Book 5, chap. 2, Page 403—Account of a new compound Microscope for

objects of Natural History—is the following passage: “We cannot therefore expect any essential improvement in the single microscope, unless from the discovery of some transparent substance, which like the diamond combines a high refractive with a low dispersive power.” From which it seems certain that the Doctor never contemplated the possibility of working upon the substance of the diamond, though he must have been aware of its valuable properties.

[5] There are fourteen different crystalline forms of the diamond, and of this number, from the laws which govern the polarization of light, the octohedron and truncated cube are probably the only ones that will give single vision. It is unfortunately very difficult to procure rough diamonds in this country, so we are compelled to use stones already cut, and to subject them to trial in the way mentioned in the text.

[6] As many amateurs of science might take an interest in the inspection of the peculiar effect these lenses have on transmitted _light_, I shall be happy to exhibit them, as also the perfect lens.

_Analysis of a newly-discovered Spring, at Stanley, near Wakefield_.—By Mr. William West.

Mineral springs, dependent for their characteristic properties on carbonate of soda, appear to have been little noticed by chemists, and to have been still less attended to as curative means; at least in proportion to the multitude of cases in which that substance is administered in various other forms. Indeed the inference to be drawn from the silence respecting the modes of analysis adapted to such waters in our best elementary treatises, is that they have hitherto been very seldom met with. In one district, however, of Yorkshire, carbonate of soda is of frequent occurrence; it is found in the ordinary springs; often, at the same time with substances with which, in artificial solutions, or when concentrated, it, would be considered wholly incompatible; while at other times it is the predominant, or the only remarkable saline constituent. An analysis of a water of this kind, known by the name of the Holbeck Spa, has lately been published in the Annals of Philosophy, by my friend E. S. George; similar springs are found, I understand, as far [p022] westward as Bradford; they are numerous from the borings in and near Holbeck; while eight miles south, a water similar in its character, but differing in containing about twice as much alkali in the same measure, has been discovered at Stanley.

About two miles from Wakefield, near the Aberford or York road, is an ancient mansion called Hatfield Hall; near the park or inclosure of which, in boring for coal, the spring in question suddenly gushed up, when the workmen had got to the depth of eighty yards, and has continued to run spontaneously, in all seasons, at the rate of six gallons per minute.

The water at the spring is limpid and very sparkling; the portion which is allowed to escape, deposits upon the trough and in the channel through which it runs a quantity of sulphur; the smell is that of sulphuretted hydrogen; the taste, from the stimulus of the bubbles of gas modifying the softness of the alkali, rather pleasant than otherwise.

The appearances presented by re-agents are,—

With tincture of soap, a slight opalescence.

Nitrate of silver, an abundant precipitate, partially re-dissolved by pure nitric acid.

Sulphate of silver, a precipitate only partially soluble in nitric or acetic acid.

Muriate of barytes, a slight precipitate.

Lime-water, a precipitate soluble with effervescence in acetic acid.

Oxalate of ammonia, no precipitate.

On boiling, a slight pellicle appeared, soluble in nitric acid.

Carbonate of ammonia, no precipitate, nor any on the subsequent addition of phosphate of soda.

The water restored the colour of litmus paper slightly reddened.

With tincture of galls and ferrocyanate of potash, no change.

With muriate of lime, the water remained unchanged until heated; but when boiled, a copious precipitate took place.

When concentrated by boiling, the water reddened turmeric paper, and effervesced strongly on the addition of an acid.

Nitromuriate of platina produced no precipitate, however concentrated the water might be. [p023]

The results of the previous experiments indicate the presence of

Soda, Lime in small proportion, Muriatic acid, No magnesia, Sulphuric acid, No iron, Carbonic acid, No potash.

A. To ascertain the proportion of sulphuric acid, sixteen ounces by measure, previously saturated by acetic acid, were treated with muriate of barytes; the precipitate, washed and dried, weighed one grain; this indicates, in the imperial gallon, 3.2 grains of sulphuric acid, equivalent to 5.8 sulphate of soda, dry, or 13 grains crystallized.

B. For the muriatic acid; nitrate of silver, added to sixteen ounces of the water boiled, and the alkali previously saturated, gave a precipitate weighing 2.8 grains; reduced to the proportion in the imperial gallon, this amounts to 26.9 grains chloride of silver, equivalent to 11 grains chloride of sodium (muriate of soda.)

C. The crystalline pellicle separated from a pint of sixteen ounces, on boiling, weighed 0.2 grains.

This was carbonate of lime; but in the water the lime would be combined with muriatic acid, forming 0.22; or, in the imperial gallon, 2.1 dry chloride, or 3.75 crystallized muriate of lime.

D. The precipitate formed on boiling with muriate of lime, weighed from the pint, 3.6 grains; from the imperial gallon, 34.6 grains; showing the water to contain in that quantity a carbonated alkali equivalent to 53 grains of dry, or 59.5 crystallized bi-carbonate of soda.

E. Muriate of barytes, added to the water left on evaporating sixteen ounces to two, gave a precipitate weighing 8.2 grains; deducting one grain for sulphate of barytes, as found in experiment A, we have 7.2 carbonate of barytes; this indicates in the gallon 53 grains of dry, and 59.5 of crystallized carbonate of soda, as in the last experiment.

Lastly, a pint of sixteen ounces of the water, evaporated to dryness, furnished in three trials of saline residuum, weighed after short exposure to a dull red heat, six grains, or 57.6 from [p024] the imperial gallon. Now we have seen that this would consist of

5.8 Dry sulphate of soda (exp. A). 11. Chloride of sodium ( — B). 1.9 Carbonate of lime ( — C). ---- 18.7 38.9 ---- 57.6

The remainder, 38.9, having been converted by the heat into proto-carbonate of soda, is equivalent to 54.5 dry, 61 grains crystallized bi-carbonate, agreeing nearly with the quantities found from experiments D and E.

Following, as I do, that doctrine which supposes the bases to be distributed among the acids in a mineral water in the combinations which possess the greatest solubility, we must suppose the lime to be in the state of muriate; we shall then have to diminish the muriate, and increase the carbonate of soda: so that on this view, the saline constituents of an imperial gallon, in the state in which they exist in the water, are,—

Soda in combination with carbonic acid, equivalent to

Bi-carbonate or super-carbonate 56 gr. dry. 62.5 crystallized of soda

Sulphate of soda 5.8 ditto 13 ditto

Muriate of soda (chloride 8.75 ditto 8.75 ditto of sodium)

Muriate of lime 2.1 ditto 3.75 ditto

The gaseous contents of the water consist of variable proportions of carbonic acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, and carburetted hydrogen; the latter gas is continually emitted from the spring, in greater quantity than the water can absorb; and a portion of the other two also escapes from its surface. I have made many experiments on the gas, separated by boiling; but find the results, as I might anticipate, altogether inconclusive and uncertain. In waters containing, as at Harrogate, these gases with muriates or sulphates, boiling may be expected almost wholly to disengage them; but in this case the affinity of the soda in dilute solution, is likely to retain the carbonic [p025] acid, and even to cause a decomposition of the sulphuretted hydrogen, so as to prevent our obtaining, in a gaseous form, the quantity really existing in the water, and imparting to it sensible or medicinal properties.

On the subject of medicinal qualities I am at all times cautious of giving an opinion: but I may observe, first, that as this spring is dissimilar to any of those which have already attained celebrity, so none of them can form a substitute for this; it is not Harrogate, or Cheltenham, or Buxton, or Tunbridge water: the alkaline springs of the West Riding, of which this is by far the strongest, stand as medicinal waters hitherto alone; the active ingredient, the bi-carbonate of soda, being spoken of in chemical works, as “rarely found in mineral waters.”

Secondly, from the known properties of this substance, carbonate of soda, and the frequency of its administration in a long train of arthritic, calculous and dyspeptic complaints, the water must be highly useful as an anti-acid and as a diuretic; and as the advantages which native mineral waters possess over artificial solutions of the substances, in the great degree of dilution, and the impregnation with gases, and still more in the adjuncts of leisure, exercise, pure air, regulated diet and early rising, are of especial consequence in the latter very numerous class of diseases, those called stomach and nervous complaints; we may fairly suppose that such a spring will be found to be a valuable addition to those previously known, applying, as it does, to cases of such frequent occurrence.

_Observations on the State of Naval Construction in this Country_.

It appears that there is at present a tendency to improvement in every branch of science; monopoly in intellect may now be said to be vanishing; and empiricism is obliged to seek dark corners, to escape the light which is penetrating into regions from which it had but very lately been excluded. The administration, too, encourages advance of knowledge; yet notwithstanding these favourable circumstances, there still exists, in [p026] some minds, an inaptitude of scientific perception, which induces unwillingness to acknowledge the advantage that results from the application of the exact sciences to the useful arts.

This neglect of scientific principles is nowhere more manifest than in the affairs of naval architecture, and it is not confined to the Royal Navy, but extends also to our mercantile shipping; and hence it is that our commercial marine is in some respects behind foreign nations, especially the Americans, in the formation of its ships: our merchantmen are, almost without exception, the most unsafe[7] and slowest ships in the world. The ship-owners, therefore, would do well to consider this circumstance, and endeavour to devise means of introducing science into the merchant yards. The establishment of the new university in the metropolis affords an opportunity of doing it at a comparatively small expense, by the foundation of Lectures on the theory of Naval Architecture; and the support even of a separate institution in the vicinity of the merchant yards of this great port, for the education of ship surveyors, would soon be repaid by the improved character of our merchant shipping.

If the science of Naval Architecture depend on certain physico-mathematical laws, as no doubt it does, it is monstrous to imagine for a moment that such laws can be developed by a flight of fancy, or that a man is born with an _intuitive optical_ perception of the lines of least resistance, &c., or, in the jargon of the craniologists, that he has a naval-architectural bump on his skull; yet one would think that such was the case, when we see men, we cannot say philosophers, start up and loudly assert that they are in possession of the secret of construction; and they are believed because their hypotheses are never submitted to the examination of those who are capable of detecting their fallacy.

The Experimental Squadrons have, with a multitude of perplexing results, elicited, it must be confessed, at least an interesting fact, viz. that there has been an establishment seventeen years in this country, in Portsmouth dockyard, for the scientific education of naval architects, for the Royal [p027] Navy.[8] From the plan of education, as laid down by the Commissioners of Naval Revision in 1810, it appears that, to a requisite knowledge of the _practice_ of their profession, the gentlemen composing this body of naval constructors unite a sound and competent one of its _theory_[9].

It can only be from such a source that we can look for the improvement of our men of war, and it is to be regretted that every means should not be taken to avail ourselves of it: but unhappily such is the force of prejudice that, unless some alteration should be adopted in this institution, it will be in vain to expect advantage from it.

The objection urged against this establishment, namely, that the scientific education it gives to its members precludes them from the attainment of a due knowledge of the practical construction of our ships, is so absurd, that none but weak or jealous minds could ever have brought it forward. Shall it be laid down, in the present age, as an axiom, that a profound ignorance of the principles of his art is the one thing essential to the formation of what is generally meant by the term “practical man?” We contend that, having made, _in vain_,[10] a long and most indulgent trial of a system without science, if we may use such an expression, we must extend to one in alliance with it, a like patronage, before we can be allowed to pronounce a fair and legitimate judgment upon its efficiency.

But even in the peculiar path in which the naval architects educated at Portsmouth might be supposed to excel, we do not find that any opportunity is allowed them to come forward, nor shall we see this until some effort is made by the heads of our naval departments, to allow a broad and open competition to take place. It may be urged, that the learned Professor at Portsmouth (Dr. Inman) in himself includes all that can have [p028] possibly been taught or understood in the establishment over which he presides, and that therefore he is the representative of it in the late and present trials for the palm of excellence; but we cannot by any means assent to this: many of the students must have left his tuition seven, eight, and nine years, and must be between thirty and forty years of age; and it would be strange indeed, if during such a period, and in the prime of life and intellect, some of these, if not all, had not cultivated the science after their own bent of mind, and formed original ideas on the subject: we say, therefore, that Dr. Inman’s constructions cannot be called the production of the establishment—they are merely the effort of one man, whose attention it appears is distracted by a multiplicity of occupations, and can only, along with the vessels of Capts. Symonds, Hayes, and Sir R. Seppings, be deemed criterions of the particular views of an individual.

Mysticism and ignorance always accompany each other; and we may reckon that in proportion as the latter disappears from amongst our ship-builders, so will the absurd vagaries of the former recede, and the subject be placed at last on the true principles of philosophical induction, instead of the caprices of imagination. We look forward, therefore, to this new body of naval architects for the expulsion of all quackery from their profession, and for the exposition not only of what we really do know, but also of what we do not know about it: this is the only way to arrive at truth, which should be the sole object of all investigation; but which we are afraid has hitherto been sadly garbled and perverted wherever it has had to do with naval architecture in this country.

But we repeat that we do not see that the nation is at all likely to benefit from the science or exertions of those gentlemen so long as they are placed in situations where a superior education can have no other effect than producing disgust and chagrin in the mind of the possessor; and if the institution at Portsmouth be designed for no better purpose than that of supplying house-carpenters, joiners, and still more inferior trades, with foremen, it had better be abolished. Some would regard it, as at present used, as a gross mockery on the public [p029] at whose expense it is supported; it is certainly a cruel one of those who have been induced, by the fair and brilliant prospects held out to them of support and encouragement, to devote their lives to this branch of the public service.

But to return to the Experimental Squadron: it is with regret that we must conclude, upon a careful consideration, that, although the experiments are carried on with so much vigour and interest, they are evidently founded on imaginative views, and that there cannot exist any thing like legitimate data where so many failures and anomalous results obtain. Who can read the account of the first Experimental Squadron[11], without immediately perceiving that the constructors of the contending vessels, however sanguine each might have been of the success of his particular fancy, met with nothing but the most perplexing results? We see sometimes one and sometimes the other vessel claim the palm of excellence, and finally leaving the subject as much in the dark as ever. This is the natural consequence of the non-application of inductive philosophy to the question before us, and the most important conclusion that can be gathered from the experiment is, that we have begun at the wrong end, and that it is high time to employ analysis instead of synthesis to effect the desired objects: for in the present state of the theory of naval construction in this country, there are yet no data existing to effect with precision and confidence the synthetical composition of a ship.

We cannot refrain here from noticing the paucity of information contained in the reports hitherto made on the first Experimental Squadron. The best one[11] is but little removed from a ship’s log book, and in some respects is inferior to it: it is of such a scanty nature, that we can scarcely inform ourselves on any point, and that only in a _relative_ degree, of the qualities of the vessels composing it: we cannot find out any mention of their _absolute_ velocities on the different points of sailing, which is a most important omission. We are neither informed in what way the observations were conducted, whether they were made simultaneously or not: unless the former, any attempt at comparison must be very doubtful, if not entirely fallacious. Circumstances of wind and the weather may very widely alter in the [p030] course of a short time, and every endeavour at legitimate analogy be destroyed by such variation. We strongly suspect that this is one cause of perplexity; and another prolific one is the vague idea given of the strength of winds by nautical language. Nothing but the determinations of the anemometer should ever be allowed to appear in an account of such experiments. Every circumstance attendant on the quantity and trim of sail, the heeling, the rolling and pitching of the ship, position of the rudder, &c. should be accurately ascertained and _tabulated_; for it is next to an impossibility and a wilful waste of time to attempt to institute comparisons without pursuing a system of tabulated results, which should be kept in the same form on board each ship.

We must also express our regret that the scientific professor at Portsmouth does not appear to have ascertained the position of the centre of gravity of any of his ships, with regard to height, by the simple and easy experiment long known in principle, and described lately with geometrical rigidity in two or three publications by some of his pupils[12]. The knowledge of the position of this point would have placed him so far above his competitors, in so many important particulars, that we are surprised he should have thrown away his advantage, and descended to a level with his less scientific opponents. We are afraid that, here again, imaginative views have stepped in, and taken the sober mathematician from the only path by which excellence can be attained. We are at a loss to conceive how the stabilities of his ships can be said to be ascertained without the knowledge of the position of this point.

