THE 
 
 BOTANIC GARDEN. 
 
 A POEM , 
 
 IN TWO PARTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 THE ECONOMY OF VEGETATION. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS. 
 
 WITH 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES. 
 
 THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD. 
 
 MDCCXCV. 
 
 ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 ThE general defign of the following ftieets is to 
 inlift Imagination under the banner of Science; and to 
 lead her votaries from the loofer analogies, which drefs 
 out the imagery of poetry, to the ftrider ones, which 
 form the ratiocination of philofophy. While their par¬ 
 ticular deftgn is to induce the ingenious to cultivate the 
 knowledge of Botany, by introducing them to the vef- 
 tibule of that delightful fcience, and recommending 
 to their attention the immortal works of the celebrated 
 Swedilh Naturalift, Linneus. 
 
 In the firft Poem, or Economy of Vegetation, the phy- 
 ftology of Plants is delivered; and the operation of the 
 Elements, as far as they may be fuppofed to affeft the 
 growth of Vegetables. In the fecond Poem, or Loves of 
 the Plants, the Sexual Syftem of Linneus is explained, 
 with the remarkable properties of many particular plants. 
 
/ 
 
 [ V ] 
 
 
 TO 
 
 
 the author 
 
 OF THE 
 
 POEM ON THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS. 
 
 by THE rev. w. B. STEPHENS. 
 
 Oft tho’ thy genius, Darwin ' amply fraught 
 With native wealth,' explore new worlds of mind j 
 Whence the bright ores of drofslefs w.fdom brought, 
 Stampt by the Mufe's hand, enrich mankind; 
 
 Tho’ willing Nature to thy curious eye, 
 
 Involved in night, her mazy depths betray ; 
 
 Till at their fource thy piercing fearch deaCiy 
 The ftreams, that bathe with Life our mortal clay; 
 
 Tho’, boldly foaring in fublimer mood 
 Through tracklefs Ikies on metaphyhc wings. 
 
 Thou dareft to fcan the approachlefs Caufe o oo , 
 
 And weigh with ftcadfaft hand the Sum of Tin * , 
 
 K 
 
A D VE RTISEMENT. 
 
 THE general defign of the following ftieets is to 
 inlift Imagination under the banner of Science; and to 
 lead her votaries from the loofer analogies, which drefs 
 out the imagery of poetry, to the ftri&er ones, which 
 form the ratiocination of philofophy. While their par¬ 
 ticular deftgn is to induce the ingenious to cultivate the 
 knowledge of Botany, by introducing them to the vef- 
 tibule of that delightful fcience, and recommending 
 to their attention the immortal works of the celebrated 
 Swedifh Naturalift, Linneus. 
 
 In the firft Poem, or Economy of Vegetation, the phy- 
 fiology of Plants is delivered; and the operation of the 
 Elements, as far as they may be fuppofed to afte£t the 
 growth of Vegetables. In the fecond Poem, or Loves of 
 the Plants, the Sexual Syftem of Linneus is explained, 
 with the remarkable properties of many particular plants. 
 
[ Vi ] 
 
 Yet wilt thou, charmed amid his whifpering bowers. 
 Oft with lone hep by glittering Derwent ft ray, 
 
 Mark his green foliage, count his mulky flowers, 
 
 That blufh or tremble to the rifling ray; 
 
 While Fancy, feated in her rock-roof’d dell, 
 Liftening the fecrets of the vernal grove, 
 
 Breathes fweeteft ftrains to thy fymphonious fhell. 
 
 And “ gives new echoes to the throne of Love.” 
 
 Repton, Nov. 28, 1788. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[ vii ] 
 
 ro 
 
 Dr. DARWIN. 
 
 While Sargent winds with fond and curious eyes 
 
 1 hro’ every mazy region of “ the mine_” 
 
 W hile, as entrancing forms around him rife, 
 
 With magic light the mineral kingdoms fhine; 
 
 Behold! amid the vegetable bloom, 
 
 O Darwin, thy ambrofial rivers flow. 
 
 And funs more pure the fragrant earth illume. 
 
 As all the vivid plants with paflion glow. 
 
 Yes!—and, wheree’er with life creation teems, 
 
 I trace thy fpirit thro’ the kindling whole ; 
 
 As with new radiance to the genial beams 
 Of Science, ifles emerge, or oceans roll, 
 
 And Nature, in primordial beauty, feems 
 
 To breathe, infpir’d by Thee, the PHILOSOPHIC SOUL! 
 
 R. POLWHELE. 
 
 Kenton, near Exeter, 
 April 18, 1792. 
 
Dr. DARWIN. 
 
 WO Poets, (poets, by report. 
 
 Not oft fo well agree) 
 
 Sweet harmonift of Flora’s court! 
 Confpirc to honour Thee. 
 
 They beft can judge a Poet’s worth. 
 Who oft themfelves have known 
 The pangs of a poetic birth 
 By labours of their own. 
 
 We, therefore pleas’d, extol thy fong, 
 Though various yet complete. 
 
 Rich in embellifhment, as ftrong 
 And learn’d as it is fweet. 
 
 No envy mingles with our praife, 
 Though could our hearts repine 
 At any Poet’s happier lays. 
 
 They would, they mull, at thine. 
 

 But we in mutual bondage knit 
 Of Friendfhip’s clofefl tie. 
 
 Can gaze on even Darwin’s wit 
 With an unjaundic’d eye; 
 
 And deem the bard, whoe’er he be, 
 
 And howfoever known, 
 
 Who would not twine a wreath for Thee, 
 Unworthy of his own. 
 
 Wm. COWPER. 
 
 TVeJlon Underwood , Olney, Bucks, 
 June 23, 1793. 
 
 
 
 
 h 
 
 
 
[ xi ] 
 
 TO 
 
 Dr. DARWIN. 
 
 As Nature lovely Science led 
 Thro* all her flow’ry maze. 
 
 The volume die before her fpread 
 Of Darwin’s radiant lays. 
 
 Coy Science rtarts—fo Parted Eve 
 At beauties yet unknown : 
 
 The figure that you there perceive 
 (Said Nature) is your own.” 
 
 “ M y own ? It isbut half fo fair 
 I never feem’d till now : 
 
 And here, too, with a foftcn’d air, 
 “ Sweet Nature! here art Thou.” 
 
 “ Yes—in this mirrour of the Bard 
 We both embellifh’d thine; 
 
 And grateful will unite to guard 
 An artifl fo divine.”- 
 
 b 2 
 
 
 
 
While Darwin’s glory feem’d to wake 
 
 New life in every flower. 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 This with delight two Poets heard; 
 
 Time verifies it daily; 
 
 Truft it, dear Darwin, on the word 
 Of Cowper and of Hayley ! 
 
 W. HAYLEY. 
 
 Earthan, near Chichejler, 
 June 27, 1792* 
 
 \ 
 
 
I 
 
 • • • —1 
 
 [ xm ] 
 
 Addrefs to the River Derwent , on whofe Banks the Author of the 
 
 Botanic Garden reftdes. 
 
 BY F. N. C. MUNDY, ESQ.. I792. 
 
 DeRWEKT, like thee thy Poet’s fplendid fong 
 With fweet viciflitudes of eafe and force 
 Now with enchanting fmoothnefs glides along, 
 
 Now pours impetuous its refounding courfe ; 
 
 While Science marches down thy wond’ring dells, 
 
 And all the Mufes round her banners crowd, 
 
 Pleas’d to aflemble in thy fparry cells, 
 
 / 
 
 And chant her lelfons to thy echoes proud; 
 
 While here Philofophy and Truth difplay 
 
 The fliining robes thofe heaven-born fitters wove. 
 While Fays and Graces beck’ning fmooth their way. 
 
 And hand in hand with Flora follows Love. 
 
 Well may fuch radiant ttate increafe thy pride, 
 
 Delighted ttream! tho’ rich in native charms, 
 
 Tho’ inborn worth and honour ftill refide. 
 
 Where thy chill banks the glow of Chatfworth warms. 
 
Tho’ here her new-found art, as that of yore, 
 
 The fpinfter Goddefs to thy rule affigns; 
 
 Tho’, where her temples crowd thy peopled fhore, 
 
 Wealth gilds thy urn, and Fame thy chaplet twines. 
 
 Ah, while thy nymphs in Derby’s towered vale 
 Lead their fad Quires around Milcena’s bier, 
 
 What foothing fweetnefs breathes along the gale, 
 
 Comes o’er the confort’s heart, and balms a brother’s tear ! 
 
 Her new-found aft , &c. Alluding to the numerous cotton mills on and near the river 
 Derwent. 
 
 Mtlcena s bier. Mrs. French, filter to Mrs. Mundy. Part I. Canto III. 1 . 308. 
 
THE 
 
 BOTANIC GARDEN. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 THE ECONOMY OF VEGETATION. 
 
 A POEM. 
 
 WITH 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES. 
 
 It Yer, et Venus; et Veneris pr.enuncius ante 
 Pennatus graditur Zephyrus vestigia propter; 
 
 Flora <iyiBus mater, pr.espergens ante viai 
 
 CuNCTA, COLORIBUS EGREGIIS ET ODORIBUS OPPLET. LuCRET. 
 
 the THIRJ) EDITION^ 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD. 
 
 MDCCXCV. 
 

 c 
 
 xvii ] 
 
 
 APOLOGY. 
 
 It may be proper here to apologize for many of the 
 fubfequent conjectures on fome articles of natural philofophy, as 
 
 not being fupported by accurate inveftigation or conclufive experi¬ 
 ments. Extravagant theories however in thofe parts of philofophy, 
 where our knowledge is yet imperfeCt, are not without their ufe; 
 as they encourage the execution of laborious experiments, or the 
 inveftigation of ingenious deductions, to confirm or refute them. 
 And fince natural objeCts are allied to each other by many affinities, 
 every kind of theoretic diftribution of them adds to our knowledge 
 by developing fome of their analogies. 
 
 The Roficrucian doCtrine of Gnomes, Sylphs, Nymphs, and 
 Salamanders, was thought to afford a proper machinery for a Bota¬ 
 nic poerrt,; as it is probable, that they were originally the names 
 of hieroglyphic figures reprefenting the elements. 
 
 Many of the important operations of Nature were fhadowed or 
 allegorized in the heathen mythology, as the firft Cupid fpringing 
 from the Egg of Night, the marriage of Cupid and Pfyche, the 
 Rape of Proferpine, the Congrefs of Jupiter and Juno, The Death 
 and Refufcitation of Adonis, &c. many of which are ingenioufiy ex¬ 
 plained in the works of Bacon, Vol. V. p. 47. 4th Edit. London, 
 
 c 
 
[ xviii ] 
 
 1778. The Egyptians were poflefled of many difcoveries in philo- 
 fophy and chemiftry before the invention of letters ; thefe were then 
 expreifed in hieroglyphic paintings of men and animals; which 
 after the difcovery of the alphabet were defcribed and animated bj 
 the poets, and became firft the deities of Egypt, and afterwards oi 
 Greece and Rome. Allufions to thofe fables were therefore thought 
 proper ornaments to a philofophical poem, and arc occafionally in¬ 
 troduced either as reprefented by the poets, or preferved on the nu¬ 
 merous gems and medallions of antiquity. 
 
Argument of the Firft Cant 
 
 . 
 
 
 The Genius of the place invites the Goddefs of Bo¬ 
 tany. i. She defcends, is received by Spring, and the Elements, 59. 
 Addrefles the Nymphs of Fire. Star-light Night feen in the Camera 
 Obfcura, 81. I. Love created the Univerfe. Chaos explodes. All 
 the Stars revolve. God. 97. II. Shooting Stars. Lightning. 
 
 Rainbow. Colours of the Morning and Evening Skies. Exterior 
 Atmofphere of inflammable Air. Twilight. Fire-balls. Aurora 
 Borealis. Planets. Comets. Fixed Stars. Sun’s Orb, 115. 
 
 III. 1. Fires at the Earth’s Centre. Animal Incubation, 137. 2. 
 Volcanic Mountains. Venus vifits the Cyclops, 149. IV. Heat 
 confined on the Earth by the Air. Phofphoric lights in the Even¬ 
 ing. Bolognian Stone. Calcined Shells. Memnon’s Harp, 173. 
 Ignis fatuus. Luminous Flowers. Glow-worm. Fire-fly. Lu¬ 
 minous Sea-infeds. Eledric Eel. Eagle armed with Lightning, 
 189. V. I. Difcovery of Fire. Medufa, 209. 2. The chemical 
 
 Properties of Fire. Phofphorus. Lady in Love, 223. 3. Gun¬ 
 
 powder, 237. VI. Steam-engine applied to Pumps, Bellows, 
 Water-engines, Corn-mills, Coining, Barges, Waggons, Flying- 
 chariots, 253. Labours of Hercules. Abyla and Calpe, 297. VII. 
 
 1. Eledric Machine. Hefperian Dragon. Eledric Kifs. Halo 
 round the heads of Saints. Eledric Shock. Fairy-rings, 335. 2. 
 
 Death of Profelfor Richman, 371. 3. Franklin draws Lightning 
 
[ XX J 
 
 from .he Cloud,. Cupid fna.ches the Thunder-bol, from. Jupiter, 
 
 ,o- VIII Phofpboric Acid and Vital Heat produced in • 
 
 383. Viii.rnoip Weftem Wind unfettered. 
 
 The great Egg of Night, 399. 1 *. vveucr 
 
 Mount Carmel, 5 49 - Departure of the Nymphs of Fire 
 fparks from artificial Fireworks, 587. 
 
ECONOMY OF VEGETATION. 
 
 “ Stay your rude steps! whofe throbbing breafts infold 
 The legion-fiends of Glory, or of Gold ! 
 
 Stay ! whofe falfe lips fedu&ive fimpers part, 
 
 While Cunning neftles in the harlot-heart!— 
 
 For you no Dryads drefs the rofeate bower, 
 
 For you no Nymphs their fparkling vafes pour ; 
 
 5 
 
[ 2 1 
 I 
 
 Unmark’d by you, light Graces fwim the green, 
 
 And hovering Cupids aim their fhafts, unfeen. 
 
 “ But Thou ! whofe mind the well-attemper’d ray 
 Of Tafte and Virtue lights with purer day ; i o 
 
 Whofe finer fenfe each foft vibration owns 
 With fweet refponfive fympathy of tones ; 
 
 So the fair flower expands it’s lucid form 
 To meet the fun, and Amts it to the ftorm;— 
 
 For thee my borders nurfe the fragrant wreath, 15 
 My fountains murmur, and my zephyrs breathe ; 
 
 Slow Aides the painted fnail, the gilded fly 
 Smooths his fine down, to charm thy curious eye ; 
 
 On twinkling fins my pearly nations play, 
 
 Or win with finuous train their tracklefs way; 20 
 
 My plumy pairs in gay embroidery drefs’d 
 Form with ingenious bill the penfile neft, 
 
 So the fair flower. I. 13. It feems to have been the original defign of the philofophy 
 of Epicurus to render the mind exquifitely fenfible to agreeable fenfations, and equally 
 inlenfible to difagreeable ones. 
 
[ 3 3 
 
 To Love’s fweet notes attune the liftening dell, 
 And Echo founds her foft fymphonious fhell. 
 
 <c And, if with Thee fome haplefs Maidfhould ftray, 
 Difafterous Love companion of her way, 26 
 
 Oh, lead her timid fteps to yonder glade, 
 
 Whofe arching cliffs depending alders fhade ; 
 
 There, as meek Evening wakes her temperate breeze, 
 And moon-beams glimmer through the trembling trees, 
 The rills, that gurgle round, (hall footh her ear, 31 
 The weeping rocks fhall number tear for tear; 
 
 There as fad Philomel, alike forlorn, 
 
 Sings to the Night from her accuftomed thorn ; 
 
 While at fweet intervals each falling note 35 
 
 Sighs in the gale, and whifpers rounds the grot; 
 
 DiJ'aJierous Love. I. 26. The fcenery is taken from a botanic garden about a mile 
 from Lichfield, where a cold bath was erefted by Sir John Floyer. There is a grotto 
 furrounded by projecting rocks, from the edges of which trickles a perpetual Ihower of 
 water; and it is here reprefented as adapted to love-lcenes, as being thence a proper re- 
 fidence for the modern goddefs of Botany, and the eafter to introduce the next poem on 
 the Loves of the Plants according to the fyftem of Linneus. 
 
 B 2 
 
[ 4 ] 
 
 The fifter-woe {hall calm her aching breaft, 
 
 And fofter {lumbers fteal her cares to reft.— 
 
 “ Winds of the North ! reftrain your icy gales, 
 
 Nor chill the bofom of thefe happy vales! 4 ° 
 
 Hence in dark heaps, ye gathering Clouds, revolve! 
 Difperfe, ye Lightnings! and, ye Mifts, diftolve ! 
 
 _Hither, emerging from yon orient (kies, 
 
 Botanic Goddess ! bend thy radiant eyes ; 
 
 O’er thefe foft fcenes aflume thy gentle reign, 45 
 
 Pomona, Ceres, Flora in thy train ; 
 
 O’er the ftill dawn thy placid fmile effufe, 
 
 And with thy ftlver fandals print the dew s ; 
 
 In noon’s bright blaze thy Vermil veft unfold, 
 
 And wave thy emerald banner ftar d with gold. 50 
 
 Thus fpoke the Genius, as He ftept along, 
 
 And bade thefe lawns to Peace and Truth belong ; 
 Down the fteep flopes He led with modeft {kill 
 The willing pathway, and the truant rill, 
 

 [ 5 ] 
 
 i 
 
 Stretch’d o’er the marfliy vale yon willowy mound, 55 
 Where lhines the lake amid the tufted ground, 
 
 Raifed the young woodland, fmooth’d the wavy green. 
 And gave to Beauty all the quiet fcene.— 
 
 She comes!—the Goddess !—through the whifperingair, 
 Bright as the morn, defcends her blulhing car ; 60 
 
 Each circling wheel a wreath of flowers intwines, 
 
 And gcm’d with flowers the filken harnefs fhines ; 
 
 The golden bits with flowery ftuds are deck’d, 
 
 And knots of flowers the crirafon reins conned. 
 
 And now on earth the fllver axle rings, 65 
 
 And the {hell links upon its {lender fprings; 
 
 Light from her airy feat the Goddefs bounds, 
 
 And fteps celeftial prefs the panfied grounds. 
 
 Fair Spring advancing calls her feather d quire, 
 
 And tunes to fofter notes her laughing lyre; 7 ° 
 
 Bids her gay hours on purple pinions move, 
 
 And arms her Zephyrs with the (hafts of Love, 
 
 \ 
 
[ 6 3 
 
 Pleafcd Gnomes, afcending from their earthy beds, 
 Play round her graceful footfteps, as fhe treads; 
 
 Gay Sylphs attendant beat the fragrant air 75 
 
 On winnowing wings, and waft her golden hair; 
 
 Blue Nymphs emerging leave their fparkling ftreams, 
 And Fiery Forms alight from orient beams; 
 
 Mufk’d in the rofe’s lap frefh dews they died, 
 
 Or breathe celeftial luflres round her head. 80 
 
 Firft the fine Forms her dulcet voice requires, 
 
 Which bathe or balk in elemental fires; 
 
 From each bright gem of Day’s refulgent car, 
 
 From the pale fphere of every twinkling ftar, 
 
 From each nice pore of ocean, earth, and air, 85 
 
 With eye of flame the fparkling hofts repair, 
 
 Pleafcd Gnomes. 1. 73. The Roficrucian do£lrine of Gnomes, Sylphs, Nymphs, 
 and Salamanders affords proper machinery for a philofophic poem ; as it is probable 
 that they were originally the names of hieroglyphic figures of the Elements, or of Genii 
 prefiding over their operations. The Fairies of more modern days feem to have been de¬ 
 rived from them, and to have inherited their powers. The Gnomes and Sylphs, as 
 being more nearly allied to modern Fairies, are reprefented as either male or female, 
 which diftinguilhes the latter from the Aura: of the Latin Poets, which were only fe¬ 
 male; except the winds, as Zephyrus and Aufter, may be fuppofed to have been 
 their huflbands. 
 
Mix their gay hues, in changeful circles play, 
 
 Like motes, that tenant the meridian ray.— 
 
 So the clear Lens collects with magic power 
 
 The countlefs glories of the midnight hour; 9 
 
 Stars after ftars with quivering luftre fall, 
 
 And twinkling glide along the whiten’d wall.— 
 Pleafed, as they pafs, fhe counts the glittering bands, 
 And hills their murmur with her waving hands; 
 
 Each likening tribe with fond expectance burns, 9 
 And now to thefe, and now to thofe, flie turns. 
 
 I. u Nymphs of primeval Fire ! your veftal train 
 Hung with gold-trefles o’er the vaft inane, 
 
 Nymphs of primeval fire. 1.97. The fluid matter of heat is perhaps the mod exten- 
 five element in nature ; all other bodies are immerfed in it, and are preferved in their 
 prefent Hate of folidity or fluidity by the attraction of their particles to the matter of 
 heat. Since all known bodies are contractible into Iefs fpace by depriving them of fome 
 portion of their heat, and as there is no part of nature totally deprived of heat, there is 
 reafon to believe that the particles of bodies do not touch, but are held towards each 
 other by their felf-attra&ion, and recede from each other by their attradion to the mafs 
 of heat which furrounds them ; and thus exift in an equilibrium between thefe two 
 powers. If more of the matter of heat be applied to them, they recede farther from 
 each other, and become fluid ; if ftill more be applied, they take an aerial form, and 
 are termed Gaffes by the modern chemifts. Thus when water is heated to a certain 
 degree, it would inftantly afliime the form of fleam, but for the prefliire of the atmo- 
 fphere, which prevents this change from taking place fo ealily \ the fame is true of 
 
Pierced with your fil 
 And charm’d young 
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 filver (hafts the throne of Night, 99 
 w Nature’s opening eyes with light; 
 
 When Love Divine, with brooding wings unfurl 
 Call’d from the rude abyfs the living world. 
 
 1 . 410. of this Canto, 
 
 The external cruft of the earth, as far as it has been expofed to our view in mines or 
 mountains, countenances this opinion ; fince thefe have evidently for the moft part had 
 their origin from the (hells of fifties, the decompofition of vegetables, and the recrements 
 of other animal materials, and muft therefore have been formed progreflively from fmall 
 beginnings. There are likewife fome apparently ufelefs or incomplete appendages to 
 plants and animals, which feem to (hew they have gradually undergone changes from 
 their original (late ; fuch as the ftamens without anthers, and ftyles without ftigmas of 
 feveral plants, as mentioned in the note on Curcuma, Vol. II. of this work. Such as 
 the halteres, or rudiments of wings of fome two-winged infeds ; and the paps of male 
 animals; thus fwine have four toes, but two of them are imperfedly formed, and not 
 long enough for ufe. The allantoide in fome animals feems to have become extind; in 
 others is above tenfold the fize, which would feem neceffary for its purpofe. Buffon du 
 Cochon. T. 6. p. 257. Perhaps all the fuppofed monftrous births of Nature are re¬ 
 mains of their habits of produdion in their former lefs per fed (late, or attempts towards 
 greater perfedtion. 
 
[ 9 1 
 
 —Let there be light!” proclaim’d the Almighty Lord, 
 Aftonifti’d Chaos heard the potent word ; 
 
 Through all his realms the kindling Ether runs, 105 
 And the mafs ftarts into a million funs; 
 
 Earths round each fun with quick explofions burft, 
 
 And fecond planets ifiue from the fir ft ; 
 
 Through all his realms . 1 . 105. Mr. Herfchel has given a very fublime and curious 
 account of the conftruCtion of the heavens with his difcovery of fome thoufand nebula?, 
 or clouds of ftars ; many of which are much larger collections of (tars, than all thofe 
 put together, which are vifible to our naked eyes, added to thofe which form the galaxy, 
 or milky zone, which furrounds us. He obfcrves that in the vicinity of thefe cluftersof 
 (tars there are proportionally fewer ftars than in other parts of the heavens, and hence he 
 concludes, that they have attracted each other, on the fuppofition that infinite fpace was 
 at firft equally fprinkled with them ; as if it had at the beginning been filled with a fluid 
 mafs, which had coagulated. Mr. Herfchel has further {hewn, that the whole fidereal 
 fyftem is gradually moving round fome centre, which may be an opake mafs of matter, 
 Philof. Tranf. Vol. LXXIV. I fall thefe Suns are moving round fome great central body* 
 they muft have had a projeCtile force, as well as a centripetal one; and may thence be 
 fuppofed to have emerged or been projected from the material, where they were produced. 
 We can have no idea of a natural power, which could projeCt a Sun out of Chaos, ex¬ 
 cept by comparing it to the explofions or earthquakes owing to the fudden evolution of 
 aqueous or of other more elaftic vapours ; of the power of which under immeafurable 
 degrees of heat, and compreftion, we are yet ignorant. 
 
 It may be objected, that if the ftars had been projected from a Chaos by explofions, 
 they muft have returned again into it from the known laws of gravitation; this how¬ 
 ever w’ould not happen, if the w'hole of Chaos, like grains of gunpowder, was exploded 
 at the fame time, and difperfed through infinite fpace at once, or in quick fucceflion, in 
 every pofiible direction. The fame objection may be ftated againft the poftibility of the 
 planets having been thrown from the fun by explofions; and the fccondary planets from 
 the primary ones ; which will be fpoken of more at large in the fecond Canto, but if the 
 planets are fuppofed to have been projected from their funs, and the fccondary from the 
 
 Part I. 
 
 C 
 
no 
 
 [ 10 ] 
 
 Bend, as they journey with projeaile force, 
 
 In bright ellipfes their relu&ant courfe; 
 
 Orbs wheel in orbs, round centres centres roll, 
 
 And form, felf-balanced, one revolving Whole. 
 —Onward they move amid their bright abode, 
 
 Space without bound, the bosom of their God! 
 
 II. “ Ethereal Powers! you chafe the {hooting liars, 
 Or yoke the vollied lightenings to your cars, 116 
 
 Cling round the aerial how with prifms bright, 
 
 And pleas’d untwift the fevenfold threads of light; 
 
 primary ones, at the beginning of their courfe; they might be fo influenced or diverted 
 byThe attraaions of the funs, or fun, in their vicinity, as to prevent them tendency to 
 
 return into the body, from which they were projeaed. 
 
 If thefe innumerable and immenfe funs thus nfing out of Chaos are fuppofed to have 
 thrown out their attendant planets by new explofions, as they afcended ; and thofe their 
 refpeaive fatellites, filling in a moment the immenfity of fpace with light and motion, 
 a grander idea cannot be conceived by the mind of man. 
 
 Chafe the JhootingJtars. 1 . 115. The meteors called (hooting ftars, the lightening, the 
 rainbow, and the clouds, are phenomena of the lower regions of the atmofphere. The 
 twilight, the meteors call’d fire-balls, or flying dragons, and the northern lights, inhabit 
 the higher regions of the atmofphere. See additional notes. No. I. 
 
 Cling round the aerial bow. 1 . 117. See additional notes, No. II. 
 
I 20 
 
 Eve’s filken couch with gorgeous tints adorn, 
 
 And fire the arrowy throne of rifing Morn. 
 
 —Or, plum’d with flame, in gay battalions fpring 
 To brighter regions borne on broader wing ; 
 
 Where lighter gafes, circumfufed on high, 
 
 Form the vaft concave of exterior Iky ; 
 
 Eve's filken couch. 1 . 119. See additional Notes, No. III. 
 
 Where lighter gafes. 1 . 123: Mr. Cavendifh has (hewn, that the gas called inflam¬ 
 mable air, is at lead ten times lighter than common air; Mr. Lavoifier contends, that it 
 is one of the component parts of water, and is by him called hydrogene. It is fuppofed to 
 afford their principal nourifhment to vegetables and thence to animals, and is perpetually 
 rifing from their decompofition ; this fource of it in hot climates, and in fummer months, 
 is fo great as to exceed eftimation. Now if this light gas palfes through the atmofphere, 
 without combining with it, it muft compofe another atmofphere over the aerial one ; 
 which muft expand, when the preffure above it is thus taken away, to inconceivable 
 tenuity. 
 
 If this fupernatural gaffeous atmofphere floats upon the aerial one, like ether upon 
 water, what muft happen ? 1. it will flow from the line, where it will be produced in the 
 greateft quantities, and become much accumulated over the poles of the earth : 2 . the 
 common air, or lower ftratum of the atmofphere, will be much thinner over the poles 
 than at the line; becaufe if a glafs globe be filled with oil and water, and whirled upon its 
 axis, the centrifugal power will carry the heavier fluid to the circumference, and the lighter 
 will in confequence be found round the axis. 3. There may be a place at fome certain 
 latitude between the poles and the line on each fide the equator, where the inflammable 
 fupernatant atmofphere may end, owing to the greater centrifugal force of the heavier 
 aerial atmofphere. 4. Between the termination of the aerial and the beginning of the 
 gaffeous atmofphere, the airs will occafionally be intermixed, and thus become inflam¬ 
 mable by the ele&ric fpark; thefe circumftances will affift in explaining the phenomena 
 of fire balls, northern lights, and of fome variable winds, and long-continued rains. 
 
 Since the above note was firft written, Mr. Volta I am informed has applied the fup- 
 pofition of a fupernatant atmofphere of inflammable air, to explain fome phenomena m 
 
 C 2 
 
125 
 
 [ 12 ] 
 
 With airy lens the fcatter’d rays aflault, 
 
 And bend the twilight round the dufky vault j 
 Ride, with broad eye and fcintillating hair, 
 
 The rapid Fire-ball through the midnight air; 
 
 Dart from the North on pale ele&ric ftreams, 
 
 Fringing Night’s fable robe with tranfient beams. 130 
 
 _Or rein the Planets in their fwift careers, 
 
 Gilding with borrow’d light their twinkling fpheres ; 
 Alarm with comet-blaze the fapphire plain, 
 
 The wan liars glimmering through its filver train j 
 
 meteorology. And Mr. Lavoifier has announced his defign to write on this fubjeft. 
 Traite de Chimie, Tom. I. Iam happy to find thefe opinions fupported by fuch 
 refpedtable authority. 
 
 And bend the twilight . 1 .126. The crepufcular atmofphere, or the region where the 
 light of the fun ceafes to be refra&ed to us, is eftimated by philofophers to be between 
 40 and 50 miles high, at which time the fun is about 18 degrees below the horizon; and 
 the rarity of the air is fuppofed to be from 4,000 to 10,000 times greater than at the fur- 
 face of the earth. Cotes’s Hydroft. p. 123. The duration of twilight differs in different 
 feafons and in different latitudes; in England the Ihorteft twilight is about the beginning 
 of Oftober and of March ; in more northern latitudes, where the fun never finks more 
 than 18 degrees, below the horizon, the twilight continues the whole night. The 
 time of its duration may alfo be oecafionally affe&ed by the varying height of the atmo¬ 
 fphere. A number of obfervations on the duration of twilight in different latitudes might 
 afford considerable information concerning the aerial Strata in the higher regions of the 
 atmofphere, and might affift in determining whether an exterior atmofphere of inflam¬ 
 mable gas, or hydrogene, exifts over the aerial one. 
 
 Alarm with Comet-blaze. 1 . 133. See additional notes, No. IV. 
 
 
Gem the bright Zodiac, ftud the glowing pole, 135 
 Or give the Sun’s phlogiftic orb to roll. 
 
 III. “ Nymphs! your fine forms with fteps impaffive 
 mock 
 
 Earth’s vaulted roofs of adamantine rock; 
 
 Round her ftill centre tread the burning foil, 
 
 And watch the billowy Lavas, as they boil; 140 
 
 Where, in bafaltic caves imprifon’d deep, 
 
 Reluctant fires in dread fufpenfion fleep ; 
 
 Or fphere on fphere in widening waves expand, 
 
 And glad with genial warmth the incumbent land. 
 
 So when the Mother-bird fele£ts their food 145 
 
 With curious bill, and feeds her callow brood; 
 
 The Sun's phlogiftic orb . 1 . 136. See additional notes, No. V. 
 
 Round her fill centre. 1 . 135. Many philofophers have believed that the central parts 
 of the earth confift of a fluid mafs of burning lava, which they have called a fubterra- 
 neous fun ; and have fuppofed, that it contributes to the produftion of metals, and to 
 the growth of vegetables. Sec additional notes, No. VI. 
 
 Or fphere on fphere. 1 . 143. See additional notes, No. VII. 
 
Warmth from her tender heart eternal fprings, 
 
 And pleafed fhe clafps them with extended wings. 
 
 a You from deep cauldrons and unmeafured ca\es 
 Blow flaming airs, or pour vitrefcent waves; 15° 
 
 O’er lliining oceans ray volcanic light, 
 
 Or hurl innocuous embers to the night.— 
 
 While with loud {bouts to Etna Hecla calls, 
 
 And Andes anfwers from his beacon’d walls; 
 
 Hurl innocuous embers. 1 . 152. The immediate caufe of volcanic eruptions is believed 
 to be owing to the water of the fea, or from lakes, or inundations, finding itfelf a paftage 
 into the fubterraneous fires, which may lie at great depths. This muft firft produce by 
 its coldnefsa condenfation of the vapour there exifling, or a vacuum, and thus occafion 
 parts of the earth’s cruft or (hell to be forced down by the prefliire of the incumbent at- 
 mofphere. Afterwards the water being fuddenly raifed into fteam produces all the exploin e 
 effefts of earthquakes. And by new accefiions of water during the intervals ol the ex- 
 plofions the repetition of the lhocks is caufed. Thefe circumftances were hourly illuf- 
 trated by the fountains of boiling water in Iceland, in which the furface of the water 
 in the boiling wells funk down low before every new ebullition. 
 
 Befides thefe eruptions occalioned by the fteam of water, there feems to be a perpetual 
 effufion of other vapours, more noxious and (as far as it is yet known) perhaps greatly 
 more expanfile than water from the Volcanos in various parts of the world. As thefe 
 Volcanos are fuppofed to be fpiracula or breathing holes to the great fubterraneous fires, 
 it is probable that the efcape of elaftic vapours from them is the caufe, that the earth¬ 
 quakes of modern days are of fuch fmall extent compared to thofc of antient times, of 
 which veftiges remain in every part of the world, and on this account may be faid not 
 only to be innocuous, but ufeful. 
 

 [ ! 5 1 
 
 Sea-wilder’d crews the mountain-(tars admire, 155 
 And Beauty beams amid terrific fire. 
 
 “ Thus when of old, as myfiic bards prefume, 
 
 Huge Cyclops dwelt in Etna’s rocky womb, 
 
 On thundering anvils rung their loud alarms, 
 
 And leagued with Vulcan forged immortal arms ; 160 
 Defcending Venus fought the dark abode, 
 
 And footh’d the labours of the grifly God.— 
 
 While frowning Loves the threatening falchion wield, 
 And tittering Graces peep behind the fhield, 
 
 With jointed mail their fairy limbs o’erwhelm, 165 
 Or nod with paufing flep the plumed helm ; 
 
 With radiant eye She view’d the boiling ore, 
 
 Heard undifmay’d the breathing bellows roar, 
 
 Admir’d their finewy arms, and fhoulders bare, 
 
 And ponderous hammers lifted high in air, 1 7 ° 
 
 With fmiles celeftial blefs’d their dazzled fight, 
 
 And Beauty blazed amid infernal night. 
 
IV. “ Effulgent Maids! you round deciduous day, 
 Treiled with foft beams, your glittering bands array ; 
 On Earth’s cold bofom, as the Sun retires, J 7 5 
 
 Confine with folds of air the lingering fires ; 
 
 O’er Eve’s pale forms diffufe phofphoric light, 
 
 And deck with lambent flames the fhrine ol Night. 
 
 Confine with folds of air. 1 . 176. The air, like all other bad conductors of elearicity, 
 is known to be a bad conduftor of heat; and thence prevents the heat acquired from 
 the fun’s rays by the earth’s furface from being fo foon diflipated, in the fame manner 
 as a blanket, which may beconfidered as a fponge filled with air, prevents the efcape 
 of heat from the perfon wrapped in it. This feems to be one caufe of the great degree 
 of cold on the tops of mountains, where the rarity of the air is greater, and it therefore 
 becomes a better conduftor both of heat and elearicity. See note on Barometz, Vol. 
 II. of this work. 
 
 There is however another caufe to which the great coldnefs of mountains and of the 
 higher regions of the atmofphcre is more immediately to be aferibed, explained by Dr. 
 Darwin in the Philof. Tranf. Vol. LXX VIII . who has there proved by experiments with 
 the air-gun and air-pump, that when any portion of the atmofphere becomes mechani- 
 nically 'expanded, it abforbs heat from the bodies in its vicinity. And as the air which 
 creeps along the plains, expands itfelf by a part of the prelTure being taken off when it 
 afeends the Tides of mountains ; it at the fame time attrafts heat from the fummits of 
 thofe mountains, or other bodies which happen to be immerfed in it, and thus produces 
 cold. Hence he concludes that the hot air at the bottom of the Andes becomes tem¬ 
 perate by its own rarefaftion when it afeends to the city of Quito ; and by its further 
 rarefaClion becomes cooled to the freezing point when it afeends to the fnow-y regions 
 on the fummits of thofe mountains. T o this alfo he attributes the great degree of cold 
 experienced by the aeronauts in their balloons ; and which produces hail in fummer at 
 the height of only two or three miles in the atmofphere. 
 
 Diffufe phofphoric light. 1 . 177. I have often been induced to believe from obfervation, 
 that the twilight of the evenings is lighter than that of the mornings at the fame diilance 
 
C 17 ] 
 
 So, warm’d and kindled by meridian fkies, 
 
 And view’d in darknefs with dilated eyes, 180 
 
 Bologna’s chalks with faint ignition blaze, 
 
 Beccari’s (hells emit prifmatic rays. 
 
 from noon. Some may afcribc this to the greater height of the atmofpherc in the even¬ 
 ings having been rarefied by the fun during the day; but as its dcnfity muft at the fame 
 time be dimirfiflied, its power of refraction would continue the fame. I ihould rather 
 fuppofe that it may be owing to the phofphorefcent quality (as it is called) of almoft 
 all bodies ; that is, when they have been expofed to the fun, they continue to emit light 
 for a confidcrable time afterwards. This is generally believed to arife either from fuch 
 bodies giving out the light which they had previoufly abforbed ; or to the continuance 
 of a flow combuflion which the light they had been previoufly expofed to had excited. 
 See the next note. 
 
 Beccari’s /hells. 1 . 182. Beccari made many curious experiments on the phofphoric 
 light, as it is called, which becomes vifible on bodies brought into a dark room, after 
 having been previoufly expofed to the funfliine. It appears from thefe experiments that 
 almolt all inflammable bodies pofl'efs this quality in a greater orlefs degree ; white paper 
 or linen thus examined after having been expofed to the funfliine, is luminous to an ex¬ 
 traordinary degree; and if a perfon (hut up in a dark room, puts one of his hands out 
 into the fun’s light for a (hort time and then retrafts it, he will be able to fee that hand 
 diftinaiy, and not the other. Thefe experiments feem to countenance the idea of light. 
 bein' 1 abforbed and again emitted from bodies when they are removed into darknefs. 
 But Beccari further pretended, that fome calcareous compofitions when expofed to red, 
 yellow, or blue light, through coloured glalTes, would on their being brought into a 
 dark room emit coloured lights. This miflaken &A of Beccari’s, Mr. W.lfon dec,- 
 dedly refutes ; and among many other curious experiments d.fcovered, that if oyfter- 
 Ihelis were thrown into a common fire and calcined for about half an hour, and then 
 brought to a perfon who had previoufly been fome minutes in a dark room, that many 
 of than would exhibit beautiful irifes of prifmatic colours, whence probably arofe 
 Beccari’s mtftake. Mr. Wilfon hence contends, that thefe kinds of phofphon do 
 not emit the light they had previoufly received, but that they are fet on fire by the 
 fim’s rays, and continue for fome time a flow combuflion after they are withdrawn from 
 
 the light. Wilfon’s Experiments on Phofphon. Dodfley, 1775. 
 
 The Bolognian (tone is a felenite, or gypfum, and has been'ong celebrated for its 
 
 phtfphotrfcan. quality after having been but,,, in a fulphutous Ctc j and opolid »hcn 
 
 I 
 
[ IS ] 
 
 So to the facred Sun in Memnon’s fane, 
 
 Spontaneous concords quired the matin drain ; 
 
 „_Touch’d by his orient beam, refponfive rings 185 
 
 The living lyre, and vibrates all its firings ; 
 
 Accordant ailes the tender tones prolong, 
 
 And holy echoes fwell the adoring fong. 
 
 « you with light Gas the lamps noaurnal feed, 
 Which dance and glimmer o’er the marfhy mead ; 190 
 
 cold to the fun’s light. It may be thus well imitated; Calcine oyfter (hells half » 
 hour, pulverize them when cold, and add one third part of flowers of fulphur, prefs 
 them clofe into a fmall crucible, and calcine them for an hour or longer, and keep 
 powder in a phial clofe flopped. A part of this powder is to be expofed foi a mmu 
 or two to the funbeams, and then brought into a dark room. The calcined Bologman 
 ftone becomes a calcareous hepar of fulphur; but the calcined (hells, as they contain 
 the animal acid, may alfo contain fome of the phofphorus of KLunkel. 
 
 In Memnon's fane. 1 . 183. See additional notes, No. VIII. 
 
 The lamps noflurnal. 1 . 189. The ignis fatuus or Jack a lantern, fo frequently 
 alluded to by poets, is fuppofcd to originate from the inflammable air, or Hydrogene, 
 given up from morafles ; which being of a heavier kind from its impurity than that 
 obtained from iron and water, hovers near the furface of the earth, and uniting with 
 common air gives out light by its flow ignition. Perhaps fuch lights have no exiftence, 
 and the refledion of a ftar on watery ground may have deceived the travellers, who 
 have been faid to be bewildered by them ; if the fad was eftabliflied it would much 
 contribute t6 explain the phenomena of northern lights. I have travelled much in the 
 night, in all feafons of the year, and over all kinds of foil, but never faw one of thefli 
 Will o’wifps. 
 
[ i9 1 
 
 Shine round Calendula at twilight hours, 
 
 And tip with filver all her faffron flowers; 
 
 Warm on her molly couch the radiant Worm, 
 
 Guard from cold dews her love-illumin’d form, 
 
 From leaf to leaf conduit the virgin light, 195 
 
 Star of the earth, and diamond of the night. 
 
 You hid in air the tropic Beetle burn, 
 
 And fill with golden flame his winged urn ; 
 
 Or gild the furge with infeit-fparks, that fwarm 
 Round the bright oar, the kindling prow alarm ; 200 
 
 Or arm in waves, electric in his ire, 
 
 The dread Gymnotus with etherial fire.— 
 
 Onward his courfe with waving tail he helms, 
 
 And mimic lightenings fcare the watery realms. 
 
 Shine round Calendula. 1. 191. See note on Tropxolum in Vol. II. 
 
 The radiant Worm. 1. 193. See additional notes, No. IX. 
 
 The dread Gymnotus. 1. 202. The Gymnotus elearicus is a native of the river of 
 Surinam in South America; thofe which were brought over to England about eight years 
 aeo were about three or four feet long, and gave an eleanc (hock (as I experienced) by 
 putting one finger on the back near its head, and another of the oppof.te hand into the 
 water near its tail. In their native country they are faid to exceed twenty feet in length, 
 
 D 2 
 
 
’ [ 20 ] 
 
 So, when with briMing plumes the Bird of Jove 205 
 
 Vindi&ive leaves the argent fields above, 
 
 and kill any man who approaches them in an hoftile manner. It is not only to efcape 
 " enemies that this fuzzing power of the fiffi is ufed, but alfo to take its prey ; 
 wh ich it does by benumbing them, and then devouring them before they have time to 
 recover, or by perfedly killing them ; for the quantity of the power feemed to be de¬ 
 termined by the will or anger of the animal; as it fometimcs (truck a filh twice before 
 
 it was fufficiently benumbed to be eafily fwallowed. 
 
 The organs produce of this wonderful accumulation pfekanc matter have een 
 accurately diffeLd and defcribed by Mr. J. Hunter. Philof. Tranf. Vol. LX V 1 hey 
 are fo divided by membranes as to compofe a very extenfive fuiface, an are upp 
 with many pairs of nerves larger than any other nerves of the body ; but how fo.large 
 a quantity is fo quickly accumulated as to produce fuch amazing effefts in a flu 
 adapted for the purpofe is not yet fatisfadorily explained. 1 lie Torpe o po xi es a 
 fimilar power in a lefs degree, as was (hewn by Mr. Walch, and another hlh lately 
 
 defcribed by Mr. Paterfon. Philof. Tranf. Vol. LXXY I. 
 
 In the conftruaion of the Leyden-Phial, (as it is called) which is coated on both 
 fides, it is known, that above one hundred times the quantity of pofitive elearicity can 
 be condenfcd on every fquare inch of the coating on one fide, than could have been ac¬ 
 cumulated on the fame furface if there had been no oppofite coating communicating 
 with the earth ; becaufe the negative elcaricity, or that part of it which caufed its ex- 
 panfion, is now drawn off through the glafs. It is alfo well known, that the thinner 
 he glafs is (which is thus coated on both f.des fo as to make a Leyden-phial, or plate) 
 the more elearicity can be condenfcd on one of its furfaces, till it becomes fo thin as 
 
 to break, and thence difeharge itfelf. , 
 
 Now it is poflible, that the quantity of elearicity condenfible on one fide of a coated 
 
 phial may increafe in fome high ratio in refped to the thinnefs of the glafs, f.nce the 
 power of attraaion is known to decreafe as the fquares of the diftances, to which this 
 circumftance of elearicity feems to bear fome analogy. Hence if an animal membrane 
 as thin as the filk-worm (pins its (ilk, could be fo ('.mated as to be charged like the 
 Leyden bottle, without burfling, (as fuch thin glafs would be liable to do,) it would 
 
 be difficult to calculate the immenfe quantity of eledkric fluid, which might be accu¬ 
 mulated omits furface. No land animals are yet difeovered which poffefs this power, 
 though the air would have been a much better medium for producing its effeds ; per- 
 haps the fize of the neceffary apparatus would have been inconvenient to land animals. 
 
 t 
 
 I 
 

 [ 21 ] 
 
 \ 
 
 Borne on broad wings the guilty world he awes, 
 And grafps the lightening in his Aiming claws. 
 
 
 V. i. “ Nymphs! your foft fmiles uncultur’d man 
 fubdued, 
 
 And charm’d the Savage from his native wood ; 210 
 
 You, while amazed his hurrying Hords retire 
 From the fell havoc of devouring Fire, 
 
 In his pining claws. 1. 208. Alluding to an antique gem in the collcftion of the 
 Grand Duke of Florence. Spence. 
 
 Of devouring fire. 1.212. The firft and moil important difeovery of mankind feems 
 to have been that of fire. For many ages it is probable fire was efteemed a dangerous 
 enemy, known only by its dreadful deviations; and that many lives muft have been 
 loft, and many dangerous burns and wounds muft have affixed thofe who firft dared to 
 fubiea it to the ufes of life. It is faid that the tall monk.es of Borneo and Sumatra lie 
 down with pleafure round any accidental fire in their woods ; and are arrived to that 
 degree of reafon, that knowledge ofcaufation, that they thruft into the remaining fire 
 the half-burnt ends of the branches to prevent its going out. One of the nobles of e 
 cultivated people of Otaheita, when Captain Cook treated them with tea, catched the 
 boiling water in his hand from the cock of the tea-urn, and bellowed with pam, 
 
 conceiving that water could become hot, like red fire. 
 
 Tools of fteel conftitute another important difeovery in conference of fire; and 
 •1 a h nrinci Dally to give the European nations fo great fuperiority over 
 
 SSlTtSl"^ - agents, J and tools of fteel, mankind became 
 able to cope with the vegetable kingdom, and conquer provinces of forefts, which m 
 uncultivated countries almoft exclude the growth of other vegetables, and of thofe 
 
 . * , • 1 necellary to our exiftence. Add to this, that the quantity o our 
 
 t eaW by the ufe of fire, for feme vegetables beeonre falutary food by 
 ufcd^iu cookery, which are naturally either noxtous urduficult.f 
 
 I ** 
 
 
Taught, the firft Art! with piny rods to mife 
 By quick attrition the domeftic blaze, 
 
 Fan with foft breath, with kindling leaves provide, 215 
 And lift the dread Deftroyer on his fide. 
 
 So, with bright wreath of ferpent-trefles crown d. 
 Severe in beauty, young Medusa frown’d ; 
 
 Erewhile fubdued, round Wisdom’s iEgis roll’d 219 
 Hifs’d the dread fnakes, and flam’d in burnifli’d gold ; 
 Flafh’d on her brandifh’d arm the immortal ftiield, 
 
 And Terror lighten’d o’er the dazzled fleld. 
 
 2 . “ Nymphs ! you disjoin, unite, condenfe, expand, 
 And give new wonders to the Chemift’s hand ; 
 
 digeftion ; as potatoes, kidney beans, onions, cabbages. The cafTava when made into 
 bread, is perhaps rendered mild by the heat it undergoes, more than by exprefling its 
 fuperfluous juice. The roots of white bryony and of arum, I am informed lofe much 
 of their acrimony by boiling. 
 
 Young Medufa frown d. 1. 218 . The Egyptian Medufa is reprefented on antient gems 
 with wings on her head, fnaky hair, and a beautiful countenance, which appears in- 
 tenfely thinking ; and was fuppofed to reprefent divine wifdom. The Grecian Me¬ 
 dufa, on Minerva’s lhield, as appears on otfler gems, has a countenance diftorted with 
 rage or pain, and is fuppofed to reprefent divine vengeance. This Medufa was one of 
 theGorgons, at firft very beautiful and terrible to her enemies; Minerva turned her 
 hair into fnakes, and Perfeus having cut off her head fixed it on the fhield of that god- 
 defs ; the fight of which then petrified the beholders. Dannet. Did. 
 
[ 23 3 
 
 On tepid clouds of rifing fteam afpire, 
 
 Or fix in fulpfiur all its folid fire ; 
 
 With boundlefs fpring elaftic airs unfold, 
 Or fill the fine vacuities of gold ; 
 
 With fudden flafii vitrefcent Iparks reveal, 
 By fierce collifion from the flint and fteel; 
 
 Or fix in fulphur . 1. 226. The phenomena of chemical ex plofions cannot be accounted 
 for without the fuppofition, that fome of the bodies employed contain concentrated or 
 folid heat combined with them, to which the French Chemifts have given the name of 
 Calorique. When air is expanded in the air-pump, or water evaporated into fteam, 
 they drink up orabforb a great quantity of heat ; from this analogy, when gunpowder 
 is exploded it ought to abforb much heat, that is, in popular language, it ought to pro¬ 
 duce a great quantity of cold. When vital air is united with phlogiftic matter in refpi- 
 ration, which feems to be a flow combuftion, its volume isleflened; the carbonic acid, 
 and perhaps phofphoric acid are produced; and heat is given out; which according to the 
 experiments of Dr. Crawford would feem to be depofited from the vital air. But as 
 the vital air in nitrous acids is condenfed from a light elaftic gas to that of a heavy fluid, 
 it mud poflefs lefs heat than before. And hence a great part of the heat, which is gi¬ 
 ven out in firing gunpowder, I fhould fuppofe, mult refide in the fulphur or charcoal. 
 
 Mr. Lavoifier has fhewn, that vital air, or Oxygene, loofes lefi? of its heat'when it 
 becomes one of the component parts of nitrous acid, than in any other of its combina¬ 
 tions; and is hence capable of giving out a great quantity of heat in the explofion of 
 gunpowder ; but as there feems to be great analogy between the matter of heat, or Ca¬ 
 lorique, and the cle&ric matter ; and as the worft condu&ors of ele&ricity are believed 
 to contain the greateft quantity of that fluid ; there is reafon to fufpeCl that the worft 
 conductors of heat may contain the moft of that fluid; as fulphur, wax, filk, air, glafs, 
 See note on 1 . 176 of this Canto. 
 
 VitrefcentJ'parks . 1 . 229. When flints are ftruck againft other flints they have the 
 property of giving fparks of light ; but it teems to be an internal light, perhaps of 
 cleCtric origin, very different from the ignited fparks which are ftruck from flint and 
 fteel. The fparks produced by the CQllilion, of fteel. with flint appear to be globular par- 
 
Or mark with ihining letters Kunkel’s name 
 In the pale Phofphor’s felf-confuming flame. 
 
 So the chafte heart of feme enchanted Maid 
 Shines with infiduous light, by Love betray’d ; 
 
 Round her pale bofom plays the young Defire, 2 3 5 
 And flow Are waftes by felf-confuming fire. 
 
 N 
 
 3. “ You taught myBerious Bacon to explore 
 Metallic veins, and part the drofs from ore ; 
 
 With fylvan coal in whirling mills combine 
 
 The cliryBal’d nitre, and the fulphurous mine ; 240 
 
 Through wiry nets the black diffufion Brain, 
 
 And clofe an airy ocean in a grain. 
 
 tides of iron, which have been fufed, and imperfedly fconfied or vitrified. They a 
 kindled by the heat produced by the collifion ; but their vivid light and their fufion and 
 vitrification are the effeasof a combuftion continued in thefe particles during their pa - 
 fage through the air. This opinion is confirmed by an experiment of Mr. Hawkibee, 
 who found that thefe fparks could not be produced in the exhaufted receiver, bee 
 Keir’s Chemical Did. art. Iron, and art. Earth verifiable. 
 
 jhe pale Phojphor. 1 . 232. See additional notes, No. X. 
 
 And clofe an airy ocean. 1 . 242. Gunpowder is plainly deferibed in the works of 
 Roger Bacon before the year 1267. He deferibes it in a curious manner, mentioning. 
 
■R 
 
 
 
 [ 25 ] 
 
 Pent in dark chambers of cylindric brafs, 
 Slumbers in grim repofe the footy mafs; 
 
 Lit by the brilliant fpark, from grain to grain 
 Runs the quick tire along the kindling train ; 
 
 On the pain’d ear-drum burfts the fuddcn craili, 
 Starts the red flame, and Death purfues the flafh.- 
 
 245 
 
 the fulphur and nitre, but conceals the charcoal in an anagram. The words are, fed 
 tamen falis petras lure impe can ubre y et fulphuris , et fic facies tonitrum, ct corrufca- 
 tionem, fi fcias, artificium. The words lure mope can ubre are an anagram of car- 
 bonum pulvere. Biograph. Britan. Vol. I. Bacon de Secretis Operibus, Cap. XI. 
 He adds, that he thinks by an artifice of this kind Gideon defeated the Midianites with 
 only three hundred men. Judges, Chap. VII. Chamb. Di&. art. Gunpowder. 
 As Bacon does not claim this as his own invention, it is thought by many to have been 
 of much more antient difcovery. 
 
 The permanently elaflic fluid generated in the firing of gunpowder is calculated by 
 Mr. Robins to be about 244 if the bulk of the powder be 1. And that the heat gene¬ 
 rated at the time of the explofion occafions the rarefied air thus produced to occupy 
 about 1000 times the fpace of the gunpowder. This prelTure may therefore be called 
 equal to 1000 atmofpheres or fix tons upon a fquare inch. As the fuddennefs of this 
 explofion rnufj contribute much to its power, it would feem that the chamber of powder, 
 to produce its greateft effe&, fhould be lighted in the centre of it; which I believe is 
 not attended to in the manufadlure of mulkets or piflols. 
 
 From the cheapnefs with which a very powerful gunpowder is likely foon to be 
 manufa£lured from aerated marine acid, or from a new method of forming nitrous 
 acid by means of manganefcor other calciform ores, it may probably in time be appli¬ 
 ed to move machinery, and fuperfede the ufe of fleam. 
 
 There is a bitter inventive in Don Quixote againft the inventors of gunpowder, as 
 it levels the ftrong with the weak, the knight cafcd in fteel with the naked fhepherd, 
 thofe who have been trained to the fivord, with thofe who arc totally unikilful in the 
 ufe of it; and throws down all the fplendid diflin&ions of mankind. Thefe very rea- 
 fons ought to have been urged to {hew, that the difcovery of gunpowder has been of 
 public utility by weakening the tyranny of the few over the many. 
 
 Part I. E 
 
Fear*s feeble band direfts the fiery darts, 
 
 And Strength and Courage yield to chemic arts; 250 
 
 Guilt with pale brow the mimic thunder owns, 
 
 And Tyrants tremble on their blood-ftain d thrones. 
 
 VI. “ Nymphs! you erewhile on fimmering cauldrons 
 play’d, 
 
 And call’d delighted Savery to your aid ; 
 
 Delighted Savery. 1 . 254. The invention of the fleam-engine for raifing water by 
 the preflure of the air in confequence of the-condenfation of fleam, is properly afcribed 
 to Capt. Savery; a plate and defcription of this machine is given in Harris s Lexicon 
 Technicum, art. Engine. Though the Marquis of Worcefler in his 'Century of In¬ 
 ventions printed in the year 1663 had defcribed an engine for raifing water by the ex- 
 plofive power of fleam long before Savery’s. Mr. Defaguliers affirms, that Savery 
 bought up all he could procure of the books of the Marquis of Worcefler, and deflroyed 
 them, profeffing himfelfthen to have difcovered the power of fleam by accident, which 
 feems to have been an unfounded Hander. Savery applied it to the raifing of water to 
 fupply houfes and gardens, but could not accomplifh the draining of mines by it. 
 Which was afterwards done by Mr. Newcomen and Mr. John Cowley at Dartmouth, 
 in the year 1712, who added the piflon. 
 
 A few years ago Mr. Watt of Oiafgow much improved this machine, and with Mr* 
 Boulton of Birmingham has applied it to a variety of purpofes, fuch as raifing water from 
 mines, blowing bellows to fufe the ore, fupplying towns with water, grinding corn, and 
 many other purpofes. There is reafon to believe it may in time be applied to the row¬ 
 ing of barges, and the moving of carriages along the road. As the fpecific levity of air 
 is too great for the fupport of great burthens by balloons, there feems no probable method 
 of flying conveniently but by the power of fleam, or fome other explofive material; 
 which another half century may probably difeover. Sec additional notes, No. XI. 
 
[ 
 
 2 7 ] 
 
 0 
 
 Bade round die youth explofive Steam afpire 255 
 In gathering clouds, and wing’d the wave with fire ; 
 Bade with cold dreams the quick expanfion flop, 
 
 And funk the immenfe of vapour to a drop.— 
 
 Prefs’d by the ponderous air the Pifton falls 
 Refiftlefs, Aiding through it’s iron walls ; 260 
 
 Quick moves the balanced beam, of giant-birth, 
 
 Wields his large limbs, and nodding fhakes the earth. 
 
 <c The Giant-Power from earth’s remotefi caves 
 Lifts with Arong arm her dark reludant waves; 
 
 Each cavern’d rock, and hidden den explores, 265 
 Drags her dark coals, and digs her fhining ores.— 
 
 Next, in clofe cells of ribbed oak confined, 
 
 Gale after gale, He crowds the Aruggling wind; 
 
 * 
 
 The imprifon’d fiorms through brazen noArils roar, 
 
 Fan the white fiame, and fufe the fparkling ore. 270 
 Here high in air the riling dream He pours 
 
 To clay-built ciderns, or to lead-lined towers ; 
 
 E 2 
 
[ 28 ] 
 
 Frefh through a thoufand pipes the wave diftils, 
 
 And thirfty cities drink the exuberant rills. 
 
 There the vaft mill-ftone with inebriate whirl 275 
 On trembling floors his forceful fingers twirl, 
 
 Whofe flinty teeth the golden harvefls grind, 
 
 Feaft without blood ! and nourifh human-kind. 
 
 “ Now his hard hands on Mona’s rifted creft, 
 Bofom’d in rock, her azure ores arreft ; 
 
 Feafi without blood! 1 . 278. The benevolence of the great Author of all things is 
 greatly manifeft in the fum of his works, as Dr. Balguyhas well evinced in his pam¬ 
 phlet on Divine Benevolence aiferted, printed for Davis 1781. Yet if we may com¬ 
 pare the parts of nature with each other, there are fome circumftances of her economy 
 which feem to contribute more to the general fcale of happinefs than others. Thus the 
 nourifhment of animal bodies is derived from three fources: 1. the milk given from the 
 mother to the offspring; in this excellent contrivance the mother has pleafure in afford¬ 
 ing the fuftenance to the child, and the child has pleafure in receiving it. 2. Another 
 fource of the food of animals includes feeds or eggs; in thefe the embryon is in a tor¬ 
 pid or infenfible flate, and there is along with it laid up for its early nourifhment a ilore 
 of provifion, as the fruit belonging to fome feeds, and the oil and (larch belonging to 
 others; when thefe are continued by animals the unfeeling feed or egg receives no pain, 
 but the animal receives pleafure which confumes it. Under this article may be included 
 the bodies of animals which die naturally. 3. But the laft method of fupporting ani¬ 
 mal bodies by the deftru&ion of other living animals, as lions preying upon lambs, 
 thefe upon living vegetables, and mankind upon them all, would appear to be a lefs 
 perfect part of the economy of nature than thofe before mentioned, as contributing lefs 
 to the fum of general happinefs. 
 
 Mona s rifted creft. 1 . 279. Alluding to the very valuable copper-mines in the ifle 
 ©f Anglefey, the property of the Earl of Uxbridge. 
 

 f 
 
 With iron lips his rapid rollers feize 
 
 The lengthening bars, in thin expanlion lqueeze ; 
 
 [ 29 3 
 
 Defcending fcrews with ponderous fly-wheels wound 
 The tawny plates, the new medallions round ; 
 
 Hard dyes of fteel the cupreous circles cramp, 285 
 And with quick fall his mafly hammers ftamp. 
 
 The Harp, the Lily and the Lion join, 
 
 And George and Britain guard the fterling coin. 
 
 “ Soon fhall thy arm, Unconquer’d Steam ! afar 
 
 Drag the flow barge, or drive the rapid car ; 290 
 
 Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear 
 The flying-chariot through the fields of air. 
 
 fPith iron lips. I. 281. Mr. Boulton has lately contracted at Soho near Birmingham, 
 a moll magnificent apparatus for Coining, which has coft him fome thoufand pounds; 
 the whole machinery is moved by an improved fteam-engine, which rolls the copper 
 for half-pence finer than copper has before been rolled for the purpofe of making money; 
 it works the ooupoirsor fcrew-preffes for cutting out the circular pieces of copper; and 
 coins both the faces and edges of the money at the fame time, with fuch fuperior excel¬ 
 lence and cheapnefs of workmanlhip, as well as with marks of fuch powerful machi¬ 
 nery as mull totally prevent clandeftine imitation, and in confequencc fave many lives 
 from the hand of the executioner; a circumrtance worthy the attention of a great mi¬ 
 niver. If a civic crown was given in Rome for preferving the life of one citizen, Mr. 
 Boulton lhould be covered with garlands of oak! By this machinery four boys of ten 
 or twelve years old are capable of-ftriking thirty thoufand guineas in an hour, and the 
 machine itfelf keeps an unerring account of the pieces flruck. 
 
—Fair crews triumphant, leaning from above, 
 
 Shall wave their fluttering kerchiefs as they move ; 
 
 Or warrior-bands alarm the gaping crowd, 295 
 
 And armies {brink beneath the fhadowy cloud. 
 
 “ So mighty Hercules o’er many a clime 
 Waved his vafl mace in Virtue’s caufe fublime, 
 
 So mighty Hercules . 1. 297. The ftory of Hercules feems of great antiquity, as ap¬ 
 pears from the fimplicity of his drefs and armour, a lion’s (kin and a club'; and from 
 the nature of many of his exploits, the deftrudlion of wild beads and robbers. This 
 part of the hiftory of Hercules feems to have related to times before the invention of the 
 bow and arrow, or of fpinning flax. Other ftories of Hercules are perhaps of later 
 date, and appear to be allegorical, as his conquering the river-god Achelous, and bring¬ 
 ing Cerberus up to daydight; the fomier might refer to his turning the courfe of a ri¬ 
 ver, and draining a morafs, and the latter to his expofing a part of the fuperftition of 
 the times. The flrangling the lion and tearing his jaws afunder, are deferibed from a 
 flattie in the Mufeum Florentinum, and from an antique gem; and the grafping An- 
 teus to death in his arms as he lifts him from the earth, is deferibed from another an- 
 tient cameo. The famous pillars of Hercules have been varioufly explained. Pliny ' 
 aflerts that the natives of Spain and of Africa believed that the mountains of Abyla and 
 Calpc on each fide of the flraits of Gibraltar were the pillars of Hercules; and that 
 they were reared by the hands of that god, and the fea admitted between them. Plin. 
 Hifl. Nat. p. 46. Edit. Manut. Venet. 1609. 
 
 If the paflage between the two continents was opened by an earthquake in antient 
 times, as this allegorical ftory would feem to countenance, there muft have been anim- 
 menfe current of water at firft run into the Mediterranean from the Atlantic ; fince 
 there is at prefent a ftrong ftream fets always from thence into the Mediterranean. 
 Whatever may be the caufe, which now' conftantly operates, fo as to make the furface 
 of the Mediterranean lower than that of the Atlantic, it muft have kept it very much 
 lower before a paflage for the water through the flraits was opened. It is probable 
 before fuch an event took place, the coafts and illands of the Mediterranean extended 
 
Unmeafured ftrength with early art combined, 
 
 Awed, ferved, prote&ed, and amazed mankind.— 300 
 Firffc two dread Snakes at Juno’s vengeful nod 
 Climb’d round the cradle of the deeping God ; 
 
 Waked by the lhrilling hifs, and ruffling found, 
 
 And fhrieks of fair attendants trembling round, 
 
 Their gafping throats with clenching hands he holds ; 
 And Death untwifts their convoluted folds. 306 
 
 Next in red torrents from her fevenfold heads 
 Fell Hydra’s blood on Lerna’s lake he flieds ; 
 
 1 
 
 Grafps Achelous with refifllefs force, 
 
 And drags the roaring River to his courfe ; 310 
 
 Binds with loud bellowing and with hideous yell 
 The monfter Bull, and threefold Dog of Hell. 
 
 “ Then, where Nemea’s howling forefts wave, 
 
 He drives the Lion to his dufky cave; 
 
 much further into that fea, and were then for a great extent of country deftroycd by 
 the floods occafioned by the new rife of water, and have fince remained beneath the fea. 
 Might jiotthisgive rife to the flood of Deucalion? SeenoteonCaflia, V . II. of this work. 
 
[ 32 ] 
 
 
 Seiz’d by the throat the growling fiend difarms, 315 
 And tears his gaping jaws with finewy arms ; 
 
 Lifts proud Anteus from his mother-plains, 
 
 And with ftrong grafp the ftruggling Giant drains; 
 
 Back falls his fainting head, and clammy hair, 
 
 Writhe his weak limbs, and flits his life in air ;— 320 
 By fteps reverted o’er the blood-dropp’d fen 
 He tracks huge Cacus to his murderous den; 
 
 Where, breathing flames through brazen lips, he fled, 
 And fhakes the rock-roof’d cavern o’er his head. 
 
 “ Laft with wide arms the folid earth He tears, 325 
 Piles rock on rock, on mountain mountain rears ; 
 Heaves up huge Abyla on Afric s fand, 
 
 Crowns with high CALpk Europe s faliant flrand, 
 
 Crefls with oppofing towers the fplendid feene, 
 
 And pours from urns immenfe the fea between.— 330 
 —Loud o’er her whirling flood Charybdis roars, 
 Affrighted Scylla bellows round his fhores, 
 
... * • ’ • 
 
 Vefuvlo groans through all his echoing caves, 
 
 And Etna thunders o’er the infurgent waves. 
 
 VII. i. “ Nymphs! your fine hands ethereal floods amafs 
 From the warm cufhion, and the whirling glafs ; 336 
 
 Beard the bright cylinder with golden wire, 
 
 And circumfufe the gravitating fire. 
 
 » 
 
 Cold from each point cerulean luflres gleam, 
 
 Or fhoot in air the fcintillating ftream. 340 
 
 So, borne on brazen talons, watch’d of old 
 The fleeplefs dragon o’er his fruits of gold ; 
 
 Ethereal pads amafs. 1 . 335. The theory of the accumulation of the dearie fluid by 
 means of the glafs-globe and cufhion is difficult to comprehend. Dr. Franklin’s idea 
 of the pores of the glafs being opened by the fri^ion, and thence rendered capable of 
 attracting more eledric fluid, which it again parts with, as the pores contract again, 
 feems analogous in fome meafure to the heat produced by the vibration, or condenfation 
 of bodies, as when a nail is hammered or filed till it becomes hot, as mentioned in ad¬ 
 ditional Notes, No. VII. Some philofophers have endeavoured to account for this phe¬ 
 nomenon by fuppofing the exiftence of two ekd/ic fluids which may be called the 
 vitreous and refinous ones, inftead of the plus and minus of the. fame ether. Hut its 
 accumulation on the rubbed glafs bears great analogy to its accumulation on the furface 
 of the Leyden bottle, and can not perhaps be explained from any known mechanical 
 or chemical principle. See note on Gymnotus. 1 . 202, of this Canto. 
 
 Cold from each point. 1 . 339. See additional note, No. XIII. 
 
 .t’O. ’«LlfX3£ . ' l L ’ v“*. I ’ 1 « 1 
 
 F 
 
 Part I. 
 
 t 
 
C 34 1 
 
 Bright beam’d his fcales, his eye-balls blazed with ire. 
 And his wide noftrils breath’d inchanted fire. 
 
 “ You bid gold-leaves, in cryftal lantherns held, 
 Approach attracted, and recede repell’d •, 346. 
 
 While paper-nymphs inftinfl: with motion rife, 
 
 And dancing fauns the admiring Sage furprize. 
 
 Or, if on wax fome fearlefs Beauty Hand, 
 
 And touch the fparkling rod with graceful hand ; 35a 
 
 Through her fine limbs the mimic lightnings dart, 
 
 And flames innocuous eddy round her heart ; 
 
 O’er her fair brow the kindling luftres glare, 
 
 Blue rays diverging from her bridling hair ; 
 
 While fome fond Youth the kifs ethereal lips, • 355 
 
 And foft fires iflue from their meeting lips.. 
 
 You bid gold leaves . 1 . 345. Alluding to the very fenfible electrometer improved by 
 Mr. Bennet. It confifts of two flips of gold-leaf fufpended from a tin cap in a glafs 
 cylinder, which has a partial coating without, communicating with the wooden pedeftal. 
 If a flick of fealing wax be rubbed for a moment on a dry cloth, and then held in the air 
 at the diftance of two or three feet from the cap of this inftrument, the gold leaves fepa,- 7 
 rate, fuch is its aftonifhing fenfibility to cle&ric influence! (See Bennet on eleClricity, 
 Johnfon, Lond.) The nerves of fenfe of animal bodies do not feem to be afFeCted by : 
 kfs quantities of light or heat! 
 
 i 
 
So round the virgin Saint in filver ftreams 
 The holy Halo flioots it’s arrowy beams. 
 
 “ You crowd in coated jars the denfer fire, 
 
 Pierce the thin glafs, and fufe the blazing wire ; 36® 
 
 Or dart the red flalh through the circling band 
 Of youths and timorous damfels, hand in hand. 
 —Starts the quick Ether through the fibre-train s 
 
 Of dancing arteries, 
 
 veins, 
 
 Goads each fine nerve, with new fenfation thrill’d, 365 
 
 Bends the relu£tant limbs with power unwill’d ; 
 
 The holy Halo . 1 . 358. I believe it is not known with certainty at what time the 
 painters firft introduced the luminous circle round the head to import a Saint or holy 
 perfon. It is now become a part of the fymbolic language of painting, and it is much 
 
 to be wifhed that this kind of hieroglyphic chara£ler was mdre frequent in that art; as it 
 
 is much wanted to render hiftoric pictures both more intelligible, and more fublime; 
 and why fliould not painting as well as poetry exprefs itfelf in a metaphor, or in indif- 
 tin& allegory? A truly great modern painter lately endeavoured to enlarge the fphere 
 of piftorial language, by putting a demon behind the pillow of a wicked man on his 
 death bed. Which unfortunately for the fcientific part of painting, the cold criticifm 
 of the prefent day has depreciated ; and thus barred perhaps the only road to the farther 
 improvement in this fcience. 
 
 IVith new fenfation thrill'd. 1 . 365. There is probably a fyftem of nerves in animal 
 bodies for the purpofe of perceiving heat; fince the degree of this fluid is fo neceffary to 
 
 health that we become prefently injured either by its accefs or defedff ; and becaufe almoft 
 
 every part of our bodies is fupplied with branches from different pairs of nerves, W'hich 
 
 ¥2 
 
( 
 
 C 36 ] 
 
 Palfy’s cold hands the fierce concuflion own, 
 
 And Life clings trembling on her tottering throne. 
 So from dark clouds the playful lightning fprings, 
 
 Rives the firm oak, 
 
 2. “ Nymphs! on that day Ye fhed from lucid eyes, 
 Celeftial tears, and breathed ethereal fighs! 
 
 would not feem neceflary for their motion alone. It Is therefore probable, that our fen- 
 
 fation of electricity is only of its violence in palling through our fyftem by its fuddenly 
 
 diftending the mufcles, like any other mechanical violence ; and that it is general pain 
 alone that we feel, and not any fenfation analogous to the fpecific quality of the objeCt. 
 
 Nature may feem to have been niggardly to mankind in beftowung upon them fo few 
 
 fenfes ; fince a fenfe to have perceived electricity, and another to have perceived mag- 
 netifm might have been of great fervice to them, many ages before thefe fluids were 
 
 difcovered by accidental experiment; but it is poflible an increafed number of fenfes 
 
 might have incommoded us by adding to the fize of our bodies. 
 
 Paljy's cold hands . 1 . 367. Paralytic limbs are in general only incapable of being 
 
 flimulated into aCtion by the power of the will; fince the pulfe continues to beat and 
 
 the fluids to be abforbed in them ; and it commonly happens, when paralytic people 
 yawn and ftreich themfelves, (which is not a voluntary motion,) that the affeCted limb 
 moves at the fame time. The temporary motion of a paralytic limb islikewife caufed 
 by pafling the electric fhock through it; which w r ould feem to indicate fome analogy 
 between the electric fluid, and the nervous fluid, which is feparated from the blood by 
 the brain, and thence diflufed along the nerves for the purpofes of motion and fenfation. 
 It probably deflroys life by its fudden expanfion of the nerves or fibres of the brain, in 
 the fame manner as it fufes metals and fplinters wood or (tone, and removes the atmof- 
 phere, when it pafles from one objeCl to another in a denfe ftate. 
 
 Prints the Fairy-rings . 1. 370. Sec additional note, No. XIII 
 
When R i cum an rear’d, by fearlefs hafte betray’d, 
 
 The wiry rod in Nieva’s fatal {hade;— 
 
 Clouds o’er the Sage, with fringed Ikirts fucceed, 375 
 Flafh follows flafh, the warning corks recede ; 
 
 Near and more near He ey’d with fond amaze 
 The hlver ftreams, and watch’d the faphire blaze ; 
 Then burft the fteel, the dart eledric fped, 
 
 And the bold Sage lay number’d with the dead ! 380 
 
 Nymphs ! on that day Ye died from lucid eyes 
 Celeftial tears, and breathed ethereal fighs! 
 
 3. “You led your Franklin to your glazed retreats, 
 Your air-built caftles, and your fdken feats ; 
 
 JV>>en Rickman reared. 1 . 373. Dr. Richman, ProfcfTor of natural philofophy at Pe. 
 terfburgh, about the year' 1763, elevated an infulated metallic rod to coded the aerial 
 eledricity, as Dr. Franklin had previoufly done at Philadelphia; and as he was obferving 
 the repulfion of theballsof hisclearometerapproachcd too near the condudor, and receiv¬ 
 ing the lightening in his head with a loud explof.on, was ftrtick dead amidft his family. 
 
 You led pur Franklin. 1 . 383. Dr. Franklin was the firft that difcovercd that lighten¬ 
 ing confided of eledric matter ; he elevated a tall rod with a wire wrapped round it, 
 and fixing the bottom of it into a glafs bottle, and preferving it from falling by means 
 of filk-ftrings, he found it eledrified whenever a cloud parted over it, receiving fparks by 
 his finger from it, and charging coated phials. This great difcovery taught us to de¬ 
 fend houfes and {hips and temples from lightning, and alfo to undcrftand, that people 
 
[ 38 3 
 
 Bade his hold arm invade the lowering fky, 385 
 
 And feize the tiptoe lightnings, ere they fly; 
 
 O’er the young Sage your myftic mantle fpread, 
 
 And wreath’d the crown electric round his head.— 
 Thus when on wanton wing intrepid Love 
 Snatch’d the raifed lightning from the arm of Jove ; 390 
 Quick o’er his knee the triple bolt He bent, 
 
 The clufter’d darts and forky arrows rent, 
 
 Snapp’d with illumin’d hands each flaming (haft, 
 
 His tingling fingers fliook, and ftamp’d, and laugh’d ; 
 
 Mre always perfectly Jafe in a room during a thunderJlorm if they keep themfelves at three or 
 fourfeet diflanee from the walls ; for the matter of lightning in palling from the clouds 
 to the earth, or from the earth to the clouds, runs through the walls of a houfe, the 
 trunk of a tree, or other elevated object; except there be fome moifter body, as an 
 animal, in contact with them, or ntarly fo; and in that cafe the lightning leaves the 
 wall or tree, and pafles through the animal; but as it can pafs through metals with 
 (till greater facility, it will leave animal bodies to pafs through metallic ones. 
 
 If a perfon in the open air be furprizedby a thunder ftorm, he will know his danger 
 by obferving on a fecond watch the time which pafles between the flafh and the crack, 
 and reckoning a mile for every four feconds and a half, and a little more. For found 
 travels at the rate of 1142 feet in a fecond of time, and the velocity of light through 
 fuch final 1 diflances is not to be eftimated. In thefe circumftances a perfon will be 
 fafer by lying down on the ground, than ereCt, and ftill fafer if within a few feet of 
 his horfe ; which being then a more elevated animal will receive the fliock in preference 
 as the cloud pafles over. See additional notes, No XIII. 
 
 Intrepid Love. 1 . 389. This allegory is uncommonly beautiful, reprefenting Divine 
 Juflice as difaimed by Divine Love, and relenting of his purpofe. It is exprefled on 
 an agate in the Great Duke’s collection at Florence. Spence. 
 
Bright o’er the floor the fcatter’d fragments blaz’d, 395 
 And Gods retreating trembled as they gaz’d; 
 
 The immortal Sire, indulgent to his child, 
 
 Bow’d his ambroflal locks, and Heaven relenting fmiled. 
 
 1 
 
 VIII. “ When Air’s pure eflence joins the vital flood, 
 And with phofphoric Acid dyes the blood, 400 
 
 Your Virgin trains the tranfient Heat difpart. 
 
 And lead the foft combuftion round the heart; 
 
 Tranfient heat difpart. 1 . 401. Dr. Crawford in his ingenious work on animal hear 
 has endeavoured to prove, that during the combination of the pure part of the atmofphere 
 with the phlogiftic part of the blood, much of the matter of the heat is given out 
 from the air; and that this is the great and perpetual fource of the heat of animals; to 
 which we may add that the phofphoric acid is probably produced by this combination; by 
 which acid the colour of the blood is changed in the lungs from a deep crimfon to a bright 
 fcarlet. There feems to be however another fource of animal heat, though of a fimilar 
 nature; and that this is from the chemical combinations produced in all the glands; fince 
 by whatever caufe any glandular fecrction is increafed, as by fri£tion or topical imflam- 
 mation, the heat of that part becomes increafed at the fame time; thus after the hands 
 have been for a time immerfed in fnow, on coming into a warm room, they become red 
 and hot, without any increafed pulmonary a&ion. Besides this there would feem to 
 be another material received from the air by refpiration ; which is fo necefiary to life, 
 that the embryon mult learn to breath almoft within a minute after its birth, or it 
 dies. The perpetual neceflity of breathing fhews, that the materia! thus acquired is per¬ 
 petually confuming or clcaping, and on that account requires perpetual renovation. Per¬ 
 haps the fpirit of animation itfclf is thus acquired from the atmolphere, which if it be 
 fuppofed to be finer or more fubtle than the ele&ric matter, could not long be retained, 
 in our bodies, and muft therefore require perpetual renovation. 
 
[ 40 ] 
 
 Life’s holy lamp with fires fuccefiive feed, 
 
 From the crown’d forehead to the proftrate weed, 
 
 From Earth’s proud realms to all that fwim or fweep 
 The yielding ether or tumultuous deep. 4°^ 
 
 You fwell the bulb beneath the heaving lawn, 
 
 Brood the live feed, unfold the burfling fpawn; 
 
 Nurfe with foft lap, and warm with fragrant, breath 
 
 The embryon panting in the arms of Death ; 410 
 
 . • 
 
 Youth’s vivid eye with living light adorn, 
 
 And fire the rifing blufh of Beauty’s golden morn. 
 
 ... . , • * - ; ! . , - # * 
 
 « Thus when the Egg of Night, on Chaos hurl’d, 
 Burft, and difclofed the cradle of the world ; 
 
 Thus when the Egg of Night. 1 . 413. There were two Cupids belonging to the antient 
 mythology, one much elder than the other. The elder Cupid, or Eros, or divine Love, 
 was the firft that came out of the great egg of night, which floated in Chaos, and was 
 broken by the horns of the celeftial bull, that is, was hatched by the warmth of the fpring. 
 He was winged and armed, and by his arrows and torch pierced and vivified all things, 
 producing life and joy. Bacon, Vol. V. p. 197. Quarto edit. Lond. 1778. “ At this 
 
 “ time, (fays Ariflophanes,) fable-winged night produced an egg, from whence fprung 
 “ up like a bloflom Eros,' the lovely, the defirable, with his glofly golden w ings. 5 ’ 
 Avjbus. Bryant’s Mythology, Vol. II. p. 350. fecond edition. This interefting 
 moment of this fublime allegory Mrs. Cofway has chofen for her very beautiful painting. 
 
 
415 
 
 [ 4i ] 
 
 Firfl from the gaping (hell refulgent fprung 
 Immortal Love, his bow celeftial flrung;— 
 
 O’er the wide wafte his gaudy wings unfold, 
 
 Beam his foft fmiles, and wave his curls of gold;— 
 
 With filver darts He pierced the kindling frame, 
 
 And lit with torch divine the ever-living flame.” 420 
 
 IX. The Goddess paufed, admired with confcious pride 
 The effulgent legions marfhal’d by her fide, 
 
 Forms fphered in fire with trembling light array’d, 
 
 Ens without weight, and fubftance without fliade ; 
 
 And, while tumultuous joy her bofom warms, 425 
 Waves her white hand, and calls her hofts to arms. 
 
 t( Unite, illustrious Nymphs ! your radiant powers, 
 Call from their long repofe the Vernal Hours. 
 
 She has reprefented Eros or divine Love with large wings having the (Length of the 
 eagle's wings, and the fplendor of the peacock’s, with his hair floating in the form of 
 flame, and with a halo of light vapour round his head; which illuminates the paint- 
 
 ing; while he is in the aft of fpringing forwards, and with las hands feparating the 
 
 elements. 
 Part I. 
 
 G 
 
[ 42 ] 
 
 Wake with foft touch, with rofy hands unbind 
 
 The Aruggling pinions of the western Wind ; 430 
 
 Chafe his wan cheeks, his ruffled plumes repair, 
 
 And wring the rain-drops from his tangled hair. 
 
 Blaze round each frofted rill, or ftagnant wave, 
 
 And charm the Naiad from her filent cave ; 
 
 Where, fhrined in ice, like Niobe {he mourns, 435 
 And clafps with hoary arms her empty urns. 
 
