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Though nitrogen gas is, by itself, so noxious to animals, it answers an important end when mixed with oxygen gas in atmospheric air. Were it not for this large quantity of nitrogen in the atmosphere, the blood would flow with too great rapidity through the vessels, and all animals would have too great spirits; the consequence of which would be, that the life of man would not be protracted to the length that it now is. “If the proportions of oxygen and nitrogen were reversed in the atmospheric air, says Dr. Lambe, the air taken in by respiration would be more stimulant, the circulation would become accelerated, and all the secretions would be increased: but the tone of the vessels, thus stimulated to increased action, would be destroyed by over-excitement; and, if the supply from the stomach were not equal to the consumption, the body must inevitably waste and decay.” Hence the wisdom of God is remarkably displayed in the constitution of the atmospheric air! See Parke’s Chemical Catechism, chap. ii.

— “Mr. Cavendish,” says Dr. O. Gregory, “is the first who endeavored to establish that the proportions of the two principal elements of the atmospheric air were constant. The observations since made by M. de Mairy in Spain, M. Berthollet, in Egypt and in France; Mr. Davy, in England; and by Dr. Beddoes on the air brought from the coast of Guinea, seem to have confirmed this grand result. But one of the finest experiments made on this subject is that of Gay Lussac, in France, who, having been elevated alone in a balloon to the height of 6,900 metres, the greatest ever attained by any person, brought some atmospheric air from these regions. This air, being analysed at his return, comparatively with that on the surface of the earth, gave the same principles in the same proportions; a proof that the chemical constitution of the atmosphere at these great heights, is the same as at the surface of the earth. This result has been since confirmed by the experiments made by Messrs. Humboldt and Gay Lussac on eudiometry. The air of the surface of the earth, analysed at different days, at various hours and temperatures, presented no change in its composition: it always contained 0.21 of oxygen in volume, 0.783 of azote, 0.003 of hydrogen, and 0.004 of carbonic acid. Biot and Arrago have also lately verified this grand result. The atmospheric air, analysed in places the most distant from each other, in deep valleys, on high mountains, on banks of lakes, and in the glaciers of Chamouny, always presented to them the same composition.” Haüy’s Natural Philosophy, Note, vol. i. p. 218.

— Sturm’s Reflections, vol. iv. p. 49.

— “Galileo, to whom was reserved the glory of preparing, long before, the way for the theory of Newton, by the discovery of the law to which the acceleration of heavy bodies is subjected, having let fall from a great height different balls of gold, of lead, of copper, or porphyry, with a ball of wax, observed that all these bodies employed nearly the same time in falling to the earth. The ball of wax, the only one that was sensibly retarded, was no more than four inches from the earth at the end of the fall of the other bodies. Galileo, considering that this difference was very far from being proportional to that of the weights, concluded that it depended solely on the resistance of the air. This conjecture has been since verified by direct experiments, consisting in letting fall from the top of a tube, within which the vacuum has been made the most perfect possible, bodies of different materials, such as lead, iron, wood, cork, feathers, wool, &c., and it has been found that none of these bodies will then permit of our perceiving any sensible difference in the duration of their fall. As to bodies which raise themselves in air, such as smoke, it is known that their ascension is occasioned by the circumstance of their being specifically lighter than air: they are with respect to this fluid, situated as a piece of cork is with respect to water, which when immersed in that water to a certain depth, and then left to itself, rises again to the surface. The vulgar regard all as being without gravity which rises instead of falling: whence Newton remarked that the weight of the vulgar was the excess of the absolute weight of a body above the weight of the air. The ascent of air-balloons in the midst of the air is well calculated to undeceive the partisans of this theory of bodies without heaviness.” Haüy’s Natural Philosophy, vol. i. p. 48.

— To Otto Guericke, a burgo-master of Magdeburgh, we are indebted for the invention of the pneumatic machine, or air-pump.

— The atmosphere presses equally on the whole surface of the water in the well, until the rod of the pump is moved; but, by forcing the rod down, the bucket compresses the air in the lower part of the pump tree, which being elastic, forces its way out of the tree through the valve; so that when the bucket is again raised, that part of the pump tree under the bucket is void of air; and the weight of the atmosphere, pressing on the body of water in the well, forces up a column of water to supply its place; the next stroke of the pump rod causes another column of water to rise; and as long as the bucket fits the pump tree close enough to produce a vacuum, a constant stream of water may be drawn from below. Parkes’s Chemical Catechism, pp. 47, 418.

— As the earth’s surface contains, observes Mr. Ferguson, in round numbers, 200,000,000 square miles, must contain no less than 5,575,680,000,000,000 square feet; which being multiplied by 2,160, the numbers of pounds on each square foot, amounts to 12,043,468,800,000,000,000 pounds, for the weight of the whole atmosphere. Mr. Coates computed that the weight of the air which pressed upon the whole surface of the earth, is equal to that of a globe of lead sixty miles in diameter.

The following simple experiments within the reach of every one’s observation, show clearly the weight or gravitating power of the air. Let any one lay his hand on the top of a long perpendicular pipe, such as a pump filled to the brim with water, which is at first prevented from running out by the valve below: then let the valve be opened, so that the water may descend, and he will find his hand so hard pressed to the top of the pipe that he cannot draw it away. The prop is now gone; he has no pressure under his hand; a column of air, 45 miles high forces it down by its weight; and he must let in the air under it before the hand can be withdrawn.—If we shut the nozzle and valve-hole of a pair of bellows after having squeezed the air out of them, we shall find that a very great force, even some hundred pounds, is necessary for separating the boards; they being kept together by the pressure of the air which surrounds them.—If any one will apply the open end of a syringe to his hand, and then draw up the piston, he will find his hand sucked into the syringe with great force, and it will give pain, and the soft part of the hand will swell into it, being pressed in by the neighboring parts, which are subject to the action of the external air.