Some of the obscurity which pervades this difficult subject may be overcome, as to broad and general principles, by attentively and _coolly_ observing the progress of marine architecture, since the introduction of cannon into naval warfare, and more particularly during the last century and a half. We shall then clearly perceive that the French, who, as early as the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV., employed men of first-rate talent in their naval arsenals, and neglected no opportunity for the [p031] advancement of science in them, increased and kept increasing the dimensions of their ships, more especially the length, the ratio of which to the breadth has been augmented by them from about 3-1/4.1, to 4.1 within the last century. While this principle was acted on, the improvement of their ships was gradual; and by referring to our own progress in the art, in tardy imitation of the practice of the French, we shall likewise conclude that our navy has derived precisely similar advantages from the same causes. Here we have at once two grand but _concurring_ results derived from an experiment, not made on one or half a dozen different vessels, but on the whole navies of the two most powerful maritime states in the world: and if to these we choose to add the result of the practice of the same means on the Spanish and other navies, we might surely be warranted in saying, from this broad but _certain analysis_ of _facts_, that, in relation to the hull, the _general increase of dimensions, with a greater relative length_, is one cause of the improvements that have been made in the sea-going qualities of the ships composing the fleets of the present maritime powers: the question therefore that remains to be decided on in relation to this principle is, whether we have arrived at its utmost practicable limits, or rather, whether we have arrived at the _maximum_ of improvement it is capable of producing.

This brings us again to the experimental squadrons, as far as they are connected with, and illustrative of, our observations; and the first question naturally put forward about them is, whether there be any thing very peculiar in the formation or dimensions of the rival vessels? We suspect that the answer cannot otherwise than disclose, that neither in principle, dimensions, nor in the formation, can they be said to differ very materially from each other, or from ships of the common construction: indeed we perceive in some a retrogression of ideas and a violation of the principle, that the increase of the ratio of the length to the breadth, in conjunction with a general increase of dimensions, has been a predominant cause of improvement. The fact also of so immaterial a difference necessarily includes a system of masting and sails equally confined, and totally inadequate to produce any great superiority of sailing over ships to which they are so nearly equal in principal dimensions. [p032]

After so many years of trial with the present nearly invariable set of principal dimensions, during which period it may be said, that every possible contour of hull has been experimented on with them, we are inclined to think that almost all has been done that could be done under such restrictions, and that some great step must be made in one or other of the principal dimensions themselves, with correspondent alterations in the masting, before we can expect to see a decided and great improvement in the sailing of our ships. The depth is an element which has arrived at its limit from very apparent external causes; but the length and breadth remain to the skilful constructor without any such clogs to his endeavours; and he has only to accommodate their relation to each other in the manner most conducive to velocity, which in our opinion is the very capital object of naval construction, both in ships of war and of commerce. That it is so in the former, no one will, we apprehend, on due reflection deny; but there will be many who will assert that it cannot be obtained, in the latter, without a sacrifice of capacity; which will defeat the object of carrying large cargoes: to this we may reply, that if a vessel with an expense of one quarter the capacity can make _three_ voyages instead of _two_, will not the merchant be still a considerable gainer in capacity, and still more so by a ready return of his capital[13]?

All observations on well-conducted experiments concur in proving that velocity is gained by increasing the length, to a much greater degree in relation to the breadth, than has ever yet been done in ships; and that the increase of the same element contributes to their weathering powers is too obvious to need insisting upon: it is also generally advantageous, when not carried to an extent which would seriously retard the manœuvring of the ship. This limit has not yet by any means been determined; for it must be recollected, that although the additional length increases the resistance to rotation about a vertical axis, yet the power of the sails to give rotation about the same is also increased, although not in so high a ratio. The power of the rudder to produce rotation is also greater in a long ship than in [p033] a short one, not only on account of the greater distance it is from the axis of rotation, but also on account of the greater velocity, and the more direct impulse of the water on it.

The increase of the ratio of the length to the breadth to produce velocity should not interfere with the increase of breadth necessary to produce stability or capacity; for both these qualities, varying as higher powers of the breadth, a very small increase of breadth may be attended with a considerable increase of length. If we compare the Caledonia’s (120 guns) dimensions with those of the Royal George and Queen Charlotte[14], of 1788 and 1789, we shall find, that 13 or 14 times as much length as breadth has been added to the first rates of our navy. If we refer to the dimensions of the Commerce de Marseilles, and those of the next preceding three-decker of the French navy (for instance, the Ville de Paris[15], taken in Lord Rodney’s action), we shall find that the French naval architects gave in her 21 times as much increase to the length as to the breadth. If this could be done with safety in a three-decked ship, with such a vast top weight, much more could it be carried advantageously into effect in ships of two decks, and frigates; but we do not find, in the latter classes of the ships of the French navy, the increase of length to go beyond six times that of the breadth. If we refer to the Old Bellerophon, built in 1772, and the New Bellerophon, built in 1819, we shall find an increase of 24 feet in length, to 1.58 feet increase of breadth; or the former more than 15 times the latter[16].

To those who oppose the objection that a greater length than at present used would make the manœuvring of a ship too slow, we answer, that as the Caledonia and the present first rates of our navy, although from 10 to 15 feet longer than our two-deckers, are found to be capital ships in this respect, there is a sure ground to believe, that the addition of 20 feet in length to the present two-deckers would not render their celerity [p034] of evolution less than that of the three-decker; and since, from the reduction of weight aloft, the centre of gravity would be lowered, and the displacement required to be less, a somewhat smaller breadth might be allowed to a two-decked ship of 206 feet long, than to one of 196 feet (especially since the quantity of sail, remaining the same, is lowered by one whole depth between deck), a smaller midship section would be, _cæteris paribus_, required; the velocity of this ship might be considerably increased. Nothing however can be precisely determined on, with such a complication of circumstances, beyond a general idea. Calculation and a strict analysis of ships must be resorted to, in order to fill up the outline of our reasoning.

But for the same reason that we imagine that an addition of 20 or perhaps 40 feet would not sensibly injure the celerity of manœuvring of our two-deckers, we should think that the same increase of this dimension might be tried without much risk to our first rates, with an increase of breadth not exceeding 1/20th part that is given to the length.

We repeat that the very capital object of the science of Naval Construction is _velocity_, and we are decidedly of opinion that it is attainable in a much higher degree than at present, without compromising other necessary qualities, for which we have the concurrence of facts as far as they go.

The Anglo-Americans, in the last war, took every possible advantage suggested by views similar to those we have been adverting to, in the construction of their large frigates. They had, it may be said, to create a martial navy, and they had to oppose it against fearful odds; but, free from the prejudices and errors so blindly cherished by their opponents, and which constantly oppose reform by always declaring the present practice to be the best, they did not retread the old path, but began at its last step, and boldly advanced on this principle into all the branches of the art. They built vessels upon the most enlarged dimensions, and of a superior weight of metal, and gave an increased ratio of length to the breadth. The result of such a procedure, justified the confidence of the American naval architects in only _one_ maxim, founded upon the _scientific_ observation of facts, and may give us a faint idea of what might be effected by a still more enlarged and mathematical analysis. [p035] Our frigates were so inferior to theirs in every way, that they brought nothing but disasters upon us, excepting in the action between the Shannon and Chesapeake, and one or two others, where, assured by their previous successes, our gallant opponents threw away the advantages possessed by their ships, by coming to close quarters at once, and deciding the contest hand to hand.—Our ships of the line could never bring these frigates to action, and owing alone to their extraordinary sailing, did they evade and mock a large British fleet. We were finally obliged to build 60-gun frigates after their method, but when it was _too late_ for the exigency of the period; and thus it has ever been our fate, for want of science in the constructors of our navy, to follow the steps of our enemies at a humble distance, and to be only then driven out of the old track by a terrible experience of its inefficiency.

Nor have the Americans stopped here;—Mr. Huskisson plainly tells us that “America is, year after year, augmenting its military marine, by building ships of war of the largest class[17].” According to Capt. Brenton, they have built a first-rate[18] of 245 feet length on the gun deck, and 56 feet broad[19], to carry 42-pounders on the lower deck, and 32-pounders on the other decks.

Our small class of 74-gun ships lately converted into frigates carrying _fifty_ 32-pounder guns, we are fearful can only produce disappointment if ever brought against the American frigates (not by conversion, but by _construction_), which carry _sixty-two_ guns of the same calibre, and are 180 feet long on the gun deck.

We must not forget also that our active neighbours the French have now adopted a most formidable description of [p036] frigates, with curvilinear sterns[20], and many other important improvements. They mount 60 guns and carronades—viz. 24-pounders on the gun deck, and 36-pounder carronades on the flush deck.—The former calibre is equivalent very nearly to 26, and the latter to 39 lbs. avoirdupois.

When we reflect on these circumstances, we cannot but feel surprised that so many frigates of inferior force and dimensions should be building in our dockyards. In time of emergency they will only bring on us a repetition of former disasters and deficiency. We contend that, instead of building ships of only _equal_ force to those of our rivals, and thus _waiting_ for the developement of _their_ designs before we can venture on a single step, we should build beyond them in every respect. It must and ought to be recollected, that peace in these matters produces a contest of intellect, and those will have the advantage in it who attack instead of standing on the defensive. We ought to lead the way, and to be at the head of the maritime world, not in _number_ alone, but also in the _individual force and qualities_ of our ships.

Having expatiated on the advantages of an increased ratio of length to breadth in relation to the hull of a ship, we will just glance at some of the principal effects it would have upon the masting and sails; and here again we conceive that Professor Inman has, in common with many others, relinquished the many good effects resulting from it, for the inadequate one, of being able to carry a somewhat greater quantity of sail, which must necessarily be lofty, and which, (setting aside this detracting circumstance,) as the velocity of a ship varies only as a _fractional_ power of the surface of canvas spread, cannot produce the degree of fast sailing to be wished for, but at an immense and impracticable quantity of sail[21].

A greater proof of the inadequacy of the present system of [p037] lofty sail cannot be cited than the fact of its not procuring, under the most favourable circumstances, a rate of sailing rarely exceeding one-fourth the velocity of the wind.

As the number of masts should be so regulated as to create facility in managing the canvas, which is well known to be at present hardly manageable in a gale of wind, on board large ships, from the enormous size of each individual course and topsail, we should not hesitate, therefore, to have _four_ vertical masts, as recommended by Bouguer, instead of three, in ships built in accordance with the principles we have been discussing. This would, _cæteris paribus_, require shorter masting and smaller yards, and the sails being much less, individually, would be more easily managed and not so liable to accidents.

From what has been said, and the actual experiments now pending, it is apparent that the theoretic construction of ships is at a very low ebb in this country; yet a fine opportunity now presents itself, if we choose to avail ourselves of it, for rescuing the nation from this generally acknowledged odium. Let a proper use be made of the corps of Naval Architects we have, somehow or other, at last got, and let their exertions, under a degree of encouragement equal to that bestowed on the old ship-builders _in vain_ for so long a period, be directed towards the improvement of their art. If they fail, they cannot claim the excuse of having their endeavours repressed; if they succeed, as no doubt they will, in advancing their profession to something beyond mere carpentry, we shall be enabled to bid adieu to the old and _ruinous_ method of blundering, under the reign of which nothing but disappointment can ever be reasonably expected.

We have seen and do still see the immense advantages derived by our country from the encouragement of those branches of science connected with its manufactures and agriculture; and if we wish to keep our present superiority, we must follow up vigorously this principle in all its universality. To the cavils of ignorance and bigotry against such a mode of proceeding we would answer, in the words of one of the most enlightened members of the present administration, “This country cannot stand still, whilst others are advancing in science, in [p038] industry, in every thing which contributes to increase the power of empires, and to multiply the means of comfort and enjoyment to civilized man.”[22]

It is to be hoped, therefore, that His Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral will extend to this most important national institution, the School of Naval Architecture, the same vigilant and scrutinizing eye that every other branch of our naval system is at this moment experiencing from him, and that he will extend to it that fair play and encouragement which has hitherto been denied to it. As a seaman, he can fully appreciate and understand how much the bad qualities of a ship may neutralize the best exertions of the most experienced and skilful sailor; and, on the contrary, what a degree of confidence may be insured in naval operations with excellent ships. We feel persuaded, therefore, that he will not allow others to think for him in a matter of so much national importance, and thus allow private ends to interpose to the disadvantage of public views; but that he will investigate and judge for himself. We would humbly suggest to His Royal Highness to inquire into the individual acquirements and productions, both of a _theoretical_ and _practical_ nature, of those who have been educated in this establishment, and he would soon be able to decide whether they be fitting or not for the important task of constructing our ships, and for the confidence and protection which we think we have shown has hitherto been ill-advisedly withheld from them. Such a line of conduct would very soon carry our naval architecture to a pitch of excellence _worthy_ of imitation, and instead of being indebted to foreigners for models, we should be able, with just pride, to point to the productions of British science and intellect in this noble art.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] By referring to Lloyd’s List, it will appear, upon a moderate average, that _three_ English merchant vessels are lost every _two_ days!

[8] See No. II. of the Naval and Military Magazine, published in June last.

[9] This will be readily acknowledged by those who will choose to read the “Papers on Naval Architecture,” and the “Essays and Gleanings on Naval Architecture,” two periodical works proceeding from the members of this institution.

[10] See the Third Report of the Commissioners of Naval Revision, and the Resolutions of the Society for the Improvement of Naval Architecture, in which the old system of providing ship-builders for the Royal Navy is condemned in the most unqualified terms.

[11] Vide No. 1 of the Papers on Naval Architecture.

[12] Vide Annals of Philosophy, for November, 1826; No. 1 of the Papers on Naval Architecture, and No. 11 of the Essays and Gleanings on Naval Architecture.

[13] Foreign nations, and more particularly the Americans, find their advantage in having swift merchant ships, and therefore our assertion is warranted by facts.

[14] Caledonia, length 205 feet, breadth 53.5; Royal George, length 187 feet, breadth 52.33 feet; Queen Charlotte, length 190 feet, breadth 52.33 feet.

[15] Ville de Paris, length 185.62 feet; breadth 52.7 feet; Commerce de Marseilles, length 208.33 feet, breadth 54.79 feet.

[16] Old Bellerophon, length 168 feet, breadth 47.33 feet; New Bellerophon, length 192 feet, breadth 49 feet.

[17] Vide this gentleman’s speech on the Shipping Interests in the House of Commons, May 1827.

[18] Called by Capt. Brenton the Ohio; but it appears from Lieut. De Roos’ personal narrative, just published, that the Ohio is a two-decker of 102 guns. It is to be supposed, therefore, that the three-decker of 135 guns, called the Pennsylvania by the latter, is the ship alluded to by the former. It is a matter of great regret that Lieut. de Roos has not presented us with the precise dimensions of these ships.

[19] These dimensions carry the ratio of the length to breadth above 4-1/3 to 1.

[20] The French Admiral Willaumez, in his “Dictionnaire de Marine,” published in 1820, says under the article _Frégate_, that as far back as 1804, he had proposed a plan for a frigate of the largest size, with a round stern, wherein the quarter galleries were suppressed: the first frigate upon his plan was built at Brest about 1821.

[21] As the square root, so that to get _twice_ the velocity, _four_ times as much canvas must be spread; and this is the most favourable estimate that can be made.

[22] Vide Mr. Huskisson’s speech on the Shipping Interests.

[p039]

_On Malaria_. No. II.

[Communicated by J. Mac Culloch, M. D., F. R. S., &c. &c.]

Having pointed out, in the former paper on this subject, the nature of the soils or places, of whatever description, by which malaria is generated, it remains to notice a few other circumstances connected with its natural history, a knowledge of which is essential for the purposes of prevention; and finally to describe such modes of prevention, applicable to these several circumstances, as have been found useful in guarding against the attack of diseases from this cause. Under the first head, there remain to be considered, the effects of climate and season; the changes which occur in the production and propagation of malaria, from various natural and artificial causes; and also, the various modes in which it is propagated.

It has already been remarked, that a certain elevation of temperature was necessary to the production of this poison, though what the precise degree is, has not been ascertained; and as this is, chiefly, what distinguishes the regions or periods of the year which generate malaria, I need not make two divisions of season and climate. If, however, this temperature is not fixed, it will perhaps suffice for our present purposes to say that the greater part of Scotland, whether as to climate or season, seems incapable of generating the disease from this cause; though there are exceptions of a permanent nature, or exceptions of climate, as was perennially true of the Carse of Gowrie before its drainage; while there are others which happen when, as in the last year, there has been a peculiarly hot summer, and which are exceptions of season.

And thus it is as to more northern regions; where a hot summer becomes more than an equivalent for an average low temperature; as an example of which, there is no place where intermittents are more severe and abundant than at Stockholm. But the extreme of evil from this cause occurs, as is well known, in the tropical climates; appearing almost proportioned to the heat of the climate, and what is important to observe to the moisture also. The destructive effects of certain parts of Africa, India, America, and so forth, are familiarly known; and [p040] it is in these countries especially, that the diseases from this source constitute nearly the entire mortality of the human race. And thus, for Europe, it is in Spain, Italy, and Greece, and chiefly on their Mediterranean shores, that the activity of malaria scarcely yields to that of the intertropical climates; while in France, Holland, Germany, Hungary, and with us, in a far less degree, the production will be found regulated by the heat of the summers, all other circumstances being the same.