 Of the Weftern Wind. 1 . 430. The principal frofts of this country are accompanied 
 or produced by a N. E. wind, and the thaws by a S. W. wind; the reafon of which is 
 that the N. E. winds confift of regions of air brought from the north, which appear to 
 acquire an eafterly diredion as they advance; and the S. W. winds confift of regions of 
 air brought from the fouth, which appear to acquire a wefterly diredion as they advance* 
 The furface of the earth nearer the pole moves flower than it does in our latitude; 
 whence the regions of air brought from thence, move flower, when they arrive hither, 
 than the earth’s furface with which they now become in contad ; that is they acquire an 
 apparent eafterly diredion, as the earth moves from weft to eaft fafterthan this new part 
 of its atmofphere. The S. W. winds on the contrary confift of regions of air brought 
 from the fouth, where the furface of the earth moves fafter than in our latitude ; and 
 have therefore a wefterly diredion when they arrive hither by their moving fafter than 
 the furface of the earth, with which they are in contad ; and in general the nearer to 
 the weft and the greater the velocity of thefe winds the warmer they fhould be in refped: 
 to the feafon of the year, fince they have been brought more expeditioufly from the 
 fouth, than thofe winds which have lefs wefterly diredion, and have thence been lefs 
 cooled in their palfage. 
 
 Sometimes I have obferved the thaw to commence immediately on the change of the 
 wind, even within an hour, if I am not miftaken, or fooner. At other times the S. W. 
 wind has continued a day, or even two, before the thaw has commenced; during which 
 time fome of the frofty air, which had gone fouthwards, is driven back over us; and in 
 confequence has taken a wefterly diredion, as well as a fouthern one. At other times I 
 have obferved a froft with a N. E. wind every mbrning, and a thaw with a S. W. wind 
 every noon forfeveral days together. See additional note, No. XXXIII*. 
 
Call your bright myriads, trooping from afar, 
 
 With beamy helms, and glittering {hafts of war; 
 
 In phalanx firm the Fiend of Frost aflail, 
 
 Break his white towers, and pierce his cryftal mail; 440 
 To Zembla’s moon-bright coafts the Tyrant bear, 
 
 And chain him howling to the Northern Bear. 
 
 <l So when enormous Grampus, ifiuing forth 
 From the pale regions of the icy North; 
 
 The Fiend of Frojl. 1 . 439. The principal injury done to vegetation by frofl is from 
 the expanfion of the water contained in the veffels of plants. Water converted into icc 
 occupies a greater fpace than it did before, as appears by the burfling of bottles filled 
 with water at the time of their freezing. Hence frofl dcflroys thofe plants of our ifland 
 firft, which are mod fucculent; and the mofl fucculent parts firfl of other plants ; as 
 their leaves and lafl year’s fhoots; the veffels of which are diflended and burfl by the ex¬ 
 panfion of their freezing fluids, while the drier or more refinous plants, as pines, yews, 
 laurels, and other ever-greens, arc lefs liable to injury from cold. The trees in vallies 
 are on this account more injured by the vernal frofls than thofe on eminencies, becaufe 
 their early fucculent fhoots come out fooner. Hence fruit trees covered by a fix-inch 
 coping cf a wall are lefs injured by the vernal frofls becaufe their being fhielded from 
 fhowers and the defeending night-dews has prevented them from being moiil at the 
 time of their being frozen; which circumftance has given occafion to a vulgar error 
 
 amongfl gardeners, who fuppofe frofl to defeend. 
 
 As the common heat of the earth in this climate is 48 degrees, thofe tender trees 
 which will bear bending down, are eafily fecured from the troll by fpreading them upon 
 the ground, and covering them with flraw or fern. 1 his particularly fuits fig trees, as 
 they eafily bear bending to the ground, and arefurnifhed with an acrid juice, which Se¬ 
 cures them from the depredations of infe&s; but are neverthelcfs liable to be eaten by 
 mice. See additional notes, No. XII. 
 
 G 2 
 
[ 44 3 
 
 Waves his broad tail, and opes his ribbed mouth, 445 
 And fecks on winnowing fin the breezy South j 
 From towns deferted rufh the hreathlefs hofts, 
 
 Swarm round the hills, and darken all the coafts j 
 Boats follow boats along the Ihouting tides, 
 
 And fpears and javelins pierce his blubhery fides ; 45° 
 
 Now the bold Sailor, raifed on pointed toe, 
 
 Whirls the wing’d harpoon on the flimy foe ; 
 
 Quick finks the monfler in his oozy bed, 
 
 The blood-ftain’d furges circling o’er his head, 
 
 Steers to the frozen pole his wonted track, 455 
 
 And bears the iron tempeft on his back. 
 
 X. “ On wings of flame, ethereal Virgins ! fweep 
 O’er Earth’s fair bofom, and complacent deep ; 
 
 Where dwell my vegetative realms benumb d, 
 
 In buds imprifon’d, or in bulbs intomb’d, 460 
 
 In buds imprifon’d. 1 . 460. The buds and bulbs of plants conftitute what is termed 
 by Linneus the Hybcrnaculum, or winter cradle of the embryon vegetable. The buds, 
 arife from the bark on the branches of trees, and the bulbs from the caudcx of bulbous- 
 
Pervade, pellucid Forms ! their cold retreat, 
 
 Ray from bright urns your viewlefs floods of heat ; 
 
 rooted plants, or the part from which the fibres of the root are produced : they are de¬ 
 fended from too much moifture, and from frofts, and from the depredations of infedls, 
 by various contrivances, as by fcales, hairs, refinous varnifhes, and by acrid rinds. 
 
 The buds of trees are of two kinds, either flower-buds or leaf buds ; the former of 
 thefe, produce their feeds and die ; the latter produce other leaf buds or flower buds and 
 die. So that all the buds of trees may be confidered as annual plants, having their 
 embryon produced during the preceding fummer. The fame feems to happen with 
 refpe& to bulbs; thus a tulip produces annpally one flower-bearing bulb, fometimes 
 two, and feveral leaf-bearing bulbs; and then the old root perifhes. Next year the 
 flower-bearing bulb produces feeds and other bulbs and perifhes; while the leaf-bearing 
 bulb, producing other bulbs only, perifhes likewife; thefe circumftances eftablifh a 
 flri£l analogy between bulbs and buds. See additional notes,. No. XIV. 
 
 Viewlefs floods of heat. I. 462. The fluid matter of heat, or Calorique, in which 
 all bodies are immerfed, is as neceflary to vegetable as to animal exiflence. It is not 
 yet determinable whether heat and light be different materials, or modifications of the 
 fame materials, as they have fome properties in common. They appear to be both of 
 them equally neceflary to vegetable health, fince without light green vegetables become 
 firft yellow, that is, they lofe the blue colour, which contributed to produce the green; 
 and aftervyards they alfo lofe the yellow and become white ; as is feen in cellery blan¬ 
 ched or etiolated for the table by excluding the light from it. 
 
 The upper furface of leaves, which I fuppofe to be their organ of refpiration, feems 
 to require light as well as air; fince plants which grow in windows on the infide of 
 houfes are equally folicitous to turn the upper fide of their leaves to the light. Vegeta¬ 
 bles at the fame time exfude or perfpire a great quantity from their leaves, as animals 
 do from their lungs; this perfpirable matter as it rifes from their fine veflels, (perhaps ' 
 much finer than the pores of animal fkins,) is divided into inconceivable tenuity; and 
 when afted upon by the Sun’s light appears to be decompofed, the Hydrogene becomes 
 a part of the vegetable, compofing oils or refins; and the Oxygene combined with 
 light or calorique afeends, producing the pure part of the atmofpbere or vital air. 
 Hence during the light of the day vegetables give up more pure air than their refpiration 
 injures; but not fo in the night, even though equally expofed to warmth. This fingle 
 fa£l would feem to fliew, that light is eflentially different from heat; and it is perhaps 
 by its combination with bodies, that their combined or latent heat isfet at liberty, and. 
 becomes fallible. See additional notes, No. XXXIV. 
 
From earth’s deep waftes eleSlric torrents pour, 
 
 Or (lied from heaven the fcintillating (hower ; 
 
 Pierce the dull root, relax its fibre-trains, 465 
 
 Thaw the thick blood, which lingers in its veins ; 
 
 Electric torrents pour. 1 . 463. The influence of ele&ricity in forwarding the germination 
 of plants and their growth feems to be pretty well eftablifhed: though Mr. Ingenhouz 
 did not fucceed in his experiments, and thence doubts the fuccefs of thofe of others ; and 
 though M. Rouland from his new experiments believes, that neither pofitive nor nega¬ 
 tive elc&ricity increafes vegetation; both which philofophers had previoufly been fup- 
 porters of the contrary do&rine: for many other naturalifts have fince repeated their ex¬ 
 periments relative to this objedl, and their new refults have confirmed their former ones, 
 Mr. D’Ormoy and the two Roziers have found the fame fuccefs in numerous experi¬ 
 ments which they have made in the lalt two years ; and Mr. Carmoy has fliewn in a 
 convincing manner that eleftricity accelerates germination. 
 
 Mr. D'Ormoy not only found various feeds to vegetate fooner, and to grow taller, 
 which were put upon his infulated table and fupplied with ele&ricity, but alfo that filk- 
 worms began to lpin much fooner which were kept eleftrified than thofe of the fame 
 hatch which were kept in the fame place and manner, except that they were not elec¬ 
 trified, Thefe experiments of Mr. D'Ormoy are detailed at length in the Journal de 
 Phyfique of Rozier, Tom. XXXV. p. 270. 
 
 M. Bartholon, who had before written a traft on this fubjedt, and propofed ingenious 
 methods for applying eledlricity to agriculture and gardening, has alfo repeated a numerous 
 fet of experiments ; and fliews both that natural eledlricity, as well as the artificial, in¬ 
 creafes the growth of plants, and the germination of feeds; and oppofes Mr. Ingenhouz 
 by very numerous and conclufive fadls. Ib. Tom. XXXV. p. 401. 
 
 Since by the late dilcoveries or opinions of the Chemills there is reafon to believe 
 that* water is decompcfed in the vefiels of vegetables ; and that the Hydrogene or inflam¬ 
 mable air, of which it in part confifts, contributes to the nouriihment of the plant, and 
 to the produ&ion of its oils, refins, gums, fugar, &c. and laflly as electricity decompofes 
 water into thefe two airs termed Oxygene and Hydrogene, there is a powerful analogy to 
 induce us to believe that it accelerates or contributes to the growth of vegetation, and 
 like heat may poflibly enter into combination with many bodies, or form the bafis of 
 fume yet unanalifed acid. 
 
I 47 3 
 
 Melt with warm breath the fragrant gums, that bind 
 The expanding foliage in its fcaly rind ; 
 
 And as in air the laughing leaflets play, 
 
 And turn their Aiming bofoms to the ray, 47c 
 
 Nymphs ! with fweet fmile each opening flower invite. 
 And on its damaflc eyelids pour th z.light. 
 
 “ So fhall my pines, Canadian wilds that fhade. 
 Where no bold ftep has pierc’d the tangled glade, 
 High-towering palms, that part the Southern flood 475 
 With fliadowy ifles and continents of wood, 
 
 Oaks, whofe broad antlers creft Britannia’s plain, 
 
 Or bear her thunders o’er the conquer’d main, 
 
 Shout, as you pafs, inhale the genial Ikies, 
 
 And bade and brighten in your beamy eyes; 480 
 
 Bow their white heads, admire the changing clime, 
 Shake from their candied trunks the tinkling rime; 
 
 With bur fling buds their wrinkled barks adorn. 
 
 And wed the timorous floret to her thorn ; 
 
TD 
 
 [ 48 ] 
 
 Deep ftrike their roots, their lengthening tops revive, 
 And all my world of foliage wave, alive. 486 
 
 « Thus with Hermetic art the Adept combines 
 
 The royal acid with cobaltic mines ; 
 
 Marks with quick pen, in lines unfeen portrayed, 
 
 The blufliing mead, green dell, and dulky glade *, 490 
 Shades with pellucid clouds the tintlefs field. 
 
 And all the future Group exifts conceal’d ; 
 
 Till waked by fire the dawning tablet glows, 
 
 Green fprings the herb, the purple floret blows, 
 
 Hills, vales, and woods, in bright fucceflion rife, 495 
 And all the living landfcape charms his eyes. 
 
 XI. “ With crcfl: of gold fhould fultry Sirius glare, 
 And with his kindling treflcs fcorch the an , 
 
 Thus with Hermetic are. 1 . 4 « 7 - The fympathetic inks made by Zaffre d.ffolved m 
 the marine and nitrous acids have this curious property, that being brought to the hie 
 r/ne of them becomes green, and the other red; but what is more wonderful, they again 
 lofe thefe colours, (unlefs the heat has been too great,) on their being again withdrawn 
 from the fire. Fire-fcreens have been thus painted, which in the cold have (hewn only 
 the trunk and branches of a dead tree, aud fandy hills, which on their approach to the 
 fire have put forth green leaves and red flowers, and grafs upon the mountains. I he 
 procefsof*making thefe inks is very eafy, take Zaffre, as fold by the druggifts, and digeft 
 
With points of flame the (hafts of Summer arm. 
 
 And burn the beauties he defigns to warm ;— 500 
 
 —So erft when Jove his oath extorted mourn’d, 
 
 And clad in glory to the Fair return’d; 
 
 While Loves at forky bolts their torches light. 
 
 And refting lightnings gild the car of Night; 
 
 His blazing form the dazzled Maid admir’d, 505 
 
 Met with fond lips, and in his arms expir’d ;— 
 Nymphs ! on light pinion lead your banner’d hofts 
 High o’er the cliffs of Orkney’s gulphy coafts; 
 
 Leave on your left the red volcanic light, 
 
 Which FIecla lifts amid the dufky night; 510 
 
 Mark on the right the Dofrine’s fnow-capt brow, 
 Where whirling Maelstrome roars and foams below ; 
 Watch with unmoving eye, where Cepheus bends 
 His triple crown, his feepter’d hand extends; 
 
 it in aqua regia, and the calx of Cobalt will be diflblved; which folution mult be dilu¬ 
 ted with a little common water to prevent it from making too ftrong an impreffion oh 
 the paper; the colour when the paper is heated becomes of a fine green-blue. If Zat- 
 fre or Regulus of Cobalt be diflolved in the fame manner in fpirit of nitre, or aqua 
 fortis, a reddiili colour is produced on expofing the paper to heat. Chemical Diction¬ 
 ary by Mr. Keir, Art. Ink Sympathetic. 
 
r 50 3 
 
 Where ftuds Cassiope with ftars unknown 5 T 5> 
 
 Her golden chair, and gems her fapphire zone ; 
 
 Where with vaft convolution Draco holds 
 The ecliptic axis in his fcaly folds, 
 
 O’er half the Ikies his neck enormous rears, 
 
 And with immenfe meanders parts the Bears; 520 
 Onward, the kindred Bears with footftep rude 
 Dance round the Pole, purfuing and purfued* 
 
 “ There in her azure coif and ftarry ftole, 
 
 Grey Twilight fits, and rules the (lumbering Pole ; 
 Bends the pale moon-beams round the fparkling coafl:, 
 And ftrews with livid hands eternal froft. 526 
 
 There, Nymphs ! alight, array your dazzling powers. 
 With fudden march alarm the torpid Hours; 
 
 fVtth Jlars unknown. 1 . 515. Alluding to the liar which appeared in the chair of 
 Cafliopea in the year 1572, which at firft furpafled Jupiter in magnitude and brightnefe,. 
 dimini filed by degrees and difappeared in 18 months; it alarmed all the aftronomers of 
 the age, and was eftecmed a comet by fonre.— 
 
On ice-built ifles expand a thoufand fails, 529 
 
 Hinge the ftrong helms, and catch the frozen gales; 
 
 On ice-built ijles. 1 . 529. There are many reafons to believe from the accounts of 
 travellers and navigators, that the iflands of ice in the higher northern latitudes as well 
 as the Glaciers on the Alps continue perpetually to increafe in bulk. At certain times 
 in the ice-mountains of Switzerland there happen cracks which have fhewn the great 
 thicknefs of the ice, as fome of thefe cracks have meafured three or four hundred ells 
 deep. The great iflands of ice in the northern feas near Hudfon’s bay have been ob- 
 ferved to have been immerfed above one hundred fathoms beneath the furface of the lea, 
 and to have rifen a fifth or fixth part above the furface, and to have meafured between 
 ■three and four miles in circumference. Phil. 1 ranf. No. 465* Se£l. 2. 
 
 Dr. Lifter endeavoured to (hew that the ice of fea-water contains fome fait and per¬ 
 haps Iefsair than common ice, and that it is therefore much more difficult of folution i 
 whence he accounts for the perpetual and great increafe of thefe floating iflands of ice, 
 Philof. Tranf. No. 169. 
 
 As by a famous experiment of Mr. Boyle’s it appears that ice evaporates very faft in 
 fcvere frofty weather when the wind blows upon it ^ and as ice in a thawing ftatc is 
 known to contain fix times more cold than water at the fame degree of fenfible coldnefs, 
 it is eafy to underftand that winds blowing over iflands and continents of ice perhaps 
 much below nothing on Farenheit’s fcale, and coming from thence into our latitude 
 nnift bring great degrees of cold along with them. If we add to this the quantity of 
 cold produced by the evaporation of the water as well as by the folution of the ice, we 
 cannot doubt but that the northern ice is the principal fource of the coldnefs of our win¬ 
 ters, and that it is brought hither by the regions of air blowing from the north, and 
 Which take an apparent eaftcrly direftion by their coming to a part of the furface of 
 the earth which moves fafter than the latitude they come from. Hence the increafe of 
 the ice in the polar regions by increafing the cold of our climate adds at the fame time 
 to the bulk of the Glaciers of Italy and Switzerland. 
 
 If the nations who inhabit this hemifphere of the globe, inftead of deftroying their 
 fea-men and exhaufting their wealth in unneceflary wars, could be induced to unite their 
 labours to navigate thefe immenfe maffes of ice into the mote fouthern oceans, two 
 <rreat advantages would rcfult to mankind, the tropic countries would be much cooled 
 by their folution, and our winters in this latitude would be rendered much milder for 
 perhaps a century or two, till the mafles of ice became again enormous. 
 
 Mr. Bradley aferibes the cold winds and wet weather which fometim.es happen m 
 May and June to the folution of ice-iflandsaccidentaily floating from the north. 1 rcatilc' 
 on Hufbandry and Gardening, Vol. II. p. 437 - And adds, that Mr. Barham about 
 
 H 2 
 
C 52 ] 
 
 The winged rocks to feverifh climates guide. 
 Where fainting Zephyrs pant upon the tide ; 
 
 Pafs, where to Ceuta Calpe’s thunder roars, 
 And anfwering echoes fhake the kindred fliores ; 
 Pafs, where with palmy plumes Canary fmiles, 
 And in her filver girdle binds her ifles ; 
 
 Onward, where Niger’s dulky Naiad laves 
 
 \ 
 
 A thoufand kingdoms with prolific waves, 
 
 Or leads o’er golden fands her threefold train 
 In fteamy channels to the fervid main ; 
 
 While fwarthy nations croud the fultry coaft, 
 Drink the frcfh breeze, and hail the floating Froff, 
 
 535 
 
 540 
 
 I c 
 
 I 
 
 r he year 1718, in his voyage from Jamaica to England in the beginning of June, met 
 with ice-ifiands coming from the north, which were furrounded with fo great a fog that 
 the (hip was in danger of ftriking upon them, and that one of them meafured fixty 
 miles in length. 
 
 We have lately experienced an inflance of ice-iflands brought from the Southern 
 polar regions, on which the Guardian (truck at the beginning of her paflage from the 
 Cape of Good Hope towards Botany Bay, on December 22, 1789. Thefe iflands 
 were involved in mift, were about one hundred and fifty fathoms long, and about fifty 
 fathoms above the furface of the water. A part from the top of one of them broke off 
 and fell into the fea, caufing an extraordinary commotion in the water and a thick 
 fmoke all round it. 
 
 Threefold train. 1. 539. The river Niger after traverfing an immenfe traft of popu¬ 
 lous country is fuppofed to divide itfelf into three other great rivers. The Rio Grande, 
 the Gambia, and the Senegal. Gold-duft is obtained from the fands of thefe rivers. 
 
I S3 3 
 
 Nymphs ! veil’d in mid, the melting treafures fleer* 
 And cool with ar&ic fnows the tropic year. 
 
 So from the burning Line by Monfoons driven, 
 Clouds fail in fquadrons o’er the darken’d heaven ; 
 Wide waftes of fand the gelid gales pervade. 
 
 And ocean cools beneath the moving lhade. 
 
 XII. “ Should Solstice, llalking through the lickenin 
 bowers, 
 
 Suck the warm dew-drops, lap the falling Ihowers; 550 
 Kneel with parch’d lip, and bending from it’s brink 
 From dripping palm the fcanty river drink ; 
 
 Nymphs ! o’er the foil ten thoufand points eredt, 
 
 And high in air the ele&xic flame collcft. 
 
 Wide wa/ies of farnL ]. 547. When the fun is in the Southern tropic 36 deg. diftant 
 from the zenith, the thermometer isfeldom lower than 72 deg. at Gondar in Abyflinia*. 
 but it falls to 60 or 53 deg. when the fun is immediately vertical; fo much does the 
 approach of rain counteract the heat of the fun. Bruce’s Travels, Vol. 3, n 670. 
 
 Ten thoufand points ereft. 1. 553. The folution of water in air or in calorique, feems 
 toacquireele&ric matter at the fame time, as appears from anexperiment of Mr. Bennet. 
 He put fome live coals into an infulatcd funnel of metal, and throw ing on them a little- 
 water obferved that the afeending fleam was elc&rifed plus, and the water which de- 
 
 erg 
 
555 
 
 r 54 3 
 
 Soon (hall dark mills with fclf-attra&ion lliroud 
 The blazing day, and fail in wilds of cloud; 
 Each filvery Flower the ftreams aerial quaff, 
 Bow her fweet head, and infant Harveft laugh. 
 
 <£ Thus when Elija mark’d from Carmel’s brow 
 In bright expanfe the briny flood below ; 560 
 
 Roll’d his red eyes amid the fcorching air, 
 
 Smote his firm breaft, and breathed his ardent prayer ; 
 High in the midft a maffy altar flood, 
 
 And flaughter’d offerings prefs’d the piles of wood ; 
 While Israel’s chiefs the facred hill furround, 565 
 And famifh’d armies crowd the dufty ground ; 
 
 fcended through the funnel was eleflrifed minus. Hence it appears that though clouds 
 by their change of form may fometimes become ele£lrifed minus, yet they have in general 
 an accumulation of eledricity. This accumulation of elearic matter alfo evidently con¬ 
 tributes to fupport the atmofpheric vapour when it is condenfed into the form of clouds, 
 becaufe it is feen to defcend rapidly after the flafhes of lightning have diminifhed its 
 quantity; whence there is reafon to conclude that very numerous metallic rods with fine 
 points ere&ed high in the air mightinduce it at any time to part with fome of its water. 
 
 If we may trull the theory of Mr. Lavoifier concerning the compofition and decom- 
 polition of water, there would feem another fource of thunder* lhowers; and that is, 
 that the two gaffes termed oxygcne gas or vital air, and hydrogene gas or inflammable 
 air, may exilt in the fummer atmofphere in a (late of mixture but not of combination, 
 and that the eledlric fpark or flafli of lightning may combine them and produce water 
 jnftantaneoufly. 
 
While proud Idolatry was leagued with dearth, 
 
 And wither’d Famine fwept the defert earth.— 
 
 “ Oh ! mighty Lord ! thy woe-worn fervant hear, 
 
 “ Who calls thy name in agony of prayer; 570 
 
 “ Thy fanes difhonour’d, and thy prophets flain, 
 u Lo ! I alone furvive of all thy train !— 
 
 “ Oh fend from heaven thy facred fire,—and pour 
 “ O’er the parch’d land the falutary lhower,— 
 
 “ So {hall thy Prieft thy erring flock recal,— 575 
 
 u And fpeak in thunder, “ Thou art Lord of all.” 
 He cried, and kneeling on the mountain-fands, 
 Stretch’d high in air his fupplicating hands. 
 
 Defcending flames the dulky fhrine illume, 
 
 Fire the wet wood, the facred bull con fume ; 5 So 
 
 Wing’d from the fea the gathering mifts arife, 
 
 And floating waters darken all the Ikies ; 
 
 The King with {hifted reins his chariot bends, 
 
 And wide o’er earth the airy flood defeends; 
 
 With mingling cries difperflng liofts applaud, 5,85 
 
 And fliouting nations own the living God.” 
 
[ 56 3 
 
 The Goddess ceafed,—the exulting tribes obey, 
 
 Start from the foil, and win their airy way ; 
 
 The vaulted Ikies with ftreams of tranfient rays 
 Shine as they pafs, and earth and ocean blaze. 590 
 So from fierce wars when lawlefs Monarchs ceafe, 
 
 Or Liberty returns with laurel’d Peace ; 
 
 Bright fly the fparks, the colour’d luftres burn, 
 
 Flafli follows flafli, and flame-wing’d circles turn ; 
 
 Blue ferpents fweep along the dufky air, 595 
 
 Imp’d by long trains of fcintillating hair ; 
 
 Red rockets rife, loud cracks are heard on high. 
 
 And ihowers of ftars rufh headlong from the iky, 
 
 Burfl, as in filver lines they hifs along, 
 
 1 
 
 And the quick flafh unfolds the gazing throng. 600 
 
 < • 
 
 > 
 
 ' 
 
Argument of the Second Canto . 
 
 
 Address to the Gnomes. I. The Earth thrown from a 
 volcano of the Sun; it’s atmofphere and ocean; it’s journey through 
 the zodiac ; viciffitude of day-light, and offeafons, 11. II. Primeval 
 iflands. Paradife, or the golden Age. Venus rifing from the fea, 33. 
 III. The firft great earthquakes; continents raifed from the fea ; 
 the Moon thrown from a volcano, has no atmofphere, and is frozen ; 
 the earth’s diurnal motion retarded ; it’s axis more inclined ; whirls 
 with the moon round a new centre, 67. IV. Formation of limerftone 
 by aqueous folution ; calcareous fpar; white marble; antient flatue 
 of Hercules reding from his labours. Antinous. Apollo of Belvidere. 
 Venus de Medici. Lady Elizabeth Fofter, and Lady Melbourn by 
 Mrs. Darner, 93. V. 1. Of morafl'es. Whence the production of 
 Salt by elutriation. Salt-mines at Cracow, 115. 2. Production of 
 
 nitre. Mars and Venus caught by Vulcan, 143. 3. Production of 
 
 iron. Mr. Michel’s improvement of artificial magnets. Ufes of 
 Steel in agriculture, navigation, war, 183. VI. Production of acids, 
 whence Flint, Sea Find, Selenite, Afbeftus, Fluor, Onyx, Agate, 
 Mocho, Opal, Sapphire, Ruby, Diamond. Jupiter and Europa, 215. 
 VII. 1. New fubterraneous fires from fermentation. Production of 
 Clays; manufacture of Porcelain in China; in Italy; in England. 
 Mr. Wedgwood’s works at Etruria in StafFordfhire. Cameo of a 
 Slave in Chains ; of Hope. Figures on the Portland or Barberini 
 vafe explained, 271. 2. Coal; Pyrite; Naphtha; Jet; Amber. Dr. 
 Franklin’s difcovery of difarming the Tempeft of it’s lightening. 
 Liberty of America; of Ireland; of France, 349. VIII. Antient 
 Part I. I 
 
[ 58 ] 
 
 central Subterraneous fires. Produ&ion of Tin, Copper, Zink, 
 Lead, Mercury, Platina, Gold and Silver. Deftru&ion of Mexico. 
 Slavery of Africa, 395. IX. Deftruftion of the armies of Cam- 
 byfes, 431. X. Gnomes like flars of an Orrery. Inroads of the 
 Sea flopped. Rocks cultivated. Hannibal pafl'es the Alps, 499. 
 XI. Matter circulates. Manures to Vegetables like Chyle to Ani¬ 
 mals. Plants riling from the Earth. St. Peter delivered from 
 Prifon, 537. Transmigration of Matter, 575. Death and refuf- 
 citation of Adonis, 585. Departure of the Gnomes, 611. 
 
 
ECONOMY OF VEGETATION. 
 
 CANTO II. 
 
 \ 
 
 And now the Goddess with attention fweet 
 Turns to the Gnomes, that circle round her feet; 
 
 Orb within orb approach the marlhal’d trains, 
 
 And pigmy legions darken all the plains ; 
 
 Thrice fhout with lilver tones the applauding bands, 
 Bow, ere She fpeaks, and clap their fairy hands. 
 
[ 6o J 
 
 So the tall grafs, when noon-tide zephyr blows, 
 
 Bends it’s green blades in undulating rows; 
 
 Wide o’er the fields the billowy tumult fpreads, 
 
 And ruffling harvefts bow their golden heads. 1 ° 
 
 I. “Gnomes! your bright forms, prefiding at herbirtn. 
 Clung in fond fquadrons round the new-born Earth ; 
 When high in ether, with explofion dire, 
 
 From the deep craters of his realms of fire, 
 
 The whirling Sun this ponderous planet hurl’d, 1 5 
 
 And gave the aflonifh’d void another world. 
 
 When from it’s vaporous air, condenfed by cold, 
 Defcending torrents into oceans roll d j 
 
 From the deep craters. 1 . i+. The exiftence of folar volcanos is countenanced by their 
 
 analogy to terredrial, and lunar volcanos; and by the fpots on the fun’s difk, which have 
 been (hewn by Dr. Wilfon to be excavations through its luminous furface,and may be 
 fuppofed to be the cavities from whence the planets and comets were ejefted by explo- 
 fions. See additional notes, No. XV. on folar volcanos. 
 
 men from its vaporous air. 1. 17. If the nucleus of the earth was thrown out from 
 the fun by an explofion along with as large a quantity of furrounding hot vapour as its 
 attraaion would occafion to accompany it, the ponderous fcmi-fluiJ nucleus would take 
 a fpherical form from the attraaion of its own parts, which would become an oblate 
 fpheroid from its diurnal revolution. As the vapour cooled, the water would be prcci- 
 
And fierce attra&ion with relentlefs force 
 
 Bent the reludlant wanderer to it’s courfe» 20 
 
 « Where yet the Bull with diamond-eye adorns 
 The Spring’s fair forehead, and with golden horns; 
 Where yet the Lion climbs the ethereal plain, 
 
 And fhakes the Summer from his radiant mane ; 
 
 Where Libra lifts her airy arm, and weighs, 25 
 
 Poifed in her filver balance, nights and days; 
 
 With paler luftres where Aquarius burns, 
 
 And fhowers the ftill fnow from his hoary urns; 
 
 Your ardent troops purfued the flying fphere, 
 
 Circling the ftarry girdle of the year ; 3 ° 
 
 While fweet viciflitudes of day and clime 
 Mark’d the new annals of enafccnt Time. 
 
 pitated, and an ocean would furround the fpherical nucleus with a fupenncumbent atmo- 
 fnhere. The nucleus of folar lava would likewife become harder as it became cooler. 
 To underhand how the ftrata of the earth were afterwards formed from the fediments of 
 this circumfluent ocean the reader is referred to an ingenious Treat.fe on the Theory of 
 the Earth by Mr. Whitehurft, who was many years a watchmaker and engineer at er y, 
 but whofe ingenuity, integrity, and humanity, were rarely equalled in any ftation of i e>. 
 
r i 
 
 II. u You trod with printlefs ftep Earth’s tender globe, 
 
 While Ocean wrap’d it in his azure robe ; 
 
 Beneath his waves her hardening ftrata fpread, 35 
 
 Raifed her Primeval Islands from his bed, 
 
 While ocean wrafd. 1 . 3 L See additional notes, No. XVI. on the produdion of 
 calcareous earth* 
 
 Her hardening Jlrata fpread. 1 . 35. The granite, or moor-ftone, or porphory, con¬ 
 tinue the oldeft part of the globe, f.nce the limeftone, (hells, coralloids, and other fea- 
 produftions reft upon them ; and upon thefe fea-produdions are found clay, iron, coal, 
 fait, and filiceous fand or grit-ftone. Thus there feem to be three divifions of the globe, 
 diftindly marked ; the firft I fuppofe to have been the original nucleus of the earth, or 
 lava proje&cd from the fun ; 2 . over this lie the recrements of animal and vegetable 
 matter produced in the ocean; and, 3 . over thefe the recrements of animal and vegetable 
 matter produced upon the land. Befides thefe there are bodies which own their origin 
 to a combination of thofc already mentioned, as filiceous fand, fluor, alabafter ; which 
 feem to have derived their acids originally from the vegetable kingdom, and their earthy 
 bafes from fea-produdions. See additional notes, No. XVI. on calcareous earth. 
 
 Raifed her primeval iflands. 1 . 36. The nucleus of the earth, ftill covered with water, 
 received perpetual increafe by the immenfe quantities of (hells and coralloids either 
 annually produced and relinquillied, or left after the death of the animals. Thefe wou 
 gradually by their different degrees of cohefion be fome of them more and others lefs 
 removable by the influence of folar tides, and gentle tropical breezes, which then mull 
 have probably extended from one pole to the other ; for it is fuppofed the moon was 
 not yet produced, and that no (forms or unequal winds had yet cxiftence. 
 
 Hence then the primeval iflands had their gradual origin, were raifed but a few feet 
 above the level of the fea, and were not expofed to the great or fudden variations of heat 
 and cold, as is fo well explained in Mr. Whiteluirft’s Theory of the Earth, chap. xvi. 
 Whence the paradife of the facred writers, and the golden age of the profane ones, feems 
 to have had a real exiftence. As there can be no rainbow, when the heavens are covered 
 with clouds, becaufe the fun-beams are then precluded from falling upon the rain-drops 
 oppofite to the eye of the fpedator, the rainbow is a mark of gentle or partial fhowers. 
 Mr. Whitehurft has endeavoured to (how that the primitive iflands were only moiftened 
 
Stretch’d her wide lawns, and funk her winding dells, 
 And deck’d her Ihores with corals, pearls, and fhells. 
 
 “ Oe’r thofe bleft ifles no ice-crown’d mountains tower’d 
 No -lightening^ darted, and no tempefts lower’d ; 40 
 
 Soft fell the vefper-drops, condenfed below, 
 
 Or bent in air the rain-refradted bow, 
 
 Sweet breathed the zephyrs, juft perceiv’d and loft; 
 
 And brinelefs billows only kifs’d the coaft ; 
 
 Round the bright zodiac danced the vernal hours, 45 
 And Peace, the Cherub, dwelt in mortal bowers! 
 
 “ So young Dione, nurfed beneath the waves, 
 
 And rock’d by Nereids in their coral caves, 
 
 by no&urnal dews and not by fhowers, as occurs at this day to the Delta of Egypt; and 
 is thence of opinion, that the rainbow had no exiftence till after the production of 
 mountains and continents. As the fait of the fea has been gradually accumulating, K ing 
 wafhed down into it from the recrements of animal and vegetable bodies, the fea mult 
 originally have been as frefh as river water; and as it is not yet faturated with fait, mult 
 become annually more faline. See note on 1 . 117 of this Canto. 
 
 So young Dione. 1 . 47. There is an antient gem reprefenting Venus rifing out of the 
 ocean fupported by two Tritons. From the formality of the defign it would appear to 
 
[ 6+ 3 
 
 \ 
 
 Charm’d the blue fiflerhood with playful wiles, 
 
 Lifp’d her fweet tones, and tried her tender failles. So 
 Then, on her beryl throne by Tritons borne, 
 
 Bright rofe the Goddefs like the Star of morn ; 
 
 When with foft fires the milky dawn He leads, 
 
 And wakes to life and love the laughing meads 
 With rofy fingers, as uncurl’d they hung 55 
 
 Round her fair brow, her golden locks fhe wrung ; 
 
 O’er the fmooth furge on filver fandals flood, 
 
 And look’d enchantment on the dazzled flood. 
 
 The bright drops, rolling from her lifted arms, 
 
 In flow meanders wander o’er her charms, 6c 
 
 Seek round her fnowy neck their lucid track, 
 
 • \ f r 
 
 Pearl her white flioulders, gem her ivory back, 
 
 Round her fine waifl and fwelling bofom fwim, 
 
 And ftar with glittering brine each cryflal limb. 
 
 be of great antiquity before the introdu&ion of fine tafte into the world. It is probable 
 that this beautiful allegory was originally an hieroglyphic pi&ure (before the invention 
 of letters) dtferiptive of the formation of the earth from the ocean, which feems to have 
 been an opinion of many of the mod antient philofdphers. 
 

 [ 65 ] 
 
 —The immortal form enamour’d Nature hail’d, 
 And Beauty blazed to heaven and earth, unvail’d. 
 
 6 5 
 
 III. cc \ou! who then, kindling after many an age, 
 Saw with new fires the firft Volcano rage, 
 
 O’er fmouldering heaps of livid fulphur fwell 
 At Earth’s firm centre, and difiend her (hell, yo 
 
 The firjl volcano. 1. 68. As the earth before the exigence of earthquakes was nearly 
 level, and the greateft part of it covered with fea ; when the firft great fires began deep 
 in the internal parts of it, thofe parts would become much expanded ; this expanfion 
 would be gradually extended, as the heat inereafed, through the whole terraqueous globe 
 of 7000 miles diameter; the cruft would thence in many places open into fifi'ures, which 
 by admitting the fea to flow in upon the fire, would produce not only a quantity of 
 fteam beyond calculation by its expanfion, but would alfo by its decompofition produce 
 inflammable air and vital air in quantities beyond conception, fufficient to effect thofe 
 violent explofions, the veftiges of which all over the world excite our admiration and our 
 ftudy ; the difficulty of underftanding how fubterraneous fires could exift without the 
 prefence of air has difappeared fince Dr. Prieftley’s difeovery of fuch great quantities of 
 pure air which conftitute all the acids, and confequently exift in all faline bodies, as fea* 
 fait, nitre, lime ftone, and in all calciform ores, asmanganefe, calamy, ochre, and other 
 mineral fubftances. See an ingenious treatife on earthquakes by Mr. Michel in the 
 Philof. Tranf. 
 
 In the firfl tremendous ignitions of the globe, as the continents were heaved up, the 
 vallies, which now hold the fea, were formed by the earth fubfiding into the cavities made 
 by the rifing mountains; as the fteam, which raifed them condenfed; which would thence 
 not have any caverns of great extent remain beneath them, as fome philofophers have 
 imagined. The earthquakes of modern days are of very fmall extent indeed compared 
 to thofe ofantient times, and are ingenioufly compared byM. DeLuc to the operations 
 of a mole-hill, where from a fmall cavity are raifed from time to time fmall quantities 
 of lava or pumice ftone. Monthly Review, June, 1790. 
 
 
 
 Part I. 
 
 K 
 
[ 66 ] 
 
 Saw at each opening cleft the furnace glow, 
 
 And feas rufli headlong on the gulphs below.— 
 
 Gnomes! how you (hriek’d! when through the troubled air 
 
 Roar’d the fierce din of elemental war; 
 
 When rofe the continents, and funk the main, 75 
 And Earth’s huge fphere exploding burft in twain.— 
 Gnomes ! how you gazed 1 when from her wounded fide 
 Where now the South-Sea heaves its wafte of tide, 
 
 Rofe on fwift wheels the Moon’s refulgent car, 
 
 Circling the folar orb, a fifter-ftar, 
 
 Dimpled with vales, with Aiming hills embofs’d, 
 
 And roll’d round Earth her airlefs realms of frofi. 
 
 The moon's refulgent car. 1 . 79 - &e additional notes, No. XV. on folar volcanos. 
 
 Her airlefs realms offroft. 1 . 8a. If the moon had no atmofphere at the time of its 
 clcvarrQn from the earth; or if i« «mor P l..rc was afterwards Men from .. by the 
 earth’s attraaion; the water on the moon woold rife ,.nckl, rn.o .apotrr i and the old 
 produced by a certain quantity of this evaporauon would congeal the remainder o . 
 Hence it is not probable that the moon is at prefent inhabited, but as it feems to hav 
 fuffered and to continue to fuffer much by volcanos, a Efficient quantity of air may in 
 procefs of time be generated to produce an atmofphere; which may prevent ,ts heat from 
 fo eafily efcaping, and its water from fo eaf.ly evaporating, and thence become fit for 
 
 the^produaionof^ g^^ ^ Qr n0 atmofphere is deduced from the tindimimfl.cd 
 luftre of the liars, at the inftant when they emerge from behind her dilk. That the 
 
“ Gnomes ! how you trembled ! with the dreadful force 
 When Earth recoiling ftagger’d from her courfe ; 
 
 When, as her Line in flower circles fpun, 85 
 
 And her {hock’d axis nodded from the fun, 
 
 With dreadful march the accumulated main 
 Swept her vaft wrecks of mountain, vale, and plain; 
 
 And, while new tides their fhouting floods unite, 
 
 And hail their Queen, fair Regent of the night; 90 
 
 ocean of the moon is frozen, is confirmed from there being no appearance of lunar 
 tides; which, if they exifted, would cover the part of her dilk neared the earth. See 
 
 note on Canto III. 1 . 61. 
 
 JVhen earth recoiling. 1 . 84.. On fuppofition that the moon was thrown from the earth 
 by the explofion of water or the generation of other vapours of greater power, the re¬ 
 maining part of the globe would recede from its orbit in one direction as the moon re¬ 
 ceded in another, and that in proportion to the refpeftive momentum of each, and 
 
 would afterwards revolve round their common centre of gravity. 
 
 If the moon rofe from any part of the earth except exactly at the line or poles, the 
 {hock would tend to turn the axis of the earth out of its prev.ous d,reft.on. And as a 
 nrafs of matter rifing from deep parts of the globe would have previoufly acquired left 
 diurnal velocity than the earth’s furface from whence it rofe, it would receive during the 
 time of its rifing additional velocity from the earth’s furface, and would confequently fo 
 
 much retard the motion of the earth round its axis. r a , 
 
 When the earth thus receded the Ihock would overturn all its buildings and forefts and 
 the water would rulh with inconceivable violence over its furface towards the new fate 1- 
 iite, from two caufes, both by its not at fird acquiring the velocity with which the earth 
 receded, and by the attraflion of the new moon, as it leaves the earth; on thefe accounts 
 at firft .here would be but one tide till the moon receded to a greater difiance, and Lie 
 earth moving round a common centre of gravity between them, the water on the fide 
 Lived from the moon would acquire a centrifugal force in refpect to tins common 
 
 centre bet ween itfelf and the moon. 
 
 K 2 
 
[ 68 ] 
 
 Chain’d to one centre whirl’d the kindred fpheres, 
 And mark’d with lunar cycles folar years. 
 
 IV. “ Gnomes! you then hade diiTolving Shells diflif 
 From the loofe fummits of each (batter’d hill, 
 
 To each fine pore and dark interftice flow, 95 
 
 And fill with liquid chalk the mafs below. 
 
 Whence fparry forms in dujfky cavern gleam 
 With borrow’d light, and twice refraft the beam; 
 
 While in white beds congealing rocks beneath 
 Court the nice chiflel, and defire to breathe.— ioo 
 
 Dijfohing Jhells dijlil. I. 93. The lime-ftone rocks have had their origin from (hells 
 formed beneath the fea, the fofter ftrata gradually diiTolving and filling up the interfaces 
 of the harder ones, afterwards when thefe accumulations of (hells were elevated above 
 the waters the upper ftrata became diflolved by the actions of the air and dews, and 
 filled up the interftices beneath, producing folid rocks of different kinds from the coarfc 
 lime-ftones to the fined marbles. When thofe lime-ftones have been in fuch a fituation 
 that they could form perfect cryftals they are called fpars, fome of which poffefs a double 
 refraaion, a$ obferved by Sir Ifaac Newton. When thefe cryftals are jumbled together 
 or mixed with fome colouring impurities it is termed marble, if its texture be equable 
 and firm; if its texture be coarfe and porous yet hard, it is called lime-ftone ; if its 
 texture be very loofe and porous it is termed chalk. In fome rocks the (hells remain 
 almoft unchanged and only covered, or bedded with lime-ftone, which feems to have 
 been cUffolved and funk down amorigft them. In others the fofter (hells and bones are 
 diffolved, and only (harks teeth or harder echini have preferved their form inveloped 
 jn the chalk or lime-ftone ; in fome marbles the foiution has been compleat and no 
 veftiges of (hell appear, as in the white kind called ftatuary by the workmen. See addit. 
 Notts, No. XVI. 
 
 * 
 
 1 
 
“ Hence wearied Hercules in marble rears 
 His languid limbs, and reds a thoufand years; 
 
 Stnl, as he leans, fhall young Antinous pleafe 
 With carelefs grace, and unaffeded eafe ; 
 
 Onward with loftier ftep Apollo fpring, 105 
 
 And launch the unerring arrow from the firing ; 
 
 In Beauty’s bafhful form, the veil unfurl’d, 
 
 Ideal Venus win the gazing world. 
 
 Hence on Roubiliac’s tomb fhall Fame fublime 
 Wave her triumphant wings, and conquer Time; no 
 Long with foft touch fhall Damer’s chiffel charm, * 
 With grace delight us, and with beauty warm; 
 
 Hence varied Hercules. 1. ioi. Alluding to the celebrated Hercules of Glyco 
 reftmg after h,s labours; and to the eafy attitude of Antinous; the lofty ftep of the Apollo 
 
 d V K-r C ’ and thC retrCa ' lng modcf b of the Venus de Medici. Many of the defiens 
 by Roubiliac in Weftminfter Abbey are uncommonly poetical; the allegory ommetd 
 
 fu.TtoTd n l 8 th ;r phy of Generai Wade ’ which is here aiiudcd to > is beaiiti - 
 
 T 8S K n me are fti " expanded ’ and her hair fti11 floating in the air; 
 . hich not only thews that the has that moment arrived, but alfo that her force is n 0 ; 
 
 [ s ratlvrT C< ’ “h l *“! tlme ’ th * M figUrc of Time with h *s difordered wings 
 
 •nftam be d 8 T “1* idding t0 her -uft apparently in another 
 
 inllant be driven from h.s attack upon the trophy. 
 
Foster’s fine form ftiall hearts unhorn engage, 
 
 And Melbourn’s fmile enchant another age. 
 
 V. “ Gnomes! you then taught tranfuding dews to pafs 
 Through time-fall’n woods, and root-inwove morafs 116 
 Age after age ; and with filtration fine 
 Difpart, from earths and fulphurs, the faline. 
 
 i. “ Hence with diffufive Salt old Ocean fteeps 
 His emerald (hallows, and his fapphire deeps. i 
 
 Four's fine form. 1 . 11 3 . Alluding to the beautiful ftatt.es of Lady Elizabeth Foftcr 
 and of Lady Melbourn executed by the honorable Mrs. Darner. 
 
 Root-inwove morafs. 1 . x 16. The great mafs of matter which refts upon the lime-ftone 
 ftrata of the earth, or upon the granite where the lime-ftone ftratum has been removed 
 by earthquakes or covered by lava, has had its origin from the recrements of vegetables 
 and of air-breathing animals, as the lime-ftone had its origin from fca animals. The 
 whole habitable world was originally covered with woods, till mankind formed them- 
 felves into focieties, and fubdued them by fire and by fteel. Hence woods in uncul¬ 
 tivated countries have grown and fallen through many ages, whence moraffes of immenfe 
 extent; and from thefe as the more foluble parts were wafhed away firft, were produced 
 fea-falt, nitre, iron, and variety of acids, which combining with calcareous matter were 
 produflive of many fofiil bodies, as flint, fea-fand, felenite, with the precious ltones, 
 and perhaps the diamond. Sec additional notes, No. XVII. 
 
 Hence with diffufive fait. 1 . 119. Salts of various kinds are produced from the recre¬ 
 ments of animal and vegetable bodies, fuch as phoi'phoric, ammoniacal, marine fait, and 
 
[ 7 * ] 
 
 Oft in wide lakes, around their warmer brim 
 In hollow pyramids the cryftals fwim ; 
 
 Or, fufed by earth-born fires, in cubic blocks 
 
 Shoot their white forms, and harden into rocks. 124 
 
 others; thefe are wafhed from the earth by rains, and carried down our rivers into the 
 fea ; they feem all here to decompofe each other except the marine-falt, which has there¬ 
 fore from the beginning of the habitable world been perpetually accumulating. 
 
 There is a town in the immenfe falt-mines of Cracow in Poland, with a market¬ 
 place, a river, a church, and a famous ftatue, (here fuppofed to be of Lot’s wife) by the 
 moift or dry appearance of which the fubterranean inhabitants are faid to know when 
 the weather is fair above ground. The galleries in thefe mines are fo numerous and fo 
 intricate, that workmen have frequently loft their way, their lights having been burnt 
 out, and have perifhed before they could be found. Elfais, &c. par M. Macquart. And 
 though the arches of thefe different ftories of galleries are boldly executed, yet they are 
 not dangerous ; as they are held ‘together or fupported by large mattes of timber of a 
 foot fquare; and thefe vaft timbers remain pcrfe&ly found for many centuries, while all 
 other pillars whether of brick, cement, or fait, foon diffolve or moulder away. Ibid. Could 
 the timbers over water-mill wheels or cellars, be thus preferved by occafionally foaking 
 them with brine? Thefe immenfe mafles of rock-falt feem to have been produced by 
 the evaporation of fea-water in the early periods of the world by fubterranean fires. Dr. 
 Hutton’s Theory of the Earth. See alfo Theorie des Sources Salees, par M. Struve. 
 Hiftoire de Sciences de Laiifanne. Tom. IT. This idea of Dr. Hutton’s is confirmed by 
 a fa£t mentioned in M. Macquart’s Elfais fur Mineralogie, who found a great quantity 
 of foffil (hells, principally bi-valves and madre-pores, in the falt-mines of Wialiczka 
 near Cracow. During the evaporation of the lakes of falt-water, as in artificial falt- 
 works, the fait begins to cryftallize near the edge where the water is fhalloweft, forming 
 hollow inverted pyramids; which, when they become of a certain fize, fubfide by their 
 gravity; if urged by a ftronger fire the fait fufes or forms large cubes; whence the fait 
 fhaped in hollow pyramids, called flake-falt, is better tafted and preferves flefh better, 
 than the bafket or powder fait; becaufe it is made by lefs heat and thence contains more 
 of the marine acid. The fea-water about our ifland contains from about one twenty- 
 eighth to one thirtieth part of fea fait, and about one eightieth of magnefian fait. See 
 Brownrigg on Salt. See note on Ocymum, Vol. II. of this work. 
 

 [ 72 ] 
 
 / 
 
 “ Thus, cavern’d round in Cracow’s mighty mines, 
 With cryftal walls a gorgeous city fhines ; 
 
 Scoop’d in the briny rock long ftreets extend 
 
 Their hoary courfe, and glittering domes afeend; 
 
 Down the bright fteeps, emerging into day, 
 
 Impetuous fountains burft their headlong way, 130 
 O’er milk-white vales in ivory channels fpread, 
 
 And wondering feek their fubterraneous bed. 
 
 Form’d in pellucid fait with duffel nice, 
 
 The pale lamp glimmering through the fculpturcd ice, 
 With wild reverted eyes fair Lotta Hands, 135 
 
 And fpreads to Heaven, in vain, her glafly hands ; 
 
 Cold dews condenfe upon her pearly bread:, 
 
 And the big tear rolls lucid down her veft. 
 
 Far gleaming o’er the town tranfparent fanes 
 Rear their white towers, and wave their golden vanes ; 
 Long lines of luftres pour their trembling rays, 141 
 And the bright vault returns the mingled blaze. 
 
2. “ Hence orient Nitre owes it’s fparkling birth, 
 And with prifinatic cryftals gems the earth, 
 
 O’er tottering domes in filmy foliage crawls, i V 
 
 Or frofts with branching plumes the mouldering walls. 
 
 Hence orient Nitre. I. 143. Nitre is found in Bengal naturally cryllallized, and is 
 lwept by brooms from earths and Hones, and thence called fweepings of nitre It has 
 lately been found in large quantities in a natural bafon of calcareous earth at Molfctta in 
 ta y, both in thin ftrata between the calcareous beds, and in cfflorefcences of various 
 eautiful leafy and hairy forms. An account of this nitre-bed is given by Mr. 
 Zimmerman and abridged in Roziers Journal de Phyfique, Fevrier, 1790. This acid 
 appears to be produced in all fixations where animal and vegetable matters are com- 
 pleatly decompofed, and which are cxpofed to the adion of the air, as on the walls of 
 1 tables, and flaughter-houfcs; the cryltals are prifms furrowed by longitudinal grooves. 
 
 Dr. Prieflley difcovcred that nitrous air or gas which he obtained by ditTolving metals 
 in nitrous acid, would combine rapidly with vital air, and produce with it a true nitrous 
 acid ; forming red clouds during the combination ; the two airs occupy only the fpace 
 before occupied by one of them, and at the fame time heat is given out from the new 
 combination. This diminution of the bulk of a mixture of nitrous gas and vital air, 
 Dr. Prieftley ingenioufly ufed as a tell of the purity of the latter; a difcovery of the* 
 greateft importance in the analyfis of airs. 
 
 Mr. Cavendilh has fince dcmonftratcd that two parts of vital air or oxygene, and one 
 part of phlogiftic air or azote, being long expofed to elearic fliocks, unite, and produce 
 nitrous acid. Philof. Tranf. Vols. LXXV. and LXXVIII. 
 
 Azote is one of the moll abundant elements in nature, and combined with calorique 
 or heat, it forms azotic gas or phlogiftic air, and compofes two thirds of the atmofphere, 
 and is one of the principal component parts of animal bodies, and when united to vital 
 air or oxygene produces the nitrous acid. Mr. Lavoifier found that 2i| parts by weight 
 of azote, and 43! parts of oxygene produced 64 parts of nitrous gas, and by the further 
 addition of 36 parts of oxygene nitrous acid was produced. Traite de Chimie. When 
 two airs become united fo as to produce an unelallic liquid much calorique or heat is of 
 neceflity expelled from the new combination, though perhaps nitrous acid and oxyge¬ 
 nated marine acid admit more heat into their combinations than other acids. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 L 
 
u 
 
 [ 74 3 
 
 A? woos Azotic Gas the virgin Air, 
 
 And veils in crimfon clouds the yielding Fair, 
 
 Indignant Fire the treacherous courtftiip flies, 
 
 Waves his light wing, and mingles with the Ikies. 150 
 
 “ So Beauty’s Goddess, warm with new defire, 
 
 Left, on her filver wheels, the God of Fire; 
 
 Her faithlefs charms to fiercer Mars refign’d, 
 
 Met with fond lips, with wanton arms intwin d. 
 —Indignant Vulcan eyed the parting Fair, 155 
 
 And watch’d with jealous ftep the guilty pair; 
 
 O’er his broad neck a wiry net he flung, 
 
 Quick as he ftrode, the tinkling mefhes rung ; 
 
 Fine as the fpider’s flimfy thread He wove 
 
 The immortal toil to lime illicit love; 16c 
 
 Steel were the knots, and fteel the twifted thong, 
 
 Ring link’d in ring, indiffolubly ftrong ; 
 
 On viewlefs hooks along the fretted roof 
 He hung, unfeen, the inextricable woof.— 
 
E 75 I 
 
 i 
 
 —Quick flart the fprings, the webs pellucid fpread, i6<; 
 And lock the embracing Lovers on their bed; 
 
 Fierce with loud taunts vindi&ive Vulcan fprings, 
 
 Tries all the bolts, and tightens all the firings, 
 
 Shakes with inceffant fliouts the bright abodes. 
 
 Claps his rude hands, and calls the feflive Gods.— 170 
 —With fpreading palms the alarmed Goddefs tries 
 To veil her beauties from celeflial eyes, 
 
 Writhes her fair limbs, the flender ringlets flrains, 
 
 And bids her Loves untie the obdurate chains; 
 
 Soft fvvells her panting bofom, as fhe turns, 175 
 
 And her flufh’d cheek with brighter blufhes burns. 
 Majeflic grief the Queen of Heaven avows, 
 
 And chafte Minerva hides her helmed brows ; 
 
 Attendant Nymphs with bafhful eyes afkance 
 
 Steal of intangled Mars a tranflent glance ; t So 
 
 Surrounding Gods the circling ne<5tar quaff. 
 
 Gaze on the Fair, and envy as they laugh. 
 
 l 2 
 
[ 76 3 
 
 3. “ Hence dufky Iron fleeps in dark abodes, 
 
 And ferny foliage neftles in the nodes j 
 
 Till with wide lungs the panting bellows blow, iS£ 
 
 And waked by fire the glittering torrents flow ; 
 
 Hence dujhy Iren. 1 . 183. The produaion of iron from the dccompofition of vege¬ 
 table bodies is perpetually prefented to our view; the waters oozing from all moraffes 
 are chalybeate, and depofit their ochre on being expofed to the air, the iron acquiring a 
 calciform-Hate from its union with oxygene or vital air. When thin moraffes lie on 
 beds of gravel the latter are generally ftained by the filtration of feme of the chalybeate, 
 water through them. This formation of iron from vegetable recrements is further 
 evinced by the fern leaves and other parts of vegetables, fo frequently found in the 
 
 centre of the knobs or nodules of fome iron ores. 
 
 In fome of thefe nodules there is a nucleus of whiter iron-earth furrounded by 
 many concentric ftrata of darker and lighter iron-earth alternately. I n one, which now 
 lies before me, the nucleus is a prifm of a triangular form with blunted angles, and 
 about half an inch high, and an inch and. half broad; on every fide ot this are concentric 
 ftrata of fimilar iron-earth alternately browner and left brown ; each ftratum is about a 
 tenth of an inch in thicknefs and there are ten of them in number. 1 o what known 
 caufe can this cxa&ly regular diftribution of fo many earthy ftrata of different colours 
 furrounding the nucleus be aferibed r I don’t know that any tnineralogifts have attempted 
 an explanation of this wonderful phenomenon. I fufpett it is owing to the polarity of 
 the central nucleus. If iron-filings be regularly laid on paper by means of a fmall fieve* 
 and a magnet be placed underneath, the filings will difpofe thcmfelves in concentric 
 curves with vacant intervals between them. Now if thefe iron-filings are conceived to 
 be fufpended in a fluid, whofe fpecific gravity is fimilar te their own, and a magnetic 
 bar Was introduced as an axis into this fluid, it is eafy to forefee that the iron filings 
 would difpofe themfelves into concentric fpheres, with intervals of the circumnatant' 
 fluid between them, exa£Hy as is feen in thefe nodules of iron-earth. As all the lavas 
 confift of one fourth of iron, (Kirwan's Mineral.) and almoft all other known bodies,., 
 whether of animal or vegetable origin, poffefs more or left of this property, may not : 
 the diftribution of a great portion of the globe of the earth into ftrata of. greater.or deft 
 -regularity be owing to the polarity of the whole ? 
 
—Quick whirls the wheel, the ponderous hammer falls, 
 Loud anvils ring amid the trembling walls, 
 
 Strokes follow flrokes, the Iparkling ingot Ihines, 
 
 Flows the red flag, the lengthening bar refines j 190 
 Cold waves, immerfed, the glowing mafs congeal, 
 
 And turn to adamant the hiding Steel. 
 
 u Laft Michell’s hands with touch of potent charm 
 The poliih’d rods with powers magnetic arm; 
 
 And turn to adamant. 1 . 192. The circumftances which rendex iron more valuable to 
 mankind than any other metal, are, 1. its property of being rendered hard to fo great a 
 degree, and thus conftituting fuch excellent tools. It was the difeovery of this property 
 of iron, Mr. Locke thinks, that gave fuch pre-eminence to the European world over the 
 American one. 2. Its power of being welded; that is, when two pieces are made very 
 hot and applied together by hammering, they unite compleatly, unlefs any fcale of iron 
 intervenes; and to prevent this it is ufual for fmiths to dip the very hot bar in fand, a 
 little of which fufes into fluid glafs with the fcale and is fqueezed out from between the 
 uniting parts by the force of hammering. 3. Its power of acquiring magnetifm. 
 
 It is however to be wilhed that gold or filver were difeovered in as great quantity 
 as iron, fince thefe metals being indeftru&ible by expofure to air, water, fire, or any 
 common acids, would fupply wholefome veflels for cookery; fo much to be defired, and 
 fo difficult to obtain, and would form the mod light and durable coverings for houfes, 
 as well as indeflru&ible fire-grates, ovens, and boiling veflels. Sec additional notes. 
 No. XVIII. on Steel. 
 
 Laft Mich ell's hands. 1. 193. The difeovery of the magnet fee ms to have been in 
 very early times; it is mentioned by Plato, Lucretius,. Pliny, and Galen, and is faid 
 to have taken its name of magnes from Magnefia, a fea-port of ancient Lybia. 
 
 As every piece of iron which was made magnetical by the touch of a magnet became 
 itfelf a magnet, many attempts were made to improve thefe artificial magnets, but with¬ 
 out much fuccefs nil Servingdon Savary, Efq. made them of hardened fled bars, which:. 
 
I 7*'3 
 
 With points direfted to the polar flars 195 
 
 In one long line extend the temper’d bars ; 
 
 were fo powerful that one of them weighing three pounds averdupois would lift another 
 of the fame weight. Philof. Tranf- 
 
 After this Dr. Knight made very fuccefsful experiments on this fubje&, which, 
 though he kept his method fecret, feems to have excited others to turn their attention 
 to magnetifm. At this time the Rev. Mr. Michell invented an equally efficacious and 
 more expeditious way of making ftrong artificial magnets, which he puhliflted in the 
 end of the year 1750, in which he explained his method of what he called “ the double 
 touch,” and which, fince Dr. Knight’s method has been known, appears to be fome- 
 what different fiom it. 
 
 This method of rendering bars of hardened fteel magnetical confifts in holding verti¬ 
 cally two or more magnetic bars nearly parallel to each other with their oppofite poles 
 very near each other, (but neverthelefs feparated to a fmall diftance,) thefe are to be 
 Hided* over a line of bars laid horizontally a few times backward and forward. See 
 Michell on Magnetifm, alfo a detailed account in Chambers’s Dictionary. 
 
 What Mr. Michell propofed by this method was to include a very fmall portion of 
 the horizontal bars, intended to be made magnetical, between the joint forces of two 
 or more bars already magnetical, and by Hiding them from end to end every part of the 
 line of bars became fuccclTively included, and thus bars poffeifed of a very fmall degree 
 *of magnetifm to begin with, would in a few times Hiding backwards and forwards make 
 the other' ones' much more magnetical than themfelves, which are then to be taken up 
 and ufed to touch the former, which are in fuccefiion to be laid down horizontally in 
 a line. 
 
 There is Hill a great field remains for future difeoveries in magnetifm both in refpeft 
 to experiment and theory ; the latter confifts of vague conjectures the more probable of 
 which arc perhaps thofe of Epinus, as they affimilate it to electricity. 
 
 One conje&ure I (hall add, viz. that the polarity of magnetifm may be owing to the 
 earth’s rotatory motion. If heat, eleCtricity, and magnetifm are fuppofed to be fluids of 
 different gravities, heat being the heavieft of them, eleCtricity the next heavy, and mag¬ 
 netifm the lightefl, it is evident that by the quick revolution of the earth the heat will 
 be accumulated mofl over the line, eleCtricity next beneath this, and that the magnetifm 
 will be detruded to the poles and axis of the earth, like the atmofpheres of common air 
 and of inflammable gas, as explained in the note on Canto I. 1 . 123. 
 
 EleCtricity and heat will both of them difplacc magnetifm, and this (hews that they 
 may gravitate on each other; and hence when too great a quantity of the eleCtric fluid 
 ' becomes accumulated at the poles by defeending fnows, or other unknown caufes, it 
 may have a tendency to rife towards the tropics by its centrifugal force, and produce the 
 northern lights. See additional notes, No. I. 
 
t 79 3 
 
 Then thrice and thrice with fteady eye he guides, 
 And o er the adhefive train the magnet Slides; 
 
 The obedient Steel with living inftin<ft moves, 
 
 And veers for ever to the pole it loves. 
 
 “ Hail, adamantine Steel ! magnetic Lord ! 
 King of the prow, the plowShare, and the fword! 
 True to the pole, by thee the pilot guides 
 His fteady helm amid the ft niggling tides, 
 
 Braves with broad fail the immeafurable fea, 
 Cleaves the dark air, and aiks no ftar but Thee.— 
 By thee the plowShare rends the matted plain, 
 Inhumes in level rows the living grain ; 
 
 Intrufive forefts quit the cultured ground, 
 
 And Ceres laughs with golden fillets crown’d.— 
 O’er reftlefs realms when fcowling Difcord flings 
 Her fnakes, and loud the din of battle rings; 
 Expiring Strength, and vanquish'd Courage feel. 
 Thy arm refiftlefs, adamantine Steel ! 
 
4. “ Hence in fine ftrcams diffufive Acids flow, 
 
 Or wing'd with fire o er Earth s fair bofom hlow j 216 
 Tranfmute to glittering Flints her chalky lands, 
 
 Or fink on Ocean’s bed in countlefs Sands. 
 
 Hence filvery Selenite her cryftal moulds, 
 
 And foft Afbeftus fmooths his filky folds; 220 
 
 His cubic forms phofplioric Fluor prints, 
 
 Or rays in fpheres his amethyfline tints. 
 
 Soft cobweb clouds transparent Onyx fpreads, 
 
 And playful Agates weave their colour’d threads; 
 
 Diffufive Acids flow. 1 . 215. The production of marine acid from decompofing ve¬ 
 getable and animal matters with vital air, and of nitrous acid from azote and vital air, 
 the former of which is united to its bafts by means of the exhalations from vegetable 
 and animal matters, conftitute an analogy which induces us to believe that many other 
 acids have either their bates or are united to vital air by means of fome part of decom¬ 
 pofing vegetable and animal matters. 
 
 The great quantities of flint fand, whether formed in mountains or in the fea, would 
 appear to derive its acid from the new world, as it is found above the ft rata of lime-ftone 
 and granite which conftitute the old world, and as the earthy bafts of flint is probably 
 calcareous, a great part of it feems to be produced by a conjunaion of the new and old 
 world ; the recrements of air-breathing animals and vegetables probably afford the acid, 
 and the (hells of marine animals the earthy bafts, while another part may have derived 
 its calcareous part alfo from the decompofition of vegetable and animal bodies. 
 
 The fame mode of reafoning feems applicable to the ftliceous ftones under various 
 names, as amethyft, onyx, agate, mochoe, opal, &c. which do not feem to have under¬ 
 gone any procefs from volcanic fires, and as thefe ftones only differ from flint by a 
 greater or lefs admixture of argillaceous and calcareous earths. The different propor¬ 
 tions of which in each kind of ftone may be feen in Mr. Kirwan’s valuable Elements 
 of Mineralogy. See additional notes, No. XIX. 
 
Gay poured Mochoes glow with landfcape-dyes, 225 
 And changeful Opals roll their lucid eyes; 
 
 Blue lambent light around the Sapphire plays, 
 
 Bright Rubies blufli, and living Diamonds blaze. 
 
 Thus, for attractive earth, inconlfant Jove 
 Ivfaflv d in new fliapes forlook his realms above.—— 
 
 Uvlng Diamonds blaze. 1 . 228. Sir Ifaac Newton having obferved the great power of 
 re fra (Sling light, which the diamond pofTefles above all other cryftallized or vitreous 
 matter, conjectured that it was an inflammable body in fome manner congealed. In- 
 fomuch that all the light is refleaed which falls on any of its interior furfaccs at a greater 
 angle of incidence than 24I degrees; whereas an artificial gem of glafs does not reflea 
 any light from its hinder furface, unlefs that furface is inclined in an angle of 41 deg 
 Hence the diamond refleds half as much more light as a faditious gem in fimilar cir- 
 cumftances; to which mud be added its great tranfparency, and the excellent poh'lh it 
 is capable of. The diamond had neverthelefs been placed at the head of cryftals or pre¬ 
 cious ftones by the mineralogifts, till Bergman ranged it of late in the combuflible 
 clafs of bodies, becaufe by the focus of Villette’s burning mirror it was evaporated by 
 a heat not much greater than will melt filver, and gave out light. Mr. Hoepfner how¬ 
 ever thinks the difperfion of the diamond by this great heat Ihould be called a phofpho- 
 refeent evaporation of it, rather than a combuftion; and from its other analogies of 
 cryftallization, hardnefs, tranfparency, and place of its nativity, willies again to re¬ 
 place it amongft the precious flones. Obferv. fur la Phyfiquc, par Rozler, Tom. 
 XXXV. p. 448. See new edition of the Tranflation of Cronfted, by De Cofta. 
 
 Inconjlant Jove. 1. ^29. The purer air or ether in the antient mythology wasrepre- 
 fented by Jupiter, and the inferior air by Juno ; and theconjundion of theft deities was 
 laid to produce the vernal fliowers, and procreate all things, as is further fpoken of in 
 Canto III. I.204. It is npw difeovered that pure air, or oxygene, uniting with variety 
 of bafes forms the various kinds of acids; as the vitriolic acid from pure air and fulohur; 
 Part I. M 
 
[ 82 ] 
 
 Firft her fweet eyes his Eagle-form beguiles, 
 
 And Hebe feeds him with ambrofial fmiles ; 
 
 Next the chang’d God a Cygnet’s down affumes. 
 
 And playful Leda fmooths his gloffy plumes; 
 
 Then glides a filver ferpent, treacherous gueft! 2 3 5 
 
 And fair Olympia folds him in her breaft , 
 
 Now lows a milk-white Bull on Afric s ftrand. 
 
 And crops with dancing head the daify’d land.— 
 
 With rofy wreathes Europa s hand adorns 
 
 His fringed forehead, and his pearly horns; 240 
 
 Light on his back the fportive Damfel bounds, 
 
 And pleafed he moves along the flowery grounds; 
 
 Bears with flow ftep his beauteous prize aloof, 
 
 Dips in the lucid flood his ivory hoof; 
 
 Then wets his velvet knees, and wading laves 245 
 His filky Tides amid the dimpling waves. 
 
 the nitrous acid from pure air and phlogiftic air, or azote; and carbonic actd, (or fixed 
 air ) from pure air and charcoal. Some of thefe affinities were perhaps portrayed by 
 the’ Magi of Egypt, who were probably learned in chemiftry, m their hieroglypl ic 
 piftures before the invention of letters, by the loves of Jupiter with terreftnal ladies. 
 And thus phyfically as well as metaphyfically might be faid “ Jovis omnia plena. 
 
 / 
 
 # 
 
 r* 
 
While her fond train with beckoning hands deplore, 
 Strain their blue eyes, and (hriek along the Ihore ; 
 Beneath her robe (lie draws her fnowy feet, 
 
 And, half-reclining on her ermine feat, 25c 
 
 Round his raifed neck her radiant arms (he throws, 
 And reds her fair cheek on his curled brows ; 
 
 Her yellow trelfes wave on wanton gales, 
 
 And bent in air her azure mantle fails. 
 
 —Onward He moves, applauding Cupids guide, 255 
 And (kim on (hooting wing the (hilling tide ; 
 
 Emerging Tritons leave their coral caves, 
 
 Sound their loud conchs, and fmooth the circling waves, 
 Surround the timorous Beauty, as (he fwims, 
 
 And gaze enamour’d on her filver limbs. 260 
 
 Now Europe’s fhadowy fhorcs with loud acclaim. 
 
 Hail the fair fugitive, and fhout her name ; 
 
 Soft echoes warble, whifpering foreds nod, 
 
 And confcious Nature owns the prefent God. 
 
 Changed from the Bull, the rapturous God a (fumes 
 Immortal youth, with glow celeftial blooms, 266 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 
 M 2 
 
[ 84 ] 
 
 With lenient words her virgin fears difarms, 
 
 And clafps the yielding Beauty in his arms ; 
 
 Whence Kings and Heroes own illuftrious birth, 
 
 Guards of mankind, and demigods on earth. 270 
 
 VII. “ Gnomes ! as you pafs’d beneath the labouring foil, 
 The guards and guides of Nature’s chemic toil, 
 
 You faw, dcep-fepulchred in dufky realms, 
 
 Which Earth’s rock-ribbed ponderous vault o’erwhelms, 
 With felf-born fires the mafs fermenting glow, 275 
 And flame-wing’d fulphurs quit the earths below. 
 
 1. “ Hence du&ile Clays in wide expanfion fpread, 
 Soft as the Cygnet’s down, their fnow-white bed ; 
 
 With felf-born fires* 1 . 275. After the accumulation of plains and mountains on the 
 calcareous rocks or granite which had been previoufly raifed by volcanic fires, a fecond 
 fet of volcanic fires were produced by the fermentation of this new mafs, which af¬ 
 ter the falts or acids and iron had been wafhed away in part by elutriation, diflipated the 
 fulphurous parts which were infoluble in water; whence argillaceous and filiceous 
 earths were left in fome places; in others, bitumen became fublimed to the upper part 
 of the ftratum, producing coals of various degrees of purity. 
 
 Hence duttile clays. 1 . 277. See additional notes, No, XX. 
 
28 o 
 
 [ 85 ] 
 
 With yielding flakes fucceflive forms reveal, 
 
 And change obedient to the whirling wheel. 
 
 Firft China’s fons, with early art elate, 
 
 Form’d the gay tea-pot, and the pictured plate ; 
 
 Saw with illumin’d brow and dazzled eyes 
 In the red ftove vitrefcent colours rife ; 
 
 Speck’d her tall beakers with enamel’d ftars, 285 
 
 Her monfter-jofles, and gigantic jars ; 
 
 Smear’d her huge dragons with metallic hues, 
 
 With golden purples, and cobaltic blues; 
 
 Bade on wide hills her porcelain caftles glare, 
 
 And glazed Pagodas tremble in the air. 2.9 0 
 
 “ Etruria ! next beneath thy magic hands 
 Glides the quick wheel, the plaftic clay expands, 
 
 Saw with illumin'd brew. I. 283. No colour is diftinguifhable in the red-hot kiln 
 but the red itfelf, till the workman introduces a fmall piece of dry wood, which by 
 producing a white flame renders all the other colours vifible in a moment 
 
 IVith golden purples. 1 . 288. See additional notes, No. XXI. 
 
 Etruria 1 next. 1 . 291. Etruria may perhaps vie with China itfelf in the antiquity of 
 its arts. The times of its greateft fplcndour were prior to the foundations of Rome, and 
 
* 
 
 \ 
 
 t 36 ] , . 
 
 Nerved with fine touch, thy fingers (as it turns) 
 
 Mark the nice bounds of vafes, ewers, and urns ; 
 Round each fair form in lines immortal trace 295 
 
 1 
 
 Uncopied Beauty, and ideal Grace. 
 
 “ Gnomes ! as you now difled with hammers fine 
 The pfranite-rock, the nodul’d flint calcine ; 
 
 Grind with ftrong arm, the circling cliertz betwixt, 
 Your pure Ka-o-lins and Pe-tun-tfes mixt; 300 
 
 O’er each red faggar’s burning cave prefide, 
 
 The keen-eyed Fire-Nymphs blazing by your fide; 
 
 the reign of one of its beft princes, Janus, was the oldeft epoch the Romans knew. 
 The earlieft hiftorians fpeak of the Etrufcans as being then of high antiquity, mod 
 probably a colony from Phoenicia, to which a Pelafgian colony acceded, and was united 
 foon after Deucalion’s flood. The peculiar character of their earthen vafes confifts in the 
 admirable beauty, fimplicity, and diverfity of forms, which continue the beft models 
 of tafle to the artifts of the prefent times; and in a fpecies of non-vitreous encauftic 
 painting, which was reckoned, even in the time of Pliny, among the loft arts of an¬ 
 tiquity, but which has lately been recovered by the ingenuity and induftry of Mr. 
 Wedgwood. It is fuppofed that the principal manufactories were about Nola, at the 
 foot of Vefuvius; for it is in that neighbourhood that the greateft quantities of antique 
 vafes have been found; and it is faid that the general tafte of the inhabitants is appa¬ 
 rently influenced by them ; infotnuch that ftrangers coming to Naples, are commonly 
 (truck with the diverfity and elegance even of the moft ordinary vafes for common ufes. 
 See D’Hancarville’s preliminary difeourfes to the magnificent collection of Etrufcan 
 vafes, publifhed by Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 1 
 
[ §7 ] 
 
 And pleafed on Wedgwood ray your partial fmilc, 
 
 A new Etruria decks Britannia’s ille.— 
 
 Charm’d by your touch, the flint liquefcent pours, 305 
 Through finer fieves, and falls in whiter fliowers ; 
 Charm’d by your touch, the kneaded clay refines, 
 
 The bifcuit hardens, the enamel fliines; 
 
 * 
 
 Each nicer mould a fofter feature drinks, 
 
 The bold Cameo fpeaks, the foft Intaglio thinks. 310 
 
 “ To call the pearly drops from Pity’s eye, 
 
 Or flay Defpair’s difanimating figh, 
 
 Whether, O Friend of art! the gem you mould 
 Rich with new tafte, with antient virtue bold; 
 
 Form the poor fetter’d Slave on bended knee 315 
 From Britain’s fons imploring to be free ; 
 
 Form the poor fetter'd Slave. 1. 315 . Alluding to two cameos of Mr. Wedgwood’s 
 mamifafture • one of a Slave in chains, of which he diftnbuted many hundreds, to 
 excite the humane to attend to and to aifift in the abolition of the deteftable traffic m 
 human creatures; and the other a cameo of Hope attended by Peace, and Art, an 
 i “hour; which was made of clay from Botany Bay , to which place he fent many of 
 them tofhew the inhabitants what their materials would do, and to encourage their 
 induftrv A print of this latter medallion is prefixed to Mr. Stockda e s edi ton o 
 Philip s Expedition to Botany Bay, with fome verfes which are inferted at the end of 
 
 the additional notes. 
 
 v 
 
Or with fair Hope the brightening fcenes improve, 
 
 And cheer the dreary waftes at Sydney-cove ; 
 
 Or bid Mortality rejoice and mourn 
 
 O’ er the line forms on Portland’s myflic urn.— 320 
 
 “ Here, by fall’11 columns and disjoin’d arcades, 
 
 On mouldering Hones, beneath deciduous (hades, 
 
 Sits Humankind in hieroglyphic Hate, 
 
 Serious, and pondering on their changeful Hate ; 
 
 While with inverted torch, and fwimming eyes, 325 
 Sinks the fair (hade of Mortal Life, and dies. 
 
 There the pale Ghost through Death’s wide portal bends 
 His timid feet, the dulky fteep defcends; 
 
 With fmiles alfualive Love Divine invites, 
 
 Guides on broad wing, with torch uplifted lights; 330 
 Immortal Life, her hand extending, courts 
 The lingering form, his tottering Hep fupports ; 
 
 Portland*smv/lic urn. 1 . 320. Sec additional notes, No. XXII. 
 
t 89 ] 
 
 Leads on to Pluto’s realms the dreary way, 
 
 And gives him trembling to Elyfian day. 
 Beneath , in facred robes the Priestess drefs’d, 
 The coif clofe-hooded, and the fluttering veff, 
 With pointing finger guides the initiate youth, 
 Unweaves the many-colour’d veil of Truth, 
 Dri\es the profane from Myflery’s bolted door, 
 
 # > ^ Vi 1 i * A - * > . \ 1 , V . 
 
 And Silence guards the Eleufinian lore.— 
 
 •' r . fll •; 
 
 “ Whether, O Friend of Art! your gems derive 
 Fine forms from Greece, and fabled Gods revive; 
 Or bid from modern life the Portrait breathe, 
 
 And bind round Honour s brow the laurel wreath £ 
 Buoyant fliall fail, with Fame’s hifloric page, 
 
 Each fair medallion o’er the wrecks of age; 
 
 Fine forms from Greece. 1. 342. In real ftones, or in pafte or foft coloured glafs, many 
 pieces of exquifite workmanfhip were produced by the antients. Baflo-relievos of various 
 iizes were made in coarfe brown earth of one colour; but of the improved kind of two 
 or more colours, and of a true porcelain texture, none were made by the antients, nor 
 attempted, I believe, by the moderns, before thofc of Mr. Wedgwood’s manufactory. 
 Part I. N 
 
[ 9° 3 
 
 Nor Time {hall mar; nor Steel, nor Fire, nor Ruft 
 Touch the hard polifli of the immortal buft. 
 
 2. t( Hence {able Coal his mafiy couch extends, 
 
 And ftars of gold the fparkling Pyrite blends j 35 c 
 Hence dull-eyed Naphtha pours his pitchy dreams, 
 
 And Jet uncolour’d drinks the folar beams. 
 
 Bright Amber Ihines on his electric throne. 
 
 And adds ethereal luftres to his own. 
 
 —Led by the phofphor-light, with daring tread 255 
 Immortal Franklin fought the fiery bed; 
 
 Hencefahle Coal . 1 . 34.9. See additional notes, No. XXIII. on coal. 
 
 Bright Amlerjhines . 1 . 353. Coal has probably all been fublimed more or lefs from 
 the clay, with which it was at firft formed in decompofing morafles; the petroleum feems 
 to have been feparated and condenfed again in fuperior flrata, and a (till finer kind of oil, 
 as naphtha, has probably had the fame origin. Some of thefe liquid pils have again loft 
 their more volatile parts, and become cannel-coal, afphaltum, jet, and amber, according 
 to the purity of the original foflil oil .Dr. Prieflley has {hewn, that eflential oils long ex- 
 pofed to the atmofphere abforb both the vital and phlogiftic part of it; whence it is pro¬ 
 bable their becoming folid may in great meafure depend, as well as by the exhalation of 
 their more volatile parts. On diftillation with volatile alcaly all thefe foflil oils are (hewn 
 to contain the acid of amber,, which evinces the identity of their origin. If a piece of 
 amber be rubbed it attrafts {{raws and hairs, whence the difeovery of eleftricity, and 
 whence its name, from ele&ron the Greek word for amber. 
 
 Immortal Franklin . 1 . 356. See note on Canto I. 1 . 383. 
 
Where, nurfed in night, incumbent Temped: fhrouds 
 His embryon Thunders in circumfluent clouds, 
 
 Befieged with iron points their airy cell, 
 
 And pierced the monfters flumbering in the fheli. 360 
 
 “ So, bom on founding pinions to the West, 
 
 When Tyrant-Power had built his eagle nefl:; 
 
 While from his eyry fhriek’d the famifh’d brood, 
 
 Clenched their fliarp claws, and champ’d their beaks for blood, 
 Immortal Franklin watch’d the callow crew, 365 
 And ftabb’d the ftruggling Vampires, ere they flew. 
 
 —The patriot-flame with quick contagion ran, 
 
 Hill lighted hill, and man ele&rifed man; 
 tier heroes flain awhile Columbia mourn’d, 
 
 And crown’d with laurels Liberty return’d. 370 
 
 “ The Warrior, Liberty, with bending fails 
 Helm’d his bold courfe to fair Hibernia’s vales ;— 
 
 Firm as he fleps along the fhouting lands, 
 
 Lo ! Truth and Virtue range their radiant bands; 
 
375 ' 
 
 U 
 
 [ 92 ] 
 
 Sad Superftition wails her empire torn, 
 
 Art plies his oar, and Commerce pours her horn, 
 
 “ Long had the Giant-form on Gallia’s plains 
 Inglorious flept, unconfcious of his chains ; 
 
 Round his large limbs were wound a thoufand firings 
 
 By the weak hands of Confeffors 
 O’ ’er his clofed eyes a triple veil was bound, 
 And fteely rivets lock’d him to the ground ; 
 While Item Baftile with iron cage inthralls 
 His folded limbs, and hems in marble walls. 
 
 —Touch’d by the patriot-flame, he rent amazed 
 
 385 
 
 The flimfy bonds, and round and round him gazed ; 
 
 While ftern Baftile . 1 . 383. We defcended with great difficulty into the dungeons, 
 which were made too low for our Handing upright; and were fo dark, that we were 
 obliged at noon-day to vifit them by the light of a candle. We faw the hooks of thofc 
 chains, by which the prifoners were fattened by their necks to the walls of their cells 
 many of which being below the level of the water were in a conftant Hate of humidity ; 
 from which iffiied a noxious vapour, which more than once extinguifhed the candles. 
 Since the deftru&ion of the building many fubterraneous cells have been difeovered un¬ 
 der a piece of ground, which feemed only a bank of folid earth before the horrid fecrets 
 of this prifon-houfe were difclofcd. Some fkeletons wxre found in thefc recedes with irons 
 Hill fattened to their decayed bones.” Letters from France, by H. M. Williams, p. 24, 
 
 
Starts up from earth, above the admiring throng 
 Lifts his Coloffal form, and towers along ; 
 
 High o’er his foes his hundred arms He rears, 
 
 Plowfhares his fwords, and pruning hooks his fpears; 390 
 
 Calls to the Good and Brave with voice, that rolls 
 
 Like Heaven’s own thunder round 
 
 Gives to the winds his banner broad unfurl’d, 
 
 And gathers in its fhade the living world ! 
 
