_April 1852._
A good many comments and congratulations have passed of late touching
the change of system introduced into one of our official strongholds,
which dates from the days of the Plantagenets, perhaps earlier; for
Sir J. Herschel, as Master of the Mint, has made his first Report to
the Lords of the Treasury concerning the money-coining establishment
over which he presides, with little ostentation, but much benefit.
According to the Order in Council, issued in March of last year, the
Mint-Board, the contract with the melter, and the moneyers'
privileges, were all abolished, and a new system of business
introduced. The melter's arguments in favour of retaining his portion
of the establishment were not successful, as it has been found that
the melting and refining can be done much cheaper at private works;
and the melting department is now separated from the Mint, and leased,
it is said, to one of the Rothschilds. Of course, the dispossessed
functionaries get compensation and pensions, as also the moneyers'
apprentices, who had paid L.1000 to learn the 'art and mystery,' with
the prospect of one day becoming members of the fraternity. The
coining is still to be carried on on the premises, as the contracts
offered for doing the work out of doors were too high or too
incompetent; the 'engraver or die-sinker' is no longer to be permitted
to work on his own private account; and, what is still better, when a
new medal or new model is wanted, the best artists of the country are
to have the opportunity of shewing their skill in the requisite
designs; and, last, dealers in bullion will no longer be allowed to
refine their gold at the public cost, for all the metal sent in in
future 'must not exceed the standard weight.' Thus, a most important
reform is accomplished--one that will give general satisfaction,
stimulate talent, and save L.11,000 a year to the country, when the
L.8000 now paid as pensions reverts to the Treasury.
The Post-office is helping on the work of intercommunication with
praiseworthy diligence. Think of now being able to send a pound of
'books, maps, or prints, and any quantity of paper, vellum, or
parchment, either printed, written, or plain, or any mixture of the
three'--for sixpence, to any part of the United Kingdom! There are
many branches of business that will be materially improved by this
regulation; and we may hope to see it followed by others not less in
accordance with the advancing requirements of the age.
The Nineveh sculptures are now being arranged in the British Museum;
one of them weighs fifteen tons, and is an extraordinary specimen of
Assyrian art. When in their places, they will be much studied; and,
fortunately, more time is to be allowed for this purpose, for the
authorities of the Museum have announced, that they will open the
doors at nine in the morning, and keep them open till six in the
evening, during the best part of the summer. The fate of the Crystal
Palace is for the moment a pressing subject of talk. Perhaps the
French would buy it, if it be really condemned, for they are already
talking of a Great Exposition to be held in 1854, and have come to the
conclusion, that twenty-seven months will not be too long to make the
preparations: it is expected that all nations will be invited to join.
There is to be an exhibition this year also at Breslau, in a building
composed in good part of glass, at which Prussia will make a display
of her handiwork, and try to get customers for the articles carried
home unsold from our spectacle. In more ways than one, the beneficial
consequences of the Exhibition of 1851 are shewing themselves. To take
but one particular--it has produced a vast amount of literature, and
will yet produce more.
Before this appears in print, the new arctic expedition will probably
have sailed, to make what we must consider as the final search for Sir
John Franklin. This time, Sir Edward Belcher is commander, who, though
a rigid disciplinarian, and something beyond, is well known as a most
energetic and persevering officer. He is to explore that portion of
Wellington Channel discovered by Captain Penny, and to get as far to
the north-west as possible--to Behring's Strait, if he can. Whatever
else may happen, there are few who will not hope that the mystery
respecting the missing explorers, who sailed on their fatal voyage in
1845, may now be cleared up. In order to facilitate Captain Beatson's
operations, the Emperor Nicholas has sent instructions to the
governors of the Russian trading-ports on the arctic coast, to lend
such aid as may be in their power. Thus, good-will is not lacking;
indeed, if that could have found the lost adventurers, they would have
been discovered long ago.
