limited extent, without rivers, without hills, in the midst of salt
water, with the most elevated point but ten feet above high tide, and
no part more than 300 yards from the ocean. Though the soil is light
and the surface often strewed with blocks of coral, there is a dense
covering of vegetation to shade the native villages from a tropical
sun. The cocoa-nut--the tree of a thousand uses--grows luxuriantly on
the coral-made land, after it has emerged from the ocean; and the
scanty dresses of the natives, their drinking-vessels and other
utensils, mats, cordage, fishing-lines, and oil, besides food, drink,
and building material, are all supplied from it. The_ Pandanus_, or
screw-pine, flourishes well, and is exactly fitted for such regions:
as it enlarges and spreads its branches, one prop after another grows
out from the trunk and plants itself in the ground; and by this means
its base is widened and the growing tree supported. The fruit, a large
ovoidal mass, made up of oblong dry seed, diverging from a centre,
each near two cubic inches in size, affords a sweetish-husky article
of food, which, though little better than prepared corn-stalks, admits
of being stored away for use when other things fail. The extensive
reefs abound in fish which are easily captured; and the natives, with
wooden hooks, often bring in larger kinds from the deep waters. From
such resources a population of 10,000 persons is supported on the
single Island of Taputeouea, whose whole habitable area does not
exceed six square miles.[30]
Footnote 30: There are a few islands better supplied with
vegetable food, though the above statements are literally true of
a large majority.
Water is usually to be found in sufficient quantities for the use of
the natives, although the land is so low and flat. They dig wells five
to ten feet deep in any part of the dry islets, and generally obtain a
constant supply. These wells are sometimes fenced around with special
care; and the houses of the villages, as at Fakaafo, are often
clustered about them. On Aratica (Carlshoff) there is a watering-place
50 feet in diameter, from which our vessels in a few hours obtained
390 gallons. The Tarawan Islands are generally provided with a supply
sufficient for bathing, and each native takes his morning bath in
fresh water, esteemed by them a great luxury.
The only source of this water is the rains, which, percolating through
the loose surface, settle upon the hardened coral rock that forms the
basis of the island. As the soil is white, or nearly so, it receives
heat but slowly, and there is consequently but little evaporation of
the water that is once absorbed.
These islands, moreover, enclose ports of great extent, many admitting
even the largest class of vessels; and the same lagoons are the pearl
fisheries of the Pacific.
An occasional log drifts to their shores; and at some of the more
isolated atolls, where the natives are ignorant of any land but the
spot they inhabit; they are deemed direct gifts from a propitiated
deity. These drift-logs were noticed by Kotzebue, at the Marshall
Islands, and he remarked also that they often brought stones in their
roots. Similar facts were observed by us at the Tarawan group, and
also at Enderby's Island, and elsewhere.
The stones at the Tarawan Islands, as far as we could learn, are
generally basaltic, and they are highly valued for whetstones,
pestles, and hatchets. The logs are claimed by the chiefs for canoes.
Some of the logs on Enderby's Island were forty feet long, and four in
diameter.
Fragments of pumice and resin are transported by the waves to the
Tarawan Islands. We were informed that the pumice was gathered from
the shores by the women, and pounded up to fertilize the soil of their
taro patches; and it is so common, that one woman will pick up a peck
in a day. Pumice was also met with at Fakaafo. Volcanic ashes are
sometimes distributed over these islands, through the atmosphere; and
in this manner the soil of the Tonga Islands is improved, and in some
places it has received a reddish colour.
The officers of the "Vincennes" observed several large masses of
compact and cellular basalt on Rose Island, a few degrees east of
Samoa: they lie two hundred yards inside of the line of breakers. The
island is uninhabited, and the origin of the stories is doubtful; they
may have been brought there by roots of trees, or perhaps by some
canoe.