 VIII. “ Gnomes! you then taught Volcanic Airs to force 
 Through bubbling Lavas their refiftlefs courfe, 396 
 O’er the broad walls of rifted Granite climb, 
 
 And pierce the rent roof of incumbent Lime, 
 
 And pierce the rent roof, I. 398. The granite rocks and the limeftone rocks have been 
 cracked to very great depths at the time they were raifed up by fubterranean fires; in 
 thefe cracks are found molt of the metallic ores, except iron and perhaps manganefe, 
 rhe former of which is generally found in horizontal (Irata, and the latter generally near 
 the ftirface of the earth. 
 
 Philofophers poflefting fo convenient a teft for the difcovcry of iron by the magnet, 
 have long fincc found it in all vegetable and animal matters; and of late Mr. Scheele has 
 difcovered the exiftence of manganefe in vegetable afhes. Scheele, 56 mem. Stock. 
 1774. ICirvvan. Min. 353. Which accounts for the production of it near the furface 
 of the earth, and thence for its calciform appearance, or union with vital air. Bergman has 
 likewife (hewn, that the limcftones which become bluifh or dark coloured when calcined,/ 
 
[ 
 
 a 
 
 94 ] 
 
 Round fparry caves metallic luftres fling, 
 
 And bear Phlogifton on tlieir tepid wing. 400 
 
 poflefs a mixture of manganefe, and are thence preferable as a cement to other kinds of 
 lime. 2. Bergman, 229. Which impregnation with manganefe has probably been re¬ 
 ceived from the decompofition of fuperincumbent vegetable matters. 
 
 Thefe cracks or perpendicular caverns in the granite or limeftone pafs to unknown 
 depths ; and it is up thefe channels that I have endeavoured to fhew that the fleam rifes 
 ^vhich becomes afterwards condenfed, and produces the warm fprings of this ifland, and 
 other parts of the world. (See note on Fucus, Vol. II.) And up thefe cracks I fuppofe 
 certain vapours arife, which either alone, or by meeting w'ith fomething defeending into 
 them from above, have produced mod of the metals; and feveral of the materials in 
 which they are bedded. Thus the ponderous earth, Barytes, of Derbylhire, is found in 
 thefe cracks, and is ftratified frequently with lead-ore, and frequently furrounds it. This 
 ponderous earth has been found by Dr. Hoepfner in a granite in Switzerland, and may 
 have thus been fublimed from immenfe depths by great heat, and have obtained its car¬ 
 bonic or vitriolic acid from above. Annales de Chimie. There is alfo reafon to con¬ 
 clude that fomething from above is neceflary to the formation of many of the metals: at 
 Hawkftone in Shropfhire, the feat of Sir Richard Hill, there is an elevated rock of fill- 
 ceous fand w'hich is coloured green with copper in many places high in the air; and I 
 have in my pofleflion a fpecimen of lead formed in the cavity of an iron nodule, and 
 another of lead amid fpar from a crack of a coal-ftratum; all which countenance the 
 modern produdion of thofe metals from defeending materials. To which fliould be 
 added, that the higheft mountains of granite, which have therefore piobably never been 
 covered with marine produ&ions on account of their early elevation, nor with vegetable 
 or animal matters on account of their great coldnefs, contain no metallic ores, whilft 
 the lower ones contain copper and tin in their cracks or veins, both in Saxony, Silefia, 
 and Cornwall. Kirwan’s Mineral, p. 374. 
 
 The tranfmutation of one metal into another, though hitherto undifeovered by the 
 alchymifts, does not appear impollible ; fuch tranfmutations have been luppofed to exift 
 in nature, thus lapis calaminaris may have been produced from the deflrw&ion of lead-ore, 
 as it is generally found on the top of the veins of lead, where it has been calcined or 
 united w ith air, and becaufe malfes of lead-ore are often found intirely inclofed in it. 
 So lilver is found mixed in almofl all lead-ores, and fometimes in feparate filaments 
 within the cavities of lead ore, as I am informed by Mr. Michell, and is thence pro¬ 
 bably a partial tranfmutation of the lead to filver, the rapid progrefs of modern che- 
 miflry having fhewn the analogy between metallic calces and acids, may lead to the 
 power of tranfmuting their bafes : a difeovery much to be w ilhed. 
 
“ Hence glow, refulgent Tin ! thy cryftal grains, 
 And tawny Copper fhoots her azure veins; 
 
 Zinc lines his fretted vault with fable ore, 
 
 And dull Galena teflellates the floor ; 
 
 On vermil beds in Idria’s mighty caves 405 
 
 The living Silver rolls its ponderous waves; 
 
 With gay refratftions bright Platina fhines, 
 
 And ftuds with fquander’d ftars his duiky mines; 
 
 Long threads of netted gold, and filvery darts, 
 
 Inlay the Lazuli, and pierce the Quartz ;— 410 
 
 —Whence roof’d with filver beam’d Peru, of old, 
 
 And haplefs Mexico was paved with gold. 
 
 “ Heavens! on my fight what fanguine colours blaze • 
 Spain’s deathlefs fliame ! the crimes of modern days I 
 When Avarice, flirouded in Religion’s robe, 415 
 
 Sail’d to the Weft, and flaughter’d half the globe; 
 While Superftition, ftalking by his fide, 
 
 Mock’d the loud groan, and lap’d the bloody tide ; 
 
[ 96 ] 
 
 For facred truths announced her frenzied dreams, 
 
 And turn’d to night the fun’s meridian beams.- 4 2 ° 
 
 Hear, oh, Britannia ! potent Queen of ifles, 
 
 On whom fair Art, and meek Religion fmiles, 
 
 Now Afric’s coafts thy craftier fons invade, 
 
 And Theft and Murder take the garb of Trade! 
 
 —The Slave, in chains, on fupplieating knee, 425 
 Spreads his wide arms, and lifts his eyes to Thee ; 
 
 With hunger pale, with wounds and toil opprefs’d, 
 
 “ Are we not Brethren ?” forrow choaks the reft ; 
 
 —Air ! hear to heaven upon thy azure flood 
 
 Their innocent cries !- Earth ! cover not their blood! 
 
 IX. “ When Heaven’s dread juftice fmites in crimes 
 o’ergrown 431 
 
 The blood-nurfed Tyrant on his purple throne, 
 
 / 
 
 Gnomes ! your bold forms unnumber’d arms outftretch, 
 And urge the vengeance o’er the guilty wretch.— 
 
435 
 
 l 97 3 
 
 T-hus when Cambyses led his barbarous hofts 
 
 i 
 
 From Perfia s rocks to Egypt’s trembling coafts, 
 Defiled each hallowed fane, and facred wood. 
 
 And, drunk with fury, fwell’d the Nile with blood ; 
 Waved his proud banner o’er the Theban dates, 
 
 And pour’d deftru&ion through her hundred gates ; 440 
 In dread divifions march’d the marfhal’d bands, 
 
 And fwarming armies blackened all the lands, 
 
 By Memphis thefe to Ethiop’s fultry plains, 
 
 And thofe to Hammon’? fand-incircled fanes.— 
 
 Slow as they pafs’d, the indignant Temples frown’d, 445 
 Low curfes muttering from the vaulted ground ; 
 
 Long ailes of Cyprefs waved their deepen’d glooms, 
 
 And quivering fpedtres grinn’d amid the tombs ; 
 Prophetic whifpers breathed from Sphinx’s tongue, 
 
 And Memnon’s lyre with hollow murmurs rung ; 450 
 
 Thus when Cambyfes . 1. 435 * Cambyfesinarched one army from Thebes, after having 
 overturned the temples, ravaged the country, and deluged it with blood, to fubdue 
 Ethiopia; this army almoft perilhed by famine, infomuch, that they repeatedly flew 
 every tenth man to fupply the remainder with food. He fern another army to plunder 
 the temple of Jupiter Ammon, which perifhed, overwhelm’d with fand. 
 
 Part I. O 
 
[ 98 3 
 
 Burft from each pyramid expiring groans, 
 
 And darker fhadows flretch’d their lengthen’d cones. 
 
 Day after day their deathful rout They fleer, 
 
 Lull in the van, and Rapine in the rear. 
 
 “ Gnomes ! as they march’d, You hid the gather d fruits, 
 The bladed grafs, fweet grains, and mealy roots; 456 
 
 Scared the tired quails, that journey’d o’er their heads. 
 Retain’d the locufts in their earthy beds; 
 
 Bade 011 your fands no night-born dews diflil, 
 
 Stay’d with vindictive hands the fcanty rill.- 460 
 
 Loud o’er the camp the Fiend of Famine fhrieks, 
 
 Calls all her brood, and champs her hundred beaks; 
 
 Expiring groans. 1 . 451. Mr. Savery or Mr. Volney in his Travels through 
 Egypt has given a curious defcription of one of the pyramids, with the operofe method 
 of clofing them, and immuring the body, (as they fuppofed) for fix thoufand years. 
 And has endeavoured from thence to (hew, that, when a monarch died, feveral of his 
 favourite courtiers were inclofed alive with the mummy in thefe great mafles of (tone- 
 work; and had food and water conveyed to them, as long as they lived, proper aper¬ 
 tures being left for this purpofe, and for the admiflion of air, and for the exclufion of 
 any thing offenfive. 3 
 
C 99 1 
 
 O’er ten fquare leagues her pennons broad expand, 
 
 And twilight fwims upon the fhuddering fand; 
 
 Perch’d on her creft the Griffin Difcord clings, 465 
 And Giant Murder rides between her wings; 
 
 Blood from each clotted hair, and horny quill, 
 
 And {bowers of tears in blended ftreams diffil; 
 
 High poifed in air her fpiry neck ffie bends, 
 
 Rolls her keen eye, her dragon-claws extends, 470 
 Darts from above, and tears at each fell fwoop 
 With iron fangs the decimated troop. 
 
 1 C Now o’er their head the whizzing whirlwinds breathe, 
 And the live defert pants, and heaves beneath ; 
 
 Tinged by the crimfon fun, vaft columns rife 475 
 Of eddying fands, and war amid the Ikies, 
 
 In red arcades the billowy plain furround, 
 
 And whirling turrets ftalk along the ground. 
 
 And whirling turrets. 1 . 478. “ At one o’clock tve alighted among feme acacict trees 
 
 at Waadi el Halboub, having gone twenty-one miles. We were hercat once furprifed 
 and terrified by a fight furely one of the moft magnificent in the world. In that vafl expanfe 
 of defert, from W. to N. W. of us, we faw a number of prodigious pillars of fand 
 at different diftances. at times moving with great celerity, at others flalking on with a 
 
 O 2 
 
[ 100 ] 
 
 —Long ranks in vain their Alining blades extend, 
 
 To Demon-Gods their knees unhallow’d bend. 480 
 Wheel in wide circle, form in hollow fquare, 
 
 And now they front, and now they fly the war, 
 
 Pierce the deaf tempefl: with lamenting cries, 
 
 Prefs their parch’d lips, and clofe their blood-fhot eyes. 
 
 majeftic flownefs; at intervals we thought they were coming in a very few minutes to 
 overwhelm us; and fmall quantities of fand did a&ually more than once reach us. 
 Again they would retreat fo as to be almoft out of fight, their tops reaching to the very 
 clouds. There the tops often feparated from the bodies; and thefe, once disjoined, 
 difperfed in the air, and did not appear more. Sometimes they were broken in the middle, 
 as if (truck with large cannon-fhot. About noon they began to advance with confide- 
 rabie fwiftnefs upon us, the wind being very ftrong at north. Eleven of them ranged 
 along fide of us about the difiance of three miles. The greateft diameter of the largeft 
 appeared to me at that difiance as if it would meafure ten feet. They retired from us 
 with a wind at S. E. leaving an impreflion upon my mind to which I can give no name, 
 though furely one ingredient in it was fear, with a confiderable deal of wonder and 
 afionifhment. It was in vain to think of flying; the fwifteft horfe, or faftefi failing 
 (hip, could be of no ufe to carry us out of this danger - y and the full perfuafion of this 
 riveted me as if to the fpot where I flood. 
 
 The fame appearance of moving pillars of fand prefented themfelves to us this 
 day in form and difpofition like thofe we had feen at Waad Halboub, only they feemed 
 to be more in number and lefs in fize. They came feveral times in a diredion clofe 
 upon us, that is, I believe, within lefs than two miles. They began immediately after 
 fun rife, like a thick wood and almoft darkened the fun. His rays (hining through 
 them for near an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire. Our people now 
 became defperate, the Greeks flirieked out and faid it was the day of judgement; Ifmaei 
 pronounced it to be hell; and the Turcorories, that the world was on fire.” Bruce’s 
 Travels, Vol. IV. p. 553,-555. 
 
 From this account it would appear, that the eddies of w ind were owing to the long 
 range of broken rocks, which bounded one fide of the fandy defert, and bent the cur¬ 
 rents of air, which (truck againft their fides; and were thus like the eddies in a dream 
 
 
[ IOI 3 
 
 —Gnomes ! o’er the wafte you led your myriad powers. 
 Climb d ontne whirls, and aim’d the flinty .lliowers! 486 
 Onward refiftlefs rolls the infuriate furge, 
 
 Clouds follow clouds, and mountains mountains urge; 
 Wave over wave the driving defert fwims, 
 
 Burfts o’er their heads, inhumes their,draggling limbs ; 
 Man mounts on man, on camels camels rufh, 4^1 
 Hoils march o’er hods, and nations nations crufb,— 
 Wheeling in air the winged iflands fall. 
 
 And one great earthy Ocean covers all!_ 
 
 Then ceafed the dorm,— Night bow’d his Ethiop brow 
 
 To earth, and liden’d to the groans below,_ 496 
 
 Grim Horror {hook,—awhile the living hill 
 Heaved with convulfive throes,—and all was hill! 
 
 X. “ Gnomes ! whofe fine forms, impaffive as the air, 
 Shrink with foft fympathy for human care ; 500 
 
 of water, which falls againft oblique obflacles. This explanation is probably the true 
 one, asthefe whirl-winds were not attended with rain or lightening likethe tornadoes 
 of the Weft-Indies. 
 
C 102 ] 
 
 Who glide unfeen, on printlefs flippers borne, 
 
 Beneath the waving grafs, and nodding corn ; 
 
 Or lay your tiny limbs, when noon-tide warms, 
 
 Where fhadowy Cowflips ftretch their golden arms,— 
 
 So, mark’d on orreries in lucid figns, 5°5 
 
 Starr’d with bright points the mimic zodiac {bines ; 
 
 Borne on fine wires amid the pi£tured {kies 
 With ivory orbs the planets fet and rife ; 
 
 Round the dwarf earth the pearly moon is roll d, 
 
 And the fun twinkling whirls his rays of gold— 510 
 
 ✓ 
 
 Call your bright myriads, march your mailed hofts, 
 
 With fpears and helmets glittering round the coafts ; 
 
 Thick as the hairs, which rear the Lion’s mane, 
 
 Or fringe the Boar, that bays the hunter-train ; 
 
 Watch, where proud Surges break their treacherous mounds, 
 And fwecp refiftlcfs o’er the cultur’d grounds ; 516 
 
 Such as ere while, impell d o er Belgia s plain, 
 
 Roll’d her rich ruins to the infatiate Main ; 
 
 So marl'd on orreries. 1. 505. The firft orrery was conftruaed by a Mr. Rowley, a 
 mathematician born at Lichfield; and fo named from his patron the Earl of Orrery. 
 John forks Di&ionary. 
 
With piles and piers the ruffian Waves engage, 
 And bid indignant Ocean flay his rage. 
 
 5 20 
 
 u Where, girt with clouds, the rifted Mountain yawns, 
 And chills with length of Iliade the gelid lawns, 
 
 Climb the rude fteeps, the granite-cliffs furround. 
 Pierce with fteel points, with wooden wedges wound; 
 
 volcanic 
 
 Or melt with acid airs the marble craggs ; 
 
 Crown the green fummits with adventurous flocks, 
 And charm with novel flowers the wondering Rocks. 
 
 The granite-cliff's. I. 523. On long expofure to air the granites or porphories of this 
 country exhibit a ferruginous cruft, the iron being calcined by the air firft becomes- 
 vifible, and is then waftied away from the external fiirface,. which becomes white or 
 grey, and thus in time feems to decompofe. The marbles feem to decompofe by loof- 
 rng their carbonic acid, as the outfide, which has been long expofed to the air, does 
 not feem to effervefee fo haftily with acids as the parts more recently broken. The 
 rmmenfe quantity of carbonic acid, which exifts in the many provinces of lime-ftone,. 
 if it was extricated and decompofed would afford charcoal enough for fuel for ages, or 
 for the produ&ionof new vegetable or animal bodies. The volcanic flaggs on Mount 
 Vefuvius are faid by M. Ferber to be changed into clay by means of the fulphur-acid,. 
 and even pots made of clay and burnt or vitrified are faid by him to be again reducible 
 to du£tile clay by the volcanic (teams. Ferber’s Travels through Italy, p. 166. 
 
 JVooden wedges wound. 1. 524. It is ufual in feparating large miH-ftones from the* 
 fdiceous fand-rocks in fome parts of Derbyfhire to bore horizontal holes under them in: 
 a circle, and fill thefe with pegs made of dry wood, which gradually fwell by the moiC- 
 tuxe of the earth, and in a day or two lift up the mill-ftone without breaking It. 
 
C 104 ] 
 
 —So when proud Rome the Afric Warrior braved, 
 
 And high on Alps his crimfon banner waved; 530 
 
 While Rocks on Rocks their beetling brows oppofe 
 With piny forefls, and unfathom’d knows ; 
 
 Onward lie march’d, to Latium’s velvet ground 
 With fires and acids burft the obdurate bound, 
 
 Wide o’er the weeping Vales dcftru&ion hurl’d, 535 
 And fiiook the rifing empire of the world. 
 
 XI. “ Go, gentle Gnomes ! refume your vernal toil, 
 Seek my chill tribes, which fleep- beneath the foil; 
 
 On grey-mofs banks, green meads, or furrow’d lands 
 Spread the dark mould, white lime, and crumbling fands; 
 
 lyith fires and acids . 1 . 534. Hannibal was faid to erode his way over the Alps by 
 fire and vinegar. The latter is fuppofed to allude to the vinegar and water which was 
 the beverage of his army. In refpeft to the former it is not improbable, but where 
 wood was to be had in great abundance, that fires made round lime-ftone precipices 
 would calcine them to a conliderable depth, the night-dews or mountain-mills would 
 penetrate thefe calcined pans and pulverize them by the force of the fleam which the 
 generated heat would produce, the winds would difperfe this lime-powder, and thus by 
 repeated fires a precipice of lime-flone might Be deftroyed and a paflage opened. It 
 fliould be added, that according to Ferber’s oblcrvations, thefe Alps confift of lime- 
 n?. Fetters from Italy. 
 
5 4 i 
 
 [ I0 s 3 
 
 Each burfling bud with healthier juices feed, 
 
 Emerging fcion, or awaken’d feed. 
 
 So, in defending dreams, the filver Chyle 
 Streaks with white clouds the golden floods of Bile ; 
 Through each nice valve the mingling currents glide, 54 s 
 Join their fine rills, and fwell the fanguine tide; 
 
 Each countlefs cell, and viewlefs fibre feek, 
 
 Nerve the flrong arm, and tinge the blufhing cheek. 
 
 “ Oh, watch, where bofom’d in the teeming earth, 
 ■Green fwells the germ, impatient for its birth; 550 
 Guard from rapacious w r orms its tender flioots, 
 
 And drive the mining beetle from its roots; 
 
 With ceafelefs efforts rend the obdurate clay. 
 
 And give my vegetable babes to day ! 
 
 —Thus when an Angel-form, in light array’d, 555 
 Like Howard pierced the prifon’s noifome lhade; 
 Where chain’d to earth, with eyes to heaven upturn’d, 
 The kneeling Saint in holy anguifli mourn’d ;— 
 
560 
 
 [ io6 ] 
 
 Ray’d from his lucid veft, and halo’d brow 
 O’er the dark roof celeftial luftres glow, 
 
 « Peter, arife!” with cheering voice He calls. 
 
 And founds feraphic echo round the walls; 
 
 Locks, bolts, and chains his potent touch obey,, 
 
 And pleafed he leads the exulting Sage to day. 
 
 XII. “ You! whofe fine fingers fill the organic cells* 
 With virgin earth, of woods and bones and fliells ; 566 
 Mould with retradile glue their fpongy beds, 
 
 And flrctch and ftrengthen all their fibre-threads.— 
 
 Late when the mafs obeys its changeful doom, 
 
 And finks to earth, its cradle and its tomb, 570 
 
 Mould with rctraftile glue. L 567. The conftituent parts of animal fibres are believed 
 to be earth and gluten. Thefe do not feparate except by long putrefa&ion or by fire. 
 The earth then effervefees with acids, and can only be converted into glafs by the greateft 
 force of fire. The gluten has continued united with the earth of the bones above 2000 
 years in Egyptian mummies; but by long expofure to air or moifture it diffolves and 
 leaves only the earth. Hence bones long buried, when expofed to the air, abforb moif¬ 
 ture and crumble into powder; Phil. Tranf. No. 475. The retra&ibility or elaftkity 
 of the animal fibre depends on the gluten ; and of thefe fibres are compofed the mem¬ 
 branes, mufcles, and bones. Haller. Phyfiol. Tom. I. p. 2, 
 
 For the chemical decompofition of animal and vegetable bodies fee the ingenious 
 work of Lavoifier, Traite de Chimie, Tom. I. p. 132. who rcfolves all their compo¬ 
 nent parts into oxygene, hydrogene, carbone, and azote, the three former of which 
 belong principally to vegetable, and the laft to animal matter. 
 
Gnomes ! with nice eye the flow fohition watch, 
 
 With foftering hand the parting atoms catch, 
 
 Join in new forms, combine with life and fenfe, 
 
 And guide and guard the tranfmigrating Ens. 
 
 " So when on Lebanon’s fequeller’d bight 575 
 
 The fair Adonis left the realms of light, 
 
 The tranfmigrating Ens. 1 . 574. The perpetual circulation of matter in th t growth 
 and diflblution of vegetable and animal bodies feems to have given Pythagoras his idea 
 of the metempfycofis or tranfmigration of fpirit ; which was afterwards drefTed out or 
 ridiculed in variety of amufing fables. Other philofophershavc fuppofed, that there are 
 two different materials or efTences, which fill the univerfe. One of thefe, which has the 
 power of commencing or producing motion, is called fpirit; the other, which has the 
 power of receiving and of communicating motion, but not of beginning it, is called 
 matter. The former of thefe is fuppofed to be diffufed through all fpace, filling up the 
 interfaces of the funs and planets, and conflituting the gravitations of the fidereal bodies, 
 the attractions of chemiflry, with the fpirit of vegetation, and of animation. The latter 
 occupies comparatively but fmall fpace, conflituting the folid parts of the fun and 
 planets, and their atmofpheres. Hence thefe philofophers have fuppofed, that both 
 matter and fpirit are equally immortal and unperifhable ; and that on the diffolution of 
 vegetable or animal organization, the matter returns to the general mafsof matter; and 
 the fpirit to the general mafs of fpirit, to enter again into new combinations, according 
 to the original idea of Pythagoras. 
 
 The fmall apparent quantity of matter that exifls in the univerfe compared to that of 
 fpirit, and the fliort time in which the recrements of animal or vegetable bodies become 
 again vivified in the forms of vegetable mucor or microfcopic infe&s, feems to have given 
 rife to another curious fable of antiquity. That Jupiter threw down a large handful of 
 fouls upon the earth, and left them to feramblc for the few bodies which were to be had. 
 
 Adonis. 1 . 576. The very antient (lory of the beautiful Adonis palling one half of 
 the year with Venus, and the other with Proferpine alternately, has had variety ol 
 
 P 2 
 
C 108 ] 
 
 Bow’d his bright locks, and, fated from his birth 
 To change eternal, mingled with the earth;— 
 
 With darker horror (hook the confcious wood, 
 
 Groan’d the fad gales, and rivers blufh’d with blood ; 
 On cyprefs-boughs the Loves their quivers hung, 581 
 Their arrows fcatter’d, and their bows unftrung ; 
 
 And Beauty’s Goddess, bending o’er his bier, 
 
 Breathed the foft ligh, and pour’d the tender tear.— 
 Admiring Proserpine through dulky glades 585 
 
 Led the fair phantom to Elyfian fhades, 
 
 interpretations. Some have fuppofed that it allegorized the fummer and winter folffice, 
 but this feems too obvious a fa& to have needed an hieroglyphic emblem. Others have 
 believed it to reprefent the corn, which was fuppofed to deep in the earth during the 
 winter months, and to rife out of it in fummer. This does not accord with the cli¬ 
 mate of Egypt, where the harveft foon follows the feed-time. 
 
 It feems more probably to have been a (lory explaining fome hieroglyphic figures re- 
 prefenting the decompofition and refufeitation of animal matter; a fublime and intereft- 
 ing fubjeft, and which feems to have given origin to the do&rine of tranlmigration, 
 which had probably its birth alfo from the hieroglyphic treafures of Egypt. It is re¬ 
 markable that the cyprefs groves in the antient Greek writers, as in Theocritus, were 
 dedicated to Venus ; and afterwards became funeral emblems. Which was probably 
 occafioned by the Cyprefs being an accompaniment of Venus in the annual proceflions, 
 in which ihe was fuppofed to lament over the funeral of Adonis; a ceremony which 
 obtained over all the caftern world from great antiquity, and is fuppofed to be referred 
 to by Ezekiel, who accufes the idolatrous woman of weeping for Thammus. 
 

 [ >®9 1 
 
 Clad with new form, with finer fenfe combined, 
 
 And lit with purer flame the ethereal mind. 
 
 —Erewhile, emerging from infernal night, 
 
 The bright Aflurgent rifes into light,. 590 
 
 Leaves the drear chambers of the infatiate tomb, 
 
 And fhines and charms with renovated bloom.— 
 
 While wondering Loves the burfting grave furround. 
 And edge with meeting wings the yawning ground, 
 Stretch their fair necks, and leaning o’er the brink 595 
 View the pale regions of the dead, and (brink; 
 
 Long with broad eyes ecftatic Beauty ftands, 
 
 Heaves her white bofom, fprcads her waxen hands; 
 Then with loud fliriek the panting Youth alarms, 
 u My Life! my Love!” and fprings into his arms.” 600 
 
 The Goddess ceafed,-the delegated throng 
 
 O’er the wide plains delighted rufli along; 
 
 In dulky fquadrons, and in Alining groups, 
 
 Hofts follow hofts, and troops fucceed to troops; 
 
r 
 
 [ no ] 
 
 Scarce tears the bending grafs the moving freight, 605 
 And nodding florets bow beneath their weight. 
 
 So when light clouds on airy pinions fail, 
 
 Flit the foft fliadows o’er the waving vale ; 
 
 Shade follows fhade, as laughing Zephyrs drive, 
 
 And all the chequer’d landfcape feems alive. 61 o 
 
 \ 
 
 Zephyrs drive. I. 609. Thefe lines were originally written thus. 
 
 Shade follows fhade by laughing Zephyrs drove. 
 
 And all the chequer’d landfcape feems to move. 
 
 but were altered on account of the fuppofed falfe grammar in ufing the word drove for 
 driven, according to the ©pinion of Dr. Lowth : at the fame time it may be obfcrved, 
 1. that this is in many cafes only an ellipfis of the letter n at the end of the word ; as 
 froze, for frozen ; wove, for woven ; fpoke, for fpoken ; and that then the participle 
 accidentally becomes fimilar to the part tenfe : 2. that the language feems gradually tend- 
 ing to omit the letter n in other kind of words for the fake of euphony; as houfen is 
 become houfes ; eyne, eyes; thine, thy, &c. and in common converfation, the words 
 forgot, fpoke, froze, rode, are frequently ufed for forgotten, fpoken, frozen, ridden. 
 3. It does not appear that any confufion would follow the indiferiminate ufe of the fame 
 word for the pall tenfe and the participle paflive, lince the auxiliary verb have, or the 
 preceding noun or pronoun always clearly diftinguifhes them : and laftly, rhyme-poetry 
 mud lofe the ufe of many elegant words without this licenfe. 
 
Argument of the Third Canto. 
 
 Address to the Nymphs. I. Steam riles from the ocean, 
 floats in clouds, defcends in rain and dew, or is condenfed on hills, 
 produces fprings, and rivers, and returns to the fea. So the blood 
 circulates through the body and returns to the heart, n. II. i. 
 Tides, 57. 2. Echinus, nautilus, pinna, cancer. Grotto of a mer¬ 
 maid. 65. 3. Oil ftills the waves. Coral rocks. Ship-worm, or 
 
 Teredo. Maelftrome, a whirlpool on the coaft of Norway. 85. 
 Ilf. Rivers from beneath the fnovvs on the Alps. The Tiber. 103. 
 IV. Overflowing of the Nile from African Monfoons, 129. V. 1. 
 Giefar, a boiling fountain in Iceland, deftroycd by inundation, and 
 confequent earthquake, 145. 2. Warm medicinal fprings. Bux¬ 
 
 ton. Duke and Duchefs of Devonlhire. 157. VI. Combination 
 of vital air and inflammable gas produces water. Which is another 
 fource of fprings and rivers. Allegorical loves of Jupiter and Juno 
 productive of vernal Ihowers. 201. VII. Aquatic Tafle. Diflant 
 murmur of the fea by night. Sea-horle. Nereid tinging. 261. 
 VIII. The Nymphs of the river Derwent lament the death of Mrs. 
 French, 297. IX. Inland navigation. Monument for Mr. Brind¬ 
 ley, 341. X. Pumps explained. Child fucking. Mothers exhorted 
 to nurfe their children. Cherub fleeping. 365. XI. Engines for 
 extinguifhing fire. Story of two lovers perifhing in the flames. 397. 
 XII. Charities of Mifs Jones, 447. XIII. Marfhes drained. Hercu¬ 
 les conquers Achelous. The horn of Plenty. 483. XIV. Showers. 
 
ECONOMY OF VEGETATION. 
 
 CANTO III. 
 
 AGAIN the Goddess fpeaks!—glad Echo fwells 
 Hie tuneful tones along her fhadowy dells, 
 
 Her wrinkling founts with foft vibration /hakes. 
 Curls her deep wells, and rimples all her lakes, 
 
 I brills each wide bream, Britannia’s ifle that laves, 
 Iier headlong cataradts, and circumfluent waves. 
 
[ 114 ] 
 
 —Thick as the dews, which deck the morning flowers. 
 Or rain-drops twinkling in the fun-bright fhowers, 
 
 Fair Nymphs, emerging in pellucid bands. 
 
 Rife, as fhe turns, and whiten all the lands. 10 
 
 I. “ Your buoyant troops on dimpling ocean ticad, 
 
 Wafting the moift air from his oozy bed, 
 
 Aquatic Nymphs!—you lead with viewlefs march 
 The winged Vapours up the aerial arch, 
 
 On each broad cloud a thoufand fails expand, 15 
 
 And fleer the fhadowy treafure o er the land, 
 
 The winged vapours. 1 . 14. See additional note, No. XXV. on evaporation. 
 
 On each broad cloud. 1 . 15. The clouds confid of condenfed vapour, the particles of 
 which are too fmall feparately to overcome the tenacity of the air, and which therefore 
 do not defcend. They are in fuch fmall fpheres as to repel each other, that is, they 
 are applied to each other by fuch very fmall furfaces, that the attraaion of the particles 
 of each drop to its own centre is greater than its attraaion to the furface of the drop in 
 its vicinity ; every one has obferved with what difficulty fmall fpherules of quickfilver 
 can be made to unite, owing to the fame caufe; and it is common to fee on riding through 
 (hallow water on a clear day, numbers of very fmall fpheres of water as they are thrown 
 from the horfe’s feet run along the furface for many yards before they again unite with 
 it. In many cafes thefc fpherules of water, which compofe clouds, are kept from uniting 
 by a furplus of elearic fluid ; and fall in violent fhowers as foon as that is withdrawn 
 from them, as in thunder dorms. See note on Canto I. 1 . 554. 
 
 If in this date a cloud becomes frozen, it is torn to pieces in its defeent by the fnaion 
 of the air, and falls in white flakes of fnow. Or thefe flakes are rounded by being rubbed 
 
Through vernal fkies the gathering drops difFufe, 
 Plunge in foft rains, or link in lilvcr dews.— 
 
 together by the winds, and by having their angles thawed off by the warmer air beneath 
 as they defeend ; and part of the water produced by thefe angles thus diflolved is abforbed 
 into the body of the hailftone, as may be feen by holding a lump of fnow over a candle, 
 and there becomes frozen into ice by the quantity of cold which the hailftone poflefles 
 beneath the freezing point, or which is produced by its quick evaporation in falling; and 
 thus halftones are often found of greater or lefs denfity according as they confift of a 
 greater portion of fnow or ice. If hailftones confifted of the large drops of fhowers 
 frozen in their defeent, they would confift of pure tranfparent ice. 
 
 As hail is only produced in fummer, and is always attended with ftorms, fome philo- 
 fophers have believed that the fudden departure of electricity from a cloud may effect 
 fomething yet unknown in this phenomenon ; but it may happen in fummer independent 
 of electricity, becaufe aqueous vapour is then raifed higher in the atmofphere, whence 
 it has further to fall, and there is warmer air below for it to fall through* 
 
 Or fink in fiver dews . 1. 18. During the coldnefs of the night the moifture before 
 diftolved in the air is gradually precipitated, and as it fubfides adheres to the bodies it 
 falls upon. Where the attraction of the body to the particles of water is greater than the 
 attractions of thofe particles to each other, it becomes fpread upon their furface, or Aides 
 down them in actual contact; as on the broad parts of the blades of moift grafs: where 
 the attraction of the furface to the water is lefs than the attraction of the particles of 
 water to each other, the dew (lands in drops ; as on the points and edges of grafs or gorfe, 
 where the furface prefented to the drop being fmall it attracts it fo little as but juft to 
 fupport it without much changing its globular form: where there is no attraction between 
 the vegetable furface and the dew drops, as on cabbage leaves, the drop does not come 
 into contact with the leaf, but hangs over it repelled, and retains its natural form, com- 
 pofed of the attraction and preflure of its own parts, and thence looks like quickfilver, 
 reflecting light from both its furfaces. Nor is this owing to any oilinefs of the leaf, but 
 (imply to the polifh of its furface, as a light needle may be laid on water in the fame 
 manner without touching it; for as the attractive powers of polifhed furfaces are greater 
 when in actual contact, fo the repulfive power is greater before contact. 
 
 CL* 
 
[ u6 ] 
 
 Your lucid bands condenfe with fingers chill 
 
 The blue mill hovering round the gelid hill; ’ 20 
 
 In clay-form’d beds the trickling ftreams collett, 
 
 Strain through white fands, through pebbly veins diredl; 
 Or point in rifted rocks their dubious way, 
 
 And in each bubbling fountain rife to day. 
 
 * 
 
 The blue mr/ 1 . 1 . 20. Mills are clouds reding on the ground ; they generally come on 
 at the beginning of night, and either fill the mold vallies, or hang on the fummits of hills, 
 according to the degree of moidure previoufly diflolved, and the edu&ion of heat from 
 them. The air over rivers during the warmth of the day fufpends much moidure, and 
 as the changeful furface of rivers occafions them to cool fooner than the land at the ap¬ 
 proach of evening, mids are mod frequently feen to begin over rivers, and to fpread 
 themfelves over moid grounds, and fill the vallies, while the mids on the tops of moun¬ 
 tains are more properly clouds, condenfed by the coldnefs of their fituation. 
 
 On afcending up the fide of a hill from a mifiy valley, I have obferved a beautiful 
 coloured halo round the moon when a certain thicknefs of mid was over me, which 
 ceafed to be vifible as foon as I emerged out of it; and well remember admiring with 
 other fpedlatofs the (liadow of the three fpircs of the cathedral church at Lichfield, the 
 moon rifing behind it, apparently broken off, and lying didinftly over our heads as if 
 horizontally on .the furface of the mid, which arofe about as high as the roof of the 
 church. There are fome curious remarks on fliadows or refleftions feen on the furface 
 of mids from high mountains in Ulloa’s Voyages. The dry mid of dimmer 1783, was 
 probably occafioned by volcanic eruption, as mentioned in note on Chunda, \ ol. II. and 
 therefore more like the atmofphere of fmoke which hangs on dill days over great cities. 
 
 There is a dry mid, or rather a diminilhed tranfparence of the air, which according to 
 Mr. SauflTure accompanies fair weather, while great tranfparence of air indicates rain. 
 Thus when large rivers two miles broad, fuch as at Liverpool, appear narrow, it is faid 
 to prognodicatc rain ; and when wide, fair weather. This want of tranfparence of the 
 air in dry weather, may be owing to new combinations or decompofitions of the vapours 
 diflolved in it, but w’ants further invedigation. Eflais fur L’Hygrometrie, p. 357. 
 
 R (Un d the gelid hill. ib. See additional notes. No. XXVI. on the origin of fprings. 
 
I "7 1 
 
 40 
 
 “ Nymphs! you then guide, attendant from their fource, 
 
 * 
 
 The alfociate rills along their finuous courfe ; 26 
 
 Float in bright fquadrons by the willowy brink, 
 
 Or circling flow in limpid eddies fink; 
 
 Call from her cryftal cave the Naiad-Nymph, 
 
 Who hides her fine form in the palling lymph, 30 
 And, as below Ihe braids her hyaline hair, 
 
 Eyes her foft fmiles reflected in the air; 
 
 Or fport in groups with River-Boys, that lave 
 Their filken limbs amid the dalhing wave j 
 Pluck the pale primrofe bending from its edge, 35 
 Or tittering dance amid the whifpering fedge.- 
 
 “ Onward you pafs, the pine-capt hills divide. 
 
 Or feed the golden harvefts on their fide ; 
 
 The wide-ribb’d arch with hurrying torrents fill, 
 
 Shove the flow barge, or whirl the foaming mill. 40 
 Or lead with beckoning hand the fparkling train 
 Of refluent water to its parent main, 
 
[ u8 ] 
 
 And pleafed revifit in their fea-mofs vales 
 Blue Nereid-forms array’d in (liming (tales. 
 
 Shapes, whofe broad oar the torpid wave impels, 45 
 And Tritons bellowing through their twilled (hells. 
 
 <C So from the heart the Sanguine Stream diftils 
 
 O’er Beauty’s radiant Ihrine in vermil rills, 
 
 Feeds each fine nerve, each (lender hair pervades, 
 
 The (kin’s bright fnow with living purple (hades, 50 
 
 Each dimpling cheek with warmer bluflies dyes, 
 
 Laughs on the lips, and lightens in the eyes. 
 
 _Ere while abforh’d, the vagrant globules fwim 
 
 From each fair feature, and proportion’d limb, 
 
 Join’d in one trunk with deeper tint return 55 
 
 To the warm concave of the vital urn. 
 
 II. 1. “ Aquatic Maids! you fway the mighty realms 
 Of fcale and (hell, which Ocean overwhelms; 
 
 As Night’s pale Queen her rifing orb reveals, 
 
 And climbs the zenith with refulgent wheels, 60 
 
Carr’d on the foam your glimmering legion rides. 
 Your little tridents heave the dafhing tides, 
 
 Urge on the founding Ihores their cryftal courfe, 
 Reftrain their fury, or direct their force. 
 
 Carr'd on the foam. 1 . 61. The phenomena of the tides have been well inveftigated 
 and fatisfa&orily explained by Sir Ifaac Newton and Dr. Halley, from the reciprocal 
 gravitations of the earth, moon, and fun. As the earth and moon move round a centre 
 of motion near the earth’s furface, at the fame time that they are proceeding in their 
 annual orbit round the fun, it follows that the water on the fide of the earth neareft this 
 centre of motion between the earth and moon will be more attracted by the moon, and 
 the waters on the oppofite fide of the earth will be lefs attra&ed by the moon, than the 
 central parts of the earth. Add to this, that the centrifugal force of the water on the 
 fide of the earth furtheft from the centre of the motion, round which the earth and 
 moon move, (which, as was faid before, is near the furface of the earth) is greater than 
 that on the oppofite fide of the earth. From both thefe caufes it is eafy to comprehend 
 that the water will rife on two fides of the earth, viz. on that neareft to the moon, and 
 its oppofite fide, and that it will be flattened in confequence at the quadratures, and 
 thus produce two tides in every lunar day, which confifts of about twenty-four hours 
 and forty-eight minutes. 
 
 Thefe tides will be alfo afte&ed by the folar attraction when it coincides with the 
 lunar one, or oppofes it, as at new and full moon, and will alfo be much influenced 
 by the oppoling fliores in every part of the earth. 
 
 Now as the moon in moving round the centre of gravity between itfelf and the earth 
 deferibes a much larger orbit than the earth deferibes round the fame centre, it follows 
 that the centrifugal motion on the fide of the moon oppofite to the earth muft be much 
 greater than the centrifugal motion of the fide of the earth oppofite to the moon round 
 the fame centre. And fecondly, as the attraction of the earth exerted on the moon’s 
 furface next to the earth is much greater than the attraction of the moon exerted on the 
 earth’s furface, the tides on the lunar fea, (if fwch there be,) fliould be much greater 
 than thofe of our ocean. Add to this, that as the fame face of the moon always is turned 
 to the earth, the lunar tides muft be permanent, and if the folid parts of the moon be 
 fpherical, muft always cover the phafis next to us. But as there are evidently hills and 
 vales and volcanos on this fide of the moon, the confequence is that the moon has no- 
 ocean, or that it is frozen. 
 
% 
 
 { ijo 3 
 
 2. u Nymphs ! you adorn, in gloffy volutes roll d, 
 
 The gaudy conch with azure, green, and gold. 61 
 
 You round Echinus ray his arrowy mail, 
 
 Give the keel'd Nautilus his oar and fail; 
 
 The gaudy conch. 1 . 66. The fpiral form of many (hells feems to have afforded a more 
 frugal manner of covering the long tail of the fifh with calcareous armour; fince a fingte 
 thin partition between the adjoining circles of the fifh was fufficient to defend both fur- 
 faces, and thus much cretaceous matter is faved , and it is probable that from this fpiral 
 form they are better enabled to feel the vibrations of the element in which they exift. 
 See note on Canto IV. 1 . 162. This cretaceous matter is formed by a mucous fecretion 
 from the fkin of the fifh, as is feen in crab-fifli, and others which annually call their 
 Ihclls, and is at firft a mucous covering, (like that of a hen’s egg, when it is laid a day 
 or two too foon,) and which gradually hardens. This may alfo be feen in common 
 iliell fnails, if a part of their fhell be broken it becomes repaired in a fimilar manner 
 with mucus, which by degrees hardens into fhell. 
 
 It is probable the calculi or ftones found in other animals may have a fimilar origin, 
 as they are formed on mucous membranes, as thofe of the kidney and bladder, chalk- 
 flones in the gout, and gall-flones; and are probably owing to the inflammation of the 
 membrane where they are produced, and vary according to the degree of inflammation 
 of the membrane which forms them, and the kind of mucus which it naturally pro¬ 
 duces. Thus the fhelly matter of different fhell-fifh differs, from the coarfer kinds 
 which form the fhells of crabs, to the finer kinds which produce the mother-pearl. 
 
 The beautiful colours of fome fhells originate from the thinnefs of the laminae of 
 which they confift, rather than to any colouring matter, as is feen in mother-pearl, which 
 reflects different colours according to the obliquity of the light which falls on it. The 
 beautiful prifmatic colours feen on the Labradore flone are owing to i fimilar caufe, viz. 
 the thinnefs of the laminae of which it confifts, and has probably been formed from 
 mother-pearl fhells. 
 
 It is curious that fome of the mod common foflil fhells are not nowlcnown in their 
 recent flate, as the cornua ammonis ; and on the contrary, many fhells which are very 
 plentiful in their recent flate, as limpets, fea-ears, volutes, cowries, are very rarely 
 found foflil. Da Cofta’s Conchology, p. 163. Were all the ammonias deftroyed when 
 the continents were raifed ? Or do fome genera of animals perifh by the increafing 
 power of their enemies ? Or do they ftill refide at inacceflible depths in the fea ? Or do 
 fome animals change their forms gradually and become new genera ? 
 
 Echinus. Nautilus. 1 . 67, 68. See additional notes. No. XXVII. 
 
Firm to his rock with lilver cords fufpend 
 
 The anchor’d Pinna, and his Cancer-friend ; 7c 
 
 With worm-like beard his toothlefs lips array, 
 
 And teach the unwieldy Sturgeon to betray.- 
 
 Ambufh’d in weeds, or fepulchred in fands, 
 
 In dread repofe He waits the fcaly bands, 
 
 Waves in red fpires the living lures, and draws 75 
 The unwary plunderers to his circling jaws, 
 
 Eyes with grim joy the twinkling flioals befet, 
 
 And clafps the quick inextricable net. 
 
 You chafe the warrior Shark, and cumberous Whale, 
 And guard the Mermaid in her briny vale; 80 
 
 Feed the live petals of her infed-flowers, 
 
 Her fhell-wrack gardens, and her fea-fan bowers ; 
 
 Pinna . Cancer . 1 . 70. See additional notes, No. XXVII. 
 
 With worm-like beard. 1. 71. See additional notes, No. XXVIII. 
 
 Feed the live petals. 1 . 81. There is a lea-infe& defcribed by Mr. Huges whofe claws 
 or tentacles being difpofed in regular circles and tinged with variety of bright lively 
 colours reprefent the petals of fome mod elegantly fringed and radiated flowers as the 
 carnation, marigold, and anemone. Philof. Tranf. Abridg. Vol. IX. p. no. The 
 Abbe Dicquemarre has further elucidated the hifiory of the aftinia ■> and obferved their 
 
 Part I. R 
 
[ 132 ] 
 
 With ores and gems adorn her coral cell, 
 And drop a pearl in every gaping fhell. 
 
 3. <c Your myriad trains o’er ftagnant oceans tow, 
 Harnefs’d with goflamer, the loitering prow ; -86 
 
 Or with fine films, fufpended o’er the deep, 
 
 Of oil efFufive lull the waves to fleep. 
 
 You flay the flying bark, conceal’d beneath, 
 
 Where living rocks of worm-built coral breathe ; 90 
 
 manner of taking their prey by inclofing it in thefe beautiful rays like a net. Phil. 
 Tranf. Vol. LXII 1 . and LXV. and LXVII. 
 
 And drop a pearl 1 . 84. Many are the opinions both of antient and modern writers 
 concerning the production of pearls. Mr. Reaumur thinks they are formed like the 
 hard concretions in many land animals as (tones of the bladder, gall-ftones, andbezoar, 
 and hence concludes them to be a difeafe of the fifh ; but there feems to be a drifter 
 analogy between thefe and the calcareous productions found in crab-fi(h, called crab’s 
 eyes, which are formed near the ftomach of the animal, and conftitute a refervoir of 
 calcareous matter againft the renovation of the (hell, at which time they are re-diflolved 
 and depofited for that purpofe. As the internal part of the fhell of the pearl oyfter or 
 mufcle confifts of mother-pearl, which is a fimilar material to the pearl, and as the ani¬ 
 mal has annually occafion to enlarge his (hell, there is reafon to fufpect the loofe pearly 
 are fimilar refervoirs of the pearly matter for that purpofe. 
 
 Or with fine films. 1. 87. See additional notfes, No. XXIX. 
 
 IVbere living rocks. 1 . 90. The immenfe and dangerous rocks built by the fwarms of 
 tcral infefts which rife almoft perpendicularly in the fouthern ocean like walls are de- 
 
[ la 3 ] 
 
 Meet fell Teredo, as he mines the keel 
 With beaked head, and break his lips of fteel • 
 Turn the broad helm, the fluttering canvas urge 
 From Maelstrome’s fierce innavigable furge. 
 —’Mid the lorn ifles of Norway’s ftormy main, 
 As fweeps o’er many a league his eddying train, 
 Vaft watery walls in rapid circles fpin, 
 
 And deep-ingulph’d the Demon dwells within ; 
 Springs o’er the fear-froze crew with harpy-claws, 
 Down his deep den the whirling velfel draws ; 
 Churns with his bloody mouth the dread repaft, 
 The booming waters murmuring o’er the mail. 
 
 which* it" lr ^° k S :° yag r’ u P °‘ nt ° f ° nC ° f thefe r0cks broke offand rtuck in the hole 
 
 *° f roAswl^h^nfflft o7a 
 
 * M. reyflonnel, Elhs, andothers. Phil. Tranf. Vol. XLV1I. L. LII. andLVII. 
 
 Meet fell Teredo . I gu See additional notes, No. XXX. 
 
 Turn the broad helm. 1. 93. See additional notes, No. XXXI. 
 
 R 2 
 
III. « Where with chill frown enormous Alps alarms 
 A thoufand realms, horizon’d in his arms; 
 
 While cloudlefs funs meridian glories Ihed 105 
 
 From Ikies of filver round his hoary head, 
 
 Tall rocks of ice refrad the coloured rays, 
 
 And Froft fits throned amid the lambent blaze , 
 
 Nymphs ! your thin forms pervade his glittering piles, 
 His roofs of chryftal, and his glafly ailes; no 
 
 Where in cold caves imprifoned Naiads deep, 
 
 Or chain’d on molly couches wake and weep ; 
 
 Where round dark crags indignant Waters bend 
 Through rifted ice, in ivory veins defeend, 
 
 Seek through unfathom’d fnows their devious track, 115 
 Heave the vaft fpars, the ribbed granites crack, 
 
 Where round dark crags. 1 . 113- See additional notes, No. XXXII. 
 
 Heave the 
 outlet for it 1 
 of the colun 
 
 in which a f< 
 is to be aferi 
 
 111 WlUWi ~ - 
 
 is to be aferi 
 the glaciers 
 
C 125 ] 
 
 Rufh into day, in foamy torrents fhine, 
 
 And fwell the imperial Danube or the Rhine.— 
 
 —Or feed the murmuring Tiber, as he laves 
 
 His realms inglorious with diminiih’d waves, 120 
 
 Hears his lorn Forum found with Eunuch-ft rains, 
 
 Sees dancing (laves infult his martial plains ; 
 
 caufe, and large portions of earth have been removed many hundred yards from their 
 fituations at the foot of mountains. On infpeftingthe locomotion of about thirty acres 
 of earth with a fmall houfe near Bilder’s Bridge in Shropttiire, about twenty years 
 ago, from the foot of a mountain towards the river, I well remember it bore all the 
 marks of having been thus lifted up, puttied away, and as it were crumpled into ridges, 
 by a column of water contained in the mountain. 
 
 From water being thus confined in high columns between the ftrata of mountainous 
 countries.it has often happened, when wells or perforations bave been made into the 
 earth, that fprings have arifen much above the furface of the new well. When the 
 new bridge was building at Dublin, Mr. G. Semple found a fpring in the bed of the 
 river where he meant to lay the foundation of a pierre, which, by fixing iron pipes 
 into it, he raifed many feet. Treatife on Building in Water, by G. Semple, from 
 having obferved a valley north-weft of St. Alkmond’s well near Derby, at the head of 
 which that fpring of water once probably exifted, and by its current formed the valley, 
 (but which in after times found its way out in its prefent fituation,) I ftifpeft that St. 
 Alkmond’s well might by building round it be raifed high enough to fupply many ftreefs 
 in Derby with fpring-water which are now only fupplied with river-water. See an 
 account of an artificial fpring of water, Phil. Tranf. Vol. LXXV. p. i. 
 
 In making a well at Sheernefs the water rofe 300 feet above its fource in the well. 
 Phil. Tranf. Vol. LXXIV. And at Hartford in Conne&icut there is a well which 
 was dug feventy feet deep before water was found, then in boring an auger-hole through 
 a rock the water rofe fo fall as to make it difficult to keep it dry by pumps t.ll they 
 could blow the hole larger by gunpowder, which was no fooner accomphttied than it 
 filled and run over, and has been a brook for near a century. Travels through Ame- 
 rica. Lond. 1/89* Lane. 
 
 / 
 
1 
 
 
 / 
 
 [ 126 ] 
 
 Parts with chill Bream the dim religious bower, 
 
 \ 
 
 Time-mouldered baftion, and difmantled tower ; 
 
 * 
 
 By alter’d fanes and namelefs villas glides, 125 
 
 And clalllc domes, that tremble on his fides ; 
 
 Sighs o’er each broken urn, and yawning tomb, 
 
 And mourns the fall of Liberty and Rome. 
 
 ' I 
 
 IV. “ Sailing in air, when dark Monsoon infhrouds 
 His tropic mountains in a night of clouds ; 130 
 
 Or drawn by whirlwinds from the Line returns, 
 
 And Ihowers o’er Afric all his thoufand urns ; 
 
 Dark monfoon injhrouds. 1. 129. When from any peculiar fixations of land in rfifpeft 
 to fea the tropic becomes more heated, when the fun is vertical over it, than the line, the 
 periodical winds called monfoons are produced, and thefe are attended by rainy feafons; 
 for as the air at the tropic is now more heated than at the line it afcends by decreafe of 
 its fpeeific gravity, and floods of air rulh in both from the South Weft: and North Eaft, 
 and thefe being one warmer than the other the rain is precipitated by their mixture as 
 obferved by Dr. Hutton. See additional notes. No. XXV. All late travellers have 
 afcribed the rife of the Nile to the monfoons which deluge Nubia and Abyflinia with 
 rain. The whirling of the afcending air was even feen by Mr. Bruce in Abyflinia; he 
 fays, “ every morning a fmall cloud began to whirl round, and prefently after the 
 “ whole heavens became covered with clouds,” by this vortex of afcending air the N. 
 E. winds and the S. W. winds, which flow in to fupply the place of the afcending 
 column, became mixed more rapidly and depofited their rain in greater abundance. 
 
 Mr. Volney obferves that the time of the rifing of the Nile commences about the 
 19th of June, and that Abyflinia and the adjacent parts of Africa are deluged with raia 
 
« 
 
 t 127 3 
 
 High o’er his head the beams of Sirius glow, 
 
 And, Dog of Nile, Anubis barks below. 
 
 Nymphs ! you from cliff to cliff attendant guide 135 
 In headlong catara&s the impetuous tide ; 
 
 Or lead o’er waftes of Abyflinian fands 
 
 The bright expanfe to Egypt’s fhower-lefs lands. 
 
 —Her long canals the facred waters fill, 
 
 And edge with filver every peopled hill ; 140 
 
 in May, June, and July, and produce a mafs of water which is three months in drains 
 ing off. The Abbe La Pluche obferves that as Sirius, or the dog-ftar, rofe at the time 
 of the commencement of the flood its riling was^ watched by the aftronomers, and no¬ 
 tice gi.ven of the approach of inundation by hanging the figure of Anubis, which was 
 that of a man with a dog’s head, upon all their temples. Hiftoire de Ciel. 
 
 Egypt's Jhower-lefs lands . 1 . 138. There feem to be two fituations which may be con¬ 
 ceived to be exempted from rain falling upon them, one where the conftant trade-winds 
 meet beneath the line, for here two regions of warm air are mixed together, and thence 
 do not feem to have any caufe to precipitate their vapour; and the other is, where the 
 winds are brought from colder climates and become warmer by their contact with the 
 earth of a warmer one. Thus Lower Egypt is a flat country warmed by the fun more 
 than the higher lands on one fide of it, and than the Mediterranean on the other; and 
 hence the w'inds which blow over it acquire greater warmth, which ever way they come, 
 than they poflefled before, and in confequence have a tendency to acquire and not to 
 part with their vapour like the north-ealt winds of this country. There is faid to be a 
 narrow fpot upon the coaft of Peru where rain feldom occurs, at the fame time accord¬ 
 ing to Ulloa on the mountainous regions of the Andes beyond there is almoft perpetual 
 rain. For the wind blows uniformly upon this hot part of the coaft of Peru, but no 
 caufe of devaporation occurs till it begins to afeend the mountainous Andes, and thea 
 its own expanfion produces cold fufficient to condcnfe its vapour. 
 
Gigantic Sphinx in circling waves admire, 
 
 And Memnon bending o’er his broken lyre ; 
 O’er furrow’d glebes and green favannas fweep, 
 And towns and temples laugh amid the deep. 
 
 V. i. “ High in the frozen North where Heccla glows, 
 And melts in torrents his coeval fnows ; 14 6 
 
 O’er ifles and oceans (beds a fanguine light, 
 
 Or fhoots red flars amid the ebon night; 
 
 When, at his bafe intomb’d, with hellowing found 
 Fell Giesar roar’d, and ftruggling fhook the ground; 150 
 
 \ 
 
 Fell Giefar roar'd. 1 . 150. The boiling column of water at Giefar in Iceland was 
 nineteen feet in diameter, and fometimes rofe to the height of ninety-two feet. On 
 cooling it depofited a filiceous matter or chalcedony forming a bafon round its bafe. 
 The heat of this water before it rofe out of the earth could not be afcertained, as water 
 loofes all its heat above 212 (as foon as it is at liberty to expand) by the exhalation of a 
 part, but the flinty bafon which is depofited from it (hews that water with great degrees 
 of heat will diffolve filiceous matter. Van Troil’s Letters on Iceland. Since the above 
 account in the year 1780 this part of Iceland has been deftroyed by an earthquake or 
 covered with lava, which was probably effected by the force of aqueous fleam, a greater 
 quantity of water falling on the fubterraneous fires than could efcape by the antient 
 outlets and generating an increafed quantity of vapour. For the difperfion of conta¬ 
 gious vapours from volcanos fee an account of the Harmattan in the notes on Chunda, 
 Vol. II. 
 
[ 129 ] 
 
 Pour’d from red noflrils, with her fcalding bread!, 
 
 A boiling deluge o’er the blafled heath; 
 
 And, wide in air, in mifly volumes hurl’d 
 Contagious atoms o’er the alarmed world 
 
 Nymphs! your bold myriads broke the infernal fpell, 155 
 And crufh d the Sorcerefs in her flinty cell. 
 
 2. “ Where with foft fires in unextinguifil’d urns,, 
 Cauldron’d in rock, innocuous Lava burns; 
 
 On the bright lake your gelid hands diflil 
 In pearly fhowers the parfimonious rill; |,6 0 
 
 And, as aloft the curling vapours rife 
 Through the cleft roof, ambitious for the fkies, 
 
 In vaulted hills condenfe the tepid fleams, 
 
 And pour to Health the medicated flreams. 
 
 So in green vales amid her mountains bleak 1 6 $ 
 
 Buxtonia fmiles, the Goddefs-Nymph of Peak; 
 
 Buxtomafmiles. 1 .166. Some arguments are mentioned in the note on Fucus, Vol. II, 
 to (hew that the warm fprings of this country do not arife from the decompofition of 
 pyrites near the furfacc of the earth, but that they are produced by fleam riling up the 
 Part I. S 
 
[ 13 ° 3 
 
 « 
 
 Deep in warm waves, and pebbly baths Hie dwells, 
 
 And calls Hygeia to her fainted wells. 
 
 “ Hither in fportive bands bright Devon leads 
 Graces and Loves from Chatfworth’s flowery meads. 170 
 Charm’d round the Nymph, they climb the rifted rocks; 
 And fteep in mountain-mift their golden locks; 
 
 On venturous ftep her fparry caves explore, 
 
 And light with radiant eyes her realms of ore ; 
 
 _Oft by her bubbling founts, and fhadowy domes, 175 
 
 In gay undrefs the fairy legion roams, 
 
 Their dripping palms in playful malice fill, 
 
 Or tafte with ruby lip the fparkling rill; 
 
 Croud round her baths, and, bending o’er the fide, 
 Unclafp’d their fandals, and their zones untied, 180 
 
 Dip with gay fear the fhuddering foot undrefs’d, 
 
 And quick ret rad it to the fringed veft; 
 
 t 
 
 fiflures of the mountains from great depths, owing to water falling on fubterraneous fires, 
 and that this (learn is condenfed between the ftrata of the incumbent mountains and col¬ 
 led into fprings. For further proofs on this fubjeft the reader is referred to a Letter 
 from Dr. Darwin in Mr. Pilkington’s View of Derbylhire, Vol. I. p. 256. 
 
Or cleave with brandifh’d arms the lucid ilream, 
 
 And fob, their blue eyes twinkling in the fleam. 
 
 —High o’er the chequer’d vault with tranfient glow 185 
 Bright luflres dart, as dafh the waves below; 
 
 And Echo’s fweet refponfive voice prolongs 
 The dulcet tumult of their lilver tongues.— 
 
 O’er their flufli’d cheeks uncurling treffes flow, 
 
 And dew-drops glitter on their necks of fnow ; 190 
 
 Round each fair Nymph her dropping mantle clings, 
 And Loves emerging fliake their fhowery wings. 
 
 AndJoly their blue eyes . I. 184. The bath at Buxton being of 82 degrees of heat is 
 called a warm bath, and is fo compared with common fpring-water which pofTefTes but 
 48 degrees of heat, but is neverthclefs a cold bath compared to the heat of the body 
 which is 98. On going into this bath there is therefore always a chill perceived at the 
 firft immerfion, but after having been in it a minute the chill ceafes and a fenfation of 
 warmth fucceeds though the body continues to be immerfed in the water. The caufe of 
 this curious phenomenon is to be looked for in the law's of animal fenfation and not from 
 any properties of heat. When a perfon goes from clear day-light into an obfeure room 
 for a while it appears gloomy, which gloom however in a little time ceafes, and the de¬ 
 ficiency of light becomes no longer perceived. This is not folely owing to the enlarge¬ 
 ment of the iris of the eye, fince that is performed in an inflant, but to this law of fen¬ 
 fation, that when a lefs ftimulus is applied (within certain bounds) the fenfibility increafes* 
 Thus at going into a bath as much colder than the body as that of Buxton, the diminu¬ 
 tion of heat on the fkin is at firft perceived, but in about a minute the fenfibility to heat 
 increafes, and the nerves of the fkin are equally excited by the leffened ftimulus. 1 he 
 fenfation of warmth at emerging from a cold-bath, and the pain called the hot-ach, after 
 the hands have been immerfed in fnow, depend on the fame principle, viz. the increafed 
 fenfibility of the fkin after having been previoufly expofed to a ftimulus lefs tlian ufuaL 
 
 S 2 
 
u 
 
 [ 132 ] 
 
 <c Here oft her Lord furveys the rude domain, 
 
 Fair arts of Greece triumphant in his train ; 
 
 Lo ! as he heps, the column’d pile afeends, 195 
 
 The blue roof clofes, or the crefcent bends ; 
 
 New woods afpiring clothe their hills with green. 
 Smooth dope the lawns, the grey rock peeps between ; 
 Relenting Nature gives her hand to Tade, 
 
 And Health and Beauty crown the laughing wade. 200 
 
 VI. “ Nymphs ! your bright fquadrons watch with 
 chemic eyes 
 
 The cold-eladic vapours, as they rife ; 
 
 With playful force arred them as they pafs, 
 
 And to pure Air betroth the flaming .Gas, 
 
 Here oft her Lord. 1 . 193. Alluding to the magnificent and beautiful crefcent, and 
 fuperb {tables lately erefted at Buxton for the accommodation of the company by the 
 Duke of Devonfhire; and to the plantations with which he has decorated the furround- 
 ing mountains. 
 
 And to pure air. 1 . 204. Until very lately water was efteemed a fimple element, nor 
 are all the moft celebrated chemifts of Europe yet converts to the new opinion of its de- 
 compofition. Mr. Lavoifier and others of the French fchool have moll ingcnioully 
 endeavoured to Ihew that water confills of pure air, called by them oxygene, and o( 
 
205 
 
 Round their tranflucent forms at once they fling 
 Their rapturous arms, with lilver bofoms cling ; 
 
 In fleecy clouds their fluttering wings extend, 
 
 Or from the Ikies in lucid fhowers defcend ; 
 
 Whence rills and rivers owe their fecret birth, 
 
 And Ocean’s hundred arms infold the earth. 210 
 
 “ So, robed by Beauty’s Queen, with fofter charms 
 Saturnia woo’d the Thunderer to her arms; 
 
 O’er her fair limbs a veil of light flic fpread, 
 
 And bound a ft any diadem on her head; 
 
 inflammable air, called hydrogenc, with as much of the matter of heat, or caloriquc, as is 
 neceflary to preferve them in the form of gas. Gas is diftinguifhed from fleam by its 
 preferving its elafticity under the preflure of the atmofphere, and in the greateft degrees of 
 cold yet knowm. The hiftory of the progrefs of this great difeovery is detailed in the 
 Memoirs of the Royal Academy for 1781, and the experimental proofs of it are 
 delivered in LavoiTier’s Elements of Chemiftry. The refults of which are that water 
 confifts of eighty-five parts by weight of oxygene, and fifteen parts by weight of 
 hydrogene, with a fufficicnt quantity of calorique. Not only numerous chemical phe¬ 
 nomena, but many atmofpherical and vegetable fads receive clear and beautiful eluci¬ 
 dation from this important analyfis. In the atmofphere inflammable air is probably per¬ 
 petually uniting with vital air, and producing moifture which defeends in dews and 
 fhowers, while the grow th of vegetables, by the afliltance of light, is perpetually again 
 decompofing the water they imbibe from the earth, and while they retain the inflam¬ 
 mable air for the formation of oils, wax, honey, refin, &c. they give up the vital air to 
 replenifh the atmofphere 
 
Long braids of pearl her golden trefies grac’d, 215 
 And the charm’d Cestus fparkled round her waift. 
 
 —Raifed o’er the woof, bv Beauty’s hand inwrought, 
 Breathes thefoft Sigh, and glows the enamour’d Thought; 
 Vows on light wings l'ucceed, and quiver’d Wiles, 
 Afl'uafive Accents, and fedu&ive Smiles. 220 
 
 —Slow rolls the Cyprian car in purple pride, 
 
 And, fleer’d by Love, afeends admiring Ide ; 
 
 Climbs the green flopes, the nodding woods pervades. 
 Burns round the rocks, or gleams amid the fhades.— 
 Glad Zephyr leads the van, and waves above 225 
 The barbed darts, and blazing torch of Love ; 
 
 Reverts his fmiling face, and pauflng flings 
 Soft fhowers of rofes from aurelian wings. 
 
 Delighted Fawns, in wreathes of flowers array’d, 
 
 With tiptoe Wood-Boys beat the chequer’d glade ; 230 
 
 Andfleer d by Love. 1 . 22a. The younger Love, or Cupid, the fon of Venus, owes 
 his exigence and his attributes to much later times than the Eros, or divine Love, 
 mentioned in Canto I. fince the former is no where mentioned by Homer, though- 
 fo many apt opportunities of introducing him occur in the works of that immortal 
 bard. Bacon. 
 
[ l 3 S ] 
 
 Alarmed Naiads, rifing into air, 
 
 Lift o’er their filver urns their leafy hair; 
 
 Each to her oak the bafhful Dryads fhrink, 
 
 And azure eyes are feen at every clunk. 
 
 -—Love culls a flaming Ihaft of broadeft wing, 235 
 And refts the fork upon the quivering firing; 
 
 Points his arch eye aloft, with fingers flrong 
 Draws to his curled ear the filken thong; 
 
 Loud twangs the fteel, the golden arrow flies, 
 
 Trails a long line of luftre through the ikies ; 240 
 
 “ ’Tis done 1 ” he fhouts, “ the mighty Monarch feels!” 
 And with loud laughter lhakes the filver wheels; 
 
 Bends o’er the car, and whirling, as it moves, 
 
 His loofen’d bowftring, drives the rifing doves. 
 
 —Pierced on his throne the darting Thunderer turns, 245 
 Melts with foft fighs, with kindling rapture burns ; 
 Clafps her fair hand, and eyes in fond amaze 
 The bright Intruder with enamour’d gaze. 
 
 “ And leaves my Goddefs, like a blooming bride, 
 
 “ The fanes of Argos for the rocks of Ide : 250 
 
 P 
 
“ Her gorgeous palaces, and amaranth bowers, 
 
 “ For cliff-top’d mountains, and aerial towers ?” 
 
 He faid; and, leading from her ivory feat 
 The blufhing beauty to his lone retreat, 
 
 Curtain’d with night the couch imperial Ihrouds, 255 
 And refts the crimfon culhions upon clouds.- 
 
 Earth feels the grateful influence from above, 
 
 Sighs the foft Air, and Ocean murmurs love ; 
 
 Ethereal Warmth expands his brooding wing, 
 
 And in ftill lhowers defcends the genial Spring. 260 
 
 VII. “ Nymphs of aquatic Taste \ whofe placid fmile 
 Breathes fweet enchantment o’er Britannia’s ifle ; 
 Whofe fportive touch in fhowers refplendent flings 
 Her lucid catara&s, and her bubbling fprings ; 
 
 Through peopled vales the liquid lilver guides, 265 
 And fwells in bright expanfe her freighted tides. 
 
 And !n fi' u powers. 1 . 260. The allegorical interpretation of the very antient 
 mythology which fuppofes Jupiter to reprefent the fuperior part of the atmofphere 
 or ether, and Juno the inferior air, and that the conjunaion of thefe two produces 
 vernal lhowers, as alluded to in Virgil’s Georgies, is fo analogous to the prefent 
 
You with nice ear, in tiptoe trains, pervade 
 Dim walks of morn or evening’s blent fhade ; 
 
 Join the lone Nightingale, her woods among, 
 
 And roll your rills fymphonious to her fong ; 27c 
 
 Through fount-full dells, and wave-worn valleys move, 
 And tune their echoing waterfalls to love ; 
 
 Or catch, attentive to the diftant roar, 
 
 The pauling murmurs of the dafhing fhore ; 
 
 Or, as aloud fhe pours her liquid brain, 275 
 
 Purfue the Nereid on the twilight main. 
 
 Her playful Sea-horfe woos her foft commands, 
 
 Turns his quick ears, his webbed claws expands, 
 
 important difcovery of the production of water from pure air, or oxygene, and in¬ 
 flammable air, or hydrogene, (which from its greater levity probably refides over the 
 foi mer,) that one fhould be tempted to believe that the very antient chcmifts of Egypt 
 had difcovered the compofition of water, and thus reprefented it in their hieroglyphic 
 figures before the invention of letters. 
 
 In the paflage of Virgil Jupiter is called ether, and defcends in prolific fhowers on 
 the bofom of Juno, whence the fpring fucceeds and all nature rejoices. 
 
 Turn pater omnipotens foecundis imbribus jEther 
 Conjugis in grcmium Ixtx defcendit, et omnes 
 Magnus alit, magno eommixtus corpore, foetus. 
 
 Virg. Georg. Lib. II. 1 . 325. 
 
 Her playfulfea-horfc. 1. 277. Defcribed from an antique gem. 
 
 PartI. T 
 
[ ] 
 
 His watery way with waving volutes wins. 
 
 Or liftening librates on unmoving fins. 28a 
 
 The Nymph emerging mounts her fcaly feat, 
 
 Hangs o’er his glofiy fides her filver feet, 
 
 With fnow- white hands her arching veil detains. 
 
 Gives to his (limy lips the Aachen’d reins, 
 
 Lifts to the ftar of Eve her eye ferene, 285 
 
 And chaunts the birth of Beauty’s radiant Queen.-^- 
 O’er her fair brow her pearly comb unfurls 
 Her beryl locks, and parts the waving curls, 
 
 Each tangled braid with gliftening teeth unbinds, 
 
 And with the fioating treafure mu Iks the winds.— 290 
 Thrill’d by the dulcet accents, as Ate fings, 
 
 The rippling wave in widening circles rings; 
 
 Night’s Aiadowy forms along the margin gleam 
 With pointed ears, or dance upon the Aream ; 
 
 The Moon tranfported Bays her bright career, 295 
 And maddening Stars fiioot headlong from the fphere. 
 
VIII. “NympIis! whofe fair eyes with vivid luftres glow 
 For human, weal, and melt at human woe; 
 
 Late as you floated on your fllver Ihells, 
 
 Sorrowing and flow by Derwent’s willowy dells ; 300 
 
 Where by tall groves his foamy flood he fleers 
 Through ponderous arches o’er impetuous wears, 
 
 By Derby’s fhadowy towers reflexive fweeps, 
 
 And gothic grandeur chills his dufky deeps; 
 
 You pearl’d with Pity’s drops his velvet fldes, 305 
 Sigh’d in his gales, and murmur’d in his tides, 
 
 Waved o’er his fringed brink a deeper gloom, 
 
 And bow’d his alders o’er Milcena’s tomb. 
 
 “ Oft with fweet voice She led her infant-train, 
 Printing with graceful flep his fpangled plain, 31a 
 Explored his twinkling fwarms, that fwim or fly, 
 
 And mark’d his florets with botanic ey,e.— 
 
 OVr Milcena’s tomb . I. 308. In memory of Mrs. French, a lady who to many 
 other elegant accomplilhments added a proficiency in botany and natural hiftory. 
 
[ HO I 
 
 “ Sweet bud of Spring ! how frail thy tranfient bloom, 
 “ Fine film,” fhe cried, “ of Nature’s faireft loom ! 
 ic Soon Beauty fades upon its damafk throne ! — 315 
 
 _Unconfcious of the worm, that mined her own !— 
 
 —Pale are thofe lips, where foft careffes hung, 
 
 Wan the warm cheek, and mute the tender tongue, 
 Cold refts that feeling heart on Derwent’s (liore, 
 
 And thofe love-lighted eye-balls roll no more! 320 
 
 “ Here her fad Confort, healing through the gloom 
 Of murmuring cloyfters, gazes on her tomb ; 
 
 Hangs in mute anguifh o’er the fcutcheon d hearfe, 
 
 Or graves w'ith trembling ftyle the votive verfe. 
 
 “ Sexton! oh, lay beneath this facred fhrine, 325 
 “ When Time’s cold hand fhall clofe my aching eyes, 
 <c Oh, gently lay this wearied earth of mine, 
 
 <c Where wrap’d in night my loved Milcena lies. 
 
[ i4i 1 
 
 a So fliall with purer joy my fpirit move, 
 
 When the laft trumpet thrills the caves of Death, 330 
 “ Catch the firft whifpers of my waking love, 
 
 <{ And drink with holy kifs her kindling breath. 
 
 “ The fpotlefs Fair, with blufh ethereal warm, 
 
 « Shall hail with fweeter fmile returning day, 
 
 “ Rife from her marble bed a brighter form, 335 
 
 “ And win on buoyant flep her airy way. 
 
 u Shall bend approved, where beckoning hofts invite, 
 « On clouds of fdver her adoring knee, 
 
 “ Approach with Seraphim the throne of light, 
 
 —And Beauty plead with angel-tongue for Me !” 340 
 
 IX. 11 Your virgin trains on Brindley s cradle fmiled, 
 And nurfed with fairy-love the unletter d child, 
 
 Spread round his pillow all your fecret fpells, 
 
 Pierced all your fprings, and open’d all your wells.- 
 
 On Brindley's cradle fmiVd. 1 . 341. The life of Mr. Brindley, whofe great abilities 
 in the conftru&ion of canal navigation were called forth by the patronage of the Duke 
 of Bridgwater, maybe read in Dr. Kippis’s Biographia Britannica, the excellence of 
 his genius is vifible in every part of this Bland. He died at Turnhurft in StafFordfhire 
 in 1772, and'ought to have a monument in the cathedral church at Lichfield. 
 
[ *+* ] 
 
 As now on grafs, with glofly folds reveal’d, 345 
 
 Glides the bright ferpent, now in flowers conceal’d ; 
 
 Far {bine the fcales, that gild his flnucus back, 
 
 And lucid undulations mark his track ; 
 
 So with flrong arm immortal Brindley leads 
 His long canals, and parts the velvet meads ; 350 
 
 Winding in lucid lines, the watery mafs 
 Mines the Arm rock, or loads the deep morafs, 
 
 With riling locks a thoufand hills alarms, 
 
 Flings o’er a thoufand ftreams its fllver arms, 
 
 Feeds the long vale, the nodding woodland laves, 355 
 And Plenty, Arts, and Commerce freight the waves. 
 
 —Nymphs ! who erewhile round Brindley’s early bier 
 On fnow-white bofoms fhower’d the inceflant tear, 
 Adorn his tomb!—oh, raife the marble buft, 
 
 Proclaim his honours, and protect his dull! 360 
 
 With urns inverted, round the facred flirine 
 Their ozier wreaths let weeping Naiads twine ; 
 
 While on the top Mechanic Genius Hands, 
 
 Counts the fleet waves, and balances the lands. 
 
 i 
 
X. u Nymphs ! you firft taught to pierce the fecret caves 
 Of humid earth, and lift her ponderous waves ; 366 
 
 Bade with quick ftroke the Aiding pifton bear 
 The viewlefs columns of incumbent air;— 
 
 Prefs’d by the incumbent air the floods below, 
 
 % 
 
 Through opening valves in foaming torrents flow, 370 
 Foot after foot with leflen’d impulfe move, 
 
 And riling feek the vacancy above_ 
 
 So when the Mother, bending o’er his charms, 
 
 Clafps her fair nurfeling in delighted arms; 
 
 Lift her ponderous waves . 1 . 366. The invention of the pump is of very antient date, 
 being aferibed to one Ctefebes an Athenian, whence it was called by the Latins ma- 
 china Ctefebiana ; but it was long before it was known that the afeent of the pifton lift¬ 
 ed the fiiperincumbent column of the atmofphere, and that then the prelfure of the 
 furrounding air on the furface of the well below forced the water up into the vacuum, 
 and that on that account in the common lifting pump the water would rife only about 
 thirty-five feet, as the weight of fuch a column of water was in general an equipoife to 
 the furrounding atmofphere. The foamy appearance of water*, when the prelfure of 
 the air over it is diminilhed, is owing to the expanfion and cfcape of the air previoufly 
 diffolved by it, or exifting in its pores. When a child firft fucks it only prefles or 
 champs the teat, as obferved by the great Harvey, but afterwards it learns to make 
 an incipient vacuum in its mouth, anda£ts by removing the prellure of the atmofphere 
 from the nipple, like a pump. 
 
[ *44 ] 
 
 Throws the thin kerchief from her neck of fnow, 375 
 And half unveils the pearly orbs below ; 
 
 With fparkling eye the blamelefs Plunderer owns 
 Her foft embraces, and endearing tones, 
 
 Seeks the falubrious fount with opening lips, 
 
 Spreads his inquiring hands, and fmiles, and Tips. 380 
 
 “ Connubial Fair ! whom no fond tranfport warms 
 To lull your infant in maternal arms j 
 Who, blefs’d in vain with tumid bofoms, hear 
 His tender wailings with unfeeling ear ; 
 
 The foothing kifs and milky rill deny, 385 
 
 To the fweet pouting lip, and gliftening eye !— 
 
 Ah! what avails the cradle’s damalk roof, 
 
 The eider bolder, and embroider’d woof!— 
 
 Oft hears the gilded couch unpity’d plains, 
 
 And many a tear the taflel’d culhion ftains! 390 
 
 1 
 
 Ah ! what avails . 1. 387. From an elegant little poem of Mr. Jerningham’s intitlcd 
 II Latte, exhorting ladies to nurfe their own children. 
 
£ '45 J 
 
 No voice To lweet attunes his cares to reft, 
 
 So foft no pillow, as his Mother’s breaft!_ 
 
 Thus charm d to fweet repofe, when twilight hours 
 Shed their foft influence on celeftial bowers 
 The Cherub, Innocence, with fmile divine 395 
 
 Shuts his white wings, and fleeps on Beauty’s (hrine. 
 
 XI. « From dome to dome when flames infuriate climb, 
 Sweep the long ftreet, inveft the tower fublime ; 
 
 Gild the tall vanes amid the aftonilh’d night, 
 
 And reddening heaven returns the fanguine light; 400 
 While with vaft ftrides and briftling hair aloof 
 Pale Danger glides along the falling roof; 
 
 And Giant Terror howling in amaze 
 Moves his dark limbs acrofs the lurid blaze. 
 
 Nymphs ! you ftrft taught the gelid wave to rife, 405 
 Hurl d in refplendent arches to the ikies; 
 
 Hut l d in njplendent arches. 1. 406. I lie addition of an air-cell to machines for 
 railing water to extingufh fire was firft introduced by Mr. Newiham of London, and 
 Part I. U 
 
[ I4<> 3 
 
 In iron cells condenfed the airy fpring, 
 
 And imp’d the torrent with unfailing wing; 
 
 _On the fierce flames the (bower impetuous falls, 
 
 And hidden darknefs llirouds the (batter’d walls ; 410 
 
 Steam, fmoak, and duft, in blended volumes roll, 
 
 And Night and Silence repoflefs the Pole.- 
 
 u Where were ye, Nymphs! in thofe difafteroushours, 
 Which wrap’d in flames Augusta’s finking towers ? 
 Why did ye linger in your wells and groves, 415 
 
 When fad Woodmason mourn’d her infant loves ? 
 
 is now applied to fimilar engines for wafhing wall-trees in gardens, and to all kinds oi 
 forcing pumps, and might be applied with advantage to lifting pumps where the water 
 is brought from a great diftance horizontally. Another kind of machine was invented 
 by one°Greyl, in which a veffel of water was every way difperfed by the explofion of 
 "un-powder lodging in the centre of it, and lighted by an adapted match ; from this 
 idea Mr. Godfrey propofed a water-bomb of fimilar conflru£lion. Dr. Hales to prevent 
 the fpreading of fire propofed to cover the floors and flairs of the adjoining houfes with 
 earth ; Mr. Hartley propofed to prevent houfes from taking fire by covering the ciehng 
 with thin iron-plates, and Lord Mahon by a bed of coarfe mortar or plaifler between 
 the cieling and floor above it. May not this age of chemical fcience difeover fome 
 method of inje&ing or foaking timber with lime-water and afterwards with vitriolic 
 acid, and thus fill its pores with alabafter r or of penetrating it with filiceous matter, 
 by procefles fimilar to thofe of Bergman and Achard r See Cronftedt s Mineral, ad. edit. 
 Vol. I. p. 222. 
 
 JFoodmafon , Molefworth. 1 . 416. The hiftories of thefe unfortunate families may 
 *e feen in the Annual Regifler, or in the Gentleman’s Magazine. 
 
[ H7 3 
 
 When thy fair Daughters with unheeded fcreams, 
 Ill-fated Moles worth ! call’d the loitering ftreams ?— 
 The trembling Nymph, on bloodlefs fingers hung, 
 
 Eyes from the tottering wall the diftant throng, 420 
 With ceafelefs flirieks her fleeping friends alarms, 
 
 Drops with finged hair into her lover’s arms.- 
 
 The illumin’d Mother feeks with footfieps fleet, 
 
 Where hangs the fafe balcony o’er the ftreet, 
 
 Wrap’d in her flieet her youngcfl hope fufpends, 425 
 And panting lowers it to her tiptoe friends ; 
 
 Again flie hurries on affection’s wings, 
 
 And now a third, and now a fourth, flie brings; 
 
 Safe all her babes, flie fmooths her horrent brow, 
 
 And burfts through bickering flames, unfcorch’d, below. 
 So, by her Son arraigned, with feet unfliod 431 
 
 O’er burning bars indignant Emma trod. 
 
 E’en on the day when Youth with Beauty wed, 
 
 The flames furprifed them in their nuptial bed;— 
 
 u 2 
 
[ 148 ] 
 
 Seen at the opening falh with bofom bare, 435 
 
 With wringing hands, and dark dilhevel’d hair, 
 
 The blulhing Bride with wild diforder’d charms 
 Round her fond lover winds her ivory arms ; 
 
 Beat, as they clafp, their throbbing hearts with fear, 
 
 And many a kifs is mixed with many a tear ;- 440 
 
 Ah me ! in vain the labouring engines pour 
 
 Round their pale limbs the ineffe&ual fhower !- 
 
 -Then cralh’d the floor, while fhrinking crouds retire, 
 
 And Love and Virtue funk amid the fire!- 
 
 With piercing fereams affli&ed ftrangers mourn, 445 
 And their white allies mingle in their urn. 
 