And if we thus account for the variations in the quantity and virulence of diseases in any given country, for noted seasons of epidemic in the countries which I have just named, and for the great prevalence of fevers among ourselves during the last few years, and particularly in the last summer, there is another point of scarcely inferior importance to be taken into the consideration, independently of that which relates to peculiar winds as connected with the propagation of this poison;—and this is, moisture.

I need not repeat that water in some form is necessary to the production of that peculiar vegetable decomposition which is the source of this poison; and so true is this, that even in the tropical regions, the diseases from this cause are nearly unknown in districts of peculiar dryness, as they are in the drier seasons of those countries. Thus, for example, Egypt is free from such fevers, except at the period of the subsidence of the Nile, unless where, as at Damietta, the cultivation of rice is pursued; and the same is true of Mesopotamia very remarkably: and if I dare not extend these illustrations, I must remark that in all these cases, the action of moisture is twofold, inasmuch as it not only accelerates vegetable decomposition, but renders the atmosphere a fitter conductor of this poison.

Taking these two causes of the increase in the quantity and in the action of malaria, we can explain many particulars which relate to its power in producing diseases: and as the knowledge of these is important as far as relates to the main object of this paper, prevention, it becomes necessary to explain them at a little more length.

As to season, the simplest case is that of the intertropical climates; and Africa offers the plainest instance among the [p041] whole. There, the malaria and the fever commence at the moment the rain falls; diminishing as the ground becomes thoroughly wetted, and recommencing as it dries. The explanation of all this ought to be obvious; and the same analogy governs all the hotter climates, as, though less conspicuously, it does our own. Hence we explain, both as to our spring and our autumn, the effects of heat following rain, or the reverse, and the diseases which are consequent on those changes: and thus it is, though more remarkably, in Italy, that a rainy autumn increases the number and severity of fevers; or, if the summer has been unusually dry, that they often do not appear till the commencement of the autumnal, or even the winter rains. And hence, also, even with us, the occurrence of a single rainy day or week, in the midst of the heats, will produce fevers; while the effect of this influence is such, that should there even be an entire rainy summer, and the subsequent one be hot and dry, this will be attended by an unusual production of malaria and disease.

And if I cannot detail all the various modes in which these circumstances may be modified, and how their effects may vary, it will be useful to make one remark on an error as relating to it which is universal among us, and into which even Lind has fallen. The error is, to think that the rain, the moisture, or the cold is itself the cause of the diseases which follow this state of things; while it is obviously a case analogous to that of Africa, if less severe, and the malaria is produced by these circumstances on soils which I formerly pointed out, and which Lind, like every one else, had neglected. But if I must pass over many interesting and useful conclusions to be drawn from these general principles, there is one fact which I must notice, and it is this:—

In spring, the combination of heat and moisture, easily explained, generates, most commonly, intermittents; or the effect of the malaria at this season differs from what it does in autumn: while as the heat advances and the ground dries, this kind of fever ceases to be produced, a new species, or the summer remittent, taking its place when the heat and the moisture of autumn begin to act. But under peculiar seasons of heat and moisture with us, it sometimes occurs, as it has done [p042] within the last years, that the intermittent season runs into the remittent one, or there is no midsummer interval of freedom from disease; while it has also happened, and in some parts of England in this last year, that what would have been intermittent fever in other years has been remittent; or the common fever has occupied the whole summer, continuously, even from March to November, as is the case in the worst regions of southern Europe.

Now, under these exceptions, which I was bound to explain, the commencement of intermittent, or of vernal ague, may be fixed about the middle or end of March, and its termination similarly in May; while that of remittent may be placed in the beginning of August, and its termination with the middle or end of October. How these periods may otherwise be affected by the more or less insalubrious nature of the district or place, will easily be judged of by those who will reflect for themselves on what I dare not explain, lest I should infringe too far on my limits. All else that I can venture on, as to this part of the question in hand, relates to the effects of the different times of the day on the production, propagation, or influence of malaria, and it is one which is of no small importance in a practical view.

Whether the changes as to temperature and moisture which occur within the space of twenty-four hours, affect the production or propagation of malaria, I will not here inquire minutely, from the fear of prolonging this very limited paper; but the general facts, as to its effects, are these: If we commence with the sun on the meridian, there appears, even in the worst climates, very little hazard of fever; while in Italy, it is believed that there is, generally, little or no hazard, except in some peculiarly pestilential places, and under particular kinds of inattention or neglect. Either the malaria is decomposed or destroyed by the heat, or else the air from its dryness ceases to be a conductor; but as evening approaches, its influence becomes powerful and dangerous, being supposed most generally to extend all through the night; while in some parts of that country it is a popular belief that it terminates before midnight, or with the precipitation of the atmospheric moisture. Whether this last opinion is true or not, the general fact explains the popular [p043] belief, and truth, respecting the poisonous effects of dew in the hot climates; the supposed pernicious quality of this depending evidently on the malaria by which its formation is accompanied. And in this case it is probable that the evil arises, not from a fresh or peculiar generation of malaria, but from the mere fact that the moist atmosphere is a better conductor than a dry one.

Not to be unnecessarily minute, we thus also explain the danger of exposure to the morning air in similar situations; the facts, as they relate to the conducting of malaria, being the same, though the meteorological circumstances are somewhat different. Hence, also, we see why the grey mists which hang over wet grounds in the evening in our own climate, are esteemed pernicious; the truth, however, being, that they are perfectly innocent at certain seasons and in certain places—as in the greater part of Scotland, for example, or in those places and at those periods where malaria is not produced. The distinction is valuable, because of the inconvenience of restrictions on this subject, and because to know where the hazard really lies is to reduce those, and also to prevent the infraction of rules by not extending them beyond what is necessary; and thus also by seeing what are the real dangers of what is called night air, we more easily avoid them. Night air is avoided now, under a false philosophy, because it is cold or damp, or for some other vague reason; while the dangers from mere dampness or cold are as nothing compared to those here pointed out; which also occur precisely where they are least feared, namely, in warm summer evenings, after refreshing showers, and so forth. Hence it is that fevers are produced in summer, in rural situations, and especially perhaps amid the most engaging scenery, by evening walks and exposure to what is naturally considered, as it is felt to be, a balmy and refreshing sequel to a hot day. Let this be enjoyed where it can with safety, and as it often may; but such evening walks will not be safe in any of those situations which I need not repeat here; after having detailed them as I have done in the former paper. And lest I should be accused of wishing to excite unnecessary alarm, I consider, on the contrary, that it ought to be diminished by these remarks; because, if we take the whole of [p044] England, there is perhaps not one acre in a hundred thousand where there is danger from night air, or from malaria in any mode; so that to distinguish where that lies, is to have relieved from useless fears all those who may learn to make the distinctions under review.

To pass from what relates to climate and season, and to proceed to the propagation, simply, of malaria, it is almost superfluous to say, that its influence, as to the production of disease, is much regulated by proximity, which implies a state of concentration or accumulation. Hence the danger arising from vicinity; while, as I formerly remarked, where the generating source is small, this becomes necessary to its effect, since dilution may be expected to destroy the power of the poison.

For analogous reasons, its effect in the production of disease is increased by concentration or condensation; and such a state of things takes place in narrow and confined valleys, or in places surrounded by woods, or in woods themselves; in any situation, in short, where the poison is produced, and is so sheltered from winds that ventilation becomes difficult. And if it is probable that this is one chief reason of the peculiarly insalubrious nature of woods and jungles in hot climates, so is it an universal remark in Italy, that the short valleys in which the air cannot circulate are among the most pestilential spots. And if this explains, also, in some measure, the bad effects of calm weather, so does it account for the unusually pestiferous nature of rivers and lakes confined within wood, as are those of the tropical climates, and as there are many also in different parts of Europe. That we ourselves are not exempt from these additional causes of the influence of malaria, would be easily shown by many references, were it not for the reason which has caused me to exclude them.

It is another important question for practice, how far and in what manner malaria can be conveyed by the winds to places where it is not produced, so as to act in exciting disease. That it is conveyed to certain distances by winds is amply proved by an abundant experience, and I may first detail a few of the most useful particulars as to this fact. In Italy and Greece, it is observed, that where long valleys terminate on sea shores, on which the exits of the rivers are swampy, it is an [p045] effect of the sea breeze, by crossing such marshy ground, to convey the malaria up into the interior country, to considerable distances, and to places which are in themselves not insalubrious. Thus, also, does such a breeze, especially when it is a warm wind, convey the poison up the acclivities of hills, even to a considerable range of distance or elevation; a process facilitated by the natural tendency of such winds to ascend. And as a striking proof of this migration of malaria, it appears from Capt. Smyth’s statistical account of the insalubrious villages in Sicily, that out of more than seventy, about one-half are not seated near or on lands producing this substance, but on acclivities, at varying distances—thus receiving it through migration. The same is remarked by Montfalcon of many towns in France; while in some, the place at a distance is even more unhealthy than that which is immediately situated in the marsh itself: and in our own country, this is equally said to be true of the backwater at Weymouth, and of the marshes of St. Blasey in Cornwall, acting more powerfully at some distance than in the immediate spot.

With respect to the absolute distance to which the malaria can be conveyed, it is yet an obscure circumstance, or at least the maximum has not been fixed; but it is at least ascertained that the convent of Camaldoli receives it from the Lake Agnano, at a distance of three miles; while from certain naval reports, a distance of five miles has been proved to permit its transmission,—and from an evidence that cannot be doubted, inasmuch as it was the sudden breaking out of fever in a healthy ship, anchored at that distance from the shore, on the coming off of the land wind, attended by its peculiar and well-known smell.

These facts are satisfactory thus far, and it would be abundantly easy to add to them; but there is reason to suspect that it can be conveyed to far greater distances, in certain favourable circumstances: those reasons, in the first place, being derived from certain meteorological analogies and considerations, and in the next confirmed by experience. It is notorious that the ague appears on our eastern coasts with the first east winds of spring; and while this circumstance is most common on those of England, as for example, in Kent, Essex, Norfolk, [p046] Suffolk, and Lincolnshire, it is not thus limited, since it is known to happen further north, and even in Scotland, where malaria is not indigenous to the soil. It is very true that if we take any inland position in the places thus noted, the natural solution is, that the malaria is generated in the very soil itself of England, and merely propagated, perhaps even to very moderate distances, through those winds. But the occurrence of disease cannot be explained thus, when the place in question is so situated that there is no land to the eastward, or when the breeze is, most literally and rigidly, a sea breeze; while, when ague thus occurs on the east coast of Scotland, where it is not produced by the soil, it must be imported by the east wind.

These are the facts; while as malaria is not produced by the sea itself in any known circumstance, though a vegetating sea beach may give rise to it, we must seek the cause in lands far distant, and consider this as a case of propagation of the poison from the shores of Holland; and those shores are unquestionably competent to that effect: so that the only question that remains, the fact being admitted, is, whether, _à priori_, or theoretically, such a view is probable, or whether it is consistent with those physical principles that are concerned in the propagation of malaria.

I am aware that such a view will excite the incredulity of those who have not attended to this subject; though it appears to me that it comprises nothing averse to our knowledge of the philosophical circumstances concerned. In the first place, let us remark that the east wind, and particularly the east winds of spring, are notorious for their moisture, and that a moist air is the best conductor of malaria, as moisture in the air, under the form of evening mists, or in other modes, appears even to be its proper vehicle, or residence, if I may use such a term; and though I have not as yet separated the case of a fog, I may now remark, that the effect in question, or the production of agues by fogs arriving from the sea, is even more notorious than their generation by an ordinary clear wind. So notorious and popular, indeed, is this fact, that the fog itself is deemed the source of the disease, as the east wind under any form is, in other circumstances; while I hope it will even now appear, [p047] that the real cause lies in the malaria transported or conveyed by those winds or fogs, and of which they are the true and best repository and vehicle.

And these are the reasons for thinking that the malaria, with the wind, may be transported to a distance as great as that which the present view requires; most easily perhaps in a fog, but without difficulty even in a clear wind. It is remarkable that the east wind, as it is the most persevering, is that one also which preserves the most steady horizontal and linear course. I have also shown, in a former work, that it is a property of winds to travel in distinct lines through a tranquil atmosphere, and often in streams of a very limited breadth; that opposing streams will also move, in absolute contact; and that even rapid streams of wind will cross each other’s courses without difficulty. This proves that, in any such stream, there is a principle of self-preservation or integrity, and renders it probable that the several portions retain the same relative places to each other, at any distance, during the career of the whole; and there is a proof of this afforded in the fact of those columns or streams of insects which are brought over by such winds, and very frequently from those very countries, or from Holland and Flanders, in the most regular order, or without disturbance or dispersion.

Hence it may be argued, that if a malaria, generated any where and conveyed by the winds, can be transported to a distance of three miles, as has been proved, there is no reason why it should not travel much farther, or to any distance that can be assumed: and if this be true of a clear wind, the case of a fog is even a much stronger one; since there is little reason to doubt that the individual parts of such fog, in any assumed mass, will retain their relative places to each other, as perfectly after a journey of any given number of miles, as they did at the point of production; and if a portion of malaria has been united to a portion of fog, in the marsh which produced both, or whence both have come, there is every apparent reason why it should be found in that same portion at any farther or assumed distance, because there is no cause for either its dispersion or its decomposition.

A fog is a cloud, simply; and it is notorious that a single [p048] cloud, and often of very small dimensions, will remain at rest in the atmosphere, or travel very many miles without the loss of its integrity; however we may imagine it assailed by the various meteorological causes of destruction, as well as by mechanical violence. This in itself proves the consistency with which a current of wind preserves the relative positions of its integral parts; because it is plain that a disturbance among these must disturb or destroy the cloud which, in reality, forms a portion of that current, as a gaseous body: and since that cloud is a mist, since it might have been the very evening mist embodying a malaria, and since it is its real vehicle and repository, it is plain that had it, or any individual cloud, contained such a portion of malaria, it must have had the power of transmitting that, and would actually have transported it to any distance to which itself might travel. Thus, it is evident, may a fog, generated in Holland, carry without difficulty to the limits of its range, or to the coast of England, that malaria which became entangled with it at its birth-place or in its passage; and thus, I have little doubt, is the fact of those agues explained, and this transportation to such distances established.

I cannot, at least, conceive any demonstration as to facts of this nature more convincing, nor anything wanting to the proof; while I may proceed to make some remarks on the east wind, and on fogs, simply, because they concern this question.

The proof that it is a malaria in the fog, and not the fog itself, which is the cause of disease, is evinced by the following fact; while it ought surely to be unnecessary to say, that if fog alone could produce such fever, water itself must be the poison: since a fog is a cloud, and its constituents, when pure, are only atmospheric air and water. No intermittents are ever produced on the western or northern shores by the sea fogs, and for the plain reason, that there is no land whence they arrive. The clouds of mountainous regions do not produce fevers, though these also are fogs; and what forms a most absolute proof of this is, that in Flanders, it is the fogs which come with a southwest wind, or the southerly winds themselves, which transport and propagate malaria and disease; while; as soon as the winds shift, and blow from the sea, the fevers [p049] disappear, though those particular winds are so charged with fog, as to darken the whole country for days: and it will be found an invariable rule all over the world, that when a fog is the apparent cause of disease, or when an east wind is such, it is because these have been generated in a land of marshes, or have traversed one; and that, under other circumstances, or where no pernicious land lies in the way, they are as innocent as any other fogs and winds, and that the hazard and the suffering will arise from those, be they whatever they may, which traverse pestilential lands.

But I must defer this particular and interesting subject to another occasion, lest I make this article too long; and proceed to examine some other circumstances connected with the transportation of malaria.

First, however, I must notice one fact as to this transportation from Holland, partly because it is a necessary fact in the history of malaria, and partly because it might be used as an argument against the view which I have just given. The east winds of autumn are not supposed to bring remittents, as those of spring bring agues, though I cannot assert that this is absolutely true. Being assumed, the solution is easy. If the winds of this nature in spring, are notedly moist, and thus vehicles of malaria, the case is exactly the reverse with the east winds of summer and autumn; or as the east wind may be the most moist of winds, so may it be the most dry; while it is a consequence of its extreme dryness, in fact, that it is always the very cause of our burning summers. This is the history of our last summers, and it is invariable, whether as it relates to seasons or single days; and it is plainly owing to its permitting the more ready transmission of the sun’s rays. That it is the very harmattan of Africa, it is almost unnecessary to say; and as dry wind is not a conductor of malaria, as that poison is in fact decomposed or destroyed in these circumstances, daily and invariably, it is easy to see why the remittents of Holland should not be transported, like its intermittents, though even this may possibly happen under particular circumstances.

