12 seconds the needle had traversed the circle. The exhaustion
being discontinued, and the air allowed to enter, it returned to the
point from whence it parted in 8 seconds, giving a motion over
105° in less than half a minute. — Recueil Industriel, xii. 45.

6. Adhesion of Metals. — M. Prechtt states that the force with
which two plates of the same metal adhere, is the same as that
with which one of the plates will adhere to a plate of another metal,
having a less adhesion, however, for metal of its own nature ;
thus if two plates of copper will adhere with a force of 21 grains,
then one of these copper plates will adhere to a similar plate of
bismuth, zinc, tin, or lead, with the same force, although two
plates of any of these metals will adhere with a less force. — Bull.
Univ. A. xii. 440.

7. Effect of Solar light upon Magnets. — This subject has been
investigated experimentally by M. Zantedeschi, with all the care
he could give to it, for the purpose of ascertaining, not the effect
of the decomposed and separated beam of light, or any particular
part of that beam, but the effect of the sun's light generally.
He has been, in part, anticipated by others ; but his results, if
exact, still add something to what was before known. The
scientific world is, however, now well aware, that numerous
influential causes, besides those which are purposely brought
into force, are frequently active, and that an unreserved assent
can hardly, as yet, be given to any of the statements which have
been made relative to the action of light, in producing and af-
fecting magnetism.

M. Zantedeschi calls the phenomena electro-magnetic : if this
term is used in contradistinction to ordinary magnetism, we see
no reason for its use here ; for no reference is afterwards made to
any thing like electrical phenomena, or electrical conditions.
Barlocci has said that a magnet, able to carry lib. 6oz., after
being exposed for three hours to bright sun-light, raised 2oz.
more, and, in twenty-four hours, had its power doubled. A
similar magnet in a dark place remained unaltered; after two
days, the power did not increase. This and similar effects were
repeated and confirmed by M. Zantedeschi, who obtained the same
results with natural magnets. A dry, cloudy day produced no
effect of the kind.

It appeared that magnets which were invested with a film of
oxide were thus strengthened by sun-light, but that those which
had been freed from oxide, on the contrary, became feebler, unless
the polish of the metal had been carried to such a degree, as to
enable it perfectly to reflect the sun's rays, and then no alteration
took place.

Mechanical Science, JffJ

A great difference appeared when the sun's light was thrown
upon the north, or upon the south pole ; in the first case, power
was gained, and in the second lost, but the gain was, on an
average, greater than the loss. The heat communicated in these
experiments tended to diminish rather than increase power, and
cooling was found to be favourable. Tiie loss of power in a
south pole became less when it was removed out of the sun's
light J the gain of power in the north pole was increased by the
same circumstance.

In the midst of these details, however, M. Zantedeschi states,
that he met with anomalies, and says, that magnets are a sort of
proteuses, which change under the eyes of the most careful
observer.

A very singular fact, however, verified by numerous repe-
titions, was that on days when the sun was hid by thin clouds,
the south pole, subjected to its concentrated rays, increased in
power J whilst the north pole, by similar treatment, lost force.
This extraordinary eflfect is hypothetically accounted for, by
supposing that light has a negative polarity , which is inversely
as the layers of clouds floating in the atmosphere.

Experiments were then instituted, like those of Mr. Christie,
in which it was found, that the direct light of the sun diminished
the arcs of oscillation of a vibratory magnetic needle. These
eflFects were obtained, and Mr. Christie's remarks confirmed.
M. Zantedeschi endeavoured to ascertain whether here also, the
exposition of the north or south pole to the light made any dif-
ference. A series of experiments, repeated above thirty times,
shewed that when the north pole was exposed, a greater number
of oscillations and a smaller amplitude were obtained, than when
the south pole was exposed. Still, it was remarked that, on those
days, when a thin veil of clouds covered the sun, the results were
inverted. — Bib. Univ. xlii. 193.

8. Non-interference of different Electric Currents. — Professor
Marianini has been led to examine what might take place when
electric currents are so directed as to cross each other, with a
view of ascertaining whether there might be any interference ;
but he finds none, and in this respect, draws a strong analogy
between electricity and light ; the rays of the latter, as is well
known, crossing each other in almost all directions, as if quite
indifferent.