— A heavy air is more favorable to health than a light one, because it promotes the circulation of the blood, and insensible perspiration. When the air is heavy, it is generally clear; whereas a light air is generally accompanied with clouds, rain, or snow, which render it damp. Too great a dryness of the air is very injurious to the human body; but this seldom happens for any length of time, except in sandy countries. A damp air is very unwholesome, because it relaxes the fibres, obstructs insensible perspiration, and if heat accompany the dampness, it disposes the humors to putrefy. An air too hot dilates all the fluids of the body, and occasions sweatings, which bring on weakness and oppression. On the other hand, when the air is to cold, the solid parts contract excessively, and the fluids are condensed; hence result obstructions and inflammations. The best air is that which is neither too heavy nor too light, too moist nor too dry, and which is not impregnated with noxious vapors. Sturm’s Reflections, vol. iv, p. 50.

— “The most ingenious theories of the periodical winds we recollect, are those of Mr. Hadley, first proposed in Phil. Trans. vol. xxxix, p. 58, and lately revised by Mr. Dalton, in his Meteorological Essays,—and of Dr. Halley, first published in Phil. Transac. vol. xvi, p. 153, and recently defended by Dr. Kirwan, in his paper, ‘On the Variations of the Atmosphere.’ In the latter mentioned paper Kirwan has given some interesting information relative to variable winds, as westerly, easterly, southerly, northerly, and opposite concomitant winds; also relative to the succession of winds, and the Sirocco. See likewise the Philosophical Magazine, No. 60. Some curious facts respecting winds, and waves on the surface of the sea, are related by Mr. Horsburg in the Philosophical Journal, No. 60.” Haüy’s Nat. Phil. vol. i, pp. 285,286.

— Odyss. v. 295.

— A celebrated architect, born at Formio, in Italy. He was greatly esteemed by Julius Cæsar, and employed by Augustus in constructing public buildings and warlike machines. He wrote a valuable Treatise on Architecture.

— This division, with the several names on each point, was made by the Germans, as most commodious; but these names are not easily expressed in other languages. They are thus marked in English:

North.

East.

South.

West.

N and by E

E and by S

S and by W

W and by N

N N E

E S E

S S W

W N W

N E and by N

S E and by E

S W and by S

N W and by W

N E

S E

S W

N W

N E and by E

S E and by S

S W and by W

N W and by N

E N E

S S E

W S W

N N W

E and by N

S and by E

W and by S

N and by W

— “The most decisive circumstance tending to show the great velocity of brisk winds,” says Dr. O. Gregory, “is that of the rapid passage of the celebrated aëronaut M. Garnerin, from London to Colchester. On the 30th of June, 1802, the wind being strong, though not impetuous, M. Garnerin and another gentleman ascended with an inflammable air-balloon from Ranelagh Gardens, on the south-west of London, between four and five o’clock in the afternoon; and in exactly three-quarters of an hour they descended near the sea, at the distance of four miles from Colchester. The distance of the places of ascent and descent is at least 60 miles; so that, allowing no time for the elevation and depression of the balloon, but, supposing the whole period occupied in transferring it in a path nearly parallel to the earth’s surface, its velocity must have been at the rate of 80 miles per hour. If, therefore, the wind moved no faster than the balloon, its velocity was then 80 miles per hour, or 117½ feet per second; a celerity but little less than the greatest assigned by Kraaft: and hence it is probable, that the velocity of very impetuous winds is not less than 130 or 140 feet per second.” Haüy’s Nat. Phil. vol. i, p. 282.

— Mr. Bruce, who, in his journey through the desert, suffered from the simoon, gives of it the following graphical description. “At eleven o’clock, while we contemplated with great pleasure the rugged top of Chiggre, to which we were fast approaching, and where we were to solace ourselves with plenty of good water, Idris, our guide, cried out, with a loud voice, ‘Fall on your faces, for here is the simoon.’ I saw from the south-east a haze come, in color like the purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed or thick. It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was about twelve feet high from the ground. It was a kind of blush on the air, and it moved very rapidly: for I scarce could turn to fall on the ground with my head to the northward, when I felt the heat of its current on my face. We all lay flat on the ground as if dead, till Idris told us it was blown over. The meteor or purple-haze which I saw, was indeed passed, but the light air that still blew was of heat sufficient to threaten suffocation. For my part, I found distinctly in my breast that I had imbibed a part of it, nor was I free of an asthmatic sensation, till I had been some months in Italy, at the baths of Poretta, near two years afterwards.” Though the severity of this blast seems to have passed over them almost instantaneously, it continued to blow so as to exhaust them till twenty minutes before five in the afternoon, lasting through all its stages very near six hours, and leaving them in a state of the utmost despondency.

Fatal Simoon.—Extract of a letter from Smyrna:—We have received intelligence of a dreadful calamity having overtaken the largest caravan of the season, on its route from Mecca to Aleppo. The caravan consisted of 2,000 souls, merchants and travellers from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, pilgrims returning from Mecca, and a numerous train of attendants; the whole escorted by 400 military. The march was in three columns. On the 15th of August last, they entered the great Arabian Desert, in which they journeyed seven days, and were already approaching its edge. A few hours more would have placed them beyond danger; but on the morning of the 23d, just as they had struck their tents, and commenced their march, a wind arose from the north-east, and blew with tremendous violence. They increased the rapidity of their march to escape the threatening danger; but the fatal Kamsin had set in. On a sudden dense clouds were observed, whose extremity obscured the horizon, and swept the face of the desert. They approached the columns, and obscured the line of march. Both men and beast, struck with a sense of common danger, uttered loud cries. The next moment they fell beneath its pestiferous influence lifeless corpses. Of 2,800 souls, composing the caravan, not more than 20 escaped this calamity; they owed their safety to the swiftness of their dromedaries. Literary Panorama, for January, 1814.