To proceed; and to the next remarkable facts connected with the propagation of malaria.—The most singular of these is its limitation, or that yet unexplained property by which it is [p050] determined in a particular direction, or confined to a particular spot, while it is a piece of knowledge of some practical value. There is an appearance of incredibility about many of these facts, and, accordingly, they have not only been disbelieved but ridiculed, although nothing in the whole history of this substance is better established.

With respect to direction, in the first place, it is remarked in Italy, currently, that this poison will enter the lower stories of houses, particularly with open windows, when the next above escape; and hence, in many places, no one ventures to sleep on ground floors: and the truth of this was confirmed in the barracks at Jamaica by Dr. Hunter; as the cases of fever occurring among the men in the lower rooms much exceeded those which happened in the upper ones. But I am also informed, that in some places in Norfolk this peculiarity is reversed; or that there are houses where it is remarked that the ground-floors are safe, while no one can sleep in the upper stories without hazard.

That malaria may in some manner be attached to the soil is also well known by its effects, and especially in Italy. There it is remarked that it is extremely hazardous to cut down certain bushy plants which appear to entangle it, and that fevers are a frequent consequence of such carelessness. Thus, also, does fever seize on the labourers who may incautiously sit down on the ground, while they would escape in the erect posture; being thus, indeed, sometimes suddenly struck with apoplexy, which is one of the effects of this poison, or even with death.

It has similarly been observed that it is often retained in the shelter of drains, or in the ditches of fortifications; whence frequent fevers among the sentries on particular guards, when the other soldiers escape. And thus was it even proved at Malta, that it was transported from the sea-shore, and thus lodged in a dry ditch of the works at Valetta; all these facts being possibly to be explained, by supposing it possessed of a greater specific gravity than the atmosphere, or else attached to vapour thus weighty, exhibiting effects analogous to those which carbonic acid displays in the Solfatara.

But the circumstance most difficult of explanation is, that in Rome, and numerous places in Italy, and even where it is [p051] transported from a distance by the winds, not generated on the spot, it is found, perennially, and through the whole course of successive years, to occupy certain places, and to avoid, as constantly, others quite near, and, as far as the eye can judge, equally exposed, and in all respects similar. Thus, one side of a small garden, one side of a street, or one house, will be for ever exposed to disease, or uninhabitable, when, at a few feet or yards distant, the very same places are as constantly free of danger: and thus it was found at the village of Faro, in Sicily, that all the troops of our army quartered on one side of the single street which formed it, were affected by fevers, and suffered great mortality, while those on the other remained in health.

But the most remarkable case of this nature known to me, is a domestic one, and which rests on the testimony of thousands of persons, or of the whole country, however incredible it may appear. It is, that between Chatham and Brighton, including every town and single house, and Sittingbourne among the rest, the ague affects the left hand side of the turnpike road, or the northern side, and does not touch the right side, though the road itself forms the only line of separation.

We cannot as yet conjecture the cause of this very singular circumstance or property, at least in cases of this nature; though, under certain events of this kind, there are some facts in meteorology that may offer a solution. These are the notorious ones, that a hoar frost, or a dew, will sometimes be found most accurately limited, both vertically and horizontally, by a definite line; stopping, for example, at a particular hedge, and reaching to a certain altitude on a tree: but for the other cases, we must yet wait for a period of more accurate knowledge as to this singular substance.

There is now one circumstance of importance, relating to the destruction or decomposition of malaria, which must not be passed over, from the interest of the facts depending on it: this is, that its propagation is checked by the streets of a crowded town, and apparently owing to this very cause, decomposition. Thus it is observed, that the fever never appears in the Judaicum of Rome, and, similarly, that the crowded streets and the poor people escape, when the opulent houses and open [p052] streets are attacked; and hence the Villa Borghese, among many other palaces and opulent houses in Rome, has been abandoned, while such desertion, being limited exclusively to houses where the air is most open and free, naturally excites wonder: the cause, however, is now plain; and thus it now appears why it was that the Penitentiary in Westminster suffered formerly from dysentery, originating in this cause, when no such disease appeared among the neighbouring inhabitants.

And if this fact is of value as it may relate to the erection of open streets in any place of this nature, it is most important to point out what has been the continuous effect at Rome, as the ultimate consequences threaten to be extremely serious.

It appears that from cutting down some forests which many years ago occupied the declivities of the hills to the southward of Rome, the malaria was let in upon that city from the Pontine marshes; and, further, that the extirpation of a similar wood to the eastward had let in the same poison upon another quarter. Thus it has been found to enter the city through the Porta del Popolo, while, for many years past, it has been gradually extending its influence through the streets; leading annually and successively to the abandonment of many houses and palaces, and still annually increasing and extending its ravages; so as, at length, as I understand, to have even become sensible at the Vatican. And the lines which it follows are distinctly traced out by the inhabitants; while, as I have already said, it is only the houses of the opulent which suffer, further than as the abandonment of these may also influence the inferior ones in their neighbourhood.

Whatever the original cause may be, and however the direction, abstractedly, may be regulated by the winds and the forms of the streets, or by local and fixed circumstances, it is plain that the annual extension is the consequence of desertion, and that as the inhabitants retire from before it, it acquires the means of making a new step and a further progress; because thus they withdraw those fires and smoke, or whatever else it be, dependent on human crowds, which decomposes and destroys this substance. And hence it must follow, that as Rome shall become still further abandoned and depopulated, from want of industry, or from political feebleness [p053] added to this cause, the effects must be expected to increase in a sort of geometrical ratio; almost leading to the fear that the whole city itself may, in time, fall a victim to it, or become abandoned to the wolves and mosquitoes.

If I dare not inquire more minutely into the remaining circumstances connected with the propagation of malaria, lest I should extend this article to an inconvenient length, it is necessary now to offer some remarks on prevention, and especially as it relates to this circumstance—the propagation of the poison; since the rules for prevention, as far as this relates to production, may be deduced from what was said in a former paper on this subject, and relate chiefly to the drainage of lands, and to other practices, more or less obvious, which a little reflection will, without much difficulty, deduce from what was there said.

It is plain, in the first place, that as far as the winds are concerned, it is by opposing obstacles to their course that we must attempt to counteract or divert their influence; and that, in this case, it is through the use of trees alone that we possess any power. Thus reversely, as in the case just stated, the cutting down of trees and forests has often been a serious cause of diseases in certain countries, by admitting a malaria to particular spots; though it is easy to see that where any given spot suffers from malaria, through condensation or confinement, the clearing away of these would be the remedy, by attaining a free ventilation. To detail the particular modes in which remedies may be applied through this species of aid, is obviously unnecessary, and not easy, as it must depend on local circumstances, differing for each place; but I may remark, as an example in illustration of my meaning, that where, as in many of the narrow and prolonged valleys of Greece, the sea shore is a marsh, the remedy would be to plant a screen of trees beyond it, and thus to prevent the sea winds from passing into the interior. And thus did the ancient Romans compel the planting of trees on the shores of Latium, to check the current from the Pontine marshes; rendering groves sacred, under heavy penalties, and enacting other laws with the same intentions.

With respect to such temporary precautions in these cases [p054] as may concern armies in the field, or in camps, it is plain that they will depend on attention to the courses and seasons of the winds; while it would be abundantly easy to accumulate, from the histories of campaigns, the most fearful examples of mortality produced by neglect of these and similar precautions, and even down to almost the very date at which I am writing: and there can be no hesitation in saying, that an intimate and accurate knowledge of every thing which concerns the production and propagation of malaria, forms a most important branch in that information necessary to a soldier, and above all to the quarter-master-general’s department and the medical staff: while, did I dare to record but a very small portion of the mortality experienced, not only in our own armies, but in those of Europe at large, during even the last war, from ignorance or neglect on this subject, it would, I believe, be found that it almost equalled the mortality produced by the actual collision of war itself. Walcheren will not soon be forgotten; if we have ceased to think of our mortal Havannah expedition; and if a French army at Naples was diminished by twenty thousand men, out of twenty-four, in four days, from this cause; if Orloff lost nearly his entire army in Paros; if Hungary has more than once destroyed ten times the number of men by fever that it did by the sword,—these are but trifles in the mass of reasons for saying, that no subject can well be more important, and no knowledge much more necessary to the commander of an army.

Some other points relating to prevention may deserve a few words of notice, before I pass from this subject; if here, also, I must be brief. Not to repeat the cautions founded on what relates to the power of evening and morning, it has been asserted that the use of a gauze veil will prevent the effect of malaria; and it is not improbable that the air accumulated within that, may have the power of decomposing the poison: it is an opinion, at least, which is universal among the people in Malta, and very general in Spain and Portugal. It is also found that fires and smoke are useful, and especially on military service; the experiment having been tried on a very large scale by Napoleon before Mantua, and on a smaller one in Africa, with the most perfect success. With respect to [p055] personal precautions, it is universally recommended to use wine and a good diet, and especially never to leave the house in the evening in situations peculiarly insalubrious, without the previous use of wine or spirits; whence the universal practice of Holland in this respect. Thus, also, narcotics prevent its influence; whence the wide use of tobacco, of which the salutary effects appear to be most amply established.

As to the tropical countries, there is here also one important remark, which, from the great neglect of the fact, and its ruinous consequences, appear particularly to demand a statement in this place. It is the universal experience of the inhabitants, that the attack of malaria, or the production of fevers, is aided by the use of a full or animal diet; by the use of some particular articles of food, such as butter; by excess in eating, generally; and, above all, by eating in the heat of the day. This is not merely well known to the negroes, but the fact is distinctly stated to travellers, and the caution urged, however often it has been neglected, and especially by our own countrymen. Of this, in particular, Major Denham is a strong testimony; while he attributes his own exclusive preservation to his having rigidly followed the recommendations of the natives, which were always urged with the greatest earnestness. And if we examine the causes of death, in most cases, of our African travellers especially, I think there will be strong reasons for believing that their lives have often been sacrificed to this very negligence or obstinacy; while it is most evident that Niebuhr’s party, in particular, owed the loss of their lives to what may be safely called gluttony: and it is to be suspected that this will also explain the loss of Captain Tuckey’s party; while, with respect to nations, it has long been known that the English, the Dutch, and the northern voracious people in general, who habitually indulge themselves in the customs of their original country as tropical colonists, have always been greater sufferers from the effects of those climates than the French and the Spaniards, and apparently from this very difference. And there seems little doubt, generally, that the vegetable diet of Africa and Hindostan is the best security against the evil influence of those climates, and that the chief sufferings of our [p056] own colonists arise from transferring to those situations their ancient habits of full and free living.

As I must not prolong this subject much further, I shall now pass to a few remarks, but very brief ones, on the geography of malaria as it relates to those parts of the continent of Europe most frequented by English travellers; not daring to take room for actual and useful information on that head, but wishing to point out merely the importance of such geographical knowledge to those persons, on account of the hazards which they so universally incur from that ignorance or neglect, and of the great mass of suffering, and also of mortality, which has been the lot of persons who had resorted to those climates as travellers, or migrating residents, from various motives, and not unfrequently with views to health. How often health has been lost where it was sought, will be but too apparent to any one who has chanced to possess an extensive acquaintance of this nature.

Of Italy I can but afford to say generally, that except at a very few points where the Alps or Apennines reach the sea, the whole of its shores are pestilential, and often to such a degree as to lead to their entire desertion, more frequently to their abandonment in summer. And to avoid wet lands, or low lands, is not always a sufficient precaution; since the most pestilential parts of the maremma of Tuscany are dry, and since the annual mortality of Sienna from fevers, even without epidemics, is one in ten. In the north of Italy, the great plain is similarly insalubrious; though the more unhealthy district does not commence until we arrive at Mantua, extending thence to the sea. Of the Mediterranean islands, I can only afford room to say, that the same rule holds good as to the sea coasts, while the entire of Greece in the same circumstances is similarly unhealthy, and subject to autumnal fevers in as great a degree as the worst parts of Italy. The same is true of Spain and Portugal, and the same rule also will be a guide; namely, that malaria is to be expected in all the flat grounds, even when under cultivation, and at all the exits of rivers on the sea, even though no marshes should be present: and if I were desirous to name any tract of land in Spain peculiarly [p057] insalubrious, it would be the province of Valencia; while Carthagena is almost invariably fatal even to those who, as labourers, are compelled to resort to it for the needful work of its port, even during a few days.

Of France, little as it has hitherto been suspected by those who, associating the term malaria with Italy, have been accustomed to consider it as peculiar to that country, it would scarcely be untrue to say that it contains as large a portion of insalubrious territory as Italy itself, and produces fever and disease of as great severity and extent, not merely on its sea coasts, but over very extensive tracts in its interior. And this insalubrity may be conjectured, when there are entire districts in which the average of life does not exceed twenty, and in which the entire people are diseased from their births to their graves. Such tracts are found chiefly on the course of the Loire, and some other of the great rivers; and among them, Bresse in the Lyonnais, the plain of Forez, and Sologne in the Orleannais, are of the most notorious; while the coasts of Normandy, and the whole of low Britanny, are similarly subject to eternal intermittents, or to epidemic seasons of autumnal fevers, amounting to absolute pestilences. And how English families have suffered in this country from the incautious choice of residences in such places, will be easily ascertained by whoever shall be at the trouble of making the necessary inquiries.

But as I dare not pursue this extensive subject, I can only suggest to our countrymen the utility of making themselves acquainted with this matter, and with this dangerous geography, before encountering the hazards which await them; while to physicians I need still less name the necessity of that knowledge, since it is so often their duty to choose and recommend for their patients, and since no man can feel much at his ease who finds that he has sent into a land of malaria the patient who has already been suffering from its diseases, or that where he speculates on the cure of a consumption, that cure is attained through the death of the patient, at Avignon, or at Poitiers, or Nantes, or in some or other of the numerous places subject to this most fearful poison.

It remains only to give a brief enumeration of the diseases [p058] which are the produce of malaria, and of the general condition of the inhabitants in the countries subject to it. With respect to this latter, the most remarkable general fact is the contracted duration of life. In England, the average may, if not very accurately, and indeed considerably under the mark, be taken at 50; and when in Holland it is but 25, it follows that the half of human life is at once cut off by this destructive agent. In the parts of France to which I have alluded, it becomes as low as 22 and 20, and Condorcet, indeed, has calculated it as low as 18. With this, very few attain the age of 50; and in appearance and strength, this term is equivalent to 80 in ordinary climates; while 40 forms the general limit of extreme and rare old age. The period of age, indeed, commences after 20; and it is remarked, in particular, that the females become old in appearance immediately after 17, and have, even at 20, the aspect of old women. In many places, even the children are diseased from their birth; while the life which is dragged on by the whole population, is a life of perpetual disease, and most frequently of inveterate and incurable intermittents, or of a constant febrile state, with debility, affections of the stomach, dropsy, and far more than I need here enumerate.

While the countenances of the people in those countries are sallow or yellow, and often livid, they are frequently so emaciated as to appear like walking spectres, though the abdomen is generally enlarged, in consequence either of visceral affections or dropsy. With these, rickets, varices, hernia, and, in females, chlorosis, together with scorbutic diseases, ulcers, and so forth, are common; and it is even to be suspected that the cretinage may depend on this cause, since goitre is also one of the results of malaria, and since, in the Maremma of Tuscany, idiotism is a noted consequence of this pestilential influence.

The general mental condition is no less remarkable; since it consists in an universal apathy, recklessness, indolence, and melancholy, added to a fatalism which prevents them from even desiring to better their condition, or to avoid such portion of the evils around them as care and attention might diminish: and while it is asserted that even the moral character becomes [p059] similarly depraved, I prefer a reference to Montfalcon for a picture which it would not be very agreeable to transcribe.

As to the absolute or positive diseases, besides those which I have already named, I need scarcely say that remittent and intermittent fevers, under endless varieties and types, form the great mass; and next in order to them, may be placed dysentery and cholera, together with diarrhœa. To these I must also add, those painful diseases of the nerves, of which sciatica stands foremost, and the remainder of which may be ranked under the general term of neuralgia; and further, a considerable number of inflammatory diseases of a more or less remittent type, among which rheumatism under various forms is the most general, and the intermittent ophthalmia the most remarkable. Lastly, I must include the various paralytic affections; since apoplexy is one of the primary and direct consequences of malaria, as various paralytic affections are the produce of intermittent, or the consequences of the diseases of the nerves which are associated with it.