 XII. “ Pellucid Forms ! whofe cryftal bofoms fliow 
 The Ihine of welfare, or the lhade of woe ; 
 
 Who with foft lips falute returning Spring, 
 
 And hail the Zephyr quivering on his wing; 45° 
 
 Or watch, untired, the wintery clouds, and lhare 
 With flreaming eyes my vegetable care ; 
 
 I 
 
 l 
 
 \ 
 
 n 
 
[ r 49 ] 
 
 Go, (hove the dim mift from the mountain’s brow, 
 Chafe the white fog, which floods the vale below ; 
 Melt the thick fnows, that linger on the lands, 
 
 And catch the halftones in your little hands; 
 
 Guard the coy bloflom from the pelting fhower, 
 And dafh the rimy fpangles from the bower; 
 
 From each chill leaf the hlvery drops repel, 
 
 And clofe the timorous floret’s golden bell. 
 
 Shove the dim mijl. 1 . 453. See note on I. 20 of this Canto. 
 
 Catch the hail-Jlones. 1 . 456. See note on 1 . 15 of this Canto. 
 
 From each chill leaf. 1 . 459. The upper fide of the leaf is the organ of vegetable 
 refpiration, as explained in the additional notes. No. XXXVII, hence the leaf is liable 
 to injury from much moifture on this furface, and is deftroyed- by being fmeared with 
 oil, in thefe refpe&s refembling the lungs of animals or the fpiracula of infers. To 
 prevent thefe injuries fome leaves repel the dew-drops from their upper furfaces, as thofe 
 of cabbages; other vegetables elefe the upper furfaces of their leaves together in the 
 night or in wet weather, as the fenfitive plant; others only hang their leaves downward 
 fo as to (hoot the wet from them, as kidney-beans, and many trees. See note on 1. 18 
 of this Canto. 
 
 Golden hell. 1 . 460. There are mufcles placed about the footftalks of the leaves 
 or leaflets of many plants, for the purpofe of clofing their upper furfaces together, or 
 of bending them down fo as to (hoot off the (bowers or dew-drops, as mentioned in the 
 preceding note. The claws of the petals or of the divifions of the calyx of many 
 flowers are furnifhed in a fimilar manner with mufcles, which are exerted to open or 
 clofe the corol and calyx of the flower as in tragopogon, anemone. This a&ion of 
 opening and clofing the leaves or flowers does not appear to be produced limply by 
 irritation on the mufcles themfelves, but by the connexion of thofe mufcles with 3 
 
 / 
 

 [ * 5 ° 3 
 
 “ So fliould young Sympathy, in female form, 
 
 Climb the tall rock, fpe&atrefs of the florm; 
 
 Life’s finking wrecks with fecret fighs deplore, 
 
 And bleed for others’ woes, Herfelf on fliore ; 
 
 To friendlefs Virtue, gafping on the ftrand, 465 
 
 Bare her warm heart, her virgin arms expand, 
 
 Charm with kind looks, with tender accents cheer, 
 
 And pour the fweet confolatory tear; 
 
 Grief’s curelefs wounds with lenient balms affwage, 
 
 Or prop with firmer flaff the ffeps of Age j 470 
 
 fetijitive fenforium or brain exifting in each individual bud or flower# id. Becaufe 
 many flowers clofe from the defect of flimulus, not by the excefs of it, as by darknefs, 
 which is the abfence of the flimulus of light; or by cold, which is the abfence of the 
 flimulus of heat. Now the defect of heat, or the abfence of food, or of drink, affects 
 our JenfaiionSy which had been previoufly accuflomed to a greater quantity of them ; 
 but a mufcle cannot be faid to be ftimulated into action by a defeat of flimulus. 
 2nd. Becaufe the mufcles around the footflalks of the fubdiviflons of the leaves of the 
 fenfitive plant are exerted when any injury is offered to the other extremity of the leaf, 
 and fome of the ftamens of the flowers of the clafs Syngenefia contrail themfelves 
 when others are irritated. See note on Chondrilla, Vol. II. of this work. 
 
 From this circumftance the contraction ot the mufcles of vegetables feems to depend 
 on a difagreeable fenfation in fome diflant part, and not on th z irritation of the mufcles 
 themfelves. Thus when a particle of dufl flimulates the ball of the eye, the eye-lids 
 are inftantly clofed, and when too much light pains the retina, the mufcles of the iris 
 contract its aperture, and this not by any connect ion or confent of the nerves of thofe 
 parts, but as an effort to prevent or to remove a difagreeable fenfation, which evinces 
 that vegetables are endued with fenfation, or that each bud has a common fenforium, 
 and is furniflied with a brain or a central place where its nerves are connected. 
 
r 151 ] 
 
 The lifted arm of mute Defpair arreft, 
 
 And fnatch the dagger pointed at his bread:; 
 
 Or lull to {lumber Envy’s haggard mien, 
 
 And rob her quiver’d {hafts with hand unfeen. 
 
 —Sound, Nymphs of Helicon ! the trump of Fame, 
 And teach Hibernian echoes Jones’s name; 476 
 
 Bind round her polilhed brow the civic bay, 
 
 And drag the fair Philanthropift to day.— 
 
 So from fecluded fprings, and fecret caves, 
 
 Her LifFy pours his bright meandering waves, 48o 
 
 Cools the parch’d vale, the fultry mead divides. 
 
 And towns and temples ftar his {hadowy {ides. 
 
 XIII. “ Call your light legions, tread the fwampy heath, 
 Pierce with {harp fpades the tremulous peat beneath ; 
 With colters bright the rufhy fward bifedt, 485 
 
 And in new veins the gufhing rills diredt ;— 
 
 Jones's name. 1 . 476. A young lady who devotes a great part of an ample fortune 
 to well-chofen ads of fecret charity. 
 
[ 152 ] 
 
 So flowers fliall rife in purple light array’d, 
 
 And bloflom’d orchards ftretch their filver (hade ; 
 Admiring glebes their amber ears unfold, 
 
 And Labour fleep amid the waving gold. 490 
 
 “ Thus when young Hercules with firm difdain 
 Braved the foft finiles of Pleafure’s harlot train; 
 
 To valiant toils his forceful limbs aflign’d, 
 
 And gave to Virtue all his mighty mind ; 
 
 Fierce Achelous rufh’d from mountain-caves, 
 
 O’er fad Etolia pour’d his wafteful waves, 
 
 O’er lowing vales and bleating paftures roll’d, 
 
 Swept her red vineyards, and her glebes of gold, 
 
 Mined all her towns, uptore her rooted woods, 
 And Famine danced upon the Alining floods. 
 
 500 
 
 Fierce Achelous. I. 495. The riveT Achelous deluged Etolia, by one of its branches 
 or arms, which in the antient languages are called horns, and produced famine through¬ 
 out a great trad of country ; this was reprefented in hieroglyphic emblems by the 
 winding courfe of a ferpent, and the roaring of a bull with large horns. Hercules, or 
 the emblem of ftrength, ftrangled the ferpent, and tore off one horn from the bull; that 
 is, he flopped and turned the courfe of one arm of the river, and reftored plenty to the 
 country. Whence the antient emblem of the horn of plenty. Di&. par M. Dane). 
 
I H3 ] / 
 
 The youthful Hero feized his curled creft, 
 
 And dafli’d with lifted club the watery Peft; 
 With waving arm the billowy tumult quell’d 
 And to his courfe the bellowing Fiend repell’d. 
 
 (f Then to a Snake the finny Demon turn’d 
 
 His lengthen’d form, with fcales of filver burn’d; 
 Lafh’d with refiftlefs fweep his dragon-train, 
 
 And (hot meandering o’er the affrighted plain. 
 The Hero-God, with giant fingers clafp’d 
 
 Firm round his neck, the hiding monfter grafp’d ; 
 With flatting eyes, wide throat, and gaping teeth, 
 Curl his redundant folds, and writhe in death. 
 
 u And now a Bull, amid the flying throng 
 The grifly Demon foam’d, and roar’d along ; 
 
 With filver hoofs the flowery meadows fpurn’d, 
 Roll’d his ted eye, his threatening antlers turn’d 
 
C 154 1 
 
 Dragg’d down to earth, the Warrior’s vi&or-hands 
 Prefs’d his deep dewlap on the imprinted fands ; 
 
 Then with quick bound his bended knee he fix d 
 
 \ 
 
 High on his neck, the branching horns betwixt, 520 
 Strain’d his Prong arms, his flnewy fhoulders bent, 
 
 And from his curled brow the twilled terror rent. 
 
 _Pleafed Fawns and Nymphs with dancing Pep applaud, 
 
 And hang their chaplets round the rePing God; 
 
 Link their foft hands, and rear with paufing toil 525 
 The golden trophy on the furrow’d foil; 
 
 Fill with ripe fruits, with wreathed Powers adorn, 
 
 And give to Plenty her proliPc horn. 
 
 XIV. “ On Spring’s fair lip, cerulean Sisters! pour 
 From airy urns the fun-illumin’d fhower, 530 
 
 Feed with the dulcet drops my tender broods, 
 Mellifluous flowers, and aromatic buds ; 
 
 Hang from each bending grafs and horrent thorn 
 The tremulous pearl, that glitters to the morn ; 
 
 Dragi'd down to earth . 1 . 517. Defcribed from an antique gem. 
 
535 
 
 Or where cold dews.their fecret channels lave. 
 
 And Earth s dark chambers hide the ftagnant wave, 
 Oh pierce, ye Nymphs \ her marble veins, and lead 
 Her gufliing fountains to the thirfly mead ; 
 
 Wide o’er the Alining vales, and trickling hills 
 Spread the bright treafure in a thoufand rills. 5, 
 So lha.ll my peopled realms of Leaf and Flower 
 Exult, inebriate with the genial fliower; 
 
 Spread the bright treafure. I. 540. The pra&ice of flooding lands long in life in 
 China has been but lately introduced into this country. Befldes the fupplying water 
 to the herbage in dryer feafons, it feems to defend it from froft in the early part of thp 
 year, and thus doubly advances the vegetation. The waters which rife from fprings 
 palling through marl or limeftone are replete with calcareous earth, and when thrown 
 over morafles they depofit this earth and incruft or confolidate the morafs. This kind 
 of earth isdepofited in great quantity from the fprings at Matlock bath, andfupplies 
 the foft porous limeftone of which the houfes and walls are there conftrufted; and has 
 formed the whole bank for near a mile on that fide of the Derwent on which they 
 Hand. 
 
 The water of many fprings contains much azotic gas, or phlogiftic air, befides car- 
 ^ bonic gas, or fixed air, as that of Buxton and Bath; this being fet at liberty may more 
 readily contribute to the produ&ionof nitre by means of the putrefcent matters which 
 it is expofed to by being fpread upon the furface of the land; in the fame manner as 
 frequently turning over heaps of manure facilitates the nitrous procefs by imprifoning 
 atmofpheric air in the interftices of the putrefcent materials. Water arifing by land- 
 floods brings along with it much of the moft foluble parts of the manure from the 
 higher lands to the lower ones. River-water in its clear ftate and thofe fprings which 
 are called foft are lefs beneficial for the purpofe of watering lands, as they contain iefs 
 earthy or faline matter; and water from diflolving fnow from its flow folution brings 
 but little earth along with it, as may befeen by the comparative clearnefs of the water 
 of fnow-floods. 
 
Dip their long treffes from the mofly brink, 
 
 With tufted roots the glafly currents drink ; 
 
 Shade your cool manfions from meridian beams, 545 
 And view their waving honours in your dreams. 
 
 “ Thus where the veins their confluent branches bend, 
 And milky eddies with the purple blend; 
 
 The Chyle’s white trunk, diverging from its fource, 
 Seeks through the vital mafs its Ihining courfe ; 550 
 
 O’er each red cell, and tiflued membrane fpreads 
 In living net-work all its branching threads ; 
 
 Maze within maze its tortuous path purfues, 
 
 Winds into glands, inextricable clues ; 
 
 Steals through the ftomach’s velvet fldes, and lips 555 
 The fllver furges with a thoufand lips; 
 
 Fills each fine pore, pervades each {lender hair, 
 
 .And drinks falubrious dew-drops from the air. 
 
 “ Thus when to kneel in Mecca’s awful gloom, 
 
 Or prefs with pious kifs Medina’s tomb, 
 
 560 
 
League after league, through many a lingering day. 
 Steer the fwart Caravans their fultry way ; 
 
 O’er Tandy waftes on gafping camels toil, 
 
 Or print with pilgrim-fteps the burning foil; 
 
 If from lone rocks a fparkling rill defcend, 565 
 
 O’ er the green brink the kneeling nations bend, 
 
 Bathe the parch’d lip, and cool the feverilh tongue, 
 And the clear lake refleds the mingled throng.” 
 
 The Goddess paused, —the liftening bands awhile 
 Still feem to hear, and dwell upon her fmile ; 570 
 
 Then with foft murmur fweep in lucid trains 
 Down the green Hopes, and o’er the pebbly plains, 
 
 To each bright dream on diver fandals glide, 
 
 Refledive fountain, and tumultuous tide. 
 
 So flioot the Spider-broods at breezy dawn, 575 
 Their glittering net-work o’er the autumnal lawn; 
 
 From blade to blade conned with cordage fine 
 The unbending grafs, and live along the line; 
 
[ 158 ] 
 
 Or bathe unwet their oily forms, and dwell 
 
 With feet repulfive on the dimpling well. 580 
 
 So when the North congeals his watery mafs, 
 
 Piles high his fnows, and floors his feas with glafs j 
 While many a Month, unknown to warmer rays, 
 
 Marks its flow chronicle by lunar days ; 
 
 Stout youths and ruddy damfels, fportive train, 585 
 Leave the white foil, and rufli upon the main ; 
 
 From ifle to ifle the moon-bright fquadrons ftray, 
 
 And win in eafy curves their graceful way j 
 
 On ftep alternate borne, with balance nice 
 
 Hang o’er the gliding fteel, and hifs along the ice. 590 
 
Argument of the Fourth Canto. 
 
 « 
 
 Address to the Sylphs. I. Trade-winds. Monfoons. 
 N. E. and S. W. winds. Land and fea breezes. Irregular winds. 
 9. II. Production of vital air from oxygene and light. The mar¬ 
 riage of Cupid and Pfyche. 25. III. 1. Syroc. Simoom. Tornado. 
 63. 2. Fog. Contagion. Story of Thyrfis and Aegle. Love 
 
 and Death. 79. IV. 1. Barometer. Air-pump. 127. 2. Air-bal¬ 
 
 loon of Mongolfier. Death of Rozier. Icarus. 143. V. Difcoveries 
 of Dr. Prieftley. Evolutions and combinations of pure air. Rape of 
 1 roferpine. 163* VI. Sea-balloons, or houfes conducted to move 
 under the fea. Death of Mr. Day. Of Mr. Spalding. Of Captain 
 Pierce and his Daughters. 195. VII. Sylphs of muiic. Cecilia 
 linging, Cupid with a lyre riding upon a lion. 233. VIII. Deduc¬ 
 tion of Senacherib’s army by a peftilential wind. Shadow of Death. 
 263. IX. 1. Wifh to poflefs the fecret of changing the courfe of the 
 winds. 305. 2. Monfter devouring air fubdued by Mr. Kirwan. -521. 
 X. 1. Seeds fufpended in their pods. Stars difcovered by Mr. Herfchel. 
 Deduction and refufcitation of all things. 351,. 2. Seeds within 
 feeds, and bulbs within bulbs. Picture on the retina of the eye. 
 Concentric data of the earth. The great feed. 381. 3. The root, pith, 
 lobes, plume, calyx, corol, fap, blood, leaves refpire and abforb 
 light. The crocodile in its egg. 409* XI. Cpening o.f the flower. 
 The petals, flyle, anthers, prolific duft, honey-cup. Tranfmutation 
 of the filk-worm. 441. XII. 1. Leaf-buds changed into flower-buds 
 
by wounding the bark, or ftrangulating a part of the branch. Cintra. 
 465. 2. Ingrafting. Aaron’s rod pullulates. 495. XIII. 1. Infedts on 
 trees. Humming-bird alarmed by the fpider-like appearance of Cy- 
 prepedia. 509. 2. Difeafes of vegetables. Scratch on unnealed glafs. 
 529. XIV. 1. Tender flowers. Amaryllis, fritillary, erythrina, mi- 
 mofa, cerea. 541. 2. Vines. Oranges. Diana’s trees. Kew garden. 
 The royal family. 559. XV. Offering to Hygeia. 605. Departure of 
 the Goddefs. 647. 
 
* 
 
 THE 
 
 
 
 
 ECONOMY OF VEGETATION. 
 
 CANTO IV. 
 
 , 
 
 
 203 \ 
 
 
 As when at noon in Hybla’s fragrant bowers 
 Cacalia opens all her honey’d flowers; 
 
 Cacalia opens. 1 . 2. The importance of the ne&arium or honey-gland in the 
 vegetable economy is feen from the very complicated apparatus, which nature has 
 formed in fome flowers for the prefervation of their honey from infeCts, as in the 
 aconites or monkfhoods ; in other plants inftead of a great apparatus for its protection 
 a greater fecretion of it is produced, that thence a part may be fpared to the depredation 
 of infeCts. The cacalia fuaveolens produces fo much honey that on fome days it may 
 be fmelt at a great diflance from the plant. I remember once counting on one of thefe 
 plants, befides bees of various kinds without number, above two hundred pain’ed 
 butterflies, which gave it tile beautiful appearance of being covered with additional 
 flow rs. 
 
 Part I. Y 
 
 * 
 
Contending fwarms on bending branches cling. 
 
 And nations hover on aurelian wing; 
 
 So round the Goddess, ere fhe fpeaks, on high 5 
 
 Impatient Sylphs in gawdy circlets fly; 
 
 Quivering in air their painted plumes expand, 
 
 And coloured fhadows dance upon the land. 
 
 I. “ Sylphs! your light troops the tropic Winds confine, 
 And guide their Breaming arrows to the Line ; 10 
 
 While in warm floods ecliptic Breezes rife, 
 
 And fink with wings benumb’d in colder Ikies. 
 
 You bid Monfoons on Indian feas refide, 
 
 And veer, as moves the fun, their airy tide ; 
 
 While fouthern Gales o’er weltern oceans roll, 15 
 
 And Eurus ftcals his ice-winds from the Pole. 
 
 Your playful trains, on fultry iflands born, 
 
 Turn on fantaftic toe at eve and morn ; 
 
 With foft fufurrant voice alternate fweep 
 Earth’s green pavilions and encircling deep. 
 
 Tht tropic winds. 1 . 9. See additional notes, No. XXXIII. 
 
 20 
 
[ *63 ] 
 
 Or in itinerant cohorts, borne fublime 
 
 On tides of ether, float from clime to clime ; 
 
 O er waving Autumn bend your airy ring. 
 
 Or waft the fragrant bofom of the Spring. 
 
 II. “ When Morn, efcorted by the dancing Hours, 
 O’er the bright plains her dewy luftre fhowers ; 26 
 
 Till from her fable chariot Eve ferene 
 Drops the dark curtain o’er the brilliant fcene ; 
 
 You form with chemic hands the airy furge, 
 
 Mix with broad vans, with fhadowy tridents urge. 30 
 Sylphs! from each fun-bright leaf, that twinkling fliakes 
 O’er Earth’s green lap, or llioots amid her lakes, 
 
 Your playful bands with fimpering lips invite, 
 
 And wed the enamour’d Oxygene to Light.- 
 
 The enamour'd Oxygene. 1. 34. The common air of the atmofphere appears by the 
 analyfis of Dr. Prieftley and other philofophers to conlift of about three parts of an 
 elaftic fluid unfit for refpiration or combuftion, called azote by the French fchool, and 
 about one fourth of pure vital air fit for the fupport of animal life and of combuftion, 
 called oxygene. The principal fource of the azote is probably from the decompofltion 
 of all vegetable and animal matters by putrefaction and combuftion ; the principal 
 
Round their white necks with fingers intefwove, 35 
 Cling the fond Pair with unabating love ; 
 
 Hand link’d in hand on buoyant ftep they rife, 
 
 And foar and gliften in unclouded Ikies. 
 
 Whence in bright floods the Vital Air expands, 
 
 And with concentric fpheres involves the lands; 40 
 
 Pervades the fwarming Teas, and heaving earths, 
 
 Where teeming Nature broods her myriad births; 
 
 Fills the fine lungs of all that breathe or bud , 
 
 Warms the new heart, and dyes the gufhing blood; 
 
 fource of vital air or oxygene is perhaps from the decompofition of water in the organs 
 of vegetables by means of the fun’s light. The difficulty of injeding vegetable vefiels 
 feems to {hew that their perfpirative pores are much lefs than thofe of animals, and 
 that the water which conftitutes their perfpiration is fo divided at the time of its 
 exclufion, that by means of the fun’s light it becomes decompofed, the inflammable air 
 or hydrogene, which is one of its conftituent parts, being retained to form the oil, 
 refin, wax, honey, &c. of the Vegetable economy ; and the other part, which united 
 with light or heat becomes vital air or oxygene gas, rifes into the atmofphere and re- 
 plenifhes it with the food of life. 
 
 Dr. Prieftley has evinced by very ingenious experiments that the blood gives out 
 phlogifton, and receives vital air, or oxygene-gas by the lungs. And Dr. Crawford 
 has (hewn that the blood acquires heat, from this vital air in refpiration. There is 
 however ftill a fomething more fubtil than heat, which muff be obtained in refpiration 
 from the vital air, a fomething which life can not exifi a few minutes without, which 
 feems neceifary to the vegetable as well as to the animal world, and w hich, as no or¬ 
 ganized veffds can confine it, requires perpetually to be renewed. See note on Canto lx 
 L 401. 
 
With Life’s firft fpark infpires the organic frame, 45 
 And, as it waftes, renews the fubtile flame. 
 
 il So pure, fo foft, with fweet attra&ion (hone 
 Fair Psyche, kneeling at the ethereal throne ; 
 
 Won with coy fmiles the admiring court of Jove, 
 
 And warm’d the bofom of unconquer’d Love.— 50 
 
 Beneath a moving (hade of fruits and flowers 
 Onward they march to Hymen’s facred bowers ; 
 
 With lifted torch he lights the feflive train, 
 
 Sublime, and leads them in his golden chain ; 
 
 Joins the fond pair, indulgent to their vows, 55 
 
 And hides with myftic veil their blufhing brows. 
 
 Round their fair forms their mingling arms they fling, 
 Meet with warm lip, and clafp with ruftling wing.— 
 
 Fair Pfyche. 1 . 48. Defcribed from an anticnt gem on a fine onyx in poiTeffion 
 of the Duke of Marlborough, of which there is a beautiful print in Bryant’s Mythoh 
 Vol. II. p. 392. And from another antient gem of Cupid and Pfyche embracing, of 
 which there is a print in Spence’s Polymetis, p. 82. 
 
[ *66 ] 
 
 ——Hence plaftic Nature, as Oblivion whelms 
 
 Her fading forms, repeoples all her realms ; 60 
 
 Soft Joys difport on purple plumes unfurl’d, 
 
 And Love and Beauty rule the willing world. 
 
 III. i. “ Sylphs! your bold myriads on the withering 
 heath 
 
 Stay the fell Syroc’s fuffocative breath ; 
 
 Arreft Simoom in his realms of fand, 65 
 
 V ^ 
 
 The poifoned javelin balanced in his hand ;- 
 
 Rcpeoplcs all her realms. 1 . to. 
 
 Qux mare navigerum et terras frugiferentes 
 
 Concclebras; per te quoniam genus omne animantum 
 
 Concipitur, vifitque exortum lumina folis. Lucret. 
 
 Arrejl Simoom. 1. 65. “ At eleven o’clock while we were with great pleafure con¬ 
 
 templating the rugged tops of Chiggre, where we expe&ed to folace ourfelves with 
 plenty of good water, Idris cried out with a loud voice, “ fall upon your faces, for 
 here is the fimoom !” I faw from the S. E. a haze come in colour like the purple part 
 of a rainbow, but not lb comprefled or thick ; it did not occupy twenty yards in 
 breadth, and was about twelve feet high from the ground. It W'as a kind of a blulh 
 upon the air, and it moved very rapidly, for I fcarce could turn to fall upon the 
 ground with my head to the northward, when I felt the heat of its current plainly 
 upon my face. We all lay flat upon the ground, as if dead, till Idris told us it 
 was blown over. 1 he meteor, or purple haze, which I faw was indeed palled; 
 
[ i6? ] 
 
 Fierce on blue ftreams be rides the tainted air, 
 
 Points his keen eye, and waves his whittling hair; 
 
 While, as he turns, the undulating foil 
 
 Rolls in red waves, and billowy deferts boil. 70 
 
 but the light air that ftill blew was of heat to threaten fuffocation. For my part 
 I found diftindtly in my breaft, that I had imbibed a part of it; nor was I free of an 
 afthmatic fenfation till I had been fome months in Italy..” Bruce’s Travels. Vol. IV. 
 
 p * 55 7 ’ 
 
 It is difficult to account for the narrow track of this peftilential wind, which is faid 
 not to exceed twenty yards, and for its fmall elevation of twelve feet. A whirlwind will 
 pafs forwards, and throw down an avenue of trees by its quick revolution as it paffes; 
 but nothing like a whirlwind is deferibed as happening in thefe narrow ftreams of air, 
 and whirlwinds afeend to greater heights. There feems but one known manner in 
 which this channel of air could be efte£ted, and that is by eledlricity. 
 
 The volcanic origin of thefe winds is mentioned in the note on Chunda in Vol. II. 
 of this work ; it muft here be added, that Profelfor Vairo at Naples found, that during 
 the eruption of Vefuvius perpendicular iron bars were eledlric; and others have obferved 
 fuffocating damps to attend thefe eruptions. Fcrber’s Travels in Italy, p. 133. And 
 laftly, that a current of air attends the paftage of electric matter, as is feen in prefenting 
 an ele&rized point to the flame of a candle. In Mr. Bruce’s account of this fimoom, it 
 was in its courfe over a quite dry defert of fand, (and which was in confequence unable 
 to condudt an elc&ric ftream into the earth beneath it,) to fome moift rocks at but a 
 few miles diftance; and thence would appear to be a ftream of cledlricity from a volcano 
 attended with noxious air; and as the bodies of Mr. Bruce and his attendants were 
 infulated on the fand, they would not be fenlible of their increafed ele&ricity, as it 
 pafled over them ; to which it may be added, that a fulphurous or fuffocating fenfation 
 is faid to accompany flafhes of lightning, and even ftrong fparks of artificial eleflricity. 
 In the above account of the fimoom, a great rednefs in the air is faid to be a certain 
 fign of its approach, which may be occafioned by the eruption of flame from a diftant 
 volcano in thefe extenfive and impenetrable deferts of fand. See Note on 1. 292 of this 
 Canto.. 
 
You feizc Tornado by his locks of mift, 
 
 Burft his denfe clouds, his wheeling fpires untwift; 
 Wicle o’er the Weft when borne on headlong gales, 
 Dark as meridian night, the Monfter fails, 
 
 Howls high in air, and fhakes his curled brow, 75 
 Ladling with ferpent-train the waves below, 
 
 Whirls his black arm, the forked lightning flings, 
 
 And fliowers a deluge from his demon-wings. 
 
 - • ... ' { ' » 
 
 2. “Sylphs! with light {hafts you pierce the drowfy 
 Fog, 
 
 That lingering {lumbers on the fedge-wove bog, 80 
 With webbed feet o’er midnight meadows creeps, 
 
 Or flings his hairy limbs on ftagnant deeps. 
 
 Tornado . 1. 71. See additional notes, No. XXXIII. 
 
 On Jiagnant deeps. 1 . 82. All contagious miafmata originate either from animal 
 bodies, as thofe of the fmall pox, or from putrid moralTes ; thefe latter produce agues 
 in the colder climates, and malignant fevers in the warmer ones. The volcanic vapours 
 which caufc epidemic coughs, are to be ranked amonglt poilons, rather than amonglt 
 the miafmata, which produce contagious difeafes. 
 
You meet Contagion iffuing from afar, 
 
 And dafh the baleful conqueror from his car; 
 
 When, Gued of Death ! from charnel vaults he deals, 
 And bathes in human gore his armed wheels. 86 
 
 “ Thus when the Plague, upborne on Belgian air, 
 Look’d through the mid and diook his clotted hair; 
 O’er dirinking nations deer’d malignant clouds, 
 
 And rain’d dedruftion on the gafping crouds. 90 
 
 The beauteous JEgle felt the venom’d dart, 
 
 Slow roll’d her eye, and feebly throbb’d her heart; 
 Each fervid figh feem’d fhorter than the lad, 
 
 And darting Frienddnp diunn’d her, as die pafs’d. 
 
 —With weak undeady dep the fainting Maid 95 
 
 Seeks the cold garden’s folitary diade, 
 
 The beauteous JEgle. 1. 91. When the plague raged in Holland in 1636, a young 
 girl was feized with it, had three carbuncles, and was removed to a garden, where her 
 lover, who was betrothed to her r attended her as a nurfe, and llept with her as his 
 wife. He remained uninfe&ed, and (lie recovered, and was married to him. The 
 (lory is related by Vine. Fabriciusin the Mifc. Cur. Ann. II. Obf. 188. 
 
[ 170 ] 
 
 Sinks on the pillowy mofs her drooping head, 
 
 And prints with lifelefs limbs her leafy bed. 
 
 —On v/ings of Love her plighted Swain purfues, 
 
 Shades her from winds, andihelters her from dews, ioo 
 Extends on tapering poles the canvas roof, 
 
 Spreads o’er the ftraw-wove, matt the flaxen woof, 
 
 Sweet buds and blolToms on her bolfter ftrows, 
 
 And binds his kerchief round her aching brows; 
 
 Sooths with foft kifs, with tender accents charms, 105 
 And clafps the bright Infe&ion in his arms.— 
 
 With pale and languid fmiles the grateful Fair 
 Applauds his virtues, and rewards his care ; 
 
 Mourns with wet cheek her fair companions fled 
 On timorous ftep, or number’d with the dead ; no 
 Calls to her bofom all its fcatter’d rays, 
 
 And pours on Thyrsis the collected blaze; 
 
 Braves the chill night, carefling and carefs’d, 
 
 And folds her Hero-lover to her breaft.— 
 
 Lefs bold, Leander at the duiky hour 115 
 
 Eyed, as he fwam, the far love-lighted tower ; 
 
Breafted with ftruggling arms the tolling wave, 
 
 And funk benighted in the watery grave. 
 
 Lefs bold, Tobias claim’d the nuptial bed. 
 
 Where feven fond Lovers by a Fiend had bled; 120 
 
 And drove, inftruaed by his Angel-Guide, 
 
 The enamour’d Demon from the fatal bride.— 
 
 —Sylphs ! while your winnowing pinions fann’d the air, 
 And fhed gay vilions o’er the deeping pair; 
 
 Love round their couch effufed his rofy breath, 125 
 And with his keener arrows conquer’d Death. 
 
 IV. 1. u You charm’d, indulgent Sylphs ! their learned 
 toil, 
 
 And crown’d with fame your Torricell, and Boyle ; 
 
 Torricell and Boyle. 1 . 128. The preflure of the atmofphere was difcovered by 
 'Torricelli, a difciple of Galileo, who had previoufly found that the air had weight. 
 Dr. Hook and 1 VL Du Hamel afcribe the invention of the air-pump to Mr. Boyle, 
 who however confefles he had fome hints concerning its conftrudlion from De Guerick. 
 The vacancy at the fummit of the barometer is termed the Torricellian vacuum, and 
 the exhaufled receiver of an air pump the Boylean vacuum, in honour of thefe two 
 philofophers. 
 
 The mid and defcending dew which appear at firft exhaufting the receiver of an 
 air-pump, are explained in the Phil. Tranf. Vol. LXXVIII. from the cold produced 
 
[ x r- ] 
 
 Taught with fweet fmiles, refponlive to their prayer. 
 The fpring and preifure of the viewlefs air. 130 
 
 —How up exhaufted tubes bright currents flow 
 Of liquid fllver from the lake below, 
 
 Weigh the long column of the incumbent ikies. 
 
 And with the changeful moment fall and rile, 
 
 —-How, as in brazen pumps the piftons move, 135 
 The membrane-talve fuftains the weight above ; 
 
 by the ex pan (ion of air. For a thermometer placed ia the recclrer daks ::ce degrees, 
 and in a ry little time, as ibon as a fuiScient quantity of heat car. be arc. red from 
 the furrounding bodies, the dew becomes again taken up. Seeaiiitional notes, X:. V] J. 
 Mr. Sauiliire obferved on placing his hygrometer in a receiver cf an xir-pamr. that 
 though on beginning to exbautt k the air became miry, and parted wkh its moi^ire, 
 yet thehair of his hy Jfcu&ctervV*ma>SvvU and the . r : m: : pointed to greater aryr.efs. 
 This unexpe&cd is expiated by M. Morge Angles de Chymie. Ter V. 
 
 to depend on the v 
 
 particles into the pJ&fles of tbe Suit; and M* SauJurc inppefes, that hts \ . Icufar vapour 
 requires more rimero he that: ts necedan to dry the ha.r os hr> thermomerer. 
 
 EfTais fur VHyfjrwv p. Mb. bat I fufpeel there is a lets hypothetical wa> of under- 
 {landing it ; vthez *'&&&*bodyisbrought into warm and rood: am as a bottle of fo:;-_> 
 water for in utffc&ty aifoafcis qpkkSj on :ts fnrface. toe contrary occurs 
 rroerSs keow^jkll^coli a*r . 
 
 long as it cor vamua; tor k tearras the atrnxphtrc arorrd end renerrs it ca¬ 
 pable of ***5*5 The moment re a-- bee. mes ra¬ 
 
 refied ift tfafe tfcfcdtoor rfit becomes cornier, as appears : the Ur :~n mrtr. 
 and depot ts Ststri^vta ; bea AekaErof Mr. $m:f areh memrrer n: v va—or; man 
 the air ift k fe wsesssfed* aoik* contecaenrr bur r ...ycr than before, by 
 
 ^MEfaing 3*ir'K&idk taasasdfcieeh I~nrcwd> a p of :s ro.rc: evaporating 
 
C i73 ] 
 
 Stroke follows Broke, the gelid vapour falls y 
 And mifty dew-drops dim the cryftal walls ; 
 
 Rare and more rare expands the fluid thin, 
 
 And Silence dwells with Vacancy within.— 140 
 
 So in the mighty Void with grim delight 
 Primeval Silence reign’d with ancient Night. 
 
 1 
 
 2. “ Sylphs ! your foft voices, whifpering from the fjcies. 
 Bade from low earth the bold Mongulfier rife ; 
 Outftretch’d his buoyant ball with airy fpring, 145 
 
 And bore, the Sage on levity of wing ;— 
 
 Where were ye, Sylphs ! when on the ethereal main 
 Youns Rosiere launch’d, and call’d your aid in vain ? 
 Fair mounts the light balloon, by Zephyr driven, 
 
 Parts the thin clouds, and fails along the heaven ; 15° 
 
 Young Rofiere launch'd. 1 . 148. M. Pilatre du Rof.ere with a M. Romain rofc in a 
 balloon from Boulogne in June 1785, and after having been about a mile high for about 
 half an hour the balloon took fire, and the two adventurers were dalhed to pieces on 
 t h e ir fail to the ground. Mr. Rofiere was a philofopher of great talents and aftivity, 
 joined with Inch urbanity and elegance of manners, as conciliated the affections of his 
 acquaintance and rendered his misfortune univerfally lamented. Annual Regil er or 
 1784 and 1785, p- 329. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 

 [ x 7 2 3 
 
 Taught with fwcet fmiles, refponflve to their prayer, 
 The fpring and preiTure of the viewlefs air. 130 
 
 _How up exhaufted tubes bright currents flow 
 
 Of liquid fllvcr from the lake below, 
 
 Weigh the long column of the incumbent Ikies, 
 
 And with the changeful moment fall and rife. 
 
 _How, as in brazen pumps the piftons move, 13 5 
 
 The membrane-valve fuftains the weight above ; 
 
 by the expanfion of air. For a thermometer placed in the receiver finks fome degrees, 
 and in a very little time, as foon as a fufficient quantity of heat can be acquired from 
 the furrounding bodies, the dew becomes again taken up. Seeadditional notes, No. VII. 
 Mr. Sauffure obferved on placing his hygrometer in a receiver of an air-pump, that 
 though on beginning to exhauft it the air became mifty, and parted with its moitlure, 
 yet thchair of his hygrometer contra&ed, and the infirument pointed to greater drynefs. 
 This unexpected occurrence isexplained by M. Mongc (Annales de Chymie, Tom. V.) 
 to depend on the want of the ufual preffure of the atmofphere to force the aqueous 
 particles into the pores of the hair; and M. Sauffure fuppofes, that his veficular vapour 
 requires more time to be rediffolved, than is necellary to dry the hair of his thermometer. 
 Effais fur l'Hygrom. p. 226. but I fufpeft there is alefs hypothetical way of under- 
 flanding itwhen a colder body is brought into warm and moift air, (as a bottle of fpring- 
 water for iutlance,) a tteafn is quickly collected on its furface, the contrary occurs 
 when a warmer body is brought into cold and damp air, it continues free from dew fo 
 long as it continues warm; for it warms the atmofphere around it, and renders it ca¬ 
 pable of receiving inftead of parting with moifture. The moment the air becomes ra¬ 
 refied in the receiver of the air-pump it becomes colder, as appears by the thermometer, 
 and depofits its vapour; but the hair of Mr. Sauffure’s hygrometer is now warmer than 
 the air in which it is immerfed, and in confequence becomes dryer than before, by. 
 warming the air which immediately furrounds it, a part of its moiffurc evaporating, 
 along with its heat. 
 

 [ i73 1 
 
 Stroke follows Broke, the gelid vapour falls. 
 
 And mifty dew-drops dim the cryftal walls ; 
 
 Rare and more rare expands the fluid thin, 
 
 And Silence dwells with Vacancy within.— 140 
 
 So in the mighty Void with grim delight 
 Primeval Silence reign’d with ancient Night. 
 
 2. i( Sylphs ! your foft voices, whifpering from the Ikies, 
 Bade from low earth the bold Mongulfier rife ; 
 Outftretch’d his buoyant ball with airy fpring, 145 ' 
 
 And bore, the Sage on levity of wing ;— 
 
 Where were ye, Sylpiis ! when on the ethereal main 
 Young Rosiere launch’d, and call’d your aid in vain ? 
 Fair mounts the light balloon, by Zephyr driven, 
 
 Parts the thin clouds, and fails along the heaven ; 15° 
 
 Yo U „ s Rofiere hunch'd. 1 . t 4 8. M. Pilatre du Rofiere with a M. Romain rofe in a 
 balloon from Boulogne in June 1785, and after having been about a mile high for about 
 half an hour the balloon took fire, and the two adventurers were dalhed to pieces on 
 their fall to the ground. Mr. Rofiere was a philofopher of great talents and activity, 
 ioined with Inch urbanity and elegance of manners, as conciliated the affections of his 
 acquaintance and rendered his misfortune univerfally lamented. Annual Register or. 
 
 1784 and 1785, p- 329. 
 
 / 
 
[ *74 I 
 
 Higher and yet higher the expanding bubble flies, 
 
 Lights with quick flafh, and burfts amid the ikies.— 
 Headlong He ruffes through the affrighted Air 
 With limbs diftorted, and diffevel’d hair, 
 
 Whirls round and round, the flying croud alarms, 155 
 And Death receives him in his fable arms !— 
 
 So erft with melting wax and loofen’d firings 
 Sunk haplefs Icarus on unfaithful wings ; 
 
 His fcatter’d plumage danced upon the wave, 
 
 And forrowdng Mermaids deck’d his watery grave ; 160 
 O’er his pale corfe their pearly fea-flowers ffed, 
 
 And ftrew’d with crimfon mofs his marble bed ; 
 
 Struck in their coral towers the pauling bell, 
 
 And wide in ocean toll’d his echoing knell. 
 
 And wide in ocean. 1. 164. Denfer bodies propagate vibration or found better than 
 rarer ones ; if two ftones be (truck together under the water, they may be heard a mile 
 or two by any one whofe head is immerfed at that diftance, according to an experiment 
 of Dr. Franklin. If the ear be applied to one end of a long beam of timber, the ftroke 
 of a pin at the other end becomes fenfible; if a poker be fufpended in the middle of a 
 garter, each end of which is prefted againft the ear, the lead percuflions on the poker 
 give great founds. And I am informed by laying the ear on the ground the tread of 
 a horfe may be difcerned at a great diftance in the night. The organs of hearing be¬ 
 longing to fifli are for this reafon much lefs complicated than of quadrupeds, as the 
 
V. “ Sylphs ! you, retiring to fequefter’d bowers, 
 Where oft your Priestley woos your airy powers, 166 
 
 fluid they are immerfed in fo much better conveys its vibrations. And it is probable 
 that fome (hell-fifti which have twilled (hells like the cochlea and femicircular canals of 
 the ears of men and quadrupeds may have no appropriated organ for perceiving the 
 vibrations of the element they live in, but may by their fpiral form be in a manner 
 all ear. 
 
 Where oft your Prieftley. 1. 166. The fame of Dr. Prieftley is known in every 
 part of the earth where fcience has penetrated. His various difeoveries refpe&ing the 
 analyiis of the atmofphere, and the produdlion of variety of new airs or gafles, can only 
 be clearly underftood by reading his Experiments on Airs, (3 vols. o£tavo, Johnfon, 
 London.) the following are amongfl his many difeoveries. 1. Thedifcovcry of nitrous 
 and dephlogifticated airs. 2. The exhibition of the acids and alkalies in the form of 
 air. 3. Afcertaining the purity of refpirable air by nitrous air. 4. The reftoration 
 of vitiated air by vegetation. 5. The influence of light to enable vegetables to yield 
 pure air. 6. T he converfion by means of light of animal and vegetable fubftances, 
 that would otherwife become putrid and ofFenlive, into nourifhment of vegetables. 
 7. The ufe of refpiration by the blood parting with phlogifton, and imbibing dephlo¬ 
 gifticated air. 
 
 The experiments here alluded to are, 1. Concerning the production of nitrous gas 
 from diiiblvrng iron and many other metals in nitrous acid, which though firft difeovered 
 by Dr. Hales (Static. EiT. Vol. I. p. 224) was fully inveftigated, and applied to the 
 important purpofe of diftinguifhing the purity of atmofpheric air by Dr. Prieftley. 
 When about two meafures of common air and one of nitrous gas are mixed together 
 a red effervefcence takes place, and the two airs occupy about one fourth lefs fpace than 
 was previoufly occupied by the common air alone. 
 
 2. Concerning the green fubftance which grows at the bottom of refervoirs of water, 
 which Dr. Prieftley difeovered to yield much pure air when the fun (hone on it. His 
 method of colle&ing this air is by placing over the green fubftance, which he believes 
 to be a vegetable of the genus conferva, an inverted bell-glafs previoufly filled with 
 water, which fubfides as the air arifes; it has fince been found that all vegetables give 
 up pure air from their leaves, when the fun (hines upon them, but not in the night, 
 which may be owing to the lleep of the plant. 
 
 3. The third refers to the great quantity of pure air contained in the calces of 
 metals. The calces were long known to weigh much more than the metallic bodies 
 before calcination, infomuch that ioo pounds of lead will produce 112 pounds of 
 
‘ * 
 
 [ 176 ] 
 
 On noifelefs ftcp or quivering pinion glide. 
 As fits the Sage with Science by his fide ; 
 To his charm’d eye in gay undrefs appear, 
 
 1 
 
 Or pour your fecrets on his raptured ear. 170 
 
 How nitrous Gas from iron ingots driven 
 Drinks with red lips the pureft breath of heaven; 
 How, while Conferva from its tender hair 
 
 
 Gives in bright bubbles empyrean air, 
 
 The cryftal floods phlogiftic ores calcine, 175 
 
 And the pure Ether marries with the Mine. 
 
 So in Sicilia’s ever-blooming fliade 
 
 When playful Proserpine from Ceres ftray’d, 
 
 minium; the ore of manganefe, which is always found near the furface of the earth, 
 is replete with pure air, which is now ufed for the purpofe of bleaching. Other metals 
 when expofed to the atmofphere attradl the pure air from it, and become calces by its 
 combination, as zinc, lead, iron; and increafe in weight in proportion to the air, 
 which they imbibe. 
 
 When playful Pro]erpine. 1. 178. I he fable of Proferpine’s being feized by Pluto 
 as (he was gathering flowers, is explained by Lord Bacon to iignify the combination 
 or marriageof ethereal fpirit with earthly materials. Bacon’s Works, Vol. V. p.470. 
 edit. 4to. Lond. 177^* This allufion is dill more curioufly exa<3, from the late 
 jlifeoyery of pure air being given up from vegetables, and that then in its unmixed 
 
 / 
 
Led with unwary ftep her virgin trains 
 
 O’er Etna’s fteeps, and Enna’s golden plains; 180 
 
 Pluck d with fair hand the iilver-bloflom’d bower, 
 
 And purpled mead,—herfelf a fairer flower; 
 
 % * 
 
 Sudden, unfeen amid the twilight glade, 
 
 Rufh’d gloomy Dis, and feized the trembling maid.— 
 
 Her Parting damfels fprung from mofly feats, 185 
 
 Dropp’d from their gauzy laps the gather’d fweets. 
 
 Clung round the ftruggling Nymph, with piercing cries, 
 
 Purfued the chariot, and invoked the Ikies :— 
 
 * 
 
 Pleafed as he grafps her in his iron arms, 
 
 Frights with foft flghs, with tender words alarms, 190 
 The wheels defcending roll’d in fmoky rings, 
 
 Infernal Cupids flapp’d their demon wings; 
 
 Earth with deep yawn received the Fair, amaz’d, 
 
 And far in Night celeftial Beauty blaz’d. 
 
 ftate it more readily combines with metallic or inflammable bodies. From thcfe fables, 
 which were probably taken from antient hieroglyphics, there is frequently reafon to 
 believe that the Egyptians^oflefled much chemical knowledge, which for want of al¬ 
 phabetical writing perifhed with their philofophers. 
 
 PartI. A a 
 
[ i7 8 1 
 
 VI. “ Led by the Sage, Lo! Britain’s, fons fhall guide 
 
 Huge Sea-balloons beneath the tolling tide ; 19 
 
 The diving caftles, roof’d with fpheric glafs, 
 
 Ribb’d with ftrong oak, and barr’d with bolts of brafs, 
 
 Buoy’d with pure air fhall endlels tracks purfue, 
 And Priestley’s hand the vital flood renew. 
 Then {hall Britannia rule the wealthy realms, 
 Which Ocean’s wide infatiate wave o’erwhelms ; 
 Confine in netted bowers his fcaly flocks, 
 
 Part his blue plains, and people all his rocks. 
 
 Led by the Sage. 1 . 195. Dr. Prieftley’s difcovery of the produftion of pure air from 
 fuch variety of fubftances will probably foon be applied to the improvement of the 
 diving bell, as the fubftances which contain vital air in immenfe quantities are of little 
 value as manganeTe and minium. See additional notes, No, XXXIII. In every hundred 
 weight of minium there is combined about twelve pounds of pure air, now as fixty pounds 
 of water are about a cubic foot, and as air is eight hundred times lighter than water, 
 five hundred weight of minium will produce eight hundred cubic feet of air, or about 
 fix thoufand gallons. Now', as this is at leaft thrice as pure as atmofpheric air, a gallon 
 of it may be fuppofed to fervc for three minutes refpiration for one man. At prefent 
 the air can not be fet at liberty from minium by vitriolic acid without the application 
 of fomejieat, this is however very likely foon to be difcovered, and will then enable 
 adventurers to journey beneath the ocean in large inverted (hips or diving balloons. 
 
 Mr. Boyle relates, that Cornelius Drebelle contrived not only a velfcl to be rowed 
 underwater, but alfo a liquor to be carried in that veflel, which w'ould fiipply the want 
 of frefli air. The veiTel was made by order of James I. and carried twelve rowers 
 befides paflengers. It was tried in the river Thames, and one of the perfons who w\as 
 in that fubmarine voyage told the particulars of the experiments to a perfon who re¬ 
 lated them to Mr. Boyle. Annual regifter for 1774? P* 248. 
 
Deep, in warm waves beneath the Line that roll, 205 
 Beneath the fhadowy ice-ifles of the Pole, 
 
 Onward, through bright meandering vales, afar, 
 Obedient Sharks fhall trail her fceptred car, 
 
 With harnefs’d necks the pearly flood diflurb, 
 
 Stretch the filk rein, and champ the fllver curb ; 210 
 
 Pleafed round her triumph wondering Tritons play, 
 
 And Sea-maids hail her on the watery way. 
 
 —Oft fhall Ihe weep beneath the cryftal waves 
 O’er fhipwreck’d lovers weltering in their graves ; 
 Mingling in death the Brave and Good behold 215 
 With flaves to glory, and with flaves to gold ; 
 
 Shrin’d in the deep fhall Day and Spalding mourn, 
 Each in his treacherous bell, fepulchral urn!— 
 
 Day and Spalding mourn . ]. 217. Mr. Day perifhed in a diving bell, or diving boat, 
 of.his own confirmation, at Plymouth in June 1774, in which he was to have continued 
 for a wager twelve hours one hundred feet’deep in water, and probably periflied from 
 his not poflelling all the hydrofiatic knowledge that was neceffary. See note on Ulva, 
 Vol. II. of this work. See Annual Regifter for 1774, p. 245. 
 
 Mr. Spalding'was profefiionally ingenious in the art of confirming and managing 
 the diving bell, and had pradtifed the bufinefs many years with fuccefs. He went 
 down accompanied by one of his young men twice to view the wreck of the Imperial 
 Eaft-Indiaman at the Kilh bank in Ireland. On defending the third time in June, 1783* 
 
 A a 2 
 

 / 
 
 [ 180 ] 
 
 Oft o’er thy lovely daughters, haplefs Pierce ! 219 
 
 Her fighs {hall breathe, her forrows dew their hearfe.— 
 With brow upturn’d to Heaven, “ We will not part! 
 
 He cried, and clafp’d them to his aching heart.- 
 
 _Dalh’d in dread confhft on the rocky grounds, 
 
 Crafh the {hock’d mafts, the daggering wreck rebounds; 
 Through gaping Teams the ruihing deluge fwims, 225 
 Chills their pale bofoms, bathes their (huddering limbs. 
 Climbs their white {boulders, buoys their dreaming hair. 
 And the lad fea-lhriek bellows in the air.— 
 
 Each with loud fobs her tender dre carcfs d, 
 
 And gafping ftra'm’d him clofer to her bread!— 230 
 
 they remained about an hour under water, and had two barrels of air fent down to them, 
 but on the fignals from below not being again repeated, after a certain tune, they were 
 drawn up by their a Aidants and both found dead in the bell. Annual Regider or 17 3, 
 p. 206. Thefe two unhappy events may for a time check the ardor of adventurers in 
 traverfing the bottom of the ocean, but it is probable in another half century it may 
 be fafer to travel under the ocean than over it, f.nce Dr. Priedley’s difeovery of pro¬ 
 curing pure air in fuch great abundance from the calces of metals. 
 
 Haphfs Pierce ! 1 . 219. The Halfewell Ead-Indiaman, outward bound, was wrecked 
 off Seacomb in the ifle of Purbec on the 6th of January, 1786; when Capt. Pierce, the 
 commander, with two young ladies, his daughters, and the greated part of the crew 
 and paffengers periled in the fea. Some of the officers and about feventy feamen 
 efcaped with great difficulty on the rocks, but Capt. Pierce finding it was impoffible to 
 fave the lives of the young ladies refufed to quit the fhip, and perilhed with them. 
 
r 181 i 
 
 ^Stretch’d on one tier they deep beneath the brine* 
 And their white bones with ivory arms intwine! 
 
 VII. “ Sylphs of nice ear! with beating wings you 
 guide 
 
 The fine vibrations of the aerial tide; 
 
 Join in fweet cadences the meafured words, 235 
 
 Or ftretch and modulate the trembling cords. 
 
 You ftrung to melody the Grecian lyre, 
 
 Breathed the rapt fong, and fail’d the thought of fire, 
 Or brought in combinations, deep and clear, 
 
 Immortal harmony to Handel’s ear.- 240 
 
 You with foft breath attune the vernal gale, 
 
 When breezy evening broods the lifiening vale ; 
 
 Or wake the loud tumultuous founds, that dwell 
 
 In Echo’s many-toned diurnal fhell. 
 
 You melt in dulcet chords, when Zephyr rings 245 
 The Eolian Harp, and mingle all its firings y 
 
Or trill in air the foft fymphonious chime, 
 
 When rapt Cecilia lifts her eye fublime, 
 
 Swell, as flie breathes, her bofom’s riling fnow, 
 
 O’er her white teeth in tuneful accents flow, 250 
 
 Through her fair lips on whifpering pinions move, 
 
 And form the tender flghs, that kindle love ! 
 
 u So playful Love on Ida’s flowery fides 
 With ribbon-rein the indignant Lion guides; 
 
 Pleafed on his brinded back the lyre he rings, 255 
 And fliakes delirious rapture from the firings; 
 
 Slow as the paufing Monarch flalks along, 
 
 t 
 
 Sheaths his retra&ile claws, and drinks the fong ; 
 
 Soft Nymphs on timid flep the triumph view, 
 
 And liftening Fawns with beating hoofs purfue ; 260 
 
 Indignant lion guides. 1 . 254. Defcribtd from an antient gem, expreffive of the com¬ 
 bined power of love and mufic, in the Mufeum Florent. 
 
v [ 183 ] 
 
 With pointed ears the alarmed fored darts, 
 
 And Love and Mu lie foften favage hearts. 
 
 VIII. “ Sylphs ! your bold hods^ when Heaven with 
 judice dread 
 
 Calls the red temped; round the guilty head, 
 
 Fierce at his nod aflume vindictive forms, 265 
 
 And launch from airy cars the vollied dorms.— 
 from Afhur’s vales when proud Senacherib trod. 
 Pour’d his fwoln heart, defied the living God, 
 
 Urged with inceflant diouts his glittering powers, 
 
 And Judah (hook through all her mafiy towers; 270 
 
 Round her fad altars prefs’d the prodrate crowed, 
 
 Hods beat their breads, and fuppliant chieftains bow’d; 
 Loud Ihrieks of matrons thrill’d the troubled air, 
 
 And trembling virgins rent their fcatter’d hair ; 
 
 High in the midd the kneeling King adored, 27^ 
 
 Spread the blafpheming fcroll before the Lord, 
 
 Raifed his pale hands, and breathed his paufing fighs, 
 And fixed on Heaven his dim imploring eyes,- 
 
C 184 3 
 
 a Oli 1 Mighty God ! amidft thy Seraph “throng 
 « Who fit’ft fublime, the Judge of Right and Wrong; 
 “ Thine the wide earth, bright fun, and harry zone, 2S1 
 a That twinkling journey round thy golden throne ; 
 
 “ Thine is the cryftal fource of life and light, 
 
 “ And thine the realms of Death’s eternal night. 
 
 <c Oh! bend thine ear, thy gracious eye incline, 285 
 
 « Lo! Afhur’s King blafphemes thy holy flirine, 
 
 “ Infults our offerings, and derides our vows,- 
 
 « oh ! ftrike the diadem from his impious brows, 
 ic Tear from his murderous hand the bloody rod, 
 
 « And teach the trembling nations, “ Thou art God!” 
 
 -Sylphs ! in what dread array with pennons broad 291 
 
 Onward ye floated o’er the ethereal road, 
 
 Call’d each dank fleam the reeking marfli exhales, 
 Contagious vapours, and volcanic gales, 
 
 Volcanic gales. 1 . 294. The peftilential winds of the eaft are deferibed by various 
 authors under various denominations; as harmattan, famiel, famium, fyrocca, kamfin, 
 feravanfum. M de Beauchamp deferibes a remarkable fouth wind in the deferts about 
 Bagdad, called feravanfum, or poifon-wind; it burns the face, impedes refpiration, ftrips 
 the trees of their leaves, and is faid to pafs on in a ftraight line, and often kills people in 
 
 
■MB M 
 
 ■■■■■■ 
 
 
 [ 185 ] 
 
 Gave the foft South with poifonous breath to blow, 295 
 And rolled the dreadful whirlwind on the foe !_ 
 
 Hark ! o’er the camp the venom’d 
 
 Man falls on Man, on buckler buckler rings ; 
 
 Groan anfwers groan, to anguilh anguifh yields, 
 
 And Death’s loud accents Ihake the tented fields ! 300 
 —High rears the Fiend his grinning jaws, and wide 
 Spans the pale nations with coloflal firide, 
 
 Waves his broad falchion with uplifted hand. 
 
 And his vaft fliadow darkens all the land. 
 
 fix hours. P. Cotte fur la Meteorol. Analytical Review for February, 1790. M. Vol¬ 
 ley fays, the hot wind or ramlin feems to blow at the feafon when the fands of the de¬ 
 feats are the hotteft ; the air is then filled with an extreamly fubtile duft. Vol. I. p. 61. 
 r l hefe winds blow in all dire&ions from the deferts ; in Egypt the mod violent proceed 
 from the S. S. W. at Mecca from the E. at Surat from the N. at BaflTora from the 
 N. W. at Bagdad from the W. and in Syria from the S. E. 
 
 On the fouth of Syria, he adds, where the Jordan flows is a country of volcanos ; 
 and it is obferved that the earthquakes in Syria happen after their rainy feafon, which 
 is alfo conformable to a fimilar obfervation made by Dr. Shaw in Barbary. Travels 
 in Egypt, Vol. I. p.303. 
 
 Thefe winds feem all to be of volcanic origin, as before mentioned, with this dif¬ 
 ference, that the Simoom is attended with a flream of ele&ric matter; they feem to be 
 in confequence of earthquakes caufed by the monfoon floods, which fall on volcanic 
 fires in Syria, at the fame time that they inundate the Nile. 
 
 Part I 
 
 Bb 
 
 1 
 
C 186 ] 
 
 IX. i. “ Ethereal Cohorts! Eflences of Air! 305 
 
 Make the green children of the Spring your care ! 
 
 Oh, Sylphs ! difclofe in this inquiring age 
 One Golden Secret to fome favour’d fage; 
 
 Grant the charm’d talifman, the chain, that binds, 
 
 Or guides the changeful pinions of the winds ! 310 
 
 —No more lhall hoary Boreas, ifluing forth 
 With Eurus, lead the tempefts of the North ; 
 
 Rime the pale Dawn, or veil’d in flaky lliowers 
 Chill the fweet bofoms of the fmiling Hours. 
 
 By whifpering Aufter waked (ball Zephyr rife, 315 
 Meet with foft kifs, and mingle in the Ikies, 
 
 One golden fecret. 1. 308. The fuddennefs of the change of the wind from N. E. to 
 S. W. feems to fhew that it depends on fome minute chemical caufe; which if it was 
 difcovered might probably, like other chemical caufes, be governed by human agency ; 
 fuch as blowing up rocks by gunpowder, or extrading the lightening from the clouds. 
 If this could be accomplilhed, it would be the moil happy difcovery that ever has hap¬ 
 pened to thefe northern latitudes, fince in this country theN. E. winds bring froft, and 
 the S. W. ones are attended with warmth and moifture; if the inferior currents of air 
 could be kept perpetually from the S. W. fupplied by new produdions of air at the line, 
 or by fuperior currents flowing in a contrary diredion, the vegetation of this country 
 would be doubled; as in the moift vallies of Africa, which know no froft ; the number 
 of its inhabitants would be increafed, and their lives prolonged ; as great abundance 
 of the aged and infirm of mankind, as well as many birds and animals, are deftroyed 
 by feverccontinued frofts in this climate. 
 
C ‘87 J 
 
 Fan the gay floret, bend the yellow ear, 
 
 And rock the uncurtain’d cradle of the year; 
 
 Autumn and Spring in lively union blend, 
 
 And from the fkies the golden Age defcend. 32c 
 
 2. “ Caftled on ice, beneath the circling Bear, 
 
 A vaft Camelion drinks and vomits air; 
 
 O’er twelve degrees his ribs gigantic bend, 
 
 And many a league his gafping jaws extend ; 
 
 Half-fifh, beneath, his fcaly volutes fpread, 325 
 
 And vegetable plumage crefts his head ; 
 
 Huge fields of air his wrinkled fkin receives. 
 
 From panting gills, wide lungs, and waving leaves; 
 Then with dread throes fubfides his bloated form. 
 
 His fhriek the thunder, and his figh the ftorm. 330 
 
 Oft high in heaven the hifling Demon wins 
 
 His towering courfe, upborne on winnowing fins; 
 
 A vajl Camelion. 1. 322. See additional notes, No. XXXIII. on the dcftru&ion and- 
 reprodu&ion of the atmofphere. 
 
 B b 2 
 

 \ 
 
 [ 188 ] 
 
 Steers with expanded eye and gaping mouth, 
 
 His mafs enormous to the affrighted South; 
 
 Spreads o’er the fhuddering Line his Ihadowy limbs, 335 
 
 And Froft and Famine follow as he fwims.- 
 
 Sylphs! round his cloud-built couch your bands array, 
 And mould the Monfter to your gentle fway ; 
 
 Charm with foft tones, with tender touches check, 
 
 Bend to your golden yoke his willing neck, 34 ° 
 
 With filver curb his yielding teeth reftrain, 
 
 And give to Kirwan’s hand the filken rem. 
 
 _pleafed lliall the Sage, the dragon-wings between. 
 
 Bend o’er difeordant climes his eye ferene. 
 
 With Lapland breezes cool Arabian vales, 345 
 
 And call to Hindoftan antardic gales, 
 
 Adorn with wreathed ears Kampfchatca’s brows, 
 
 And fcatter rofes 011 Zealandic fnows, 
 
 To Kirwan's hand. 1 . 342. Mr. Kirwan has publifhed a valuable treatife «n the 
 temperature of climates, as a ftep towards invelligating the theory of the winds ; and 
 has fince written fome ingenious papers on this fubjeft in the Tranfa&ions of the 
 Royal Iriftt Society. 
 
 b 
 
35 ° 
 
 Earth’s wondering Zones the genial feafons {hare, 
 And nations hail him “ Monarch of the Air.” 
 
 X. i. “ Sylphs ! as you hover on ethereal wing, 
 
 Brood the green children of parturient Spring!- 
 
 Where in their burfting cells my Embryons reft, 
 
 I charge you, guard the vegetable neft; 
 
 Count with nice eye the myriad Seeds, that fwell 355 
 
 Each vaulted womb of hulk, or pod, or Ihell; 
 
 Feed with fweet juices, clothe with downy hair, 
 
 Or hang, inihrined, their little orbs in air. 
 
 The myriad feeds . 1. 355. Nature would feem to have been wonderfully prodigal in 
 the feeds of vegetables, and the fpawn of fifli; almofl: any one plant, if all its feeds 
 fhould grow to maturity, would in a few years alone people the terreftrial globe. Mr. 
 Ray afierts that 1012 feeds of tobacco weighed only one grain, and that from one to¬ 
 bacco plant the feeds thus calculated amounted to 360,000 ! The feeds of the ferns are 
 by him fuppofed to exceed a million on a leaf. As the works of nature are governed by 
 general laws this exuberant reproduction prevents the accidental extinction of the fpecies 
 at the fame time that they ferve for food for the higher orders of animation. 
 
 Every feed poffefles a refervoir of nutriment defigned for the growth of the future 
 plant, this confifts of ftarch, mucilage, or oil, within the coat of the feed, or of fugar 
 and fubacid pulp in the fruit, which belongs to it. 
 
 For the prefervation of the immature feed nature has ufed many ingenious methods ; 
 fome are wrapped in down, as the feeds of the rofe, bean, and cotton-plant; others 
 are fufpended in a large air-velfel, as thofe of the bladder-fena, ft3phyl<ea, and pea. 
 
I 190 3 
 
 “ So, late defcry’d by Herschel’s piercing light, 
 Hang the bright fquadronsof the twinkling Night; 360 
 Ten thoufand marfhall’d liars, a filver zone, 
 
 EfFufe their blended lullres round her throne ; 
 
 Suns call to funs, in lucid clouds confpire, 
 
 And light exterior Ikies with golden lire ; 
 
 Relilllefs rolls the illimitable fphere, 365 
 
 And one great circle forms the unmeafured year. 
 
 —Roll on, ye Stars ! exult in youthful prime, 
 
 Mark with bright curves the printlefs Heps of Time ; 
 Near and more near your beamy cars approach, 
 
 And lelfening orbs on leflening orbs encroach ;— 370 
 
 Flowers of the Iky! ye too to age mull yield, 
 
 Frail as your lilken lifters of the field ! 
 
 And light exterior. 1 . 364. I fufpe£l this line is from Dwight’s Conqueft of Canaan, 
 a poem written by a very young man, and which contains much fine verfification. 
 
 Near and more near. 1. 369. From the vacant fpaces in fome parts of the heavens, 
 and the correfpondent clufters of ftars in their vicinity, Mr. Herfchel concludes that 
 the nebula; or conftellations of fixed ftars are approaching each other, and mull finally 
 coalefce in one mafs. Phil. Tranf. Vol. LXXV, 
 
 \ 
 
Star after Aar from Heaven’s high arch lhall rufh, 
 
 Suns link on funs, and fyAems fyftems crulh, 
 
 Headlong, extind, to one dark centre fall, 375 
 
 And Death and Night and Chaos mingle all! 
 
 —Till o’er the wreck, emerging from the florm. 
 Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form, 
 
 Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame, 
 
 And foars and Ihines, another and the fame. 380* 
 
 2. “ Lo! on each Seed within its {lender rind 
 Life’s golden threads in endlefs circles wind ; 
 
 Maze within maze the lucid webs are roll’d, 
 
 And, as they burft, the living flame unfold. 
 
 Till o'er the wreck . 1. 377. The flory of the phenix rifing from its own a(hes with 
 a twinkling ftar upon its head, feems to have been an antient hieroglyphic emblem of 
 the deftru&ion and refufcitation of all things. 
 
 There is a figure of the great Platonic year with a phenix on his hand on the reverfe 
 of a medal of Adrian. Spence’s Polym. p # 189. 
 
 Maze within maze . 1 . 383. The elegant appearance on difle&ion of the young tulip 
 in the bulb was firfl obferved by Mariotte and is mentioned in the note on tulipa in 
 Vol. II. and was afterwards noticed by Du Hamel. Acad. Scien. Lewenhoeck allures 
 us that in the bud of a currant tree he could not only difcover the ligneous part but even 
 the berries themfelves, appearing like fmall grapes. Chamb. Di&. art. Bud. Mr. 
 Baker fays he difle&ed a feed of trembling grafs in which a perfed plant appeared with 
 
[ 192 I 
 
 The pulpy acorn, ere it fwells, contains 385 
 
 The Oak’s vaft branches in its milky veins; 
 
 Each ravel’d bud, fine film, and fibre-line 
 Traced with nice pencil on the fmall defign. 
 
 The young NarcifTus, in its bulb comprefs’d, 
 
 Cradles a fecond nettling on its breaft; 390 
 
 In whofe fine arms a younger embryon lies, 
 
 Folds its thin leaves, and fhuts its floret-eyes; 
 
 Grain within grain fucceffive harvefts dwell, 
 
 And boundlefs forefts {lumber in a fhell. 
 
 —So yon grey precipice, and ivy’d towers, 395 
 
 Long winding meads, and intermingled bowers, 
 
 \ 
 
 its root fending forth two branches, from each of which feveral leaves or blades of grafs 
 proceeded. Microfc. Vol. I. p. 252. Mr. Bonnet faw four generations of fucceffive 
 plants in the bulb of a hyacinth. Bonnet Corps Organ. Vol. I. p. 103. Hallers 
 Phyfiol. Vol. I. p. 91. In the terminal bud of a horfe-chefnut the new flower maybe 
 feen by the naked eye covered with a mucilaginous down, and the fame in the bulb of 
 a narciflus, as I this morning obferved in feveral of them fent me by Mifs 
 for that purpofe. Sept. 16. 
 
 Mr. Ferber fpeaksef the pleafure he received in obferving in the buds of hepatica 
 and pedicularis hirfuta yet lying hid in the earth, and in the germs of the fhrub daphne 
 mezereon, and at the bafe of ofmunda lunaria a perfect plant of the future year, dif- 
 ccrnible in all its parts a year before it comes forth, and in the feeds of nymphea nelumbo 
 the leaves of the plant were feen fo diftinftly that the author found out by them what 
 plant the feeds belonged to. The fame of the feeds of the tulip tree or liriodendron 
 tulipiferum. Airuen. Acad. Vol. VI. 
 
[ ^93 ] 
 
 Green files of poplars, o’er the lake that bow, 
 
 And glimmering wheel, which rolls and foams below. 
 
 In one bright point with nice diftindtion lie 
 Plann’d on the moving tablet of the eye, 
 
 -So, fold on fold, Earth’s wavy plains extend. 
 
 And, fphere in fphere, its hidden ftrata bend ;— 
 Incumbent Spring her beamy plumes expands 
 O’er reftlefs oceans, and impatient lands, 
 
 With genial lu fires warms 
 
 And the Great Seed evolves, difclofing All; 
 
 Life buds or breathes from Indus to the Poles, 
 
 400 
 
 And the vafl: furface kindles, as it rolls ! 
 
 And the great feed. 1 . 406. Alluding to the *■{»« r«»», or firft great egg of the antient 
 philofophy, it had a fcrpent wrapped round it emblematical of divine wifdom, an image 
 of it was afterwards preferved and worfliipped in the temple of Diofcuri, and fuppofcd 
 to reprefent the egg of Leda. See a print of it in Bryant’s Mythology. It was faid 
 to have been broken by the horns of the celeftial bull, that is, it was hatched by the 
 warmth of the fpring. See note on Canto 1 . 1 . 4 J 3 * 
 
 And the vafl furface. 1 . 408. L’Organization, le fentiment, le movement fpontane, 
 la vie, n'exiftent qu’a la furface de la terre, et dans le lieux cxpofes a la lumiere. 
 Traite de Chymie par M. Lavoifier, Tom. I. p. 202. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Cc 
 
[ 194 3 
 
 3. tl Come, ye soft Sylphs ! who fport on Latian land, 
 Come, fweet-lip’d Zephyr, and Favonius bland ! 410 
 
 Teach the fine Seed, mftin£t with life, to flioot 
 On Earth’s cold bofom its defcending root ; 
 
 With Pith elaftic ftretch its rifing item, 
 
 Part the twin Lobes, expand the throbbing Gem ; 
 
 Clafp in your airy arms the afpiring Plume, 415 
 
 Fan with your balmy breath its kindling bloom, 
 
 Each widening fcale and burfting film .unfold, 
 
 Swell the green cup, and tint the flower with gold ; 
 
 Teach the fine feed. 1. 411. The feeds In their natural ftate fall on the furface of the 
 earth, and having abforbed fome moifture the root fhoots itfelf downwards into the earth 
 and the plume rifes in air. Thus each endeavouring to feek its proper pabulum direct- % 
 ed by a vegetable irritability fimilar to that of the lacteal fyftem and to the lungs in 
 animals. 
 
 The pith feems to pufh up or elongate the bud by its elafticity, like the pith in the 
 callow quills of birds. This medulla Linneus believes to confift of a bundle of fibre?, 
 which diverging breaks through the bark yet gelatinous producing the buds. 
 
 The lobes are refervoirs of prepared nutriment for the young feed, which is abforbed 
 by its placental veffels, and converted into fiigar, till it has penetrated with its roots 
 far enough into the earth to extraft fufficient mcifture, and has acquired leaves to con¬ 
 vert it into nourifhment. In fome plants thefe lobes rife from the earth and fnpply the 
 place of leaves, as in kidney-beans, cucumbers, and hence feem to ferve both as a 
 placenta to the foetus, and lungs to the young plant. During the proccfs of germina¬ 
 tion the ftarch of the feed is converted into fugar, as is feen in the procefs of malting 
 barley for the purpofe of brewing. And is on this account very fimilar to the digeftion 
 of food in the ftomachs of animals, which converts all their aliment into a chyle, which 
 confills of mucilage, oil, and fugar \ the placentation of buds will be fpoken of hereafter*. 
 
420 
 
 While in bright veins the filvery Sap afcends, 
 
 And refluent blood in milky eddies bends ; 
 
 While, fpread in air, the leaves refpiring play, 
 
 Or drink the golden quintcflence of day. 
 
 —So from his (hell on Delta’s fhower-lefs ifle 
 Burfts into life the Monfter of the Nile ; 
 
 Firfl in tranflucent lymph with cobweb-threads 425 
 The Brain’s fine floating tiflue fwells, and fpreads; 
 Nerve after nerve the gliflening fpine defcends, 
 
 The red Heart dances, the Aorta bends ; 
 
 Through each new gland the purple current glides, 
 New Veins meandering drink the refluent tides; 430 
 
 The filvery fap. L 419. See additional notes, No. XXXVI. 
 
 Or drink the golden. 1 . 422. Linneus having obferved the great influence of light 
 on vegetation, imagined that the leaves of plants inhaled eledtric matter from the light 
 with their upper furface. (Syftem of Vegetables tranflated, p. 8.) 
 
 The effedt of light on plants occafions the adlions of the vegetable mufcles of their 
 leaf-ltalks, which turn the upper fide of the leaf to the light, and which open their 
 calyxes and corols, according to the experiments of Abbe Teflier, who expofed vari¬ 
 ety of plants in a cavern to different quantities of light. Hift. de L’Academie Royal. 
 Ann. 17S3. The fleep or vigilance of plants feems owing to the prefence or abfence 
 of this ftimulus. See note on Mimofa, Part. II. 
 
L *9$ ] 
 
 Edge over edge expands the hardening fcale, 
 
 And {heaths his {limy {kin in filver mail. 
 
 -Erewhile, emerging from the brooding fand, 
 
 "With Tyger-paw He prints the brinelefs ftrand, 
 
 High on the flood with fpeckled bofom fwims, 435 
 Helm’d with broad tail, and oar’d with giant limbs ; 
 Rolls his fierce eye-balls, clafps his iron claws, 
 
 And champs with gnafhing teeth his mafly jaws ; 
 
 Old Nilus fighs along his cane-crown d fhores, 
 
 And fwarthy Memphis trembles and adores. 440 
 
 XI. “Come, ye soft Syephs! who fan the Paphian 
 groves. 
 
 And bear on fportive wings the callow Loves; 
 
 Call with fweet whifper, in each gale that blows, 
 
 The {lumbering Snow-drop from her long repofe ; 
 Charm the pale Primrofe from her clay-cold bed, 445 
 Unveil the bafhful Violet’s tremulous head ; 
 
 While from her bud the playful Tulip breaks, 
 
 And young Carnations peep with^bluflung cheeks ; 
 
Bid the clofed Corol from nocturnal cold 
 
 Curtain’d with fdk the virgin Stigma fold, 450 
 
 Shake into viewlefs air the morning dews, 
 
 And wave in light its iridefcent hues. 
 
 So fhall from high the burfting Anther truft 
 To the mild breezes the prolific dull:; 
 
 Or bow his waxen head with graceful pride, 455 
 
 Watch the fir ft blufhes of his waking bride, 
 
 Give to her hand the honey’d cup, or fip 
 Celeftial nedtar from her fweeter lip ; 
 
 Hang in foft raptures o’er the yielding Fair, 
 
 Love out his hour, and leave his life in air. 460 
 
 Hwey'd cup . 1 .457. The neftary or honey-gland fuppties food to the vegetable males 
 and females ; which like moths and butterflies live on the honey thus produced for them,, 
 till they have propagated their fpecies, and depofited their eggs, and then die, as ex¬ 
 plained in additional note, No. XXXIX. The tops of the ftamens, or anthers, are co¬ 
 vered with wax to protect the prolific duft from the injury of fhowers and dews, to 
 which it is impervious. 
 
 Love out his hour. 1 . 460. The vegetable paflion of love is agreeably feen in the* 
 flower of the parnaffia, in which the males alternately approach and recede from the 
 female, and in the flower of nigella, or devil in the bufh, in which the tall females bend 
 down to their dwarf hufbands. But I was this morning furprifed to obferve, amongft 
 Sir Brooke Boothby’s valuable colleftion of plants at Alhbourn, the manifeft adultery 
 of feveral females of the plant Collinfonia, who had bent themfelves into contact with 
 the males of other flowers of the fame plant in their'vicinity, neglcdlful of tbeij; own. 
 Sept. 16. See additional notes, No. XXXVIII. 
 
[ r 9 8 1 
 
 So in liis filken fepulchre the Worm, 
 
 Warm’d with new life, unfolds his larva-form; 
 Erewhile aloft in wanton circles moves, 
 
 And woos on Hymen-wings his velvet loves. 
 
 XII. i. “ If prouder branches with exuberance rude 
 Point their green gems, their barren fhoots protrude ; 466 
 Wound them, ye Sylphs ! with little knives, or bind 
 A wiry ringlet round the fwelling rind ; 
 
 I nfolds his larva-form. I. 462. The flower burfls forth from its larva, the herb, na¬ 
 ked and perfeCl like a butterfly from its chryfalis ; winged with its corol; wing-fheathed 
 by its calyx ; confifting alone of the organs of reproduction. The males, or ftamens, 
 have their anthers replete with a prolific powder containing the vivifying fovilla ; in the 
 females, or piftils, exifts the ovary, terminated by the tubular ftigma. When the an¬ 
 thers burft and flied their bags of duff, the male fovilla is received by the prolific lymph 
 of the ffigma, and produces the feed or egg, which is nourifhed in the ovary. Syftem 
 of Vegetables tranflated from Linneus by the Lichfield Society, p. 10. 
 
 Wound them, ye Sylphs ! 1. 467. Mr. Whitmill advifed to bind fume of the mod vi¬ 
 gorous fhoots with flrong wire, and even fome of the large ^roots ; and Mr. Warner 
 cuts, what he calls a wild worm about the body of the tree, or fcores the bark quite to 
 the wood like a ferew with a fharp knife. Bradley on Gardening, Vol. II. p. 15 j. 
 Mr. Fitzgerald produced flowers and fruit on wall trees by cutting off a part of the 
 bark. Phil. Tranf. Ann. 1761. M. BufFon produced the fame effect by a ftraighi ban¬ 
 dage put round a branch, A a. Paris, Ann. 1738, and concludes that an ingrafted 
 branch bears better from i s veffels being compreired by the callus. 
 
 A compleat cylinder of the bark about an inch in height was cut off from the bra r, v h 
 of a pear tree again!! a wall in Mr. Howard’s garden at Lichfield about five years ago, 
 
Bifefl: with chiffel fine the root below. 
 Or bend to earth the inhofpitable bough. 
 
 the circumcifed part is now not above half the diameter of the branch above and below 
 it, yet this branch has been full of fruit every year fince, when the other branches of 
 the tree bore only fparingly. I lately obferved that the leaves of this wounded branch 
 were fmaller and paler, and the fruit lefs in fize, and ripened fooner than on the other 
 parts of the tree. Another branch has the bark taken off not quite all round with much 
 the fame eflfeft. 
 
 The theory of this curious vegetable faft has been efteemed difficult, but receives 
 great light from the foregoing account of the individuality of buds. A flower-bud dies, 
 when it has perfected its feed, like an annual plant, anti hence requires no place on the 
 bark for new roots to pafs downwards ; but on the contrary leaf-buds, as they advance 
 into fhoots, form new buds in the axilla of every leaf, which new buds require new 
 roots to pafs down the bark, and thus thicken as well as elongate the branch, now if a 
 wire or firing be tied round the bark, many of thefe new roots cannot defeend, and 
 thence more of the buds will be converted into flower-buds. 
 
 It is cuflomary to debark oak-trees in the fpring, which are intended to be felled in 
 the enfuing autumn ', becaufe the bark comes oiF eaflerat this feafon, and the fap-wood, 
 or alburnum, is believed to become harder and more durable, if the tree remains till 
 the end of fummer. The trees thus dripped of their bark put forth fhoots as ufual with 
 acorns on the 6th yth and 8th joint, like vines ; but in the branches I examined, the 
 joints of the debarked trees were much fhorter than thofe of other oak-trees ; the acorns 
 were more numerous ; and no new buds were produced above the joints which bore 
 acorns. From hence it appears that the branches of debarked oak-trees produce fewer 
 leaf-buds, and more flower*buds, which laft circiimftance I fuppofe mtift depend on 
 their being fooner or later debarked in the vernal months. And, fecondly, that the 
 new buds of debarked oak-trees continue to obtain moifture from the albrirnum after 
 the feafon of the afeent of fap in other vegetables ceafes ; which in this unnatural Hate 
 of the debarked tree may aft as capillary tubes, like the albitrnum of the final 1 debar¬ 
 ked cylinder of a pear-tree abovementioned ; or may continue to aft as placental vef- 
 fels, as happens to the animal embryon in cafes of fuperfetation ; when the fetus con¬ 
 tinues a month or two in the womb beyond its ufual time, of which fome infiances have 
 been recorded, the placenta continues to fupply perhaps the double office both of nutri¬ 
 tion and of refpiration. 
 
 Gr bend to earth. 1 470. Mr. Hitt in his treatife on fruit-trees obferves that if a 
 vigorous branch of a wall-tree be bent to the horizon, or beneath it, itlofes its vigour 
 
So fhall each Germ with new prolific power 
 Delay the leaf-bud, and expand the flower ; 
 
 Clofed in the Style the tender Pith fhall end, 
 
 The lengthening Wood in circling Stamens bend ; 
 
 The fmoother Rind its foft embroidery fpread 475 
 In vaulted Petals o’er the gorgeous bed ; 
 
 and becomes a bearing branch. The theory of this I fuppofe to depend on the diffi¬ 
 culty with which the leaf-fhoots can protrude the roots neceflary for their new progeny 
 of buds upwards along the bended branch^to the earth contrary to their natural habits 
 or powers, whence more flower-fhoots are produced which do not require new roots 
 to pafs along the bark of the bended branch, but which let their offspring, the feeds, 
 fall upon the earth and feck roots for themfelves. 
 
 With new prolific power. I.471. About Midfummer the new buds are formed, but 
 it is believed by fome of the Linnean fchool, that thcfebuds may in their early (fate be 
 either converted into flower-buds or leaf-buds according to the vigour of the vegetating 
 branch. Thus if the upper part of a branch be cut away, the buds near the extremity 
 tjfi the remaining (tern, having a greater proportional fupply of nutriment, or poffeffing 
 a greater facility of (hooting their roots, orabforbent veflels, down the bark, will be¬ 
 come leaf-buds, which might otherwife have been flower-buds, and the contrary ; as 
 explained in note on 1 . 467. of this Canto. 
 
 Clofed in the flyle. 1 . 473. “ I conceive the medulla of a plant to confift of a bundle 
 
 of nervous fibres, and that the propelling vital power feparates their uppermoft extre¬ 
 mities. Thefe, diverging, penetrate the bark, which is now gelatinous, and become 
 multiplied in the new gem, or leaf-bud. The afeending veflels of the bark being thus 
 divided by the nervous fibres, which perforate it, and the afeent of its fluids being thuf 
 impeded, the bark is extended into a leaf. But the flower is produced, when the pro- 
 trufionof the medulla is greater than the retention of the including cortical part; whence 
 the fubftance of the bark is expanded in the calyx \ that of the rind, (or interior bark,) 
 in thecoroli that of the wood in theftamens, that of the medulla in the piftil. Vege¬ 
 tation thus terminates in the production of new life, the ultimate medullary and cortical 
 -fibres being colle&ed in the feeds.” Linnei Syftema Veget. p. 6. edit. 14. 
 