Some of our engineers and naval men are greatly interested in a
subject which has, from time to time, during many years, met with a
passing notice--namely, the gradual growth of the banks and shoals in
the North Sea from the solid matters carried into it by the rivers of
England and Holland. Although slow, the increase is said to be such as
to lead to the inference, that this sea will be filled up at some
future day. A large chart has just been published, with contour lines
of the various banks, to illustrate a treatise on the subject. If
these be correct, we have at once valuable data by which to test the
question of increase of magnitude. The matter will shortly be
discussed by one of our scientific societies. Meantime, the
reclamation of a new county from the sea is going on on the
Lincolnshire coast; and there appears to be a prospect of a similar
work being undertaken on the western shore--at Liverpool. Mr G. Rennie
has prepared a plan for a breakwater five miles long, to be
constructed at the mouth of the Mersey, stretching out from Black Rock
Point. If carried into execution, it will reclaim a vast extent of
sandbanks lying within it, and greatly improve the navigable channel
of the river. A proposal has been made to apply sewage manure to the
reclaimed land, in such ways as will constitute a satisfactory trial
of this means of fertilisation; and also to reserve suitable portions
as sites for building societies. Such a project as this would be
worthy of the enterprise of Liverpool; but it would be well for the
promoters to bear in mind a fact which has lately been urged, that by
encroaching on the space of an estuary, you prevent the inflow of the
tide, and consequently diminish or weaken the outflow, whereby the
whole harbour becomes shallower, and the bar at the mouth augments in
bulk.
Although there is nothing extraordinary to talk about in the way of
scientific discovery at present, workers in science are not idle, and
are steadily pursuing their investigations. Faraday has added another
chapter to his 'Experimental Researches in Electricity;' Mr Grove has
contributed somewhat to our knowledge of the 'Polarity of Gases;' a
paper by Mr Wharton Jones, entitled 'Discovery that the Veins of the
Bat's Wing (which are furnished with Valves) are endowed with
Rythmical Contractility, and that the Onward Flow of Blood is
accelerated by each Contraction,' is considered to be decisive of a
question of some importance in physiology--namely, that the
circulation of the blood in the wings is independent of the motion of
the heart. Mr Huxley's paper in the Philosophical Transactions is also
a remarkable one--one of those which really constitute progress.
Although it is not easy to give a popular exposition of it, I may tell
you that it discusses the subject of 'alternate generation;' a
favourite one, as you will remember, with several naturalists,
according to whom, certain of the _Medusæ_ are of one sex at one
period of their lives, and of the other sex at another. But Mr Huxley
shews, by observation and experiment on _Salpa_ and _Pyrosoma_, that
each has independent powers of reproduction, and his facts are
conclusive against the theory of 'alternation of generations.' The two
generations, as now appears, are not of distinct individuals, but are
both required to make a complete individual. This paper will be sure
to provoke criticism, and perhaps excite further research. Mr Hopkins
has been enlightening the Geological Society 'On the Causes of the
Changes of Climate at Different Geological Periods;' and assigns as
one of the causes, the flowing of the gulf-stream in a different
direction formerly to that which it follows at present, whereby the
northern ice was brought down in great masses to form our glacial
period.
Some of our _savans_ are interested in Professor Simpson's
communication to your Edinburgh Botanical Society, concerning his
experiments on Alpine plants kept covered with snow by artificial
means in an ice-house for several months. He finds that plants and
seeds so treated sprout and germinate rapidly when exposed to the warm
air of spring and summer. It appears also that chrysales similarly
treated become moths in about one-tenth of the time required under
ordinary circumstances; from which facts, and the celerity of
vegetation in Canada and the arctic regions, Professor Simpson infers
that, if we in this country were to keep our grain in ice-houses
during the winter, we should get quicker and better crops, and avoid
the ill consequences which sometimes attend sowing in autumn, or too
early in spring. The subject is novel as well as interesting, to say
nothing of its bearing on agriculture, and we shall be glad to see the
promised results of further inquiry.
There are one or two other Scottish matters which may be mentioned.