It is still a curious and interesting fact, that this poison affects, in an analogous manner, many different animals, and appears, in reality, to be the cause of all the noted endemics and remarkable epidemics which occur in the agricultural animals in particular. This has been noticed even by Livy: and in France and Italy it is equally familiar that the severe seasons of fever among the people are similarly seasons of epidemics to black-cattle and sheep, while the symptoms are as nearly the same as they could be in the circumstances, and the appearances on dissection also correspond. Thus also does it appear probable, that the rot in sheep is actually the produce of malaria, as is indeed the received opinion among French veterinarians; while Mr. Royston has observed that the animals of this class are subject to distinct intermittents.

And while it is not less familiar in the West Indies, and in Dominica particularly, that dogs suffer from a mortal fever in the same seasons and periods as the people, the epidemic always breaking out in them first, I have the most unexceptionable medical evidence of the occurrence of a regular and well-marked tertian in a dog; that evidence consisting in the concurring decision of many surgeons, by whom the case was [p060] frequently examined, during a very long period. But it is time to terminate a paper, which, if it is but a sketch of an important subject, will at least convey to those to whom malaria has not hitherto been an object of attention, a general notion of the leading particulars which appertain to its natural history.

J. M.

_Elements of Chemistry, including the recent Discoveries and Doctrines of the Science. By_ Edward Turner, M.D., F.R.S.E., &c., &c. _Edinburgh_, 1827.

This is a closely-printed octavo of 700 pages, and presents us with something more original, clear, and accurate than we have lately met with in modern chemistry. It comprehends a perspicuous view of the present state of chemical science; and, as far as its limits admit, the theoretical parts are, with some exceptions, well and distinctly worked out; nor are the practical details of manipulation neglected, though they evidently occupy a secondary place in our author’s estimation. To the arrangement we must at once decidedly object—it is indeed evident that Dr. Turner has pitched upon Dr. Thomas Thomson as his _magnus Apollo_, and here and elsewhere the book is tainted accordingly.

This work is divided into four principal parts;—the first relates to what Dr. Turner, following his prototype, Dr. Thomson, calls _imponderables_, and a definition of them follows, which leads us to suggest the term _inexpressibles_, as equally appropriate. But, waiving this objection, the details relating to them are well and clearly given. Thus, after some prefatory remarks upon the subject of caloric or heat, (we prefer the latter term, and cannot allow its ambiguity,) its modes of communication are considered, first, as being _conducted_ through bodies, and then as _radiating_ through free space. In regard to the theories affecting the latter, our author wisely, as we think, prefers that of Prevost to that of Pictet. The _effects_ of heat are next discussed, such as _expansion_, including an account of the thermometer, and of the relative capacities of bodies for heat; _liquefaction_, _vaporisation_, _ebullition_, _evaporation_, and the _constitution of gases_ and lastly, the sources of heat are mentioned, but the details are referred to other parts of the work. [p061]

_Light_ is next treated of, but we think too hastily, and too much in the abstract.

Now the subjects of heat and light are obviously of the utmost importance to the chemical philosopher, and they are very extensive, and intricate and difficult to treat of, inasmuch as the writer is necessarily upon the confines of chemical and mechanical philosophy, and should be expert in both. When, therefore, elementary works on chemistry are so written and arranged as to serve as text-books for lectures, and indexes of reference to more accurate information, we can make due allowance for brevity; but when the subject is intended to be formally and completely developed to the student, independent of other ocular and oral aids, much more extensive description and detailed explanation is required, than is to be found either in our author’s “Elements,” or in any other analogous condensation of chemistry. Dr. Henry understands the requisite mode of conveying information in these cases better than most writers; and when he takes pains, and speaks for himself, has the talent of being brief, and at the same time minute, deep, and clear. Dr. Ure, as his dictionary shows, is an eminent example of such a writer—_he_ of course is neglected, where, as with our author, Dr. Thomson is in the ascendant; but the article caloric, in his dictionary, will at once explain and illustrate our meaning, and would furnish an admirable foundation for a detailed essay or treatise upon the subject. So extensive, indeed, are the precincts of chemistry now becoming, that either our _systems_ must become very voluminous, or we must adopt the plan, which to us appears preferable, of distinct treatises upon different branches of the science. Thus, a separate work on heat and light; another on electricity and magnetism; another on attraction and the theory of combination; a fourth on the constitution and properties of the unmetallic elementary bodies; a fifth on the metals and their compounds; a sixth on vegetable, and a seventh on animal chemistry and physiology; an eighth on the chemistry of the arts; and lastly, a treatise on chemical manipulation in general, would include all that appears essentially requisite; and as no one is supposed to be equally well versed in all branches of the science, or in all details of the art, an opportunity of selection would thus be afforded, so that each writer might choose that particular department which he is most accurately acquainted with, or which has formed his favourite study. Mr. Faraday has already, as may be said, led the way in such a plan, by the publication of his _Chemical [p062] Manipulation_, a work hitherto exceedingly wanted in the laboratory, equally useful to the proficient and to the student, and eminently creditable to the industry and skill of the author, and to the school whence it emanates. We shall of course take an early opportunity of introducing this book in a more formal way to the attention of our chemical readers.

In looking over Dr. Turner’s first and second sections on caloric and light, in the _Elements_ now before us, we find little but brevity to complain of;—there are, however, one or two trifling historical inaccuracies: thus, at page 14, the discovery of _invisible_ heating rays is ascribed to Saussure and Pictet; but it is, in fact, of much more remote origin—it was well known to the Florentine academicians, and we may even trace the idea in Lucretius, (_De Rerum Naturâ_, lib, v. 1, 609.)

Forsitan et rosea Sol alte lampade lucens Possideat multum _cæcis fervoribus ignem_ Circum se, _nullo qui sit fulgore notatus, &c._

At page 31 we have an account of Wedgwood’s pyrometer, which is said to be “little employed at present, because its indications cannot be relied on;”—the fact is, that it is never used, and that we owe to Sir James Hall ample reasons for placing no confidence in it.

The subject of _specific heat_ is clearly explained, and so are the phenomena of liquefaction and evaporation. In regard to the constitution of gases, the author remarks, that the experiments of Sir H. Davy and Mr. Faraday on the liquefaction of gaseous substances, appear to justify the opinion that gases are merely the vapours of extremely volatile liquids. Mr. Faraday has proved this in regard to several of the gases, and analogy leads us to apply it to the rest;—but what share Sir H. Davy had in the discovery, we know not; for Mr. Faraday actually condensed chlorine into a liquid before Sir H. had heard or thought about the matter. _Light_, and its phenomena as connected with chemistry, is superficially passed over in the second section, and the third brings us to the important article “Electricity.”

We are willing to admit that the subject of electricity is a very difficult one for the chemist to deal with—he must necessarily say much upon it, and is equally obliged to omit abstract details which are often necessary to its explanation, and yet too prolix and bulky for an elementary chemical work. So that it requires considerable acquaintance with the subject to give a perspicuous and yet concise abstract, [p063] such as may be useful to the student. Dr. Turner has not been very successful in effecting this _desideratum_, and has unnecessarily introduced two sections, the one on electricity, the other on galvanism. He also talks of the “science of galvanism,” which is in bad taste, and erroneously asserts that the energy of the pile is proportional to the degree of chemical action which takes place; a statement by no means correct, inasmuch as the energy of De Luc’s column is directly proportional to the number of alternations, and appears entirely independent of chemical action; and again, a series of 2000 plates, arranged in the usual Voltaic apparatus, when perfectly bright and clean, and the cells filled with distilled water only, give a much more powerful shock, and cause a greater divergence of the leaves of the electrometer than when the apparatus is charged with diluted acids. Here, those very singular phenomena, which electricians distinguish by the terms _quantity_ and _intensity_, appear perfectly distinct; and between these our author does not sufficiently discriminate, but jumbles the whole under the term _activity_. In describing the chemical energies, too, of the pile, or its decomposing powers, the Doctor entirely overlooks the important and curious influence of water. He says that acids and salts are all decomposed, without exception, one of their elements appearing at one side of the battery, and the other at its opposite extremity; (_i. e._ we presume, at its positive and negative poles.) But the fact is, that, excepting where it merely acts as a source of heat, nothing is decomposable by electricity without the intervention of water; the hydrogen and oxygen of which respectively accompany the elements of the other compounds. Not an atom of potassium can be obtained unless the potassa be moistened; nor can any salt be decomposed except water be present. Sir Humphry says, it is required, to render the substance a conductor; but its operation is more recondite, and there is something mysterious and still unexplained in the uniform appearance of hydrogen and oxygen at the opposite poles, when far apart in water, and in all other cases of true polar electro-chemical decomposition. At page 86, the unfortunate protectors of ships’ bottoms are introduced—a subject about which the less is said the better;—and, as to electro-magnetism, it is merely mentioned as to its leading phenomena, in the space of three or four pages; nor is anything new suggested upon the “Theory of the Pile,” as it is called, which concludes the subject, and which is dismissed in the brief limit of a page and a half. [p064]

The second part of Dr. Turner’s work is said to comprise “Inorganic Chemistry,” and therefore embraces a very extensive field of inquiry. To the _arrangement_ we have already objected; and many of the typographical and verbal errors that occur, have been noticed in a contemporary Journal, so that we shall chiefly attend to the details of the sections.

Under the head, “Affinity,” some of the leading facts and doctrines of chemical attraction are perspicuously set forth; but we could have wished that a variety of exploded opinions and erroneous notions had been altogether passed over, as they occupy space which might have been better employed, and can never prove of any other use to the student than to show him the errors and fallacies to which acute philosophers are sometimes liable. Of this kind, especially, are Berthollet’s notions upon the subject of affinity. The doctrine of definite proportion is, on the whole, well and clearly explained; but it would have been much better and clearer, had Dr. Turner confined himself to facts, and meddled less with opinions concerning their cause; he is moreover, in many respects, historically inaccurate. He ascribes much to Dalton that honestly belongs to Higgins;—is much too merciful to Berzelius and his CANONS; and lenient beyond all endurance to the plagiarisms of “Dr. Thomson’s admirable Treatise on the first Principles of Chemistry.”

In the third and following sections, the simple non-metallic substances are described in an order of arrangement which must be very perplexing to the student; otherwise the details are well given, except that here and there the line between theory and fact is not sufficiently marked. Thus we are told that “hydrogen is exactly 16 times lighter than oxygen, and _therefore_ that 100 cubic inches _must_ weigh 33.888/16, or 2.118. Its specific gravity is consequently 0.0694, as stated some years ago by Dr. Prout.” Now this is a theoretical deduction, founded upon the specific gravity and constitution of ammonia, (and not upon the composition of water,) and probably correct as applied to _pure_ hydrogen;—but if we weigh the gas, as usually obtained, even with the utmost caution, and of the utmost purity, we shall never procure it so light as here stated, notwithstanding all the learning and argument that our worthy friend, Dr. Thomas Thomson, has issued upon the subject in his various essays in the Annals, and in his _magnum opus_. We also object to the stress which is often laid upon the whims of individuals, and upon [p065] exploded opinions; instances of which will occur to the reader under the subject of the composition of nitrogen, and the constitution of the atmosphere. We further caution our author against admitting hints, allusions, and inuendos as to the possibility of future inventions and discoveries, as claims upon the merits of such discoveries, when they are actually made. Berzelius has talked a vast deal of nonsense about the composition of nitrogen; and should that discovery ever be made, he will doubtlessly assume the credit of having suggested the steps which led to it. Some foolish persons are apt to think that the Marquis of Worcester was the inventor of Watt’s steam-engine, because he said he had means of raising water by steam, in his _Century of Inventions_; and we have heard that an eminent chemist of the present day considers himself entitled to all the merit that may belong to Mr. Brunel’s carbonic acid engine, because he had previously stated the possibility of such an application of Mr. Faraday’s important discoveries. The fact is, that these are woeful days for science; all the good feeling and free communication that used to exist among its active cultivators in this country, has given way to petty jealousies and quibbling scandal; one person is exalted for the purpose of depreciating another; and those causes of disgust, which some years ago induced one of our most amiable and able men of science to quit the field, and even leave the country, are becoming daily more prevalent. Were it not an invidious task, we could easily explain and unfold the sources of all this mischief, and shall indeed feel it our duty so to do, should not matters in due time take a more favourable turn; but the task is at once serious and disagreeable, and we therefore postpone it, in the hope of more favourable events. We really believe that, had it not been for the scientific conversationes held during the last season at the houses of a few private gentlemen connected with the learned societies, and more especially the weekly meetings at the Royal Institution, which kept up a friendly intercourse among those who were willing to profit by it, that the whole scientific world would have been at loggerheads, and in that state of anarchy of which the evils may be learned by a short residence at a “northern seat of learning.”

The main object of this digression is to deprecate _party_ in science; and we were led to it by observing, or thinking that we observe, something of such a tendency in the writer whose book is before us—we hope we are mistaken.

The next section comprises “the compounds of the simple [p066] non-metallic acidifiable combustibles with each other.” It includes the important subject of ammonia, of the varieties of carburetted hydrogen, sulphuretted and phosphuretted hydrogen, and cyanogen and its compounds. The metals are then treated of, and to these succeed their salts; and though the execution of this part of the work betrays some haste, it shows also considerable reading, and some originality: the general views are well and clearly sketched, but there are many points upon which we are entirely at variance with our author; and we more especially object to his account of the action of chlorides upon water, and to his notions concerning the “muriates of oxides,” a class of compounds of which, with one or two exceptions, we are disinclined to admit the existence. If common salt be a _chloride_ of _sodium_, and experiment obliges us so to regard it, what is there in its aqueous solution that should lead us to consider it as containing a _muriate_ of _soda_; what evidence of any new arrangement of elements? Dr. T. is certainly in mistake, when he says, “for all practical purposes, therefore, the solution of a metallic chloride in water may be viewed as the muriate of an oxide, and on this account I shall always regard it as such in the present treatise.” This inconsiderate dogma taints much of the reasoning upon the chlorides, &c., and is manifestly culled in the Thomsonian school, though we have indeed heard that a Professor at Edinburgh thus addresses his pupils upon the above subject: “The elaborate researches of the illustrious Davy have taught us that common salt is a binary compound of chlorine and sodium, a chloride, therefore, or a chloruret of sodium. But it is only chloride of sodium whilst quiescent in the salt-cellar; for no sooner does it come into contact with the salivary humidity of the fauces, than, by the play of affinities, which I have elsewhere explained, the sodium becomes soda, and the chlorine generates muriatic acid;—that, therefore, which upon the table is chloride of sodium, is muriate of soda in the mouth; and this again, when desiccated or deprived of humidity, retrogrades into its former state.”

Dr. Turner again falls into error, as we humbly conceive, in calling certain salts, such, for instance, as those of the peroxide of iron, _sesquisalts_, a term properly applied in those cases only where one proportional of a protoxide unites with one and a half of an acid, such for instance as the _sesquicarbonate of soda_, &c., but in the sesquisulphate of iron, one proportional of the peroxide contains 1.5 of oxygen, and [p067] necessarily, therefore, (according to Berzelius’ canon, if the Doctor pleases,) requires 1.5 of acid to convert it into a salt; just as the commonly constituted peroxides (containing two proportionals of oxygen) require two of acid. Dr. Thomson, with all his nomenclatural pretensions, has fallen into the same error.

The part of our author’s work which treats of the chemistry of organic bodies is, upon the whole, an unexceptionable and accurate epitome of that complicated branch of the science. It has its inaccuracies, but they apparently arise out of the difficulty of condensing into the space of a few pages, matter which, as we have elsewhere remarked, would require an ample volume for its extended and perspicuous details.

In our hasty account of this work, we have rather dwelt upon its defects than its merits, in the hope of seeing another and more extended edition, free from what we consider as serious obstacles to the success and usefulness of the present production. We hope that Dr. Turner will not feel offended at the freedom with which our remarks are offered. We are anxious that a writer of such good information should be induced to think for himself; at least, that he should accurately weigh the pretensions, and inquire into the originality of those views and researches upon which he bestows such unqualified and, in our opinion, undeserved praise, and to which he assents with a facility unbecoming one who evidently possesses the means of testing their merits.

_Experiments on Audition_.

