being according to Swartz a native of the colder regions of the mountains in Jamaica. To the successful cultivation of plants, a knowledge of the elevation at which they occur is fully as necessary, as that of the latitude.-Volkameria angustifolia, supposed to be a native of the Isle of France, communicated by Mr. Donn, eurator of the botanic garden at Cambridge. In habit this shrub appears to approach very near to the simple-leaved jasmins.-Zingiber Cliffordiana, so named in honor of Lady de Clifford, an amateur of botany and collector of curious and rare plants.-Pancratium amœnum. The author says that this plant is certainly distinct from P. caribæum, but as far as we can judge from the figure, not by any means a good one, it is a mere variety; and was brought by Lord Seaforth from the West Indies under the latter name, and presented to Mr. Lambert in whose stove it flowered in March 1808. -Periploca africana, a rare plant which flowered at Messrs. Whitley and Brame's Old Brompton, industrious cultivators of rare plants from every part of the world, and obligingly communicative of their treasures to inquiring botanists. Our limits will not permit us to proceed further for the present, we are obliged therefore to postpone the consideration of the two latter numbers of the repository to another opportunity, when we shall also again take up our account of the English botany, of which we are several numbers in arrear. NATURALIST'S MONTHLY REPORT. MARCH As yet the trembling year is unconformed Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving fleets Deform the day. DURING the whole of this month the weather has been perfectly feasonable, particular ly when we confider the tremendous fall of rain that we had during the month of January, and nearly till the middle of February. The farmers, who, about fix weeks ago, were making fad forbodings refpecting the failure of the corn crops of the enfuing feason, are now perfectly fatisfied that the country at large has fuftained very little injury. During the last two or three days of the month the wind has been easterly, and very cold. Hitherto this year we have not had any violent gales, if I may except thofe in the month of January: in the prefent month we have had none whatever; fo that I hope we may for once efcape the tempetts of the vernal equinox. 'March ft. A falmon was this day caught, which weighed two and twenty pounds. It was one of the finest that has been remembered for many years, as taken fo early in the feafon. March 4th. Rooks are beginning to prepare their nets. The fallow begins to thow the yellow anthers of its catkins. The whitlow-grafs, (draba verna) in flower on the fides of dry gravelly and fandy banks. Yew trees are in flower. March 10th. Curculio niger crawls about the walls of old bu ldings. The jumping spider (aranea scenica) is feen on the funny walls and pales of gardens and fields. I have, in the course of the prefent month, picked up on the fea beach a great many hard Aones, that are perforated to the depth of about the eighth of an inch, in narrow and fome.. what oblong holes. I am at a lois to conjecture by what fpecies of animal thefe could have been formed No fhells were found in any of them, and had they been the work of fome minute kind of teftacea, fuch er fragments of fuch, would certainly have remained. If any of your correspondents are poffeffed of information on this fubject, it would be an acceptable fervice to the fcience of natural history, to lay it before the public in your Magazine. March 11th. Pheasants are heard to crow. Me The Cancer fagnalis is to be feen in the fplashes on gravelly parts of the roads; and in the fame places the hair or wire worm is moving about in its flow and tortuous manner. loe proscarabeus, Chrysomela tenebricosa, and Chrysomela coriaria, crawl about in the hedge bottoms. March 20th. Two white rats were killed this day. They had each red eyes, as is commen in all the white varieties of the murine fpecies. What is by no means a ufual occurrence in a county fo far fouth as Hampire, a perfectly white weezel has feveral times been obferved about the premifes of a farm yard in the neighbourhood from which I am writing. The field crickets, (Gryllus campestris of Linnæus) begin to open their holes on the fides of funny banks, and to come out of them in the middle of the day, when the heat of the fun is most powerful. An obferver may fee one of them at the orifice of each hole if he approach gently and with great caution; but they run in on the leaft alarm. They have not yet began to chirp, or creak, as it is called in fome parts of this county; nor perhaps will they be heard to do this till about the beginning of May. Crows, magies, wood-pigeons, as well as numerous kinds of fmall birds, are occupied in forming their nefts. I am informed that a foffil tortoise or turtle in a very perfect ftate, has lately been dug out of the ground, upwards of fixty feet below the furface, at Swannage in Dorfetshire. March 30th. A fpecimen of the warty lizard of Pennant (lacerta paluftris of Linnæus), was was this day brought to me, which had been found, along with feveral others, in fome bundles of thatch that had lain near a pond fince the latter end of autumn. The animals had taken fhelter in these as a retreat for the winter. I have never before feen any of thefe animals in this gravelly neighboured; and although I am informed that there are alfo frogs in fome places, yet it is more than fix years fince I faw one here. The flower-buds of the black or floe thorn, begin to appear and feveral of the wall-fruit trees are in bloom. The easterly winds and frosty nights have however greatly checked the progrefs of the latter. In the