One is the discovery by Dr Penny of Glasgow, of potash salts in
considerable quantity in the soot from blast-furnaces. In our iron
districts, and among our iron merchants, it is undergoing that sort of
discussion which savours of profit. Potash salts are so valuable, that
if the discovery can be reduced to economical practice, there is no
doubt that the hitherto wasted and unrecognised substance will be
turned to good account. The other is the 'Platometer,' invented by Mr
Sang of Kirkcaldy, described as a 'self-acting calculator of surface;'
in other words, by using this contrivance, you may get the 'square
measure included within any boundary-line around which a pen attached
to the instrument may be carried'--in the plan of an estate, or a map,
for example, where the plots of ground are often extremely irregular
in form, and difficult to measure, without much complicated
calculation. When Arthur Young wished to ascertain the relative
proportions of cultivated and uncultivated land in France, he cut up a
map of the country, and weighed them one against the other; but the
platometer would have helped him to a more satisfactory conclusion.
The mode by which it effects its purpose is very simple, 'the
essential parts being merely two axles, one of them carrying a cone,
by which the computations are silently performed as the pen proceeds
on its journey; and the other a small wheel, having numbers on it
which tell the result in square measure.' The contents are given with
considerable rapidity, and, it is said, with more exactitude than by
any other process: the instrument, therefore, is practically useful as
well as curious.
Among matters connected with the Académie, Prince Demidoff has asked
for instructions as to how he may best serve the cause of science
during a journey which he proposes to undertake into Siberia,
accompanied by a scientific staff. The prince, who is proprietor of
the richest malachite mines in Russia, has already made similar
explorations in other parts of Europe, and published the results at
his own cost, superbly illustrated, and has presented copies of the
works to most of the scientific societies. He could not have better
advisers for the purpose contemplated, than he will find among those
to whom he has applied. Then a M. Rochas informs the Académie, that a
photographic image on a metal-plate, transferred immediately to
albumenised glass, may be reproduced and multiplied on paper in any
number. Daguerreotypes of waves beating on the sea-shore have been
exhibited, which were taken on glass thus prepared in a very minute
fraction of a second. Add to this, a plan for a double line of
submarine railway from Calais to Dover; a statement from M. Gaietta,
that the aurora borealis is nothing more than spontaneously inflamed
carburet of hydrogen; and a report from a learned anatomist, on the
use, instead of the knife in amputation, of a platinum wire heated
red-hot by a battery--and you may form a notion of the variety of
communications that comes before the French _savans_. M. Peligot
furnishes some details respecting silk-worms. He shews that in every
100 parts of mulberry leaves, as supplied, the result is from 8 to 9
of worms, 36 to 40 of egested matters, and 45 to 46 of dry litter and
waste. That the sixth part only of what the worms consume tends to
their nourishment, the remainder goes in respiration and dejection;
and that, with the data now obtained, it is possible to calculate the
maximum weight of cocoons from a given weight of leaves--it being from
60 to 70 in 1000. He shews further, that in years when leaves are
scarce, the loss to the proprietors need not be total, for it is
possible to keep the worms on short allowance, and collect their
produce, though not so largely as when no privation exists. And what
is singular, that the weight of silk is not in proportion to the
weight of the worm or moth; heavy and light cocoons contain the same
quantity of silk, the difference arises only from the different weight
of the worms. Hence M. Peligot considers, that it would be well to
destroy the females when first hatched--of course with a reserve for
breeding--and keep only the males, which eat less, and give an equal
quantity of silk. But as yet the sexes cannot be distinguished, while
in the worm state.