Notwithstanding the great number of coral islands in the Paumotu
Archipelago, the botanist finds there, as Dr Pickering informs me,
only twenty-eight or twenty-nine native species of plants. The
following are the most common of them: _Portulacca_, two species;
_Scævola Konigii_. _Pisonia?_ one species; _Tournefortia sericea_;
_Pandanus odoratissimus_; _Lepidium_, one species; _Euphorbia_, one
species; _Morinda citrifolia_; _Boerhavia_, two species; _Cassytha_,
one species; _Heliotropium prostratum_, _Pemphis acidula_, _Guettarda
speciosa_, _Triumphetta procumbens_, _Sauriana maritima_;
_Convolvulus_, one species; _Urtica_, one or two species; _Asplenium
nidus_; _Achyranthus_, one species; a species of grass. One or two
rubiaceous shrubs. _Polypodium_.
On Rose Island, Dr Pickering found only the _Pisonia_ and a
_Portulacca_. The _Triumphetta procumbens_, a creeping plant, takes
root, like the _Portulacca_, in the most barren sands, and is very
common. The _Tournefortia_ and _Scævola_ are also among the earliest
species. The _Pisonia_, a tree of handsome foliage, the _Pandanus_, or
screw-pine, and the cocoa-nut (always an introduced species),
constitute the larger part of the forests. In the Marshall group,
where the vegetation is more varied, Chamisso observed fifty-two
native plants, and, in a few instances, the banana, taro, and
bread-fruit.
The language of the natives indicates their poverty, as well as the
limited productions and unvarying features of the land. All words,
like those for mountain, hill, river, and many of the implements of
their ancestors, as well as the trees and other vegetation of the land
from which they are derived, are lost to them; and as words are but
signs for ideas, they have fallen off in general intelligence. It
would be an interesting inquiry for the philosopher, to what extent a
race of men, placed in such circumstances, are capable of mental
improvement. Perhaps the query might be best answered by another: How
many of the various arts of civilized life could exist in a land where
shells are the only cutting instruments? The plants, in all but
twenty-nine in number,--but a single mineral,--quadrupeds, none, with
the exception of foreign mice,--fresh water barely enough for
household purposes,--no streams, nor mountains, nor hills! How much of
the poetry or literature of Europe would be intelligible to persons
whose ideas had expanded only to the limits of a coral island,--who
had never conceived of a surface of land above half a mile in breadth,
of a slope higher than a beach, of a change of seasons beyond a
variation in the prevalence of rains? What elevation in morals should
be expected upon a contracted islet, so readily overpeopled that
threatened starvation drives to infanticide, and tends to cultivate
the extremest selfishness? Assuredly, there is not a more unfavourable
spot for moral or intellectual development in the wide world than the
Coral Island, with all its beauty of grove and lake.
These islands are exposed to earthquakes and storms, like the
continents, and occasionally a devastating wave sweeps across the
land. During the heavier gales the natives sometimes secure their
houses by tying them to the cocoa-nut trees, or to a stake planted for
the purpose. A height of ten or twelve feet, the elevation of their
land, is easily overtopped by the more violent seas; and great damage
is sometimes experienced. The still more extensive earthquake waves,
such as those which have swept up the coast of Spain, Peru, and the
Sandwich Islands, would produce a complete deluge over these
islands.--(_United States' Exploring Expedition.--Geology._--_By James
Dana_, p. 75.)
_Biographical Notice of Leopold Pilla, the Geologist._
By H. COQUAND.[31] Communicated by the Author.
Footnote 31: Read to the Geological Society of France, at their
meeting on the 16th of April 1849.
Again, to bring to your recollection the numerous works which have
placed Pilla among the most eminent geologists of Italy, is to do
honour to the memory of an associate, whose recent loss we lament, by
bestowing well-merited praises on the greatness of mind in a citizen,
who nobly sacrificed a life already illustrious, and which the future
promised to render still more so, to the good of his country. Yes,
Italy has always been _tellus magna virum!_ The chances of war, the
rage of civil discord, the insults of foreign domination, may have
eclipsed its political name, but they could not extinguish its genius.
The blast of revolutions has respected the triple halo with which the
sciences, letters, and the arts, have adorned its brow. By entrusting
to one of his friends the task of enumerating his scientific labours,
the Society imposes on him a very painful duty; but he undertakes it
with feeling and gratitude; for the public homage rendered to the
virtues of those whom we have loved, seems to bring them back to us,
and softens the awards of destiny, which has too soon snatched them
from us.