[ 201 ] 
 
 The wrinkled bark, in filmy mazes roll’d, 
 h orm the green Calyx , fold including fold ; 
 
 Each widening BraSle expand it’s foliage hard, 
 
 And hem the bright pavillion, Floral Guard. 480 
 —So the cold rill from Cintra’s fleepy fides, 
 Headlong, abrupt, in barren channels glides; 
 
 Round the rent cliffs the bark-bound Suber fpreads, 
 And lazy monks recline on corky beds ; 
 
 Till, led by art, the wondering water moves 485 
 
 Through vine-hung avenues, and citron groves; 
 
 Green flopes the velvet round it’s filver fource, 
 
 And flowers, and fruits, and foliage mark its courfe. 
 At breezy eve, along the irriguous plain 
 The fair Beckfordia leads her virgin train ; 490 
 
 Seeks the cool grot, the fhadowy rocks among, 
 
 And tunes the mountain-echoes to her fong; 
 
 Clntra. 1.481. A village on the lide of the rock of Lifbon, around the fummit are 
 abundance of cork trees, and fome excavations, which a few monks inhabit, and fleep 
 on beds or benches of cork \ near the village Mr. Beckford has an elegant feat. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Dd 
 
[ 202 ] 
 
 Or prints with graceful fteps the margin green, 
 
 And brighter glories gild the inchanted fcene. 
 
 2 . “ Where cruder juices fwell the leafy vein, 495 
 Stint the young germ, the tender bloffom ftain ; 
 
 On each lopp’d (hoot a fofter fcion bind, 
 
 Pith prefs’d to pith, and rind applied to rind, 
 
 So (hall the trunk with loftier creft afcend, 
 
 And wide in air its happier arms extend ; 5 0C 
 
 Nurfe the new buds, admire the leaves unknown, 
 
 And blufhing bend with fruitage not its own. 
 
 % 
 
 _ r t »ii - nT Mr Fairchild budded a paflion-tree, whofo leaves 
 
 the inoculation, and m a fhort time after* atds yellow .p VV 
 
 n l Mb Vol II ) the fruit does not acquire any change of flavour, and by many other 
 
 nor any o J change is produced in the fruit ingrafted on 
 
 0t Thfrets'an apple deferibed in Bradley’s work which is faid to have one fide of it a 
 f Jet fruit which boils foft, and the other fide a four fruit winch bo.ls hard, which . 
 Pradlev fo long ago as the year 1721 ingenioufly afenbes to the farina of one of t 
 
 t ; n „ the other which would feem the more probable if we confider tha 
 
 in oranges and lemons, and grapes of different colours. 
 
<c Thus when in holy triumph Aaron trod, 
 
 And offer’d on the fhrine his myftic rod ; 
 
 Firfl a new bark its filken tiffue weaves, 505 
 
 New buds emerging widen into leaves ; 
 
 Fair fruits protrude, enafcent flowers expand, 
 
 And blufh and tremble round the living wand. 
 
 XIII. 1. “ Sylphs! on each Oak-hud wound the 
 wormy galls, 
 
 With pigmy fpears, or crufh the venom’d balls; '$ 10 
 
 Fright the green Locufl: from his foamy bed, 
 
 Unweave the Caterpillar’s gluey thread; 
 
 Chafe the fierce Earwig, fcare the bloated Toad, 
 
 Arreft the Snail upon his flimy road; 
 
 Arm with fharp thorns the Sweet-brier’s tender wood, 
 And dafh the Cynips from her damalk bud ; 516 
 
 Steep in ambrofial dews the Woodbine’s bells. 
 
 And drive the Night-moth from her honey’d cells. 
 
So where the Humming-bird in Chili’s bowers 
 On murmuring pinions robs the pendent flowers ; 52a 
 
 Seeks, where fine pores their dulcet balm difiill, 
 
 And fucks the treafure with probofcis-bill; 
 
 Fair Cyprepedia with fuccefsful guile 
 Knits her fmooth brow, extinguiflies her fmile ; 
 
 A Spider’s bloated paunch and jointed arms 525 
 
 Hide her fine form, and malk her blufhing charms; 
 
 Fair Cyprepedia. 1 . 523. The cyprepedium from South America is fuppofed to be 
 >of larger fize and brighter colours than that from North America from which this print 
 is taken ; it has a large globular ne&ary about the fize of a pidgeon’s egg of a flefliy 
 colour, and an incifion or depreflion on ils upper part, much refembling the body of 
 the large American fpider; this globular neftary is attached to divergent (lender petals 
 not unlike the legs of the fame animal. This fpider is called by Linneus Aranea avi- 
 cularia, with a convex orbicular thorax, the center tranfverfely excavated, he adds that 
 it catches fmall birds as well as infe&s, and has the venomous bite of a ferpent. Syftem- 
 Natur. Tom. I. p. 1034. M. Lonvilliers de Poincy, (Hiftoire Nat. des Antilles, 
 Cap. xiv. art 111 .) calls it Phalange, and defcribes the body to be the fize of a pid¬ 
 geon’s egg, with a hollow on its back like a navel, and mentions its catching the hum- 
 ming-bird in its ftrong nets. 
 
 The fimilitude of this flower to this great fpider feems to be a vegetable contrivance 
 to prevent the humming-bird from plundering its honey. About Matlock in Derby- 
 fhire the fly-ophris is produced, the neftary of which fo much refembles the fmall wall- 
 bee, perhaps the apis ichneumonea, that it may be eafily miftaken for it at a fmall dif- 
 tance. It is probable that by this means it may often efcape being plundered. Sec 
 note on lonicera in the next poem. 
 
 A bird of our own country called a willow-wren (Motacilla) runs up the ftem of 
 the crown-imperial (Frittillaria coronalis) and lips the pendulous drops within its petals* 
 This fpecies of Motacilla is called by Ray Regulus non criftatus. White’s Hill, of 
 
 Selborne. 
 
4 
 
In ambufli fly the mimic warrior lies, 
 
 And on quick wing the panting plunderer flies. 
 
 2. “ Shield the young Harvefl: from devouring blight, 
 The Smut’s dark poifon, and the Mildew white ; 530 
 
 Deep-rooted Mould, and Ergot’s horn uncouth, 
 
 And break the Canker’s defolating tooth. 
 
 Shield the young harveji. 1 . 529. Linneus enumerates but four difeafes of plants ;~ 
 Eryfyche, the white mucor or mould, with fellile tawny heads, with which the leaves 
 are fprinkled, as is frequent on the hop, humulus, maple, acer, &c. Rubigo, the ferru- 
 gineous powder fprinkled under the leaves, frequent in lady’s mantle, alchemilla, &c. 
 
 Clavus, when the feeds grow out into larger horns black without, as in rye. This 
 is called Ergot by the french writers. 
 
 Urtulago, when the fruit inftead of feed produces a black powder, as in barley, oats, 
 &c. To which perhaps the honey-dew ought to have been added, and the canker, in 
 the former of which the nourifliing fluid of the plant feems to be exfuded by a retro¬ 
 grade motion of the cutaneous lymphatics, as in the fweating ficknefs of the laft century. 
 The latter is a phagedenic ulcer of the bark, very dettru&ive to young apple-trees, and 
 which in cherry-trees is attended w ith a depofition of gum arable, which often termi¬ 
 nates in the death of the tree. 
 
 Ergot's horn . 1 . 531. There is a difeafe frequently affects the rye in France, and 
 fometimes in England in moift feafons, which is called Ergot, or horn-feed ; the grain 
 becomes confiderably elongated and is either ftraight or crooked, containing black meal 
 along with the white, and appears to be pierced by infe&s, which w r ere probably the 
 caufe of the difeafe. Mr. Duhamel aferibes it to this caufc, and compares it to galls on 
 oak-leaves. By the ufe of this bad grain amongA the poor difeafes have been produced 
 attended with great debility and mortification of the extremities both in trance and 
 England. Di£t. Raifon. art. Siegle. Philofoph. Tranfad. 
 
[ 206 ] 
 
 Firft ill one point the fettering wound confin’d 
 Mines unperceived beneath the fhrivel d rind ; 
 
 Then climbs the branches withincreafing ftrength, 535 
 
 Spreads as they fpread, and lengthens with their 
 
 unneal’d 
 
 wound ingraved on glai 
 Runs in white lines along the lucid field; 
 Crack follows crack, to laws clattic juft, 
 And the frail fabric fhivers into duft. 
 
 \ 
 
 54 © 
 
 On glafs unneaVd . I. 537. The glafs makers occafionally make what they call proofs 
 which are cooled haftily, whereas the other glafs veflels are removed from warmer 
 ovens to cooler ones, and fuffered to cool by flow degrees, which is called annealing, 
 or nealing them. If an unnealed glafs be fcratched by even a grain of fand falling 
 into it, it will feem to confider of it for fome time, or even a day, and will then crack 
 into a thoufand pieces. 
 
 The fame happens to a fmooth-fur faced lead-ore in Derbyfhire, the "workmen having 
 cleared a large face of it fcratch it with picks, and in a few hours many tons of it 
 crack to pieces and fall, with a kind of explofion. Whitehurft’s Theory of the Earth. 
 
 Glafs dropped into cold water, called Prince Rupert’s drops, explode when a fmall 
 part of their tails are broken off, more fuddenly indeed, but probably from the fame 
 caufe. Are the internal particles of thefe elaftic bodies kept fo far from each other by 
 the external cruft that they are nearly in a ftate of repulfion into which ftate they are 
 thrown by their vibrations from any violence applied ? Or, like elaftic balls in certain 
 proportions fufpended in conta& with each other, can motion once begun be increafed 
 by their elafticity, till the whole explodes ? And can this power be applied to any me¬ 
 chanical purpofes ? 
 
XIV. i. “ Syi.phs ! if with morn deftru&ive Eurus 
 Springs, 
 
 O, clafp the Harehel with your velvet wings; 
 
 Screen with thick leaves the Jafmine as it blows, 
 
 And fhake the white rime from the fhuddering Rofe; 
 Whilft Amaryllis turns with graceful eafe 545 
 
 Her blufhing beauties, and eludes the breeze.— 
 
 Sylphs ! if at noon the Fritillary droops, 
 
 With drops ne&areous hang her nodding cups; 
 
 Thin clouds of goflamer in air difplay, 
 
 And hide the vale’s chafte Lily from the ray; 550 
 
 Whilft Erythrina o’er her tender flower 
 Bends all her leaves, and braves the fultry hour;— 
 Shield, when cold Hefper fheds his dewy light, 
 Mimofa’s foft fenfations from the night; 
 
 Fold her thin foliage, clofe her timid flowers, 555 
 And with ambroftal flumbers guard her bowers ; 
 
 With ambroftalf umbers. 1 . 556. Many vegetables during the night do not feem to 
 refpire, but to fieep like the dormant animals and infeas in winter. This appears from 
 the mimofa and many other plants doling the upper lides of their leaves together in 
 

 O’er each warm wall while Ccrea flings her arms, 
 And waftes on night’s dull eye a blaze of charms. 
 
 2. “ Round her tall Elm with dewy fingers twine 
 The gadding tendrils of the adventurous Vine ; 560 
 
 From arm to arm in gay fefioons fufpend 
 Her fragrant flowers, her graceful foliage bend ; 
 
 Swell with fweet juice her vermil orbs, and feed 
 Shrined in tranfparent pulp her pearly feed ; 
 
 Hang round the Orange all her filver bells, 565 
 
 And guard her fragrance with Hefperian fpells; 
 
 Bud after bud her polifli’d leaves unfold, 
 
 And load her branches with fucceflive gold. 
 
 their deep, and thus precluding that fide of them from both light and air. And from 
 many flowers clofing up the poli{bed or interior fide of their petals, which we have 
 alfo endeavoured to fhew to he a refpiratory organ. 
 
 The irritability of plants is abundantly evinced by the abforption and pulmonary cir¬ 
 culation of their juices ; their fenfibility is fhewn by the approaches of the males to 
 the females, and of the females to the males in numerous inftances ; and, as the efTential 
 circumftance of fleep confifts in the temporary abolition of voluntary power alone, the 
 deep of plants evinces that they poflefs voluntary power ; which alfo indifputably ap¬ 
 pears in many of them by clofing their petals or their leaves during cold, or rain, or 
 darknefs, or from mechanic violence. 
 
570 
 
 So the learn’d Alchemift exulting fees 
 Rife in his bright matrafs Diana’s trees ; 
 
 Drop after drop, with juft delay he pours 
 
 The red-fumed acid on Potofi’s ores ; 
 
 With fudden flafti the fierce bullitions rife, 
 
 And wide in air the gas phlogiftic flies; 
 
 Slow (hoot, at length, in many a brilliant mafs 575 
 Metallic roots acrofs the netted glafs ; 
 
 Diana's trees. 1. 570. The chemifts and aftronomers from the earlieft antiquity have 
 uffcd the fame charaClers to reprefent the metals and the planets, which were moft pro- 
 probably outlines or abftraCts of the original hieroglyphic figures of Egypt. Thefe af¬ 
 terwards acquired niches in their temples, and reprefented Gods as well as metals and 
 planets : whence filver is called Diana, or the moon, in the books of alchemy. 
 
 The procefs for making Diana’s filver tree is thus dcfcribed by Lemcri. DifTolve 
 one ounce of pure filver in acid of nitre very pure and moderately ftrohg ; mix this 
 folution with about twenty ounces of diftilled water; add to this two ounces of mercury, 
 and let it remain at reft. In about four days there will form upon the mercury a tree 
 of filver with branches imitating vegetation. 
 
 1. As the mercury has a greater affinity than filver with the nitrous acid, the filver 
 hecomes precipitated; and, heing deprived of the nitrous oxygene by the mercury, 
 finks down in its metallic form and luftre. 2. The attraction between filver and mer¬ 
 cury, which caufes them readily to amalgamate together, occafionsthe precipitated filver 
 to adhere to the furface of the mercury in preference to any other part of the vefiel. 3. 
 The attraction of the particles of the precipitated filver to each other caufes the begin¬ 
 ning branches to thicken and elongate into trees and flirubs rooted on the mercury. For 
 other circumftances concerning this beautiful experiment fee Mr. Keir’s Chemical 
 Dictionary, art. Arbor Dianas; a work perhaps of greater utility to mankind than the 
 loft Alexandrian Library ; the continuation of which is fo eagerly expeCted by all, who 
 are occupied in the arts, or attached to the feknees. 
 
 Ee 
 
 1 
 
t 210 ] 
 
 Branch after branch extend their filver ftems, 
 
 Bud into gold, and bloflom into gems. 
 
 “ So fits enthron’d in vegetable pride 
 Imperial Kew by Thames’s glittering fide ; 5Bo 
 
 Obedient fails from realms unfurrow’d bring 
 
 For her the unnam’d progeny of fpring ; 
 
 Attendant Nymphs her dulcet mandates hear, 
 
 And nurfe in foftering arms the tender year, 
 
 Plant the young bulb, inhume the living feed, 585 
 Prop the weak hem, the erring tendril lead ; 
 
 Or fan in glafs-built fanes the flranger flowers 
 With milder gales, and fteep with warmer lhowers. 
 Delighted Thames through tropic umbrage glides, 
 
 And flowers antarctic, bending o’er his tides ; 590 
 
 Drinks the new tints, the fweets unknown inhales, 
 
 And calls the fons of fcience to his vales. 
 
 In one bright point admiring Nature eyes 
 The fruits and foliage of difcordant (kies, 
 
 
595 
 
 [ 211 ] 
 
 Twines the gay floret with the fragrant bough, 
 
 And bends the wreath round George’s royal brow. 
 —Sometimes retiring, from the public weal 
 One tranquil hour the Royal Partners fteal; 
 Through glades exotic pafs with ftep fublime, * 
 
 Or mark the growths of Britain’s happier clime ; 600 
 
 With beauty bloflbm’d, and with virtue blaz’d, 
 
 Mark the fair Scions, that themfelves have rais’d ; 
 
 Sweet blooms the Rofe, the towering Oak expands, 
 
 The Grace and Guard of Britain’s golden lands. 
 
 XV. “ Sylphs! who, round earth on purple pinions borne, 
 Attend the radiant chariot of the morn ; 606 
 
 Lead the gay hours along the ethereal higbt, 
 
 And on each dun meridian fhower the light ; 
 
 Sylphs ! who from realms of equatorial day 
 To climes, that fhudder in the polar ray, 610 
 
 From zone to zone purfue on fhifting wing, 
 
 The bright perennial journey of the lpring ; 
 
[ 212 ] 
 
 Bring my rich Balms from Mecca’s hallow’d glades, 
 Sweet flowers, that glitter in Arabia s (hades ; 
 Fruits, whofe fair forms in bright fucceflion glow 
 
 Gilding the banks of Arno, or of Po ; 
 
 O 
 
 Each leaf, whofe fragrant fleam with ruby lip 
 Gay China’s nymphs from pidur’d vafes fip; 
 Each fpicy rind, which fultry India boafls, 
 Scenting the night-air round her breezy coafls; 
 Roots, whofe bold ftems in bleak Siberia blow, 
 And gem with many a tint the eternal fnow; 
 Barks, whofe broad umbrage high in ether waves 
 
 A* 
 
 O’er Ande’s fteeps, and hides his golden caves ; 
 
 _And, where yon oak extends his dulky (hoots 
 
 Wide o’er the rill, that bubbles from his roots ; 
 Beneath whofe arms, protected from the dorm, 
 
 A turf-built altar rears it’s ruftic form; 
 
 Sylphs ! with religious hands frefh garlands twine, 
 And deck with lavifh pomp Hygeia’s (hrine. 
 
<c Call with loud voice the Sifterhood, that dwell 
 On floating cloud, wide wave, or bubbling well; 
 Stamp with charm’d foot, convoke the alarmed Gnomes 
 From golden beds, and adamantine domes ; 
 
 Each from her fphere with beckoning arm invite, 635 
 Curl’d with red flame, the Veftal Forms of light. 
 
 Clofe all your fpotted wings, in lucid ranks 
 Prefs with your bending knees the crowded hanks, 
 Crofs your meek arms, incline your wreathed brows, 
 And win the Goddefs with unwearied vows. 640 
 
 « Oh, wave, Hygeia ! o’er Britannia’s throne 
 Thy ferpent-wand, and mark it for thy own ; 
 
 Lead round her breezy coafts thy guardian trains, 
 
 Her nodding forefts, and her waving plains; 
 
 Shed o’er her peopled realms thy beamy fmile, 645 
 And with thy airy temple crown her ifle!” 
 
 The Goddess ceafed,—and calling from afar 
 The wandering Zephyrs, joins them to her car; 
 
m 
 
 [ 214 ;] 
 
 Mounts with light bound, and graceful, as fhe bends, 
 Whirls the long lafh, the flexile rein extends ; 650 
 
 On whifpering wheels the filver axle Aides, 
 
 Climbs into air, and cleaves the cryftal tides ; 
 
 Burfl: from its pearly chains, her amber hair 
 Streams o’er her ivory flioulders, buoy’d in air ; 
 
 Swells her white veil, with ruby clafp confined 655 
 Round her fair brow, and undulates behind; 
 
 The leflening courfers rife in fpiral rings, 
 
 Pierce the flow-failing clouds, and ftretch their Ihadowy 
 wings. 
 
 / 
 
CONTENTS OF THE NOTES. 
 
 CANTO I. 
 
 R O SI CRUCIAN machinery 73 Gunpowder deferibed by Bacon. Its 
 
 All bodies are immerfed in the matter power. Should be lighted in the centre, 
 
 ot heat. Particles of bodies do not touch A new kind of it. Levels the weak and 
 
 each other 97 ftrong 
 
 Gradual progrefs of the formation of the Steam-engine invented by Savery. Im- 
 
 earth, and of plants and animals. Mon- proved by Newcomen. Perfected by Watt 
 
 (trous births ioi and Boulton 
 
 Fixed (tars approach towards each other, Divine benevolence. The parts of na- 
 
 they were projected from chaos by explo- ture not of equal excellence 
 
 fion, and the planets projected from them 105 Mr. Boulton's (team-engine for the pur- 
 An atmofphere of inflammable air above pofe of coining would lave many lives from 
 
 the common atmofphere principally about the executioner 
 
 the poles 123 Labours of Hercules of great antiquity. 
 
 Twilight fifty miles high. Wants fur- Pillars of Hercules. Surface of the Me- 
 
 ther obfervations 126 diterranean lower than the Atlantic. Abyla 
 
 Immediate caufe of volcanos from (team and Calpe. Flood of Deucalion 
 
 and other vapours. They prevent greater Accumulation of electricity not from 
 
 earthquakes 1 52 friction 
 
 Conductors of heat. Cold on the tops Mr. Bennet’s fenfible electrometer 
 
 of mountains 176 Halo of faints is pictorial language 
 
 Phofphorefcent light in the evening We have a fenfe adapted to perceive heat 
 
 from all bodies 177 but not electricity 
 
 Phofphoric light from calcined (hells. Paralytic limbs move by electric influence 
 
 Bolognian (tone. Experiments of Beccari Death of Profeflor Richman by electricity 
 
 and Wilfon 182 Lightning drawn from the clouds. How 
 
 Ignis fatuus doubtful 1S9 to be fafe in thunder (torms 
 
 EleCtric Eel. Its eleCtric organs. Com- Animal heat from air in refpiration. Per- 
 
 pared to the eleCtric Leyden phial 202 petual neceflity of refpiration. Spirit of 
 
 Difcovery of fire. Tools of Heel. Fo- animation perpetually renewed 
 
 refts fubdued. Quantity of food increaled Cupid rifes from the egg of night. Mrs. 
 
 by cookery 212 Cofway’s painting of this fubject 
 
 Medufa originally an hieroglyphic of di- Weftern-winds. Their origin. Warmer 
 
 vine wifdom 2 j 8 than fouth-winds. Produce a thaw' 
 
 Caufe of explofions from combined heat. Water expands in freezing. Deftroys 
 
 Heat given out from air in refpiration. Ox- fucculent plants, not refinous ones. Trees 
 
 ygene loofes lefs heat when converted into in valleys more liable to injury. Fig-trees 
 
 nitrous acid than in any other of its com- bent to the ground in w inter 
 
 binations 226 Buds and bulbs are the winter cradle of 
 
 Sparks from the collifion of flints are the plant. Defended from frofl and from 
 
 eleCtric. From the collifion of hint and ipfeCts. Tulip produces one flower-bulb 
 
 Reel are from the combuftion of the Reel 229 and feveral leaf-bulbs, and peri flies 
 
 242 
 
 254 
 
 27S 
 
 281 
 
 2 97 
 
 335 
 
 345 
 
 35 * 
 
 3 6 5 
 
 367 
 
 373 
 
 3*3 
 
 401 
 
 4i3 
 
 43 ° 
 
 439 
 
 4 6c 
 
[ 3i6 ] 
 
 Matter of heat if different from light. 
 
 Vegetables blanched by exclusion of light. 
 Turn the upper furface of their leaves to 
 the light. Water decompofed as it efcapes 
 from their pores. Hence vegetables purify 
 air in the day time only ^ 4 ^ 2 
 
 Electricity forwards the growth ol 
 plants. Silk-worms ele&rifed fpin fooner. 
 Water decompofed in vegetables, and by 
 electricity 
 
 Sympathetic inks which appear by heat, 
 and disappear in the cold. Made from 
 cobalt 4$7 
 
 Star in Calliope’s chair 5 X 5 
 
 Ice-iflands ioo fathoms deep. Sea-ice 
 more difficult of folution. Ice evaporates, 
 producing great cold. Ice-iflands increafe. 
 Should be navigated into fouthern cli¬ 
 mates. Some ice-iflands have floated 
 fouthwards 60 miles long. Steam attend¬ 
 ing them in warm climates 5 2 9 
 
 Monfoon cools the fands of Abyffinia 547 
 Afcending vapours are eleftrifed plus, as 
 appears from an experiment of Mr. Bcn- 
 nct. Eledtricity fupports vapour in clouds. 
 Thunder fhowers from combination of in¬ 
 flammable and vital airs 5 53 
 
 CANTO II 
 
 Solar volcanos analogous to terreftrial 
 and lunar ones. Spots of the fun are ex¬ 
 cavations 
 
 Spherical form of the earth. Ocean 
 from condenfed vapour. ' Chara&cr of 
 Mr. Whitehurft 
 
 Granite the oldeft part of the earth.— * 
 Then limeftone. And laftly, clay, iron, 
 coal, fandftone. Three great concentric 
 divilions of the globe 
 
 Formation of primeval iflands before the 
 production of the moon. Paradife. The 
 Golden Age. Rain-bow. Water of the 
 fea originally frefh 
 
 Venus riling from’tile fea, an hierogly- 
 hic emblem of the production of the earth 
 cneatli the ocean 
 Firft grcal volcanos in the central parts of 
 the earth. From fleam, inflammable gas, 
 and vital air. Prefent volcanos like mole¬ 
 hills 
 
 Moon has little or no atmofphere. Its 
 ocean is frozen. Is not yet inhabited, but 
 may be in time 
 
 Earth’s axis changed by the afeent of 
 the moon. Its diurnal motion retarded. 
 One great tide 
 
 Limeflonc produced from fhells. Spars 
 with double refractions. Marble. Chalk 
 Antient ftatues of Hercules. Antinous. 
 Apollo. Venus. Dcflgns of. Roubiliac. 
 Monument of General Wade 3 
 Statues of Mrs. Darner 
 Morafles reft on limeftone. Of immenfe 
 extent 
 
 Salts from animal and vegetable bodies 
 decompofe each other, except marine fait. 
 Salt mines in Poland. Timber does not de¬ 
 cay in them. Rock-falt produced by eva-' 
 poration from fea-water. v Foflil fhells in 
 fait mines. Salt in hollow pyramids. In 
 y cubes. Sea-water contains about one- 
 . thirtieth of fait 
 
 p Nitre, native in Bengal and Italy. Ni¬ 
 trous gas combined with vital air produces 
 
 red clouds, and the two airs occupy lefs 
 fpace than one of them before, and give 
 14 out heat. Oxygene and azote produce ni¬ 
 trous acid i 43 ; 
 
 Iron from decompofed vegetables. Cha- 
 17 lybeat fprings. Fern-leaves in nodules of 
 1 iron. Concentric fpheres of iron nodules 
 owing to pol&rity, like iron-filings ar¬ 
 ranged by a magnet. Great ftrata of the 
 
 35 earth owing to their polarity 183 
 
 Hardnefs of fteel foi tools. Gave fupe- 
 riority to the European nations. Welding 
 of fteel. Its magnetifm. Ufes of gold 192 
 
 36 Artificial magnets improved by Savery 
 and Dr. Knight, perfected by Mr. Micheh 
 How produced. Polarity owing to the 
 
 47 earth’s rotatory motion. The ele&ric fluid, 
 and the matter of heat, and magnetifm gra¬ 
 vitate on each other. Magnetifm being the 
 lighted is found neareft the axis of the 
 68 motion. Ele&ricity produces northern 
 
 lights by its centrifugal motion 193 
 
 Acids from vegetable recrements. Flint 
 82 has its acid from the new world. Its bafe 
 in part from the old world, and in part 
 from the new. Precious ftones 21$ 
 
 84 Diamond. Its great refraftion of light. 
 
 Its volatility by heat. If an inflamma- 
 93 ble body 228 
 
 Fires of the new world from fermenta¬ 
 tion. Whence fulphur and bitumen by fub- 
 ioi limation, the clay, coal, and flint remaining 275 
 103 * Colours not diftinguifliable in the ena¬ 
 
 mel-kiln, till abit of dry wood is introduced 283 
 116 Etrurian pottery prior to the foundation 
 of Rome. Excelled in fine forms, and in 
 a non-vitreous encauftic painting, which 
 was loft till reftored by Mr. Wedgwood. # 
 Still influences the tafte of the inhabitants 291 
 Mr. Wedgwood’s cameo of a Have in 
 chains, and of Hope 315 
 
 Balfo-relievos of two or more colours 
 119 not made by the antients. Invented by 
 
 Mr. Wedgwood 342 
 
 1 jfifc Mkt 
 
 Ml 
 
 * 
 
Petroleum and naptha have been fublimed. 
 Whence jet and amber. They abforb air. 
 Attraft draws when rubbed. Electricity 
 from electron, the greek name for amber 353 
 Clefts in granite rocks in which metals are 
 found. Iron and manganefe found in all 
 vegetables. Manganefe in limeftone. Warm 
 fprings from (team rifing up the clefts of gra¬ 
 nite and limeftone. Ponderous earth in lime¬ 
 ftone clefts and in granite. Copper, lead, 
 iron, from defending materials. High 
 mountains of granite contain no ores near 
 their fummits. Tranfmutation of metals. 
 
 Of lead into calamy. Into filver 395 
 
 Armies of Cambyfes deftroyed by fa¬ 
 mine, and by fand-ftorms 
 Whirling, turrets of fand defcribed and 
 explained; 
 
 Granite fhews iron as it decompofes. 
 Marble decompofes. Immenfe quantity of 
 charcoal exifts in limeftone. Volcanic 
 flags decompofe, and become clay 
 Millftones raifed by wooden pegs 
 Hannibal made apanage by fire over the 
 Alps 
 
 Palled tenfe of many words twofold, as 
 driven or drove, fpoken or fpoke. A poetic 
 licence 
 
 435 
 
 478 
 
 523 
 
 524 
 
 534 
 
 609 
 
 
 CANTO III. 
 
 Clouds confift of aqueous fpheres, which 
 do not eafily unite, like globules of quick - 
 filver,as may be feen in riding through water. 
 Owing to electricity. Snow. Haifftones 
 rounded by attrition and dillblution of their 
 angles. Not from frozen drops of water 15 
 Dew on points and edges of grafs, or hangs 
 over cabbage-leaves, needle floats on water 18 
 Mills over riversand on mountains. Halo 
 round the moon. Shadow of a church- 
 fteeple upon a mift. Dry mill, or want of 
 tranfparency of the air, align of fair-weather 20 
 Tides on both lides of the earth. Moon’s 
 tides Ihould be much greater than the earth’s 
 tides. The ocean of the moon is frozen 61 
 Spiral form of Ihells faves calcareous 
 matter. Serves them as an organ of hear¬ 
 ing. Calcareous matter produced from in¬ 
 flamed membranes. Colours of Ihells, 
 labradore-ftone from mother-pearl. F0H1I 
 Ihells not nt>w found recent 66 
 
 Sea-infeCts like flowers. ACtinia 81 
 
 Production of pearls, not a difeafe of 
 the filh. Crab’s eyes. Refervoirs of pear¬ 
 ly matter 84 
 
 0* Rocks of coral in the foutli-fea. Coral- 
 loid limeftone at Linfel, and Coalbrook Dale 90 
 Rocks thrown from mountains, ice from 
 glaciers, and portions of earth, or morafles, 
 removed by columns of water. Earth-mo- • 
 tion in Shroplhire. Water of wells rifing 
 above the level of the ground. St. Alk- 
 mond’s well near Derby might be raifed 
 manyyards, fo as to ferve the town. Well at 
 Sheernefs, and at Hartford in Connecticut 116 
 Monfoons attended with rain. Overflow¬ 
 ing of the Nile. Vortex of afending air. 
 Rifingof the Dogftarannounces the floods of 
 the Nile. AmibisIningout upon their temples 129 
 
 • F 
 
 Situations exempt from rain. At the 
 Line in Lower Egypt. On thecoaftof Peru 138 
 Giefar, a boiling fountain in Iceland. 
 
 Water with great degrees of heat diflfolves 
 flliceous matter. Earthquake from (team 150 
 Warm fprings not from decompofed py¬ 
 rites. From fteam rifing up fifllires from 
 great depths 166 
 
 Buxton bath poflefles 82 degrees of heat. 
 
 Is improperly called a warm bath. A chill 
 at immerfion, and then afenfationof warmth, 
 like the eye in an obfcure robm, owing to 
 increafed fenfibility of the (kin 184 
 
 Water compounded of pure air and in¬ 
 flammable air with as much matter of heat 
 as preferves it fluid. Perpetually decom- 
 poied by vegetables in the fun’s light, and 
 recompofed in the atmofphere 204 
 
 Mythological interpretation of Jupiter 
 and Juno defigned as an emblem of the com- 
 pofition of water from two airs. 260 
 
 Death of Mrs. French , 308 
 
 Tomb of Mr. Brindley 341 
 
 Invention of the pump. The pifton lifts 
 the atmofphere above it. The furrounding 
 atmofphere prefles up the water into the 
 vacuum. Manner in which a child fucks 366 
 Air-cell inengines for extinguifliing fire. 
 
 Water difperfed by the explofion of Gun¬ 
 powder. Houfes preferved from fire by 
 earth dn the floors, by a fecond cieling of 
 iron-plates or coarfe mortar. Wood im¬ 
 pregnated with alabafter or flint 406 
 
 Mufcular aCtions and fenfations of plants 460 
 RiveivAchelous. Horn of Plenty >495 
 
 Flooding land&defends them from vernal- 
 frofts. Some fpringsdepoiitcaloareousenfth. 
 
 Some contain azdtic gas, which contribute#* 
 to produce nitre. Snow water lefsferviceable 450 
 
 f W 
 
[ 2lS ] 
 
 
 CAN' 
 
 Cacalia produces much honey, that a 
 part may be taken by infeeds without injury 2 
 Analyfis of common air. Source of 
 azote. Of oxygene. Water decompofed 
 by vegetable pores and the fun’s fight. 
 Blood gives out phlogifton and receives vi¬ 
 tal air. ’ Acquires heat and the vivifying 
 
 principle. 34 
 
 Cupid and Pfyche 48 
 
 Simoom, a peftilential wind. Defcribed. 
 Owing to volcanic electricity. Not a 
 whirlwind ** 65 
 
 Contagion either animal or vegetable 82 
 
 Thyrlis efcapes the Plague 91 
 
 Barometer and air-pumps. Dew on ex- 
 haufting the receiver though the hygro¬ 
 meter points to drynefs. Rare air will dif- 
 folve or acqtiiremore heat, and more moif- 
 ture, and more electricity ^ 128 
 
 Sound propagated bed by denfe bodies, 
 as wood, and water, and earth. Pith in 
 fpiral (hells all ear * 164 
 
 Difcoveries of Dr. Prieftley. Green 
 vegetable matter. Pure air contained in 
 the calces of metals, as minium, manga- 
 nefe, calamy, ochre 166 
 
 Fable of Proferpine an antient chemical 
 emblem. 178 
 
 Diving balloons fupplied with pure air M 
 fromminium. Account of one by Mr. Boyle 195 
 Mr. Day. Mr. Spalding 217 
 
 Captain Pierce and his daughters 219 
 
 Peftilential winds of volcanic origin. 
 Jordan flow's through a country of volcanos 294 
 Change of wind owing to fmall caufes. 
 
 If the w-ind could be governed, the pro¬ 
 
 ducts of the earth would be doubled, and 
 its number of inhabitants increafed 308 
 
 O IV. 
 
 Mr. Kinvan’s treatife on temperature of 
 climates 342 
 
 Seeds of plants. Spawn of fifli. Nu¬ 
 triment lodged in feeds. Their preferva- 
 tion in their feed-velfels 355 
 
 Fixed ftars approach each other 369 
 
 Fable of the Phoenix 377 
 
 Plants vifible within bulbs, and buds, 
 and feeds 383 
 
 Great Egg of Night 406 
 
 Seeds (hoot into the ground. Pith. Seed- 
 lobes. Starch converted into fugar. Like 
 animal chyle 411 
 
 Light occasions the aClions of vegetable 
 mufcles. Keeps them awake 422 
 
 Vegetable love in Parnaflia, Nigella. 
 Vegetable adtiltery in Collinfonia 460 
 
 Strong vegetable (hoots gnd roots bound 
 with wire, in part debarked, whence leaf- 
 biids converted into flower-buds. Theory 
 of this curious fa6t 467 
 
 Branches bent to the horizon bear more 
 fruit 470 
 
 Engrafting of a fpotted paflion-flower 
 produced fpots upon the (lock. Apple 
 foft on one fide and hard on the other 501 
 
 Cyprepediumafriunes the form of a large 
 li fpider to affright the humming-bird. Fly- 
 ophris. Willow-wren fucks the honey of 
 $he crown-imperial 523 
 
 Difeafesof plants four kinds. Honey-dew 529 
 Ergot a difeafe of rye 531 
 
 Glafs unannealed. Its cracks owing to 
 elafticity. One kind of lead-ore cracks into 
 pieces. Prince Rupert’s drops. Elafticballs 537 
 Sleep of plants. Their irritability, fen- 
 fibility, and voluntary motions 554 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 fage. 
 
 57 
 
 5 * 
 
 103 
 
 164 
 
 >95 
 
 204 
 
 Line. 
 
 10 from bot. for VI. read 4. 
 s fir SI S read $6$. r . - 
 
 ult. for 585 read 575, and for 61 1 read 6 01. 
 
 At the end of the firjl note add See additional notes, No. XXIV. 
 
 At the end of the note add and additional notes, No XXXIV. 
 
 In the firjl note read XXXV. infiead of XXXVI. and between the firfi andfe - 
 cond notes infert the two following .* 
 
 And refluent blood. 1 . 420. See additional notes, No. XXXVI. 
 
 The leaves refpirin^ play. 1 . 421. See additional notes, No. XXXVII. 
 At the bottom add the following note : 
 
 Their dulcet balm d fiil. 1 . 521. See additional notes, No. XXXIX* 
 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 NOTE I.-METEORS. 
 
 Ethereal Pozvers ! you chafe the Jhooting ftars, 
 
 Or yoke the vollied lightnings to your cars . 
 
 Canto I. 1. 115. 
 
 / ThERE feem to be three concentric ftrata of our incumbent atmofphere; in 
 which, or between them, are produced four kinds of meteors; lightning, (hooting (tars, 
 fire-balls, and northern lights. Firft, the lower region of air, or that which is denfe enough 
 to refift by the adhefion of its particles the defcent of condenfed vapour, or clouds, which 
 may extend from one to three or four miles high. In this region the common lightning 
 is produced from the accumulation or defedl of elcCtric matter in thofe floating fields of 
 vapour either in refpeCt to each other, or in refpeft to the earth beneath them, or the dif- 
 folved vapour above them, which is conftantly varying both with the change of the 
 form of the clouds, which thus evolve a greater or lefs furface, and alfo with their ever- 
 changing degree of condenfation. As the lightning is thus produced in denfe air, it pro¬ 
 ceeds but a (hort courfe on account of the greater refiftance which it encounters, is 
 attended with a loud explofion, and appears with a red light. 
 
 2. The fecond region of the atmofphere I fuppofe to be that which has too little 
 tenacity to fupport condenfed vapour or clouds ; but which yet contains invifible vapour, 
 or water in aerial folution. This aerial folution of water differs from that dilTolved in the 
 matter of heat, as it is fupported by its adhefion to the particles of air, and is not pre¬ 
 cipitated by cold. In this flratum it feems probable that the meteors called (hooting 
 (tars are produced ; and that they confift of electric fparks, or lightning, palling from 
 one region to another of thefe invifible fields of aero-aqueous folution. The height of 
 ihcfe (hooting ftars has not yet been afeertained by fuflicient obfervation ; Dr. Blagden 
 thinks their fituation is lower down in the^atmofphere than that of fireballs, which he 
 conjectures from their fwift apparent motion, and aferibes their fmallnefs to the more 
 minute ditifion of the eleCtric matter of which they are fuppofed to confift, owing to 
 
 A 
 
the greater refinance of the denfer medium through which they pafs, than that in which 
 the fire-balls exift. Mr. Brydone obferved that the fhooting ftars appeared to him to be 
 as high in the atmofphere, when he was near the fummit of mount Etna, as they do 
 when obferved from the plain. Phil. Iran. Vol. LXIII. 
 
 As the ftratum of air, in which (hooting ftars are fuppofed to exift is much rarer 
 than that in which lightning refides, and yet much denfer than that in which fire¬ 
 balls are produced, they will be attracted at a greater diftance than the former, and 
 at a lefs than the latter. From this rarity of the air fo fmall a found will be pro¬ 
 duced bv their explofion, as not to reach the lower parts of the atmofphere ; their 
 quantity of light from their greater diftance being fmall, is never feen through denfe 
 air at all, and thence does not appear red, like lightning or fire-balls. There are 
 no apparent clouds to emit or to attract them, becaufe the conftituent parts of thefe 
 aero-aqueous regions may poffefs an abundance or deficiency of ele&ric matter and yet 
 be in perfedt reciprocal folution. And laftly their apparent train of light is probably 
 owing only to a continuance of their impreffion on the eye ; as when a fire-ftick is 
 whirled in the dark it gives the appearance of a compleat circle of fire : for thefe white 
 trains of (hooting ftars quickly vanifh, and do not feem to fet any thing on fire in their 
 pafl'age, as feems to happen in the tranfit of fire-balls. 
 
 3. The fecond region or flratum of air terminates l fuppofe where the twilight ceafes 
 to be refra&ed, that is, where the air is 3000 times rarer than at the furface of the earth ; 
 and where it feems probable that the common air ends, and is furrounded by an atmo¬ 
 fphere of inflammable gas tenfold rarer than itfelf. In this region I believe fire-balls 
 fometimes to pafs, and at other times the northern lights to exift. One of thefe fire-balls 
 or draco volans, was obferved by Dr. Pringle and many others on Nov. 26, 1758, which 
 was afterwards eftimated to have been a mile and a half in circumference, to have been 
 about one hundred miles high, and to have moved towards the north with a velocity of 
 near thirty miles in a fecond of time. This meteor had a real tail many miles long* 
 which threw off fparks in its courfe, and the whole exploded with a found like diftant 
 thunder. Philof. Tranf. Vol. LI. 
 
 Dr. Blagdcn has related the hiftory of another large meteor, or fire-ball, which was 
 feen the 18th of Auguft, 1783, with many ingenious obfervations and conje&ures. 
 This was eftimated to be between 60 and 70 miles high, and to travel 1000 miles at the 
 rate of about twenty miles in a fecond. This fire-ball had likewife a real train of light 
 left behind it in its paffage, which varied in colour ; and in fomepart o-f its courfe gave 
 off fparks or explofions where it had been brighteft ; and a dulky red ftreak remained 
 vifible perhaps a minute. Philof. Tranf. Vol. LXXIV. 
 
 Thefe fire-balls differ from lightning, and from (hooting ftars in many remarkable 
 eircumftances ; as their very great bulk, being a mile and a half in diameter ; their tra¬ 
 velling 1000 miles nearly horizontally ; their throwing off fparks in their paffage; and 
 changing colours from bright blue to dulky red ; and leaving a train of fire behind them, 
 continuing about a minute. They differ from the northern lights in not being diffufed, 
 but palling from one point of the heavens to another in a defined line ; and this in a 
 region above the crepufcular atmofphere, where the air is 3000 times rarer than at the 
 
R S. 3 
 
 furface of the earth. *1 here has not yet been even a conjecture which can account for 
 thefe appearances !—One I (hall therefore hazard; which, if it docs not inform, may 
 amufe the reader. 
 
 In the note on 1 . 123* was fliewn that there is probably a fupernatant ftratum of 
 inflammable gas or hydrogene, over the common atmofphere ; and whofc denfity at the 
 furface where they meet, muft be at lead ten times lefs than that upon which it fwims; 
 like chemical ether floating upon water, and perhaps without any real contadl. x. In 
 this region, where the aerial atmofphere terminates and the inflammable one begins, the 
 quantity of tenacity or refiftance muft be almoft inconceivable ; in which a ball of elec¬ 
 tricity might pafs 1000 miles with greater eafe than through a thoufandth parf of an 
 inch of glafs. 2. Such a ball of eledricity palling between inflammable and common 
 air would fet fire to them in a line as it palled along ; which would differ in colour ac¬ 
 cording to the greater proportionate commixture of the two airs ; and from the fame 
 caufe there might occur greater degrees of inflammation, or branches of fire, in fome 
 parts of its courfe. 
 
 As thefe fire-balls travel in a defined line, it is pretty evident from the known laws of 
 cledricity, that they muft be attracted ; and as they are a mile or more in diameter, they 
 muft be emitted from a large furface of eledlric matter ; bccaufe large knobs give larger 
 fparks, lefs diffufed, and more brightly luminous, than lefs ones or points, and refift 
 more forcibly theemiftion of the ele&ric matter. What is there in nature can attra& 
 them at fo great a diftance as 1000 miles, and fo forcibly as to detach an ele&ric fpark 
 of a mile diameter ? Can volcanos at the time of their eruptions have this effe< 5 l, as they 
 are generally attended with lightning ? Future obfervations muft difeover thefe fecret 
 operations of nature! As a ftream of common air is carried along with the paflage of 
 ele&ric aura from one body to another ; it is eafy to conceive, that the common air and 
 the inflammable air between which the fire-ball is fuppofed to pafs, will be partially 
 intermixed by being thus agitated, and fo far as it becomes intermixed it will take fire, 
 and produce the linear flame and branching fparks above deferibed. In this circum- 
 fiance of their being attra£led, and thence pafling in a defined line, the fire-balls feem to 
 differ from the corufcations of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, which probably 
 take place in the fame region of the atmofphere ; where' the common airexifts in ex¬ 
 treme tenuity, and is covered by a ft ill rarer fphere of inflammable gas, ten times lighter 
 than itfelf. 
 
 As the cle&ric ftreams, which conftitute thefe northern lights, feem to be repelled or 
 radiated from an accumulation of that fluid in the north, and not attradled like the fire¬ 
 balls ; this accounts for the diffufion of their light, as well as the filenceof their paflage; 
 while their variety of colours, and the permanency of them, and even the breadth of 
 them in different places, may depend on their fetting on fire the mixture of inflammable 
 and common air through which they pafs; as feems to happen in the tranfit of the 
 fire-balls. 
 
4 
 
 METEORS. 
 
 Note L 
 
 It was obferved by Dr. Prieftley that the ele&ric (hock taken through inflammable air 
 was red, in common air it is blueifli; to thefe circumftances perhaps fome of the colours 
 of the northern lights may bear analogy ; though the denfity of the medium through 
 which light is feen muft principally vary its colour, as is well explained by Mr. Morgan. 
 Phil. Tranf. Vol. LXXV. Hence lightning is red when feen through a dark cloud, or 
 near the horizon; becaufe the more refrangible rays cannot permeate fo denfea medium. 
 But the fhooting liars confifl of white light, as they are generally feen on clear nights, 
 and nearly vertical: in other fituations their light is probably too faint to come to us. 
 But as in fome remarkable appearances of the northern lights, as in March, 1716, all 
 the prifmatic colours were feen quickly to fucceed each other, thefe appear to have been 
 owing to real combuftion; as the denfity of the interpofed medium could not be fuppofed 
 to change fo frequently ; and therefore thefe colours muft have been owing to different 
 degrees of heat according to Mr. Morgan’s theory of combuftion. In Smith’s Optics, 
 p. 69. the prifmatic colours, and optical deceptions of the northern lights are defcribed 
 by Mr. Cotes. 
 
 The Torricellian vacuum, if perfectly free from air, is faid by Mr. Morgan and 
 others to be a perfe£l non-condu6lor. This circumftance therefore w r ould preclude the 
 ele£tric ftreams from rifing above the atmofphere. But as Mr. Morgan did not try to 
 pafs an eledlric fhock through a vacuum, and as air, or fomething containing air, fur¬ 
 rounding the tranfit of eledlricity may be neceflary to the produ£tion of light, the con- 
 clufion may perhaps ftill be dubious. If however the ftreams of the northern lights were 
 fuppofed to rife above our atmofphere, they would only be vilible at each extremity of 
 their courfe ; where they emerge from, or are again immerged into the atmofphere ; but 
 not in their journey through the vacuum ; for the abfence of ele&ric light in a vacuum 
 is fufficiently proved by the common experiment of (baking a barometer in the dark; the 
 electricity, produced by the friftion of the mercury in the glafs at its top, is luminous if 
 the barometer has a little air in it; but there is no light if the vacuum be complete. 
 
 The aurora borealis, or northern dawn, is very ingenioufly accounted for by Dr. 
 Franklin on principles of ele&ricity. He premifes the following ele£lric phenomena : 
 
 1. that all new-fallen lnow has much pofitive eledlricity (landing on its furface. 2. That 
 about twelve degrees of latitude round the poles are covered with a cruft of eternal ice* 
 which is impervious to the eledlric fluid. 3. That the denfe part of the atmofphere rifes 
 but a few miles high ; and that in the rarer parts of it the ele&ric fluid will pafs to almott 
 any diftance. 
 
 Hence he fuppofes there muft be a great accumulation of pofitive eleftric matter on the 
 frefh-fallen fnow in the polar regions; which, not being able to pafs through the cruft of 
 ice into the earth, muft rife into the rare air of the upper parts of our atmofphere, which 
 will the leaft refill its paflage ; and pafling towards the equator defeend again into the 
 denfer atmofphere, and thence into the earth in filent ftreams. And that many of the 
 appearances attending thefe lights are optical deceptions, owing to the fituation of the 
 eye that beholds them \ which makes all afeending parallel lines appear to converge to & 
 point. 
 
Note I. 
 
 METEORS. 
 
 5 
 
 The idea, above explained in note on 1. 123, of the exiftence of a fphere of inflam¬ 
 mable gas over the aerial atmofphere would much favour this theory of Dr. Franklin ; 
 becaufe in that cafe the denfe aerial atmofphere would rife a much lefs height in the 
 polar regions, diminilhing almofl to nothing at the pole itfelf ; and thus give an 
 eafier paflage to the afcent of the electric fluid. And from the great difference in 
 the fpecific gravity of the two airs, and the velocity of the earth’s rotation, there 
 muft be a place between the poles and the equator, where the fuperior atmofphere 
 of inflammable gas would terminate ; which would account for thefe ftreams of the 
 aurora borealis not appearing near the equator; add to this that it is probable the ele&ric 
 fluid may be heavier than the magnetic one ; and will thence by the rotation cf the 
 earth’s furface afcend over the magnetic one by its centrifugal force ; and may thus be 
 induced to rife through the thin ftratum of aerial atmofphere over the poles. See note 
 on Canto II. I. 193. I {hall have occafion again to mention this great accumulation of 
 inflammable air over the poles ; and to conjedure that thefe northern lights may be pro¬ 
 duced by the union of inflammable with common air, without the afliftancc of the 
 ele&ric fpark to throw them into combuflion. 
 
 The antiquity of the appearance of northern lights has been doubted ; as none were 
 recorded in our annals fince the remarkable one on Nov. 14, 1574, till another remark¬ 
 able one on March 6, 1716, and the three following nights, which was feen at the 
 fame time in Ireland, Ruflia, and Poland, extending near 30 degrees of longitude and 
 from about the 50th degree of latitude over almofl all the north of Europe. There is 
 however reafon to believe them of remote antiquity though inaccurately defcribed ; thus 
 the following curious paflage from the Book of Maccabees, (B. II. c. v.) is fucha de- 
 fcription of them, as might probably be given by an ignorant and alarmed people. 
 “ Through all the city, for the fpace of almofl forty days, there were feen horfemen run¬ 
 ning in the air, in cloth of gold, and armed with lances, like a band of foldiers ; and 
 troops of horfemen in array encountering and running one againft another, with {bak¬ 
 ing of fliields and multitude of pikes, and drawing of fwords, and carting of darts, and 
 glittering of golden ornaments and harnefs.” 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 - NOTE II.-PRIMARY COLOURS. 
 
 Cling round the aerial bozv with prifms bright , 
 
 Andpleafed untzvijl theJevenfold threads of light . Canto I. 1 . 117. 
 
 THE manner' in which the rainbow is produced was in fome meafure uoderftood 
 before Sir Ifaac Newton had difcovered his theory of colours. The firft perfon who 
 exprefsly fhewed the rainbow to be formed by the reflexion of the funbeams from drops 
 of falling rain was Antonio de Dominis. This was afterwards more fully and diftin£Uy 
 explained by Des Cartes. But what caufed the diverfity of its colours was not then un¬ 
 derwood ; it was referved for the immortal Newton to difcover that the rays of light con¬ 
 fided of feven combined colours of different refrangibility, which could be feparated at 
 pleafure by a wedge of glafs. Pemberton’s View of Newton. 
 
 Sir Ifaac Newton difcovered that the prifmatic fpedtrum wascompofed of feven colours 
 in the following proportions, violet 80, indigo 40, blue 60, green 60, yellow 48, orange 
 27, red 45. If all thefe colours be painted on a circular card in the proportion above- 
 mentioned, and the card be rapidly whirled on its center, they produce in the eye the 
 fenfation of white. And any one of thefe colours may be imitated by painting a card 
 with the two colours which are contiguous to it, in the fame proportions as in the 
 fpe&rum and whirling them in the fame manner. 
 
 My ingenious friend, Mr. Galton of Birmingham, afeertained in this manner by a 
 fet of experiments the following propofitions ; the truth of which he had preconceived 
 from the above data. 
 
 1. Any colour in the prifinatic fpe&rum may be imitated by a mixture of the tw r o 
 colours contiguous to it. 
 
 2. If any three fucceflive colours in the prifmatic fpe&rum are mixed, they compofe 
 only the fecond or middlemoft colour. 
 
 3. If any four fucceflive colours in the prifmatic fpe£trum be mixed, a tint fimilar to 
 a mixture of the fecond and third colours will be produced, but not precifely the fame 
 becaufe they are not in the fame proportion. 
 
 4. If beginning with any colour in the circular fpe&rum, you take of the fecond 
 colour a quantity equal to the firft, fecond, and third ; and add to that the fifth colour, 
 equal in quantity to the fourth, fifth, and fixth ; and with thefe combine the feventh 
 colour in the proportion itexifts in the fpe&rum, white will be produced. Becaufe the 
 firft, fecond, and third, compofe only the fecond ; and the fourth, fifth, and fixth, com¬ 
 pofe only the fifth ; therefore if the feventh be added, the fame effedi: is produced, as if 
 all the feven were employed. 
 
 5. Beginning with any colour in the circular fpe&rum, if you take a tint compofedof 
 a certain proportion of the fecond and third, (equal in quantity to the firft, fecond, third, 
 and fourth,} and add to this the fixth colour equal in quantity to the fifth, fixth, and 
 feventh, white will be produced. 
 
Note II. 
 
 PRIMARY COLOURS. 
 
 From thefe curious experiments of Mr. Galton many phenomena in the chemical 
 changes of colours may probably become better underftood ; efpecially if, as I fuppofe, 
 the fame theory muft apply to tranfmitted colours, as to refle&ed ones. Thus it is well 
 known, that if the glafs of manganefe, which is a tint probably compofed of violet and 
 indigo, be mixed in a certain proportion with the glafs of lead, which is yellow, that the 
 mixture becomes tranfparent. Now from Mr. Gabon's experiments it appears, that in 
 reflc&ed colours fuch a mixture would produce white, that is, the fame as if all the colours 
 were reflected. And therefore in tranfmitted colours the fame circumftances muft pro¬ 
 duce tranfparency, that is, the fame as if all the colours were tranfmitted. For the 
 particles which conftitute the glafs of manganefe will tranfmit red, violet, indigo, and 
 blue ; and thofeof the glafs of lead will tranfmit orange, yellow, and green ; hence all 
 the primary colours by a mixture of thefe glades become tranfmitted, that is, the glafs 
 becomes tranfparent. 
 
 Mr. Galton has further obferved that five fucceffive prifmatic colours may be com¬ 
 bined in fuch proportions as to produce but one colour, a circumftance which might be 
 of confequence in the art of painting. For if you begin at any part of the circular 
 fpe&rum above deferibed, and take the firft, fecond, and third colours in the proportions 
 in which they exift in the fpe&rum ; thefe will compofe only the fecond colour equal in 
 quantity to the firft, fecond, and third ; add to thefe the third, fourth, and fifth in the 
 proportion they exift in the fpeftrum, and thefe will produce the fourth colour equal in 
 quantity to the third, fourth, and fifth. Confequently this is precifely the fame thing, as 
 mixing the fecond and fourth colours only; which mixture would only produce the 
 third colour. Therefore if you combine the firft, fecond, fourth, and fifth in the pro¬ 
 portions in which they exift in the fpeftrum, with double the quantity of the third co¬ 
 lour, this third colour will be produced. It is probable that many of the unexpc&ed 
 changes in mixing colours on a painter’s pallet, as well as in more fluid chemical mix¬ 
 tures, may depend on thefe principles rather than on a new arrangement or combination 
 of their minute particles. 
 
 Mr. Galton further obferves, that white may univerfally be produced ( by the com¬ 
 bination of one prifmatic colour, and a tint intermediate to two others. Which tint may 
 be diftinguifhed by a name compounded of the two colours, to which it is intermediate. 
 Thus white is produced by a mixture of red with blue-green. Of orange with indigo- 
 blue. Of yellow with violet-indigo. Of green with red-violet. Of blue with orange-red. 
 Of indigo with yellow-orange. Of violet with green-yellow. Which he further remarks 
 exadlly coincides with the theory and fa<fts mentioned by Dr. Robert Darwin of Shrews¬ 
 bury in his account of ocular fpe<ftra ; who has fhewn that when one of thefe contraftcd 
 colours has been long viewed, a fpe£trum or appearance of the other becomes vifible in 
 the fatigued eye. Philof. Tranf. Vol. LXXVI. for the year 1786. 
 
 Thefe experiments of Mr. Galton might much affift the copper-plate printers of 
 callicoes and papers in colours ; as three colours or more might be produced by two 
 • copper-plates. Thus fuppofe fome yellow figures were put on by the firft plate, and 
 upon fome parts of thefe yellow figures and on other parts of the ground blue was laid 
 on by another copper-plate. The three colours of yellow, blue, and green might be 
 produced ; as green leaves with yellow and blue flowers. 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 NOTE III.-COLOURED CLOUDS. 
 
 Eve's filken couch zvith gorgeous tints adorn, 
 
 And fire the arrowy throne of rifing morn. 
 
 Canto I. 1 . i iq . 
 
 THE rays from the rifing and fetting fun are refra&ed by our fpherical atmofphere, 
 hence the mod refrangible rays, as the violet, indigo, and blue are reflected in greater 
 quantities from the morning and evening Ikies ; and the lead refrangible ones, as red 
 and orange, arc lad feen about the fetting fun. Hence Mr. Beguelin obferved that the 
 fliadow of his finger on his pocket-book was much bluer in the morning and evening, 
 when the lhadow was about eight times as long as the body from which it was projefted. 
 Mr. Melville obferves, that the blue rays being more refrangible are bent down in the 
 evenings by our atmofphere, while the red and orange being lefs refrangible continue to 
 pafs on and tinge the morning and evening clouds with their colours. See Priedley’s 
 Hidory of Light and Colours, p. 440. But as the particles of air, like thofe of water, 
 are themfelves blue, a blue lhadow may be feen at all times of the day, though much 
 more beautifully in the mornings and evenings, or by means of a candle in the middle 
 of the day. For if a lhadow on a piece of white paper is produced by placing your finger 
 between the paper and a candle in the day light, the fiiadow will appear very blue; the 
 yellow light of the candle upon the other parts of the paper apparently deepens the blue 
 by its contrad, thefe colours being oppofite to each other, as explained in note II 
 Colours are produced from clouds or mids by refraftion, as well as by reflexion. 
 In riding in the night over an unequal country I obferved a very beautiful coloured 
 halo round the moon, whenever I was covered with a few feet of mid, as I afeended 
 from the valhes ; which ceafed to appear when I rofe above the mid. This I fuppofe 
 was owing to the thinnefs of the ftratum of mid, in which I was immerfed ; had it 
 been tlncker the colours grafted by the fmall drops, of which a fog confids, would 
 not have paired through it down to my eye. 
 
 There is a bright fpot feen on the cornea of the eye, when we face a window, which 
 
 furZe ;r e( n I POr ' rait PamterS ; tHiS i$the Hght refkaed from ‘he fpherical 
 rfaceof the poliflied cornea, and brought to a focus; if the obferver is placed in this 
 
 locus he fees the image of the window ; if he is placed before or behind^he focus he 
 
 atrotlV,o™" 0 L PO, Th h f “ m °" thencareihe 
 
 approaches to the locus. The lum.n ous appearance of the eyes of animals in the doth 
 
 corners ot a room, or in holes the earth, may arife in fome inlianccs from thefame 
 
 prmcple; m .he reflc&on of the light from ,h. fpherical cornea; which will becolo, «d 
 
 red or b uem feme degree h, the morning, evening, o, meridian light; or by theoblas 
 
 from which that light is previoufly reflefted. In the cavern at r«l h t, tVV T 
 
 the mineral rare, fades, the eyes^f the horfe, 
 
Note IV. 
 
 COMETS. 
 
 9 
 
 towards the mouth of it, appeared like two balls of phofphorus, when he was above ioo 
 yards off, and for a long time before any other part of the animal was vifible. In this 
 cafe I fufpeCt the luminous appearance to have been owing to the light, which had entered 
 the eye, being refle&ed from the back furface of the vitreous humour, and thence emerg¬ 
 ing again in parallel rays from the animals eye, as it docs from the back futfacc of the 
 drops of the rainbow, and from the water-drops which lie, perhaps without contaft, on 
 cabbage-leaves, and have the brilliancy of quickfilver. This accounts for this luminous 
 appearance being bell feen in thofe animals which have large apertures in their iris, as in 
 cats and horfes, and is the only part v ifible in obfcure places, becaufe this is a better re- 
 fle&ing furface than any other part of the animal. If any of thefe emergent rays from 
 the animal’s eye can be fuppofed to have been refle&ed from the choroid coat through 
 the femi-tranfparent retina, this would account for the coloured glare of the eyes of dogs 
 or cats and rabbits in dark corners. 
 
 NOTE IV.—COMETS- 
 
 Alarm with comet-blaze the fapphire plain, 
 
 The wanjiars glimmering through its filver train. 
 
 Canto I. 1 . 133. 
 
 THERE have been many theories invented to account for the tails of comets. Sir 
 Ifaac Newton thinks that they confift of rare vapours railed from the nucleus of the co¬ 
 met, and fo rarefied by the fun’s heat as to have their general gravitation diminifhed, 
 and that they in conlequcnce afeend oppofite to the fun, and from thence reflect the rays 
 of light. Dr. Halley compares the light of the tails of comets to the ftreams of the 
 aurora borealis, and other eleClric effluvia. Philof. Tranf. No. 347. 
 
 Dr. Hamilton obferves, that the light of fmall liars is feen undimini/hed through 
 both the light of the tails of comets, and of the aurora borealis, and has farther illuftrated 
 their eleCtric analogy, and adds that the tails of comets confift of a lucid felf-lhining 
 fubftance which has not the power of refracting or reflecting Hie rays of light. Eflays. 
 
 The tail of the comet of 1744 at one time appeared to extend above 16 degrees from 
 its body, and mull have thence been above twenty three millions of miles long. And 
 the comet of 1680, according to the calculations ol Dr. Halley on November the 11th, 
 was not above one femi-diameter of the earth, or lefs that 4000 miles to the northward 
 of the Way of the earth; at which time had the earth been in that part of its orbit, what 
 might have been the confequence! no one would probably hare fuivived to have 
 regiftered the tremendous effefts. 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 Note V. 
 
 <J 
 
 SUN’S RAYS. 
 
 The comet of 1531, 1607, and 1682, having returned in the year 1759, according to 
 Dr. Halley’s predidion in the Philof. Tranf. for 1705, there feems no reafon to doubt 
 that all the other comets will return after their proper periods. Adronomers have in 
 general acquiefced in the conjeaure of Dr. Halley, that the comets of 1532, and 1661 
 are one and the fame comet, from the fimilarity of the elements of their orbits, and were 
 therefore induced to expea its return to its perihelium in 1789* As this cornet is liable to 
 be didurbed in its afcent from the fun by the planets Jupiter and Saturn, Dr. Mafkelyne 
 expeaed its return to its perihelium in the beginning of the year 1789* or latter end 
 of the year 1788, and certainly fome time before the 27th of April, 1789, which pre- 
 diaion has not been fulfilled. Phil. Tranf. Vol. LXXVI. 
 
 As the comets are fmall maffes of matter, and pafs in their perihelion very near the 
 fun, and become invifible to us on thefe accounts in a fhort fpace of time, their number 
 has not yet been afcertaincd, and will probably increafe with the improvement of our 
 telefcopes. M. Bode has given a table of 72 comets, whofe orbits are already calcu¬ 
 lated ; of thefe 60 pafs within the earth’s orbit, and only twelve without it; and mod 
 of them appear between the orbits of Venus and Mercury, or nearly midway between 
 the fun and earth ; from whence, and from the planes of their orbits, being inclined to 
 that of the earth and other planets in all poflible angles, they are believed to be lefs liable to' 
 interfere with, or injure each other. M. Bode afterwards inquires into the neared approach 
 it is poflible for each of the known comets to make towards the earth’s orbit. He finds 
 that only three of them can come within a didance equal to two or three times the dis¬ 
 tance of the moon from it: and then adds the great improbability, that the earth diould 
 be in that dangerous point of its orbit, at the indant when a comet, which may have been 
 abfent Some centuries, pafles fo rapidly pad it. Hidoire de l’Academ. Royal. Berlin. 
 1792. 
 
 NOTE V.—SUN’S RAYS. 
 
 Or give the fun's phlogiJHc orb to roll . Canto I. 1 . 136. 
 
 THEdifpute among philofophers about phlogidon is not concerning the exidence of 
 an inflammable principle, but rather whether there be one or more inflammable principles. 
 The difciples of Stahl, which till lately included the whole chemical world, believed in 
 the identity of phlogidon in all bodies which would flame or calcine. The difciples of 
 Lavoifier pay homage to a plurality of phlogidons under the various names of charcoal, 
 fulphur, metals, &c. Whatever will unite with pure air, and thence compofe an acid, is 
 edeemed in this ingenious theory to be a different kind of phlogidic or inflammable body. 
 At the fame time there remains a doubt whether thefe inflammable bodies, as metals, 
 fulphur, charcoal, &c. may not be compounded of the fame phlogidon along with fome 
 
 
Note VI. 
 
 CENTRAL FIRES. 
 
 11 
 
 other material yet undifcovered, and thus an unity of phlogifton exift, as in the theory 
 of Stahl, though very differently applied in the explication of chemical phenomena. 
 
 Some modern philofophers are of opinion, that the fun is the great fountain from 
 which the earth and other planets derive all the phlogifton which they poflefs ; and that 
 this is formed by the combination of the folar rays with all opake bodies, but particularly 
 with the leaves of vegetables, which they fuppofe to be organs adapted to abforb them. 
 And that as animals receive their nourifhment from vegetables they alfo obtain in a 
 fecondary manner their phlogifton from the fun. And laftly as great maffes of the mineral 
 kingdom, which have been found in the thin cruft of the earth which human labour has 
 penetrated, have evidently been formed from the recrements of animal and vegetable 
 bodies, thefe alfo are fuppofed thus to have derived their phlogifton from the fun. 
 
 Another opinion concerning the fun’s rays is, that they are not luminous till they 
 arrive at our atmofphere ; and that there uniting with fome part of the air they produce 
 * combuftion, and light is emitted, and that an etherial acid, yet undifcovered, is formed 
 from this combuftion. 
 
 The more probable opinion is, perhaps, that the fun is a phlogiftic mafs of matter, 
 whofe furface is in a ftate of combuftion, which like other burning bodies emits light 
 with immenfe velocity in all directions ; that thefe rays of light aft upon all opake 
 bodies, and combining with them either difplace or produce their elementary heat, and 
 become chemically combined with the phlogiftic part of them ; for light is given out 
 when phlogiftic bodies unite with the oxygenous principle of the air, as in combuftion, 
 or in the reduction of metallic calxes; thus in prefenting to the flame of a candle a letter- 
 wafer, (if it be coloured with red-lead,) at the time the red-lead becomes a metallic drop, 
 a flafli of light is perceived. Dr. Alexander Wilfon very ingenioufly endeavours to prove 
 that the fun is only in a ftate of combuftion on its furface, and that the dark fpots feenon 
 the difk are excavations or caverns through the luminous cruft, fome of which are 4000 
 miles in diameter. Phil. Tranf. 1774. Of this I (hall have occafion to fpeak again. 
 
 NOTE VI.—CENTRAL FIRES. 
 
 Round her jlill centre tread the burning foil. 
 
 And watch the billowy Lavas , as they boil . Canto I. 1 . 139. 
 
 M. DE MAIRAN in a paper publiflied in the Hiftoire de TAcademie de Sciences, 
 1765, has endeavoured to fhcw that the earth receives but a fmall part of the heat which 
 it pofleftes, from the fun’s rays, but is principally heated by fires within itfelf. He thinks 
 the fun is the caufe of the viciftitudes of our feafons of fummer and winter by a very 
 fmall quantity of heat in addition to that already refiding in the earth, which by emana¬ 
 tions from the centre to the circumference renders the furface habitable, and without 
 
 B 2 
 
12 
 
 CENTRAL FIRES. 
 
 Note VI. 
 
 which, though the fun was conftantly to illuminate two thirds of the globe at once, 
 with a heat equal to that at the equator, it would foon become a mafs of folid ice. His 
 reafonings and calculations on this fubjett are too long and too intricate to be in- 
 ferted here, but are equally curious and ingenious and carry much conviction along 
 with them. 
 
 The opinion that the centre of the earth confifls of a large mafs of burning lava, has 
 been efpoufed by Boyle, Boerhave, and many other philofophers. Some of whom con- 
 fidering its fuppofed effeCts on vegetation and the formation of minerals have called it a 
 fecond fun. There are many arguments in fupport of this opinion, i. Becaufe the 
 power of the fun does not extend much beyond ten feet deep into the earth, all below 
 being in winter and fummer always of the fame degree of heat, viz. 48, which being 
 much warmer than the mildeft froft, is fuppofed to be fuftained by fome internal diftant 
 fire. Add to this however that from experiments made fome years ago by Dr. Franklin 
 the fpring-water at Philadelphia appeared to be of 52 of heat, which feems farther to 
 confirm this opinion, fince the climates in North America are fuppofed to be colder 
 than thofe of Europe under fimilar degrees of latitude. 2. M. De Luc in going 1359 
 feet perpendicular into the mines of Hartz on July the 5th, 1778, on a very fine day found 
 the air at the bottom a little warmer than at the top of the fhaft. Phil. Tranf. VoL 
 LXIX. p. 488. In the mines in Hungary, which are 500 cubits deep, the heat becomes 
 very troublefome when the miners get below 480 feet depth. Morinus de Loc!s Jubter . 
 p.131. But as fome other deep mines as mentioned by Mr. Kirw^an are faid to poffefs but 
 the common heat of the earth; and as the cruft of the globe thus penetrated by human 
 labour is fo thin compared with the whole, no certain deduClion can be made from thefe 
 faCls on either fide of the queftion. 3. The warm-fprings in many parts of the earth at 
 great diftance from any volcanos feem to originate from the condenfation of vapours 
 arifing from water which is boiled by fubterraneous fires, and cooled, again in their paf- 
 fage through a certain length of the colder foil; for the theory of chemical folution will 
 not explain the equality of their heat at all feafons and through fo many centuries. See 
 note on Fucus in Vol. II. See a letter on this fubje£t in Mr. Pilkinton’s View of Derby¬ 
 shire from Dr. Darwin. 4. From the fixations of volcanos which are always found 
 upon the fummit of the higheft mountains. For as thefe mountains have been lifted up 
 and lofe feveral of their uppermoft ftrata as they rife, the loweft ftrata of the earth yet 
 known appear at the tops of the higheft hills; and the beds of the volcanos upon thefe 
 hills muft in confequence belong to the loweft ftrata of the earth, confiding perhaps of 
 granite or bafaltes, which were produced before the exiftence of animal or vegetable 
 bodies, and might conftitute the original nucleus of the earth, which l have fuppofed to 
 have been projected from the fun, hence the volcanos themfelves appear to be fpiracula 
 or chimneys belonging to great central fires. It is probably owing to the efcape of the 
 clafiic vapours from thefe fpiracula that the modern earthquakes are of fuch fmall ex¬ 
 tent compared with thofe of remote antiquity, of which the veftiges remain all over the 
 globe. The great fize and height of the continents, and the great fize and depth of 
 the South-fea, Atlantic, and other oceans, evince that the firft earthquakes, which pro¬ 
 duced thefe immenfe changes in the globe, muft have been occafioned by central fires. 
 
 6. The 
 
Note VII. 
 
 ELEMENTARY HEAT. 
 
 13 
 
 6. The very diftant and expeditious communication of the fliocks of fome great earth¬ 
 quakes. The earthquake at Lifbon in 1755 was perceived in Scotland, in the Peak of 
 Derbyfliire, and in many other diftant parts of Europe. The percuflions of it travelled 
 with about the velocity of found, viz. about thirteen miles in a minute. The earthquake 
 in 1693 extended 2600 leagues. (Goldfmith’s Hiftory.) Thefe phenomena are eafily ex¬ 
 plained if the central parts of the earth confift of a fluid lava, as a percuflion on one par t 
 of fuch a fluid mafs would be felt on other parts of itsconfining vault, like a ftroke on a 
 fluid contained in a bladder, which however gentle on one fide is perceptible to the hand 
 placed on the other ; and the velocity with which fuch a concuflion would travel would 
 be that of found, or thirteen miles in a minute. For further information on this part of 
 the fubjeft the reader is referred to Mr. MichelI’s excellent Treatife on earthquakes in the 
 Philef. Tranf. Vol. LI. 7. That there is a cavity at the centre of the earth is made pro¬ 
 bable by the late experiments on the attraction of mountains by Mr. Mafkelyne, who 
 fuppofed from other confiderations that the denfity of the earth near the furface fliould 
 be five times lefs than its mean denfity Phil. Tranf. Vol. LX V. p. 498. But found 
 from the attraction of the mountain Schehallien, that it is probable, the mean denfity of 
 the earth is but double that of the hill. Ibid. p. 532. Hence if the firft fuppofition be 
 well founded there would appear to be a cavity at the centre of confiderable magnitude, 
 from whence the immenfebeds and mountains of lava, toadftone, bafaltes, granite, &c. 
 have been protruded. 8. The variation of the compafs can only be accounted for by fup 
 pofing the central parts of the earth to confift of a fluid mafs, and that part of this fluid 
 is iron, which requiring a greater degree of heat to bring it int > fufion than glafs or other 
 metals, remains a folid, and the vis inertias of this fluid mafs with the iron in it, occafions 
 it to perform fewer revolutions than the cruft of folid earth over it, and thus it is gra¬ 
 dually left behind, and the place where the floating iron refides is pointed to by the direct 
 or retrograde motions of the magnetic needle. This feems to have been nearly the 
 opinion of Dr. Halley and Mr. Euler. 
 
 NOTE VIE-ELEMENTARY HEAT. 
 
 Or fphere on fphere in widening waves expand , 
 
 And glad with genial warmth the incumbent land . Canto 1 . 1 . 143. 
 
 A CERTAIN quantity of heat feems to be combined with all bodies betides the 
 fenfible quantity which gravitates like the electric fluid amongft them. This combined 
 heat or latent heat of Dr. Black, when fet at liberty by fermentation, inflammation, 
 cryftaliization, freezing, or other chemical attraftions producing new combination , pafles 
 as a fluid element into the furrounding bodies. And by thawing, diflfuflon of neutral 
 faltsin water, melting, and other chemical /elutions, a portion of heat is attra< 5 ted from 
 the bodies in vicinity and enters into or becomes combined with the new folutions. 
 
*4 
 
 ELEMENTARY HEAT. 
 
 Note VII. 
 
 Hence a combination of metals with acids, of effential oils and acids, of alcohol and 
 water, of acids and water, give out heat ; whilft a Jolution of fnow in water or in acids, 
 and of neutral falts in water, attraft heat from the furrounding bodies. So the acid of 
 nitre mixed with oil of cloves unites with it and produces a moft violent flame ; the fame 
 acid of nitre poured on fnow inftantly diffolvesit and produces the greateft degree of cold 
 yet known, by which at Peteifburgh quickfilver was firft frozen in 1760. 
 
 Water may be cooled below 32 0 without being frozen, if it be placed on a folid floor 
 and fecured from agitation, but when thus cooled below the freezing point the leaft 
 agitation turns part of it fuddenly into ice, and when thisfudden freezing takes place a 
 thermometer placed in it inftantly rifes as fome heat is given out in the aCt of congelation, 
 and the ice is thus left with the fame fenfible degree of cold as the water had poffelfed 
 before it was agitated, but is neverthelefs now combined with lefs latent heat. 
 
 A cubic inch of water thus cooled down to 32 0 mixed with an equal quantity of boil¬ 
 ing water at 2i2 Q will cool it to the middle number between thefe two, or to 122. But 
 a cubic inch of ice whofe fenfible cold alfo is but 32, mixed with an equal quantity of 
 boiling water, will cool it fix times as much as the cubic inch of cold water above- 
 mentioned, as the ice not only gains its {hare of the fenfible or gravitating heat of the 
 boiling water but attracts to itfelf alfo and combines with the quantity of latent heat 
 w hich it hud loft at the time of its congelation. 
 
 So boiling w ater will acquire but 212? of heat under the common preflure of the at- 
 mofphere, but the (team raifed from it by its expanfion or by its folution in the atmo- 
 fphere combines with and carries away a prodigious quantity of heat which it again parts 
 with on its condenfation : as is feeri in common diftillation where the large quantity of 
 water in the worm tub is fo foon heated. Hence the evaporation of ether on a ther¬ 
 mometer foon finks the mercury below freezing, and hence a warmth of the air in win¬ 
 ter frequently fuccceds a fliower. 
 
 When the matter of heat or calorique is fet at liberty from its combinations, as by 
 inflammation, it pafles into the furrounding bodies, which poffefs different capacities of 
 acquiring their (hare of the loofe or fenfible heat; thus a pintmeafureof cold water at 48°. 
 mixed with a pint of boiling water at 212? will cool it to the degree between thefe two 
 numbers, or to I54 p > hut it requires two pint meafures of quickfilver at 48° of heat to 
 cool one pint of W'ater as above. Thefe and other curious experiments are adduced by 
 Dr. Black to evince the exiftence of combined or latent heat in bodies, as has been ex¬ 
 plained by fome of his pupils, and well illuftrated by Dr. Crawford. The world has 
 long been in expectation of an account of his difeoveries on this fubjeCt by the cele¬ 
 brated author himfelf. 
 
 As this doCtrine of elementary heat in its fluid and combined ftate is not yet univerfally 
 received, I (hall here add two arguments in fupport of it drawn from different fources, 
 viz. from the heat given out or abforbed by the mechanical condenfation or expanfion of 
 the air, and perhaps of other bodies, and from the analogy of the various phenomena of 
 heat with thofe of electricity. 
 
Note VII. 
 
 ELEMENTARY HEAT. 
 
 *5 
 
 I. If a thermometer be placed in the receiver of an air-pump, and the airhaftily ex- 
 haufted, the thermometer will fink fome degrees, and the glafs become fteamy ; the 
 fame occurs in haflily admitting apart of the air again. This I fuppofe to be produced 
 by the expanfion of part of the air, both during the exhauftion and re-admiflion of it; 
 and that the air fo expanded becomes capable of attracting from the bodies in its vicinity 
 a part of their heat, hence the vapours contained in it and the glafs receiver are for a 
 time colder and the fleam is precipitated. That the air thus parts with its moiflure from 
 the cold occafioned bv its rarcfadion and not Amply by the rarefaction itfelf is evident, 
 becaufe in a minute or two the fame rarefied air will again take up the dew depofited on 
 the receiver ; and becaufe water will evaporate fooner in rare than in denfe air. 
 
 There is a curious phenomenon fimilar to this obferved in the fountain of Hierocon- 
 ftruCted on a large fcale at the Chemnicenfian mines in Hungary. In this machine the 
 air in a large veflel is comprelled by a column of water 260 feet high, a flop-cock is 
 then opened, and as the air iflues out with great vehemence, and thus becomes imme¬ 
 diately greatly expanded, fo much cold is produced that the moiflure from this flream of 
 air is precipitated in the form of fnow, and ice is formed adhering to the nofel of the 
 cock. This remarkable circumftance is deferibed at large with a plate of the machine 
 in Philof. Tranf. Vol. LII. for 1761. 
 
 The following experiment is related by Dr. Darwin in the Philof. Tranf. Vol. 
 LXXVIII. Having charged an air-gun as forcibly as he well could the air-cell and fy- 
 ringe became exceedingly hot, much more fo than could be aferibed to the fridion in 
 working it; it was then left about half an hour to cool down the temperature of the air, 
 and a thermometer having been previoufly fixed againft a wall, the air was difeharged in 
 a continual flream on its bulb, and it funk many degrees. From thefe three experiments 
 of the fleam in the exhaufled receiver being depofited and re-abforbed, when a part of the 
 air is exhaufled or re-admitted, and the fnow produced by the fountain of Hiero, and 
 the extraordinary heat given out in charging, and the cold produced in difeharging an 
 air-gun, there is reafon to conclude that when air is mechanically comprefled the 
 elementary fluid heat is prefled out of it, and that when it is mechanically expanded 
 the fame fluid heat is re-abforbed from the common mafs. 
 
 It is probable all other bodies as well as air attrad heat from their neighbours when 
 they are mechanically expanded, and give it out when they are mechanically condenfed. 
 Thus when a vibration of the particles of hard bodies is excited by fridion or by per- 
 cuflion, thefe particles mutually recede from and approach each other reciprocally ; at 
 the times of their receflion from each other, the body becomes enlarged in bulk, and is 
 then in a condition to attrad heat from thofe in its vicinity with great and fudden power; 
 at the times of their approach to each other this heat is again given out, but the bodies 
 in contad having in the mean while received the heat they had thus loft, from other 
 bodies behind them, do not fo fuddenly or fo forcibly re-abforb the heat again from the 
 body in vibration ; hence it remains on its furface like the eledric fluid on a rubbed glafs 
 globe, and for the fame reafon, becaufe there is no good condudor to take it up again. 
 Hence at every vibration more and more heat is acquired and ftands loofe upon the fur- 
 face y as in filing metals or rubbing glafs tubes ; and thus a fmith with a few ftrokes on 
 
i6 
 
 ELEMENTARY HEAT. 
 
 Note VfL 
 
 a nail on his anvil can make it hot enough to light a brimftone match ; and hence in 
 ftriking flint and fleel together heat enough is produced to vitrify the parts thus ftrucken 
 off, the quantity of which heat is again probably increafed by the new chemical com¬ 
 bination. 
 
 II. The analogy between the phenomena of the eledric fluid and of heat furnifties' 
 another argument in fupport of the exiftence of heat as a gravitating fluid, i. T hey are 
 both accumulated by fridion on the excited body. 2. They are propagated eafily or 
 with difficulty along the fame daffies of bodies ; with cafe by metals, with lefs eafe by 
 water ; and with difficulty by refins, bees-wax, filk, air, and glafs. Thusglafs canes 
 or canes of fealing-wax may be melted by a blow r -pipe or a candle within a quarter of an 
 inch of the fingers which hold them, without any inconvenient heat, while a pin or 
 other metallic fubftance applied to the flame of a candle fo readily conduits the heat as 
 immediately to burn the fingers. Hence clothes of filk keep the body warmer than clothes 
 of linen of equal thicknefs, by confining the heat upon the body. And hence plains are 
 fo much warmer than the fummits of mountains by the greater denfity of the air con¬ 
 fining the acquired heat upon them. 3. They both give out light in their paffiage 
 through air, perhaps not in their paffiage through a vacuum. 4. They both of them 
 fufe or vitrify metals. 5. Bodies after being eledrized if they are mechanically ex¬ 
 tended wili receive a greater quantity of eiedricity, as in Dr. Franklin’s experiment of 
 the chain in the tankard; the fame feems true in refped to heat as explained above. 
 6. Both heat and eiedricity contribute to fufpend fleam in the atmofphere by producing 
 or increafing the rcpulfion of its particles. 7. They both gravitate, when they have 
 been accumulated, till they find their equilibrium. 
 
 If we add to the above the many chemical experiments which receive an eafy and ele¬ 
 gant explanation from the fuppofed matter of heat, as employed in the works of Bergman 
 and Lavoifier, I think w r e may reafonably allow of its exiftence as an element, occafionally 
 combined with other bodies, and occafionally exifting as a fluid, like the eledric fluid 
 gravitating amongft them, and that hence it may be propagated from the central fires 
 of the earth to the whole mafs, and contribute to preferve the mean heat of the earth, 
 which in this country is about 48 degrees but variable from the greater or lefs effed of 
 the fun’s heat in different climates, fo well explained in Mr. Kirwan’s Treatife on the 
 Tefnperature of different Latitudes. 1787. Elmfly. London. 
 