— See Baptist Magazine, for December, 1816.

— So the word is translated Luke xix, 10; 2 Cor. iv, 3.

— Benson on Gen. i, 9, 10.

— Contemplative Philosopher, vol. ii, pp. 177-179.

— M. Savary, in his instructive and entertaining Letters on Greece, has the following pertinent reflections: “We enjoy the finest weather imaginable; not a cloud obscures the sky, and a south-east wind wafts us directly towards the port to which our wishes tend. We have now entirely lost sight of land, and, as far as the eye can reach, only view the immense abyss of the waters, and the vast expanse of the heavens. How awful is this sight! How does it inspire the mind with great ideas! How adventurous is man, who trusts his fortune and his life to this frail vessel he has built, which a worm may pierce, or a single blast dash to pieces against a rock. Yet in this he braves the fury of the ocean! But how admirable is his ingenuity! He commands the winds, enchains them in the canvas, and forces them to conduct him where he pleases. He sails from one end of the world to the other, and traverses the immense liquid plains without any signals to direct him. He reads his course in the heavens. A needle, which wonderfully points perpetually to the pole, and the observation of the stars, inform him where he is. A few lines and points mark out to him the islands, coasts, and shoals, which his skill enables him to approach or avoid at pleasure. Yet has he cause to tremble, notwithstanding all his science and all his genius! The fire of the clouds is kindling over his head, and may consume his dwelling. Unfathomable gulfs are yawning beneath his feet, and he is separated from them only by a single plank. His confidence might make us imagine he knew himself immortal; yet he must die—die never to revive again, except in another state of being.”

— As it is sometimes necessary to preserve sea water in casks for bathing and other purposes, it is of importance to know how to keep it from putrefaction. Dr. Henry from many experiments made by him for the preservation of sea water from putrefaction, has concluded, that two scruples of quick-lime are sufficient to preserve a quart of sea water. The proportions, however, may vary a little according to the strength of quick-lime employed.

— “Frosts often occasion a scantiness of water in our fountains and wells. This is sometimes erroneously accounted for by supposing that the water freezes in the bowels of the earth. But this, as Dr. Robison remarks, is a great mistake: the most intense cold of a Siberian winter would not freeze the ground two feet deep; but a very moderate frost will consolidate the whole surface of a country, and make it impervious to the air; especially if the frost have been preceded by rain, which has soaked the surface. When this happens, the water which was flittering through the ground is all arrested, and kept suspended in its capillary tubes by the pressure of the air.” Haüy’s Nat. Phil. p. 198.

— Dr. Black’s Lectures, vol. i. p. 69.

— See Ellis’s voyage to Hudson’s Bay.

— St. Pierre’s Studies, vol. i, pp. 129-132.

— See 21st volume of the Philosophical Magazine.

— The specific gravity of water is as follows; a wine-pint measure weighs one pound; consequently a cubic foot of water weighs about 1,000 ounces, or 62½ pounds, avoirdupois. It is 816 times heavier than atmospheric air.

— Parkes’s Chemical Catechism, p. 108.

— Haüy’s Natural Philosophy, vol. i. pp. 197, 198.

— Parkes’s Chemical Catechism, pp. 94, 95.

— Parkes’s Chemical Catechism, p. 92.

— Driessen on the Nature of Snow.

— Thomson’s Chemistry, vol. i, p. 365.

— “The English word hail, in Latin grando, in Greek χαλαζα, gives us no information about the nature of the thing: but, if we take the word ברד BeReD in Hebrew, it resolves itself into ב..רד, which signifies in descensu, and so describes to us the physiological formation of hail: which, as philosophers agree, is first formed into drops of rain, and, as it falls, is frozen into hail.” Jones’s Letter on the Use of the Hebrew Language.

— Dr. Clarke on Exod. ix, 18.

— See Dr. Paley’s Natural Theology, p. 407.

— There are hot spouting springs of water in Iceland, of which a traveller says, “Near Laugervatan, a small lake about two days’ journey distant from Mount Hecla, we beheld the steam of the hot springs rising in eight different places, one of which of which continually threw up into the air a column of water from eighteen to twenty-four feet high. The water was extremely hot, so that a piece of mutton and some salmon trouts were almost boiled to pieces in it in six minutes.

At Gyser, not far from Skallholt, one of the Episcopal sees in Iceland, within the circumference of three English miles, forty or fifty boiling springs are seen together; and the largest, which is in the middle, particularly engaged our attention the whole of the day that we spent here. The aperture through which the water arose is nineteen feet in diameter; and round the top is a basin nine feet higher than the conduit. Here the water does not continually, but only by intervals several times a day; and, as I was informed by the Icelanders, in wet weather higher then at other times.

On the day we were there the water spouted ten different times, between the hours of six and eleven in the morning, each time the height of fifty or sixty feet. Before, the water had not risen above the margin of the pipe; but now it began by degrees to fill the upper basin, and at last to run over. Our guides told us that the water would soon spout up much higher than it had done.

Soon after four o’clock we observed that the earth began to tremble in three different places; as well as the top of a mountain which was about three hundred fathoms distant from the mouth of the spring. We also frequently heard a subterraneous noise, like the discharge of a cannon; and immediately afterwards a column of water spouted from the opening, which at a great height divided itself into several rays, and according to our observation was ninety-two feet high. Our great surprise at this uncommon force of the air and fire was increased, when many stones which we had flung into the aperture wore thrown up again with the spouting water.” Troil.

— Savary, Newcomen, Cawley, Watt, and Boulton, Englishmen; and Betancourt and the brothers Perrier, Frenchmen; are names well known in the history of steam-engines. And those persons who wish to acquaint themselves with the principles and manner of operation of this most important class of machines, says Dr. O. Gregory, may be referred to the following work:—The Repertory of Arts and Manufactures, the Philosophical Journal, and the Philosophical Magazine, in various places; the second volume of Mr. Brewster’s edition of Ferguson’s Select Lectures, the second volume of Gregory’s Mechanics, and the second volume of Prony’s treatise entitled Nouvelle Architecture Hydraulique.