At first, by attaching two zinc and two copper plates to the
sides of a cube of wood, and connecting them into cross pairs by
wires, and plunging them into a vessel of acid, it was found that
whether one or both pairs were connected, not the slightest dif-
ference resulted in the strength of the current in the wires when
examined by a magnetic needle : here, therefore, was no inter-
ference.

198 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

Whether the currents were equal, or unequal ; of one, or of
many hundred pairs of plates ; put in action together, or succes-
sively ; when three currents were used in place of two j when
they were made to intersect each other at acute angles, or to
pass parallel to each other j even when they were made to pass
through the same metallic communication — still no interference
or alteration was observed.

M. Marianini considers these effects as favourable to the Frank-
linian theory of electricity. In a note, he also quotes other
effects, which he thinks far more easily explained by the theory
of one electric fluid. In an electro-motive pair, if the negative
plate be more deeply immersed in the fluid, the effect is greater
than if the positive plate be immersed. If a plate of tin, or some
other metal, 18 or 20 square centimetres in surface, be formed, at
one side, with a narrow projecting band, and then placed so that
the plate is in one vessel of water (a), and the band in another (6) —
if then, a plate of zinc be placed in the vessel (6), and a plate of
copper in («), neither of them touching the metal — if then a
galvanometer be connected with the zinc and copper plates, a feeble
deviation will be obtained ; but if the zinc and copper plates be
reversed, a much stronger effect will be procured.

*' It is in vain that I endeavour to explain this fact by the theory
of two electric fluids, since, if on the one hand, when the plate of
zinc is in (6), the passage is rendered difficult for the vitreous
fluid, and facilitated for the resinous fluid ; on the other, when
the copper plate is there, the passage is rendered difficult for the
resinous fluid, and facilitated for the vitreous. There is no reason,
therefore, for a difference of results. But in the theory of one
fluid, it is easy to conceive, that, in the first case, the electric fluid
which is diffused, as if by radiation, through the liquid, would
find the passage more difficult than in the second case, and con-
sequently the electro-magnetic effect, which is known to depend
principally upon the rapidity of the electric current, should be
less in the first case than in the second." — Ajin^ de Chimie, xlii. 131.

9. Heated Air used in Iron Furnaces. — Heated air for blast
furnaces has been used for some time at the Clyde iron works,
and with great success. Experiments have proved that iron is
smelted by heated air with three-fourths of the quantity of coal
required when cold air, i.e., air not artificially heated, is employed
for that purpose, while the produce of the furnace in iron is at
the same time greatly increased. All the furnaces at Clyde iron
works are now blown with it. At these works, the air, before
it is thrown into the blast-furnace, is heated to 220° Fahrenheit,
in cast-iron vessels, placed on furnaces similar to those of steam-
engine boilers. It is expected, that a higher temperature than
220° will be productive of a proportionably increased effect. But
this is a subject of experiment. It is supposed that this improve-

Mechanical Science. M©

ment will accomplish a saving in the cost of the iron in Great
Britain to the amount of at least 200,000/. per year. — Jameson**
Journal^ Jan. 1830.

10. Preservation of Corn in Siloes. — An account has been read
to the Society of Agriculture in France, of the opening of a silo,
in which the corn was found in an unexpected state. The
place consisted of an ice-house, and the grain, when put in, was
of the finest appearance, perfectly dried, and in excellent con-
dition. The door had been hermetically sealed, and yet, when
opened, a considerable thickness of the mass of corn was found
destroyed by weevils, the latter being in such quantity as to
occasion an elevated temperature. As part of the same corn had
been perfectly well preserved in other siloes, the cause of this
deterioration was sought for, and a hole was found in the lower
part, which had been made by mice, and which, by admitting air
in sufficient quantity, had allowed the weevils originally in the
corn to live and increase their numbers to the degree mentioned.
After some observation upon experiments, which shewed that
insects could live for a very long time in vitiated air, a committee
was named to ascertain the requisite state of the air, and the
circumstances connected in the inquiry, with the preservation of
grain in these repositories.

At another meeting of the society, M. Hachette described the
method proposed by M. Clement to prevent the destruction of
corn by weevils. It is founded upon a fact observed by him,
that these insects cannot live in an atmosphere which contains
less than a certain proportion of moisture. He therefore pro-
poses that the corn shall be subject to a continued ventilation of
air, dried by passing over quick lime or chloride of calcium.
All the weevils originally in the corn would thus be quickly
destroyed. — Recueil Industriel, xii. 73. 208.