Leopold Pilla was born in the kingdom of Naples. While still young,
the exciting scenes of Vesuvius attracted his attention, and
determined his scientific career. In 1832, he undertook to write the
annals of this volcano, and gave its history in two periodical
collections.[32] It was at this period that he proved the production
of flames in volcanic eruptions, and deduced from thence the ingenious
conclusions which you judged worthy of a place in your memoirs.[33]
This remarkable work, which of itself would have been sufficient to
establish his scientific reputation, was soon followed by numerous
others, which shed a new lustre on his name. The study of the extinct
volcano of Rocca Monfina,[34] in the Campania, illustrated the theory
of craters _de soulevement_, and enriched it with facts of the highest
importance.
Footnote 32: Spettatore del Vesuvio et Bulletino del Vesuvio.
Napoli, 1832.
Footnote 33: Sopra la produzione delle fiamme nei vulcani, e
sopra le consequenze che se ne possono tirare. Atti del Congresso
di Lucca, 1845.
Footnote 34: Memoires de la Société Geologique de France, t. i.,
2me serie.
With a mind at once philosophical and cultivated, he was able to
generalise and describe, to unite erudition with good taste, and to
treat questions of deepest science with that grace and picturesqueness
of style, which renders them popular without detracting from their
accuracy. His love for geology amounted to enthusiasm; he was
therefore so zealous in propagating his views, that certain jealous
minds could not pardon him, and led him to atone for his fault, by a
voluntary exile. The apostle of the science, he likewise was its
martyr; thus nothing was wanting to his fame. It is the privilege of
men of genius to be persecuted. Obliged to yield to the storm, Pilla
left Naples, but by his writings he belonged to Italy at large; and
the unanimous acclamation which greeted him in the chair formerly
occupied by Galileo, conferred on him by the liberality of the Grand
Duke of Tuscany, formed at once his triumph and revenge.
Besides the works mentioned, we owe to him a Mineralogical Treatise on
Rocks;[35] an Introduction to the Study of Mineralogy;[36] and a
Geological Itinerary from Naples to Vienna.[37] Thus, by approving the
new productions which his activity produced, and which caused him to
be better appreciated by the nation which had adopted him, the Tuscans
had only to sanction the judgment they had already given of our
_savant_, founded on his reputation and works.
Footnote 35: Trattato mineralogico delle Roccie, Napoli.
Footnote 36: Introduzione allo studio della geologia, Napoli.
Footnote 37: Osservazioni Geologiche che si possono fare lungo la
strada da Napoli a Vienna.
Pilla left his heart at Naples. That city contained all the objects of
his affections--a father, who had guided his first attempts in the
field of science, and his family--a classical soil which had revealed
to him the secret of its revolutions, a majestic landscape, which he
could not find among the monotonous plains of Pisa, and above all _his
own_ Vesuvius. It was in this way that he recalled to his mind the
mountain which had been the subject of his daily study, and from whose
summit nature presented herself to his eyes in the most striking
contrasts, revealing to his view its subterranean convulsions,
connected with the delightful picture of the Gulf of Baia. All his
thoughts brought him back to Naples. When, from the height of the
terraces of Campiglia our view extended from the peaks of Mount Amiata
to the banks of the Popolonia, and from the Tuscan Archipelago to the
distant horizons of Corsica and Sardinia, my poor friend often
interrupted our reveries by saying,--"It is almost as beautiful as
Naples, but my Vesuvius is wanting;" and then adding, "How unfortunate
it is that Werner did not lay the foundation of geology at Naples; _he
would have made it Plutonian_." Thus the love of his country, and the
recollection of its wonders, were confounded in his mind with the
cultivation of the science, and gave to his animated and poetical
conversation a touching melancholy which agreeably tempered his
vivacity.
During the years of his professorship at Pisa, Pilla published, in
succession, a comparative Essay on the formations which compose the
soil of Italy;[38] a Collection of the Mineral riches of Tuscany;[39]
two Memoirs on the Etrurian Formation;[40] History of an Earthquake
felt in Tuscany, in 1846;[41] many notices respecting the
Calcare-rosso, and on the temperature observed in the wells of
Monte-Massi;[42] lastly, the first volume of his Treatise on
Geology.[43] The entire work would have formed four octavo volumes.