— Plymouth Chronicle.

— Whitehurst’s Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth.

— Examination of Dr. Burnet’s Theory of the Earth, pp. 92, 93.

— The substances of which vegetables are composed, now amount to fifteen in number; but almost the whole of vegetable substances are composed of four ingredients, namely, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and azote. Of these, the last, namely, azote, forms but a small proportion even of those vegetable substances of which it is a constituent part, while, into many, it does not enter at all.—Contemplative Philosopher, vol. i. p. 150.

— Of the efficacy of water in vegetation, we have on record some remarkable instances. That vegetables will grow in woollen cloth, moss, and in other insoluble media, besides soils provided they be supplied with water, has been repeatedly shown since the days of Van Helmont and Boyle: but the experiments of a modern author, says Mr. Parkes, from their apparent correctness, seem more highly interesting and conclusive.

Seeds of plants were sown in pure river-sand, in litharge, in flowers of sulphur, and even among metal, or common leaden shot; and in every instance nothing employed for their nourishment but distilled water. The plants throve, and passed through all the usual gradations of growth to perfect maturity. The author then proceeded to gather the entire produce, the roots, stems, leaves, pods, seeds, &c. These were accurately weighed, dried, and again weighed, then submitted to distillation, incineration, lixivation, and the other ordinary means used in a careful analysis. Thus he obtained from these vegetables all the materials peculiar to each individual species, precisely as if it had been cultivated in a natural soil—viz. the various earths, the alkalies, acids, metals, carbon, sulphur, phosphorus, nitrogen, &c. He concludes this very important paper nearly in these extraordinary words: “Oxygen and hydrogen, with the assistance of solar light, appear to be the only elementary substances employed in the constitution of the whole universe; and Nature, in her simple progress works the most infinitely diversified effects by the slightest modifications in the means she employs.”—See Recherches sur la Force assimilatrice dans les Végétaux, par M. Henri Braconnot, Annales de Chimie, Fev. et Mars, 1808.

100

— He was born at Verona, of an illustrious family; and at the foot of Vesuvius, while attempting to ascertain the cause of an extraordinary cloud issuing therefrom, was, by the sulphureous exhalation from the burning lava, suffocated, A.D. 79.

101

— The Tabacum, or common Tobacco plant, was first discovered in America, by the Spaniards, about the year 1560, and by them imported into Europe. It had been used by the inhabitants of America long before; and was called by the inhabitants of the islands, yoli, and by those of the continent, pætux. It was sent into Spain from Tabaco, a province of Yucatan, where it was first discovered, and from whence it takes its common name. Sir Walter Raleigh is generally said to have been the first who introduced it into England, about the year 1585, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and who taught his countrymen how to smoke it. The following anecdote is related of him. He having imitated the Indians in smoking this plant, at length so much delighted in it, that he was unwilling to disuse it on his return to England; and therefore supplied himself with several hogsheads, which he placed in his own study, and generally indulged himself with smoking secretly two or three pipes a day. He had a simple man, who waited at his study door, to bring him up daily a tankard of old ale and nutmeg, and he always laid aside his pipe when he heard him approaching. One day, being earnestly engaged in reading some book which amused him, the man abruptly entered, and, surprised at seeing his master enveloped in smoke, (a sight perfectly new to him) the smoke ascending in thick vapors from his mouth and the bowl of the tobacco-pipe, immediately threw the ale in his master’s face, ran down stairs, and alarmed the family with repeated exclamations, that his master was on fire in the inside, and that if they did not make haste, before they could get up stairs, he would be burned to ashes.

102

— Taylor on remarkable Trees, Plants, and Shrubs.

103

— Evangelical Magazine, January, 1814.

104

— Dr. Black, ii. 694.

105

— Phil. Trans. for 1796.

106

— See Mr. Hitchen’s Paper, in Phil. Trans. vol. xci. p. 159.

107

— Storch’s Picture of Petersburgh, p. 330.

108

— Several salts are formed by art with this metal for medicinal purposes. One of the most valuable is calomel, which is made by triturating fluid mercury with corrosive sublimate, and then submitting the mixture to sublimation. As this medicine is much used in private families, and as dreadful consequences might ensue if it were improperly prepared, it ought to be generally known, says Mr. Parkes, that if it be not perfectly insipid to the taste, and indissoluble by long boiling in water, it contains a portion of oxymuriate of mercury, or corrosive sublimate, and consequently is poisonous.

109

— Monthly Review, Appendix, vol. xxvii. N.S. p. 551.

110

— Storch’s Picture of Petersburgh, p. 319.

111

— In domestic economy, the necessity of keeping copper vessels always clean is generally acknowledged; but it may not perhaps be so well known, that fat and oily substances, and vegetable acids, do not attack copper while hot; and, therefore, if no liquor be ever suffered to grow cold in these utensils, they may be used for every culinary purpose with perfect safety.—Dr. Percival gives an account of a young lady who amused herself, while her hair was dressing, with eating samphire pickle impregnated with copper. She soon complained of pain in the stomach, and in five days vomiting commenced, which was incessant for two days. After this her stomach became prodigiously distended: and in nine days after eating the pickle, death relieved her from her sufferings. Medical Transactions, vol. iii, p. 80.

112

— The materials forming nearly the whole of this Section have been selected and arranged from the seventh Edition of Parkes’s Chemical Catechism: a work of peculiar interest, and which was confidently recommended to the Author by a physician and chemist of distinguished celebrity.

113

— Encyclopædia Britannica.

114

— Time’s Telescope for 1815, Introduction.