§ IT. Chemical Science.

1. Preparation of Bromine and its Hydrate. — The mother
liquors containing bromine are to be evaporated to a fourth of
their volume in iron pans, and then left for several days, in which
time the largest part of the chloride of calcium crystallizes. The
supernatant liquor, being diluted with water, is to be mixed with
sulphuric acid as long as a precipitate is formed. The liquid
portion being separated, and the solid residue pressed, all the fluid
is to be mingled and evaporated to dryness, and then re-dissolved,
that a certain quantity of sulphate of lime may be removed. On
acting upon the solution by sulphuric acid and peroxide of manga-
nese and then distilling, bromine is obtained.

Hydrate of Bromine. — ^This compound is easily formed at a tem-
perature of 'from 4° to 6° (39° to 43° F.), by making the vapour
of bromine pass into a tube moistened with water ; in about a

200 Miscellaneous Intelligence,

quarter of an hour the tube is filled with solid hydrate. — Annalen
der Physik, xiv. 485.

2. Detection of Iodine. — M. Balard's process for the detection
of iodine, which consists in mixing the fluid to be examined with
starch, sulphuric acid and chlorine, is the most delicate that is
known. M. Casaseca has remarked that when the quantity of
hydriodate is very small, the blue indicating ring cannot be seen
at the part where the solution of chlorine is in contact with the
water containing the starch and acid ; then the whole should be
strongly agitated and left for a while, when the starch acquires
a distinct violet colour. One part of hydriodate of potash was
dissolved in 2 parts of distilled water; a drop weighing 0.0455
grammes was put into 14 litres of water, to which were added 2
grammes of starch, a little sulphuric acid, and 8 drops of a solution
of chlorine: in 14 hours the starch became slightly coloured, in
24 hours strongly tinted of an amethystine or violet hue. Hence
it appears the test thus applied is able to detect 0.0000008 of a
part of iodine in solution. — Jour, de Pharmacie.

3. Preparation of Hydriodic Ether. — A method proposed by
M. SeruUas for obtaining this compound is as follows : Put 40
parts of iodine and 100 parts of alcohol into a tubulated retort,
and add 2^ parts of phosphorus in fragments, at the same time
shaking the retort j distil nearly to dryness, then add from 25 to
30 parts more of alcohol, continue the distillation, and cease at
the same point as before. Add water to the product, the ether
will immediately separate and sink ; it is to be washed in the
usual way, and rectified from off some fragments of chloride of
calcium. — A7in. de Chimie, xlii. 119.

4. Chlorideof Phosphorus and Sulphur. Serullas. — Bypassing
a moderate current of dry sulphuretted hydrogen into a vessel
containing perchloride of phosphorus, muriatic acid was evolved
and a liquid compound produced ; the latter, being collected and
rectified by distillation in a small retort, was obtained as a limpid
colourless liquid, heavier than water, with a sharp aromatic odour,
mingled with that of sulphuretted hydrogen j producing vapours
in the air, and boiling at 257° F.

This substance was found to contain nothing but chlorine,
phosphorus, and sulphur, in the following proportions :

3 Proportionals Chlorine . . . 10.194
1 Ditto . . Phosphorus . . 3.010
1 Ditto » . Sulphur . . , 3.080

16.284
Ann. de Chimie, xlii. 25.

5. On the Effect of Ammonical Gas upon Heated Metals, — It is

Chemical Science. 201

well known that both M. Despretz * and M. Savart * have pub-
lished some account of the peculiar action which takes place
when ammonia is passed over heated metals. M. Despretz has
more recently read a memoir on the subject, from which we
extract the following details.

The specific gravity of copper has been reduced in the operation
from 8.9 to 5.5, without sensible augmentation of weight. In
other experiments considerable diminution of specific gravity has
frequently been obtained, when the increase in weight has been
less than -jj^. Having submitted the same metal to the repeated
action of ammonical gas, 100 parts of iron have been increased to
111.5 parts by weight. The following are some of several other
results.