The materials were prepared, but death left the work incomplete. As
these various writings are in the hands of all geologists, we give no
analysis of them; which indeed would only be a faint reflection from
the pictures present to your memory. I may merely say, that the
elevated considerations of the general physics of the globe to which
he has risen in appreciating and investigating the causes of
earthquakes, the comprehensive and methodical plan on which he has
projected this geological treatise, by affording us a proof of the
fertility and maturity of his mind, shew us, at the same time, the
importance of the part reserved for a philosopher, whom death has
removed from the present scene before he had reached his thirty-sixth
year.
Footnote 38: Saggio comparative dei terreni che compongono il
suolo de l'Italia, Pisa.
Footnote 39: Breve cenno sopra la richezza mineralogica della
Toscano, Pisa.
Footnote 40: Sulla vera posizione del terreno di macigno in
Italia, Pisa; and Memoires de la Société geologique de France,
2me serie, t. ii.
Footnote 41: Storia del tremuoto che ha devastuto i paesi della
costa Toscana, il di 14 Agosto 1846, Pisa.
Footnote 42: Miscellanee di fisica e di Storia naturale di Pisa,
anno 1, Nos. 7 and 8.
Footnote 43: Trattato di geologia, t. i., Pisa, 1847.
The war of independence raged at the time when Pilla was about to
visit the north of Europe, in order to complete his studies in
practical geology, by comparing the different formations. Every
generous heart in Italy beat high at the report of the insurrection of
Milan; and the Universities of Pisa and Sienna, by demanding arms and
first flying to the scene of danger, shewed that hearts, proved in the
fire of science, are prepared for great things. Pilla marched at the
head of his pupils, and led them in the path of glory, as he had done
in that of philosophy. The love of country and thirst for
independence, by subjugating his heart, had stifled the calculation of
reason under the impulse and delirium of enthusiasm. He had foreseen
the issue of the struggle; for he said to me some days before setting
out for the plains of Lombardy, "the hour of our fall has struck.
Italy loses by fourteen ages of servitude the splendour of her early
days. They are leading us to slaughter; but we must teach our children
how to die, in order that they may know how they may one day become
free."
The University legion formed a small corps which was placed on the
right wing of the Piedmontese army, and occupied the positions of
Curtatone and Montanara. The principal effort of the Austrian army was
directed against these lines, in the affair of the 29th May 1848.
Attacked by 13,000 imperial troops, the Tuscans resisted courageously,
and did not fall back till they had left 250 of their men on the field
of battle. Their heroic resistance paved the way for the success of
Goito. Pilla was found among the dead.
_On the Chronological Exposition of the Periods of Vegetation,
and the different Floras which have succeeded each other on
the Earth's Surface._ According to the views of M. BRONGNIART.
(_Continued from p. 330 of Volume 48._)
"II. _Permian Period._--The nature of the vegetables which appear
peculiar to this epoch, is far from being determined in a positive
manner; for the few localities where the fossils we consider as
belonging to it, have hitherto been found, are not perhaps really of a
formation very identical and truly contemporaneous. For it may be
asked, whether the bituminous and copper slates of the county of
Mansfield, classed by all geologists with the zechstein, and the
sandstone of Russia, placed by M. M. Murchison and Verneuil in their
Permian formation, are really contemporaneous? Finally, is there
greater reason for classifying the slates of Lodève, considered by M.
M. Dufresnoy and Elie de Beaumont as depending on the variegated
sandstone, but so different from the same sandstone of the Vosges in
its _flora_, in this period, which would thus be a kind of passage
from the coal period, so well characterised, to the vosgian or
variegated sandstone, which differs from it in so decided a manner?"
On account of these doubts, M. Brongniart indicates these three floras
separately; _1st_, The Flora of the bituminous slates of Thuringia,
composed of algæ, ferns, and coniferæ; _2d_, The Flora of the Permian
sandstones of Russia, which comprehends ferns, equisetaceæ,
lycopodiaceæ, and noeggerathiæ; _3d_, The Flora of the slates of
Lodève, which is composed of ferns, asterophylliteæ, and coniferæ.