115

— Dr. Robert Wittie, in his Survey of the Heavens, makes the following observations concerning this miraculous interposition of Divine providence. “We read that Joshua, in his zeal against the enemies of God and his people, in the heat of battle, called to the sun and moon to stand still, &c. The design was that the light might be lengthened, till he might destroy the army of the Amorites, and the day was accordingly prolonged, as the sun went not down for the whole day, and the moon also staid.—But why should Joshua call to the moon to stand still, as well as the sun, which I could be of no use to him, while the sun was up? To this I answer with all due modesty; I do believe Joshua did call thus by inspiration, and a special impulse from God upon his spirit: for that which would make the sun stand still, would stay the moon. He that from the hasty zealous call of this great general, shall think to form an argument to prove the philosophical notion of the sun’s diurnal motion about the earth, by taking the words in a proper literal sense, may as well go on, and eke it out a little further, and then he may prove the sun to have been in the next great town, Gibeon, and the moon in the valley; but if to all men this latter shall be judged a weak inference, I dare say, to many wise men, so will the former.” P. 12, 13.

116

— Aristotle de Cœl. lib. ii, cap. 13.

117

— Macrob. Sat. lib. i, cap. 21.

118

— Macrob. in Somn. Scip. lib. i, cap. 20.

119

— That is, in adoration; from ad ore, to the mouth, i.e. hand to the mouth.

120

— Baseley’s Glory of the Heavens, pp. 73-76.

121

— The new moon is often styled a crescent; a word formed from the Latin crescere, to grow; and though it is used from the same figure of the moon in her wane or decrease, when her horns are turned towards the west, yet these horns always point to the east in the just crescent.

122

— M. Schroëter, of the Royal Society of Gottingen, has recently published a very curious and elaborate work in German, entitled, Selenotographische Fragmente, &c., or Selenotopographical Fragments, intended to promote a more accurate knowledge of the moon’s surface: a valuable extract from which may be seen in the Pantologia, article Moon.

123

— See Mr. Howard’s valuable paper on the Philosophical Transactions for 1802, Dr. Hutton’s Dissertation in the New Abridgment, part xxi, and Dr. Adam Clarke on Josh. x, 11.

124

— The principal eclipse of the sun, for the present century, has been already calculated, and it is fully determined that it will take place in the year 1847. It will be annular in this country, and several other places. Time’s Telescope for 1815.

The Athenians, according to Plutarch, entertained very terrific ideas of eclipses of the moon. Nicias and his army, when they were on the point of withdrawing secretly from Sicily, without being observed or suspected by the enemy, refused to embark, because the moon became suddenly eclipsed; this ignorant and superstitious conduct proved fatal, for they were all, shortly after, either slain or taken prisoners.

125

— A valuable correspondent writing from Matura, in Ceylon, May 7, 1817, says, “A festival was lately celebrated here, principally on the river. A large boat was rigged for the purpose, somewhat after the manner of a ship, which carried a number of dancers and other persons in disguise, accompanied with the music of pipes and drums. I particularly inquired into the meaning of the ceremonies; and, as far as I could learn, it was a celebration of the birth of the sun and moon. The world is believed to have been once inhabited by holy brahmins, whose bodies were transparent, and afforded sufficient light. When these fell into sin, they lost their splendor, and other lights became necessary.”

The African negroes, in the West Indies, on seeing the new moon, take out of their pocket a piece of whatever money they have, and, holding it up in their hand, say, “God bless the new moon, this is all I can give you; take this, and give me good luck:” and then throw it up toward it. After this action, they believe that prosperity will attend them during the time that moon continues. On embracing the Christian religion, they lay aside this heathenish practice.

126

— On the dial of the cathedral at Bruges, the sun is represented directing the hours, with this motto, Non rego, nisi regar: signifying, that the sun could not rule the day, if it was not first ruled itself. Had the Pagan world known this truth, the greatest part of it had not fallen into idolatry.

127

— Literary Panorama, for January, 1814, pp. 954, 955.

128

— “At what time the earth began to be considered, or rather suspected, to be spherical,” says Costard, “is uncertain, but probably not before the undertaking long voyages; the first of which, it may be, were down the Arabian Gulf, and out of the Straits of Bab-Al-mandub, by Europeans corruptly called Babelmandel. What opinion was commonly entertained of those who undertook those long voyages, may be learned, in some measure, from this word. For Mandub is one that is lamented at his funeral; therefore Bab-al-mandub is the gate, or strait, of one lamented at his funeral; as if a person sailing beyond that point, was considered as going to certain death, or never to return.”

129

— See Verstigan’s “Restitution of Decayed Intelligence,” Edit. 1673, pp. 64-68; and Time’s Telescope.

130

— On June 14, 1815, was published the following astronomical notice. The Georgium Sidus is now visible to the naked eye any clear night. It souths now a little before midnight, is paler and less vivid than the fixed stars near it in Scorpio; it will remain in company with Arcturus for two or three years, passing north of it about the middle of the year 1816, and veering to the east, or left hand, at the rate of 4° 18ʹ annually, being near seven years in passing one sign, and near 84 in making an entire revolution.

Dr. Herschell assumes, that the eclipses of the satellites of the Georgium Sidus will, in the year 1818, be visible to those who possess telescopes of high magnifying powers, when they will appear to ascend through the shadow of the planet in the direction almost perpendicular to the ecliptic.