last week of this month a very large salmon was caught by an angler, with an artificial fly. The river trout, as well as the roach and dace begin to feed, and play about the furface of the ftreams and rivers. Hampshire. MONTHLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT. THE check which the young wheats have received during the present month, has been extremely beneficial in preventing the over luxuriance which the fineness of the preceding month had caused in all those which had been put in at an early period. It has likewise had a good effect on those which were late sown, which on the whole look well. In England and Wales, Wheat averages 91s. 10d. per quarter; Barley, 44s. 11d.; and Oats, 32s. 6d. The badness of the weather, and the snow which has fallen in many parts during this month, has much retarded the business of the field, in different situations, much less seed grain having been got into the ground than would otherwise have been the case. In many places the lands have been so soaked and saturated with water, that it has been quite impossible to sow them. The grazing stock of all kinds, has, however, gone on well, as much food had been produced by the warmth of the weather in March. Grass Lamb is just getting plentiful in the country as well as town markets. The prices of all descriptions of fat stock however still keep up.-In Smithfield Market, Beef fetches from 5s. to 6s. 4d. per stone of 81b.; Mutton, from 6s. 44. to 6s. 8d.; and Pork, from 6s to 7s. There are plenty of Potatoes for setting this season; but the extent of land which has been planted with them this month, has not been nearly so great as usual, probably from the badness of the season. The business of repairing the fences, and of dressing and rolling the grass lands, has in many places been well performed. In Smithfield Market, Hay fetches from 51. to 61. 10s. per load; Clover, from 61. 10s. to 71. 16s.; and Straw, from 11. 14s. to 11. 18s. METEOROLOGICAL REPORT. Observations on the State of the Weather, from the 24th of March, to the 24th of April, 1809, inclusive, Four Miles N.N.W. of St. Paul's. The quantity of rain fallen since our last report of it is equal to 5.32 inches in depth. The average heat of the month is little more than 42°, nearly the same as it was for March. Four or five weeks since, the Spring was looking remarkably forward; it is now exceedingly backward. The frost has more than once been very severe, and the ice from half an inch to an inch thick. On five or six days we have had snow; but the fall on Thursday and Friday, the 20th and 21st, was deeper than we have ever known it so late in the season. The average height of the barometer for the month has, been 29.54; of course we have had much rain. Our readers will remember that we anticipated rain, at the time we closed our last report: the barometer led to the expectation, but we had a very small quantity till the beginning of the month. On the 14th, we had a violent thunder-storm, accompanied with with large hail-stones, which cut every thing to pieces in the garden. This, we have reason to believe, was partial; at Islington and Highgate it was slight, in comparison of what was experienced at Holloway, where the weight of a cloud seemed to rush down with tremendous violence. We can reckon but seven or eight brilliant days out of the thirteen; and on sixteen we have had rain, snow, or hail; and on the 11th was a violent hurricane, that brought to the ground the newly-built nests of the rooks, which, as yet, are wholly undefended by the opening leaves. The wind has blown chiefly from the Easterly quarters. According to our Correspondent in the Isle of Wight, the average temperature for the first three months of the present year is as follows: January, 40-22 This account was taken at Shide, near Newport. ASTRONOMICAL ANTICIPATIONS. The new moon, or change, will be on the 14th, at four minutes past twelve, noon; and the opposition, or full moon, on the morning of the 29th, at 18 minutes past eight. On the evening of the 28th will take place another occultation of the star in the constellation of the Scorpion, by the moon, and is the last of this star that will be visible in Great Britain, for several years. The immersion will be at the eastern side of the moon's disk at 414 minutes past ten, apparent time; and the star will emerge from behind her western edge at 54 minutes past eleven, after been occulted 1h. 91m. At the time of the immersion, the star will be four minutes, and at the emersion three minutes, to the north of the moon's (centre. At the time of the above phænomenon the clock will be 3 minutes 7 seconds behind the sun dial. The planet Herschel or Georgium Sidus will be above the horizon almost the whole night. On the morning of the 1st, he sets at 43 minutes past four, five minutes after sunrise, on the morning of the 16th, at 44 minutes past three; and on the morning of the 31st, at 45 minutes past two. On the 1st he may be found with the telescope 4° 53′ to the west in longitude, and about 7 minutes to the north in latitude, of the bright star in the balance named a. On the 16th their difference of longitude will be 5o 30', and of latitude 7 minutes; and on the 31st their difference of longitude will be 6o 3', the star being still about 7 minutes to the south of the planet. Saturn will be a fine object for observation this month. He will be in opposition to the sun, or, which is the same thing, in his perige, on the morning of the 224 at four o'clock. The quantity of his re rograde motion for the month will be 2o 4'. On the morning of the 3d, he will come into conjuction with the in the Scorpion, a star of the fourth magnitude, when their difference of latitude