9.427 parts of iron became 10.102 or 100 became 107.162

6.587 7.095 . 100 . . 107.728

29.960 31.472 . 100 . . 105.046

7.955 8.553 . 100 . . 107.517

That the increase of weight thus obtained is not due to oxida-
tion from air, water, or carbonic acid, is thus shewn. Air was
excluded by passing the ammonical gas for some time before heat
was applied, and also after the whole was cold again. Water was
excluded by passing the gas through a tube 40 inches long filled
with chloride of lime. Carbonic acid gas, by washing the ammo-
niacal gas in a solution of potash. The small quantity of water
left in the gas by the chloride of lime is considered as unable to
cause oxidation, whilst such enormous excess of ammonia as the
experiment required is constantly present. The experiment usually
lasted 6, 7, or 8 hours.

If the iron presented the least blueness upon the surface it was
returned to the tube and again heated in ammonia. It was only
considered good when the iron had the whiteness of unpolished
platina. In this state it was brittle and even friable ; light, by
comparison with common iron, having frequently a specific gravity
of 5. only, and also less changeable in air or water : it was still
magnetic and readily soluble in acids.

M. Despretz thinks that many of the changes in the iron are
produced not by a permanent, but by a momentary state of com-
bination of one of the elements of the ammonia, and thinks this
sufficient to account for the alteration in properties both in it and
copper, when the actual weight was^ not increased ^^J^^dth part.
To illustrate effects of this kind, he oxidized red-hot iron by the
vapour of water, and then reduced it again perfectly by hydrofjen
gas ; the cohesion of the iron was very much diminished, and the
specific gravity lowered from 7.79 to 6.18.

The next point was to ascertain whether it was oxygen, or car-
bon, or ammonia, or one of its elements, that by a temporary

* Quarterly Journal of Science, N. S., vol. iii. 476, iv. 205, vi. 175.

202 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

combination produced these effects. 7.094 parts of ammoniated
iron were heated in a tube, and hydrogen gas passed over them j
the gas was dried before coming into contact with the metal, and
again afterwards by passing through a tube containing chloride
of calcium, and carefully weighed ; the iron was reduced to 6. 585
parts in a pure state, so that it had lost 0.509, and the chloride
of calcium tube had increased in weight only 0.05. Oxygen,
therefore, could not have made more than ^i^th of the matter which
had been fixed in the iron. Other experiments gave a smaller
quantity of water. The water through which the gas passed,
after leaving the iron and drying tube, rendered syrup of violets
green, and contained ammonia. Hence there is reason to believe
that nitrogen is the substance absorbed by the iron.

Ammoniated iron, dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid, gave hydro-
gen gas mingled with nitrogen, the latter being occasionally as
much as 6 per cent, of the whole quantity. All the specimens of
iron, which had increased in weight, gave nitrogen gas when dis-
solved in acids. The volume of mixed gases evolved is less than
the volume of pure hydrogen produced by an equal weight of pure
iron, in consequence of the formation of a little ammonia, which
may be found by evaporating the acid liquor and mixing quick
lime with it ; much ammonia is set free.

The substance absorbed by the iron cannot be either hydrogen
or ammonical gas ; for in the first case the volume of the gas would
be greater than with pure iron, and in the second equal *, whilst
on experiment it has been found less. Nor does it appear to be
carbon.

Copper is more altered than iron in these kind of experiments ;
its specific gravity is frequently lowered ^, being 5.5. It becomes
scaly, porous, and coloured variously, grey, yellow, green, orange,
red, purple, &c. ; it always has a nacreous crystalline aspect: but
it retains a very little extraneous matter. It is, therefore, sup-
posed that the copper combines with a considerable quantity of
azote; but immediately gives off this substance again, for M*
Despretz thinks the experiments fully establish the fact that the
alteration in the properties of the metals is due to a durable or
a momentary combination of them with nitrogen.

No conclusion is drawn respecting the nature of ammonia from
these experiments, but further results are promised. — Ann. de
Chimie^ xlii. 122.

6. Fluid in the Cavities of Rock Salt. — Dr. Nicol has examined
certain samples of rock salt, which being clear, colourless, and
transparent, exhil)ited small cavities in innumerable quantities^
some of which contained a fluid, and others fluid with a bubble of
air. Upon examining the fluid, it was found to differ from satu-

* Not equal ; ^V*!^ ^^ss, for instance, if only /gths were iron and the rest the
peciiliar substance. — Ed.