131

— In the year 1712, Mr. Whiston having calculated the return of a comet, which was to make its appearance on Wednesday, the 14th of October, at five minutes after five in the morning; he gave notice to the public accordingly, with this terrifying addition, that a total dissolution of the world by fire was to take place on the Friday following. The reputation Mr. Whiston had long maintained, both as a divine and a philosopher, left little or no doubt with the populace of the truth of his prediction. Several ludicrous events took place in consequence. A number of persons in and about London seized all the barges and boats they could lay their hands on in the Thames, very rationally concluding, that when the conflagration took place, there would be the most safety on the water. A gentleman who had neglected family prayer for longer than five years, informed his wife that it was his determination to resume that laudable practice the same evening; but his wife having engaged a ball at her house, persuaded her husband to put it off till they saw whether the comet appeared or not. The South-sea stock immediately fell to five per cent., and India stock to eleven. The captain of a Dutch ship threw all his powder into the river, that the ship might not be endangered.

The next morning the comet appeared according to the prediction, and before noon the belief was universal, that the day of judgment was at hand. About this time of the day 123 clergymen were ferried over to Lambeth, it was said, to petition that a short prayer might be penned and ordered, there being none in the church service on that occasion. Three maids of honor burnt their collections of novels and plays, and sent to a bookseller’s to buy each of them a Bible, and Bishop Taylor’s Holy Living and Dying. The run upon the Bank was so prodigious, that all hands were employed from morning till night in discounting notes, and handing out specie. On Thursday, considerably more than seven thousand kept mistresses were legally married! in the face of several congregations. And to crown the whole, Sir Gilbert Heathcote, at that time head director of the Bank, issued orders to all the fire-offices in London, requiring them “to keep a good look out, and have a particular eye upon the Bank of England.”

The comet which might have put the earth in most hazard, was that of 1680. By Halley’s calculation it passed, November 11, within 60 semi-diameters of the earth’s orbit: and if, at that time, the earth had been in that part of her orbit, there is no conjecturing at the consequences.—Literary Panorama, for December, 1811.—Probably the above was only a hoax upon Mr. Whiston on account of the singularity of his opinion concerning comets.

132

— Dr. Keill’s Astronomy, 5th Edit. pp. 189, 190.

133

— Dr. O. Gregory’s Treatise on Astronomy, p. 413.

134

— The celebrated Buffon supposed, that our earth was originally formed by a comet’s sweeping off and receiving in his train a portion of the exterior part of the sun; which, after having been sufficiently cooled, in the lapse of time, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, had gradually assumed its present form! When we reflect that this eminent French naturalist was an infidel and a libertine, his many strange theories confirm the remark of the Poet,

“An undevout astronomer is mad.”

When a person through the pride of intellect, will not submit his fallible understanding to the sure light of Divine revelation, he is liable to embrace the greatest absurdities, which a sober and well-regulated mind would prevent.

135

— Guardian, No. 103.

136

— The distances of the fixed stars have never been absolutely determined, and what is here stated is not given as the true distance of Sirius; but from what has been ascertained, the distance cannot be less than as above. Dr. Bradley, after another method of calculation, makes it to be more than ten times greater, or twenty-five millions of millions, and 650 thousand of millions.

137

— In 1627, Schiller published a work, entitled Cœlum Stellatum Christianum, containing the ancient catalogue, with new constellations. In this work he rejected the old designations, and substituted new figures for the constellations, and names taken from the sacred Scriptures; thus Aries he changed into St. Peter; Taurus, into St. Andrew; Andromeda, into the holy sepulchre; Lyra, into the manger of Christ; Hercules, into the wise men of the east; Canis Major, into David; and so on. This he is said to have done in imitation of the venerable Bede, who, instead of the profane names and figures adopted by pagans, substituted the names of the twelve apostles for those of the twelve constellations in the zodiac: but these innovations were disregarded by astronomers. Weigelius, professor of mathematics at Jena, attempted to make an innovation of another kind; he wished to change the starry heavens into a kind of Cœlum Heraldicum, by introducing the arms of all the princes and states of Europe, by way of constellations; but his project experienced the same fate as those of Bede and Schiller.

138

— See Ferguson’s Astronomy.

139

— Gisborne’s Walks in a Forest, sixth edit. pp. 44, 45, 46.

140

— The author thankfully acknowledges his obligations for many of the above thoughts to an old sermon preached “at the opening of the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale;” but cannot say of what date, or by whom delivered, as his copy of it is without title-page.

141

— The great Greenland Whale is a large, heavy animal, usually found from sixty to seventy feet long. The head alone is equal to a third of its bulk; and the cleft of the mouth is above twenty feet long. The upper jaw is furnished with barbs, that lie like the pipes of an organ, the greatest in the middle, and the smallest on the sides; these compose the whale-bone, the longest spars of which are found to be not less than eighteen feet. The fins on each side are from five to eight feet, consisting of bones and muscles, and sufficiently strong to give speed and activity to the great mass of body which they move. The tail is about twenty-four feet broad; and, when the fish is on one side, its blow is tremendous. The skin is smooth and black, and in some places dappled with white and yellow: which, running over the surface, have a very beautiful effect. The outward or scarf skin is no thicker than parchment; but this removed, the real skin appears of about an inch thick, and covers the fat or blubber that lies beneath: this is from eight to twelve inches in thickness; and, when the fish is in health, of a beautiful yellow. The muscles lie beneath: and these, like the flesh of quadrupeds, are very red and tough.

142

— A variety of opinions we meet with concerning the whale which swallowed Jonah, and in whose belly he was three days and three nights. The following is offered by Dr. A. Clarke. “That a fish of the shark kind, and not a whale, is here meant, Bochart has abundantly proved, vol. iii, col. 742, &c., edit, Leyd. 1692. It is well known, that the throat of a whale is capable of admitting little more than the arm of an ordinary man; but many of the shark species can swallow a whole man; and men have been found whole in the stomachs of several. Every natural history abounds with facts of this kind. Besides, the shark is a native of the Mediterranean Sea, in which Jonah was sailing, when swallowed by what the Hebrew terms דג גדול dog gadol, a great fish; but every body knows that whales are no produce of the Mediterranean Sea, though some have been by accident found there, as in most parts of the maritime world: but let them be found where they may, there is none of them found capable of swallowing a man.”