NOTE VIII.-MEMNON’S LYRE. 
 
 Yi? to the /acred Sun in Memnon's /me 
 
 Spontaneous concords quired the matin jlrain. Canto I. 1 . i8j 
 
 THE gigantic ftatue of Memnon in his temple at Thebes had a lyre in his hands, 
 v. Inch many credible writers alTure us, founded when the riling fun (hone upon it. Some 
 phdofophers have fuppofed that the fun’s light pofrefTes a mechanical impulfe, and that 
 the founds above-mentioned might be thence produced. Mr. Michell conftruded a very 
 tender horizontal balance, as related by Dr. Prieftley in his hiftory of light and colours, 
 for this purpofe, but fome experiments with this balance which I faw made by the late 
 Dr. Powel, who threw the focus of a large refleflor on one extremity of it, were not 
 conclufive ettherway, as the copper leaf of the balance approached in one experiment 
 and receded in another. 
 
 I here are however methods by which either a rotative or alternating motion may be 
 produced by very moderate degrees of heat. If a ftraight glafs tube, fuch as are ufedfor 
 barometers, be fufpended horizontally before a fire, like a roaflingfpit, it will revolve by 
 intervals; for as glafs is a bad conduftor of heat, the fide next the fire becomes heated 
 iooner than the oppofite fide, and the tube becomes bent into a bow with the external 
 part of the curve towards the fire, this curve then falls down and produces a fourth part 
 of a revolution of the glafs tube, which thus revolves with intermediate paufes. 
 
 Another alternating motion I have feen produced by fufpending a glafs tube about 
 eight inches long with bulbs at each end on a centre like a fcale beam. This curious 
 machine is filled about one third part with pureft fpirit of wine, the other two thirds 
 bang a vacuum, and is called a pulfe-glafs, if it be placed in a box before the fire, fo 
 that cuher bulb, as it rifes, may become (haded from the fire, and expofed to it when 
 it defeends, an alternate libration of it is produced. For fpirit of wine in vacuo emits 
 fleam by a very fmall degree of heat, and this fleam forces the fpirit beneath it up into 
 the upper bulb, which therefore defeends. It is probable fuch a machine on a larger 
 fcale might be of ufe to open the doors or windows of hot-houfes or melon-frames, 
 v hen the air within them fhould become too much heated, or might be employed in 
 more important mechanical purpofes. 
 
 On travelling through a hot fummer’s day in a chaife with a box covered with leather 
 on the fore-axle-tree, I obferved, as the fun fhonc upon the black leather, the box began 
 to open its lid, which at noon rofe above a foot, and could not without great force be 
 preflld dow-n ; and which gradually clofed again as the fun declined in the evening 
 1 his I fuppofe might with flill greater facility be applied to the purpofe of opening 
 melon-frames or the fafhes of hot-houfes. 
 
 The flatue of Memnon was overthrown and fawed in two by Cambyfes to difeover 
 as internal ftnnW, and is faid flill to exift. See Savary’s Letters on Egypt. The 
 •truncated ftatue is faid for many centuries to have faluted the rifing fun with chearfuf 
 tones, and the fetting fun with melancholy ones. 
 
 C 
 
NOTE IX.-LUMINOUS INSECTS. 
 
 Star of the earthy and diamond of the night . Canto I. 1 . 196. 
 
 THERE are .eighteen fpecies of Lampyris or glow-worm, according to Linneus,.. 
 fome of which are found in almoft e;very part of the w'orld. In many of the fpecies 
 the females have no wings, and are fuppofed to be difeovered by the winged males by 
 their fhining in the night. They become much more lucid when they put themfelves 
 in motion, which would feem to indicate that their light is owing to their refpiration ; 
 in which procefs it is probable phofphoric acid is produced by the combination of vital 
 air with fome part of the blood, and that light is given out through their tranfparent 
 bodies by this flow internal combuftion. 
 
 There is a fire-fly of the beetle-kind deferibed in the Di£t. Raifonne under the name 
 of Acudia, which is faid to be two inches long, and inhabits the Weft-Indies and South 
 America ; the natives ufe them inftead of candles, putting from one to three of them 
 under a glafs. Madam Merian fays, that at Surinam the light of this fly is fo great, 
 that {he faw fufficiently well by one of them to paint and finifh one of the figures of 
 them in her work on infects. The largeft and oldeft of them are faid to become four 
 inches long, and to fliine like a {hooting ftar as they fly, and are thence called Lanterp- 
 bearers. The ufe of this light to the infedt itfelf feems to be that it may not fly againft 
 objedts in the night ; by which contrivance thefe infedts are enabled to procure their 
 fuflenance either by night or day, as their wants may require, or their numerous enemies 
 permit them ; whereas fome of our beetles have eyes adapted only to the night, and if 
 they happen to come abroad too foon in the evening are fo dazzled that they fly againft 
 every thing in their way. See note on Phofphorus, No. X. 
 
 In fome feas, as particularly about the coaft of Malabar, as a {hip floats along, it 
 feems during the night to be furrounded with fire, and to leave a long tradl of light 
 behind it. Whenever the fea is gently agitated, it feems converted into little ftars, every 
 drop as it breaks emits light, like bodies eledfrified in the dark. Mr. Bomare fays, that 
 when he was at the port of Cettes in Languedoc, and bathing with a companion in the 
 fea after a very hot day, they both appeared covered with fire after every immerfion, 
 and that laying his wet hand on the arm of his companion, who had not then dipped 
 himfelf, the exa& mark of his hand and fingers was feen in charadlers of fire. As 
 numerous microfcopic infers are found in this fhining water, its light has been generally 
 aferibed to them, though it feems probable that fifh-flime in hot countries may become 
 in fuch a ftateef incipient putrefa&ion as to give light, efpecially when by agitation it 
 is more expofed to the air ; otherwife it is not eafy to explain why agitation fhould be 
 neceflary to produce this marine light. See note on Phofphorus No. X. 
 
NOTE X.-PHOSPHORUS. 
 
 Or mark with Jhtning letters Kunckel’s name 
 
 In the pale phofphor’sfelf-conftiming flame. Canto I. 1. 231. 
 
 KUNCKEL, a native of Hamburgh, was the firft who difcovered to the world the 
 precefs for producing phofphorus ; though Brandt and Boyle were likewife faid to 
 hat e previoufly had the art of making it. It was obtained from fa 1 microcofmicum by 
 evaporation m the form of an acid, but has fince been found in other animal finances 
 as in the allies of bones, and even in fomc vegetables, as in wheat flour. Keir’s che¬ 
 mical Did. This phofphoric acid is, like all other acids, united with vital air, and 
 Tequircs to be treated with charcoal or phlogifton to deprive it of this air, it then be¬ 
 comes a kind of animal fulphur, but of fo inflammable a nature, that on the accefs of 
 air it takes fire fpontaneoufly, and as it burns becomes again united with vital air, and 
 re-afiumes its form of phofphoric acid. 
 
 As animal refpiration feems to be a kind of flow combuftion, in which it is probable 
 that phofphonc acid is produced by the union of phofphorus with the yital air, fo it is 
 a ifo probable that phofphoric acid is produced in the excretory or refpiratory veflels of 
 luminous infefls, as the glow-worm and fire-fly, and fome marine infe&s. From the 
 fame principle I fuppofe the light from putrid flelh, as from the heads of hadocks, and 
 from putrid veal, and from rotten wood in a certain ftate of their putrefaftion, is pro¬ 
 duced, and phofphorus thus flowly combined with air is changed into phofphoric acid. 
 The light from the Bolognian flone, and from calcined Ihells, and from white paper, 
 and linen alter having been expofed for a time to the fun’s light, feem to produce either 
 the phofphoric or fome other kind of acid from the fulphurous or phlogirtic matter 
 which they contain. See note on Beccari’s {hells. 1. 182. 
 
 There is another procefs feems fimilar to this flowcombuftion, and that is bleaching. 
 By the warmth and light of the fun the water fprinkled upon linen or cotton cloth 
 feems to bedecompofed, (if we credit the theory of M. Lavoifier,) and a part of the 
 •vital air thus fet at liberty and uncombined, and not being in its elaftic form, more 
 eafily diffolves the colouring or phlogiftic matter of the cloth, and produces a new acid, 
 which is itfelf colourlefs, or is walhed out of the cloth by water. The new procefs of 
 bleaching confirms a part of this theory, for by uniting much vital air to marine acid 
 by aiftilling it from manganefe, on dipping the cloth to be bleached in water replete 
 with this fuperaerated marine acid, the colouring matter clifappcars immediately, fooner 
 indeed in cotton than in linen. See note XXXIV. 
 
 T here is another procefs which I fufpedf bears analogy to thefe above-mentioned, 
 and that is the rancidity of animal fat, as of bacon; if bacon be hung up in a warm 
 kitchen, with much fait adhering on the outfide of it, the fat part of it foon becomes 
 
 C 2 
 
20 
 
 STEAM-ENGINE. 
 
 Note XL 
 
 yellow and rancid ; if it be wafhed with much cold water after it has imbibed the fait,, 
 and juft before it is hung up, I am well informed, that it will not become rancid, or in 
 very flight degrees. In the former cafe I imagine the fait on the furface of the bacon 
 attrafts water during the cold of the night, which is evaporated during the day, and 
 that in this evaporation a part of the water becomes decompofed, as in bleaching, and 
 its vital air uniting with greater facility in its unelaftic ftate with the animal Cat, pro¬ 
 duces an acid, perhaps of the phofphoric kind, which being of a fixed nature lies upon 
 the bacon, giving it the yellow colour and rancid tafte. It is remarkable that the fuper- 
 aerated marine acid does not bleach living animal fubftances, at leaft it did not whiten a* 
 part of my hand which I for fomc minutes expofed to it. t 
 
 NOTE XI.-STEAM-ENGINE. 
 
 ^jiick moves the balanced beamy of giant-birth, 
 
 JVields his large limbs , and nodding Jhakes the earth . Canto I. 1 . 261.. 
 
 THE ex pan five force of fteam was known in Tome degree to the antients, Hero of 
 Alexandria deferibes an application of it to produce a rotative motion by the re-aftion 
 of fteam ifluing from a fphere mounted upon an axis, through two fmall tubes bent 
 into tangents, and ifluing from the oppofite fides of the equatorial diameter of the fphere, 
 the fphere was fupplied with fteam by a pipe communicating with a pan of boiling 
 water, and entering the fphere at one of its poles. 
 
 A French writer about the year 1630 deferibes a method of raifing water to the upper 
 part of a houfe by filling a chamber with fteam, and filtering it to condenfe of itfelf, but 
 it feems to have been mere theory, as his method was fcarcely prafticable as he deferibes 
 it. In 1655 the Marquis of Worcefter mentions a method of raifing water by fire in his 
 Century of Inventions, but he feems only to have availed himfelf of the expanfive ferce 
 and not to have known the advantages arifing from condenfing the fteam by aninjeftion 
 of cold water. This latter and moft important improvement feems to have been made 
 bv Capt. Savery fome time prior to 1698, for in that year his patent for the ufe of that 
 invention was confirmed by aft of parliament. This gentleman appears to have been the 
 firft who reduced the machine to praftice*, and exhibited it in an ufeful form. This 
 method confifted only in expelling the air from a veflel by fteam, and condenfing the 
 fteam by an injeftion of cold water, which making a vacuum, the prefliire of the atmo¬ 
 sphere forced the water to afeend into the ftcam-veflel through a pipe of 24 to 26 test 
 
 
Note XT. 
 
 STEAM-ENGINE. 
 
 ^21 
 
 Iiigh, and by the admiffion of dcnfe fleam from the boiler, forcing the water in the fleam- 
 
 veflel to afcend to the height defired. This conftruftion was defe£tivc becaufe it required 
 very ftrong veflels to refift the force of the fleam, and becaufe an enormous quantity of 
 fleam was condenfed by coming in contaft with the cold water in the ftcam-veflel. 
 
 About, or foon after that time, M. Papin attempted a fleam-engine on fimilar prin¬ 
 ciples, but rather more defe£tive in its conftruction. 
 
 The next improvement was made very foon afterwards by Meflrs. Newcomen and 
 Cawley of Dartmouth, it confided in employing for the fleam-veflel a hollow cylinder 
 (hut at bottom and open at top, furnifhed with a piflon Aiding eafily up and down in ir, 
 and made tight by oakum or hemp, and covered with water. This piflon is fufpended 
 by chains from one end of a beam, moveable upon an axis in the middle of its length, 
 to the other end of this beam are fufpended the pump-rods. 
 
 The danger of burfling the veflels was avoided in this machine, as however high the. 
 water was to be raifed it was not neceflary to incrcafe the denfity of the fleam, but only 
 to enlarge the diameter of the cylinder. 
 
 Another advantage was, that the cylinder not being made fo cold as in Savary’s 
 method, much lefs fleam was loft in filling it after each condenfation. 
 
 The machine however ftill remained imperfeefl, for the cold water thrown into the 
 cylinder acquired heat from the fleam it condenfed, and being in a veflel exhaufted of 
 air it produced fleam itfelf, which in part refifted the a£Hon of the atmofphere on the 
 piflon ; were this remedied by throwing in more cold water, the definition of fleam in 
 the next filling of the cylinder would be proportionally increafed. It has therefore in 
 praftice been found advifeable not to load thefe engines with columns of water weighing 
 more than feven pounds for each fquare inch of the area of the piflon. The bulk of 
 water, when converted into fleam, remained unknown until Mr. J. Watt, then of 
 Glafgow, in 1764, determined it to be about 1800 times more rare than water. It foon 
 occurred to Mr. Watt that a perfect engine would be that in which no fleam fhould be 
 condenfed in filling the cylinder, and in which the fleam fhould be fo perfectly cooled 
 as to produce nearly a perfect vacuum. 
 
 Mr. Watt having afeertained the degree of heat in which water boiled in vacuo, and 
 under progreflive degrees of preiTure, and inftrufted by Dr. Black’s difeovery of latent 
 heat, having calculated the quantity of cold water neceflary to eondenfe certain quan¬ 
 tities of fleam fo far as to produce the exhauftion required, lie made a communication 
 from the cylinder to a cold veflel previoufly exhaufted of air and water, into which the 
 fleam rufhed by its elafticity, and became immediately condenfed. He then adapted a 
 cover to the cylinder, and admitted fleam above the piflon to prefs it down inftead of air, 
 and inftead of applying water he ufed oil or greafe to fill the pores of the oakum, and 
 to lubricate the cylinder. 
 
 He next applied a pump to extrafl: the injeftion water, the condenfed fleam, and the 
 air, from the ccndenfing veflel, every ftroke of the engine. 
 
STEAM-ENGINE. 
 
 Note XL 
 
 22 
 
 To prevent the cooling of the cylinder by the contact of the external air, he fur- 
 rounded it with a cafe containing fteam, which he again protected by a covering of 
 matters which conduct heat (lowly. 
 
 This conftru&ion prefented an cafy means of regulating the power of the engine,'for 
 the fteam being the acting power, as the pipe which admits it from the boiler is more 
 or lefs opened, a greater or fmaller quantity can enter during the time of a ftroke, and 
 confequently the engine can a£l with cxaftly the necefiary degree of energy. 
 
 Mr. Watt gained a patent for his engine in 1768, but the further profecution of his 
 defigns were delayed by other avocations till 1775, when in conjundtion with Mr. 
 Boulton, of Soho, near Birmingham, numerous experiments were made on a large fcale 
 by their united ingenuity, and great improvements added to the machinery, and an adl 
 of parliament obtained for the prolongation of their patent for twenty-five years ; they 
 have fince that time drained many of the deep mines in Cornwall, which, but for the 
 happy union of fuch genius, rauft immediately have ceafed to work. One of thcfc 
 engines works a pump of eighteen inches diameter, and upwards of 100 fathom or 600 
 feet high, at the rate of ten to twelve ftrokes of feven feet long each, in a minute, and 
 that with one fifth part of the coals which a common engine would have taken to do 
 the fame work. The power of this engine may be eafier comprehended by faying that 
 it.raifed a weight equal to 81,000 pounds 80 feet high in a minute, which is equal to the 
 combined action of 200.good horfes. In Newcomen’s engine this would have required 
 a cylinder of the enormous diameter of 120 inches, or ten feet; but as in this engine 
 of Mr. Watt and Mr. Boulton the fteam afts, and a vacuum is made, alternately 
 above and below the pifton, the power exerted is double to what the fame cylinder 
 would otherways produce, and is further augmented by an inequality in the length of 
 the two ends of the lever. 
 
 Thefe gentlemen have alfo, by other contrivances, applied their engines to the turn¬ 
 ing of mills for almoft every purpofe, of which that great pile of machinery, the 
 Albion Mill, is a well knowm inftance. Forges, flitting mills, and other great works 
 are erefled where nature has furniftied no running water, and future times may boaft 
 that this grand and ufeful engine was invented and perfedled in our own country. 
 
 Since the above article went to the prefs, the Albion Mill is no more; it is fuppofed 
 to have been fet on fire by interefted or malicious incendiaries, and is burnt to the 
 ground. Whence London has loft the credit and the advantage of pofleffing the mod 
 powerful machine in the world ! 
 
In phalanx firm the fiend of Frofi affail. Canto. I. 1 . 439. 
 
 THE caufe of the expanfion of water during its converfion into ice is not yet well 
 afcertained, it was fuppofed to have been owing to the air being fet at liberty in the aft 
 of congelation, which was before didblved in the water, and the many air bubbles in ice 
 were thought to countenance this opinion. But the great force with which ice expands 
 during its congelation, fo as to burd iron bombs and coehorns, according to the experi¬ 
 ments of Major Williams at Quebec, invalidates this idea of the caufe of it, and may 
 fome time be brought into ufe as a means of breaking rocks in mining, or projefting 
 cannon-balls, or for other mechanical purpofes, if the means of producing congelation . 
 fhould ever be difcovered to be as eafy as the means of producing combuftion. 
 
 Mr. de Mairan attributes the increafe of bulk of frozen water to the different arrange¬ 
 ment of the particles of it in crydallization, as they are conftantly joined at an angle of 
 60 degrees ; and mud by this difpofition he thinks occupy a greater volume than if they 
 were parallel.. He found the augmentation of the water during freezing to amount to 
 one-fourteenth, one-eighteenth, one-nineteenth, and when the water was previoufly 
 purged of air to only one-twenty-fecond part. He adds that a piece of ice, which was 
 at fird only one-fourteenth part fpecificially lighter than water, on being expofed fome 
 days to the frod became one-twelfth lighter than water. Hence he thinks ice by being 
 expofed to greater cold dill increafes in volume, and to this attributes the burding of ice 
 in ponds and on the glaciers. See Lewis’s Commerce of Arts, p. 257. and the note 
 on Mufchus in the fecond part of this work. 
 
 This expanfion of ice well accounts for the greater mifchief done by vernal frods at¬ 
 tended with moidure, (as by hoar-frods,) than by the dry frods called black frods. Mr. 
 Lawrence in a letter to Mr. Bradley complains that the dale-mid attended with a frod 
 on may-day had dedroyed all his tender fruits; though there was a (harper frod the night 
 before without a mid, that did him no injury; and adds, that a garden not a done’s 
 throw from his own on a higher fituation, being above the dale-mid, had received no 
 damage. Bradley, Vol. II. p. 232. 
 
 Mr. Hunter by very curious experiments difcovered that the living principle in fifli, . 
 iri vegetables, and even in eggs and feeds, poffelfes a power of refiding congelation. 
 Phil. Tranf. There can be no doubt but that the exertions of animals to avoid 
 the pain of cold may produce in them a greater quantity of heat, at lead for a time, 
 but that vegetables, eggs, or feeds, fhould podefs fuch a quality is truly wonderful. 
 Others have imagined that animals podefs a power of preventing thetnfel ves from becom¬ 
 ing much warmer than 98 degrees of heat, when immerfed in an atmofphere above that 
 degree of heat. It is true that the increafed exhalation from their bodies will in fome 
 meafure cool them, as much heat is carried off by the evaporation of fluids, but this 
 is a chemical not an. animal procefs. The experiments made by thofe who continued 
 
FROST. 
 
 Note XII, 
 
 24 
 
 many minutes in the air of a room heated fo much above any natural atmofpheric heat, 
 do not feem conclufive, as they remained in it a lefs time than would have been necef- 
 fary to have heated a mafs of beef of the fame magn.tude, and the circulation of the 
 blood in living animals, by perpetually bringing new fuppltes of fluid to the flan, would 
 prevent the external furface from becoming hot much fooncr than the whole mafs. And 
 thirdly, there appears no power of animal bodies to produce cold in dtfeafes, as in fcarlet 
 fever, in which the increafed aftion of the veiTelsof the (kin produces heat and contri¬ 
 butes to exhauft the animal power already too much weakened. 
 
 It has been thought'by many that frofts meliorate the ground, and that they are in 
 general falubrious to mankind. In refped to the former it is now well known that ice 
 or (now contain no nitrous particles, and though froft by enlarging the bulk of mo.lt clay 
 leaves it fofter for a time after the thaw, yet as foon as the water exhales, the clay becomes 
 *s hard as before, being preffed together by the incumbent atmofphere, and by its elt- 
 attraaion, called Jetting by the potters. Add to this that on the coafls of Africa, where 
 froft is unknown, the fertility of the foil is almoft beyond our conceptions of it. In 
 refpea to the general falubrity of frofty feafonsthe bills of mortality are an evidence in 
 the negative, as in long frofts many weakly and old people perifli from debility occj- 
 fioned by the cold, and many clafTes of birds and other wild animals are benumbed by 
 the cold or deftroyed by the confecpient fcarcity of food, and many tender vegetables 
 
 yerifti from the degree of cold. ' 
 
 I do not think it fliould be objeaed to this doarine that there are mo.ft days attended 
 with a brilk cold wind when no vifible ice appears, and which are yet more difagrceable 
 .and deftruaive than frofty weather. For on thefe days the cold moifture, which is de- 
 polited on the (kin is there evaporated and thus produces a degree of cold perhaps greater 
 than the milder frofts. Whence even in fuch days both the difagreeable fenfations and 
 infalubrious effcas belong to the caufe abovementioned, viz. the intenfity of the cold. 
 Add to this that in thefe cold moift days as we pafs along or as the wind blows upon us, 
 a new (heet of cold water is as it were perpetually applied to us and hangs upon our 
 bodies, now as water is 800 times denfer than air and is a much better conduaorof 
 heat, we are ftarved with cold like thofe who go into a cold bath, both by the great num¬ 
 ber of particles in contaa with the (kin and their greater facility of receiving our heat. 
 
 It may neverthelefs be true that fnowsof long duration in our winters maybe lefs in¬ 
 jurious to vegetation than great rains and thorter frofts, for two reafons. 1. Becaufe great 
 rains carry down many thoufand pounds worth of the beft part of the manure off the lands 
 into the fca, whereas (now ditfolves more gradually and thence carries away lefs from the 
 land ; any one may diftinguifli a fnow-flood from a rain-flood by the tranfparency of the 
 water. Hence hills or fields with confiderable inclination of furface (hould be ploughed 
 horizontally that the furrows may flay the water from (bowers till it depofits its mud. 
 2. Snow protefls vegetables from the feverity of the froft, fince it is always in a ftate of 
 thaw where it is in.contatft with the earth ; as the earth’s heat is about 48° and the heat of 
 thawing fnow is 32° the vegetables between them are kept in a degree of heat about 40, 
 by which many of them are preferved. See note on Mufchus, Part. II. of this work. 
 
0 
 
 ( *5 ) 
 
 NOTE XIII.-ELECTRICITY. 
 
 Cold from each point cerulean lujlres gleam. Canto. I. I 
 
 339 - 
 
 ELECTRIC POINTS. 
 
 THERE was an idle difpute whether knobs or points were preferable on the top of 
 conductors for the defence of houfes. The defign of thefe conductors is to permit the 
 electric matter accumulated in the clouds to pafs through them into the earth in a fmaller 
 continued ftream as the cloud approaches, before it comes to what is termed ftriking 
 diftance ; now as it is well known that accumulated electricity will pafs to points at a 
 much greater diftance than it will to knobs, there can be no doubt of their preference ; 
 and it would feem that the finer the points and the lefs liable to become rufty the better, 
 as it would take off the lightning while it was ftill at a greater diftance, and by that 
 means preferve a greater extent of building; the very extremity of the point fhould be 
 of pure filver or gold, and might be branched into a kind of brufh, lince one fmall 
 point cannot be fuppofed to receive fo great a quantity as a thicker bar might conduct 
 into the earth. 
 
 If an infulated metallic ball is armed with a point, like a needle, projecting from one 
 part of it, the electric fluid will be feen in the dark to pafs off from this point, fo long as 
 the ball is kept fupplied with electricity. The reafon of this is not difficult to compre¬ 
 hend, every part of the electric atmofphere which furrounds the infulated ball is attracted 
 to that ball by a large furface of it, whereas the electric atmofphere which is near the 
 extremity of the needle is attracted to it only by a Angle point, in confequence the par¬ 
 ticles of electric matter near the furface of the ball approach towards it and pufh off by 
 their greater gravitation the particles of electric matter over the point of the needle in a 
 continued ftream. 
 
 Something like this happens in refpect to the diffufion of oil on water from a pointed 
 cork, an experiment which was many years ago fhewn me by Dr. Franklin; he cut a 
 piece of cork about the fize of a letter-wafer and left on one edge of it a point about a 
 iixth of an inch in length projecting as a tangent to the circumference. This was dipped 
 in oil and thrown on a pond of water and continued to revolve as the oil left the point 
 for a great many minutes. The oil defeends from the floating cork upon the water 
 being diffufed upon it without friction and perhaps without contact; but its going oft'at 
 the point fo forcibly as to make that cork revolve in a contrary direction feems analo¬ 
 gous to the departure of the electric fluid from points. 
 
 Can any thing fimilar to either of thefe happen in refpect to the earth’s atmofphere 
 and give occafion to the breezes on the tops of mountains, which may be confidered as 
 points on the earth’s circumference ? 
 
 I) 
 
 
26 
 
 ELECTRICITY. Note XIII. 
 
 FAIRY-RINGS. 
 
 There is a phenomenon fuppofed to be define which is yet unaccounted for, I 
 mean the Fairy-rings, as they are called, fo often feen on the grafs. The numerous 
 
 flafhes of lightning which occur every fummer are, I believe, generally difeharge on 
 
 the earth, and but feldom (if ever) from one cloud to another. Moift trees are the 
 moll frequent condufiors of thefc flalhes of lightning, and I am informed by purchafers 
 of wood that innumerable trees are thus cracked and injured. At other times larger 
 parts or prominences of clouds gradually finking as they move along, are d.fcnarged 
 on the moifter parts of grafly plains. Now this knob or corner of a cloud irt being 
 attrafted by the earth will become nearly cylindrical, as loofe wool would do when 
 drawn out into a thread, and will ftrike the earth with a dream of eleftricity perhaps 
 two or ten yards in diameter. Now, as a dream of eleftricity difplaces the air it paffes 
 through, it is plain no part of the grafs can be burnt by it, but juft the external ring of 
 this cylinder where the grafs can have accefs to the air, fince without air nothing can be 
 calcined. This earth after having been fo calcined becomes a richer foil, and either fun- 
 gufes or a bluer grafs for many years mark the place. That lightning difplaces the air in 
 its padage is evinced by the loud crack that fucceeds it, which is owing to the fidesof the 
 aerial vacuum clapping together when the lightning is withdrawn. That nothing will 
 calcine without air is now well underdood from the acids produced in the burning of 
 phlogiftic fubftances, and may be agreeably feen by fufpending a paper on an iron prong 
 and putting it into the centre of the blaze of an iron-furnace ; it may be held there 
 fome feconds and may be again withdrawn without its being burnt, it it be palled 
 quickly into the flame and out again through the external part of it which is in contact 
 with the air. I know fome circles of many yards diameter of this kind near Foremark 
 in Derbyfhire which annually produce large white fungufes and ftronger grafs, and 
 have done fo, I am informed above thirty years. This increafed fertility of the ground 
 by calcination or charring, and its continuing to operate fo many years is well worth the 
 attention of the farmer, and (hews the ufe of paring and burning new turf in agri¬ 
 culture, which produces its effect not fo much by the alhes of the vegetable fibres as by 
 charring the foil which adheres to them. 
 
 Thefe Situations, whether from eminence or from moifture, which were proper once 
 to attraft and difeharge a thunder-cloud, are more liable ag&in to experien e the fame.. 
 Hence many fairy-rings are often feen near each other either without interfering each 
 other, as I faw this fummer in a garden in Nottinghamfliire, or interfering each other, 
 as deferibed on Arthur’s feat near Edinburgh in the Edinb. Tranf. Vol. II. p. $-■ 
 
NOTE XIV.- BUDS AND BULBS. 
 
 IFhere dzvell my vegetative realms benumb'd 
 
 In buds irnprifon'd , or in bulbs in tomb'd. Canto I. 1. 459* 
 
 A TREE is properly fpeaking a family or fwarm of buds, each bud being an in¬ 
 dividual plant, for if one of thefe buds be torn or cut out and planted in the earth with 
 a glafscup inverted over it to prevent its exhalation from being at fird greater than its 
 power of abforption, it will produce a tree fimilar to its parent ; each bud has a leaf, 
 which is its lungs, appropriated to it, and the bark of the tree is a congeries of the roots 
 of thefe individual buds, whence old hollow trees are often feen to have fome branches 
 flourilh with vigour after the internal wood is almod entirely decayed and vaniihed. 
 According to this idea Linneus has obferved that trees and flirubs are roots above 
 ground, for if a tree be inverted leaves will grow from the root-part and roots from the , 
 trunk-part. Phil. Bot. p. 39. Hence it appears that vegetables have two methods of 
 propagating themfelves, the oviparous as by feeds, and the viviparous as by their buds 
 and bulbs, and that the individual plants, whether from feeds or buds or bulbs, are all 
 annual productions like many kinds of infeCts as the filk-worm, the parent perifhingin 
 the autumn after having produced an embryon, which lies in a torpid (late during the 
 winter, and is matured in the fucceeding fummer. Hence Linneus names buds and 
 bulbs the winter-cradles of the plant or hybernacula, and might have given the fame term 
 to feeds. In warm climates few plants produce buds, as the vegetable life can be corn- 
 pleated in one fummer, and hence the hybernacle is not wanted ; in cold climates alfo 
 fome plants do not produce buds, as philadelphus, frangula, viburnum, ivy, heath, 
 wood-nightfhade, rue, geranium. 
 
 The bulbs of plants are another kind of winter-cradle, or hybernacle, adhering to 
 the defeending trunk, and are found in the perennial herbaceous plants which are too 
 tender to bear the cold of the winter. The production of thefe fubterraneous winter 
 lodges, is not yet perhaps clearly underdood, they have been didributed by Linneus 
 according to their forms into fcaly, folid, coated, and jointed bulbs, which however 
 does not elucidate their manner of production. As the buds of trees may be truly 
 edeemed individual annual plants, their roots condituting the bark of the trees, it follows 
 that thefe roots (viz. of each individual bud) fpread themfelves over the lad years bark, 
 making a new bark over the old one, and thence defeending cover with a new bark the 
 old roots alfo in the fame manner. A fimilar circumdance I fuppofe to happen in 
 fome herbaceous plants, that is, a new bark is annually produced over the old root, a«;d 
 thus for fome years at lead the old root or caudex increafes in ftze and puts up new 
 dems. As thefe roots increafe in fize the central part I fuppofe changes like the in¬ 
 ternal wood of a tree and does not poflTefs any vegetable life, and therefore gives out on 
 fibres or rootlets, and hence appears bitten off, as in valerian, plantain, and deviFs-bit. 
 And this decay of the central part of the root I fuppofe has given occafion to the belief 
 of the root-fibres drawing down the bulb fo much infided on by Mr. Milne in his 
 Botanical Dictionary, Art. Bulb. 
 
 D 2 
 
28 
 
 BUDS AND BULBS. 
 
 Note XIV. 
 
 From the obfervations and drawing^ of various kinds of bulbous roots at different 
 times of their growth, fent me by a young lady of nice obfervation, it appears probable 
 that all bulbous roots properly fo called perifh annually in this climate : Bradley, Miller, 
 and the Author of Speftacie de la Nature, obferve that the tulip annually renews its 
 bulb, for the (talk of the old flower is found under the old dry coat but on theoutfide 
 of the new bulb. This large new bulb is the flowering bulb, but befides this there are 
 other fmall new bulbs produced between the coats of this large one but from the 
 fame caudex, (or circle from which the root-fibres fpring ;) thefe fmall bulbs are 
 leaf-bearing bulbs, and renew themfelves annually with increafing fize till they bear 
 flowers. 
 
 Mifs-favoured me with the following curious experiment: She took a fmall 
 
 tulip-root out of the earth when the green leaves were fufficiently high to (how the 
 flower, and placed it in a glafs of water ; the leaves and flower foon withered and the 
 bulb became wrinkled and foft, but put out one fmall fide bulb and three bulbs beneath 
 defeending an inch into the water by procefles from the caudex, the old bulb in fome 
 weeks intirely decayed ; on differing this monfter, the middle defeending bulb was found 
 by its procefs to adhere to the caudex and to the old flower-ftem, and the fide ones 
 were feparated from the flower-flem by a few fhrivelled coats but adhered to the caudex. 
 Whence fhe concludes that thefe lafl were off-fets or leaf-bulbs which fhould have been 
 feen between the coats of the new flower-bulb if it had been left to grow in the earth, 
 and that the middle one would have been the new flower-bulb. In fome years (perhaps 
 in wet feafons) the florifts are faid to lofe tnany of their tulip-roots by a fimilar procefs, 
 the new leaf-bulbs being produced beneath the old ones by an elongation of the caudex 
 without any new flower-bulbs. 
 
 By repeated difleftions fhe obferves that the leaf-bulbs or off-fets of tulip, crocus, 
 gladiolus, frit illary, are renewed in the fame manner as the flowering-bulbs, contrary to 
 the opinion of many writers; this new leaf-bulb is formed on the infide of the coats 
 from whence the leaves grow, and is more or lefs advanced in fize as the outer coats 
 and leaves are more or lefs fhrivelled. In examining tulip, iris, hyacinth, hare-bell, 
 the new bulb was invariably found between the flower-ftem and the bafe of the inner- 
 moft leaf of thofe roots which had flowered, and inclofed by the bafe of the innermoft 
 leaf in thofe roots which had not flowered, in both cafes adhering to the caudex or 
 flefhy circle from which the root-fibres fpring. 
 
 Hence it is probable that the bulbs of hyacinths are renewed annually, but that this 
 is performed from the caudex within the old bulb, the outer coat of which does not fo 
 fhrivel as in crocus and fritillary and hence this change is not fo apparent. But I 
 believe as foon as the flower is advanced the new bulbs may be feen on dilTe&ion, nor 
 does the annual increafe of the fize of the root of cyclamen and of aletris capenfis mili¬ 
 tate againft this annual renewal of them, fince the leaf-bulbs or off-fets, as deferibed 
 above, are increafed in fize as they are annually renewed. See note on orchis, and on 
 anthoxanthum, in Vol. II. of this work. 
 
NOTE XV.-SOLAR VOLCANOS 
 
 From the deep craters of his realms of fire 
 
 The whirling fun this ponderous planet hurVd . Canto II. I. 14. 
 
 Dr. ALEXANDER WILSON, Profeflor of Aftronomy at Glafgow, published 
 a paper in the Philofophical Tranfadions for 1774, demonflrating that the fpots in the 
 fun’s difk are real cavities, excavations through the luminous material, which covers the 
 other parts of the fun’s furface. One of thefe cavities he found to be about 4000 miles 
 deep and many times as wide. Some objections were made to this doctrine by M. De 
 la Lande in the Memoirs of the French Academy for the year 1776, which however 
 have been ably anfwered by Profeflor Wilfon in reply to the Philof. Tranf. for 1783. 
 Keil obferves, in his Aftronomical Lectures, p. 44, “ We frequently fee fpots in the 
 fun which are larger and broader not only than Europe or Africa, but which even equal, 4 
 if they do not exceed, the furface of the whole terraqueous globe.” Now that thefe 
 cavities are made in the fun’s body by a procefs of nature fimilar to o;ir earthquakes 
 does not feem improbable on feveral accounts. 1. Becaufe from this difcovery of Dr. 
 Wilfon it appears that the internal parts of the fun are not in a ftate of inflammation or 
 of ejeding light, like the external part or luminous ocean which covers it; and hence 
 that a greater degree of heat or inflammation and confequent expanfion or explofion 
 may occafionally be produced in its internal or dark nucleus. 2. Becaufe the folar fpots 
 or cavities are frequently increafed or diminilhed in fize. 3. New' ones are often pro¬ 
 duced. 4. And old ones vanifli. 5. Becaufe there are brighter or more luminous parts 
 of the fun’s difk, called faculae by Scheiner and Hevelius, which would feem to be vol¬ 
 canos in the fun, or, as Dr. Wilfon calls them, “ erudations of matter more luminous 
 than that which covers the fun’s furface.” 6. To which may be added that all the 
 planets added together with their fatellites do not amount to more than one fix hundred 
 and fiftieth part of the mafs of the fun according to Sir Ifaac Newton. 
 
 Now if it could be fuppofed that the planets were originally thrown out of the fun 
 by larger fun-quakes thanthofe frequent ones which occafion thefe fpots or excavations 
 above mentioned, what would happen ? 1. According to the obfervations and opinion 
 
 of Mr. Herfchel the fun itfelf and all its planets are moving forwards round fome other 
 centre with an unknown velocity, w'hich may be of opake matter correfponding with the 
 very antient and general idea of a chaos. Whence if a ponderous planet, as Saturn, 
 could be fuppofed to be projeded from the fun by an explofion, the motion of the fun 
 itfelf might be at the fame time difturbed in fuch a manner as to prevent the planet 
 from falling again into it. 2. As the fun revolves round its own axis its form mull 
 be that of an oblate fpheroid like the earth, and therefore a body projeded from its 
 furface perpendicularly upwards from that furface would not rife perpendicularly from 
 the fun’s centre, unlefs it happened to be projeded cxadly from either of its poles or 
 
3° 
 
 SOLAR VOLCANOS. 
 
 Note XV, 
 
 from its equator. Whence it m„ no, be nccedhry that a plane, ,f thus projefled from 
 the fun b, explofion Ihould again fall into the fun. 3 - They would par, from the fun . 
 furface with the velocity with which that furface was moving, and wtth the vel«uy 
 acquired b, the explofton,and would therefore move round the fun in the fame duection 
 in which the fun rotates on itsards, and perform elliptic orbits. 4 - A! the planets would 
 move the fame way round the fun, from this full motion acqutrcd a, leaving its furfaee, . 
 but their orbits would be inclined to each other according to the diftance of the part 
 where they were thrown out, from the fun’s equator. Hence thofe which were ejected 
 near the fun’s equator would have orbits but little inclined to each other, as the primary 
 planets; the plain of all whofe orbits are inclined but feven degrees and a half Irom each 
 other. Others which were ejeded near the fun’s poles would have much more eccentric 
 orbits, as they would partake fo much lefs of the fun’s rotatory motion at the time they 
 parted from his furface, and would therefore be carried further from the fun by the 
 velocity they had gained by the explofion which ejected them, and become comets. 
 5. They would all obey the fame laws of motion in their revolutions round the fun ; 
 this has been determined by aftronomers, who have demonftrated that they move through 
 equal areas in equal times. 6. As their annual periods would depend on the height they 
 rofe by the explofion, thefe would differ in them all. 7. As their diurnal revolutions 
 would depend on one fide of the exploded matter adhering more than the other at the 
 time it was torn off by the explofion, thefe would alfo differ in the different planets, and 
 not bear any proportion to their annual periods. Now as all thefe circumftances coincide 
 with the known laws of the planetary fyftem, they ferve to {Lengthen this conjecture. 
 
 This coincidence of fuch a variety of circumftances induced M. de Button to fuppofe 
 that the planets were all (truck off from the fun’s furface by the impad of a large comet, 
 fuch as approached fo near the fun’s difk, and with fuch amazing velocity in the year 
 1680, and is expeded to return in 2255. But Mr. Buffon did not recoiled that thefe 
 comets therrifelves are only planets with more eccentric orbits, and that therefore it muft 
 be a Iked, what had previoufly ftruck off thefe comets from the fun’s body? 2. That if 
 all thefe planets were ftruck off from the fun at the fame time, they muft have been fo 
 near as to have attraded each other and have formed one mafs: 3. That we fhall want 
 new caufes for feparating the fecondary planets from the primary ones, and muft there¬ 
 fore look out for fome other agent, as it does not appear how the ir—'" ,f “ 
 
 could have made one planet roll round another at the time they both of them were 
 driven off from the furface of the fun. 
 
 If it Ihould be afked, why new planets are not frequently ejeded from the fun ? it 
 may be anfwered, that after many large earthquakes many vents are left for the elaftic 
 vapours to efcape, and hence, by the prefent appearance of the furface of our earth, 
 earthquakes prodigioufly larger than any recorded in hiftory have exifted ; the fame cir¬ 
 cumftances may have affeded the fun, on whofe furface there are appearances of vol¬ 
 canos, as deferibid above. Add to this, that fomc of the comets, and even the georgium 
 fidus, may, for ought wc know to the contrary, have been emitted from the fun in more 
 
Note XV. 
 
 SOLAR VOLCANOS. 
 
 3* 
 
 modern days, and have been diverted from their courfe, and thus prevented from re¬ 
 turning into the fun, by their approach to fome of the older planets, which is fomewhat 
 countenanced by the opinion feveral philofophers have maintained, that the quantity of 
 matter of the fun has decreafed. Dr. Halley obferved, that by comparing the proportion 
 which the periodical time of the moon bore to that of the fun in former times, with the 
 proportion between them at prefent, that the moon is found to be fomewhat accelerated 
 in refpea to the fun. Pemberton’s View of Sir Ifaac Newton, p. 247. And fo large is 
 the body of this mighty luminary, that all the planets thus thrown out of it w'ould make 
 fcarce any perceptible diminution of it, as mentioned above. The cavity mentioned 
 #tbove, as meafured by Dr. Wilfon of 4000 miles in depth, not penetrating an hundredth 
 part of the fun’s femi-diameter; and yet, as its width was many times greater than its 
 depth, was large enough to contain a greater body than our terreftrial world. 
 
 I do not mean to conceal, that from the laws of gravity unfolded by Sir Ifaac Newton,, 
 fuppofing the fun to be a fphere and to have no progreffive motion, and not liable itfelf 
 to be difturbed by the fuppofed projection of the planets from it, that fuch planets muft 
 return into the fun. The late Rev. William Ludlam, of Leicefter, whofe genius never 
 met with reward equal to its merits, in a letter to me, dated January, 1787, after having 
 fhewn, as mentioned above, that planets fo projected from the fun would return to it, 
 adds, “ That a body as large as the moon fo projected, would difturb the motion of the 
 u earth in its orbit, is certain; but the calculation of fuch difturbing forces is difficult.. 
 “ The body in fome circumftances might become a fatellite, and both move round their 
 “ common centre of gravity, and that centre be carried in an annual orbit round the 
 “ fun.” 
 
 There are other circumftances wdiich might have concurred at the time of fuch fup¬ 
 pofed explofions, which would render this idea not impoffible. 1. The planets might be 
 thrown out of the fun at the time the fun itfelf w'asrifing from chaos, and be attra&ed 
 by other funs in their vicinity rifing at the fame timeout of chaos, which would prevent 
 them from returning into the fun. 2. The new' planet in its courfe or afeent from the 
 fun, might explode and ejeCl a fatellite, or perhaps more than one, and thus by its 
 courfe being affeCted might not return into the fun. 3. If more planets were eje&ed 
 at the fame time from the fun, they might attraft and diflurb each others courfe at the 
 time they left the body of the fun, or very foon afterwards, when they w'ould be fo much 
 nearer each other. 
 
\ 
 
 ( 32 ) 
 
 NOTE XVI.— CALCAREOUS EARTH. 
 
 While Ocean wrap'd it in his azure robe . Canto II. 1 . 34. 
 
 FROM having obferved that many of the higheft mountains of the world confift of 
 lime-ftone replete with fhells, and that thefe mountains bear the marks of having been 
 lifted up by fubterraneous fires from the interior parts of the globe ; and as lime-ftone 
 replete with fhells is found at the bottom of many of our dcepeft mines, fome philo- 
 fophers have concluded that the nucleus of the earth was for many ages covered with 
 water which was peopled with its adapted animals ; that the fhells and bones of thefe 
 animals in a long fcries of time produced folid ftrata in the ocean furrounding the ori¬ 
 ginal nucleus. 
 
 Thefe ftrata confift of the accumulated exuviae of fhell-fifh, the animals periflied 
 age after age,J>ut their fhells remained, and in progreftion of time produced the amazing 
 quantities of lime-ftone which almoft cover the earth. Other marine animals called 
 coralloids raifed walls and even mountains by the congeries of their calcareous habita¬ 
 tions, thefe perpendicular coralline rocks make fome parts of the Southern Ocean highly 
 dangerous, as appears in the journals of Capt. Cook. From contemplating the immenfe 
 ftrata of lime-ftone, both in refpeft to their extent and thicknefs, formed from thefe 
 fhells of animals, philofophers have been led to conclude, that much of the water of the 
 fea has been converted into calcareous earth by pafting through their organs of digeftion. 
 The formation of calcareous earth feems more particularly to be an animal proccfs as the 
 formation of clay belongs to the vegetable economy ; thus the fhells of crabs and other 
 teftaceous fifli are annually reproduced from the mucous membrane beneath them ; the 
 fhells of eggs arc firft a mucous membrane, and the calculi of the kidneys and thofe 
 found in all other parts of our fyftem which fometimes contain calcareous earth, feem 
 to originate from inflamed membranes; the bones themfelves confift of calcareous earth 
 united with the phofphoric or animal acid, which may be feparated by diffolving the 
 afhes of calcined bones in the nitrous acid; the various fecretions of animals, as their 
 faliva and urine, abound likewife with calcareous earth, as appears by the incruftations 
 about the teeth and the fediments of urine. It is probable that animal mucus is a pre¬ 
 vious procefs towards the formation of calcareous earth; and that all the calcareous 
 earth in the world which is feen in lime-ftones, marbles, fpars, alabafters, marls, (which 
 make up the greateft part of the earth’s cruft, as far as it has yet been penetrated,) have 
 been formed originally bv animal and vegetable bodies from the mafs of water, and that 
 by thefe means the folid part of the terraqueous globe has perpetually been in an in- 
 creafing ftate, and the water perpetually in a decreafing one. 
 
 After the mountains of (hells and other recrements of aquatic animals were elevated 
 above the water the upper heaps of them were gradually diflolved by rains and dews 
 and oozing through were either perfe&ly cryftallized in fmailer cavities and formed 
 
 
Note XVI. 
 
 CALCAREOUS EARTH. 3J 
 
 calcareous fpar, or were imperfediy cryftallized on the roofs of larger cavities and pro¬ 
 duced ftaladites; or mixing with other undiflblved fhells beneath them formed marbles* 
 which were more or lefs cryftallized and more or lefs pure; or laftly, after being diffolved! 
 the water was exhaled from them in fuch a manner that the external parts became folk),' 
 and forming an arch prevented the internal parts from approaching each other fo near as 
 to become Tolid, and thus chalk was produced. I have fpecimens of chalk formed at 
 the root of feveral ftaladites, and in their central parts : and of other ftalaftites which 
 are hollow like quills from a fimilar caufe, viz. from the external part of the ftaladite 
 hardening firft by its evaporation, and thus either attracting the internal diffolved par¬ 
 ticles to the cruft, or preventing them from approaching each other fo as to form a foJid 
 
 body. Of thefe I faw many hanging from the arched roof of a cellar under the high 
 Itreet in Edinburgh. 
 
 If this diftblved limeftone met with vitriolic acid it was converted into alabafter 
 parting at the fame time with its fixable air. If it met with the fiuor acid it became 
 floor; if with the filiceous acid, flint; and when mixed with clay and fand, or either 
 of them, acquires the name of marl. And under one or other of thefe forms compofes 
 a great part of the folid globe of the earth. 
 
 Another mode in which limeftone appears is in the form of round granulated par¬ 
 ticles, but flightly cohering together; of this kind a bed extends over Lincoln heath, 
 perhaps twenty miles long by ten wide. The form of this calcareous fand, its angles 
 having been rubbed off, and the flatnefs of its bed, evince that that part of the country 
 was fo formed under water, the particles of fand having thus been rounded, like all other 
 rounded pebbles. This round form of calcareous fand and of other larger pebbles is 
 produced under water, partly by their being more or lefs foluble in water, and hence the 
 angular parts become diffolved, firft, by their expofing a larger furface to the adion of 
 the menftruum, and fecondly, from their attrition againft each other by the ftreams or 
 tides, for a great length of time, fucceflively as they were collcded, and perhaps when 
 fome of them had not acquired their hardeft date. 
 
 This calcareous fand has generally been called ketton-done and believed to refemble 
 the fpawn of fifli, it has acquired a form fo much rounder than iiliceous fand from its 
 being of fo much fofter a texture and alfo much more foluble in water. There are 
 other foft calcareous {tones called tupha which arc depofited from water on moffes, as at 
 Matlock, from which mofs it is probable the water may receive fomething which induces 
 it the readier to part with its earth. 
 
 In fomelime-ltones the living animals feem to have been buried as well as their {hells 
 during fome great convulfion of nature, thefe {hells contain a black coaly fubdance 
 within them, in others fome phlogifton or volatile alcali from the bodies of the dead 
 animals remains mixed with the {tone, which is then called liver-done as it emits a 
 fulphurous fmell on being {truck, and there is a ftratum about fix inches thick extends a 
 conliderable way over the iron ore at Wingerworth near Chederfield in Derbyfhire, 
 which feems evidently to have been formed from the fhells of frefh- water mufdes. 
 
 E 
 
Note XVII, 
 
 34 . MORASSES. 
 
 ' There is however another fource of calcareous earth befides the aquatic one above 
 defcribed, and that is from the recrements of land animals and vegetables as found m 
 marls, which confift of various mixtures of calcareous earth, fand, and clay, 
 
 them Derhaps principally from vegetable origin. 
 
 Dr^Hutton is of opinion that the rocks of marble have been foftened by fire in 
 a fluid mafs which he thinks under immenfe preffure might be done without the efcape 
 of^their^rbimkacid or fixed air. Edinb. Tranfa*. Vol. I. If this ingenious idea be 
 allowed it might account for the purity of fome white marbles, as during their flui 
 ftate there mfght be time for their partial impurities, whether from the bodies of ie 
 animals which produced the fhells, or from other extraneous matter either to fu ^ 
 to the uppermoft pit of the ftratum or to fubfide to the lowermoft part of it. As a 
 confirmation of this theory of Dr. Hutton's it may be added .tot fome^c.mou. 
 ftones are found mixed with lime, and have thence loft a part of their fixed a,r or 
 carbonic gas, as the bath-ftone, and on that account hardens on being expofed to the 
 a and mix d with fulphur produces calcareous liver of fulphur. Falconer on Bath- 
 7,Z Vo,. I. p. , 56 . and p. a 57 . Mr. Monne. found lime powder ,n the moot, 
 tains of Auvergne, and filled it of volcanic origin. Kirwan s Min. p. 22- 
 
 NOTE XVII.—MORASSES. 
 
 Gnomes ! you then taught tranfuding dews to pafs 
 
 Through time-fall'n woods , and root-inwove mora/s . Canto 11 . 1 . 115. 
 
 WHERE woods have repeatedly grown and perifhed moralTes are in-procefs of 
 time produced, and by their long roots fill up the interftices till the whole becomes for 
 ma ny yards deep a mafs of vegetation. This faft is cunoufly verified by an account 
 given many years ago by the Earl of Cromartie, of which the following is a fhort 
 
 ^Inihe year 1651 the Earl of Cromartie being then nineteen years of age faw a 
 plain in the parifli of Lockburn covered over with a firm Handing wood, which was fo 
 old that not only the trees had no green leaves upon them but the bark was totally 
 thrown off, which he was there informed by the old countrymen was the umverfal 
 manner in which fir-woods terminated, and that in twenty or thirty years the trees 
 would caft themfelves up by the roots. About fifteen years after he had occalion 
 travel the fame way and obferved that there was not a tree nor the appearance o - 
 Jot of anv of them ; but in their place the whole plain where the wood ftood 
 
Note XVII. 
 
 35 
 
 MORASSES. 
 
 covered with a flat green mofs or morafs, and on afking the country people what was 
 become of the wood he was informed that no one had been at the trouble to carry it 
 away, but that it had all been overturned by the wind, that the trees lay thick over each 
 other, and that the mofs or bog had overgrown the whole timber, which they added was 
 occafioned by the moifture w hich came down from the high hills above it and ftagnated 
 upon the plain, and that nobody could yet pafs over it, which however his Lordfliip was 
 fo incautious as to attempt and dipt up to the arm-pits. Before the year 1699 that whole 
 piece of ground was become a felid mofs wherein the peafants then dug turf or peat, 
 which however was not yet of the beft fort. Philof. Tranf. No. 330. Abridg. Vol. V. 
 p. 272. 
 
 Morafles in great length of time undergo variety of changes, firft by elutriation, and 
 afterwards by fermentation, and the confequent heat. 1. By water perpetually oozing 
 through them the mod foluble parts are firft wafhed away, as the eflential falts, thefe 
 together with the falts from animal recrements are carried down the rivers into the 
 fea,< where all of them feem to decompofe each other except the marine fait. Hence 
 the afhes of peat contain little or no vegetable alcali and are not ufed in the countries, 
 where peat conftitutes the fuel of the lower people, for the purpofe of walking linen. 
 The fecond thing which is always fecn oozing from morafles is iron in folution, which 
 produces chalybeate fprings, from whence depofitions of ochre and varietv of iron ores. 
 The third elutriation feems to confift of vegetable acid, which by means unknown 
 appears to be converted into all other acids. 1. Into marine and nitrous acids as 
 mentioned above. 2. Into vitriolic acid which is found in fome morafles fo plentifully 
 as to preferve the bodies of animals from putrefa< 5 Vion which have been buried in them, 
 and this acid.carried away by rain and dews, and meeting with calcareous earth produces 
 gypfum or alabafter, with clay it produces alum, and deprived of its vital air produces 
 fulphur. 3. Fluor acid which being wafhed away and meeting with calcareous earth 
 produces fluor or cubic fpar. 4. The filiceous acid which feems to have been dif- 
 feminated in great quantity either by folution in water or by folution in air, and appears 
 to have produced the fand in'the fea uniting with calcareous earth previoufly diflolved 
 in that element, from which were afterwards formed fome of the grit-ftone rocks by 
 means of a liliceous or calcareous cement. By its union with the calcareous earth of 
 the morafs other flrata of filiceous fand have been produced ; and by the mixture of 
 •this with clay and lime arofe the beds of marl. 
 
 In other circumftances, probably where lefs moifture has prevailed, morafles feem to 
 have undergone a fermentation, as other vegetable matter, new hay for inftance is liable 
 to do from the great quantity of fugar it contains. From the great heat thus produced 
 in the lower parts of immenfe beds of morafs the phlogiftic part, or oil, or afphaltum, 
 becomes diftilled, and rifing into higher ftrata becomes again condcnfed forming coal¬ 
 beds of greater or lefs purity according to their greater or lefs quantity of inflammable 
 matter; at the fame time the clay beds become purer or lefs fo, as the phlogiftic part is 
 more or lefs completely exhaled from them. Though coal and clay are frequently pro¬ 
 duced In this manner, yet I have no doubt, but that they are likewife often produced by 
 
 Ez 
 
Note XVIII. 
 
 36 
 
 IRON. 
 
 elutriation ; in f,matrons on declivities the clay is waflred away down into the valleys, 
 and the phlogiftic part or coal left behind; this circumdance is feen in many valleys near 
 the beds of rivers, which are covered recently by a whitilh impure clay, called water- 
 
 clay. See note XIX. XX. and XXIII. ^ 
 
 Lord Cromartie has furnilhed another curious obfervat.on on moraffes m the 
 paper above referred to. In a mofs near the town of Eglin in Murray, though there * 
 no river or water which communicates with the mofs, yet for three or four feet ol dept 
 in the mofs there are little (hell-fifli refembling oyflcrs with living filh m them in great 
 quantities, though no fuch filh are found in the adjacent rivers, nor even in the water 
 Jits in the mofs," but only in the folid fubdance of the mofs. This curious fad not 
 only accounts for the {hells fometimes found on the furface of coals, and in the c ay 
 above them, but alfo for a thin ftratum of (hells which fometimes ex.ds over iron-ore. 
 
 NOTE XVIII.- IRON. 
 
 Cold, waves, immerged, the glowing ma/s 
 And turn to adamant the hijjing Steel. 
 
 congeal. 
 
 Canto II. 1 . 191. 
 
 AS iron is formed near the furface of the earth, it becomes expofcd to dreams of 
 water and of air more than mod other metallic bodies, and thence becomes combined 
 with oxygene, or vital air, and appears very frequently in its calciform date, as in va¬ 
 riety of ochres. Manganefe, and zinc, and fometimes lead, are alfo found near the 
 furface of the earth, and on that account become combined with vital air, and are ex¬ 
 hibited in their calciform date. _ 
 
 The avidity with which iron unites with oxygene, or vital air, in which procc s 
 much heat is given out from the combining materials, is diewn by a curious experiment 
 of M. Ingenhouz. A fine iron wire twided fpirally is fixed to a cork, on the point of 
 the fpire is fixed a match made of agaric dipped in folution of nitre ; the match is then 
 ignited, and the wire with the cork put immediately into a bottle full of vital air, the 
 match fird burns vividly, and the iron foon takes fire and confumes with brilliant fparks 
 till it is reduced to fmall brittle globules, gaining an addition of about one third ot its 
 weight by its union with vital air. Annales de Chymie. Traite de Chymic, par 
 Lavoifier, c. iii. 
 
Note XVIII. 
 
 IRON. 
 
 37 
 
 STEEL. 
 
 It is probably owing to a total deprivation of vital air which it holds with fo gfeat 
 avidity, that iron on being kept many hours or days in ignited charcoal becomes con¬ 
 verted into fteel, and thence acquires the faculty of being welded when red hot long 
 before it melts, and alfo the power of becoming hard when immerfed in cold water; 
 both which I fuppofe depend on the fame caufe, that is, on its being a worfe condu&or 
 of heat than other metals; and hence the furface both acquires heat much fooner, and 
 lofes it much fooner, than the internal parts of it, in this circumftance refemblingglafs. 
 
 When fteel is made very hot, and fuddenly immerged in very cold water, and moved 
 about in it, the furface of the fteel becomes cooled firft, and thus producing a kind of 
 cafe or arch over the internal part, prevents that internal part from contracting quite fo 
 much as it otherwife would do, whence it becomes brittlcr and harder, like the glafs- 
 drops called Prince Rupert’s drops, which are made by dropping melted glafs into cold 
 water. This idea is countenanced by the circumftance that hardened fteel is fpecifically 
 lighter than fteel which is more gradually cooled. (Nicholfon’s Chemiftry, p. 313.) 
 Why the brittlenefs and hardnefs of fteel or glafs fhould keep pace or be companions to 
 each other rilay be difficult fo conceive. 
 
 When a fteel fpring is forcibly bent till it break, it requires left power to bend it 
 through the firft inch than the fecond, and left through the fecond than the third ; the 
 fame I fuppofe to happen if a wire be diftended till it break by hanging weights to it; 
 this (hews that the particles may be forced from each other to a fmall diftance by left 
 power, than is necelfary to make them recede to a greater diftance ; in this circumftance 
 perhaps the attraction of cohefion differs from that of gravitation, which exerts its power 
 inverfely as the fqtiares of the diftance. Hence it appears that if the innermoft particles 
 of a fteel bar, by cooling the external furface firft, are kept from approaching each other 
 fo nearly as they otherwife would do, that they become in the fituation of the particles 
 on the convex fide of a bent fpring, and cannot be forced farther from each other except 
 by a greater power than would have been necefiary to have made them recede thus far. 
 And fecondly, that if they be forced a little farther from each other they feparate ; this 
 may be exemplified by laying two magnetic needles parallel to each other, the contrary 
 poles together, then drawing them longitudinally from each other, they will Hide with 
 fmall force till they begin to feparate, and will then require a ftronger force to really 
 feparate them. Hence it appears, that hardnefs and brittlenefs depend on the fame cir¬ 
 cumftance, that the particles are removed to a greater diftance from each other and thus 
 refift any power more forcibly which is applied to difplace them farther, this conftitutes 
 hardnefs. And fecondly, if they are difplaced by fuch applied force tney immediately 
 feparate, and this conftitutes brittlenefs. 
 
 Steel may be thus rendered too brittle for many purpofes, on which account artifts 
 have means of foftening it again, by expofing it to certain degrees of heat, for the con¬ 
 firmation of different kinds of tools, which is called tempering it. Some artifts plunge 
 
 large tools in very cold water as foonas they are completely ignited, and moving them about, 
 
Note XVIII. 
 
 IRON. 
 
 take them out as foon as they ceafe to be luminous beneath the water ; they are then 
 rubbed quickly with a file or on fand to clean the furface, the heat which the metal fill 
 retains foon begins to produce a fucceflion of colours; if a hard temper be required, the 
 piece is dipped again and ftirred about in cold water as foon as the yellow tinge appears, 
 if it be cooled when the purple tinge appears it becomes fit for gravers’ tools ufed in work¬ 
 ing upon metals; if cooled while blue it is proper for fprings. Nicholfon s Chemiltry. 
 p. 313. Keir’s Chemical Di&ionary. 
 
 MODERN PRODUCTION OF IRON. 
 
 The recent produdion of iron is evinced from the chalybeate waters which flow 
 from moralTes which lie upon gravel-beds, and which mud therefore have produced 
 iron after thofe gravel-beds were raifed out of the fea. On the fouth fide of the road 
 between Cheadle and Okeymoor in Staffordlhire, yellow ftains of iron are feen to pene¬ 
 trate the gravel from a thin morafs on its furface. There is a filfure eight or ten feet 
 wide, in a gravel-bed on the eaftern fide of the hollow road afcending the hill about a 
 mile from Trentham in Staffordlhire, leading toward Drayton in Shroplhire, which 
 fiffure is filled up with nodules of iron-ore. A bank of fods is now raifed againft this 
 fiffure to prevent the loofe iron nodules from falling into the turnpike road, and thus 
 this natural curiofity is at prefent concealed from travellers. A flmilar fiffure in a bed 
 of marl, and filled up with iron nodules and with fome large pieces of flint, is feen on 
 the eaftern fide of the hollow road afcending the hill from the turnpike houfe about a 
 mile from Derby in the road towards Burton. And another fuch fiffure filled with iron 
 nodes, appears about half a mile from Newton-Solney in Derbylhire, in the road to 
 Burton, near the fummit of the hill. Thefe colledions of iron and of flint muft have 
 been produced pofterior to the elevation of all thofe hills, and were thence evidently of 
 vegetable or animal origin. To which fliould be added, that iron is found in general in 
 beds either near the furface of the earth, or ftratifiedwith clay coals or argillaceous grit, 
 which are themfelves productions of the modern world, that is, from the recrements of 
 vegetables and air-breathing animals. 
 
 Not only iron but manganefe, calamy, and even copper and lead, appear in fome 
 inftances to have been of recent production. Iron and manganefe are deteCted in all 
 vegetable productions, and it is probable other metallic bodies might be found to exift 
 in vegetable or animal matters, if we had tefts to deteCt them in very minute quantities. 
 Manganefe and calamy are found in beds like iron near the furface of the earth, and in 
 a calciform ftate, which countenances their modern production. The recent production 
 of calamy, one of the ores of zinc, appears from its frequently incrutting calcareous fpar 
 in its defeent from the furface of the earth into the uppermoft fiffures of the limeftone 
 mountains of Derbylhire. That the calamy has been carried by its folutionordiffulion 
 in water into thefe cavities, and not by its afeent from below in form of fleam, is evinced 
 from its not only forming a cruft over the dogtooth fpar, but by its afterwards diffolving 
 ordeftroying the fparry cryftal. I have fpecimens of calamy in the form of dogtooth 
 fpar, two inches high, which are hollow, and (land half an inch above the diminiihed 
 
Note XVIII. 
 
 IRON. 
 
 39 
 
 fparrv cryftal on which they were formed, like a (heath a great deal too big for it; this 
 feems to (hew, that this procefs was carried on in water, otherwife after the calamy had 
 incrufted its fpar, and diffolved its furface, fo as to form a hollow cavern over it, it could 
 not aCt further upon it except by the interpofition of fome medium. As thefe fpars and 
 calamy are formed in the fiflures of mountains they muft both have been formed after 
 the elevations of thofe mountains. 
 
 In refpeCI to the recent production of copper, it was before obfcrved in note on 
 Canto II. 1 . 398, that the fummitof the grit-ftone mountain at Hawkftone in Shropshire, 
 is tinged with copper, which from the appearance of the blue ftains feems to have 
 defeended to the parts of the rock beneath. I have a calciform ore of copper confiding 
 of the hollow crufts of cubic cells, which has evidently been formed on cryftals of fluor,. 
 which it has eroded in the fame manner as the calamy erodes the calcareous cryftals, 
 from whence may be deduced in the fame manner, the aqueous folution or diffufion, as 
 well as the recent production of this calciform ore of copper. 
 
 Lead in fmall quantities is fometimes found in the fiffures of coal-beds, which fif- 
 fures are previoufly covered with fpar ; and fometimes in nodules of iron-ore. Of the 
 former I have a fpecimen from near Caulk in Derbyfliire, and of the latter from Cole- 
 brook Dale in Shropfhire. Though all thefe fads (hew that fome metallic bodies are 
 formed from vegetable or animal recrements, as iron, and perhaps manganefe and 
 calamy, all which are found near the furface of the earth ; yet as the other metals are 
 found only in filTures of rocks, which penetrate to unknown depths, they may be wholly 
 or in part produced by afeending fteams from fubterraneous fires, as mentioned in note 
 on Canto II. 1 . 398. 
 
 SEPT ARIA OF IRON-STONE. 
 
 Over fome lime works at Walfall in Staffordfliire, I obfervedTome years ago a ftratum 
 of iron earth about fix inches thick, full of very large cavities; thefe cavities were evi¬ 
 dently produced when the material patted from a femi-fluid ftate into a folid one ; as the 
 frit of the potters, or a mixture of clay and water is liable to crack in drying; which is 
 owing to the further contraction of the internal part, after the cruft has become hard. 
 Thefe hollows are liable to receive extraneous matter, as I believe gypfnm, and fome¬ 
 times fpar, and even lead ; a curious fpecimen of the laft v\as p re fen ted to me by Miv 
 Darby of Colebrook Dale, which contains in its cavity fome ounces of lead-ore. But 
 there are other feptaria of iron-ftone which feem to have had a very different origin, their 
 cavities having been formed in cooling or congealing from an ignited ftate, as is inge- 
 nioufly deduced by Dr. Hutton from their internal llru&ure. Edinb. 1 ran fact. Vol. I. 
 p. 246. The volcanic origin of thefe curious feptaria appears to me to be further evinced 
 from their form and the places where they are found. They confift of oblate fpheroids 
 and are found in many parts of the earth totally detached from the beds in which they 
 lie, as at Eaft-Lothian in Scotland. Two of thefe, which now lie before me, were found 
 with many others immerfed in argillac >us (hale or fhiver, furrounded by broken hme- 
 jtone mountains at Bradbourn near Aihbouia in Dvibyfliire, and were prelented to 
 
4 o 
 
 IRON. 
 
 Note XVIII. 
 
 me by Mr. Buxton, a gentleman of that town. One of thefe Is about fifteen inches in 
 its equatorial diameter, and about fix inches in its polar one, and contains beautiful ftar- 
 like feptaria incrufted and in part filled with calcareous fpar. The other is about eight 
 inches in its equatorial diameter, and about four inches in its polar diameter, and is quite 
 folid, but thews on its internal furface marks ot different colours, as if a beginning repa¬ 
 ration had taken place. Now as thefe fepftria contain fifty percent, ot iron, according 
 to Dr. Hutton, they would foften or melt into a femi-fluid globule by fubtcnaneous fiie 
 by lefs heat than the limeftone in their vicinity; and if they were ejected through a hole 
 or fiffure would gain a circular motion along with their progrefiive one by their greater 
 frittion or adhefion to one fide of the hole. This whirling motion would produce the 
 oblate fpheroidical form which they poffefs, and which as far as I know can not in any 
 other way be accounted for. They would then harden in the air as they rofe into the 
 colder parts of the atmofphere; and as they defcended into fo foft a material as (hale or 
 fhiver, their forms would not be injured in their fall; and their prefence in materials 
 fo different from themfelves becomes accounted for. 
 
 About the tropics of the large feptarium above mentioned, are circular eminent lines, 
 fuch as might have been left if it had been coarfely turned in a lath. Thefe l ines fe em 
 to confift of fluid matter, which feems to have exfuded in circular zones, as their edges 
 appear blunted or retraced; and the feptarium feems to have fplit ealier in fuch feftions 
 parallel to its equator. Now as the cruft would firft begin to cool and harden after its 
 ejection in a femifluid ftate, and the equatorial diameter would become gradually enlarged 
 as it rofe in the air; the internal parts being fofter would Aide beneath the polar cruft, 
 which might crack and permit part of the femifluid to exfude, and it is probable the 
 adhefion would thus become lefs in fe&ions parallel to the equator. Which further 
 confirms this idea of the prodwftion of thefe curious feptaria. A new-caft cannon ball 
 red-hot with its cruft only folid, if it were (hot into the air would probably burft in its 
 paffage; as it would confift of a more fluid material than thefe feptaria; and thus 
 by difeharging a fhower of liquid iron would produce more dreadful combuftion, if ufed 
 in war, than could be effected by a ball, which had been cooled and was heated again: 
 fince in the latter cafe the ball could not have its internal parts made hotter than the 
 xruft of it, without firft lofing its form. 
 
NOTE XIX—FLINT. 
 
 "Tran[mute to glittering flints her chafky lands, 
 
 Or fink on Ocean's bed in countlefs funds . Canto II. I. 217. 
 
 1. SILICEOUS ROCKS. 
 
 THE great mafles of filiceous fand which lie in rocks upon the beds of limeftone, or 
 nvhieh are Gratified with clay, coal, and iron-ore, are evidently produced in the decom- 
 pofition of vegetable or animal matters, as explained in the note on moraifes. Hence 
 the frnpreflions of vegetable roots and even whole trees are often found in fand-ftone, as 
 well as in coals and iron-ore. In thefe fand-rocks both the filiceous acid and the cal¬ 
 careous bafe feem to be produced from the materials of the morafs ; for though the 
 prefence of a filiceous acid and of a calcareous bafe have not yet been feparately exhibited 
 from flints, yet from the analogy of flint to fiuor, and gypfum, and marble, and from 
 the converfion of the latter into flint, there can be little doubt of their exiftence. 
 
 Thefe filiceous fand-rocks are either held together by a filiceous cement, or have a 
 greater or lefs portion of clay in them, which in fome a£ts as a cement to the filiceous 
 •cryftals, but in others is in fuch great abundance that in burning them they become an 
 imperfect porcelain and are then tiled to repair the roads, asatChefterfield in Derby (hire; 
 thefe are called argillaceous grit by Mr. Kirwan. In other places a calcareous matter 
 cements the cryftals together; and in other places the filiceous cryftals lie in loofe ftrata 
 under the marl in the form of white fand; as at Normington about a mile from Derby. 
 
 The loweft beds of lilLccous fand-ftone produced from moralfes feem to obtain their 
 acid from the morafs, and their calcareous bafe from the limeftone on which it refts. 
 Thefe beds pofTefs a filiceous cement, and from their greater purity and hardnefs are 
 \ifed for coarfe grinding-ftones and feythe ftones, and are fituated on the edges of lime¬ 
 ftone countries, having loft the other ftrata of coals, or clay, or iron, which were origi¬ 
 nally produced above them. Such are the fand-rocks incumbent on limeftone near 
 Matlock in Derbyfhire. As thefe filiceous fand-rocks contain no marine productions 
 fcattered amongit tflem, they appear to have been elevated, torn to pieces, and many 
 fragments of them fcattered over the adjacent country by explofions, from fires within 
 the morafs from which they have been formed; and which diflipated every .thing in¬ 
 flammable above and beneath them, except fome plains of iron, with which they are in 
 fome places fpotted. If thefe fand-rocks had been accumulated beneath the fea, and 
 .elevated along with the beds of limeftone on which they reft, fome veftiges of marine 
 .fhells either in their filiceous or calcareous ftatc mud have been difeerned among# 
 *ihcm. 
 
42 
 
 V L I N T. 
 
 Note XIX. 
 
 t. SILICEOUS TREES* 
 
 In many of thefe fand-rocks are found the impreflions of vegetable roots, which feem 
 to have been the mod unchangeable parts of the plant, as (hells and (hark s teeth are 
 found in chalk-beds front their being-the mod unchangeable parts ot the animal. In 
 other inftances the wood itfclf is penetrated, and whole trees converted into flmt; fpect- 
 mens of which I have by me, from near Coventry, and from a gravel-pit m Shropfh.re 
 near Child’s Archal in the road to Drayton. Other polithed fpecimens of vegetable 
 flints abound in the cabinets of the curious, whigh evidently (hew the concentric Circles 
 of woody fibres, and their interfaces filled with whiter llliceous matter, with the brandl¬ 
 ing off of the knots when cut horizontally, and the parallel lines of wood when cut 
 longitudinally, with uncommon beauty and variety. Of thefe I pofTefs fome beautiful 
 fpecimens, which were prefented to me by the Earl of Uxbridge. 
 
 The colours of thefe filiceous vegetables are generally brown, from the iron, I fuppole, 
 or manganefe, which induced them to cryftallize or to fufe more ealily. Some ot the 
 cracks of the wood in drying are filled with white flint or calccdony, and others of them 
 remain hollow, lined with innumerable fmall cryftals tinged with iron, which I fuppofe 
 had a (hare in converting their calcareous matter into filiceous cryftals, becaufe the 
 cryftals called Peak-diamonds are always found bedded in an ochreous earth; and thofe 
 called Briftol-ftones are fituatcd on limeftone coloured with iron. Mr. F. French prefented 
 me with a congeries of filiceous cryftals, which he gathered on the crater (as he fuppofes) 
 of an extinguithed volcano at Cromach Water in Cumberland. The cryftals are about 
 an inch high in the ftiape of dogtooth or calcareous fpar, covered with a dark ferruginous 
 matter. The bed on which they reft is about an inch in thicknefs, and is (lamed with 
 iron on its under-furface. This curious foflil (hews the tranfmutation of calcareous earth 
 into filiceous, as much as the filiceous (hells which abound in the cabinets of the curious. 
 There may fome time be difcovered in this age of fcience, a method of thus impreg¬ 
 nating wood with liquid flint, which would produce pillars for the fupport, and tiles 
 for the covering of houfes, which would be uninflammable and endure as long.as the 
 earth beneath them. 
 
 That fome filiceous productions have been in a fluid date without much heat at the 
 time of their formation appears from the vegetable flints above defcribed not having quite 
 loft their organized appearance ; from (hells, and coralloids, and cntrochi being converted 
 into flint without lofing their form ; from the bafon of calcedony round Giefar in 
 Iceland; and from the experiment of Mr. Bergman, who obtained thirteen regular 
 formed cryftals by differing the powder of quartz to remaia in a veflel with floor acid 
 for two years; thefe cryftals were about the fize of fmall peas, and were not fo hard 
 as quartz. Opufc. de Terra Silicea, p. 33. Mr. Achard procured both calcareous and 
 filiceous cryftals, one from calcareous earth, and the other from the earth of alum, both 
 diflolved in water impregnated with fixed air; the water filtrating very flowly through 
 a porous bottom of baked clay. See Journal de Phyfique, for January, 1778. 
 
Note XIX. 
 
 FLIN T. 
 
 43 
 
 3. agates, ONYXES, SCOTS-PEBBLES 
 
 In (mail cavities of thefe fand-rocks, I am informed, the beautiful filiceous nodules are 
 found which are called Scot’s-pebbles; ancj which on being cut in different directions 
 take the names of agates, onyxes, fardonyxes, &c. according to the colours of the lines 
 or ftrata which they exhibit. Some of the nodules are hollow and filled with cryftats, 
 others have a nucleus of lefs compaft liliceous matter which is generally white, fur- 
 rounded with many concentric flrata coloured with iron, and other alternate ftrata of 
 white agate or calcedony, fometimes to the number of thirty. 
 
 I think thefe nodules bear evident marks of their having been in perfea fufion by 
 either heat alone, or by water and heat, under great prefiure, according to the ingenious 
 theory of Dr. Hutton; but I do not imagine, that they were inje&ed into cavities from 
 materials from without, but that fome vegetables or parts of vegetables containing 
 more iron or manganefe than others, facilitated the complete fufion, thus deftroying 
 the veftiges of vegetable organization, which were confpicuous in the filiceous trees 
 above mentioned. Some of tltefe nodules being hollow and lined with cryftals, and 
 others containing a nucleus of white filiceous matter of a loofer texture, (hew thev 
 were compofed of the materials then exifting in the cavity; which confiding before of 
 loofe fand, mud take up lefs fpace when fufed into a folid mafs. 
 
 Thefe filiceous nodules refemble the nodules of iron-done mentioned in note on 
 Canto II. 1 . 183, in refpect to their pofleffing a great number of concentric fpheres 
 coloured generally with iron, but they differ in this circtimftance, that the concentric 
 fpheres generally obey the form of the external cruft, and in their not pofleffing a chaly¬ 
 beate nucleus. The ftala&ites formed on the roofs of caverns are often coloured in 
 concentric ftrata, by their coats being fpread over each other at different times; and 
 fome of them, as the cupreous ones, poflefs great beauty from this formation ; but as 
 thefe are neceff'arily more or lefs of a cylindrical or conic form, the nodules or globular 
 flints above deferibed cannot have been conftruCled in this manner. To what law of 
 nature then is to be referred the production of fuch numerous concentric fpheres ? I 
 fufpeCl to the law of congelation. 
 
 When fait and water are expofed to fevere frofty air, the fait is faid to be precipitated 
 as the water freezes; that is, as the heat, in which it was diflolved, is withdrawn; where 
 the experiment is tried in a bowl or bafbn, this may be true, as the furface freezes firft, 
 and the fait is found at the bottom. But in a fluid expofed in a thin phial, I found by 
 experiment, that the extraneous matter previoufly diflolved by the heat in the mixture 
 was not Amply fet at liberty to fubfide, but was detruded or pufhed backward as the ice 
 was produced. The experiment was this : afrout two ounces of a folution of blue vi¬ 
 triol were accidentally frozen in a thin phial, theglafs was cracked anJ fallen to pieces, 
 the ice was diflolved, and I found a pillar of blue vitriol (landing creCl on the bottom 
 of the broken bottle. Nor is this power of congelation more extraordinary, than that 
 bv its powerful and fudden expandon it (hould burft iron (hells and coehorns, or throw 
 
 F 2 
 
I 
 
 44 
 
 FLINT. 
 
 Note XIX, 
 
 out the plugs with which the water was fecured in them above one hundred and thirty 
 yards, according to the experiments at Quebec by Major W ilhams. tuhnb. 1 ranfaft. 
 
 V< In feme filkeous nodules which now lie before me, the external cruft for about the 
 tenth of an inch conf.fts of white agate, in others it is much thinner, and m fome much 
 thicker; correfponding with this cruft there are from twenty to thirty fuperincumbent 
 ftrata, of alternately darker and lighter colour; whence it appears, that the external cruft 
 as it cooled or froze, propelled from it the iron or manganefe which was diftolved in it ; 
 this receded till it had formed an arch or vault ftrong enough to refill its further pro- 
 trufion; then the next inner fpherc or ftratum as it cooled or froze, propelled forwards 
 its colouring matter in the fame manner, till another arch or fphere produced fufficient 
 refiftance to this frigorefeent expulfion. Some of them have detruded their colouring 
 matter quite to the centre, the rings continuing to become darker as they are nearer it; 
 in others the chalybeate arch feems to have flopped half an inch from the centre, and 
 become thicker by having attradled to itfelf the irony matter from the white nucleus, 
 owing probably to its cooling lefs precipitately in the central parts than at the furface of 
 the pebble. 
 
 * A fimilar detrufion of a marlv matter in circular arches or vaults obtains in the fait 
 mines in Cheihire, from whence Dr. Hutton very ingenioufly concludes, that the fait 
 muft have been liquified by heat; which would feem to be much confirmed by the above 
 theory. Edinb. Tranfad. Vol. I. p. 244. 
 
 I cannot conclude this account of Scots-pebbles without obferving that fome of them 
 on being fawed longitudinally afundcr, feem (till to poflcfsfome veftiges of the cylindri¬ 
 cal organization of vegetables; others poflefs a nucleus of while agate much refembling 
 fome bulbous roots with their concentric coats, or the knots in elm-roots or crab-trees* 
 fome of thefe I fuppofc were formed in the manner above explained, during the conge¬ 
 lation of mafles of melted flint and iron ; others may have been formed from a vegetable 
 nucleus, and retain fome veftiges of the organization of the plant* 
 
 4. SAND OF THE SEA. 
 
 The great abundance of filiceous fand at the bottom of the ocean may in part be 
 wafhed down from the filiceous rocks above deferibed, but in general I fiippofe it derives 
 its acid only from the vegetable and animal matter of morafles, which is carried down by 
 floods or by the atmofphere, and becomes united in the fea with its calcareous bafe from 
 fhells and coralloids, and thus aflumes its cry ftalline form at the bottom of the ocean, and is 
 there intermixed wiih gravel or other matters wafhed from the mountains in its vicinity* 
 
 5. CHERT, OR PETROSILEX. 
 
 The rocks of marble are often alternately intermixed with ftrata of chert, or coarfe 
 flint, and this in beds from one to three feet thick, as at Ilam and Matlock, or of lefs 
 than the tenth of an inch in thicknefs, as a mile or two from Rakewell in the road to 
 
Note XIX. 
 
 FLINT, 
 
 45 
 
 Buxton. It is difficult to conceive in what manner ten or twenty ftrata of either lime¬ 
 ftone or flint, of different fhades of white and black, could be laid quite regularly over 
 each other from fediments or precipitations from the fea; it appears to me muchcafier 
 to comprehend, by fuppofing with Dr Hutton, that both the folid rocks of marble and 
 the flint had been fufed by great heat, (or by heat and water,) under immenfe prcfiure ; 
 by its cooling or congealing the colouring matter might be detruded, and form parallel 
 or curvilinear ftrata, as above explained. 
 
 The colouring matter both of limeftone and flint was probably owing to the flefh of 
 peculiar animals, as well as the filiceous acid, which converted fome of the limeftone into 
 flint; or to fome ftrata of (hell-fifh having been overwhelmed when alive with new 
 materials, while others dying in their natural fituations would lofe their fleftiy part, 
 either by its putrid folution in the water or by its being eaten by other fea-infefts. I have 
 fome calcareous foflil (hells which contain a black coaly matter in them, which was 
 evidently the body of the animal, and others of the fame kind filled with fpar inftead of 
 it. The Labradore (tone has I fuppofe its colours from the nacre or mother-pearl (hells, 
 from which it was probably produced. And there is a ftratum of calcareous matter 
 about fix or eight inches thick at Wingerworth in Derbyshire over the iron-beds, which 
 is replete with ihells of frefh-water mufcles, and evidently obtains its dark colour from 
 them, as mentioned in note XVI. Many nodules of flint refemble in colour as well as 
 in form the (hells of the echinus or fea-urchin; others refemble fome coralioids both 
 in form and colour; and M. Arduini found in the Monte de Pancrafio, red flint* 
 branching like corals, from whence they feem to have obtained both their form and 
 their colour. Ferber’s Travels in Italy, p. 42. 
 