"We perceive that there are great specific differences between the
plants of these localities, and that hitherto no species common to
them has been found. Must we ascribe these differences to the
influence of the great diversity of geographical position, or is
there, besides, a difference in the period of their origin among these
formations? The only character which tends to bring these two latter
Floras near each other, is the relation which both of them bear to the
coal-formations, of which they seem to be a kind of extract, reminding
us more especially of the most recent beds.
"With regard to the plants of the bituminous slates of the Mansfeld
district, they are so few in number, and appear to have been deposited
in conditions so different, that we can with difficulty compare them
with the two other Floras. Yet the species of Sphenopteris are
extremely like each other in the three formations, and an exact
comparison would perhaps establish the identity of many of them. The
Pecopteris crenulata of Ilmenau, is only perhaps an imperfect state of
the Pecopteris abbreviata of Lodève; lastly, the Callipteris of the
Permian formation of Lodève have a very close connection between
themselves and the Callipteris of the coal-formation.
"We may add, with regard to the bituminous slates of Thuringia, that
many of these fossils appear to be marine plants, whose numbers would
become much more considerable if we did not suppress all the imperfect
impressions which have been described as such, and which are nothing
more than fragments of ferns or altered coniferæ.
"II. REIGN OF THE GYMNOSPERMS.--During the preceding periods, and
particularly during the Carboniferous period, the Acrogenous
cryptogams predominated, and the Gymnospermous dicotyledons, less
numerous, shewed themselves in unusual forms, and sometimes so
anomalous that we are in doubt whether to place them in this or the
preceding department; such are the Asterophylliteæ. At a later period,
on the contrary, these anomalous and ambiguous forms, whose
classification is often obscure, disappear; Acrogenous cryptogams and
Gymnospermous dicotyledons evidently enter into families still
existing, differing from them only in generic forms; the Ferns and
Equisetaceæ, which represent the acrogens, are less numerous; the
Coniferæ and Cycadeæ almost equal them in number, and usually exceed
them in frequency, especially in the second period; by their abundance
and size they afford the essential character of all these formations;
lastly, the Angiospermous dicotyledons are wholly wanting, and the
monocotyledons are in very small numbers.
"This reign of the Gymnospermous dicotyledons is divided into two
periods; the first, in which the Coniferæ predominate, and in which
the Cycadeæ scarcely appear; the second, in which this family becomes
predominating in the number of species, in frequency and variety of
generic forms. The latter may be divided into many epochs, each
presenting peculiar characters.
"III. _Vosgian Period._--This period, which does not appear to have
been of long duration, and comprehends only the _variegated_ sandstone
properly so called, presents the following characters; _1st_, The
existence of ferns, pretty numerous, of forms very often anomalous,
evidently constituting genera now extinct, and which are not found
even in the most recent formations; such are the Anomopteris and the
Crematopteris. Stems of arborescent ferns are more frequent than
during the Jurassic period; true Equisetums are very rare; the
Calamites, or rather perhaps the Calamodendrons, are abundant. _2d_,
The Gymnosperms are represented by two genera of Coniferæ, _Voltzia_
and _Haidingeria_, of which the species and specimens are very
numerous. The Cycadeæ, on the contrary, are very rare. M. Schimper
mentions only two species founded on two unique specimens of a very
imperfect character, and the determination of which may be considered
doubtful.
"This consideration appears to me to separate completely, in a
botanical point of view, the period of the variegated sandstone from
that of the Keuper, although both are placed by geologists in the
trias-formation. For the Cycadeæ become very abundant in the Keuper,
are perfectly characterised, and often analogous to those of the
Jurassic period; while the Coniferæ of the variegated sandstone are,
on the contrary, wanting in this formation.
"IV. _Jurassic Period._--This period is one of the most extensive by
the formations which it comprehends, and the variety of different
special epochs of vegetation which it embraces; although we cannot
refuse to comprehend, under a common title, epochs during which very
analogous forms have succeeded each other. It thus comprehends from
the Keuper inclusively, up to the Wealdean formations. In fact, we
find the Pterophyllum of the Keuper appear anew, with slight specific
differences in the Wealdean formations. The _equisetites_ of the
Keuper extend to the mean oolithic formation; the _baiera_ of the Lias
likewise recurs in the Wealdean beds of the north of Germany; the
Sagenopteris and the Camptopteris likewise appear in the Keuper, Lias,
and Oolite.