[Communicated by Mr. C. Wheatstone.]

The recent valuable experiments of Savart[23] and of Dr. Wollaston have added to our stock of information several important and hitherto unnoticed phenomena relating audition; but, notwithstanding the investigations of these distinguished experimentalists, and though the physiology of the ear has been an object of unceasing attention for many centuries, yet we are far from possessing a perfect knowledge of the functions of the various parts of this organ. The description of new facts illustrative of this subject cannot, therefore, be devoid of interest; [p068] and though I do not anticipate that the observations contained in this communication will lead to any important results, their novelty may claim for them some attention from the readers of your Journal.

§ 1.

If the hand be placed so as to cover the ear, or if the entrance of the meatus auditorius be closed by the finger without pressure, the perception of external sounds will be considerably diminished, but the sounds of the voice produced internally will be greatly augmented: the pronunciation of those vowels in which the cavity of the mouth is the most closed, as _e_ _ou_, &c., produce the strongest effect; on articulating smartly the syllables _te_ and _kew_, the sound will be painfully loud.

Placing the conducting stem of a sounding tuning-fork[24] on any part of the head, when the ears are closed as above described, a similar augmentation of sound will be observed. When one ear remains open, the sound will always be referred to the closed ear, but when both ears are closed, the sound will appear louder in that ear the nearer to which it is produced. If, therefore, the tuning-fork be applied above the temporal bone near either ear, it will be apparently heard by that ear to which it is adjacent; but on removing the hand from this ear (although the fork remains in the same situation) the sound will appear to be referred immediately to the opposite ear.

In the case of the vocal articulations, the augmentation is accompanied by a reedy sound, occasioned by the strong agitations of the tympanum. When the air in the meatus is compressed against this membrane by pressing the hand _close_ to the ear, or when the eustachian tube is exhausted by the means indicated by Dr. Wollaston, the reedy sound is no longer heard, and the augmentation is considerably diminished. The ringing [p069] noise which simultaneously accompanies a very intense sound, proceeds from the same cause, and may be prevented by the same means. This ringing may be produced by applying the stem of a sounding tuning-fork to the hand when covering the ear, or by whistling when a hearing trumpet is placed to the ear. As a proof that the resulting augmentation, which, when great, excites the vibrations of the tympanum, is owing to the reciprocation of the vibrations by the air contained within the closed cavity, it may be mentioned, that when the entrance of the meatus is closed by a fibrous substance, as wool, &c., no increase is obtained.

If the meatus and the concha of one ear be filled with water, the sounds above-mentioned will be referred to the cavity containing the water in the same way as when it contained air, and was closed by the hand; it will be indifferent whether any partition be interposed between the cavity and the external air; as the water is equally well insulated by a surface of air as by a solid body.

§ 2.

The preceding experiments have shown, that sounds immediately communicated to the closed meatus externus are very greatly augmented; and it is an obvious inference, that if _external_ sounds can be communicated, so as to act on the cavity in a similar manner, they must receive a corresponding augmentation. The great intensity with which sound is transmitted by solid rods, at the same time that its diffusion is prevented, affords a ready means of effecting this purpose, and of constructing an instrument, which, from its rendering audible the weakest sounds, may with propriety be named a Microphone.

Procure two flat pieces of plated metal, each sufficiently large to cover the external ear, to the form also of which they may be adapted; on the outside of each plate directly opposite the meatus, rivet a rod of iron or brass wire about 16 inches in length, and one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and fasten the two rods together at their unfixed extremities, so as to meet in a single point. The rods must be so curved, that when the plates are applied to the ears, each rod may at one end be perpendicularly inserted into its corresponding plate, and at the other end may meet before the head in the plane of the mesial [p070] line. The spring of the rods will be sufficient to fix the plates to the ears, but for greater security ribands may be attached to each rod near its insertion in the plate, and be tied behind the head.

A more simple instrument may be constructed to be applied to one ear only, by inserting a straight rod perpendicularly into a similar plate to those described above.

The Microphone is calculated only for hearing sounds when it is in immediate contact with sonorous bodies; when they are diffused by their transmission through the air, this instrument will not afford the slightest assistance.

It is not my intention in this place to detail all the various experiments which may be made with this instrument, a few will suffice to enable the experimenter to vary them at his pleasure.

1. If a bell be rung in a vessel of water, and the point of the microphone be placed in the water at different distances from the bell, the differences of intensity will be very sensible. 2. If the point of the microphone be applied to the sides of a vessel containing a boiling liquid, or if it be placed in the liquid itself, the various sounds which are rendered may be heard very distinctly. 3. The instrument affords a means of ascertaining, with considerable accuracy, the points of a sonorous body at which the intensity of vibration is the greatest or least; thus, placing its point on different parts of the sounding board of a violin or guitar, whilst one of its strings is in vibration, the points of greatest and least vibration are easily distinguished. 4. If the stem of a sounding tuning-fork be brought in contact with any part of the microphone, and at the same time a musical sound be produced by the voice, the most uninitiated ear [p071] will be able to perceive the consonance or dissonance of the two sounds; the roughness of discords, and the beatings of imperfect consonances, are thereby rendered so extremely disagreeable, and form so evident a contrast to the agreeable harmony and smoothness of two perfectly consonant sounds, that it is impossible that they can be confounded.

§ 3.

Apply the broad sides of two sounding tuning-forks, both being unisons, to the same ear; on removing one fork to the opposite ear, allowing the other to remain, the sensation will be considerably augmented.

It is well known, that when two consonant sounds are heard together, a third sound results from the coincidences of their vibrations; and that this third sound, which is called the grave harmonic, is always equal to unity, when the two primitive sounds are represented by the lowest integral numbers. This being premised, select two tuning-forks, the sounds of which differ by any consonant interval excepting the octave; place the broad sides of their branches, while in vibration, close to one ear, in such a manner that they shall nearly touch at the acoustic axis, the resulting grave harmonic will then be strongly audible, combined with the two other sounds; place afterwards one fork to each ear, and the consonance will be heard much richer in volume, but no audible indications whatever of the third sound will be perceived.

§ 4.

Very acute sounds, such as the chirping of the gryllus campestris, &c., are rendered inaudible by exhausting the air from the Eustachian tube, and thereby producing a tension of the membrane of the tympanum; the different thicknesses or tensions of this membrane may therefore occasion that diversity of the limits of audibility, with regard to the acute sounds which Dr. Wollaston has pointed out as existing in different individuals; if so, it would be desirable to ascertain this limit in individuals in whom the tympanum is perforated, or destroyed.

§ 5.

When the auricula is brought forward, all _acute_ sounds are rendered much more intense, but no sensible difference is [p072] perceived with regard to the grave sounds. The _higher_ tones of glass staccados, or of an octave flute, the ticking of a watch, all kinds of sibilant sounds, &c. are thus greatly augmented: the experiment is easily tried, by whistling very shrill notes. A still greater augmentation of the acute sounds is obtained, by placing the hands formed into a concave behind the ears, and by bending downwards the upper part of the auricula, so as to obtain a more complete cavity.

§ 6.

I will conclude with the following observation: I had, in consequence of a cold, a very slight pain in my left ear; on sounding the regular notes of the piano-forte, C^3 and C^4 were much louder than the others, and the loudness was much increased, by placing the hand in the manner above described to the left ear. When it was pressed close, or when the Eustachian tube was closed, the intensities of all the notes were equalized. I attribute this affection to the diminished tension of the membrana tympani, which was again increased by the operation described.

FOOTNOTES:

[23] Recherches sur les usages de la membrane du tympan et de l’oreille externe; par M. Felix Savart. _Annales de Chimie_, tom. xxvi. p. 1.

[24] The tuning-fork consists of a four-sided metallic rod, bent so as to form two equal and parallel branches, having a stem connected with the lower curved part of the rod, and contained within the plane of the two branches. The branches are caused to vibrate by striking one end against a hard body, whilst the stem is held in the hand. The sound produced by this instrument when insulated is very weak, and can only be distinctly heard when its branches are brought close to the ear; but instantly its stem is connected with any surface capable of vibrating, a great augmentation of sound ensues from the communicated vibrations. The facility of its insulation and communication renders it a very convenient instrument for a variety of acoustical experiments.

_On the Petromyzon Marinus_.

On entering the harbour of Dublin a few weeks ago, we were becalmed off the Hill of Howth, and to pass the tedious time until a breeze sprung up, we found some lines on board, and began to fish from the quarter-deck. We caught a number of grey gurnet; but our attention was particularly attracted by a pull of uncommon force on one of the lines. Having rendered assistance to the person who held it, we were all astonished to see rise out of the water a large fish, with apparently a double body, which, after floundering on the surface of the water, we pulled on deck. On examining this phenomenon for a short time, we were again surprized to see it separate into two parts; and then found that there were _two_ large fish taken up on the same hook, the head of one having been buried under the throat of the other, to which it had firmly attached itself. When separated by force, it wiggled about on the deck with extraordinary strength and agility, and again darted on its prey, to which [p073] it adhered so firmly, that it required very considerable exertion to detach it; for it suffered itself to be raised up by the tail, and shaken, still holding the other fish suspended from its jaws. When finally separated, it showed great ferocity, darting at every thing near it, and at last seizing the deck, which it held very fast, writhing with its tail and body as if in the act of tearing it to pieces. When detached, its teeth left a deep circular impression on the wood, the fibres of which were drawn into the cavity of its jaws, so as to be raised up in the form of a cone. I now directed, that it should be put into a bucket of sea water, in the hope of preserving it alive until we arrived in Dublin, but it died in a shorter time than could be expected, from the energy and activity it had displayed, long after the other fish was dead. We had handled it very roughly, and so perhaps had mortally hurt an animal otherwise very tenacious of life.

On examining the fishes, I found that which had taken the hook, was the _gadus Polachius_, or whiting Pollack. It was about two feet long, and it is probable its active enemy had fastened [p074] on it after it had been hooked; if _before_, it would indicate an extraordinary insensibility to pain in an animal that could attend to the calls of appetite, whilst another was preying on its vitals. The fish which had fastened on the pollack, was the _petromyzon marinus_, or sea lamprey. It was nearly three feet long, and resembled a large eel in shape. Its general colour was a dull brownish olive variegated with bluish blotches; the back darker, and the belly paler, inclining to yellow. The eyes were small, and the mouth large and oval; but when distended, circular. The inside of the jaws was deeply concave, and studded with circular rows of sharp triangular teeth, that issued from corresponding orange-coloured papular protuberances, which formed the gums; the tongue was short and crescent-shaped, furnished with a row of very small teeth round the edge. On the top of the head was a small orifice, or spout-hole, from whence it discharged the superfluous water taken at the mouth. But the circumstance that more particularly distinguished it, was that which gave rise to the vulgar error that it had sixteen eyes. On either side of the neck, commencing just below the real eyes, was a row of seven equidistant spiracles exactly resembling eyes; they are, however, holes lined with a red membrane, and all opening into the mouth, an apparatus to supply the place of gills, whose functions are to extract oxygen from the water, and so perform the office of lungs in aquatic animals. It had two dorsal fins, one on the lower part of the back, narrow, with a roundish outline; the other commencing where the first terminated. The spine was cartilaginous, without processes. The pericardium, containing a small heart, was a remarkably strong membrane, and the liver was as green as grass.

This fish is not uncommon in the North Seas, though it most abounds in the Mediterranean, where, from earliest times, it was esteemed a luxurious dish. Fish-ponds were purposely constructed to preserve it. On our coast, Pennant observes, that it is found most frequently at the mouth of the Severn, which river it sometimes ascends, where it is occasionally taken, firmly attached to a stone by its mouth, while its tail and body are waving freely to the current. Its adhesion at such times is so strong, that it may be lifted with a stone of twelve pounds weight appended to its mouth. This faculty is owing to its [p075] power of suction; while the circumstance of its circular jaws coming in close contact with the surface of the body excludes the external air within the cavity of the mouth, and so adheres like the hand placed on the cup of an air-pump. It is from this remarkable property, that its scientific name has been imposed[25]. Its vulgar name, lamprey, from lampetra, has a similar derivation. By the Romans it was named muræna. As this fish was well known and highly prized by the ancients, there is none that has been so frequently described and alluded to. Aristotle, Pliny, Tacitus, Columella, Ælian, Seneca, and Oppian, have mentioned its properties and habits, which correspond exactly with those I have described above. Pliny says, in the northern parts of France, and consequently contiguous to the British Isles, the lampreys have seven spots in the jaws, resembling the constellation of the plough, evidently the same as the eyes, which vulgar opinion assigns to the fish[26]. Their extreme voracity was such, that criminals were thrown among them to be devoured. Seneca relates, that Vedius Pollio, a Roman knight, ordered his servant, who had broken a crystal vase, to be thrown into a large pond of lampreys[27]; and Columella writes, that they were sometimes seized with a rabid fury, that resembled canine madness; in the access of which, they seized upon other fish, so that it was impossible to keep them in the same pond[28]; and to account for this extraordinary ferocity, Oppian and others assert, that the lamprey is impregnated by a serpent; the one issuing from the sea, and the other rushing down to the rocks, inflamed with madness, to consummate the impregnation; and adds, that the extraordinary intercourse was effected by the lamprey seizing the serpent’s head in its [p076] mouth[29]. This singular copulation was the reason why the Romans, who were immoderately fond of lampreys, did not wish to eat them, when impregnated by the supposed serpent. Horace, therefore, makes Nasidienus, among the blunders of his supper, serve it in that state[30].

Lampreys were a favourite dish with our own early monarchs. Henry II. died by eating them to excess. The celebrated Pope also owed his death to a surfeit of them. Doctor Johnson remarks in his life of the poet, that he was in the habit of cooking them himself in a silver saucepan. The Corporation of Oxford still make up a periodical pye of this fish for the king, in compliance with ancient usage. But lampreys have lost their rank at corporation feasts, in consequence of the more delicious and wholesome turtle being introduced into modern cookery.

I have never noticed lampreys in the Dublin fish-market; and though they are frequently used in the South of Ireland, I do not know if they have ever been made an article of food in Dublin, or the north, where they are rarely met with.

C.

FOOTNOTES:

[25] Petromyzon, _a_ πετρον, saxum, and μυζαω, sugere.

[26] In Gallia septentrionale murænis omnibus dextra in maxilla septenæ maculæ ad formam septentrionis aureo colore fulgent. PLIN. _Hist. Nat._ lib. ix. cap. 39.

[27] Fregerat unus ex servis crystallinum ejus; rapi eum Vedius jussit, nec vulgari quadam morte periturum, murænis objici jubebatur quas ingens piscina continebat.—SENECA _de Irâ_, lib. ii. cap. 40.

[28] Commisceri eas cum alterius notæ piscibus non placet, quasi rabie vexantur quod huic generi velut canino solet accidere. Sævitia persequuntur squamosos plurimosque mandendo consumunt. COLUMELLA _de Re Rusticâ_, lib. ix. cap. 17.

[29] Αμφι δε μυραινης φατις ερχεται ουκ αιδηλον Ὥς μεν γαμει τε και εξ ἅλος ερχεται αυτη Προφρων ἱμειουσα παρ’ ιμειροντι γαμοιο Ητοι ὁ μέν φλογεῃ τεθοωμενος ενδοθι λυσσῃ Μαινεται ἔις φιλοτητα και ἔγγυθι συρεται ἅκτης Πικρος ὄφις. κ.τ.λ.—OPPIAN, _Halieut._ lib. i. V. 554.

[30] Adfertur squillas inter muræna natantes, In patinâ porrecta: “hæc gravida,” inquit, “Capta est.”—HOR. lib. ii. Sat. 8. lin. 46.

_Observations upon the Motion of the Leaves of the Mimosa Pudica_. [To the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Science.]

Dear Sir,

Towards the latter part of this summer, Mr. Gilbert Burnett and myself made several experiments with a view to ascertain the nature of the movements exhibited by the sensitive plant. We afterwards found that the greater part of the facts which we had observed, had been previously described by Mr. Lindsay [p077] and Dr. Dutrochet. Mr. Lindsay’s observations are to be met with in a MS. preserved in the library of the Royal Society, which is dated July 1790: this essay is alluded to by Dr. Smith in his “Introduction to Botany.” Dr. Dutrochet’s experiments were published in his “Recherches anatomiques et physiologiques sur la Structure intime des Animaux et des Végétaux,” which appeared in 1824. With the latter author the reputation of originality is likely to rest: not undeservedly, indeed, as there is no reason to suppose that _his_ experiments were suggested by a knowledge of those performed by Lindsay. It is, however, an act of literary justice to secure to Mr. Lindsay the credit of undoubted priority in describing the phenomena which he noticed in common with Dutrochet. I have drawn up the following remarks partly for this purpose—partly to have an opportunity of mentioning some circumstances which escaped the observation of both experimentalists.