143

— The Torpedo is formidable, being well known by the effect it produces when touched: but the manner of its operating is to this hour a mystery to mankind. Such is the unaccountable power it possesses, that, the instant it is touched, it benumbs not only the hand and arm, but sometimes also the whole body. The shock received, by all accounts, much resembles the stroke of an electrical machine; being sudden, tingling, and painful. “The instant,” says Kemfer, “I touched it with my hand, I felt a terrible numbness in my arm, and as far up as the shoulder. Even if one tread on it with the shoe on, it affects not only the leg, but the whole thigh. Those who touch it with the foot, are seized with a stronger palpitation than even those who touch it with the hand. This numbness bears no resemblance to that which we feel when a nerve is a long time pressed, and the foot is said to be asleep: it rather appears like a sudden vapor, which, passing through the pores in an instant, penetrates to the very springs of life; whence it diffuses itself over the whole body, and gives real pain. The nerves are so affected, that the person struck imagines all the bones of his body, and particularly those of the limb that received the blow, are driven out of joint. All this is accompanied with an universal tremor, a sickness of the stomach, a general convulsion, and a total suspension of the faculties of the mind.”

We are in possession of some facts which relate to the manner of its acting. Reaumur, who made several trials on this animal, has at least convinced the world that it is not necessarily, but by an effort, that the Torpedo benumbs the hand of him that touches it. He tried several times, and could easily tell when the fish intended the stroke, and when it would continue harmless. Always before the fish meditated the stroke, it flattened the back, raised the head and the tail; and then by a violent contraction in the opposite side, struck with its back against the pressing finger; while the body, which before was flat, became humped and round. The most probable solution of this phenomenon is, that it depends on electricity. When the fish is dead, the whole power is destroyed, and it may be handled, or eaten with perfect security.

144

— A large herring-fishery is carried on at Douglas, in the Isle of Man. Herrings are so abundant in the neighborhood of Gottenburgh, that 200,000 barrels, on an average, are salted there every year, and about 400,000 are employed in making train oil. Besides these, 50,000 barrels are consumed fresh in the country, or sent to Denmark. Allowing 1,200 fish to each barrel, in this district alone, about 780,000,000 of herrings are caught in a season. In the year 1776, 56,000 barrels were sent to Ireland, and thence exported to the West Indies.

145

— The Indians of Jamaica and Cuba (says Oviedo) go a fishing with the Remora, or Sucking-Fish, which they employ as falconers employ hawks.—This fish, which is not above a span long, is kept for the purpose, and regularly fed. The owner, on a calm morning, carries it out to sea, secured to his canoe by a small but strong line, many fathoms in length; and the moment the creature sees a fish in the water, though at a great distance, it darts away with the swiftness of an arrow, and soon fastens upon it. The Indian, in the mean time, loosens and lets go the line, which is provided with a buoy that keeps on the surface of the sea, and serves to mark the course which the Remora has taken, and pursues it in his canoe until he conceives his game to be nearly exhausted and run down: he then, taking up the buoy, gradually draws the line towards the shore; the Remora still adhering with inflexible tenacity to its prey; and it is with great difficulty that he is made to quit this hold. By this method (adds Oviedo) I have known a turtle caught, of a bulk and weight which no single man could support.—Edward’s West Indies, vol. i. p. 100.

146

— A species of sea turtle, weighing 840 lb. was harpooned and caught on the 27th of September, 1811, off Sandy Hook, near New-York. It measured three feet two inches round the neck, was seven feet long, eight feet in circumference, and seven feet and a half from the extremity of one fin to the other: of a coal black color, with five black ridges on the back resembling the sturgeon. It is said to be a trunk turtle, a native of the East Indies, and was the first ever seen in the American seas. The proprietor of a museum purchased it for fifty dollars.

147

— Sir W. Jones, when in India, formed en acquaintance with an intelligent and respectable Brahmin. The religion of these men permits them not to destroy life, nor to swallow any creature which has possessed it; and so strict are some, that in the season when insects abound, they cover their mouths and nostrils, and sweep the ground on which they walk with a soft broom, that they may not tread on them. Sir William had a solar microscope sent from England, and showing it to his Hindoo friend, demonstrated the impossibility of his eating even fruit and vegetables without swallowing the animalcules which adhere to them. The Brahmin was astonished and seemed gratified; but begged importunately for the microscope, so importunately, that, at length, Sir William reluctantly resigned it to him. A momentary gleam of joy flashed across the Brahmin’s countenance; and, grasping the instrument, he immediately descended from the viranda, where they were conversing, into the garden, when, seizing a stone, he instantly smashed it to pieces. On assigning his reason for this act, which he did a few days afterwards, when his friend’s anger had subsided, he said, “Oh that I had remained in that happy state of ignorance wherein you first found me! Yet will I confess, that, as my knowledge increased, so did my pleasure, until I beheld the last wonders of the microscope. From that moment I have been tormented by doubt, and perplexed by mystery: my mind, overwhelmed by chaotic confusion, knows not where to rest, nor how to extricate itself from such a maze. I am miserable, and must continue so to be, until I enter on another stage of existence. I am a solitary individual, among fifty millions of people, all educated in the same belief with myself, all happy in their ignorance! So may they ever remain! I shall keep the secret within my own bosom, where it will corrode my peace, and break my rest; but I shall have some satisfaction in knowing that I alone feel those pangs which, had I not destroyed the instrument, might have been extensively communicated, and rendered thousands miserable! Forgive me, my valuable friend, and, oh, convey no more implements of knowledge and destruction!“ These religious prejudices, which cannot bear the light of sound philosophy, we perceive to be the results of lamentable ignorance and degrading superstitions, and it may be hoped will soon be removed by the cultivation of science, and especially the dissemination of the Scriptures. The missionaries now in the East will certainly be of very singular use to the natives.