Chemical Science, 203

rated solution of salt, and in fact to consist of a saturated solution
of muriate of magnesia, mixed with a little muriate of lime ; the
salt which contains these cavities and fluids being itself perfectly free
from magnesia and from chloride of sodium. — N. Edin. Phil. Jour.

7. On the Formation of Steel by means of Silica. — It is well
known to chemists, that silicum combines freely with iron, and
also, that certain persons have considered silica a substance
which possesses in common with carbon, and perhaps boron, the
power of converting iron into steel. M. Boussangault, if we
mistake not, put forth some views, in which he considered silicon
as the constant agent in the production of steel.

The Editor of the Recueil Industriel has described several cases,
in which the presence of silicon appears to have an important
influence of this kind. Some time since. Dr. Eynard of Lyons,
having put some files into a mixture of five parts of water with
one of sulphuric acid, was astonished when he took them out,
to find, at the bottom of the glass vessel in which they had been
placed, a greyish-white and glairy substance. This, being col-
lected and dried, proved to be silica.

In 1732, MM. Perru of Neufchatel established a manufactory
of steel cylinders at Lyons. These cylinders, which were highly
polished, and so hard as to be untouched by the file, had been
fused, it is said, with silica. They have never been imitated. A
pair of these cylinders, 5 inches in diameter, sell at this time for
2400 francs.

Some years since, a person of the name of Ranquet, of Lyons,
formed vessels of white cast-iron of extreme hardness. M. Culhot
manufactured cylinders from the fragments of these vessels, and
the cylinders were of such hardness, it was impossible to shape
them by cutting instruments, so that they could be worked only
by emery, and similar substances, occupying months for the
purpose. This person made a secret of his process, but it is
said, used no charcoal in his process.

M. Eynard found silica in cast iron, but not in forged iron j
its occurrence in the former, or rather the presence of silicon,
is a well-known circumstance.

Upon these facts, the Editor founds some earnest recommenda-
tions to those who have the opportunity of ascertaining whether
the cementation of iron without charcoal, but with silica alone,
would produce steel, and in what proportions the silica ought to
be mixed, to obtain a very perfect and hard steel ; there are also
other points urged, which are either already upon the minds of
metallurgists, or are naturally suggested by the two above.
— xi. p. 311.

8. Analyses of various Cast Irons and Steels. — These analyses
have been made by MM. Gay-Lussac and Wilson, at the works
of Charenton. They are appended to a work on chemistry by
M. Lassaigne.

204

Miscellaneous Intelligence,

Quantities ])er 1 . 00000 parts of

Carbon. Silicium.
Welchgreyl Q (J2450 0.01620

Do. 0.02550

Do. 0.01666

rranche | 0.02800
Comte do. J
Creusotdo. 0.02021

ChampagnelQ Q2100
do. j

Berry do. 0.02319

Nivemaisdo. 0.02254

Champagne I QQ2324 0.00840 0.00703
■white pig J

Iseredo. 0.02636

German do.) Q 02690
(Siegen) J

Do.(Cob- I 0.02441 0.00230 0.00185

Phosphorus. Manganese. Iron.
0.00780 traces 0.95150

0.01200
0.03000

0.01160

0.03490

0.01060

0.01920
0.01030

0.00260
0.00230

0.00440
0.00492

0.00351

0.00604

0.00869

0.00188
0.01043

0.00280
0.00162

lentz)

3?

0.02137
0.02590

0.02490

0.95310
0.94842

0.95689

0.93385

0.95971

0.95573
0.95673

0.96133

0.94687

0.94338

0.94654

Obtained by

coke.

coke,
coke.

coke.

coke.

coke.

wood & coke,
charcoal.

wood.

wood.

wood.

wood.

Table of the Composition of certain Irons of Commerce,

Manganese,
traces,
traces,
traces.

Swedish, best quality

Do.
Creusot iron
Champagne do.
Scrap iron of Paris
Berry iron
Brittle Moselle iron

Carbon.
0.00293
0.00240
0.00159
0.00193
0.00245
0.00162
0.00144

Silicium.

traces
0.00025

traces

0.00015

0.00020

traces
0.00070

Phosphorus.
0.00077

traces
0.00412
0.00210
0.00160
0.00177
0.00510

traces,
traces,
traces,
traces.