The leaves of the Mimosa Pudica consist either of one or two or three pairs of leaflets, and occasionally terminate by an odd one. Each leaflet bears from twenty to sixty subleaflets, which are disposed in pairs. The petiole or stalk of each leaf, at the extremity which is attached to the branch or stem of the peant, swells into an intumescence varying from three to five in length. A similar intumescence, of proportionate dimensions, is seen upon each subpetiole, where it is articulated with the petiole, and upon the base of the stalk of each subleaflet: the intumescence is the part in which motion takes place.

During the day-time the petioles are observed to have a direction upwards, or rather to form an acute angle with the upper part of the stem or branch, to which they are attached: the subpetioles are divergent: the subleaflets are spread out, so as to lie nearly in one plane. (_Fig._ 1.)

During the night the petioles are found to be depressed; the subpetioles to be drawn together, the subleaflets folded, the upper or solar surfaces of each pair being brought into contact. (_Fig._ 2.)

The leaves rise, the leaflets diverge, and open by throwing down their subleaflets, at daybreak: the opposite changes occur about sunset. The experiments that are to be described, are supposed to be performed in the day-time. [p078]

If a terminal subleaflet be pinched with forceps, or cut with scissors, it rises, together with its fellow; then the next pair rise; then the next; and so on in succession, till all the pairs of subleaflets upon the same subpetiole are folded. In a little time afterwards, the petiole is bent downwards at its intumescence; and in a few seconds more the remaining leaflets upon the same petiole fold their subleaflets in pairs, from the base towards the point of the leaflet.

If a subleaflet be burnt, instead of being cut or pinched, the phenomena above described occur more rapidly: and after they have taken place, the adjoining leaves upon the same branch are bent down in succession, their leaflets brought together, and their subleaflets folded. If the plant be very vigorous and lively, an impression [p079] made upon one leaf affects the rest in succession. It is well known that the stem, branches, flowers, and roots of the sensitive plant have no motion. But M. Desfontaines observed that, on touching the roots with sulphuric acid, the leaves become folded; and M. Dutrochet obtained a similar result on burning either the flower or the stem.

If the plant be shaken, all the leaves are simultaneously thrown down, and their leaflets folded. Mr. Lindsay attempted to elucidate the action of the intumescence in raising and depressing the petiole, in the following manner. He cut out a portion from the upper or solar surface of the intumescence; after which he found that the petiole, upon recovering, rose higher than before, (_Fig._ 3.) From another leaf he removed the inferior portion of the intumescence: he found, upon _this_ injury, that the leaf declined more than before, and did not again rise, (_Fig._ 4.) He noticed that a thin slice, pared from either surface of the intumescence, has a like effect, but in a less degree than a deep excision: and he found that when similar experiments are made upon the intumescence of the subpetiole, there is no essential difference in the result.

Thus Mr. Lindsay discovered, that the force which raises the petiole exists in the lower part of the intumescence, and that which depresses it, in the upper. He seems to have considered that the temporary excess of force in either part is produced by an impulsion of the sap from the vessels of the yielding portion into those of the opposite portion. [p080]

Dr. Dutrochet viewed these phenomena in some respects more justly. He remarked, in addition to what Lindsay had observed, that if, instead of the upper and under surface, the lateral part of the intumescence be removed, the petiole becomes not raised or deflected, but inclined towards the side on which it is injured (_Fig._ 5); and that if longitudinal slices of the upper, or under, or lateral portions of the intumescence are immersed in water, these separate slices immediately become incurvated, that edge being concave which looks towards the axis of the intumescence. From these facts Dutrochet inferred that the texture of the intumescence possesses some modification of irritability; that, when excited, each length of the intumescence (to use a very imperfect expression) forcibly assumes an incurvated figure, like a curved spring returning from a state of temporary extension; that the petiole is raised, when the action of the lower part of the intumescence predominates; is depressed, when the upper portion acts with increased energy.

Mr. Burnett and myself had arrived at very similar conclusions respecting the agency of the intumescence, before we became acquainted with the inquiries of Lindsay and Dutrochet.

In Dutrochet’s able researches, a more exact analysis, however, was obtained of the functions of this part. He discovered that the cortex of the intumescence is the seat of its irritability: for upon wholly removing the bark, so as to expose the ligneous substance, the petiole was found to have been rendered motionless. Nevertheless, the intumescence, thus mutilated, remains capable of transmitting an impression made upon its leaflets to the leaves adjoining, Dutrochet further ascertained, that the ligneous substance alone is fitted to convey the peculiar stimulus, which spreads, from a point of the plant that has been irritated, to the adjoining leaves.

The experiments already mentioned appear to explain the mode in which the elevation and depression of the petiole, and the divergence and approximation of the subpetioles are produced. It is probable that the contrivance for folding and expanding the subleaflets is of a similar nature. Mr. Burnett and myself conjectured that each subleaflet is raised by the under part of the intumescence that exists at its base, and [p081] depressed by some action of the upper portion of the same intumescence. In trying the soundness of this hypothesis, we met with the following evidence in its favour:—

Mr. Lindsay had observed, that at the moment when the petiole is depressed, the under part of its intumescence assumes a deeper colour. But the under part of the intumescence of the petiole is the portion which is shortened during its depression, and which is overcome on this occasion by the superior force of the upper portion.

Now it is to be remarked that in the subleaflets the upper part of the little intumescence belonging to each corresponds, in one respect alluded to, with the lower portion of the intumescence of the petiole; _it is the portion shortened when the leaf is folded_. And we found, upon examination, that it likewise distinctly changes colour at the moment when the subleaflet rises, while the under surface of the intumescence of the subleaflet does not change its hue.

In pursuing this inquiry, another point of correspondence between the mechanism which depresses the petiole, and that which raises the subleaflets, was stated, which has yet additional interest.

When the plant is not in its most lively state, the under surface of the intumescence of the subleaflet (_b_, _Fig._ 2,) and the upper surface of the intumescence of the petiole (_a_, _Fig._ 6,) may be pricked with a needle, without producing action. But if the opposite surfaces, those namely, which change colour and are shortened when the petiole is depressed and the subleaflets folded, are touched with the point of the needle these actions are instantaneously produced. Here the [p082] subleaflet is most delicately sensible; _a slight touch_ with the point of a needle upon the upper surface of the intumescence of the subleaflet (_c_, _Fig._ 1,) causes the single subleaflet so stimulated to rise; and in this manner all the subleaflets upon one side of a leaflet may be raised, their fellows remaining expanded: if the touch be something sharper, the fellow subleaflet rises at the same time; if ruder still, the next pair of leaflets fold directly afterwards, and the irritation then proceeds entirely through the leaflet. But the most satisfactory and curious results are obtained on stimulating the extension surface of the intumescence of the petiole. The needle may be applied to every point upon the upper or solar half of the intumescence of the petiole (_a_, _Fig._ 6,) without producing any visible effect; but if the irritation be applied upon the under half, (_d_, _Fig._ 6,) either quite below or laterally, the petiole is immediately depressed. The transition is abrupt from the surface against which the needle may be made to prick, without exciting action, to one which, when the needle reaches it, causes the petiole to be instantaneously thrown down.

It appears, therefore, that each intumescence has a surface especially adapted to receive mechanical impressions; which surface is placed on the side of the intumescence opposite to that, by which the consequent motion is produced. A curious but vague analogy may be traced between these surfaces of the sensitive plant and the organs of sense in animals.

We painted with a thick layer of lamp-black in oil the intumescence of different petioles in different ways; the upper surface of one, the under surface of another, the side of a third. The experiment was followed by no sensible effect. After a few minutes the petioles, which had been thrown down by the operation, rose again in each case, and fell again as readily as before upon being stimulated afresh.

We tried what result would ensue upon slitting the intumescence of the petiole horizontally. The petiole, after this injury, did not recover its usual direction; the intumescence appeared to have wholly lost its properties; the leaf seemed to depress the petiole by its weight alone, yet the leaflets expanded, and exhibited their usual irritability, upon the depending stalk. The same effect, however, was observed, when the [p083] intumescence was divided by a longitudinal incision, made vertically instead of horizontally.

I have already mentioned that Dutrochet discovered that the ligneous fibre is the channel, along which an impression is conveyed from one part to another. Mr. Burnett and myself had made one or two experiments upon the course which the irritation follows when spreading from leaflet to leaflet, where several are placed upon the same petiole.

If the upper third of a petiole bearing four leaflets be divided longitudinally, the irritability of the leaflets remains for many days unimpaired; upon cutting with scissors one subleaflet after the plant has recovered itself, the irritation is observed to descend the wounded leaflet, and then to pass to that adjoining upon the same side of the petiole: afterwards the petiole falls, but there the effect stops; it does not extend to the two other leaflets; the direct route is cut through, and the irritation seems to find no circuitous way, as might have been expected, perhaps through the intumescence of the petiole back again to the leaflets, on its summit. If on a petiole, bearing four leaflets, a lateral incision be made, cutting the petiole half through it at a point between the two leaflets which are situated on one side, upon irritating either of the leaflets, between which the incision has been made, it folds its subleaflets; then the two opposite leaflets fold _their_ subleaflets; and _last of all_, the leaflet next adjoining that first irritated, but isolated from it by the incision, becomes folded.

In the few remarks which I have thus put together, I have quoted Lindsay and Dutrochet only as far as their researches anticipated my own: I leave unnoticed many experiments, in several of which these authors are again found to have accidentally coincided. The experiments to which I allude do not, however, serve to illustrate the nature of the motion exhibited by the sensitive plant, to the examination of which subject alone my attention was, in the present instance, directed, in the expectation that it might throw light upon the obscure and interesting subject of muscular action.

I remain, my dear Sir, Your’s truly, HERBERT MAYO.

19, _George Street, Hanover Square_, _August 29, 1827_.

[p084]

_Experiments on the Nature of Labarraque’s disinfecting Soda Liquid_. By M. Faraday, F.R.S., Corr. Mem. R. Acad. Sciences, Paris, &c. &c.

1. The following experimental investigations relate to the nature of that medicinal preparation which M. Labarraque has lately introduced to the world, and named _Chloride of oxide of Sodium_. They were occasioned by the accounts which were given of this and other substances of similar power, to the members of the Royal Institution, at two of their Friday evening meetings[31]; the value of the preparation, the uncertainty of its nature, and the inaccuracy of its name, all urging the inquiry.

2. In the first instance the inquiry was directed to the nature of the action exerted by chlorine gas upon a solution of carbonate of soda, questions having arisen in the minds of many, whether it was or was not identical with the action exerted by the same gas on a solution of the caustic alkali, and whether carbonic acid was evolved during the operation or not. Chlorine gas was therefore carefully prepared, and after being washed was sent into a solution of carbonate of soda, in the proportions directed by M. Labarraque; _i. e._ 2800 grains of crystallized carbonate of soda were dissolved in 1.28 pints of water; and being put into a Woulfe’s apparatus, two-thirds of the chlorine evolved from a mixture of 967 grains of salt with 750 grains of oxide of manganese, when acted upon by 967 grains of oil of vitriol, previously diluted with 750 grains of water, were passed into it; the remaining third being partly dissolved in the washing water, and partly retained in the open space of the retort and washing vessel. The operation was conducted slowly, that as little muriatic acid as possible might be carried over into the alkali. The common air ejected from the bottle containing the solution was collected and examined; but from the beginning to the end of the operation not a particle of carbonic acid was disengaged from the solution, although the chlorine was readily absorbed. Ultimately a liquid of a very pale [p085] yellow colour was obtained, being the same as M. Labarraque’s soda liquor, and with which the investigations were made that will hereafter be described.

3. An experiment was then instituted, in which the effect of excess of chlorine, upon a solution of carbonate of soda of the same strength as the former, was rendered evident. The solution was put into two Woulfe’s bottles, the chlorine well washed and passed through, until ultimately it bubbled through both portions without absorption of any appreciable quantity. As soon as the common air was expelled, the absorption of the chlorine was so complete in the first bottle, that no air or gas of any kind passed into the second, a proof that carbonic acid was not liberated in that stage of the experiment. Continuing the introduction of the chlorine, the solution in the first bottle gradually became yellow, the gas not being yet visible by its colour in the atmosphere above the solution, although chlorine could be detected there by litmus paper. Up to this time no carbonic acid gas had been evolved; but the first alkaline solution soon acquired a brighter colour, and now carbonic acid gas began to separate from all parts of it, and passing over into the second bottle, carried a little chlorine with it. The soda solution in the first bottle still continued to absorb chlorine, whilst the evolution of carbonic acid increased, and the colour became heightened. After some time the evolution of carbonic acid diminished, smaller quantities of the chlorine were absorbed by the solution, and the rest passing into the atmosphere in the bottle, went from thence into the second vessel, and there caused the same series of changes and actions that had occurred in the first. The solution in the first bottle was now of a bright chlorine yellow colour, and the gas bubbled up through it as it would through saturated water.

4. When the chlorine had saturated the soda solution in the second bottle, and an excess of gas sufficient to fill several large jars had been passed through the whole apparatus, the latter was dismounted, the solutions put into bottles and distinguished as the saturated solutions of carbonated soda; they were of a bright greenish-yellow colour, and had an insupportable odour of chlorine.

5. The saturated solution (4) was then examined as to the [p086] change which had been occasioned by the action of the chlorine. It bleached powerfully, and apparently contained no carbonated alkali: but when a glass rod was dipped into it and dried in a warm current of air, the saline matter left, when applied to moistened turmeric paper, reddened it considerably at first, and then bleached it; and this piece of paper being dried and afterwards moistened upon the bleached part, gave indications of alkali to fresh turmeric paper.

6. A portion of the saturated solution (4) being warmed, instantly evolved chlorine gas, then assumed a dingy appearance, and ultimately became nearly colourless; after which it had an astringent and saline taste. Being evaporated to dryness at a very moderate temperature, it left a saline mass, consisting of much common salt, a considerable quantity of chlorate of soda, and a trace of carbonate of soda. This mixture had no bleaching powers. The dingy appearance, assumed in the first instance, was found to be occasioned by a little manganese which had passed over into the solutions, notwithstanding the care taken in evolving and washing the gas.

7. From these experiments it was evident that when chlorine was passed _in excess_ into a solution of carbonate of soda (3), the carbonic acid was expelled, and the soda acted upon as if it were caustic, a mixture of chloride of sodium and chlorate of soda being produced; with the exception of the small portion of carbonate of soda which, it appears, may remain for some time in the solution in contact with the excess of chlorine at common temperatures, without undergoing this change. The quantities of chloride of sodium and chlorate of soda were not ascertained, no doubt being entertained that they were in the well-known proportions which occur when caustic soda is used.

8. The Labarraque’s soda liquor which had been prepared as described (2), was now examined relative to the part the chlorine played in it, or the change the alkali had undergone, and was soon found to be very different to that which has been described, as indeed the experiments I had seen made by Mr. Phillips[32] led me to expect. The solution had but little odour of chlorine, its taste was at first sharp, saline, scarcely at [p087] all alkaline, but with a persisting astringent biting effect upon the tongue. When applied to turmeric paper, it first reddened and then bleached it.

9. A portion of the solution (2) being boiled, gave out no chlorine; it seemed but little changed by the operation, having the same peculiar taste, and nearly the same bleaching power as before. This is a sufficient proof that the chlorine, though in a state ready to bleach or disinfect, must not be considered as in the ordinary state of solution, either in water or a saline fluid; for ebullition will freely carry off the chlorine under the latter circumstances.

10. A portion evaporated on the sandbath rather hastily, gave a dry saline mass, quite unlike that left by the _saturated solution_ already described (6); and which, when dissolved, had the same astringent taste as before, and bleached solution of indigo very powerfully: when compared with an equal portion of the unevaporated solution, which had been placed in the mean time in the dark, its bleaching power upon diluted sulphate of indigo was 30, that of the former being 76. Another portion, evaporated in a still more careful manner, gave a mass of damp crystals, which, when dissolved, had the taste, smell, and bleaching power of the original solution, with almost equal strength.