You are aware that one of the most interesting geological problems of
our day is, that of the rise and fall of the land in Sweden: a good
deal has been said on both sides. The Academy of Sciences at Stockholm
has, however, taken measures to settle the question. It has chosen
sixteen stations, chiefly between Haparanda and Strömstad, where daily
observations are made and recorded on the height of the sea. This is
the great point to be determined; hitherto, it has been left too much
to chance, or to the attention of casual travellers. In connection
with it, the rate of elevation would be ascertained, whether it is
everywhere the same, and continuous or intermittent. It has been
stated, that at Stockholm the rise was four feet in 100 years, and
greater still in the Gulf of Bothnia; but Mr Erdmann of Stockholm, in
a memoir on the subject, shews reason to doubt the fact. The house in
which he resides, standing near the port, was built at the beginning
of the seventeenth century; when the water of the adjacent sea is
raised two feet above the ordinary level, which happens but rarely,
his cellar is always flooded. Therefore, assuming the rise of the land
at four feet in the century, it follows, with only half that height,
that when the house was built, the floor of the cellar was constantly
under water, which is hardly likely to have been the case. He mentions
also the observations made at the sluices of the Mælar Lake, from
which a rise of one foot in a century had been inferred, but states
that a defect in the measuring-scale completely invalidates the
results. In addition to what the Academy are doing, he has had a
reference-mark cut on the face of the steep rock of the citadel, so
that, in the course of a few years, we shall be in a position to judge
in how far the theory of elevation and subsidence of land in Sweden is
borne out by the facts.
This reminds one that coral-reefs have been much talked about of late:
the opinion is, that they grow in height about an inch and a quarter
yearly. Means have also been taken to decide this question. When the
American Exploring Expedition lay at Tahiti, Captain Wilkes had a
stone-slab fixed on Point Venus, and the distance from it to the
Dolphin Shoal below carefully ascertained, so that future measurements
will test the theory.
Mr Wells, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, shews that there are causes,
besides those usually assigned, which will produce stratification, or
those interruptions which occur in deposits. He was engaged in
examination of soils; and washed earth through a filter, at times so
slowly as to occupy fourteen days in the process, and dried the
sediment at a temperature of 250 degrees. This, when dry, he found to
be perfectly stratified in divisional planes; sometimes accordant, at
others irregular, and shewing difference of material--namely, silica
and alumina:
'The strata so produced,' he says, 'were in some instances exceedingly
perfect and beautiful, not altogether horizontal, but slightly curved,
and in some degree conforming to the shape of the funnel. The
production of laminæ was also noticed, especially by the cleavage of
the strata produced into thin, delicate, parallel plates, when
moistened with water. These arrangements, it is evident, were not
caused by any interruption or renewal of the matter deposited, or by
any change in the quality of the particles deposited, but from two
other causes entirely distinct, and which I conceive to be
these--first, from a tendency in earthy matter, subjected to the
filtering, soaking, and washing of water for a considerable period, to
arrange itself according to its degree of fineness, or, perhaps,
according to the specific gravity of the particles, and thus form
strata; and, secondly, from a tendency in earthy matter, consolidated
both by water and subsequent exsiccation, to divide, independently of
the fineness or quality of its component particles, into strata or
laminæ.'
Whether Mr Wells be right in his conclusions, remains to be proved;
geologists will not fail to examine into his proofs. They may,
however, remember, that Agassiz has remarked, that saw-dust through
which water has been filtered, will 'assume a regular stratified
appearance;' and that, in beds of clay and clay-slate, the deposits
are such as to justify these conclusions.
The _Felix Meritis_ Society at Amsterdam propose to give their gold
medal, or twenty gold ducats (L.10), for the best answer to the
questions--'What are the re-agents the most proper to demonstrate, in
a sure and easy way, the presence of ozone, and to determine its
quantity? Does ozone always exist in the atmosphere, and under what
circumstances, regard being had to the seasons and hour of the day, is
it found to increase or diminish? From what properties can it be
inferred that ozone is favourable or hurtful to the animal economy,
and what has experiment made known in this respect, particularly in
the appearance or disappearance of epidemic diseases?'
The treatises are to be distinguished by a device, not by the author's
signature: they may be written in English, French, Dutch, or German,
and are to be sent addressed--_Felix Meritis_, Amsterdam, before May
1, 1853. The Society reserve to themselves the right of publishing the
successful paper at their own cost.