Table of the Composition of certain kinds of Steel.

Best fused English steel
Fused steel of Isere

Do. 1st quality

Do. 2nd quality

Carbon. Silicium. Manganese. Made of.

0.00625 0.00030 traces Swedish iron.
0.00651 traces traces Isere iron.

0.00654 0.00040 traces French iron.
0.00936 0.00080 traces French iron.
—Bull Univ. F. xiii. p. 238.

9. On Artificial Crystals of Oxide of Iron. — M. Mitscherlich has
examined certain crystals of oxide of iron, found in a pottery fur-
nace at Oranienbourg. These were in very obtuse rhomboids,
and resembled the specular iron of volcanoes, having the same
brilliancy, hardness, scratch, and other properties. The smaller
crystals, composing extremely thin plates, were transparent and
red, like micaceous iron. The foces were brilliant, the angles
could be measured, and were the same with those of the natural
crystal. So greatly do these resemble the crystals of volcanoes,
that the same theory of formation may be applied to both. The
first are formed in a pottery furnace, in which the vessels, when
baked, are glazed by means of common salt. The clay used
consists principally of silica, alumina, and a little oxide of iron.
The salt is volatilized, and with water coming in contact with
the surface of the vessels, new compounds are produced, water is

Chemical Science. 205

decomposed, muriatic acid is formed, and the soda produced
unites with the silica to make the necessary glaze. As to the
oxide of iron, its history will be best understood by an experi-
ment or two. If a mixture of salt, oxide of iron, and silica,
be heated to redness in a tube, and water in vapour be passed
over it, nmch muriatic acid is formed, but very little chloride of
iron, and crystallized oxide of iron will be found in the mass :
but if muriatic acid be brought in contact with ignited oxide of
iron, water and chloride of iron are formed, and sublime 3 if the
chloride of iron come in contact with more water, muriatic acid
is first developed, then chloride of iron, and a residue of crystal-
lized oxide of iron remains. The formation of chloride of iron
by the action of muriatic acid upon oxide of iron appears, there-
fore, to depend upon the proportion of water present. M. Mit-
scherlich applies these experiments and principles in explanation
of the manner in which volcanic crystaUized oxide of iron is
formed — all the conditions necessary, according to the above view,
being present in those cases, where heretofore it had been sup-
posed the oxide of iron, as such, had been actually sublimed.
— Annalen der Phys'ik. — Bull. Univ. B. xix. 245.

10. M. Becquerel on Metallic Sulphur ets, Iodides and Bromides. —
The researches of M. Becquerel into the nature of minutely
exciting causes of electrical action, and the effects of electricities
of feeble intensity, are well known, both for the ingenuity and
the industry with which they have been carried on. Lately, he
has been led to conceive, that many of the minerals in the rocks
forming the surface of our globe may have been the result of
the influence of feeble electric powers acting upon ordinary matter.
He puts a question thus : " Have the mineral substances in veins
been originally dissolved in a liquid, which, by slow dissipation,
has allowed the molecules to come together, under a crystalline
arrangement? or, have they resulted from the slow decomposition
of certain combinations but little soluble into which they entered,
as constituent parts ?" and believes that the facts he afterwards
quotes throw light upon it.

The apparatus used consisted of two small tubes, a and b,
open at both extremities, placed upright, side by side, and filled
in the lower part with very fine clay, slightly moistened with a
liquid capalile of conducting electricity. Such liquids are to be
poured into the upper parts of the two tubes, as are competent,
under the circumstances, of acting upon the metal experimented
with. The metal may be a single plate, bent so as to be im-
mersed in the fluid of both tubes, and connect them together ; or
it may be a compound-metallic communication. The two tubes
are placed in a third, large enough for the purpose, which is to
be partly filled with a fluid, intended to complete the electric
communication through the apparatus. Thus arranged, the clay
retards the mixture of the fluid in the two smaller tubes, and

^06 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

allows of the time necessary for the formation of the new
compounds.