11. These experiments shewed sufficiently that the whole of the chlorine had not acted upon the carbonate of soda to produce chloride of sodium, and chlorate of soda; that much was in a peculiar state of solution or union which enabled it to withstand ebullition, and yet to act freely as a bleaching or disinfecting agent; and that probably little or none had combined with the sodium, or been converted into chloric acid. To put these ideas to the test, two equal portions of the Labarraque solution were taken; one was put into a large tube, closed at one extremity, diluted sulphuric acid was added till in excess, and then air blown through the mixture by a long small open tube, proceeding from the mouth, for the purpose of carrying off the chlorine; the contents of the tube were then heated nearly to the boiling point, air being continually passed through. In this way all the chlorine which had combined with the carbonated alkali without decomposing it, was set free by the sulphuric acid, and carried off by the current of air and vapour, whilst any which had acted chemically upon the alkali would, [p088] after the action of the sulphuric acid, be contained in solution as muriatic and chloric acids, and from the diluted state of the whole, would not be removed by the after-process, but remain to be rendered evident by tests. The other portion being diluted, had sulphuric acid added also in excess, but no attempt was made to remove the chlorine. Equal quantities of these two portions in the same state of dilution were then examined by nitrate of silver for the quantities of chlorine sensible in them, and it was found that the latter portion, or that which retained the whole of the chlorine thrown into it, contained above sixty times as much as the former.

12. Now although it may be supposed that in the former portion that part of the chlorine, which, in acting energetically, had produced chloric acid, could not be detected by the nitrate of silver, yet more than a sixth of the small portion which remains cannot be thus hidden; and even that quantity is diminished by the sulphuric acid present in excess, which tends to make the chlorine in the chlorate sensible to nitrate of silver: so that the experiment shews that nearly 59 parts out of 60 of the chlorine in M. Labarraque’s liquid are in a state of weak combination with the carbonated alkali, and may be separated by acids in its original condition; that this quantity is probably wholly available in the liquid when used as a bleaching or disinfecting agent; that little, if any, of the chlorine forms chloride of sodium and chlorate of soda with the alkali of the solution; and that the portion of chlorine used in preparing the substance which is brought into an inactive state, is almost insensible in quantity.

13. The peculiar nature of this compound or solution, with the results Mr. Phillips had shewn me (8), obtained by evaporation of a similar preparation to dryness, induced me to try the effects of slow evaporation, crystallization, heat, and air upon it. In the first place five equal portions of the solution prepared by myself were measured out: two were put into stoppered bottles, two were put into basins and covered over with bibulous paper, and one was put into a basin which was left open; all were set aside in an obscure place, and remained from July 16th to August 28th. Being then examined, the portions in the basins were found crystallized and dry; the crystals were large and flat, striated and imperfect, resembling those formed [p089] in a similar way from carbonate of soda. They were not small and acicular, were nearly alike in the three basins, and had effloresced only on a few minute points. A part of one portion, when dissolved, gave a solution, having an alkaline taste, without any of the pungency of Labarraque’s liquid; and which, when tested by turmeric paper, reddened, but did not bleach it.

14. One of these portions that had effloresced least was selected, and being dissolved, was compared in bleaching power upon diluted sulphate of indigo, with one of the portions of solution that had been preserved in bottles. The former had scarcely any visible effect, though sulphuric acid was added to assist the action; a single measure of the indigo liquor coloured the solution permanently blue, whereas seventy-seven such measures were bleached by the portion from the bottle. Hence the process of slow crystallization had either almost entirely expelled the chlorine, or else had caused it to react upon the alkali, and by entering into strong chemical combination as chloride and chlorate, had rendered it inert as a bleaching or disinfecting agent.

15. From the appearance of the crystals there was no reason to expect the latter effect; but to put the question to the proof, one of the evaporated portions, and one of the fluid portions contained in the bottles, were acted upon by sulphuric acid, heat, and a current of air, in the manner already described (11), to separate the chlorine that had not combined as chloride or chlorate. They were then compared with an equal portion of the solution, which retained all its chlorine, nitrate of silver being used as before: the quantity of chloride indicated for the latter portion was 60 parts; whilst that of the fluid portion deprived of as much free chlorine as could be, by sulphuric acid and blowing, was 6 parts; and for the evaporated and crystallized portion, similarly cleared of free chlorine, only 1.5 parts.

16. This result, as compared with the former experiment of a similar kind (11), shewed, that though reaction of the chlorine on the carbonate had taken place in the evaporated portion, it was only to a very slight extent, since the chlorine was almost as much separated from it by the process altogether, as it had been from the recent preparation by sulphuric acid, blowing, and heat. The experiment shewed also that there [p090] was a gradual reaction of the chlorine and alkali in the fluid preparation, proceeding to a greater extent than in the evaporated portion; for chlorine, equal to five parts, was found by the nitrate of silver to remain. Hence this preparation is one which deteriorates even in the small space of forty-three days. Whether the effect will proceed to any great extent, prolonged experiments only can shew.

17. From an experiment made upon larger quantities of the Labarraque liquor, it would appear that the force of crystallization alone is sufficient to exclude the chlorine. A quantity was put into an evaporating basin, and left covered over with paper from July 16th to August 28th. Being then examined, a few large crystals were found covered over with a dense solution; the whole had the innocuous odour of Labarraque’s fluid, and the fluid the usual acrid, biting taste. The crystals being separated, one of the largest and most perfect was chosen, and being well wiped on the exterior, and pressed between folds of bibulous paper, was rubbed down in water, so as to make a saturated solution. This had no astringent taste like that of Labarraque’s fluid, or the mother-liquor, but one purely alkaline; and when applied to turmeric paper, reddened, but did not bleach it. Equal portions of this saturated solution and of the mother-liquor were then compared in bleaching power, acid being added to the former to assist the effect: it was found, notwithstanding that portions of mother-liquor must have adhered to the crystal, that its solution had not 1/21th part the power of the mother-liquor. This, in conjunction with the other experiments, is a striking instance of the manner in which the carbonate of soda acts, as a simple substance, with the chlorine in the solution. The crystal itself had never been in contact with the air: but whether it should be considered as the excess of carbonate of soda only which crystallized; or whether it is essential to the formation of these crystals that chlorine should simultaneously be given off into the air; or what would take place, if the water were abstracted without the evolution of chlorine, I have not determined.

18. Notwithstanding the perfect manner in which the chlorine may be thus separated by crystallization and slow evaporation to dryness, yet it is certain that by quick evaporation a [p091] substance apparently quite dry may be obtained, which yet possesses strong bleaching power. In one experiment, where, of two equal portions, one had been evaporated in the course of twenty-four hours to dryness upon the warm part of a sandbath, when compared with the former, it had not lost more than one-third of its bleaching power.

19. With the desire of knowing what effect carbonic acid would have on Labarraque’s fluid, and whether it possessed in a greater or smaller degree the power of ordinary acids to expel the chlorine, portions of the solution were put into two Woulfe’s bottles, and a current of carbonic acid gas passed through them. The gas was obtained from sulphuric acid and whitening in a soda-water apparatus, and was well washed in water. The stream of gas brought away small portions of chlorine with it, but they were not sensible to the smell, and could only be detected by putting litmus paper into the current. An immense quantity of gas, equal to nearly 1300 times the volume of the fluid, was sent through; but yet very little chlorine was removed, and the bleaching powers of the fluid were but little diminished, though it no longer appeared alkaline to turmeric paper. Air was then passed through the solution in large quantity; it also removed chlorine, but apparently not quite so much as carbonic acid.

20. One other experiment was made upon the degree in which the carbonate of soda in Labarraque’s liquor resisted decomposition by the chlorine, even at high temperature. Two equal portions of the fluid were taken, and one of them boiled rapidly for fifteen minutes; both were then acted upon by sulphuric acid, blowing, and heat, as described (11), and the two were then tested by nitrate of silver, to ascertain the quantity of chlorine remaining: it was nearly three times as much in the boiled as in the unboiled portion; and by comparing this with the results before obtained (11), it will be seen that, after boiling for a quarter of an hour, not more than a twentieth part of the chlorine had acted upon the alkali, to form chloride and chlorate.

21. It would seem as if I were unacquainted with Dr. Granville’s paper upon this subject, published in the last volume of this Journal, p. 371, were I to close my remarks without taking [p092] any notice of it. Unfortunately, Dr. Granville has mistaken M. Labarraque’s direction, and by passing chlorine, to “complete saturation,” through the carbonate, instead of using the quantities directed, has failed in obtaining Labarraque’s really curious and very important liquid; to which, in consequence, not one of his observations or experiments applies, although the latter are quite correct in themselves.

_Royal Institution, Sept. 3, 1827_.

FOOTNOTES:

[31] See the last volume of this Journal, pp. 211, 460.

[32] See Vol. I. of this Journal, p. 461; and _Phil. Mag._ N. S., I. 376.

HIEROGLYPHICAL FRAGMENTS; _with some Remarks on_ ENGLISH GRAMMAR. _In a Letter to the Baron William Von_ HUMBOLDT. By a Correspondent.

My dear Sir,

I am happy to tell you that our prospects of new documents from Egypt are very rapidly increasing: Mr. Burton has had the good fortune to discover at length, in a mosque, the triple inscription for which he has been some years in search; and he has been negotiating with the Pacha for its removal. From its magnitude and state of preservation, there is every reason to believe that it will rival the pillar of Rosetta in its importance, and I sincerely hope that it will tend to check the wildness of conjecture, which has been rioting without bounds in the regions of Egyptian literature. Mr. Tattam is printing a Coptic grammar, and I am preparing an Appendix, which is to contain the rudiments of an Enchorial Lexicon: I ardently wish that Mr. Burton’s inscriptions may come to my assistance before I complete it. I have received nothing from France or from Germany for these four years past: even what is published seems by some fatality to have been withheld from me; and the booksellers send no answers to my commissions. I trust your brother will not forget his kind promise to think of me at Berlin.

I have to thank him and you for your obliging present of your _Letter to Abel Remusat on the Genius of the Chinese Language_, which has greatly interested me: the best return that I can make will be to give you some remarks which have occurred to me on the language of hieroglyphics in general, [p093] and on the character of the English language, which seems to approach, in its simplicity, as you have yourself observed, to the natural structure of the oldest languages, immediately related to the hieroglyphical form of representation. I fear, however, that I must apologize to you for the want of method with which I shall be obliged at present to throw my fragments together: but it may be allowable to make some difference between a letter and a finished essay.

Hieroglyphics, in their primitive form, are scarcely to be considered in any case as simply a mode of expressing an oral language: they may be a direct and independent representation of our thoughts, that is, of recollections, or sentiments, or intentions, collateral to the representation of the same thoughts by the language of sounds. We find, in many of the Egyptian monuments, a double expression of the same sense: first, a simple picture, for instance, of a votary presenting a vase to a sitting deity; each characterized by some peculiarity of form, and each distinguished also by a name written over him; and this may be called a pure hieroglyphical representation, though it scarcely amounts to a language, any more than the look of love is a language of a lover. But we universally find that the tablet is accompanied by a greater variety of characters which certainly do constitute a language, although we know little or nothing of the sounds of that language; but its import is, that “such a king offers a vase to the deity;” and on the other side, that “the deity grants to the king health and strength, and beauty and riches, and dominion and power.” It is common to see, in these inscriptions, a number of characters introduced, which are evidently identical with some of those in the tablets: and however some of them may occasionally have been employed phonetically, there can be no question of the nature of the changes which their employment must have gone through before they assumed the character of sounds: but this is altogether a separate consideration, and foreign to the present purpose.

Now it is obvious that objects, delineated with the intention of representing the originals to the eye by their form, must necessarily be nouns substantive; and that the picture, containing no verb whatever, can scarcely be said to constitute [p094] either a positive or a negative assertion. At the same time, it must be allowed that a picture of King George the Fourth’s coronation, with the date 19 July 1821, could scarcely be considered otherwise than as asserting a historical truth; and if any emblem of Truth were attached to it, or if it were deposited among the records of other historical facts, it would be equivalent to the expression, “George IV. crowned in July 1821,” which _scarcely_ wants the verb _was_ to convert it into a positive assertion of a fact.

Strictly speaking, however, there seems to be no direct mode of supplying the want of the verb _is_ or _was_ in pure hieroglyphical writing; and if any such sign was employed in the Egyptian or the old Chinese hieroglyphics, its introduction must have been arbitrary or conventional; like the employment of a postulate in mathematics. Every other part of a language appears capable of being reduced, with more or less circumlocution, to the form of a noun substantive; and the English language appears to approach to the Chinese in the facility with which all the forms of grammar may be shaken off.

There is, however, often occasion, in such cases, for a certain degree of metaphor approaching to poetical latitude; and hence it may happen that the least literary nations are sometimes the most poetical. It is, in fact, impossible to exclude metaphor altogether from the most prosaic language; and it is frequently difficult to say where metaphor ends and strict logical prose begins; but by degrees the metaphor drops, and the simple figurative sense is retained. Thus we may say _liquid ruby_ with the same exact meaning as _crimson wine_; and yet _ruby_ would never be called an adjective, though employed merely to express the colour: in _coral lips_, however, the _coral_, first used metaphorically, is converted by habit into an adjective, and the expression is considered as synonymous with _labri corallini_.

The general custom in English is to place the figurative substantive, used as an adjective by comparison, or by abstraction, before the name which retains its proper sense: thus a chestnut horse is a chestnut like or chestnut coloured horse; a horse chestnut is a coarse kind of chestnut: and in this manner we are enabled to use almost every English noun substantive as an adjective, by an ellipsis of the word _like_, which, [p095] if inserted entire or abridged, would make a real adjective of the word, as war_like_, friend_ly_. But this omission of the termination, like other figures of speech, is easily forgotten in the ordinary forms of language; and the Germans, as well as the English, make use of almost all their substantives in the place of adjectives, though they are more in the habit of continuing them into single long words. When, however, the substantives are so used, they generally become by abstraction real adjectives: for we seldom think of a _chestnut_, in speaking of the colour of a horse; but the idea of a light brown coat, with an ugly pale-red mane and tail, and a fidgety temper, is very likely to occur to us: and in a horse chestnut the idea of a horse is out of the question; we only think of a coarse fruit which a man cannot eat: so that the true sense, in both these instances, is that of a quality; but _coral lips_ and _ivory hands_ are rather elliptical expressions, composed of two substantives, which might fairly be represented hieroglyphically by the assistance of a branch of coral and an elephant’s tusk. But to describe an abstract quality by any hieroglyphic character, representative of form only, would be generally impossible: colours might be imitated, if we supposed coloured figures to be employed; but other simple ideas, such as those of sound or touch, could never be immediately presented to the eye; and some circuitous invention would always be required for their representation.

Horne Tooke has shewn, with considerable felicity of illustration, that all the parts of speech may be resolved into the noun and the verb; but he has not pointed out so clearly that every verb may be resolved into a noun and the single primitive verb is or was, which, in this sense, may be said to be the only essential verb in any language; as we find, indeed, in the Coptic, that almost every noun becomes a verb, either by the addition of PE, or sometimes even without it. Thus, _the morning_ BLUSHES is synonymous with _the morning_ IS _red_; _he loves justice_, with _he_ IS _a lover of justice_; and _I_ AM _an Englishman_, with _the person now speaking_ IS _an Englishman_. But this must be understood of is, was, or will be, in all its tenses; the idea of time, if expressed, being an essential part of the verbal sense.

I confess that some of these reflections have occurred to me in looking over a very singular work, which I had the curiosity [p096] to take up, in order to see what kind of information could be possessed by a person notoriously and professedly ignorant of the origin and relations of the language which he attempts to teach; and, in short, what kind of light could be diffused by an apostle of darkness. Blunders, and some of them ridiculous enough, must, of course, be found in the works of such a person, but most of them are such as every schoolboy might correct; and there really is so much of sagacity in some of Mr. Cobbett’s remarks on the errors of others, that they well deserve the attention of such as are ambitious to write or speak with perfect accuracy.

I shall not attempt to enter into a regular criticism of this _Grammar_; I shall merely make a few miscellaneous observations, as they have occurred to me in reading it, several of which would be equally applicable to the best of the existing works of a similar nature.

In Letter III we are told that _long_ and _short_, though adjectives, do not express _qualities_, but merely dimension or duration; from a singular misconception of the proper sense of the word _quality_. We find, in Letter IV, the rule given by most grammarians, though not by all, that the article A becomes AN, when it is followed by any word beginning with a vowel; but it is surely more natural to follow the sound than the spelling, and, as we should never think of saying an _youthful_ bride, it seems equally incorrect to say an _useful_ piece of furniture; for the initial sound is precisely the same. In the same manner A _unit_ and A _European_, seems to sound more agreeable than AN; and the best speakers appear to adopt this custom.