148

— M. de Saussure, in a letter to Bonnet, says, “Infusion-animalcules multiply by continued divisions and sub-divisions. Those roundish or oval animalcules that have no beak or hook on the fore part of their bodies, divide transversely. A kind of stricture of strangulation begins about the middle of the body, which gradually increases, till the two parts adhere by a small thread only. Then both parts make repeated efforts, till the division is completed. For some time after separation, the two animals remain in seemingly torpid state. They afterwards begin to swim about briskly. Each part is only one half the size of the whole: but they soon acquire the magnitude peculiar to the species, and multiply by similar divisions. To obviate every doubt, I put a single animalcule into a drop of water, which split before my eyes. Next day, I had five; the day after, sixty; and, on the third day, their number was so great, that it was impossible to count them.”—La Palingenesie Philosophique, par C. Bonnet, tom. i. pp. 428, 429.

149

— See Bryant’s Observations upon the Plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians, Part I.

150

— See Jones’s Disquisition concerning clean and unclean Animals.

151

— Nicholas, in his voyage to New-Zealand, vol. i, p. 334, says, “The morning of the 10th of January, 1815, was announced to our enraptured ears by the swelling notes of the woodland choristers, and never either before or since did I hear such delightful harmony. Rising together at an early hour, we fancied ourselves for the moment in some enchanted ground, while the forest seemed to ring with the mellow warblings of nature, and a thousand feathered songsters poured their soft throats in responsive melody. There was, however, one bird that was distinguished from all the rest, as well by the compass and variety of its notes, as by their incomparable sweetness. This bird, which has been brought to Port Jackson, and highly prized there, is called by the colonists the organ-bird, and is, I believe, peculiar to New-Zealand: the notes of the Nightingale, however exquisite, are, in my opinion, much inferior to the song of this bird; and I never thought before that either the grove or forest could boast of such a vocal treasure.”

152

— A Martin recently fixed her nest directly over the window of the Inn at Rampside, in Low Farnes. After her young were hatched, she became a very troublesome visitant, by throwing the cleansing of her nest upon the window. The servant-maid, with more attention to cleanliness than humanity, removed the little inconvenience by destroying the nest with a broom. The young birds of course fell to the ground; in the mean time the parents collected a great number of their own species, who quickly built a second nest, sufficiently commodious for the reception of the distressed family, and the young were safely conveyed to their new lodgings by the parents and their assistants.

153

— Dr. Edmonston, in his view of the Zetland islands, says, “The white-tailed Eagle, or Erne, boldly attacks fishes of the largest size. Several desperate combats have been witnessed between this bird and the Halibut. The former strikes his claws into the fish with all his force, determined not to relinquish his hold, and, although but rarely, is sometimes drowned in the attempt to carry off his prize. When he has overcome the Halibut, he raises one of his wings, which serves as a sail, and if favored by the wind, in that attitude drifts towards the land. The moment he touches the shore, he begins to eat out and disengage his claws; but if discovered before this can be effected he falls an easy prey to the first assailant.”

154

— Bellonius says, “The Storks come to Egypt in such abundance, that the fields and meadows, are white with them. Yet the Egyptians are not displeased with this sight; as frogs are generated in such numbers there, that did not the Storks devour them, they would over-run every thing. Besides, they also catch and eat Serpents. Between Belha and Gaza, the fields of Palestine are often desert on account of the abundance of Mice and Rats; and were they not destroyed by the Falcons that come here by instinct, the inhabitants could have no harvest.”

155

— Dr. Edmonston says:—“The crows generally appear in pairs, even during winter, except when attracted to a spot in search of food, or when they assemble for the purpose of holding what is called the Crow’s court. This latter institution exhibits a curious fact in their history. Numbers are seen to assemble on a particular hill or field, from many different points. On some occasions the meeting does not appear to be complete before the expiration of a day or two. As soon as all the deputies have arrived, a very general noise and croaking ensue, and, shortly after, the whole fall upon one or two individuals, whom they persecute and beat until they kill them. When this has been accomplished, they quietly disperse.”

On the subject of Gulls, Dr. Edmonston says:—“In the affectionate care of their offspring, these Gulls display great sagacity and even foresight. When the cradle at Noss is about to be slung, the gulls, aware of the approaching capture of their young, are unremitting in their efforts to carry them off. From the first moment that they observe preparations making to enter the holm, they become noisy and restless,

——‘and chide, exhort, command,

Or push them off,’

so that if bad weather delay the arranging of the cradle, but for a few days, scarcely any are left to be taken away.

“This bird is a great enemy to the fowler, by intimating to other birds his approach. One of them is an inseparable attendant on the Scarfs, when they assemble on the rocks for the purpose of drying and resting themselves; and they seem sensible of the good offices of this voluntary guardian, by quietly receiving it among them, and obeying its friendly admonitions.—On the approach of a person from the shore, or of a boat, the Gull having first testified marks of anxiety and apprehension, flies off before either have approached within gunshot, and all the Scarfs, except those who are young and inexperienced, follow. It not merely contents itself with giving them warning in due time, but urges their departure by repeated calls, and sits down in the water, at a considerable distance from the spot from which it fled, as if intending to point out the place where they may consider themselves in safety; and they generally all repair to the same place. To the Seal this bird is of essential service. These animals frequently lie upon the rocks for hours in succession, and so well acquainted are some sportsmen with their haunts, that they raise small bulwarks, or rests, to conceal their approach, or wait their arrival behind a rock. The Gull, however, frustrates all these precautions, by first flying over the head of the hunter, and then screaming close to the Seal; and, when the latter is not disposed to avail himself at once of this friendly intimation, I have known them strike him on the head with their feet. As soon as he slips into the water they appear to be perfectly satisfied, as if they then conceived him in a situation to protect himself.