M. Becquerel mentions the natural sulphurets of zinc, iron,
manganese, tin, arsenic, molybdena, antimony, bismuth, copper,
lead, silver, and cobalt, as compounds perfectly crystallized,
whilst the corresponding artificial substances can be obtained only
in the amorphous state*. The sulphurets have no action on dry
oxygen gas ; but those containing very oxidable metals act on the
moist gas, and become sulphates or sulphites. When a metal
can decompose water at common temperatures, so can its sul-
phuret. Metals acted upon, when free, by nitric acid, are also
acted upon when existing in sulphurets, with the exception of very
few cases. Such are the general properties principally connected
with the present question.

By putting into the tube a a saturated solution of nitrate of
silver, into the tube b a solution of hydrosulphuret of potassa, and
connecting the two solutions by a plate of silver, there is formed
after some time a deposit of metallic silver on the end of the plate
in o, and a double sulphuret of silver and potassium on the end in b.
The latter is in fine prismatic crystals, which are gradually de-
composed by the nitric acid, attracted in a later stage of the
electro-chemical action, and there ultimately remains a sulphuret
of silver. During the action a part of the liquid evaporates, and
there remains at last above the clay a pasty substance, in which
lies the sulphuret of silver in fine octoedral crystals, not only upon
the silver plate, but also on the sides of the tube.

These crystals have the same appearance, malleability, colour,
and other properties of native sulphuret of silver in crystals, and
cannot be distinguished from them. The crystaUization is the
result of the slow decomposition of the double sulphuret, the
particles having time allowed them for that degree of motion
necessary to bring their homologous faces parallel to each
other.

By a similar process, crystallized sulphuret of copper was
formed, having a grey metallic lustre, with a shade of blue, and
yielding a black powder. They dissolved in ammonia, rendering
it blue. They had, in all respects, the properties of the native sul-
phuret of copper.

Leaving all things in the last experiment unchanged, except
that, instead of a single copper connecting plate, it was conjoined
with a piece of antimony, so that the antimony end should be in
the sulphuret, there was formed in the course of time little red
octoedral and lamellar crystals. These were soluble in neutral
hydro-sulphuret of potassa, and gave sulphuretted hydrogen
when acted upon by muriatic acid. Alkalis rendered them yellow.

* There is evidently some mistake here. Bright yellow sulphuret of iron has
been obtained artificially from sokitions by time. Probably, many of the others
might be crystallized artificially j and as to antimony, it would be a difficult thing
to prevent crystallization. — Ed, ,,

Chemical Science, 207

The substance, therefore, was kermes, and was thus obtained for
the first time in a crystalline form.

By similar processes, cubical crystals of sulphuret of tin were
obtained, having a brilliant white and metallic appearance. With
the additional circumstance of excluding the air from the tube 6,
and substituting the proper substances, sulphuret of iron in bril-
liant yellow cubical crystals was obtained.

According to these results, M. Becquerel thinks it may be
permitted us to believe that nature may have followed a similar
course in the production of such sulphurets as are found in me-
tallic veins. Thus, sulphuret of silver is found combined with the
sulphuret of antimony, arsenic, or lead ; and these combinations,
unaffected by air, have remained in the state they assumed at
their first formation ; but the case is not the same with the double
sulphuret of silver with potassium or sodium, which no doub twas
formed at the time of the consolidation of the great terrestrial
masses : for then the alkali now existing in vegetables probably
existed in numerous compounds containing also sulphur. A slow
decomposition commenced, and a crystallized sulphuret of silver
has been the consequence The planes and appearances of the
metallic sulphurets actually formed as above described are so like
those of the natural compound, in form, grouping of the crystals,
colour, and general characters, as to give the stronges treason
for supposing this has been an active natural power.

From these facts it would also appear, that to obtain an insoluble
substance in a crystallized state, it is only necessary to make it
enter into combination with another which is soluble, and then to
decompose the compound very slowly. In proof of this opinion
comes the following experiment : — Finely divided clay being moist-
ened with a solution of arseniate of potash was put into a glass
tube, and a solution of nitrate of copper poured upon it. After
some time there were seen, in certain hollow parts of the clay,
crystals exactly resembling those of arseniate of copper. Perhaps
many crystals which line mineral cavities may have a similar kind
of origin.