will be 32 minutes, the star being to the south, and on the morning of the 23d he will be in the same longitude with the B, a star of the second magnitude in the same constellation, the planet in this instance being 1o 8′ to the north. Jupiter will be a morning star, rising an hour or two before the sun. Mars will be up in the evenings. Till the 20th his apparent motion in longitude will be retrograde. He will be stationary in 8o 54' of the anastrous sign Libra, 1° 24′ to the west of the 7 in the Virgin, a star of the third magnitude. For the remainder of the month he will move direct, or according to the, order of the signs. Venus will be an evening star till the 24th when she becomes a morning star. Her interior conjunction happens on the morning of the 24th, at 40 minutes past seven. On the 1st her elongation from the sun, will be 30° 1, on the 4th 27° 22′, on the 7th 24° 2′, on the 10th 20° 17′, on the 13th 16° 25′, on the 16th 12° 5', and on the 19th 7° 35'; after which she will not be readily seen with the naked eye, on account of her then near approach to the sun. The telescopic appearance of this planet will be extremely interesting this month. On the 1st, she will resemble the moon when she is about 5 days old, or more correctly, like the moon when she is 442 degrees from the sun. Till her inferior conjunction, the quantity of her illuminated disk which is turned to the earth will rapidly decrease. About the middle of the month she will become a very fine crescent, similar to what the moon puts on, on her earliest appearance after a conjunction with the sun. Mercury, for the three first weeks, will be too near the sun to be observed without the aid of the telescope. On the evening of the 25th, about an hour after sun-set, he may be seen nearly in conjunction with the northern horn of the bull, a star of the second magnitude, named likewise B, their difference of latitude being 3° 22′, the planet being to the south. On the 22d Mercury sets at 12 minutes past nine; on the 25th, at 32 minutes past nine; on the 28th, at 48 minutes past nine; and on the 31st, at one minute before ten. That singular star in the head of Medusa, characterized by the Greek literal B, may be observed twice at its least brightness; viz. on the morning of the 13th, at 51 minutes past two; and on the evening of the 15th at 40 minutes past eleven. Errata-In the Astronomical Anticipations for April, Line 8, for south," read north; line 27, for " maritine," read matutine: line 53, for "between 3 and 4 degrees," read between 2 and 4 degrees. THE No. 185.] JUNE 1, 1809. [5 of VOL. 27. "As long as thofe who write are ambitious of making Converts, and of giving to their Opinions a Maximum of "Influence and Celebrity, the most extenfively circulated Mifcellany will repay with the greatest Effect the "Curiosity of those who read either for Amufement or Inftruction."―JOHNSON. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, N No. 183 of your very useful tions it acts rather the part of an acid; it prefers evidently an alkali, an earth, or a metal, to any acid whatever; and the most I miscellany, there are some obser- complete combinations in nature are most vations respecting the formation of flints, from which your Correspondent concludes, that these substances are merely a modification of calcareous earth. This theory, however plausible it may appear, is not new; for, in my remarks" on the Identity of Silex and Oxygen," published in the Philosophical Magazine for March, April, May, and July, 1808, I here al luded to it, and offered some reasons for opposing it, considering the doctrine as totally inadmissible. At present I do not recollect precisely where I had read it, there being more than one authority in which similar observations are to be found; but the first who noticed this supposed transmutation was, I think, M. Girod-Chantrans, whose ideas on this subject are detailed in one of the numbers of the "Journal des Mines." The compound nature of every species of calcareous earth, particularly of common chalk, in which flints most abound, is an insuperable objection to this opinion. Siliceous earth is comparatively one of the most simple of terrestrial substances; and hence it seems absurd to suppose such a mixture as chalk, or carbonate of lime, should so readily lose all the characters of its respective ingredients, and that the lime, carbonic acid, water, iron, and silex in the state of fine sand, should all concur to form such a simple, primitive, and indecomposable matter as flint. Not only lime, but the whole list of the earths, differ so manifestly in their nature and properties from silex, that it seems preposterous to associate them as one class. The earths possess the powers of alkaline bodies; they neutralize acids, form peculiar salts with each species, and have all that distinctly marked attraction for acids as the alkalies themselves. Silex, on the contrary, has not only no such character, but in all its combinaMONTHLY MAG, No. 185. in which this element predominates. Thus, in precious stones, and in numberless mineral productions, as well as in glass, porcelain, and other such articles, the alkalies, earths, and metals are effectually neutralized: the most caustic are rendered tasteless, the most opaque become transparent, and the most poisonous mineral may be subdued into perfect inertness, by this singular and most universal of all bodies in nature. I am aware of the objection respecting that solitary case of fluoric acid; but having seen no such salt as the fluate of silex, or any combination of the kind that did not contain other matters, or that had not some palpable defect, I shall, for the present at least, pass the question. The