 6. NODULES OF FLINT IN CHALK-BEDS. 
 
 As the nodules of flint found in chalk-beds poflefs no marks of having been rounded 
 by attrition or folution, I conclude that they have gained their form as well as their-dark 
 colour from the flefh of the (hell-filh from which they had their origin; but which have 
 been fo compleatly fufed by heat, or heat and water, as to obliterate all veftiges of the 
 (hell, in the lame manner as the nodules of agate and onyx were produced from parts of 
 vegetables, but which had been fo completely fufed as to obliterate all marks of their 
 organization, or as many iron-nodules have obtained their form and origin from pecu¬ 
 liar vegetables. 
 
 Some nodules in chalk-beds confift of fhells of echini filled up with chalk, the animal 
 having been diflblved away by putrefcence in water, or eaten by other fea-infefts; other 
 (hells of echini, in which I fuppofe the animal’s body remained, are converted into flint 
 but ftill retain the form of the (hell. Others, 1 fuppofe as above, being more completely 
 fufed, have become flint coloured by the animal flefh, but without the exadf form either 
 of the flefh or (hell of the animal. Many of thefe are hollow wjthin and lined with 
 cryftals, like the Scot's-pebbles above described; but as the colouring matter, of animal 
 
bodies differs but little from each other compared with thofe of vegetables, thefe flints 
 vary lefs in their colours than thofe above mentioned. At the fame time as they cool¬ 
 ed ir , mcentric fpheres like the Scot’s-pebbles, they often poffefs faint rings of colours, 
 and always break in conchoidc forms like them. 
 
 This idea of the productions of nodules of flint in chalk-beds is countenanced from 
 the iron which generally appears as thefe flints become decompofed by the air ; which 
 by uniting with the iron in their compofition reduces it from a vitrefcent ftate to that ot 
 calx, and thus renders it vifible. And fecondly, by there being no appearance in chalk- 
 beds, of a firing or pipe of filiceous matter connecting one nodule with another, which 
 muff have happened if the filiceous matter, or its acid, had been injeCled from without 
 according to the idea of Dr. Hutton. And thirdly, becaufe many of them have very 
 large cavities at their centres, which fhcuid" not have happened had they been formed 
 by the injection of a material from without. 
 
 When fhells or chalk are thus converted from calcareous to filiceous matter by the 
 flefli of the animal, the new flint being heavier than the (hell or chalk occupies lefs fpace 
 than the materials it was produced from ; this is the caufe of frequent cavities within 
 them, where the whole mafs has not been completely fufed and preffed together. In 
 Derbyfhire there are mafles of coralloid and other fhells which have become filiceous, 
 and are thus left with large vacuities fometimes within and fometimes on the outude o, 
 the remaining form of the (hell, like the French millftones, and I fuppofe might feive 
 •the fame purpofe ; the gravel of the Derwent is full of fpecimens of this kind. 
 
 Since writing the above I have received a very ingenious account of chalk-beds from 
 Dr. Menish of Chelmsford. He diflinguiflies chalk-beds into three kinds; fuchashavc 
 been raifed from the fea with little difturbance of their flrata, as the cliffs of Dover an 1 
 Margate, which he terms intire chaik. Another ftate of chalk is where it has fuffered 
 much derangement, as the banks of the Thames at Gravefend and Dartford. And a 
 third flate where fragments of chalk have been rounded by w-ater, which he terms 
 alluvial chalk. In the firfl of thefe fituations of chalk he obferves, that the flint lies in 
 flrata horizontally, generally in diftin£t nodules, but that he has obferved two inflances 
 of fulid plates or flrata of flint, from an inch to two inches in thicknefs, interpofed 
 between the chalk beds; one of thefe is in a chalk-bank by the road fide at Berkhamilead, 
 the other in a bank on the road from Chatham leading to Canterbury. Dr. Menifh Has 
 further obferved, that many of the echini are crufhed in their form, and yet filled with 
 flint, which has taken the form of the crufhed fhell, and that though many flint nodules 
 are hollow, yet that in fome echini the filiceum feems to have enlarged, as it paffed from 
 a fluid to a fulid flate, as it fwells out in a protuberance at the mouth and anus of the 
 ihell, and that though thefe (hells are fo filled with flint yet that in many places the (hell 
 iifelf remains calcareous. Thefe flrata of nodules and plates of flint feem to countenance 
 their origin from the flelh of a flratum of animals which perifhed by fome natural 
 violence, and were buried in their fhells. 
 
Note XIX. 
 
 47 
 
 F LIN T. 
 
 7. ANGI.ES of siliceous sand. 
 
 In many rocks of filiceous fand the particles.retain their angular form, and in fomc 
 beds of loofe fand, of which there is one of confiderable purity a few yards beneath the 
 marl at Normington about a mile fouth of Derby. Other filiceous fands have had their 
 angles rounded off, like the pebbles in gravel-beds. Thefe feem to owe their globular 
 form to two caufes; one to their attrition againft each other, when they may for cen¬ 
 turies have lain at the bottom of the fea, or of rivers; where they may have been pro- 
 greflively accumulated, and thus progreflively at the fame time rubbed upon each other 
 by the dafhing of the water, and where they would be more eafily rolled over each other 
 by their gravity being fo much Iefs than in air. This is evidently now going on in 
 the river Derwent, for though there are no limeftone rocks for ten or fifteen miles 
 above Derby, yet a great part of the river-gravel at Derby confifts of limeftone nodules, 
 whofe angles are quite worn off in their defeent down the ftream. 
 
 There is however another caufe which mull have contributed to round the angles 
 both of calcareous and filiceous fragments; and that is, their folubility in water; calca¬ 
 reous earth is perpetually found fufpended in the waters which pafs over it; and the 
 earth of flints was obferved by Bergman to be contained in water in the proportion of 
 one grain to a gallon. Kirwan’s Mineralogy, p. 107. In boiling water, however, it 
 is foluble in much greater proportion, as appears from the filiceous earth fublimed in 
 the diftillation of fluor acid in glafs veftels ; and from the bafons of calcedony which 
 furrounded the jets of hot water near mount Hecla in Iceland. Troil on Iceland. 
 It is probable moft filiceous fands or pebbles have at fome ages of the world been Iona- 
 expofed to aqueous fteams raifed by fubterranean fires. And if fragments of (tone were 
 long immerfed in a fluid menftruum, their angular parts would be firftdiflblved, on ac- 
 count of their greater furface. 
 
 Many beds of filiceous gravel are cemented together by a filiceous cement, and arc- 
 called breccia ; as the plumb-pudding ftones of Hartfordfhirc, and the walls of a fubter- 
 raneous temple excavated by Mr. Curzon, at Hagley near Rugely in Staifordfhire; thefe 
 may have been expofed to great heat as they were immerfed in water; which water under 
 great preffure of fuperincumbent materials may have been rendered red-hot, as in Papin’s 
 digefter ; and have thus poflefled powers of folution with which we are unacquainted. 
 
 8. BASALTES AND GRANITES. 
 
 Another fource of filiceous ftones is from the granite, or bafaltes, or porphyries, which 
 are of different hardnefles according to the materials of their compofition, or to the fire 
 they have undergone; fiich are the ftones of Arthur’s-hill near Edinburgh, of the Giant’s 
 Caufway in Ireland, and ofCharnwood Foreft in Leicefterfhire; the uppermoft ftratum 
 of which laft feems to have been cracked cither by its elevation, or by its haftily cooling 
 after ignition by the contatt of dews or fnows, and thus breaks into angular fragments* 
 fuch as the ftreets of London are paved with; or have had their angles rounded by. 
 
# 
 
 
 4 8 F L I T. Note XIX. 
 
 attrition or by partial folulion ; and have thus formed the common paving (tones or 
 bowlers; as well as the gravel, which is often rolled into ftrata amid the filiceous fand- 
 beds,‘ which are either formed or colle&ed in the fea. 
 
 In what manner fuch a tnafs of cryflallized matter as the Giant’s Caufway and fimilar 
 columns of bafaltes, could have been raifed without other volcanic appearances, may be a 
 matter not eafy to comprehend; but there is another power in nature befides that of 
 expanfile vapour which may have raifed fome materials which have previoufly been in 
 igneous or aqueous folution ; and that is the a£t of congelation. When the water in 
 the experiments ajbove related of Major Williams had by congelation thrown out the 
 plugs from the bomb-fhells, a column of ice rofe from the hole of the bomb fix or eight 
 inches high. Other bodies I fufpe£f increafe in bulk which cryftallize in cooling, as 
 iron and type-metal. I remember pouring eight or ten pounds of melted brimftene 
 into a pot to cool and was furprized to fee after a little time a part of the fluid beneath 
 break a hole in the congealed cruft above it, and gradually rife into a promontory feveral 
 inches high ; the bafaltes has many marks of fufion and of cryftallizati*n and may 
 thence, as well as many other kinds of rock, as of fpar, marble, petrofilex, jafper, £cc. 
 have been raifed by the power of congelation, a power whofe quantity has not yet 
 been afeertained, and perhaps greater and more univerfal than that of vapours expanded 
 by heat. Thefe bafaltic columns rife fometimes out of mountains of granite itfelf, as 
 mentioned by Dr. Beddoes, (Phil. Tranfa£t. Vol. LXXX.) and as they feem to confift 
 of fimilar materials more completely fufed, there is ftill greater reafon to believe them 
 xo have been elevated in the cooling or cryftallization of the mafs. See note XXIV* 
 
Hence ductile Clays in zvide expanfion fpread , 
 
 Soft as the Cygnet 9 s down , theirfnozv-white bed. Canto II. 1 . 277. 
 
 THE philofophers, who have attended to the formation of the earth, have ac¬ 
 knowledged two great agents in producing the various changes which the terraqueous 
 globe has undergone, andthefe are water and fire. Some of them have perhaps afcribed 
 too much to one of thefe great agents of nature, and fome to the other. They have 
 generally agreed that the Gratification of materials could only be produced from fediments 
 or precipitations, which were previoufly mixed or diflblved in the fea; and that what¬ 
 ever effects were produced by fire were performed afterwards. 
 
 There is however great difficulty in accounting for the univerfal Gratification of the 
 iolid globe of the earth in this manner, fince many of the materials, which appear in 
 Grata, could not have been fufpended in water; as the nodules of flint in chalk-beds, 
 the extenfive beds of (hells, and laflly the Grata of coal, clay, fund, and iron-ore, 
 which in moG coal-countries lie from five to feven times alternately Gratified over each 
 other, and none of them are foluble in water. Add to this if a folution of them or a 
 mixture of them in water could be fuppofed, the caufe of that folution muG ceafe before 
 a precipitation could commence, 
 
 1. The great mafles of lava, under the various names of granite, porphyry, toadflone, 
 moor-Gone, rag, and flate, which conflitute the old world, may have acquired the old 
 Gratification, which fome of them appear to poflefs, by their having been formed by 
 fucceffive eruptions of a fluid mafs, which at different periods of ancient time arofu 
 from volcanic Giafts and covered each other, the furface of the interior mafs of lava 
 'would cool and become foljd before the fuperincumbent Gratum was poured over it: to 
 the fame caufe may be afcribed tlveir different compofitions and textures, which are 
 fcarcely the fame in any two parts of the world. 
 
 2 . The Gratifications of the great mafles of lime-Gone, which were produced from 
 fca-Giells, feem to have been formed by the different times at which the innumerable 
 fhells were produced and depofited. A colony of echini, or madrepores, or cornua 
 aramonis, lived and perifhed in one period of time; in another a new colony of either 
 fimilar or different {hells lived and died over the former ones, producing a Gratum of 
 more recent lhells over a Gratum of others which had begun to petrify or to become 
 marble; and thus from unknown depths to what are now the fummits of mountains 
 the lime-Gone is difpofed in Grata of varying folidity and colour. Thefe have afterwards 
 undergone variety of changes by their folution and depofition from the water in which 
 they were imintrfed, or from having been expofed to great heat under great prelfure, 
 according to the ingenious theory of Dr. Hutton. Edinb. Tran&ct. Vol. I. Sec 
 Note XVI. 
 
C L A V. 
 
 Note XX. 
 
 
 So 
 
 3. In mod of the coal-countries of this ifland there are from five to feven beds of 
 coal Gratified with an equal number of beds, though of much greater thicknefs, of clay 
 and fandflone, and occafionally of iron-ores. In what manner to account for the 
 Gratification of thefe materials feems to be a problem of great difficulty. Philofophers 
 have generally fuppofed that they have been arranged by the currents of the fea ; 
 but confidcring their infolubility in water, and their almofl fimilar fpecific gravity, an 
 accumulation of them in fuch diflinft beds from this caufe is altogether inconceiveable, 
 though fome coal-countries bear friarks of having been at fome time immerfed beneath 
 the waves and raifed again by fubterrancan fires. 
 
 The higher and lower parts of morafles were neceflarily produced at different periods 
 of time, fee Note XVII. and would thus originally be formed in Grata of different 
 ages. For when an old wood perifhed, and produced a morafs, many centuries would 
 elapfe before another wood could grow and perifii again upon the fame ground, which 
 would thus produce a new Gratum of morafs over the other, differing indeed principally 
 in its age, and perhaps, as the timber might be different, in the proportions of its 
 component parts. 
 
 Now if we fuppofe the lowermoG Gratum of a morafs become ignited, like fermenting 
 hay, (after whatever could be carried aw'ay by folution in water was gone,) wffiat would 
 happen? Certainly the inflammable part, the oil, fulphur, or bitumen, would burn 
 away, and be evaporated in air ; and the fixed parts would be left, as clay, lime, and 
 iron ; while fome of the calcareous earth would join with the filiceous acid, and produce 
 fand, or with the argillaceous earth, aad produce marl. Thence after many centuries 
 another bed would take fire, but with lefs degree of ignition, and with a greater body 
 of morafs over it, what then would happen ? The bitumen and fulphur would rife 
 and might become condenfed under an impervious Gratum, which might not be ignited, 
 and there form coal of different purities according to its degree of fluidity, which would 
 permit fome of the clay to fubfide through it into the place from which it was 
 fublimed. 
 
 Some centuries afterwards another fimilar procefs might take place, and either thick-' 
 en the coal-bed, or produce a new clay-bed, or marl, or land, ordepofit iron upon it, 
 according to the concomitant circumftances above mentioned. 
 
 I do not mean to contend that a few maffes of fome materials may not have been 
 rolled together by currents, when the mountains were much more elevated than at 
 prefent, and in confequence the rivers broader and more rapid, and the Gorms of rain 
 and wind greater both in quantity and force. Some gravel-beds may have been thus 
 walked from the mountains ; and fome white clay walked from moraffes into valleys 
 beneath them; and fome ochres of iron diffolved and again depofited by water; and 
 fome calcareous depofitions from water, (as the bank for infiance on which Gand the 
 houfes at Matlock-bath ;) but thefe-are all of fmall extent or confequence compared to 
 the primitive rocks of granite or porphyry which form the nucleus of the earth, or to 
 the immenfe Grata of limeflone which crufi over the greatefi part of this granite or 
 porphyry; or laflly to the very extenfive beds of clay, marl, fandilone, coal, and iron > 
 
Note XXI. 
 
 ENAMEL S. 
 
 which were probably for many millions of years the only parts of our continents and 
 i(lands, which were then elevated above the level of the fea, and which on that account 
 became covered with vegetation, and thence acquired their later or fuperincumbent 
 drata, which conftitute, what fome have termed, the new world. 
 
 There is another fource of clay, and that of the fined kind^ from decompofecl 
 granite, this is of a fnowy white and mixed with diining particles of mica, of this 
 kind is an earth from the country of Cherokees. Other kinds are from lefs pure lavas ; 
 Mr. Ferber afferts that the fulphurous deams from Mount Vcfuvius convert the lava 
 into clay. 
 
 The lavas of the ancient Solfatara volcano have been undoubtedly of a vitreous 
 nature, and thefe appear at prefent argillaceous. Some fragments of this lava are but 
 half or at one fide changed into clay, which either is vifcid or duftilc, or hard and 
 dony. Clays by fire are deprived of their coherent quality, which cannot be redored 
 to them by pulverization, nor by humeftation. But the fulphureous Solfatara deams 
 redore it, as may be eafily obferved on the broken pots wherein they gather the fal 
 ammoniac; though very well baked and burnt at Naples they are mollified again by 
 the acid deams into a vifcid clay which keeps the former fire-burnt colour.” Travels 
 in Italy, p. 156. 
 
 NOTE XXI.—ENAMELS. 
 
 Smear'd ker huge dragons with metallic hues . 
 
 With go\den purples, and cobaltic blues ; Canto If. 1. 287. 
 
 THE fine bright purples or rofe colours which we fee on china cups are not 
 producible with any other material except gold, manganefe indeed gives a purple but 
 of a very different kind. 
 
 In Europe the application of gold to thefe purpofes appears to be of modern invention. 
 Caflius’s difeovery of the precipitate of gold by tin, and the ufeof that precipitate for 
 colouring glafsand enamels, are now generally known, but though the precipitate with 
 tin be more fuccefsful in producing-the ruby glafs, or the £o!ourlefs glafs which be¬ 
 comes red by fubfequent ignition, the tin probably contributing to prevent the gold 
 from feparating, which it is very liable to do during the fufion ; yet, for enamels, the 
 precipitates made by alcaline falts anfwer equally well, and give a finer red, the colour 
 produced by the tin precipitate being a bluifh purple, but with the others a rofe red. 
 I am informed that fome of our bed artids prefer aiirum fulminans, mixing it, before 
 it has become dry, with the white compofition or enamel flux : when once it is divided 
 by the other matter, it is ground with great fafety, and without the lead danger of 
 explofion, whether moid or dry. The colour is remarkably improved and brought forth 
 by long grinding, which accordingly makes an eflential circumdance in the procefs. 
 
 G 2 
 
 
ENAMELS. 
 
 Note XXL 
 
 
 5 2 
 
 The precipitates of gold, and the colcothar or other red preparations of iron, are 
 called tender colours. The heat mull be no greater than is juft fufficient to make the 
 enamel run upon the piece, for if greater, the colours will bedeftroyed or changed to a 
 different kind. When the vitreous matter has juft become fluid it feems as if the 
 coloured metallic calx remained barely intermixed with it, like a coloured powder of 
 exquifite tenuity fufpended in water: but by (Longer fire the calx is diffolved, and 
 metallic colours are altered by folution in glafs as well as in acids or alcalies. 
 
 The Saxon mines have till very lately almoft exclufivcly fupplied the reft of Europe 
 with cobalt, or rather with its preparations, zaffre and fmalt, for the exportation of the 
 ore itfelf is there a capital crime. Hungary, Spain, Sweden, and fome other parts 
 of the continent, arc now r faid to afford cobalts equal to the Saxon, and fpecimens 
 have been difeovered in our own ifland, both in Cornwall and in Scotland j but hitherto 
 
 in no great quantity. 
 
 Calces of cobalt and of copper differ very materially from thofc above mentioned in 
 their application for colouring enamels. In thofe the calx has previoufly acquired the 
 intended colour, a colour which bears a red heat without injury, and all that remains is 
 to fix it on the piece by a vitreous flux. But the blue colour of cobalt, and the green 
 or bluifli green of copper, are produced by vitrification, that is, bv folution in the glafs, and 
 a ftrong fire is neceffary for their perfection. Thefe calces therefore, when mixed with 
 the enamel flux, are melted in crucibles, once or oftener, and the deep coloured opake 
 glafs, thence refulting, is ground into impalpable powder, andufed for enamel. One 
 part of either of thefe calces is put to ten, fixteen, or twenty parts of the flux, according 
 to the depth of colour required. The heat of the enamel kiln is only a full red, fuch as 
 is marked on Mr. Wedgwood’s thermometer 6 degrees. It is therefore neceffary that 
 the flux be fo adjufted as to melt in that low heat. The ufual materials are flint, or 
 flint-glafs, with a due proportion of red-lead, or borax, or both, and fometimes a little 
 tin calx to give opacity. 
 
 Ka-o-liu is the name given by the Chinefe to their porcelain clay, and pe-tun-tfe to the 
 other ingredient in their China ware. Specimens of both thefe have been brought into 
 England, and found to agree in quality with fome of our own materials. Kaolin is the 
 very fame with the clay called in Cornwall and the petuntfe is a granite fimilar 
 
 to the Cornifti moorftone. There are differences, both in the Chinefe petuntfes, and 
 the Englifh moorftones ; all of them contain micaceous and quartzy particles, in greater 
 or lefs quantity, along with fcltfpat, which laft is the effcntial ingredient for the 
 porcelain manufactory. The only injurious material commonly found in them is iron, 
 which difcolours the ware in proportion to its quantity, and which our moorftones are 
 perhaps more frequently tainted with than the Chinefe. Very fine porcelain has been 
 made from Englifh materials but the nature of the manufacture renders the procefs 
 precarious and the profit hazardous; for the femivitrification, which conftitutes porce¬ 
 lain, is necelfarily accompanied with a degree of foftnefs, or femifufion, fo that the 
 veffels are liable to have their forms altered in the kiln, or to run together with any ac¬ 
 cidental augmentations of the fire. 
 
( 53 ) 
 
 Note XXII.-PORTLAND VASE. 
 
 Or bid Mortality rejoice and mourn 
 
 O’er the fine forms of Portland’s myfiic urn. Canto II. 1. 319. 
 
 THE celebrated funeral vafe, long in polfeffion of the Barberini family, and lately 
 purchafed by the Duke of Portland for a thoufand guineas, is about ten inches high and 
 fix in diameter in the broadeft part. The figures are of moll exquifite workmanfliip in 
 bas relief of white opalce glafs, raifed on a ground of deep blue glafs, which appears 
 black except when held agai'nft the light. Mr. Wedgwood is of opinion from many 
 circumftances that the figures have been made by cutting away the external cruft of 
 white opake glafs, in the manner the fined: cameo’s have been produced, and that it 
 muft thence have been the labour of a great many years. Some antiquarians have 
 placed the time of its produdion many centuries before the chriftian aera; as fculpturc 
 was faidto have been declining in refped to its excellence in the time of Alexander the 
 Great. See an account of the Barberini or Portland vafe by M. D’Hancarville, and 
 by Mr. Wedgwood. 
 
 Many opinions and conjedures have been publifhed concerning the figures on this 
 celebrated vafe. Having carefully examined one of Mr. Wedgwood’s beautiful copies 
 of this wonderful produdion of art, I fhall add one more conjedure to the number. 
 
 Mr. Wedgwood has well obferved that it does not feem probable that the Portland 
 vafe w'as pnrpofely made for the afhes of any particular perfon deceafcd, becaufe many 
 years muft have been neceilary for its produdion. Hence it may be concluded, that the 
 fubjedof its embellifhments is not private hiftory but of a general nature. This fub- 
 .jed appears to me to be well chofen, and the ftory to be finely told ; and that it repre- 
 fents what in ancient times engaged the attention of philofophers, poets, and heroes, 
 
 I mean a part of the Eleufinian myftcries. 
 
 Thefe myfterics were invented in /Egypt, gnd afterwards transferred to Greece, and 
 flourifhed more particularly at Athens, which was at the fame time the feat of the fine 
 arts. They confided of fcenical exhibitions reprefenting and inculcating the expedation 
 of a future life after death, and on this account were encouraged by the government, 
 infomuch that the Athenian laws punifhed a difeovery of their fecrets with death. 
 Dr. Warburton has with great learning and ingenuity (hewn that the defeent of /Eneas 
 into hell, deferibed in the Sixth Book of Virgil, is a poetical account of the represen¬ 
 tations of the future date in the Eleufinian myfteries. Divine Legation, V ol. I. p. 210. 
 
 And though fome writers have differed in opinion from Dr. Warburton on this • 
 fubjed, becaufe Virgil has introduced fome of his own heroes into the Elyfian fields, as 
 Deiphobus, Palinurus, and Dido, in the fame manner as Homer had done before him, 
 yet it is agreed that the received notions about a future date were exhibited in thefe . 
 myfteries, and as thefe poets deferibed thofe received notions, they may be laid, asiu. 
 as thefe religious dodrines were concerned, to have deferibed the myfteries. 
 
PORTLAND VASE. 
 
 Note XXII. 
 
 54 
 
 Now as thefc were emblematic exhibitions they mud have been as well adapted to 
 the purpofes of fculpturc as of poetry, which indeed does not feem to have been un¬ 
 common, fince one compartment of figures in the ihield of iEneas reprefented the re¬ 
 gions of Tartarus. JE n. Lib. X. The proceffion of torches, which according to M. 
 De St. Croix was exhibited in thefe myderies, is dill to be feen in baflo relievo, difco- 
 vered by Spon and Wheler. Memoires fur le Myderes par De St. Croix. 1784. And 
 it is very probable that the beautiful gem reprefenting the marriage of Cupid and Pfyche, 
 as deferibed by Apuleus, was originally dcfcriptive of another part of the exhibitions 
 in thefe myderies, though afterwards it became a common fubje£t of antient art. See 
 Divine Legat. Vol. I. p. 323. What fubje£t could have been imagined fo fublime 
 for the ornaments of a funeral urn as the mortality of all things and their refufeitation? 
 Where could the defigner be fupplied with emblems for this purpofe, before theChridian 
 sera, but from the Eleufinian myderies? 
 
 1, The exhibitions of the myderies were of two kinds, thofe which the people were 
 permitted to fee, and thofe which were only fbewn to the initiated. Concerning the 
 latter, Aridides calls them “the mod (hocking and mod ravifhing reprefentations. ,, 
 And Stobceus aflerts that the initiation into the grand myderies exactly refembles death. 
 Divine Lcgat. Vol. 1. p. 280, and p. 272. And Virgil in his entrance to the (hades 
 below, amongd other things of terrible form, mentions death. JEn. VI. This part 
 of the exhibition feems to be reprefented in one of the compartments of the Portland 
 wafe. 
 
 Three figures of exquifite workmanfhip are placed by the fide of a ruined column 
 whofe capital is fallen off, and lies at their feet with other disjointed dones, they fit on 
 loofe piles of done beneath a tree, which has not the leaves of any evergreen of this 
 climate, but may be fuppofed to be an elm, which Virgil places near the entrance of the 
 infernal regions, and adds, that a dream was believed to dwell under every leaf of it* 
 JEn . VI. 1 . 281. In the’midd of this group reclines a female figure in a dying attitude, 
 in which extreme languor is beautifully reprefented, in her hand is an inverted torch, an 
 antient emblem of extinguifhed life, the elbow of the fame arm reding on a done fupports 
 her asfhe finks, while the other hand is raifed and thrown over her drooping head, in 
 fome meafure fudaining it and gives with great art the idea of fainting latitude. On 
 the right of her fits a man, and on the left a woman, both fupporting themfelveson their 
 arms, as people are liable to do when they are thinking intenfely. They have their 
 backs towards the dying figure, yet with their faces turned towards her, as if ferioufly 
 contemplating her fituation, but without dretching out their hands to affid her. 
 
 This central figure then appears to me to be an hieroglyphic or Eleufinian emblem of 
 mortal life, that is, the lethum, or death, mentioned by Virgil amongd the terrible 
 things exhibited at the beginning of the myderies. The inverted torch fhews the 
 figure to be emblematic, if it had been defigned to reprefent a real perfon in the act of 
 dying there had been no necedity for the expiring torch, as the dying figure alone would 
 have been diffidently intelligible;—it would have been as abfurd as to have put an 
 inverted torch into the hand of a real perfon at the time of his expiring. Befides if this 
 
— 
 

'uhfi.r/irtt 7>t't 
 
Note XXII. 
 
 PORTLAND VASE. 
 
 
 figure had represented a real dying perfon would not the other figures, or one of them 
 at leaft, have ftretched out a hand to fupport her, to have eafed her fall among loofe 
 
 ftones, or to have fmoothed her pillow ? Thefe circumrtances evince that the figure is 
 an emblem, and therefore could not be a reprefentation of the private hirtory of any 
 
 particular family or event. 
 
 The man and woman on each fide of the dying figure murt be confidered as emblems, 
 both from their Similarity of fituation and drefs to the middle figure, and their being 
 grouped along with it. Thefe I think are hieroglyphic or Eleufinian emblems of 
 humankind, with the backs toward the dying figure of mortal li fe, unwilling to 
 atfociate with her, yet turning back their ferious and attentive countenances, curious 
 indeed to behold, yet forry to contemplate their latter end. Thefe figures bring ftrongly 
 to one’s mind the Adam and Eve of facred writ, whom fome have fuppofed to have 
 been allegorical or hieroglyphic perfons of -^Egyptian origin, but of more antient date, 
 amongft whom I think is Dr. Warburton. According to this opinion Adam and Eve 
 were the names of two hieroglyphic figures reprefenting the early Hate of mankind ; 
 Abel was the name of an hieroglyphic figure reprefenting the age of pafturage, and Cain 
 the name of another hieroglyphic fymbol reprefenting the age of agriculture, at wdiicli 
 time the ufes of iron were difeovered. And as the people who cultivated the earth and 
 built houfes would increafe in numbers much farter by their greater produ&ion of food, 
 they would readily conquer or deftroy the people who were furtained by parturage, 
 which was typified by Cain flaying Abel. 
 
 2. On the other compartment of this celebrated vafe is exhibited an emblem of 
 
 immortality, the reprefentation of which was well known toconftitute a very principal 
 
 part of the (hews at the Eleufinian myfteries, as Dr. Warburton has proved by variety 
 of authority. The habitation of fpirits or ghofts after death was fuppofed by the 
 antients to be placed beneath the earth, where Pluto reigned, and difpenfed rewards or 
 punifhments. Hence the firft figure in this group is of the manes or ghost, who 
 having pafied through an open portal is defending into a dufley region, pointing his 
 toe with timid and unfteady ftep, feeling as it were his way in the gloom. Thisportal 
 yEneas enters, which is deferibedby Viigil,—patet atri janua Ditis, n. VI. 1 . 126; as 
 well as theeafy defeent,—facilis defeenfus Averni. Ib. Thedarknefs at the entrance 
 to the (hades is humoroufly deferibed by Lucian. Div. Legat. Vol. I. p.241. And the 
 horror of the gates of hell was in the time of Homer become a proverb; Achilles fays 
 to Ulyfles, 41 I hate a liar worfe than the gates of hellthe fame expreflion is ufed in 
 Ifaiah, ch. xxxviii. v. 10. The manes or ghost appears lingering and fearful, and 
 wi flies to drag after him a part of his mortal garment, which however adheres to the 
 fide of the portal through which he has pafled. The beauty of this allegory would have 
 been exprefied by Mr. Pope, by “ We feel the ruling paflion rtrong in death.” 
 
 A little lower down in the group the inanes or ghort is received by a beautiful female, 
 a fymbol of immortal life. This is evinced by her fondling between her knees a 
 large and playful ferpent, which from its annually renewing its external (kin has from 
 
 great antiquity, even as early as the fable of Prometheus, been efteemed an emblem of 
 
 / 
 
 
Note XXII. 
 
 
 5 6 PORTLAND VASE. 
 
 renovated youth. The dory of the ferpent acquiring immortal life from the afs of 
 Prometheus, who carried it on his back, is told in Bacon’s Works, Vol. V. p. 462. 
 Quarto edit. Bond. 1778. For a fimilar purpofe a ferpent was wrapped round the 
 large hieroglyphic egg in the temple of Diofcuri,' as an emblem of the renewal of lut 
 from a Hate of death. Bryant’s Mythology, Vol. II. p. 359. fee. edit. On this ac¬ 
 count alfo the ferpent was an attendant on 2?Ef ulapius, which feems to have been the 
 name of the hieroglyphic figure of medicine. This ferpent (hews this figure to be an 
 emblem, as the torch (hewed the central figure of the other compartment to be an em¬ 
 blem, hence they agreeably correfpond, and explain each other, one reprefen.ing 
 mortal life, and the other immortal life. 
 
 This emblematic figure of immortal life fits down with her feet towards the figure of 
 Pluto, but, turning back her face towards the timid ghod, {he (tretches forth her hand, 
 and taking hold of his elbow, fupports his tottering deps, as well as encourages him to 
 advance, both which circumdances are thus with wonderful ingenuity brought to the 
 eye. At the fame time the fpirit loofely lays his hand upon her arm, as one walking in 
 the dark would naturally do for the greater certainty of following his condu&refs, while 
 the general part of the fymbol of immortal liee, being turned toward the figure 
 of Pluto, (hews that {he is leading the phantom to his realms. 
 
 In the Pamphili gardens at Rome, Perfeus in a (filling Andromeda to defeend from 
 the rock takes hold of her elbow to fteady or fupport her dep, and ihe lays her hand 
 loofely on his arm as in this figure. Admir. Roman. Antiq. 
 
 The figure of Pluto can not be mifiaken, as is agreed by mofl of the writers who 
 have mentioned this vafe; his grilley beard, and his having one foot buried in the earth, 
 denotes the infernal monarch. He is placed at the lowed part of the group, and reding 
 his chin on his hand, and his arm upon his knee, receives the ftranger-fpirit with 
 inquifitive attention ; it was before obferved that when people think attentively they 
 naturally red their bodies in fome eafy attitude, that more animal power may be employed 
 on the thinking faculty. In this group of figures there is great art {hewn in giving an 
 idea of a defending plain, viz. from earth to Elyfium, and yet all the figures are in 
 reality on a horizontal one. This wonderful deception is produced fird by the defend¬ 
 ing dep of the manes or ghod; fecondly, by the arm of the fitting figure of immortal 
 life being raifed up to receive him as he defends; and ladly, by Pluto having one foot 
 funk into the earth. 
 
 There is yet another figure which is concerned in conducting the manes or ghod to 
 the realms of Pluto, and-this is love. He precedes the defending fpirit on expanded 
 wings, lights him with his torch, and turning back his beautiful countenance beckons 
 him to advance. The antient God of love was of much higher dignity than the modern 
 Cupid. He was the fird that came out of the great egg of night, (Hefiod. Theog. 
 V. CXX. Bryant’s Mythol. Vol. II. p. 348.) and is faid to polled, the keys of the 
 fkv, fa, and earth. As he therefore led the way into this life, he feems to conditute a 
 proper emblem for leading the way to a future life. See Bacon’s Works. Vol. I. ,p. 
 568. and Vol. III. p. 582. Quarto edit. 
 
Note XXII. 
 
 PORTLAND VASE. 
 
 57 
 
 The introduction of love into this part of the myfteries requires a little further explana¬ 
 tion. The Pfyche of the ./Egyptians was one of their molt favourite emblems, and re- 
 prefented the foul, or a future life; it was originally no other than the aurelia, or 
 butterfly, but in after times was reprefented by a lovely female child with the beautiful 
 wings of that infcCt. The aurelia, after its firft ftage as an eruca or caterpillar, lies for 
 a feafon in a manner dead, and is inclofed in a fort of coffin, in this ftate of darknefs it 
 remains all the winter, but at the return of fpring it burfts its bonds and comes out 
 with new life, and in the mod beautiful attire. The -/Egyptians thought this a very 
 proper pidure of the foul of man, and of the immortality to which it afpired. But as 
 this was all owing to divine Love, of which Eros was an emblem, we find this perfon 
 frequently introduced as a concomitant of the foul in general or Pfyche. (Bryant’s 
 Mythol. Vol. II. p. 386.) Eros, or divine Love, is for the fame reafon a proper at¬ 
 tendant on the manes or foul after death, and much contributes to tell'the (lory, that is, 
 to {hew that a foul or manes is defigned by the defeending figure. From this figure of 
 Love M. D 'l Iancarville imagines that Orpheus and Eurydicc are typified under the 
 figure of the manes and immortal life as above deferibed. It may be fufficient to anfwer 
 firft, that Orpheus is always reprefented with a lyre, of which there are prints of four 
 different gems in Spence’s Polymetis, and Virgil fo deferibes him, JEn. VI. cythara 
 fretus. And fecondly, that it is abfurd to fuppofe that Eurydice was fondling and 
 playing with a ferpent that had {lain her. Add to this that Love feems to have been an 
 inhabitant of the infernal regions, as exhibited in the myfteries, for Claudian, who 
 treats more openly of the Elcufinian myfteries, when they w r cre held in lefs veneration, 
 invokes the deities to difclofe to him their fecrcts, and amongft other things by what 
 torch Love foftens Pluto. % 
 
 Dii, quibusin numcrum, &c. 
 
 Vos mihi facrarum penetralia pandite rerum, 
 
 Et veftri fccreta poli, qua lampadc Ditem 
 Flexit Amor. 
 
 In this compartment there are two trees, whofe branches fpread over the figures, 
 one of them has fmoother leaves like feme evergreens, and might thence be fuppofed to 
 have fome allulion to immortality, but they may perhaps have been defigned only as 
 ornaments, or to relieve the figures, or becaufeit was in groves, where thefe myfteries 
 were originally celebrated. Thus Homer fpeaks of the woods of Proferpine, and 
 mentions many trees in Tartarus, as preferring their fruits to Tantalus; Virgil fpeaks 
 of the plcafant groves of Elyfium; and in Spence’s Polymetis there are prints of two 
 antient gems, one of Orpheus charming Cerberus w ith his lyre, and the other of Hercules 
 binding him in a cord, each of them (landing by a tree. Polymet. p. 284. As however 
 thefe trees have all different foliage fo clearly marked by the artift, they may have had 
 lpecific meanings in the exhibitions of the myfteries, which have not reached pofterity, 
 of this kind feem to have been the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of 
 life, in (acred w r rit, both which muft have been emblematic or allegorical. The malks, 
 
 II 
 
PORTLAND VASE. 
 
 Note XXII. 
 
 58 
 
 hanging to the handles of the vafe, feem to indicate that there is a concealed meaning 
 in the figures befides their general appearance. And the prieflefs at the bottom, which 
 I come now to defcribe, feems to ihcw this concealed meaning to be of the facred or 
 Eleufinian kind. 
 
 3. The figure on the bottom of the vafe is on a larger fcale than the otheis, and Iefs 
 finely finifhed, and lefs elevated j and as this bottom part was afterwards cemented to the 
 upper part, it might be executed by another artift for the fake of expedition, but there 
 feems no reafon to fuppofe that it w'as not originally defigned for the upper part of it as 
 fome have conjectured. As the myfieries of Ceres were celebrated by female priefts, for 
 Porphyrius fays the antients called the prieflefies of Ceres, Meliifai, or bees, which were 
 emblems of chaftity, Div. Leg. Vol. I. p. 235 ; and as, in his Satire againft the fex, 
 Juvenal fays, that few women are worthy to be prieftefles of Ceres, Sat. V I. the figure 
 at the bottom of the vafe would feem to reprefent a priestess or hierophant, whole 
 office it was to introduce the initiated, and point out to them, and explain the ex¬ 
 hibitions in the myfteries, and to exclude the uninitiated, calling out to them, “ Far, 
 jar retire, ye profane !” and to guard the fecrets of the temple. Thus the introductory 
 hymn fung by the hierophant, according to Eufebius, begins, “ I will declare a fecrct to 
 the initiated, but let the doors be fhut againft the profane.” Div. Leg. Vol. I. p. 177. 
 The prieftefs or hierophant appears in this figure with a clofe hood, and drefled in linen, 
 which fits clofe about her ; except a light cloak, which flutters in the wind. Wool, 
 as taken from flaughtered animals, was efteemed profane by the priefts of Egypt, who 
 were always drefled in linen. Apuleus, p. 64. Div. Leg. Vol. I. p. 318. Thus Eli 
 made for Samuel a linen ephod. Samuel i. 3. 
 
 Secrecy was the foundation on which all myfterics relied, when publicly known they 
 ceafed to be myfterics ; hence a difeovery of them was not only punilhed with death by 
 the Athenian law, but in other countries a difgrace attended the breach of a folemn 
 oath. The prieftefs in the figure before us has her finger pointing to her lips as an 
 emblem of filence. There is a figure of Harpocrates, who was of Egyptian origin, the 
 fame as Orus, with tin lotus on his head, and with his finger pointing to his lips not 
 preffed upon them, in Bryant’s Mythol, Vol. II. p. 398, and another female figure 
 landing on a lotus, as if juft rifen from the Nile, with her finger in the fame attitude^ 
 thefe feem to have been reprefentations or embleins of male and female priefts of the 
 fecret myfteries. As thefe forts of emblems were frequently changed by artifts for 
 their more elegant exhibition, it is poffible the foliage over the head of this figure may 
 bear fome analogy to the lotus above mentioned. 
 
 This figure of fecrecy feems to be here placed, with great ingenuity, as a caution to 
 the initiated, who might underftand the meaning of the emblems round the vafe, not 
 to divulge it. And this circumftancp feems to account for there being no written ex¬ 
 planation extant, and no tradition concerning thefe beautiful figures handed down to us 
 along with them. 
 
 Another explanation of this figure at the bottom of the vafe would feem to confirm 
 the idea that the baftb-relievos round its fides arc reprefentations of a part of the 
 
Note XXII. 
 
 PORTLAND VASE. 59 
 
 myfteries, I mean that it is the head of Atis. Lucian fays that Atis was a young man 
 of Phrygia, of uncommon beauty, that he dedicated a temple in Syria to Rhea, or 
 Cybele, and firft taught her myfteries to the Lydians, Phrygians, and Samothracians, 
 "w hich myfteries he brought from India. He was afterwards made an eunuch by Rhea, 
 and lived like a woman, and aftumed a feminine habit, and in that garb went over the 
 world teaching her ceremonies and myfteries. Diet, par M. Danet, art. Atis. As this 
 figure is covered with clothes, while thofe on the Tides of the vafe are naked, and has a 
 Phrygian cap on the head, and as the form and features ar e fo foft, that it is difficult to 
 fay whether it be a male or female figure, there is reafon to conclude, i. that it has 
 reference to fome particular perfon of fome particular country; 2. that this perfon is 
 Atis, the firft great hierophant, or teacher of myfteries, to whom M. De la Chaufle fays 
 the figure itfelf bears a refemblance. Mufeo. Capitol. Tom. IV. p. 402. 
 
 In the Mufeum Etrufcum, Vo!. I. plate 96, there is the head of Atis with feminine 
 features, clothed with a Phrygian cap, and riling from very broad foliage, placed on a 
 kind 01 term fuppoited by the paw of a lion. Goreus in his explanation of the figure 
 fays that it is placed on a lion’s foot becaufe that animal was facred to Cybele, and that 
 it rifes from very broad leaves becaufe after he became an eunuch he determined to dwell 
 in the groves. Thus the foliage, as well as the cap and feminine features, confirm 
 the idea of this figure at the bottom of the vafe reprefenting the head of Atis the firft 
 great hierophant, and that the figures on the fides of the vafe are emblems from the 
 antient myfteries. 
 
 • I beg leave to add that it does not appear to have been uncommon amongft the 
 antients to put allegorical figures on funeral vafes. In the Pamphili palace at Rome 
 there is an elaborate reprefentation of Life and Death, on an antient farcophagus. In 
 the firft Prometheus is reprefented making man, and Minerva is placing a butterfly, or 
 the foul, upon his head. In the other compartment Love extinguifhes his torch in the 
 bofom of the dying figure, and is receiving the butterfly, or Pfyche, from him, with a 
 great number of complicatedemblematic figures groupeod in very bad tafte. Admir. 
 Roman. Antiq. 
 
NOTE XXIII.' 
 
 COAL. 
 
 Hence fable Coal his majjy couch extends, 
 
 And Jlars of gold the fparkling Pyrite blends. Canto II. I. 349. 
 
 TO elucidate the formation of coal-beds I (hall here defcribe a fountain of foflTT tar, 
 or petroleum, difcovered lately near Colebrook Dale in Shropfhire, the particulars ol 
 which were fent me by Dr. Robert Darwin, of Shrewfbury. 
 
 About a mile and a half below the celebrated iron-bridge, conftru£ted by the late 
 Mr. Darby, near Colebrook Dale, on the eaft fide of the river Severn, as the workmen 
 in O&ober 1786 were making a fubterranean canal into the mountain, for the more 
 eafy acquifition and conveyance of the coals which lie under it, they found an oozing of 
 liquid bitumen, or petroleum ; and as they proceeded further cut through fmall cavities 
 of different fizes from which the bitumen iffued. From ten to fifteen barrels of this 
 foflil tar, each barrel containing thirty-two gallons, were at fill! colle6tcd in a day, 
 which has fince however gradually diminifiied in quantity, fo that at prefent the product 
 is about feven barrels in fourteen days. 
 
 The mountain, into which this canal enters, confifts of filiceous fand, in which 
 however a few marine produftions, apparently in their recent (late, have been found, 
 and are now in the pofTeflion of Mr. William Reynolds, of Kelly Bank. About 
 three hundred yards from the entrance into the mountain, and about twenty-eight yards 
 below the ftirface of it, the tar is found oozing from the fand-rock above into the top 
 and fides of the canal. 
 
 Beneath the level of this canal a fliaft has been funk through a grey argillaceous 
 fubftance, called in this country clunch, which is faid to be a pretty certain indication 
 of coal'; beneath this lies a flratum of coal, about two or three inches thick, of an 
 inferior kind, yielding little flame in burning, and leaving much afhes ; below this is a 
 rock of a harder texture, and beneath this are found coals of an excellent quality ; for 
 the purpofe of procuring which with greater facility the canal, or horizontal aperture, 
 is now making into the mountain. July, 1788. 
 
 Beneath thefe coals in fome places is found fait water, in other parts of the adjacent 
 country there are beds of iron-llone, which alfo contain fome bitumen in a lefs fluid 
 ftate, and which are about on a level with the new canal, into which the foflil tar oozes, 
 as above deferibed. 
 
 There are many interefting circumflances attending the fituation and accompaniments 
 of this fountain of foflil tar, tending to develop the manner of its produ&ion. 1. As the 
 canal palling into the mountain runs over the beds of coals, and under the refervoir 
 of petroleum, it appears that a natural dljlillation of this foflil in the bowels of the earth 
 mull have taken place at fome early period of the world, fimilar to the artificial diftillation 
 
Note XXIII. 
 
 COAL, 
 
 61 
 
 of coal, which has many years been carried on in this place on a fmaller fcale above 
 ground. When this refervoir of petroleum was cut into, the flownefs of its exfudation 
 into the canal was not only owing to its vifcidtty, but to the preflure of the atmofphere, 
 or to the neceftity there was that air ftiould at the fame time infinuate itfelf into the fmali 
 cavities from which the petroleum defeended. The exigence of fuch a diftiliation at 
 feme antient time is confirmed by the thin ftratum of coal beneath the canal, (which 
 covers the hard rock) having being deprived of its foflil oil, fo as to burn without flame, 
 and thus to have become a natural coak, or foflil charcoal, while the petroleum diftilled 
 from it is found in the cavities of the rock tbove it. 
 
 There are appearances in other places, which favour this idea of the natural diftiliation 
 of petroleum, thus at Matlock in Derbyfliire a hard bitumen is found adhering to the 
 fpar in the clefts of the lime-rocks in the form of round drops about the fize of peas; 
 which could perhaps only be depofited there in that form by fublimation. 
 
 2 . The fccond deduction, which offers itfelf, is, that thefe beds of coal have been 
 expofed to a confiderable decree of beat , fince the petroleum above could not be feparated, 
 as far as we know, by any other means, and that the good quality of the coals beneath 
 the hard rock was owing to the impermeability of this rock to the bituminous vapour, 
 and to its preflure being too great to permit its being removed by the elaflicity of that 
 vapour. Thus from the degree of heat, the degree of preflure, and the permeability of 
 the fuperincumbent ftrata, many of the phenomena attending coal-beds receive an eafy 
 explanation, which mijch accords with the ingenious theory of the earth by Dr. Hutton 
 Tranf. of Edinb. Vol. I. 
 
 In fome coal works the fufton of the flrata of coal has been fo light, that there re¬ 
 mains the appearance of ligneous fibres, and the imprefflon of leaves, as at Bovey near 
 Exeter, and even feeds of vegetables, of which I have had fpecimens from the collieries 
 near Polefworth in Warwickfhire. In fome, where the heat was not very intenfe and 
 the incumbent ftratum not permeable to vapour, the foflil oil has only rifen to the 
 upper part of the coal-bed, and has rendered that much more inflammable than the 
 lower parts of it, as in the collieries near Beaudefert, the feat of the Earl of Uxbridge 
 in St afford l"h ire, where the upper ftratum is a perfect cannel, or candle-coal, and the 
 lower one of an inferior quality. Over the coal-beds near Sir H. Harpur ! s houfe in 
 Derbyfliire a thin lamina of afphaltum is found in fome places near the furface of the 
 earth, which would feem to be from a diftiliation of petroleum from the coals below, 
 the more fluid part of which had in procefs of time exhaled, or been eonfolidated by its 
 abforption of air. In other coal-works the upper part of the ftratum is of a worfe kind 
 than the lower one, as at Alfreton and Denbigh, in Derbyfliire, owing to the fuper- 
 incumbent ftratum having permitted the exhalation of a great part of the petroleum ; 
 whilft at Widdrington in Northumberland there is firft a feam of coal about fix inches 
 thick of no value, which lies under about four fathom of clay, beneath this is a white 
 freeftone, then a hard (tone, which the workmen there call a whin, then two fathoms 
 of clay, then another white ftone, and under that a vein of coals three feet nine inches 
 
62 
 
 COAL. 
 
 Note XXIII. 
 
 thick, of a fimilar nature to the Newcaftle coal. Phil. Tranf. Abridg. Vol. V I. plate II. 
 p. 192. The fimilitude between the circumftances of this colliery, and of the coal 
 beneath the fountain of tar above defcribed, renders it highly probable that this upper 
 thin feam of coal has filtered a fimilar diftillation, and that the inflammable part of it 
 had either been received into the clay above in the form of fulphur, which when burnt 
 in the open air would produce alum; or had been difltpated for want of a receiver, 
 where it could be condenfed. The former opinion is perhaps in this cafe more probable 
 as in fome other coal-beds, of which 1 have procured accounts, the fur face of the coal 
 beneath chinch or clay is of an inferior quality, as at Weft Hallum in Nottinghamfhire. 
 The clunch probably from hence acquires its inflammable part, which on calcination 
 becomes vitriolic acid. I gathered pieces of clunch converted partially into alum at a 
 colliery near Bilfton, where the ground was (till on fire a few years ago. 
 
 The heat, which has thus pervaded the beds of morafs, feems to have been the 
 efFeA of the fermentation of their vegetable materials ; as new hay fometimes takes fire 
 even in fuch' very fmall mafles from the fugar it contains, and feems hence not to have 
 been attended with any expulfion of lava, like the deeper craters of volcanos fituated 
 in beds of granite. 
 
 7. The marine fliells found in the loofe fand-rcck above this refervoir of petroleum, 
 and the coal-beds beneath it, together with the exiftenee of fea-falt beneath thefe coal.', 
 prove that thefe coal-beds have been at the bottom of the fca , during fome remote period 
 of time, and were afterwards railed into their prefent fituation by fubterraneous expan- 
 fions of vapour. This doarine is further fupported by the marks of violence, which 
 fome coal-beds received at the time they were railed out of the fea, as in the collieries at 
 Mendip in Somerfetfhire. In thefe there are feven ftrata of coals, equitant upon each 
 other, with beds of clay and ftone intervening; amongft which clay are found (hells and 
 fern branches. In one part of this hill the ftrata are disjoined, and a quantity of 
 heterogeneous fubllances fill up the chafm which disjoins them, on one fide of this 
 chafinthe feven ftrata of coal are feen corrcfponding in refped to their reciprocal thick- 
 nefs and goodnefs with the feven ftrata on the other fide of the cavity, except that they 
 have been elevated feveral yards higher. Phil. Tranf. No. 360. abridg. Vol. \ . p. 237- 
 
 The cracks in the coal-bed nearTicknall in Derbyfliire, and in the fand-ftone rock 
 over it, in both of which fpecimens of lead-ore and fpar are found, confirm this opinion 
 of their having been forcibly raifed up by fubterraneous fires. Over the colliery at 
 Brown hills near Lichfield, there is a ftratum of gravel on the furface of the ground; 
 which may be adduced as another proof to fltew tnat thole coals liad fome time been 
 beneath the fea, or the bed of a river. Ncverthelefs, thefe arguments only apply to the 
 collieries above mentioned, w hich are few compared with thofe which bear no marks of 
 having been immerfed in the fea. 
 
 On the other hand the produ&ion of coals from moraltes, as defcribed in note XX. 
 is evinced from the vegetable matters frequently found in them, and in the ftrata over 
 them; as fern-leaves in nodules of iron ore, and front the bog-fhells or frefh water 
 
Note XXIII. COAL. 6j 
 
 mufeles fometimes found over them, of both which I have what I believe to be fpeci- 
 mens ; and is further proved from fome parts of thefe beds being only in part trunf- 
 formed to coal ; and the other part dill retaining not only the form, but fome of the 
 properties of wood ; fpecimens of which are not unfrequent in the cabinets of the curious, 
 procured from Loch Neigh in Ireland, from Bovey near Exeter, and other places; and 
 from a famous cavern called the Temple of the Devil, near the town of Ahorf in Fran- 
 conia, at the foot of a mountain covered with pine and favine, in which are found large 
 coals refembling trees of ebony ; w'hich are fo far mineralized as to be heavy and com- 
 padl ; and fo to efflorefee with pyrites in fome parts as to crumble to pieces ; yet from 
 other parts white afnes are produced on calcination, from which fixed akati is procured ; 
 which evinces their vegetable origin. (Did*. Raifonne, art Charbon.) To thefe may 
 be added another argument from the oil which is diOilled from coals, and which is 
 analogous to vegetable oil, and does not exiH in any bodies truly mineral. Ktir’s 
 Chemical Di&ionary, art. Bitumen. 
 
 Whence it would appear, that though mod collieries with their attendant ftrata 
 of clay, fand-Hone, andiron, were formed on the places where the vegetables grew, 
 from which they had their origin; yet that other collections of vegetable matter were 
 wafhed down from eminences by currents of waters into the beds of rivers, or the 
 neighbouring leas, and were there accumulated at different periods of time, and undtn- 
 w ent a great degree of heat from their fermentation, in the fame manner as thofe beds 
 of morafs which had continued on the plains where they were produced. And that by 
 this fermentation many of them had been raifed from the pcean with fand and fea-fliells 
 over them ; and others from the beds of rivers with accumulations of gravel upon them. 
 
 4. For the purpofe of bringing this hiftory of the produ&s of moralfes more diflin&Iy 
 to the eye of the reader, I Hiall here fubjoin two or three accounts of finking or boring 
 lor coals, out of above twenty which I have procured from various places, though the 
 terms are not very intelligible, being the language of the overfeers of coal-works. 
 
 1. Whitfield mine near the Pottery in StaffordIhire. Soil 1 foot, brick-day 3 feet, 
 (hale 4. metal which is hard brown and falls in the weather 42. coal 3. warrant clay 6. 
 brown gritHone 36. coal 3L warrant clay 3^. bafs and metal 53^. harddonc 4. llialy 
 bafs i|. coal 4. warrant clay, depth unknown, in all about 55 yards. 
 
 2. Coal-mine at Alfreton in Dei by (hire. Soil and clay 7 feet, fragments of done 9. 
 bind 13. (lone 6. bind 34. {tone 5. bind 2. Hone 2. bind 10. coal i|. bind i±. (lone 37. 
 bind 7. foft coal 3. bind 3. Hone 20. bind 16. coal 7*. in all about 61 yards. 
 
 3. A hcjjct coal-mine at Wcolarton in Nottinghamshire. Sand and gravel 6 feet, 
 bind 21. Hone 10. fmut or effete coal 1. clunch 4. bind 21. Hone 18. bind 18. Hone- 
 bind 15. foft coal 2. clunch and bind 21. coal 7. in all about 48 yards. 
 
 4. Coal-mine at Wejl-Hallam in Nottinghamlhire. Soii and clay 7 feet, bind 48. 
 fmut 1*. clunch 4. bind 3. Hone 2. bind 1. Hone 1. bind 3. Hone 1. bind 16. Hialc 2. 
 bind 12. fhale 3. clunch, Hone, and a bed of cank 54. foft coal 4. clay and dun 1. 
 foft coal 4-J. clunch and bind 21. coal 1. broad bind 26. hard coal 6. in all about. 74 
 

 64 
 
 COAL. 
 
 Note XXIII. 
 
 M thefe fl.au generally lie inclined, 1 fuppofe parallel *» Inneflone on ..Inch 
 they reft, the upper edges of them all come out to day, wh.ch .s termed baifcttmg, 
 wh en the whole mafs was ignited by its fermentation, it is probable that the im am- 
 mable part of fome ftrata might thus more eaf.ly efcape than of others in the form o 
 vapour; as dews are known to Aide between fuch ftrata m the produftton of fpnngs , 
 which accounts for fome coal-beds being fo much worfe than others. See note XX. 
 
 From this account of the production of coals from moraftes .«-would appear, that 
 coal-beds are not to be expeted beneath mattes of lime-ftone. M-vutne c s ^ 
 been lately informed by my friend Mr. Michell, of Ihornhi , ' v '° lope 
 favour the public with his geological inveftigations, that the beds of chalk are the upper- 
 m0 ft of all the lime-ftor.es; and that they reft on the-granulated lime-ftone, lied ket- 
 ton-ftone; which I fuppofe is fimilar to that which covers the whole country f om 
 Leadenham to Sleaford, and from Sleaford to Lincoln ; and that, thirdly, coal-delphs 
 are frequently found beneath thefe two uppermoft beds of lime-done. 
 
 Now as the beds of chalk and of granulated lime-ftone may have been formed y 
 alluviation, on or beneath the fhores of the fea, or in vall.es of the land, it would fee. , 
 that fome coal countries, which in the great commotions of the earth had been fun 
 beneath the water, were thus covered with alluvial lime-ftone as well as others With 
 alluvial bafaltes, or common gravel-beds. Very extenfive plains winch now confift of 
 alluvial materials, were in the early times covered with water, which has fmce dmumfhe , 
 as thefolid parts of the earth have increafed. For the folid parts of the earth coni,fling 
 chiefly of animal and vegetable recrements muft have originally been formed °ir pro¬ 
 duced from the water by animal and vegetable process; and as the folid part, the 
 Smay be fuppofed to be thrice as heavy as water, it follows that thr.ee the quantny 
 of water muft have vanifhed, compared with the quantity of earth thus produced us 
 
 may account for many immenfe beds of alluvial materials, as gravel rounderIf . 
 granulated lime-ftone, and chalk, covering fuch extenfive plains as L.ncoln-heath, having 
 become dry without the fuppofition of their having been again e evate rom c 
 At the fame time we acquire the knowledge of one of the ufes or final caufe of 1 e 
 otglnled world, not indeed very flattering to our vanity, that it converts water into 
 earth, forming iiiands and continents by its recrement, or exuvix. 
 
NOTE XXIV. 
 
 -GRANITE. 
 
 Climb the rude ftceps, the Granite-Cliffs Surround. Canto II. 1. 503. 
 
 THE l°weft ftratum of the earth which human labour has arrived to, is granite • 
 and of this l.kewife confiff the highefl mountains of the world. It is known under 
 variety of names according to Tome difference in its appearance or compofition, but is 
 now generally confidered by philofophers as a fpecies of lava; if it contains quartz, felt- 
 fpat, and mica in diftinA cryftals, ft is called granite ; which is found in Cornwall in 
 rocks; and in loofeftones in the gravel near Drayton in Shro p fl lire , in the ro ad towards 
 Newcaule. If thefe parts of the compofition be lefs diftind, or if only two of them be 
 vifible to the eye, it is termed porphyry, trap, whinftone, moorflone, flate. And if it 
 appears in a regular angular form, it is called bafaltes. The affinity of thefe bodies has 
 lately been further well cftablifhed by Dr. Beddoes in the Phil. Tranf. Vol. LXXX. 
 
 Thefe are all efleemcd to have been volcanic produAions that have undergone different 
 degrees of heat; it is well known that in Papin’s digefter water may be made red hot by 
 confinement, and will then diffolve many bodies which otherwife arc little or not at all 
 afted upon by it. From hence it may be conceived, that under immenfe preffure of 
 fuper.ncumbent materials, and by great heat, thefe maffes of lava may have undergone 
 a kind of aqueous folution, without any tendency to vitrifaftion, and might thence have 
 a power of cryflallization, whence all the varieties above mentioned from the different 
 proportion of the materials, or the different degrees of heat they may have undergone 
 in this aqueous folution. And that the uniformity of the mixture of the original 
 earths, as of lime, argil, filex, magnefia, and barytes, which they contain, was owing 
 to their boiling together a longer or fhorter time before their elevation into mountains 
 See note XIX. art. 8. 
 
 The feat of volcanos feems to be principally, if not entirely, in thefe Praia of granite; 
 as many of them are fituated on granite mountains, and throw up from time & to time 
 flieets of lava which run down over the preceding ftrata from the fame origin; and in 
 this they feem to differ from the heat which has feparated the clay, coal, and fand in 
 moraffes, which would appear to have rifen from a kind of fermentation, and thus to 
 have pervaded the whole mafs without any expuition of lava. 
 
 All the lavas from Vefuvius contain one fourth part of iron, (Kirwan’s Min.) and 
 all the five primitive earths, viz. calcareous, argillaceous, filiceous, barytic, and mag- 
 nefian earths, which arc alfo evidently produced now daily from the recrements of 
 animal and vegetable bodies. What is to be thence concluded? Has the granite llratum 
 in Very antient times been produced like the prefent calcareous and filiceous maffes. 
 according to the ingenious theory of Dr. Hutton, who fays new continents are now 
 forming at the bottom of the fea to rife in their turn, and that thus the terraqueous 
 globe has been, and will be, eternal r Or lliall we fuppofe that this internal heated 
 
 I 
 
66 
 
 GRANITE.. 
 
 Note XXIV. 
 
 mafs of granite, which forms the nucleus of the earth, was a part of the body of the 
 fun before it was feparated by an explofion ? Or was the fun or, g inal1 ? a p'anet. m- 
 habited like ours, and a fatellite to fome other greater fun, which has long been ex 
 guiM b, diffufion of its light, and atonnd which the prefer,. fun con.tnuca to revolve, 
 f cording to a conj.au,o of th. celebrated Mr. Herfchell, and whtch conveys to the 
 mind a 111 fob lime idea of the progreffive and increafmg excellence of rhe worts of 
 
 the Creator of all things ? , r . 
 
 For the more eafy comprehenfion of the farts and conjertures concerning ^uianon 
 
 and production of the various ftrata of the earth, I lhall here fubjom a fuppofed fert.cm 
 of the globe, but without any attempt to give the proportions of the parts, or the 
 number^of them, but only their refpeaive f.tuation over each other, and a geological 
 
 recapitulation. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL RECAPITULATION. 
 
 1 The earth was projefted along with the other primary planets from the fun, 
 which is fuppofed to be on fire only on its furface, emitting light without much internal 
 
 heat like a ball of burning camphor. 
 
 2 The rotation of the earth round its axis was occafioned by its greater fnttion or 
 adhefion to one fide of the cavity from which it was ejected ; and from this rotation it 
 acquired its fpheroidical form. As it cooled in its afeent from the fun its nucleus be¬ 
 came harder ; and its attendant vapours were condenfed, forming the ocean. 
 
 2 The maffes or mountains of granite, porphyry, bafalt, and (tones of fimilar ftruc- 
 ture, were a part of the original nucleus of the earth; or conf.ft of volcanic products 
 
 fince formed. ... , . 
 
 4 On this nucleus of granite and bafaltes, thus covered by the ocean, were formed 
 
 the calcareous beds of limeftone, marble, chalk, fpar, from the exuviar of marine ani¬ 
 mals; with the flints, or chertz, which accompany them. And were flratified by their 
 having been formed at different and very diflant periods of time. 
 
 _ 'phe vvhole terraqueous globe was burft by central fires ; iflands and continents 
 were raifed, confiding of granite or lava in fome parts, and of limeftone in others; 
 and great vallies were funk, into which the ocean retired. 
 
 6 During thefe central earthquakes the moon was ejerted from the earth, caufing 
 new tides ; and the earth’s axis differed fome change in its inclination, and its rotatory 
 motion was retarded. 
 
 7 . On fome parts of thefe iflands and continents of granite or limeftone were gradu¬ 
 ally produced extenfive morafles from the recrements of vegetables and of land animals; 
 and from thefe morafles, heated by fermentation, were produced clay, marie, fandftone, 
 coal, iron, (with the bafes of variety of acids;} all which were flratified by their hav¬ 
 ing been formed at different, and very diflant periods of time. 
 
 8 . In the elevation of the mountains very numerous and deep fiffures neceffardy 
 were produced. In thefe fiffures many of the metals are formed partly from defending 
 materials, and partly from afeending ones raifed in vapour by fubterraneous fires. In 
 

 '.j f/’/ ///////Zr'/. 
 
 w t // ‘/o. 
 
 Zemdim, Fubluhni Dcc*i?ifpi , by %Z.Mm*en JT Pau/j? Church lard. 
 
 T. Cctnder Sculp f 
 
Note XXIV. 
 
 GRANITE. 67 
 
 the fi flu res of granite or porphyry quartz is formed ; in the figures of limeftone calca- 
 reous fpar is produced. 
 
 9. During thefe firft great volcanic fires it is probable the atmofphere was either 
 produced, or much increafed ; a procefs which is perhaps now going on in the moon ; 
 Mr. Herfchell having difcovered a volcanic crater three miles broad burning on her dilk. 
 
 10. The fummits of the new mountains were cracked into innumerable lozenges 
 by the cold dews or fnows falling upon them when red hot. From thefe fummits, 
 which were then twice as high as at prefent, cubes and lozenges of granite, and bafalt, 
 and quartz in fome countries, and of marble and flints in others, defcended gradually 
 into the valleys, and were rolled together in the beds of rivers, (which were then fo large 
 as to occupy the whole valleys, which they now only interfed;) and produced the 
 great beds of gravel, of which many valleys confift. 
 
 11. In feveral parts of the earth s furface fubfequent earthquakes, from the fermen¬ 
 tation of morafles, have at different periods of time deranged the pofition of the matters 
 above defcribed. Hence the gravel, which was before in the beds of rivers, has in 
 fome places been raifed into mountains, along with clay aneilcoal flrata which were 
 formed from morafles and wafhed down from eminences into the beds of rivers or the 
 neighbouring feas, and in part raifed again with gravel or marine fhells over them; 
 but this has only obtained in few places compared with the general diftribution of fuch 
 materials. Hence there feem to have exifted two fources of earthquakes, which have 
 occurred at great diftance of time from each other; one from the granite beds in the 
 central parts of the earth, and die other from the morafles on its furface. All the fub¬ 
 fequent earthquakes and volcanos of modern days compared with thefe are of fmall ex- 
 tent and infignificant effect. 
 
 12. Befides the argillaceous fand-ftone produced from morafles, which is ftratified 
 with clay, and coal, and iron, other great beds of filiceous fand have been formed in 
 the fea by the combination of an unknown acid from morafles, and the calcareous mat¬ 
 ters of the ocean. 
 
 13. The warm waters which are found in many countries, are owing to fleam 
 arifing from great depths through the fiflures of limeftone or lava, elevated by fubterra- 
 nean fires, and condenfed between the flrata of the hills over them ; and not from any 
 decompofition of pyrites or manganefe near the furface of the earth. 
 
 14. The columns of bafaltes have been raifed by the congelation or expanfion of 
 granite beds in the aft of cooling from their femi-vitreous fufion. 
 
A 
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 NOTE XXV.-EVA P O R AT IO N. 
 
 Aquatic nymphs ! you lead with viewlcfs march 
 
 t The winged Vapours up the aerial arch . Can ro III. 1. 3 
 
 I THE atmofphere will diflolve a certain quantity of moifture as a chemical men- 
 ftruum, even when it is much below the freezing point, as appears from the diminution 
 of ice fufpended in froily air, but a much greater quantity of water is evaporated and. 
 fufpended in the air by means of heat, which is perhaps the univerfal caufe of fluidity, 
 for water is known to boil with lefs heat in vacuo, which is a proof that it will evaporate 
 faller in vacuo, and that the air therefore rather hinders than promotes its evaporation 
 in higher degrees of heat. The quick evaporation occafioned in vacuo by a fmall degree 
 of heat is agreeably feen in what is termed a pulfe-glafs, which confills of an exhaufled 
 tube of glafs with a bull, at each end of it and with about two thirds of the cavity filled 
 with alcohol, in which the fpirit is inftantly feen to boil by the heat of the finger-end 
 applied on a bubble of fleam in the lower bulb, and is condenfed again in the upper 
 
 bulb by the lead conceivable comparative coldnefs. . 
 
 2. Another circumftance evincing that heat is the principal caufe of evaporation is 
 that at the time of water being converted into fleam, a great quantity of heat is taken 
 away from the neighbouring bodies. If a thermometer be repeatedly dipped in ether, or 
 in reaified fpirit of wine, and expofed to a blaft of air, to expedite the evaporation by 
 perpetually removing the faturated air from it, the thermometer will prefcntly fink below 
 freezing. This warmth, taken from the ambient bodies at the time of evaporation by 
 the fleam, is again given out when the fleam is condenfed into water. Hence the water 
 in a worm-tub during diflillation fo foon becomes hot; and hence the warmth accom- 
 
 panying the defeent of rain in cold weather. 
 
 3. The third circumftance, (hewing that heat is the principal caufe of evaporation, is 
 that fome of the fleam becomes again condenfed when any part of the heat is withdrawn. 
 Thus when warmer fouth-weft winds replete with moifture fucceed the colder north- 
 eaft winds all bodies that are denfe and fubftantial, as done walls, brick floors, 3 cc. abforb 
 fome of the heat from the parting air, and its moifture becomes precipitated on them, 
 while the north-eaft winds, become warmer on their arrival in this latitude, and are thence 
 difpofed to lake up more moifture, and are termed drying winds. 
 
 4. Heat feerns to be the principal caufe of the folution of many other bodies, as 
 common fait, or blue vitriol diflolved in water, which when expofed to fevere cold are 
 precipitated, or carried, to the part of the water laft frozen ; this I obfervtdin a phial 
 filled with a folution of blue vitriol which was frozen; the phial was burft, the ice 
 
Note XXV. EVAPORATION. ^ 
 
 thawed, and a blue column of cupreous v itriol was left (landing upright on the bottom 
 of the broken glafs, as deferibed in note XIX. art. 3. 
 
 II; Hence water may either be diflTolved in air, and may then be called an aerial 
 folution of water ; or it may be diflolved in the fluid matter of heat, according to the 
 theory of M. Lavoifier, and may then be called fleam. In the former cafe it is probable 
 there are many other vapours which may precipitate it, as marine acid gas, or fluor acid 
 gas. So alcaline gas and acid gas diflolved in air precipitate each other, nitrous eas pre¬ 
 cipitates vital air from its azote, and inflammable gas mixed with vital air ignited by an 
 clearic fpark either produces or precipitates the water in both of them. Are there any 
 fubtle exhalations occafionally di flu fed in the atmofphere which may thus caufe rain ? 
 
 1. But as water is perhaps many hundred times more foluble in the fluid matter of 
 heat than in air, I fuppofe the edu&ion of this heat, by whatever means it is occafloned, 
 is the principal caufe of devaporation. T hus if a region of air is brought from a 
 warmer climate, as the S. W . winds, it becomes cooled by its contad/with the earth in 
 this latitude, and parts with fo much of its moiflure as was diflolved in the quantity of 
 calorique, or heat, which it now lofes, but retains that part which was fufpended by 
 its attraction to the particles of air, or by aerial folution, even in the mofl fevere frofls. 
 
 ^ fecond immediate caufe of rain is a flream of N. E. wind defeending from a 
 fuperior current of air, and mixing with the warmer S. W. wind below ; or the reverfe 
 of this, viz. a fuperior current of S. W. wind mixing with an inferior one of N. E. 
 wind ; in both thefe cafes the whole heaven becomes inflantly clouded, and the moiflure 
 contained in the S. W. current is precipitated. This caufe of devaporation has been 
 ingenioufly explained by Dr. Hutton in the Tranfad. of Edinburgh, Vol. I. and feems 
 to arife from this circumflance ; the particles of air of the N. E. wind educe part of 
 the heat from the S. W. w ind, and therefore the water which was diflolved by that 
 quantity of heat is precipitated ; all the other part of the water, which was fufpended 
 by its attraction to the particles of air, or diflolved in the remainder of the heat, con¬ 
 tinues unprecipitated. 
 
 3. A third 'method by which a region of air becomes cooled, and in confequence 
 depofits much of its mofturc, is from the mechanical expanfion of air, when part of the 
 preflure is taken off*. In this cafe the expanded air becomes capable of receiving or 
 attracting more of the matter of heat into its interftices, and the vapour, which was 
 previoufly diflolved in this heat, is depofited, as is feen in the receiver of an air-pump, 
 which becomes dew r y, as the air within becomes expanded by the eduCtion of part of it. 
 See note VII. Hence when the mercury in the barometer finks without a change of 
 the wind the air generally becomes colder. See note VII. on elementary Heat. And it 
 is probably from the varying preflure of the incumbent air that in fummer days fmall 
 black clouds are often thus fuddenly produced, and again foon vanifh. See a paper in 
 Philof. Tranf. Vol. LXXVIII. intitled Frigorific Experiments on the Mechanical Ex¬ 
 panfion of Air. 
 
EVAPORATION. Note XXV. 
 
 7 ° 
 
 4. Another portion of atmofpheric water may poflibly be held in folution by the 
 elearic fluid, flnce in thunder (forms a precipitation of the water feems to be e.ther the 
 caufe or the confequence of the eduftion of the elcdricity. But it appears more pro¬ 
 bable that the water is condenfed into clouds by the eduaion of its heat, and that then 
 the furplus of elearicity prevents their coalefcence into larger drops, which immediately 
 fucceeds the departure of the lightning. 
 
 5. The immediate caufe why the barometer finks before rain is, firlt, becaufe a region 
 of warm air, brought to us in the place of the cold air which it had difplaced, mud 
 weigh lighter, both fpecifically and abfolutely, if the height of the warm atmofphere be 
 fuppofed to be equal to that of the preceding cold or.e. And fecondly, after the drops 
 of rain begin to fall in any column of air, that column becomes lighter, the falling drops 
 only adding to the preffure of the air in proportion to the refiftance which they meet 
 with in parting through that fluid. 
 
 If we could fuppofe water to be diffolved in air without heat, or in very low degrees 
 of heat, I fuppofe the air would become heavier, as happens in many chemical folutions, 
 but if water diffolved in the matter of heat, or calorique, be mixed with an aerial folu¬ 
 tion of water, there can be no doubt but an atmofphere confifting of fiich a mixture muft 
 become lighter in proportion to the quantity of calorique. On the fame circumftance 
 depends the vifible vapour produced from the breath of animals in cold weather, or 
 from a boiling kettle ; the particles of cold air, with which it is mixed, deal a part 
 of its heat, and become themfelves raifed in temperature, whence part of the water 
 is precipitated in vifible vapour, which, if in great quantity finks to the ground ; if in 
 fmall quantity, and the furrounding air is not previoufly faturated, it fpreads itfelf till 
 it becomes again diflolved. 
 
NOTE XXVI. -SPRINGS. 
 
 Tour lucid lands condenfe with fingers chill 
 
 The Hue mifi hovering round the gelid bill . Canto III. 1 . 19. 
 
 THE furface of the earth confifts of ftrata, many of which were formed originally 
 beneath the fea, the mountains were afterwards forced up by fubterraneous fires, as 
 appears from the filTures in the rocks of which they confift, the quantity of volcanic 
 produ&ions all over the world, and the numerous remains of craters of volcanos in 
 mountainous countries. Hence the ftrata which compofe the fides of mountains lie 
 fianting downwards, and one or two or more of the external ftrata not reaching to the 
 fummit when the mountain was raifed up, the fecond or third ftratum or a more inferior 
 one is there expofed to day; this may be well reprefented by forceably thrufting a 
 blunt inftrument through feveral fheets of paper, a bur will ftand up with the lowermoft 
 fheet ftanding higheft in the center of it. On this uppermoft ftratum, which is colder 
 as it is more elevated, the dews are condenfed in large quantities; and Aiding down pafs 
 under the firft or fecond or third ftratum which compofe the fides of the hill; and either 
 form a morafs below, or a weeping rock, by oozirig out in numerous places, or many 
 of thefe lefs currents meeting together burft out in a more copious rill. 
 
 The fummits of mountains are much colder than the plains in their vicinity, owing 
 to feveral caufes ; 1. Their being in a manner infulated or cut off from the common 
 heat of the earth, which is always of 48 degrees, and perpetually counteracts the effects 
 of external cold beneath that degree. 2. From their furfaces being larger in proportion 
 to their folid contents, and hence their heat more expeditioufly carried away by the 
 ever-moving atmofphere. 3. The increafing rarity of the air as the mountain rifes. 
 All thofe bodies which conduct eletricity well or ill, condut the matter of heat likewife 
 well or ill. See note VII. Atmofpheric air is a bad condutor of eletricity, and thence 
 confines it on the body where it is accumulated, but when it is made very rare, as in the 
 exhaufted receiver, the eletric aura paifes away immediately to any diftance. The 
 fame circumftance probably happens in refpet to heat, which is thus kept by the denfer 
 air on the plains from efcaping, but is dilfipated on the hills where the air is thinner. 
 
 4. As the currents of air rife up the fides of mountains they become mechanically 
 rarefied, the preflure of the incumbent column leffening as they afeend. Hence the 
 expanding air abforbs heat from the mountain as it afeends, as explained in note VII. 
 
 5. There is another, and perhaps more powerful caufe, I fufpecS, which may occafion 
 the great cold on mountains, and in the higher parts of the atmofphere, and which has 
 not yet been attended to ; I mean that the fluid matter of heat may probably gravitate 
 round the earth, and form an atmofphere on its furface, mixed with the aerial atmofphere, 
 which may diminilh or become rarer, as it recedes from the earth’s furface, in a greater 
 proportion than the air dimimfhes. 
 
Note XXVI. 
 
 y2 SPRINGS. 
 
 6. The great condenfation of moifture on the fummits of hills has another caufe, 
 which is the dalhing of moving clouds againft them ; in mifty days this is often feen 
 to have great eff e a on plains, where an eminent tree by obftrudting the milt as it 
 moves along (hall have a much greater quantity of moifture drop from its leaves than 
 falls at the fame time on the ground in its vicinity. Mr. White, in his Hiftorv o 
 Selborne, gives an account of a large tree fo fttuated, from which a dream flowed dining 
 a moving milt fo as to till the cart-ruts in a lane otherwife not very moift; and ingeniouily 
 adds, that trees planted about ponds of flagnant water contribute much by thefe means 
 to fupply the refervoir. The fpheiules which conftitutc a mift or cloud are kept from 
 uniting by fo fmall a power that a little agitation againft the leaves of a tree, or the 
 greater attra&ion of a flat moift furface, condc-nfes or precipitates them. 
 
 " If a leaf has its furface moiftened and particles of water feparate from each other 
 as in a mift be brought near the moiftened furface of a leaf, each particle will be attracted 
 more by that plain furface of water on the leaf than it can be by the furrounding par¬ 
 ticles of the mift, becaufe globules only attraft each other in one point, whereas a 
 plain attracts a globule by a greater extent of its furface. 
 
 The common cold fprings are thus formed on elevated grounds by the condenfed 
 vapours, and hence are ftronger when the nights are cold after hot days in fpring, than 
 even in the wet days of winter. For the warm atmofphere during the day has dillolved 
 much more water than it can fupport in folution during the cold ot the night, which is 
 thus depofited in large quantities on the hills, and yet fo gradually as to loak in between 
 the ft rata of them, rather than to Aide off over their furfaces like (hotvers of rain. 
 The common heat of the internal parts of the earth is afcertained by fprings which 
 arife from ftrata of earth too deep to be affefled by the heat of fummer or the frofts of 
 winter. Thofe in this country are of 48 degrees of heat, thofe about Philadelphia were 
 faid by Dr. Franklin to be 52; whether this variation is to be accounted tor by the 
 difference of the fun’s heat on that country, according to the ingenious theory of Mr. 
 Kirwan, or to the vicinity of fubterranean fires is not yet, 1 think, decided. 1 here 
 are however fubterraneous ftreams of water not exa&ly produced in this manner, as 
 ftreams ifl'uing from fiffures in the earth, communicating with the craters of old vol¬ 
 canos; in the Peak of Derbyfliire are many hollows, called fwallows, where the land 
 floods fink imo the earth, and come out at feme miles diftant, as at Ham near A (h- 
 borne. See note on bica, Vol. II. 
 
 Other ftreams of cold water arife from beneath the fnow on the Alps and Andes, 
 and other high mountains, which is perpetually thawing at its under furface by the 
 common heat of the earth, and gives rife to large rivers. For the origin of warm fprings 
 fee note on Fucus, Vol. II. 
 
NOTE XXVII.-SHELL FISH. 
 
 Ton round Echinus ray his arrowy mail, 
 
 Give the keel'd Nautilus his oar and fail; 
 
 Firm to his rock with filver cords fufpend 
 
 The anchor'd Pinna, and bis Cancer-friend. Canto III. 1.67. 
 
 THE armour of the Echinus, or Sea hedge-hog, confifts generally of moveable 
 fpines ; (Linnei Syfem. Nat . Vol. I. p. 1102.) and in that refped refembles the armour 
 of the land animal of the fame name. The irregular protuberances on other fea-fhells, 
 as on fome fpecies of the Purpura, and Murex, ferve them as a fortification againft the 
 attacks of their enemies. 
 
 It is faid that this animal forefees tempeftuous weathers, and finking to the bottom 
 of the fea adheres firmly to fea-plants, or other bodies, by means of a fubfiance which 
 refembles the horns of fnails. Above twelve hundred of thefe fillets have been counted 
 by which this animal fixes itfelf; and when afloat, it contrails thefe fillets between the 
 bafes of its points, the number of which often amounts to two thoufand. Did. raifonne. 
 art. Ourfin de mer. 
 
 There is a kind of Nautilus, called byLinneus, Argonauta, whofe (hell has but one 
 cell; of this animal Pliny affirms, that having exonerated its fhell by throwing out the 
 water, it fwims upon the furface, extending a web of wonderful tenuity, and bending 
 back two of its arms and rowing with the reft, makes a fail, and at length receiving the 
 water dives again. Plin. IX. 29. Linneus adds to his defcription of this animal, that 
 like the Crab Diogenes or Bernhard, it occupies a houfe not its own, as it is not con¬ 
 nected to its lhell, and is therefore foreign to it; who could have given credit to this if 
 it had not been attefted by fo many who have with their own eyes feen this argonaut in 
 the ad of failing ? Syft. Nat. p. 1161. 
 
 The Nautilus, properly fo named by Linneus, has a {hell confiding of many cham¬ 
 bers, of which cups are made in the Eaft with beautiful painting and carving on the 
 mother-pearl. The animal is faid to inhabit only the uppermoft or open chamber, 
 which is larger than the reft ; and that the reft remain empty, except that the pipe, or 
 fiphunculus, which communicates from one to the other of them, is filled with an 
 appendage of the animal like a gut or firing. Mr. Hook, in his Philof. Exper. p. 306, 
 imagines this to be a dilatable or compreflible tube, like the air-bladders of fifh, and 
 that by contrading or permitting it to expand, it renders its fhell buoyant or the contrary. 
 See Note on Ulva, Vol. II. 
 
 The Pinna, or Sea-wing, is contained in a two-valve fhell, weighing fometimes fif¬ 
 teen pounds, and emits a beard of fine long glofly filk-like fibres, by which it is fuf- 
 pended to the rocks twenty or thirty feet beneath the furface of the fea. In this fitua- 
 tion it is fo fuccefsfully attacked by the eight-footed Polypus, that the fpccics perhaps 
 
 K 
 
SHELL FISH. 
 
 Note XXVII. 
 
 74 
 
 could not exift but for the exertions of the Cancer Pinnotheris, who lives in the fame 
 fhell as a guard and companion. Amocn. Acad. Vol. II. p. 48, Lin. Syft. Nat. 
 Vol. I. p. 1159, and p. 1040. 
 