Upon extending the experiments to insoluble iodides, substitut-
ing hydriodate of potassa for the hydro-sulphuret of potassa, and
using a connecting plate of metallic lead, a double iodide of lead
and potassium is first formed, which is gradually resolved into regu-
lar octoiidral crystals of iodide of lead, of a golden yellow colour
and brilliant aspect. This substance, which is insoluble, is the
iodide of lead, and this is the first time that it has been obtained
crystallized*.

By following up this train of reasoning and experiment, it is
very probable that other metals could be formed into crystallized
iodides, &c.> and that the bromides and seleniurets might likewise be

♦ This is a mistake. The iodide of lead is not insoluble, aUhough it is but
slightly soluble. It may be obtained crystallized at pleasure, by allowing a satu-
rated hot solution to cool slowly. — Ed,

209 Miscellaneous Intelligence,

procured in a definite and crystalline condition. — Ann, de Chimie,
xlii. 225.

11. Preparation of Pure Oxide of Cobalt. — I treat the ore of
cobalt (unroasted) with nitric acid, evaporate to dryness, and re-
dissolve in water. I precipitate with carbonate of potash, until
I perceive that arseniate of cobalt begins to fall. I separate the
arseniate of iron by a filter, and pour an acid oxalate of potash
into the solution. In the course of some hours, all the oxalate
of cobalt precipitates ; the iron, arsenic, and nearly all the nickel
remaining in solution. The precipitate, well washed, is then to
be treated with ammonia, according to M. Laugier's process,
and it will be sufficient to use but little ammonia with heat,
which will then first dissolve the oxalate of nickel. If this be not
thought necessary, (and the quantity of nickel present is very
small,) nothing remains but to decompose the oxalate by heat,
in an open vessel. The oxide of cobalt thus obtained will con-
tain no iron or arsenic, and only minute traces of nickel. — Ques-
neville. — Journ. de Pharmacie, xv.

12. Properties of Cobalt. — The following are, according to
Lampadius, the properties of pure cobalt, obtained with great
difficulty in pieces the size of a pea. Colour greyish-white,
between steel and silver j specific gravity 8.71; lustre con-
siderable, strongly reflecting light, and being unaffected by the
air ; hardness moderate, not more to the file than that of copper ;
malleability moderate : the metal bears a few blows with a ham-
mer, and then gives way in scales ; when heated, the effect is the
same ; fracture fine and granular ; fusibility between nickel
and platina; magnetism, the magnetic force (of iron?) being
taken as unity, that of cobalt is 0.701. — Bull. Univ. A. xii. 455.

13. Preparation and Properties of the Bi-iodide of Mercury. —
The following details are extracted from M. A. Hayes's account.
Boil a mixture of 125 parts of iodine, 250 parts of clear iron filings,
and 1000 parts of distilled water in a flask. When the colour
from brown has become light green, decant the clear fluid, wash
the residue, and add the washings to the former liquor; a solution
of 272 parts of corrosive sublimate, in 2000 of warm water, is to
be added, and the resulting precipitate washed and collected.

This salt, either in crystals or in powder, presents two distinct
and beautiful colours. If the precipitate be heated in a small
subliming apparatus, or in a glass tube, it melts and sublimes
copiously, and the vapour is condensed in large transparent rhom-
bic tables, of a fine sulphur yellow colour. These crystals are
permanent in the air, and unaltered by the direct solar rays ; but
the slightest friction, or the contact of a fine point, is sufficient to
alter their interior arrangement. The point of contact instantly
becomes of a rich scarlet, and the same colour spreads over the

Chemical Science. 209

whole surface of a single crystal, and extends to the most remote
angle if a group of crystals be the subject of experiment. This
change of colour is accompanied by a sensible mechanical action,
so that a small heap of the crystals appear as if animated. An
ordinary electroscope does not indicate the development of any
electricity, nor is there any considerable elevation of temperature
during the change.

By gently warming the crystals, supported on paper over the
flame of a lamp, the original yellow coloured salt is obtained, and
the same experiment may be often repeated : aflfording an elegant
illustration of the connexion between colours and the mechanical
structure of bodies. Transparent, but minute rhombic prisms of
this salt may be obtained by allowing a hot solution of it, in a
solution of corrosive sublimate, to cool very gradually. — SUli-
mans Journal.

14. On a new Compound of Mercury, by Mr