circular or nodular figure of flints that are found in chalk, does not demonstrate a progressive accumulation; this circumstance is rather a decided mark of solution or abrasion. This may be readily illustrated by familiar examples, such as pieces of wax or metals while melting, the solution of earths, stones, or metals in acids, or even that of a piece of crystallized sugar-in water; for, in all these instances, the projecting or angu lar parts are the first that yield to the solvent. There is no necessity to purse this subject farther, as, in the remarks which I have quoted, it may be seen, that I' have already espoused the converse of this question, being rather inclined to conclude, that lime derives its existence from silex: for, besides the pieces of flint that are obvious, and often in strata, there is not an atom of the purest chalk that is free from sand, or most minutely divided silex: and this, with other corroborating circumstances, has contributed to lead my opinion. Controversies of this kind cannot, however, be very lasting, since so much has lately been accomplished through the wonderful 3 K wonderful and omnipotent efficacy of tions on the primitive Inhabitants of Great voltaic electricity. The earths, alkalies, Britain and Ireland. Having souglio and other bodies, have submitted and un- this book, in vain at all the buuksellers' folded their most secret connections, and in London, I was induced to apply to a the door seems to be opening to the most friend in Dublin, to procure for me all the inward recesses of Nature. Lime, among General's publications on the history and other substances, has yielded its consti- antiquities of Ireland. My friend could tuent principles, and proves to be a me- only obtain two, viz. the Essay beforetallic oxide; but the case is not so de- mentioned, and the “ Vindication of the cided in regard to silex. When this re- Ancient History of Ireland,” translated fractory body shall have also parted with from various Irish manuscripts, with its elementary character, and its com- notes and observations. ponents are fairly demonstrated, I shall, This Vindication was printed in 1786, with unfeigned satisfaction, reject a doce in which the author shews, that the Coti trine which originated with niyself, viz. of Ireland were the Indo-Scythæ of the that pure siler is the base of oxygen gas. ancients, the Coti of the Alps, and the Whatever shall be the fate of this opi- Cuthi of Scripture (that is, the ancient nión, it will always give me pleasure to Persians), and that Persia was the centre reflect, that it was imbibed, encouraged, of population of the weslern world. Iis and even published, before the late very this he was followed by Sir Williain interesting discoveries respecting the al. Jones in 1792 (see Asiatic Researches, kalies and the earths, and, consequently, vol. I.), and afterwards by Pinkerton, I cannot be accused of an attempt to Goropus, a German or Dutchman, in subvert or anticipate the just claims of bis Historia Mundi, written in the last others, whose ineritorious labours are century, shews that the Indo-Scythe first stamped with so much gerius and success. peopled Germany; and the General Long-Acre, Your's, &c. proves from language, that the Coti of April 17, 1809. Jos. HUME. the Alps were the Coti of Ireland. These Alpes Coti have been taken for To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. Celtæ hy some writers: but Procopius calls SIR, them Exetan, Scythæ; and he must be ale' ERMIT me, through the channel of lowed, as the General observes, to have tive Magazine, to offer a few remarks to people, having been Secretary to Beliyour learned readers, on what appears sarius during his wars in Italy. They to ine, a very extraordinary circumstance were known afterwards by the names of in the literary world. Valdois, Waldenses, &c. and their counThere actually exist at this moment try, was called the Pays de Vaud by the two learned Englishımen, who, by strict French. enquiry. I find, have no communication Alex, on the ancient Churches of Piede or correspondence with each other. One mont, p. 169. acquaints us, that in (Captain Wilford) situated at Calcutta, his time, in Cambridge, were written in the East Indies, a perfect master of copies of divers pieces of the Wal. the Sanscrit tongue; the other (General denses, and amongst them an old manuVallancy) situated in Ireland, who is also script of some books of the Old and New acquainted with the ancient language of Testament; these, it was said, were that country. The first, from exploring brought over by Morland, sent ambassathe Puranas of the East, asserts, that dor from England to Turin in behalf of the old Hindus had a knowledge of these these people. (Essay, p. 69.) western islands, Britain and Ireland. In 1700 Chamberlayne published his The second, from very ancient Irish má- Oratio Dominica plus centum linguis. nuscripts, asserts, and with strong rea- Among these we find that of the Walson, that the ancient Hindu mythology denses. The reader will be surprised prevailed in Ireland, introduced by a to find, that so little alteration had been colony of Scythians from India, known made in the language of the Alpes Coti to the Greek writers by the pame of and the Coti of Ireland of this day, in Indo-Scythæ, and that with these came that distance of time. a colony of Chaldeans. The General then proceeds to the colo I have been led to these remarks by a lation, which appears to me to be as culetter in your Magazine of June last, rious a subject in literature, as is to be signed Agricola, who there gives a short met with, and well worth recording in Ahulysis of the General's recent Observa- your laurned Magazine. TAG |