 The Pinnotheris, or Pinnophylax, is a fmall crab naked like Bernard the Hermit, 
 but is furnifhed with good eyes, and lives in the fame (hell with the Pinna ; when they 
 want food the Pinna opens its (hell, and fends its faithful ally to forage; but if the 
 Cancer fees the Polypus, he returns fuddenly to the arms of his blind hoftefs, who by 
 clofing the {hell avoids the fury of her enemy; otherwife, when it has procured a 
 booty, it brings it to the opening of the {hell, where it is admitted, and they divide the 
 prey. This was obferved by Haflequift in his voyage to Paleftine. 
 
 The Byflus of the antients, according to Ariftotle, was the beard of the Pinna above 
 mentioned, but feems to have been ufed by other writers indifciiminately for any fpun 
 material, which was efteemed finer or more valuable than wool. Reaumur fays the 
 threads of this Byflus are not lefs fine or lefs beautiful than the filk, as it is fpun by 
 the filk-worm; the Pinna on the coaftsof Italy and Provence (where it is filhed up by 
 iron-hooks fixed on long poles) is called the filk-worm of the fea. The {lockings and 
 gloves manufa£lurcd from it, are of exquifite finenefs, but too warm for common wear, 
 and are thence efteemed ufeful in rheumatifm and gout. Diet. raifonne art. Pinne- 
 marine. The warmth of the Byflus, like that of filk, is probably owing to their being 
 bad conductors of heat, as well as of elearicity. When thefe fibres are broken by 
 violence, this animal as well as the mufcle has the power to reproduce them like the 
 common fpiders, as was obferved by M. Adanfon. As raw filk, and raw cobwebs, 
 when fwallowed, are liable to produce great ficknefs, (as I am informed) it is probable 
 the part of mufcles, which fometimes difagrees with the people who eat them, may be 
 this filky web, by which they attach themfelves to ftones. The large kind of Pinna 
 contains fome mother-pearl of a rcddifh tinge, according to M. d’Argenville. T. he 
 fubftance fold under the name of Indian weed, and ufed at the bottom of filh-lines, is 
 probably a production of this kind ; which however is fcarcely to be dillinguifhed by 
 the eye from the tendons of a iat’s tail, after they have been feparatcd by putrefaction 
 in water, and well cleaned and rubbed ; a production, which I was once (hewn as a 
 great curiofity; it had the uppermoft bone of the tail adhering to it, and was faid to 
 have been ufed as an ornament in a lady’s hair. 
 
NOTE XXVIII.-STURGEON. 
 
 With worm-like beard his toothlefs lips array , 
 
 And teach the unweildy Sturgeon to betray. Canto III. I. jj. 
 
 THE Sturgeon, Acipenfer , Strurio . Lin. Syft. Nat. Vol. I. p. 403. is a fifh of great 
 curiofity as well as of great importance ; his mouth is placed under the head, without 
 teeth, like the opening of a purfe, which he has the power to pufh fuddenly out or re¬ 
 tract. Before this mouth under the beak or nofe hang four tendrils fome inches long, 
 and which fo refemble earth-worms that at firft fight they may be miftaken for them. 
 This clumfy toothlefs fifh is fuppofed by this contrivance to keep himfelf in good con¬ 
 dition, the folidity of his flefh evidently (hewing him to be a fifh of prey. He is faid 
 to hide his large body among!! the weeds near the fea-coaft, or at the mouths of large 
 rivers, only expofing his cirrhi or tendrils, which fmall fifh or fea-infe£is miftaking for 
 real worms approach for plunder, and are fucked into the jaws of their enemy. He 
 has been fuppofed by fome to root into the foil at the bottom of the fca or rivers ; but 
 the cirrhi, or tendrills above-mentioned, which hang from his fnout over his mouth, 
 mufl themfelves be very inconvenient for this purpofe, and as it has no jaws it evidently 
 lives by fusion, and during its refidence in the fea a quantity of fea-infe£ts are found 
 in its ftomach. 
 
 The flefh was fo valued in the time of the Emperor Severus, that it was brought to 
 table by fervants with coronets on their heads, and preceded by mufic, which might give 
 rife to its being in our country prefented by the Lord Mayor to the King. At prefent 
 it is caught in the Danube, and the Wolga, the Don, and other large rivers, for various 
 purpofes. The fkin makes the beft covering for carriages ; ifinglafs is prepared from 
 parts of the fkin ; cavear from the fpawn ; and the flefh is pickled or falted, and fent 
 all over Europe. 
 
 NOTE XXIX.-OIL ON WATER. 
 
 Or with fine films , fufpended o'er the deep> 
 
 Of Oil effufive lull the waves to Jlcep. Canto III. 1 . 87. 
 
 THERE is reafon to believe that when oil is poured upon water, the two furfaces 
 do not touch each other, but that the oil is fufpended over the water by their mutual 
 repulfion. This feems to be rendered probable by the following experiment ; if one 
 drop of oil be dropped on a bafon of water, it will immediately diffufe itfelf over the whole, 
 for there being no friction between the two furfaces, there is nothing to prevent its 
 Spreading itfelf by the gravity of the upper part of it, except its own tenacity, into a pellicle 
 
 K 2 
 
OIL ON WATER. 
 
 Note XXIX. 
 
 76 
 
 of the greateft tenuity. But if a fecond drop of oil be put upon the former, it does 
 not fpread itfelf, but remains in the form of a drop, as the other already occupied the 
 whole furface of the bafon, and there is friction in oil palling over oil, though none in 
 oil palling over water. 
 
 Hence when oil is diffufed on the furface of water gentle breezes have no influence 
 in raifing waves upon it; for a fmall quantity of oil will cover a very great furface of 
 water, (I fuppofe a fpoonful will diffufe itfelf over fome acres) and the wind blowing 
 upon this carries it gradually forwards: and there being no frittion between the two 
 furfaces the water is'not affe£led. On which account oil has no effect in ftdhng the 
 agitation of the water after the wind ceafes, as was found by the experiments of Dr. 
 Franklin. 
 
 This circumftance, lately brought into notice by Dr. Franklin, had been mentioned 
 by Pliny, and is faid to be in ufe by the divers for pearls, W'ho in windy weather take 
 down with them a little oil in their mouths, which they occafionally give out when the 
 inequality of the fupernatant waves prevents them from feeing fufficiently diftindlly for 
 their purpofe. 
 
 The wonderful tenuity with which oil can be fpread upon water is evinced by a few 
 drops projected from a bridge, where the eye is properly placed ov£r it, pafling through 
 all the prifmatic colours as it diffufes itfelf. And alfo from another curious experiment 
 of Dr. Franklin’s: he cut a piece of cork to about the fize of a letter-wafer, leaving 
 a point (landing off like a tangent at one edge of the circle. 1 his piece of cork was 
 then dipped in oil and thrown into a large pond of water, and as the oil flowed off at 
 the point, the cork-wafer continued to revolve in a contrary direction for feveral minutes. 
 The oil flowing off all that time at the pointed tangent in coloured dreams. In a 
 fmall pond of water this experiment does not fo well fucceed, as the circulation of the 
 cork flops as foon as the water becomes covered with the pellicle of oil. See Additional 
 Note, No. XIII. and Note on Fucus, Vol. II. 
 
 The eafe with which oil and w r ater Aide over each other is agreeably feen if a phial 
 be about half filled with equal parts of oil and water, and made to ofcillate fufpended 
 by a firing, the upper furface of the oil and the lower one of the water will always 
 keep fmooth ; but the agitation of the furfaces where the oil and water meet, is curious; 
 for their fpecific gravities being not very different, and their fri£tion on each other no¬ 
 thing, the higheft fide of the water, as the phial defeends in its ofcillation, having ac¬ 
 quired a greater momentum than the loweft fide (from its having defeended further) 
 would rife the higheft on the afeending fide of the ofcillation, and thence puflies the 
 then uppermoft part of the water amongft the oil. 
 
NOTE XXX.—SHIP-WORM. 
 
 Meet fell Teredo, as he mines the keel 
 
 IVith beaked head, and break his lips of feel. Canto III. 1. 91. 
 
 THE Teredo, or (hip-worm, has two calcareous jaws, hemifpherical, flat before, 
 and angular behind. The (hell is taper, winding, penetrating lhips and fubmarine 
 wood, and was brought from India into Europe. Linnei Sydem. Nat. p. 1267. The 
 Tarieres, or fea-worms, attack and erode (hips with fuch fury, and in fuch numbers, 
 as often greatly to endanger them. It is faid that our veflfcls have not known this new 
 enemy above fifty years, that they were brought from the fea about the Antilles to our 
 parts of the ocean, where they have increafed prodigioufly. They bore their paflage 
 in the dire&ion of the fibres of the wood, which is their nourifhment, and cannot re¬ 
 turn or pafs obliquely, and thence when they come to a knot in the wood, or when two 
 of them meet together with their dony mouths, they perifli for want of food. 
 
 In the years 1731 and 1732 the United Provinces were under a dreadful alarm con¬ 
 cerning thefe infers, which had made great depredation on the piles which fupport the 
 banks of Zealand; but it was happily difcovered a few years afterwards that thefe in¬ 
 fers had totally abandoned that ifland, (Did. Raifonne, art. Vers Rongeurs,) which 
 might have been occafioned by their not being able to live in that latitude when the 
 winter was rather feverer than ufual. 
 
 NOTE XXXI.—MAELSTROM. 
 
 Turn the broad helm , the fluttering canvas urge 
 
 From Maelflrom's fierce innavigablefurge. Canto III. 1. 93. 
 
 ON the coad of Norway there is an extenfive vortex, or eddy, w'hich lies between 
 the i(lands of Mofkoe and Mofkenas, and is called Mofkoeftrom, or Maeldrom ; it oc¬ 
 cupies fome leagues in circumference, and is faid to be very dangerous and often deflruc- 
 tive to veflcls navigating thefe Teas. It is not eafy to underdand the exidencc of a con- 
 ftant defeending dream without fuppofing it mud pafs through a fubterranean cavity to 
 fome other part of the earth or ocean which may lie beneath its level; as the Mediter¬ 
 ranean feems to lie beneath the level of the Atlantic ocean, which therefore condantly 
 
MAELSTROM. 
 
 Note XXXI. 
 
 7 * 
 
 flows into it through the Straits; and the waters of the Gulph of Mexico lie much 
 above the level of the fea about the Floridas and farther northward, which gives rife to 
 the Gulph-dream, as deferibed in note on Caffia in Vol. II. 
 
 The Maelftrom is faid to be dill twice in about twenty-four hours when the tide is 
 up, and mod violent at the oppofite times of the day. This is not difficult to account 
 for, fince when fo much water is brought over the fubterraneous paftage, if fuch exifts, 
 as compleatly to fill it and (land many feet above it, lefs difturbance mult appear on the 
 furface. The Maelftrom is deferibed in the Memoires of the Swedifh Academy of 
 Sciences, and Pontopiddon’s Hift. of Norway, and in the Univerfal Mufeum for 
 I7 6 3, p.131. 
 
 The reafon why eddies of water become hollow in the middle is becaufe the water 
 immediately over the centre of the well, or cavity, falls fafter, having lefs fridlion to 
 oppofe its defeent, than the water over the circumference or edges of the well. The 
 circular motion or gyration of eddies depends on the obliquity of the courfe of the 
 ftream, or to the fri&ion or oppofition to it being greater on one fide of the well than 
 the other ; I have obferved in water paffing through a hole in the bottom of a trough, 
 which was always kept full, the gyration of the ftream might be turned either way by 
 increafing the oppofition of one fide of the eddy with ones finger, or by turning the 
 fpout, through which the water was introduced, a little more obliquely to the hole on 
 one fide or on the other. Lighter bodies are liable to be retained long in eddies of 
 water, while thofe rather heavier than water are foon thrown out beyond the circum¬ 
 ference by their acquired momentum becoming greater than that of the water. Thus if 
 equal portions of oil and water be put into a phial, and by means of a firing be whirled 
 in a circle round the hand, the water will always keep at the greater diftance from the 
 centre, whence in the eddies formed in rivers during a flood a perfon who endeavours 
 to keep above water or to fwim is liable to be detained in them, but on fuffering him- 
 felf to fink or dive he is faid readily to efcape. This circulation of water in defend¬ 
 ing through a hole in a veffel Dr. Franklin has ingenioufly applied to the explanation 
 of hurricanes or eddies of air. 
 
NOTE XXXII 
 
 GLACIERS. 
 
 Where round dark crags indignant Waters bend 
 
 Through rifted ice> in ivory veins dejeend. Canto III. L 113.. 
 
 THE common heat of the interior parts of the earth being always 48 degrees, both in 
 winter and fummer, the fnow which lies in contadl with it is always in a thawing ftate; 
 Hence in ice-houfes the external parts of the collection of ice is perpetually thawdng 
 and thus preferves the internal part of it; fo that it is neceffary to lay up many tons for 
 the prefervation cf one ton. Hence in Italy confiderable rivers have their fource from 
 beneath the eternal glaciers, or mountains of fnow and ice. 
 
 In our country when the air in the courfe of a frofl continues a day or two at very 
 near 32 degrees, the common heat of the earth thaws the ice on its furface, while the 
 thermometer remains at the freezing point. This circumftance is often obfervable in 
 the rimy mornings of fpring ; the thermometer fhall continue at the freezing point, 
 yet all the rime will vanifh, except that which happens to lie on a bridge, a board, or on 
 a cake of cow-dung, w'hich being thus as it were infulatedor cut off from fo free a com¬ 
 munication with the common heat of the earth by means of the air under the bridge, or 
 wood, or dung, which are bad condu&ors of heat, continues fome time longer unthawed. 
 Hence when the ground is covered thick with fnow, though the frofl: continues, and the 
 fun does not fhine, yet the fnow is obferved to decreafe very fenfibly. For the common 
 heat of the earth melts the under furface of it, and the upper one evaporates by its 
 folution in the air. The great evaporation of ice was obferved by Mr. Boyle, which 
 experiment I repeated fome time ago. Having fufpended a piece of ice by a w ire and 
 weighed it with care without touching it with my hand, I hung it out the whole of a 
 clear frofty night, and found in the morning it had loft nearly a fifth of its weight. 
 Mr. N. Wallerius has fince obferved that icc at the time of its congelation evaporates 
 fafter than water in its fluid form ; which may be accounted'for from the heat given out 
 at the inftant of freezing ; (Sauflure’s Eflais fur Hygromet. p. 249.) but this effedt is 
 only momentary. 
 
 Thus the vegetables that are covered with fnow r are feldom injured; fince, as they 
 lie between the thawing fnow, which has 32 degrees of heat, and the covered earth 
 which has 48, they are preferved in a degree of heat between thefc, viz. in 40 degrees of 
 heat. Whence the mofs on which the rein-deer feed in the northern latitudes vegetates 
 beneath the fnow ; (See note on Mufchus, Vol. II.) and hence many Lapland and Alpine 
 plants periflied through cold in the botanic garden at Upfal, for in their native fixa¬ 
 tions, though the cold is much more interffe, yet at its very commencement they are 
 covered deep with fnow r , which remains till late in the fpring. For this fad! fee Arnae- 
 nit. Academ. Vol. I. No. 48. In our climate fuch plants do well covered with dried 
 fern, under which they will grow, and even flower, till the fevere vernal frofts ceafe.. 
 For the increafe of glaciers fee Note on Canto I. 1 . 529. 
 
C 80 ) 
 
 NOTE XXXIII. -WINDS. 
 
 While Jouthem Gales o'er weftern oceans roll, 
 
 And Eurus Jleals his ice-winds from the Pole. Canto IV. I. r5- 
 
 THE theory of the winds is yet very imperfect, in part perhaps owing to the want 
 of obfervations fufficiently numerous of the exaft times and places where they begin 
 and ceafe to blow, but chiefly to our yet imperfeft knowledge of the means by which 
 great regions of air are either fuddenly produced or fuddenly deftroyed. 
 
 The air is perpetually fubjeft to increafe or diminution from its combination with 
 other bodies, or its evolution from them. The vital part of the air, called oxygene, is 
 continually produced in this climate from the perfpiration of vegetables in the funflune, 
 and probably from the a&ion of light on clouds or on water in the trc*.~al climates, 
 where the fun has greater power, and may exert fome yet unknown laws of luminous 
 combination. Another part of the atmofphere, which is called azote, is perpetually 
 fet at liberty from animal and vegetable bodies by putrefaflion or combulhon, from 
 many fprings of water, from volatile alcali, and probably from fixed alcali, of which 
 there is an exhauftlefs fource in the water of the ocean. Both thefe component parts 
 • of the air are perpetually again diminilhed by their contadl with the foil, which covers 
 the furface of the earth, producing nitre. The oxygene is diminilhed in the produc- 
 tion of all acids, of which the carbonic and muriatic exift in great abundance. 1 he 
 azote is diminilhed in the growth of animal bodies, of which it conllitutes an impor¬ 
 tant part, and in its combinations with many other natural productions. 
 
 They are both probably diminilhed in immenfe quantities by uniting with the in¬ 
 flammable air, which arifes from the mud of rivers and lakes at fome fealons, when 
 the atmofphere is light: the oxygene of the air producing water, and the azote pro¬ 
 ducing Volatile alcali by their combinations with this inflammable air. At other feafons 
 of the year thefe principles may again change their combinations, and the atmofpheric 
 air be reproduced. 
 
 Mr. Lavoifier found that one-pound of charcoal in burning confumed two pounds 
 nine ounces of vital air, or oxygene. The confumption of vital air in the procefs of 
 making red lead may readily be reduced to calculation ; a fmall barrel contains about 
 twelve‘hundred weight of this commodity, 1200 pounds of lead by calcination abforb 
 about 144 pounds of vital air; now as a cubic foot of water weighs 1000 averdupois 
 ounces, and as vital air is above 800 times lighter than water, it follows that every 
 barrel of red lead contains nearly 2oeo cubic feet of vital air. If this can be per¬ 
 formed in miniature in a fmall oven, what may not be done in the immenfe elaborato- 
 ries of nature! 
 
 Thefe great elaboratories of nature include almoft all her fofiil as well as her animal 
 and vegetable productions. Dr. Prieftley obtained air of greater or lefs purity, both 
 

 Note XXXIII. 
 
 WIND S. 
 
 81 
 
 vital and azotic,-from almoft all the foffil fubftances he fubjeaed to experiment. Four 
 ounce-weight of lava from Iceland heated in an earthen retort yielded twenty ounce- 
 meafures of air. 
 
 ounce-weight of 
 
 gave 20 ounce-meafures of air. 
 
 lava 
 bafaltes 
 
 2 -toadftone - 40 —--- 
 
 -granite 20-- 
 
 1 -elvain - 3°-- 
 
 7.. gypfum -230.. 
 
 4 -blue flatc -230- 
 
 v 4---day - ‘ 20 ._ 
 
 4 --limeftone-fpar-830 - - - -- 
 
 5 ...-limeftone -1160- 
 
 3 -chalk 630- - 
 
 3 2-white iron-ore-500 —- 
 
 4 --dark iron-ore -- 410- 
 
 1 -molybdena - 25- 
 
 x -ft ream tin - 20- 
 
 2 -fteatites - * 40 - - ---- 
 
 2 -barytes - 26--- - 
 
 2 -black wad - 80--- - 
 
 4 -- - fand (tone - 75-- 
 
 3 ..- coal -700.-. 
 
 In this account the fixed air was previoufly extracted from the limeftones by acids, 
 and the heat applied was much lefs than was neceffary to extra# all the air from the 
 bodies employed. Add to this the known quantities of air which are combined with the 
 calciform ores, as the ochres of iron, manganefe, calamy, grey ore of lead, and fome idea 
 may be formed of the great production of air in volcanic eruptions, as mentioned in 
 note on Chunda, Vol. II. and of the perpetual abforptions and evolutions of whole 
 oceans of air from every part of the earth. 
 
 But there would feem to be an officina aeris, a fhop where air is both manufactured 
 and deftroyed in the greatefl abundance within the polar circles, as will hereafter be fpoken 
 of. Can this be effeded by fome yet unknown law of the congelation of aqueous or 
 faline fluids, which may fet at liberty their combined heat, and convert a part both of 
 the acid and alcali of fea-water into their component airs r Or on the contrary can the 
 eleCtricity of the northern lights convert inflammable air and oxygene into water, whilft 
 the great degree of cold at the poles unites the azote with fome other bafe ? Another 
 officina aeris, or manufacture of air, would feem to exift within the tropics or at the 
 line, though in a much lefs quantity than at the poles, owing perhaps to the aCtion of 
 the fun’s light on the moifture fufpended in the air, as will alfo be fpoken of hereafter; 
 but in all other parts of the earth thefe abforptions and evolutions of air in a greater or 
 lefs degree are perpetually going on in inconceivable abundance; increafed probably, and 
 diminilhed at different feafons of the year by the approach or retroceffion of the fun’s 
 light; future difeoveries mull elucidate this part of the fubjeCh To this fliould be added 
 
 L 
 
 
 
 
82 
 
 WINDS. 
 
 _ 
 
 < > 
 
 Note XXXIII. 
 
 that as heat and electricity, and perhaps magnetifm, are known todifplace air, that it is 
 not impofiibie but that the increafed or diminifhed quantities of thcfe fluids diffufed in 
 the atmofphere may incrcafe its weight as well as its bulk ; fince their fpecific attia£lions 
 or affinities to matter are very ftrong, they probably alfo poflefs general gravitation to the 
 earth ; a fubjcdl which wants further inveftigation. Sec note XXVI. 
 
 SOUTII-WEST WINDS. 
 
 The velocity of the Airfare of the earth in moving round its axis di mini flies from the 
 •equator to the poles. Whence if a region of air in tins country fhould be fuddenly 
 removed a few degrees towards the north it muff: conftitute a weftern wind, becaufe 
 from the velocity it had previoufly acquired in this climate by its friclion with the earth 
 it would for a time move quicker than the furface of the country it was removed to ; 
 the contrary muft enfue when a region of air is tranfported from this country a few 
 degrees fouthward, becaufe the velocity it had acquired in this climate would be lefs 
 than that of the earth’s furface where it was removed to, whence it would appear to 
 conftitute a wind from the e:xft, while in reality the eminent parts of the earth would 
 be carried againft the too flow air. But if this tranfportation of air from fouth to north 
 be performed gradually, the motion of the wind will blow in the diagonal between 
 fouth and weft. And on the contrary if a region of air be gradually removed from 
 north to fouth it would alfo blow diagonally between the north and eaft, from whence we 
 may fafely conclude that all our winds in this country which blow from the north or eaft, 
 or any point between them, confift of regions of air brought from the north ; and that 
 all our winds blowing from the fouth or weft, or from any point between them, arc 
 regions of air brought from the fouth. 
 
 It frequently happens during the vernal months that after a north-eaft wind has 
 pafied over us for feveral weeks, during which time the barometer has flood at above 
 30^ inches, it becomes fuddenly fucceeded by a fouth-weft wind, which alfo continues 
 feveral weeks, and the barometer finks to nearly 28-i inches. Now as two inches of 
 the mercury in the barometer balance one-fifteenth part of the whole atmofphere, an 
 important queftion here prefents itfelf, what is become of all this air ? 
 
 1. This great quantity of air cannot be carried in a fuperior current towards the 
 line, while the inferior current flows towards the poles, becaufe then it would equally 
 afFe<9: the barometer, which fhould not therefore fubfide from 30^ inches to 2% for 
 fix weeks together. 
 
 2. It cannot be owing to the air having loft all the moifture which was previoufly 
 diflolved in it, becaufe thefe warm fouth-weft winds are replete with moifture, and the 
 cold north-eaft winds, which weigh up the mercury in the barometer to 31 inches, 
 confift of dry air. 
 
 3. It cannot be carried over the polar regions and be accumulated on the meridian 
 oppofite to us in its pafiage towards the line, as fuch an accumulation would equal 
 one-fifteenth of the whole atmofphere, and can not be fuppofed to remain in that 
 fituation for fix weeks together. 
 
 v 
 
Note XXXIII. WINDS. 83 
 
 4. It cannot depend on the exiftence of tides in the atmofphere, fince it muft then 
 correfpond to lunar periods. Nor to accumulations of air from the fpecific levity of 
 the upper regions of the atmofphere, fince its degree of fluidity muft correfpond with 
 its tenuity, and confequently fuch great mountains of air can not be fuppofed to exift 
 for fo many weeks together as the fouth-weft winds fometimes continue. 
 
 5. It remains therefore that there muft be at this time a great and fudden abforption 
 of air in the polar circle by fome unknown operation of nature, and that the fouth 
 wind runs in to fupply the deficiency. Now as this fouth wind confifts of air brought 
 from a part of the earth’s furface which moves fafter than it does in this climate it 
 muft have at the fame time a direction from the weft by retaining part of the velocity 
 it had previoufly acquired. Thefe fouth-weft winds coming from a warmer country, 
 and becoming colder by their ccntaft with the earth of this climate, and by their 
 expanfion, (fo great a part of the fuperincumberit atmofphere having vanifhed,) pre¬ 
 cipitate their moifture ; and as they continue for feveral weeks to be abforbed in the 
 polar circle would feem to receive a perpetual fupply from the tropical regions, efpecially 
 over the line, as will hereafter be fpoken of. 
 
 It may fome imes happen that a north-eaft wind having patted over us may be 
 bent down and driven back before it has acquired any heat from the climate, and may 
 thus for a few hours or a day have a fouth-weft direction, and from its defeending 
 from a higher region of the atmofphere may poftefs a greater degree of cold than an 
 inferior north-caft current of air. 
 
 The extreme cold of Jan. 13, 1709, at Paris came on with a gentle fouth wind, 
 and was diminifhed when the wind changed to the north, which is accounted for by 
 Mr. Homberg from a reflux of air which had been flowing for fome time from the 
 north. Chemical Ettays by R. Watfon, Vol. V. p. 182. 
 
 It may happen that a north-eaft current may for a day or two pafs over us and 
 produce incefiant rain by mixing with the inferior fouth-weft current; but this as 
 well as the former is of (hort duration, as its fri&ion will foon carry the inferior current 
 along with it, and dry or frofty weather will then fucceed. 
 
 NORTH-EAST WINDS. 
 
 The north eaft-winds of this country confift of regions of air from the north, 
 travelling fometimes at the rate of about a mile in two minutes during the vernal 
 months for feveral weeks together from the polar regions toward the fouth, the mer¬ 
 cury in the barometer (landing above 30. Thefe winds confift of air greatly cooled 
 by the evaporation of the ice and (now over which it pafics, and as they become warmer 
 by their contact with the earth of this climate are capable of ditTolving more moifture 
 as they pafs along, and are thence attended with frofts in winter and with dry hot 
 weather in fummer. 
 
 1. 'I his great quantity of air cannot be fupplied by fuperior currents patting in a 
 contrary direction from fouth to north, becaufe fuch currents muft as they arife into 
 the atmofphere a mile or two high become expofed to fo great cold as to occafion them 
 
 L 2 
 
WINDS. 
 
 Note XXXIII. 
 
 84 
 
 to depofit their moidure, which would fall through the inferior current upon the earth 
 in fome part of their pafl'age. 
 
 2. The whole atmofphere mud have increafed in quantity, becaufe it appears by 
 the barometer that there exifts one-fifteenth part more air over us for many weeks 
 together, which could not be thus accumulated by difference of temperature in refpedt 
 to fieat, or by any aeroftatic laws at prefent known, ot by any lunar influence. 
 
 From whence it would appear that immenfe maffes of . air were fet at liberty from 
 their combinations with folid bodies, along with a fufficient quantity of combined heat, 
 within the polar circle, or in fome region to the north of us ; and that they thus per¬ 
 petually increafe the quantity of the atmofphere ^ and that this is again at certain times 
 re- abforbed, or enters into new combinations at the line or tropical regions. Bv which 
 wonderful contrivance the atmofphere is perpetually renewed and rendered fit for the 
 fupport of animal and vegetable life. 
 
 SOUTH-EAST WINDS. 
 
 The fouth-eaft winds of this country confift of air from the north which had paffed 
 by us, or over us, and before it had obtained the velocity of the earth’s furface in this 
 climate had been driven back, owing to a deficiency of air now commencing at the 
 polar regions. Hence thefe are generally dry or freezing winds, and if they fucceed 
 north-eaft winds fhould prognofticate a change of wind from north-eafi to fouth-weft; 
 the barometer is generally about 30. They are fometimes attended with cloudy 
 weather, or rain, owing to their having acquired an increafed degree of warmth and 
 moifture 'before they became retrograde \ or to their being mixed with an fiom the 
 fouth. 
 
 2. Sometimes thefe fouth-eaft winds confift of a vertical eddy of north-eaft air, 
 without any mixture of fouth-weft air ; in that cafe the barometer continues above 30, 
 and the weather is dry or frofty for four or five days together. 
 
 It fhould here be obferved, that air being an elaftic fluid muft be more liable to eddies 
 than water, and that thefe eddies muft extend into cylinders or vortexes of greater 
 diameter, and that if a vertical eddy of north-eaft air be of fmall diameter or has paffed 
 but a little way to the fouth of us before its return, it will not have gained the velocity 
 of the earth’s furface to the fouth of us, and will in confequence become a fouth-eaft 
 wind.—Bnt if the vertical eddy be of large diameter, or has paffed much to the fouth 
 of us, it will have acquired velocity from its friflion with the earth’s furface to the 
 fouth of us, and will in confequence on its return become a fouth-weft wind, producing 
 great cold. 
 
 NORTH-WEST WINDS. 
 
 There feem to be three fources of the north-weft winds of this hemifphere of the 
 earth. 1. 'When a portion of fouthern air, which was palling over us, is driven back 
 by accumulation of new air in the polar regions. In this cafe I fuppofe they are gene¬ 
 rally moift or rainy winds, with the barometer under 30, and if the wind had previoufly 
 been in the fouth-weft, it would feem to prognofticate a change to the north-eaft. 
 
Note XXXIII. 
 
 WINDS. 
 
 85 
 
 2. If a current of north wind is palling over us but a few miles high, without any 
 eafterly direction; and is bent down upon us, it muft immediately pofiefs a wefterly 
 direction, becaufe it will now move fafler than the furfaceofthe earth where it arrives ; 
 and thus becomes changed from a north-eaft to a north-weft wind. Thedefcentof a 
 north-eaft current of air producing a north weft wind may continue fome days with 
 clear or freezing weather, as it may be fimply owing to a vertical eddy of north- 
 eafl air, as will be fpoken of below. It may otherwife be forced down by a current of 
 fouth-wefl wind palling over it, and in this cafe it will be attended with rain for a few 
 days by the mixture of the two airs of different degrees of heat; and will prognofticate 
 a change of wind from north-eafl to fouth-wefl il the wind was previoully in the north- 
 eafl quarter. 
 
 3. On the eaflern coafl of North America the north-weft winds bring froft, as the 
 north-eafl winds do in thrs country, as appears from variety ot teftimony. This feems 
 to happen from a vertical lpiral eddy made in the atmofphere between the fliore and the 
 ridge of mountains which form the fpine or back-bone of that continent. If a current 
 of water runs along the hypothenufe of a triangle an eddy will be made in the included 
 angle, which will turn round like a water-wheel as the ftream pafles in conta£l with 
 one edge of it. The fame muft happen when a lheet of air flowing along from the 
 north-eafl rifes from the lhore in a ftraight line to the fummit of the Apalachian 
 mountains, a part of the ftream of north eaft air will flow over the mountains, another 
 part will revert and circulate fpirally between the fummit ot the country and the eaflern. 
 fhore, continuing to move toward the fouth ; and thus be changed from a north-eafl to 
 a north-weft wind. 
 
 This vertical fpiral eddy having been in contadl w’ith the cold fummits of thefe 
 mountains, and defeending from higher parts of the atmofphere will lofe part of its 
 heat, and thus conflitute one caufe of the greater coldnefs of the eaflern tides of North 
 America than of the European fhores oppolite to them, which is faid to be equal to 
 twelve degrees of north latitude, which is a wonderful facl, nor otherwife eafy to be 
 explained, fince the heat of the fprings at Philadelphia is faid to be 52, which is greater 
 than the medium heat of the earth in this country. 
 
 The exiftence of vertical eddies, or great cylinders of air rolling on the.furface of 
 the earth, is agreeable to the obfervations of the conftruaors of windmills ; who on 
 this idea place°the area of the fails leaning backwards, inclined to the horizon ; and 
 believe that then they have greater power than when they are placed quite perpen¬ 
 dicularly. The fame kind of rolling cylinders of water obtain in rivers owing to the 
 friaion of the water againft the earth at their bottoms ; as is known by bodies having 
 been obferved to float upon their furfaces quicker than when immerfed to a certain 
 depth. Thefe vertical eddies of air probably exitl all over the earth’s furface, but 
 particularly at the bottom or Tides of mountains ; and more fo probably in the courfe 
 of the fouth-weft than of the north-eafl winds; becaufe the fermer fall from an emi¬ 
 nence, as it were, on a part of the earth where there is a deficiency of the quantity ot 
 air; as is (hewn by the finking of the barometer: whereas the latter are pu filed or 
 
86 
 
 WINDS. 
 
 Note XXXIII. 
 
 fqueezed forward by an addition to the atmofphere behind them, as appears by the 
 rifing of the barometer. 
 
 TRADE-WINDS. 
 
 A column of heated air becomes lighter than before, and will therefore afcend, by 
 the preflure of the cold air which furrounds it, like a cork in water, or like heated 
 fmoke in a chimney. 
 
 Now as the fun pafles twice over the equator for once over either tropic, the equator 
 has not time to become cool; and on this account it is in general hotter at the line than 
 at the tropics; and therefore the air over the line, except in fome few inftances hereafter 
 to be mentioned, continues to afcend at all feafons of the year, prelTcd upwards by 
 regions of air brought from the tropics. 
 
 This air thus brought from the tropics to the equator, would conftitute a north wind 
 on one fide of the equator, and a fouth wind on the other; but as the furfacc of the earth 
 at the equator moves quicker than the furface of the earth at the tropics, it is evident that 
 a region of air brought from either tropic to the equator, and which had previoufly only 
 acquired the velocity of the earth’s furface at the tropics, will now move too flow for 
 the earth’s furface at the equator, and will thence appear to move in a direction contrary 
 to the motion of the earth. Hence the trade-winds, though they confift of regions of 
 air brought from the north on one fide of the line, and from the fouth on the other, will 
 appear to have the diagonal direction of north-eaft and fouth-eaft winds. 
 
 Nowit is commonly believed that there are fuperior currents of air palling over thcfe 
 north-eaft and fouth-eaft currents in a contrary dire&ion, and which defcending near 
 the tropics produce vertical whirlpools of air. An important queftion here again pre- 
 fents itfelf, What becomes of the moiflurc which this heated air ought to depojit , (is it cools 
 in the upper regions of the atmofphere in its journey to the tropics ? It has been fhewn by 
 Dr. Prieftley and Mr. Ingenhouz that the green matter at the bottom of cifterns, and the 
 freih leaves of plants immerfed in water, give out confiderable quantities of vital air in 
 the fun-fhine ; that is, the perfpirable matter of plants (which is water much divided in 
 its egrefs from their minute pores) becomes decompofed by the fun’s light,, and converted 
 into two kinds of air, the vital and inflammable airs. The moifture contained or dif- 
 folved in the afcending heated air at the line muft exift in great tenuity ; and by being 
 expofed to the great light of the fun in that climate, the water may be decompofed, 
 and the new airs fpread on the atmofphere from the line to the poles. 
 
 x. From there being no conftant depofition of rains in the ufualcourfe of the trade- 
 winds, it would appear that the water rifing at the line is decompofed in its afeent. 
 
 2 . From the obfervations of M. Bougner on the mountain Pinchinca, one of the 
 Cordclieres immediately under the line, there appears to be no condenfible vapour above 
 three or four miles high. Now though the atmofphere at that height may be cold to a 
 very confiderable degree; yet its total deprivation of condenfible vapour would feem to 
 fhew, that its water was decompofed ; as there are no experiments to evince that any 
 degree of cold hitherto known has been able to deprive air of its moifture; and great 
 
Note XXXIII. WINDS. s? 
 
 abundance of fnow is depofited from the air that flows to the polar regions, though it is 
 expofed to no greater degrees of cold in its journey thither than probably exifls at four 
 miles height in the atmofphereat the line. 
 
 3. The hygrometer of Mr. Saufliire alfo pointed to drynefs as he afeended into rarer 
 air ; the Angle hair ol which it was conflru£ted, contracting from deficiency of moifture. 
 Eflais fur THygromet. p. 143. 
 
 From thefe obfervations it appears either that rare and cold air requires more moifture 
 to faturate it than oenfe air ; or that the moifture becomes decompofed and converted 
 into air, as it afeends into thefe cold and rare regions of the atmofphere. 
 
 4. There feems Come analogy between the circumftance of air being produced or 
 generated in the cold parts of the atmofphere both at the line and at the poles. 
 
 MONSOONS AND TORNADOES. 
 
 1. In the Arabian and Indian feas are winds, which blow fix months one way, and 
 fx months the other, and are called Monfoons; by the accidental difpofitions of land 
 and lea it happens, that in fome places the air near the tropic is fuppofed to become 
 warmer when the fun is vertical over it, than at the line. The air in thefe places con- 
 fequently afeends prefted upon one fide by the north-eaft: regions of air, and on the other 
 fide by the fouth-weft: regions of air. For as the air brought from the fouth has pre- 
 vioully obtained the velocity of the earth’s furface at the line, it moves fafter than the 
 earth’s furface near the tropic where it now arrives, and becomes a fouth-weft wind, 
 while the air from the north becomes a north-eaft wind as before explained. Thefe two 
 winds do not fo quietly join and afeend as the north-eaft and fouth-eaft winds, which 
 meet at the line with equal warmth and velocity and form the trade-winds ; but as they 
 meet in contrary directions before they afeend, and cannot be fuppofed accurately to ba¬ 
 lance each other, a rotatory motion will be produced as they afeend like water falling 
 through a hole, and an horizontal or fpiraleddy is the confequence ; thefe eddies are more 
 or lefs rapid, and are called Tornadoes in their molt violent ftate, railing water from the 
 ocean in the weft or fand from the deferts of the eaft, in lefs violent degrees they only 
 mix together the two currents of north-eaft and fouth-weft air, and produce by this 
 means inceftant rains, as the air of the north-eaft acquires forne of the heat from the 
 fouth-weft wind, as explained in Note XXV. This circumftance of the eddies produced 
 by the monfoon-winds was feen by Mr. Bruce in Abyftinia ; he relates that for many 
 fucceftive mornings at the commencement of the rainy monfoon, he obferved a cloud 
 of apparently fmall dimenfion whirling round with great rapidity, and in a few minutes 
 the heavens became covered with dark clouds with confequent great rains. See Note 
 on Canto III. 1 . 129. 
 
 2 . But it is not only at the place where the air afeends at the northern extremity of 
 the rainy monfoon, and where it forms tornadoes, as obferved above by Mr. Bruce, but 
 over a great tra£t of country feveral degrees in length in certain parts as in the Arabian 
 fea, a perpetual rain for feveral months defeends, fimilarto what happens for weeks to¬ 
 gether in our own climate in a lefs degree during the fouth-weft winds. Another im- 
 
88 
 
 WINDS. 
 
 Note XXXIII. 
 
 portant qucftion prefects itfelf here, if the climate to which this fouth-wejl wind arrives, 
 is not colder than that it comes from , why Jhould it depoftt its moifture during Us whole 
 journey? if it be a colder climate, why does it come thither ? The tornadoes of a.r 
 above deferibed can extend but a little way, and it is not eafy to conceive that a fu¬ 
 perior cold current of air can mix with an inferior one, and thus produce (howers over 
 ten degrees of country, fince at about three miles high there is perpetual froft , and what 
 can induce thefe narrow and fhallow currents to flow over each other fo many hundred 
 
 Though the cart h at the northern extremity of this monfoon may be more heated by 
 certain drcumftances of fituation than at the line, yet it feems probable that the interme¬ 
 diate country between that and the line, may continue colder than the line (as in other 
 parts of the earth) and hence that the air coming from the line to fupply this afeent or 
 deftruaion of air at the northern extremity of the monfoon will be cooled all the way 
 in its approach, and in confequence depofit its water. It feems probable that at the 
 northern extremity of this monfoon, where the tornadoes or hurricanes exift, that the 
 air not only afeends but is in part converted into water, or otherwife dimimlhed in quan¬ 
 tity, as no account is given of the exiftence of any fuperior currents of it. 
 
 As the fouth-weft winds are always attended with a light atmofphere, an incipient 
 vacancy or a great diminution of air mull have taken place to the northward of them in 
 all parts of the earth wherever they exift, and a depofition of their moifture fucceeds 
 their being cooled by the climate they arrive at, and not by a contrary current of cold 
 air over them, fince in that cafe the barometer would not fink. They may thus in our 
 own country be termed monfoons without very regular periods. 
 
 3. Another caufe of Tornadoes independent of the monfoons is ingenioufly ex¬ 
 plained by Dr. Franklin, when in the tropical countries a ftratum of inferior air becomes 
 fo heated by its contact with the warm earth, that its expanfion is increafed more 
 than is equivalent to the prelfure of the ftratum of air over it; or when the fuperior 
 ftratum becomes more condenfed by cold than the inferior one by prelfure, the upper 
 region will defeend and the lower one afeend. In this fituation if one part of the at¬ 
 mofphere be hotter from forne fortuitous drcumftances, or, has lefs prelfure over it, the 
 lower ftratum will begin to afeend at this part, and refemble water falling through a hole 
 as mentioned above. If the lower region of air was going forwards with confiderable 
 velocity, it will gain an eddy by riling up this hole in the incumbent heavy air, fo that 
 the whirlpool or tornado has not only its progreflive velocity, but its circular one alfo, 
 which thus lifts up or overturns every thing within its fpiral whirl. By the weaker 
 whirlwinds in this country the trees are fometimes thrown down in a line of only twenty 
 or forty yards in breadth, making a kind of avenue through a country. In the Weft 
 Indies the fea rifes like a cone in the whirl, and is met by black clouds produced by the 
 cold upper air and the warm lower air being rapidly mixed; whence are produced the 
 great and fudden rains called water-fpouts ; while the upper and lower airs exchange 
 their plus or minus eleftricity in perpetual lightenings. 
 
Note XXXIII. 
 
 W INDS. 
 
 89 
 
 LAND AND SEA-BREEZES. 
 
 The fea being a tranfparent mafs is lefs heated at its furface by the fun’s rays than 
 the land, and its continual change of furface contributes to preferve a greater uniformity 
 in the heat of the air which hangs over it. Hence the furface of the tropical iflands is 
 more heated during the day than the fea that furrounds them, and cools more in the 
 night by its greater elevation: whence in the afternoon when the lands of the tropical 
 i(lands have been much heated by the fun, the air over them afeends prefled upwards 
 by the cooler air of the incircling ocean, in the morning again the land becomingcool- 
 ed more than the fea, the air over it defeends by its increafed gravity, and blows over 
 the ocean near its fhores. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 1. There are various irregular winds befides thofe above deferibed, which confift of 
 horizontal or vertical eddies of air owing to the inequality of the earth’s furface, or the 
 juxtapofition of the fea. Other irregular winds have their origin from increafed evapora¬ 
 tion of water, or its fudden devaporation and defeent in fhowers; others from the partial 
 expanfion and condenfation of air by heat and cold • by the accumulation or defeft of 
 electric fluid, or to the air’s new production or abforption occafioned by local caufes 
 not yet difeovered. See Notes VII. and XXV. 
 
 2. There feem to exift only two original winds: one confiding of air brought from 
 the north, and the other of air brought from the fouth. The former of thefe winds has 
 alfo generally an apparent direction from the eafl, and the latter from the weft, arifing 
 from the different velocities of the earth’s furface. All the other winds above deferibed 
 are deflexions or retrogreflions of fome parts of thefe currents of air from the north or 
 fouth. 
 
 3. One fifteenth part of the atmofphere is occafionally deftroyed, and occafionally re¬ 
 produced by unknown caufes. Thefe caufes are brought into immediate activity over a 
 great part of the furface of the earth at nearly the fame time, but always more power¬ 
 ful to the northward than to the fouth ward of any given place; and would hence feem 
 to have their principal effeCl in the polar circles, exifting neverthelefs though with lefs 
 power toward the tropics or at the line. 
 
 For when the north-eaft wind blows the barometer rifes, fometimes from 285 inches 
 to 30J, which fliews a great new generation of air in the north ; and when the fouth- 
 weft . wind blows the barometer finks as much, which fliews a great deftruCtion of air in 
 the north. But as the north-eaft winds fometimes continue for five or fix weeks, the 
 newly-generated air muft be deftroyed at thofe times in the warmer climates to the fouth 
 of us, or circulate in fuperior currents, which has been fliewn to be improbable from 
 its not depofiting its water. And as the fouth-weft winds fometimes continue for fome 
 weeks, there muft be a generation of air to the fouth at thofe times, or fuperior currents, 
 which laft has been fliewn to be improbable. 
 
 4. The north-eaft winds being generated about the poles are piifhed forwards towards 
 the tropics or line, by the prefliire from behind, and hence they become warmer, as 
 
 M 
 
Note XXXIII. 
 
 9° 
 
 WINDS. 
 
 explained in Note VII. as well as by their coming into contad with a warmer part of 
 the earth which contributes*, make thefe winds greedily abforb motfture m their palfage. 
 On the contrary, the fouth-weft winds, as the atmofphere is fuddenly d.mtmlhed in the 
 
 polar regions, are drawn as it were into an incipient vacancy, and become therefore 
 expanded in theirpaffage, and thus generate cold, as explained in Note VII. and are 
 thus induced to part with their moifture, as well as by the,r contad with a colder 
 part of the earth’s furface. Add to this, that the difference in the found of the north-eaft 
 and fouth weft winds may depend on the former being pulhed forwards by a preffure 
 behind, and the latter falling as it were into a partial or incipient vacancy before , 
 whence the former becomes more condenfed, ndteto****** rareled as ttpaffes 
 There is a whittle, termed a lark-call, which confifts ot a hollow cylinder of tin-plate 
 clofed at each end, about half an inch in diameter and a quarter of an inch high, with 
 oppofite holes about the fize of a goofe-quill through the centre of each end; if this lark- 
 \v hi file be held between the lips the found of it is manifeftly different when the breath 
 is forcibly blown through it from within outwards, and when it is fucked from 
 without inwards. Perhaps this might be worthy the attention of organ-bu.lders. 
 
 c. A Hop is put to this new generation of air, when about a fifteenth ot the w toe is 
 produced, by its increattng preffure; and a fimilar boundary is fixed to its abforptionor 
 deftruaion by the decreafe of atmofpheric preffure. As water requires more heat to 
 convert it into vapour under a heavy atmofphere than under a light one, fo in letting of 
 the water from muddy fith-ponds great quantities of air-bubbles are feen to afeend from 
 the bottom, which were previoufly confined there by the prellure of the water. Similar 
 bubbles of inflammable air are feen to arife from lakes in many feafons of the year, 
 
 when the atmofphere fuddenly becomes light. 
 
 6 The increafed abforptions and evolutions of air mutt, like its Ample expanfions, 
 depend much on the prefence or abfence of heat and light, and will hence,, in refpeft 
 to the times and places of its produaion and deftruaion, be governed by the approach 
 or retroceflion of the fun, and on the temperature, in regard to heat, of various latitudes,, 
 and parts of the fame latitude, fo well explained by Mr. ICirwan. 
 
 7 Though the immediate caufe of the deftruaion or reproduaion of great maffes 
 of air at certain times, when the wind changes from north to fouth, or from fouth to 
 north cannot yet be afeertained; yet as there appears greater difficulty in accounting for 
 this change of wind from any other known caufes, we may ftill fufpea that there ex,its m 
 the araic and antaraic circlesa Bear or Dragon yet unknown to plulofophers, which 
 at times fuddenly drinks up, and as fuddenly at other times vomits out one-fifteenth 
 part of the atmofphere : and hope that this or fome future age will learn how to govern 
 anddomefticate a monfter which might be rendered of fuch impoitant fervice to mankind. 
 
 INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 If along with the ufual regifters of the weather obfervations were made on the 
 winds in many parts of the earth with the three following inftruments, which might be 
 conftruaed at no great expence, fome ufeful information might be acquired. 
 
 i. To mark the hour when the wind changes from north-eaft to fouth-weft, and the 
 
 ) 
 
 4 
 
Note XXXIII. 
 
 WIND S. 
 
 9 f 
 
 contrary. This might be managed by making a communication from the vane of a 
 weathercock to a clock ; in fuch a manner, that if the vane (hould revolve quite round, 
 a tooth of its revolving axis fliould flop the clock, or put back a fmall bolt on the 
 edge of a wheel revolving once in twenty-four hours. 
 
 2. To difeover whether in a year more air palfed from north to fouth, or the con¬ 
 trary. This might be effected by placing a windmill-fail of copper about nine inches 
 diameter in a hollow cylinder about fix inches long, open at both ends, and fixed on an 
 eminent fituation cxaclly north and fouth. Thence only a part of the north-eafl and 
 fouth-weft currents would aflfeft the fail fo as to turn it; and if its revolutions were 
 counted by an adapted machinery, as the fail would turn one way with the north 
 currents of air, and the contrary one with the fouth currents, the advance of the 
 counting finger cither way would fhew which wind had prevailed moll at the end of 
 the year. 
 
 3. To difeover the rolling cylinders of air, the vane of a weathercock might be fo 
 
 fufpended as to dip or rife vertically, as well as to have its horizontal rotation. 
 
 1 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 North-f^ast winds confift of air flowing from the north, where it feems to be 
 occafionally produced ; has an apparent direction from the eaft owing to its not having 
 acquired in iis journey the increafing velocity of the earth’s furface; thefe windsare 
 analogous to the trade-winds between the tropics, and frequently continue in the vernal 
 months for four and fix weeks together, with a high barometer, and fair or frofty 
 weather. 2. They fometimes confift of fouth-weft air, which had parted by us or 
 over us, driven back by a new accumulation of air in the north. Thefe continue but 
 a day or two, and arc attended with rain. See Note XXV. 
 
 South-west winds confift of air flowing from the feuth, and feeming occafionally 
 abforbed at its arrival to the more northern latitudes. It has a real dire&ion from the 
 weft owing to its not having loft in its journey the greater velocity it had acquired from 
 the earth’s furface from whence it came. Thefe winds are analogous to the monfoons 
 between the tropics, and frequently continue for four or fix weeks together, with a 
 low barometer and rainy weather. 2. They fometimes confift of north-eaft air, which 
 had parted by us or over us, which becomes retrograde by a commencing deficiency of 
 air in the north. Thefe winds continue but a day or two, attended with feverer froft 
 with a finking barometer; their cold being increafed by their expanfion, as they return, 
 into an incipient vacancy. 
 
 North-west winds confift, firft, of fouth-weft winds, which have parted over us, 
 bent down and driven back towards the fouth by newly generated northern air. They 
 continue but a day or two, and are attended with rain or clouds. 2. They confift of 
 north-eaft winds bent down from the higher parts of the atmofphere, and having there 
 acquired a greater velocity than the earth’s furface are frofty or fair. 3. 1 hey confift 
 of north-eaft winds formed into a vertical fpiral eddy, as on the caftern coafts of North 
 America, and bring fevere froft. 
 
 M 2 
 
9 2 
 
 WINDS. 
 
 Note XXXIIL 
 
 ceded bVtot'h-weB winds; tmd are generally fuccc.dcd bynorlh-ealt winds, cloud, or 
 
 '’sooTHmsDSCOnnil, firft, of air Sowing Bowl, from .he font!., loling their previous 
 
 a 1 In -itv bv the friflion of the earth’s furface as they approach, moift, feldom 
 wefterly vc io , ^ ^ „- mds . ,|,efe continue bu, a day or two, are 
 
 ““ deJ by north-eaft winds, and generally Succeeded by South-well wmds, colder, 
 
 "T't" “s S «.nf.H of alt brought Mil, from the north, and no, impelled farther 
 JhwLd, owing to a Sudden beginning abf.rp.ion of air in the northern reg.ons, very 
 ij barometer high, generally fucceeded by fouth-weft wind. 
 
 Wes"T.»» s c'onfift of ai, brought haftily from the South, and checked from pro- 
 . i u v a beginning produ&ion of air in the northern regio 
 
 ceedingfoithertothenonh^^t^P^^ ^ Thcy conGft ofairbeut 
 
 Iwn fromthe high" regions of the atmofphere ; if this ai, be from the South, aud 
 
 ft,Tib, i, becomes a wind of gteaCvelocity, moving perhaps 60 m,las an hour 
 
 ul™"-liny; if it conf.fts of northern ai, ben, down it is of lets veloc.t, and 
 colder. 
 
 At[ ,,ica,ion of the free,Hag Theory to feme Extras from a Journal of the 
 
 Weather. 
 
 Bee . 17Q0 The barometer funk fuddenly, and the wind, which had been fome 
 
 D ' \ ‘ a -,b frnft changed to fouth-ealt with an mceflant though moderate 
 
 frra^o^be„»Ln*.^i-ndtr.' 
 
 b tmlf the fouthern ai, in its journey, the moiftnre of 
 1 r 1 ofrn 7 pn bv its mixture with the former. 
 ,he r"TTr^fc"„l-we^ and thawed the fnow. A pat. of the 
 
 U .. . . 1 hv ns or over us, with the retrograde northern air above 
 
 twXwa^ow in its turn driven back, before it had loft the velocity of the fnr- 
 
 face of the earth to the fouth of us, and confequently. became a north-welt wine , 
 
 not having loft the warmth it brought from the louth produced a thaw. 
 
 not havi g w . nd cha ed {o north . ea ft with froft and a nflng barometer. The 
 
 • t !l’ Mortis continuing to blow, after it had driven back the fouthern air as above 
 
 described, became a north-eaft wind, having lefs velocity than the furface of the earth 
 
 in this climate, and produced froft from its coldnefs. 
 
Note XXXIII. 
 
 WINDS. 
 
 93 
 
 Dec. 6, 7. Wind now changed to the Couth-weft with incelTant rain and a finking 
 barometer. From unknown caufes I fuppofe the quantity of air to be diminifhed in 
 the polar regions, and the fouthern air cooled by the earth’s furface, which was previ- 
 oufly frozen, depofits its moifturc for a day or two ; afterwards the wind continued 
 fouth-weft without rain, as the furface of the earth became warmer. 
 
 March 18, 1785. There has been a long froft ; a few days ago the barometer funk 
 to 29!;, and the froft became more fevere. Becaufe the air being expanded by a part of 
 thepreifure being taken oft became colder. I his day the mercury rofe to 30, and the 
 froft ceafed, the wind continuing as before between north and eaft. March 19. Mer¬ 
 cury above 30, weather {till milder, no*froft, wind north-eaft. Marik 20. The fame, 
 for the Mercury riling {hews that the air becomes more comprefled by the weight above 
 and in confequencc gives out warmth. 
 
 April 4, 5. Froft, wind north-eaft, the wind changed in the middle of the day to the 
 north-weft without rain, and has done fo for three or four days, becoming again nort.i- 
 eaftat night. For the fun now giving greater degrees of heat, the air afcends as the 
 fun pafles the zenith, and is fupplied below by the air on the weftern fide as well as on 
 the eaftern fide of the zenith during the hot part of the day ; whence for a few hours, on 
 the approach of the hot part of the day, the air acquires a wefterly diredion in this 
 longitude. If the north-weft wind had been caufed by a retrograde motion of fome 
 fouthern air, which had pafled over us, it would have been attended with rain or clouds. 
 
 April 10 It rained all day yefterday, the wind north-weft, this morning there was a 
 {harp froft. The evaporation of the moifture, (which fell yefterday) occaf.oned by the 
 continuance of the wind, produced fo much cold as to freeze the dew. 
 
 May 12. Frequent Ihowers with a current of colder wind preceding every (bower* 
 The finkin' 7 of the rain or cloud prefled away the air from beneath it in its defeent, 
 which having been for a time lhaded from the fun by the floating cloud, became cooled 
 
 in fome degree. 
 
 J une 20. The barometer funk, the wind became fouth-weft, and the whole heaven 
 was inftantly covered with clouds. A part of the incumbent atmofphere having 
 vanilhed, as appeared by the finking of the barometer, the remainder became expan e 
 bv its elafticity, and the'nce attrafled fome of the matter of heat from the vapour inter¬ 
 mixed with it, and thus in a few minutes a total devaporation took place, as m ex- 
 ha,fling the receiver of an air-pump. See note XXV. At the place where the air ,s 
 deftroyed, currents both from the north and fouth flow in to fupply the deficiency, (for 
 it has been (hewn that there are no other proper winds but thefe two) an t e mixture 
 of thefe winds produces fo fudden condenfation of the moifture, both by the coldnefto 
 the northern air and the cxpanlion of both of them, that lightning is given out, an an 
 incipient tornado takes place ; whence thunder is faid frequently to approae 1 a » ain 
 
 the wind. 
 
 Aaz'i /1 28, 1732. Barometer was at 31, and Dec. 30, 
 28 2-tenths. Medical Eifays, Edinburgh, Vol. II. p- 7- 
 that the mercury at Edinburgh varies fometimes nearly 
 
 in the fame year, it was at 
 It appears from thefe journals, 
 three inches, or one tenth of 
 
W INDS. 
 
 Note XXXIII. 
 
 94 
 
 the whole atmofphere. From the journals kept by the Royal Society at London it 
 appears feldom to vary more than two inches, or one-fifteenth of the whole atmofphere. 
 The quantity of the variation is faid (till to deexeafe nearer the line, and to increafe in 
 the more northern latitudes; which much confirms the idea that there exdts at certain 
 times a great deftruftion or produiStion of air within the polar circle. 
 
 July 2, 1732. The wefterly winds in the journal in the Medical Kflfays, Vol. II. 
 
 above referred to, are frequently marked with the number three to (hew their greater 
 velocity, whereas the eafterly winds feldom approach to the number two. The greater 
 velocity of the wefterly winds than the eafterly ones is well known I believe in every 
 climate of the world : which may be thus explained from the theory above delivered. 
 1. When the air is dill, the higher parts of the atmofphere move quicker than thofe 
 parts which touch the earth, becaufe they are at a greater diftance from the axis of 
 motion. 2. The part of the atmofphere where the north or feut'h wind comes from 
 is higher than the part of it where it comes to, hence the more elevated parts of the 
 atmofphere continue to defeend towards the earth as either of thofe winds approach. 
 3. When fouthern air is brought to 11s it poife'Jes, a wefterly dire&ion alfo, owing to 
 the velocity it has previoufly acquired from the earth’s furface; and if it confifts of air 
 from the higher parts of the atmofphere defending nearer the earth, this wefterly 
 velocity becomes increafed. But when northern air is brought to us, it poftefles an 
 apparent eafterly direftion alfo, owing to the velocity which it has previoufly acquired 
 from the earth’s furface being lefs than that of the earth’s ftlrface in this latitude ; now it 
 the north-eaft wind confifts of air defending from higher parts of the atmofphere, this 
 deficiency of velocity will be lefs, in confequence of the fame caufe, viz. 1 he higher 
 parts of the atmofphere defeending, as the wind approaches, increafesthe real velocity 
 of the weftern winds, and decreafes the apparent velocity of the eaftern ones. 
 
 Ofiober 22. Wind changed from fouth-eaft to fouth- weft. There is a popular prog- 
 nofticalion that if the wind changes from the north towards the fouth palling through 
 the eaft, it is more likely to continue in the fouth, than if it paftes through the weft, 
 which may be thus accounted for. If the north-eaft wind changes to a north-weft 
 wind, it fliews either that a part of the northern air defeends upon us in a fpiral eddy, 
 or that a fuperior current of fouthern air is driven back ; but if a north-eaft wind be 
 changed into a fouth-eaft wind it (hews that the northern air is become retrograde, and 
 that in a day or two, as foon as that part of it has pafled, which has not gained the 
 velocity of the earth’s furface in this latitude, it will become a fouth wind fora few 
 hours, and then a fouth-weft wind. 
 
 The writer of this imperfect fketch of anemology wiflies it may incite fome perfon 
 of greater leizure and ability to attend to this fubje£t, and by comparing the various 
 meteorological journals and obfervations already publifhed, to conftruct a more accu¬ 
 rate and methodical treatife on this interefting branch of philofophy. 
 
f 95 ) 
 
 NOTE XXXIV.- VEGETABLE PERSPIRATION. 
 
 And wed the enamoured Oxygene to Light. Canto IV. 1. 34. 
 
 WHEN points or hairs are put into fpring-water, as in the experiments of Sir B. 
 Thompfon, (Philof. Tranf. LXXVII.) and expofed to the light of the fun, much 
 air, which loofely adhered to the water, rifes in bubbles, as explained in the note on 
 Fucus, Vol. II. A dill greater quantity of air, and of a purer kind, is emitted by Dr. 
 Prieftley’s green matter, and by vegetable leaves growing in water in fun-Ihine, ac¬ 
 cording to Mr. Ingenhouz’s experiments; both which I fufpeft to be owing to a de- 
 compofition of the water perfpired by the plant, for the edge of a capillary tube of great 
 tenuity may be confidered as a circle of points, and as the oxygene, or principle of 
 vital air, may be expanded into a gas by the fun’s light, the hydrogene or inflammable 
 air may be detained in the pores of the vegetable. 
 
 Hence plants growing in the (hade are white, and become green by being expofed to 
 the fun’s light; for their natural colour being blue, the addition of hydrogene adds 
 yellow r to this blue, and tans them green. I fuppofe a fimilar circumftance takes place 
 in animal bodies ; their perfpirable matter as it efcapes in the fun-(hine becomes decom- 
 pofed by the edges of their pores as in vegetables, though in lefs quantity, as their per- 
 fpiration is lefs, and by the hydrogene being retained the (kin becomes tanned yellow. 
 In proof of this it muft be obferved that both vegetable and animal fubftances become 
 bleached white by the fun-beams when they are dead, as cabbage-ftalks, bones, ivory, 
 tallow, bees-wax, linen and cotton cloth ; and hence I fuppofe the copper-coloured 
 natives of funny countries might become etiolated or blanched by being kept from their 
 infancy in the dark, or removed for a few generations to more northerly climates. 
 
 It is probable that on a funny morning much pure air becomes feparated from the 
 dew by means of the points of vegetables on which it adheres, and much inflammable 
 air imbibed by the vegetable, or combined with it; and by the fun’s light thus decom- 
 pofing water the effe&s of it in bleaching linen feems to depend (as deferibed in 
 Note X.) : the water is decompofed by the light at the ends or points of the cotton or 
 thread, and the vital air unites with the phlogiftic or colouring matters of the cloth,, 
 and produces a new acid, which is either itfelf colourlefs or wallies out, at the fame 
 time the inflammable part of the w'ater efcapcs. Hence there feems a reafon w'hy cotton 
 bleaches fo much fooner than linen, viz. becaufe its fibres are three or four times 
 fhorter, and therefore protrude fo many more points, w hich feem to facilitate the 
 liberation of the vital air from the inflammable part of the water. 
 
 Bee’s wax becomes bleached by expofurc to the fun and dews in a fimilar manner as 
 metals become calcined or rufty, viz. by the water on their furface being decompofed ; 
 and hence the inflammable material which caufed the colour becomes united-with vital 
 air forming a new acid, and is wafhed aw'ay. 
 
9 6 VEGETABLE PERSPIRATION. Note XXXIV. 
 
 Oil clofe flopped in a phial not full, and expofed long to the fun’s light, becomes 
 bleached, as I fuppofe, by the decompoiition of the water it contains; the inflammable 
 air rifling above the furface, and the vital air uniting with the colouring matter of the 
 oil. • For it is remarkable, that by limiting up a phial of bleached oil in a dark drawer, 
 
 it in a little time becomes coloured again. 
 
 The following experiment Ihew's the powder of light in feparating vital air from 
 another balls, viz. from azote. Mr. Scheele inverted a glafs velTel filled with colourlefs 
 nitrous acid into another glafs containing the fame acid, and on expofmg them to the 
 fun’s light, the inverted glafs became partly filled with pure air, and the acid at the fame 
 time became coloured. Scheele in Crell’s Annal. 1786. But if the velTel of colourlefs 
 nitrous acid be quite full and flopped, fo that no fpace is left for the air produced to 
 expand itfelf into, no change of colour takes place. Prieftley’s Exp. VI. p. 344 - See 
 Keir’s very excellent Chemical Diftionary, p. 99. new edition. 
 
 A fun-flower three feet and half high according to the experiment of Dr. Hales, per- 
 fpired two pints in one day (Vegetable Statics.) which is many times as much in pro¬ 
 portion to its furface, as is perfpired from the furface and lungs of animal bodies ; it 
 follows that the vital air liberated from the furfaces of plants by the funlhinc mud 
 much exceed the quantity of it abforbed by their refpiration, and that hence they im¬ 
 prove the air in which they live during the light part of the day, and thus blanched ve¬ 
 getables will fooner become tanned Into green by the fun’s light, than etiolated animal 
 bodies will become tannedyelhzu by the fame means. 
 
 It is hence evident, that the curious difeovery of Dr. Prieftley, that his green vege¬ 
 table matter and other aquatic plants gave out vital air when the fun (hone upon them, 
 and the leaves of other plants did the fame when immerfed in water, as obferved by Mr 
 Ingenhouz, refer to the perfpiration of vegetables not to their refpiration. Becaufc Dr. 
 Prieftley obferved the pure air to come from both (ides of the leaves and even from the 
 (talks of a water-flag, whereas one fide of the leaf only ferves the office of lungs, and 
 certainly not the (talks. Exper. on Air, Vol. III. And thus in refpeft to the circum- 
 (tance in which plants and animals feemed the fartheft removed from each other, I 
 mean in their fuppofed mode of refpiration, by which one was believed to purify the 
 air which the other had injured, they feem to differ only in degree, and the analogy 
 between them remains unbroken. 
 
 Plants are faid by many w riters to grow much fafler in the night than in the day; as 
 is particularly obfervable in feedlings at their rifing out of the ground. This probably 
 is a confequence of their fleep rather than of the abfence of light; and in this I fup¬ 
 pofe they alfo refemble animal bodies. 
 
NOTE XXXV.-VEGETABLE PLACENTATION. 
 
 While in bright veins thefilvery fap afcends. Canto IV. 1 . 419. 
 
 AS buds arc the viviparous offspring of vegetables, it becomes neceffary that they 
 fhould be furnifhed with placental veffels for their nourifhment, till they acquire lungs 
 or leaves for the purpofe of elaborating the common juices of the earth into nutriment. 
 Thefe veffels exift in bulbs and in feeds, and fupply the young plant with a fweet juice 
 till it acquires leaves, as is feen in converting barley into malt, and appears from the 
 fweet tafle of onions and potatoes, w hen they begin to grow. 
 
 The placental veffels belonging to the buds of trees are placed about the roots of 
 moft, as the vine; fo many roots are furnifhed with fweet or mealy matter as fern-root, 
 bryony, carrot, turnip, potatoe, or in the alburnum or fap-wood as in thofe trees which 
 produce manna, which is dcpofited about the month of Augufl, or in the joints of fugar 
 cane, and grades; early in the fpring the abforbent mouths of thefe veffels drink up 
 moiflure from the earth, w ith a faccharine matter lodged for that purpofe during the 
 preceding autumn, and pufh this nutritive fluid up the veffels of the alburnum to every 
 individual bud, as is evinced by the experiments of Dr. Hales, and of Mr. Walker in the 
 Edinburgh Philofophical Tranfadl. The former obferved that the fap from the flump 
 ot a vine, which he had cut off in the beginning of April, arofe twenty-one feet high in 
 tubes affixed to it for that purpofe, but in a few weeks it ceafed to bleed at all, and Dr. 
 Walker marked the progrefs of the afeending fap, and found likewife that as foon as 
 the leaves became expanded the fap ceafed to rife ; the afeending juice of fome trees is fo 
 copious and fo fweet during the fap-feafon that it is ufed to make wine, as the birch, 
 betula, and fycamore, acer pfeudo-platanus, and particularly the palm, and maple acer. 
 
 During this afeent of the fap-juice each individual leaf-bud expands its new leaves, 
 and (hoots down new roots, covering by their intertexture the old bark with a new 
 one; and as foon as thefe new roots (or bark) are capable of abforbing fufficient juices 
 from the earth for the fupport of each bud, and the new leaves are capable of performing 
 their office of expofing thefe juices to the influence of the air; the placental veffels ceafe 
 to a6l, coalefce, and are transformed from fap-wood, or alburnum, into inert wood* 
 ferving only for the fupport of the new tree, which grows over them. 
 
 Thus from the pith of the new bud of the horfc-chefnut five veffels pafs out through 
 the circle of the placental veffels above deferibed, and carry with them a minuter circle 
 of thofe veffels; thefe five bundles of veffels unite after their exit, and form the foot- 
 ftalk or petiole of the new five-fingered leaf, to be fpoken of hereafter. This ftrudture 
 is well feen by cutting off a leaf of the horfe-chefnut (Aifculus Hippocaftanum) in 
 September before it falls, as the buds of this tree arc fo large that the flower may be 
 feen in them with the naked eye. 
 

 . VEGETABLE PLACENTATION. Note XXXV. 
 
 95 
 
 After a time, perhaps about midfummer, another bundle of velTels pafles from the 
 pith through the alburnum or fap-vSffels in the bofom of each leaf and unites by the 
 new bark with the leaf, which becomes either a flower-bud or a leaf-bud to be expance 
 in the enfuing fpring, for which purpofe an apparatus of placental velTels are produced 
 with proper nutriment during the progrefs of the fummer and autumn, and thus the 
 vegetable becomes annually increafed, ten thoufand buds often exifting on one tree, 
 
 according to the eftimate of Linneus. Phil. Bot. 
 
 The vafcular connedion of vegetable buds with the leaves in whofe bofoms they are 
 formed is confirmed by the following experiment, (Oft. 20, 1781.) On the extremity 
 of a young bud of the Mimofa (fenfitive plant) a fmall drop of acid of vitriol was put 
 by means of a pen, and, after a few feconds, the leaf in whofe axilla it dwelt doled 
 and opened no more, though the drop of vitriolic acid was fo fmall as apparently only 
 to injure the fummit of the bud. Does not this feem to (hew that the leaf and its bud 
 have conneding velTels though they arife at different times and from different parts of 
 the medulla or pith ? And, as it exifts previoufly to it, that the leaf is the parent of 
 
 This placentation of vegetable buds is clearly evinced from the fweetnefs of the 
 rifing fap, and from its ceafing to rife as foon as the leaves are expanded, and thus 
 compleats the analogy between buds and bulbs. Nor need we wonder at the length 
 of the umbilical cords of buds fince that muff corrcfpond .with their fituation on 
 the tree, in the fame manner as their lymphatics and arteries are proportionally elon- 
 
 g It does not appear probable that any umbilical artery attends thefe placental ab- 
 forbents, fince, as there feems to be no fyftem of veins in vegetables to bring back 
 the blood from the extremities of their arteries, (except their pulmonary veins,) there 
 could not be any vegetable fluids to be returned to their placenta, which in vegetables 
 feems to be Amply an organ for nutrition, whereas the placenta of the animal foetus 
 feems likewife to ferve as a refpiratory organ like the gills of fifties. 
 
NOTE XXXVI, 
 
 VEGETABLE CIRCULATION. 
 
 And refluent blood in milky eddies lends. Canto IV. 1 . 420. 
 
 THE individuality of vegetable buds was fpoken of before, and is confirmed by the 
 method of raifing all kinds of trees by Mr. Barnes. (Method of propagating Fruit 
 Trees. 1759. Lond. Baldwin.) He cut a branch into as many pieces as there were buds 
 or leaves upon it, and wiping the two wounded ends dry he quickly applied to each a 
 cement, previoufly warmed a little, which confided principally of pitch, and planted 
 them in the earth. The ufe of this cement I fuppofe to confid in its preventing the 
 bud from bleeding to death, though the author aferibes it to its antifeptic quality. 
 
 Thefe buds of plants, which are thus each an individual vegetable, in many circum- 
 fiances refemble individual animals, but as animal bodies are detached from the earth, 
 and move from place to place in fearch of food, and take that food at confiderable 
 intervals of time, and prepare it for their nourifitment within their own bodies after 
 it is taken, it is evident they mud require many organs and powers which are not 
 neceflary to a dationary bud. As vegetables are immoveably fixed to the foil from 
 whence they draw their nourifhment ready prepared, and this uniformly not at returning 
 intervals, it follows that in examing their anatome we are not to look for mufcles of 
 locomotion, as arms and legs ; nor for organs to receive and prepare their nourifhment, 
 as a domach and bowels ; nor for a refervoir for it after it is prepared, as a general 
 fydem of veins, which in locomotive animals Contains and returns the fuperfluous blood 
 which is left after the various organs of fecretion have been fupplied, by which con¬ 
 trivance they are enabled to live a long time without new fupplies of food. 
 
 The parts which we may expedl to find in the anatome of vegetables correfpondent 
 to thofe in the animal economy are, 1. A fydem of abforbent veflels to imbibe the 
 moidure of the earth fimilar to the laedeal veflels, as in the roots of plants; and another 
 fydem of abforbents fimilar to the lymphatics of animal bodies, opening its mouths 
 on the internal cells and external furfaces of vegetables ; and a third fydem of ab¬ 
 forbent veflels correfpondent with thofe of the placcntation of the animal foetus. 2. A 
 pulmonary fydem correfpondent to the lungs or gills of quadrupeds and fiih, by which 
 the fluid abforbed by the ladeals and lymphatics may be expofed to the influence of 
 the air, this is done by the green leaves of plants, thofe in the air refembling lungs, 
 and thofe in the water refembling gills ; and by the petals of flowers. 3. Arterial 
 fydems to convey the fluid thus elaborated to the various glands of the vegetable for 
 the purpofes of its growth, nutrition, and various fecretions. 4. 1 he various glands 
 which feparate from the vegetable blood the honey, wax, gum, refin, flarch, lugar, 
 eflential oil, &c. 5. The organs adapted for their propagation or reproduction, 
 
 6. Mufcles to perform feveral motions of their parts. 
 
 N 2 
 
X 00 
 
 VEGETABLE CIRCULATION. Note XXXVI. 
 
 I. The exiftence of that branch of the abforbent veffels of vegetables which refembles 
 the la&eals of animal bodies, and imbibes their nutriment from the moift earth, is 
 evinced by their growth fo long as moifture is applied to their roots, and their quickly 
 withering when it is withdrawn. 
 
 Befides thefe abforbcnts in the roots of plants there are others which open their 
 mouths on the external furfaces of the bark and leaves, and on the internal furfaces of 
 all the cells, and between the bark and the alburnum or fap-wood ; the exiftence of 
 thefe is (hewn, becaufe a leaf plucked off and laid with its under fide on water will not 
 wither fo foon as if left in the dry air,—the fame if the bark alone of a branch which 
 is feparated from a tree be kept moift with water,—and laftly, by moiftening the 
 alburnum or fap-wood alone of a branch detached from a tree it will not fo foon wither 
 as if left in the dry air. By the following experiment thefe veffels were agreeably vifible 
 by a common magnifying glafs: I placed in the fummer of 1781 the footftalks of fome 
 large fig-leaves about an inch deep in a deco&ion of madder, (rubia tindlorum,) and 
 others in a deco&ion of logw r ood, (hcematoxylum campechenfe,) along wdth fome fprigs 
 cut off from a plant of picris, thefe plants w r ere chofen becaufe their blood is white, 
 after fome hours, and on the next day, on taking out either of thefe and cutting off* 
 from its bottom about a quarter of an inch of the ftalk an internal circle of red points 
 appeared, which were the ends of abforbent velfels coloured red with the deco£tion, 
 while an external ring of arteries was feen to bleed out haft ily a milky juice, and at once 
 evinced both the abforbent and arterial fyftem. Thefe abforbent veffels have been called 
 by Grew', and Malpighi, and fome other philofophers, bronchi, and erroneoufly fup- 
 pofed to be air-veffels. It is probable that thefe veffels, when cut through, may effufe 
 their fluids, and receive air, their tides being too ftiff to collapfe; fince dry wood emits 
 air-bubbles in the exhaufted receiver in the fame manner as moift w'ood. 
 
 The ftrufture of thefe vegetable abforbents confifts of a fpiral line, and not of a veffel 
 interrupted wdth valves like the animal lymphatics, fince on breaking almoft any tender 
 leaf and drawing out fome of the fibres which adhere longed this fpiral ftrufture 
 becomes vifible even to the naked eye, and diftindlly fo by the ufe of a common lens. 
 See Grew', Plate 51. 
 
 In fuch a ftru&ure it is eafy to conceive how a vermicular or periftaltic motion of 
 the veffel beginning at the lowed part of it, each fpiral ring fucceflively contra&ing itfelf 
 till it fijls up the tube, mud: forcibly pudi forwards its contents, as from the roots of 
 vines in the bleeding fcafon ; and if this vermicular motion fhould begin at the upper 
 end of the veffel it is as eafy to fee how it mud: carry its contained fluid in a contrary 
 dire&ion. The retrograde motion of the vegetable abforbent veffels is (hewn by cutting 
 a forked branch from a tree, and immerfing a part of one of the forks in W'ater, which 
 will for many days prevent the other from withering ; or it is (hewn by planting a 
 w illow branch with the wrong end upwards. This ftrufture in fome degree obtains in 
 theefophagus or throat of cows, w ho by fimilar means convey their food firft downwards 
 
Note XXXVI. , VEGETABLE CIRCULATION. 
 
 IOI 
 
 and afterward upwards by a retrograde motion of the annular mufclcs or cartilages for 
 the purpofe of a fecond maffication of it. 
 
 II. The fluids thus drank up by the vegetable abforbent veffels from the earth, or 
 from the atmofphere, or from their own cells and interflices, are carried to the foot-ftalk 
 of every leaf, where the abforbents belonging to each leaf unite into branches, forming 
 fo many pulmonary arteries, and are thence difperfed to the extremities of the leaf, as 
 may be feen in cutting away (lice after (lice the foot-ftalk of a horfe-chefnut in Septem¬ 
 ber before the leaf falls. There is then a compleat circulation in the leaf, a pulmonary 
 vein receiving the blood from the extremities of each artery on the upper fide of the 
 leaf, and joining again in the foot-ftalk of the leaf thefe veins produce fo many arteries, 
 or aortas, which difperfe the new blood over the new bark, elongating its veffels, or pro¬ 
 ducing its fecretions : but as a refervoir of blood could not be wanted by a vegetable bud 
 which takes in its nutriment at all times, I imagine there is no venous fyftem, no veins 
 properly fo called, which receive the blood which was to fpare, and return it into the 
 pulmonary or arterial fyftem. 
 
 The want of a fyftem of veins was countenanced by the following experiment; I cut 
 off feveral Items of tall fpurge, (Euphorbia heliofcopia) in autumn, about the centre of 
 the plant, and obferved tenfold the quantity of milky juice ooze from the upper than 
 from the lower extremity, which could hardly have happened if there had been a venous 
 fyftem of veffels to return the blood from the roots to the leaves. 
 
 Thus the vegetable circulation, complete in the lungs, but probably in the other 
 part of the fyftem deficient in refpeCt to a fyftem of returning veins, is carried forwards 
 without a heart, like the circulation through the livers of animals where the blood 
 brought from the inteftines and mefentery by one vein is difperfed through the liver by 
 the vena portarum, which affumes the office of an artery. See Note XXXVII. 
 
 At the fame time fo minute are the veffels in the intertexture of the barks of plants, 
 which belong to each individual bud, that a general circulation may poffibly exift, 
 though we have not yet been able to difeover the venous part of it. 
 
 There is however another part of the circulation of vegetable juices vifible to the 
 naked eye, and that is in the corol or petals of flowers, in which a part of the blood of 
 the plant is expofed to the influence of the air and light in the fame manner as in the 
 foliage, as will be mentioned more at large in Notes XXXVII. and XXXIX. 
 
 Thefe circulations of their refpeaive-fluids feem to be carried on in the veffels of 
 plants precifely as in animal bodies by their irritability to the ftimulus of their adapted 
 fluids, and not by any mechanical or chemical attraction, for their abforbent veffels 
 propel the juice upwards, which they drink up from the earth, with great violence; I 
 fuppofe with much greater than is exerted by the laCleals ol animals, probably owing to 
 the greater minutenefs of thefe veffels in vegetables and the greater rigidity of their coats. 
 Dr, Hales in the foring feafon cut off a vine near the ground, and by fixing tubes on the 
 remaining Hump of it, found the fap to rife twenty-one feet in the tube by the propulfive 
 
102 
 
 VEGETABLE RESPIRATION. 
 
 Note XXXVII. 
 
 power of thefe abforbents of the roots of it. Veget. Stat. p. to*. Such a power can 
 not be produced by capillary attra&ion, as that could only raife a fluid nearly to the 
 upper edge of the drafting cylinder, but not enable it to flow over that edge, and much 
 lefs to rife 2i feet above it. What then can this power be owing to ? Doubtlefs to 
 the living adlivity of the abforbent veffels, and to their increafed vivacity from the influ¬ 
 ence of the warmth of thefpring fucceeding the winter’s cold, and their thence greater 
 fufeeptibility to irritation from thejuices which they abforb, refembling in all circum- 
 fiances the adtion of the living veffels of animals. 
 
 Note XXXVII.-VEGETABLE RESPIRATION. 
 
 While fpread in air the leaves rejpiring play. Canto IV. 1 . 421. 
 
 I. THERE have been various opinions concerning the ufe of the leaves of plants 
 in the vegetable oeconomy. Some have contended that they are perfpiratory organs; 
 this does not feem probable from an experiment ot Dr. Hales, "Veg. Stat. p. 30. He 
 found by cutting off branches of trees with apples on them, and taking off the leaves, 
 that an apple exhaled about as much as two leaves, the furfaces of which were 
 nearly equal to the apple ; whence it would appear that apples have as good a claim to 
 be termed perfpiratory organs as leaves. Others have believed them excretory organs 
 of excrementitious juices; but as the vapour exhaled from vegetables has no talle, this 
 idea is no more probable than the other; add to this that in moill weather, they do not 
 appear to perfpire or exhale at all. 
 
 The internal furface of the lungs or air-veflels in men, is faid to be equal to the 
 external furface of the whole body, or about fifteen fquare feet; on this furface the 
 blood is expofed to the influence of the refpired air through the medium however of a 
 thin pellicle ; by this expofure to the air it has its colour changed from deep red to 
 bright fcarlet, and acquires fomethingfo neceflaryto the exiftence of life, that we can 
 live fcarcely a minute without this wonderful procefs. 
 
 The analogy between the leaves of plants and the lungs or gills of animals feems to 
 embrace fo many circumftances, that we can fcarcely withhold our alfent to their per¬ 
 forming fimilar offices. 
 
 1. The great furface of the leaves compared to that of the trunk and branches of trees 
 is fuch, that it would feem to be an organ well adapted for the purpofe of expofing the 
 vegetable juices to the influence of the air ; this however we (hall fee afterwards is pro¬ 
 bably performed only by their upper furfaces, yet even in this cafe the furface of the 
 leaves in general bear a greater proportion to the furface of the tree, than the lungs of 
 animals to their external furfaces. 
 
Note XXXVII. 
 
 VEGETABLE RESPIRATION. 
 
 10,3 
 
 2. In the lungs of animals, the blood after having been expofed to the air in the ex¬ 
 tremities of the pulmonary artery, is changed in colour from deep red to bright fcarlet,and 
 certainly in fome of its eflential properties ; it is then colle6ted by the pulmonary vein 
 and returned to the heart. To Ihew a fimilarity of circumftances in the leaves of plants 
 the following experiment was made, June 24, 1781. A (talk with leaves and feed- 
 vefiels of large fpurge (Euphorbia heliofcopia) had been feveral days placed in a decodlion 
 of madder (Rubia tin£torum) fo that the lower part of the (lem, and two of the under- 
 moft leaves were immerfed in it. After having wafhed the immerfed leaves in clear 
 water, I could readily difcern the colour of the madder palling along the middle rib of 
 each leaf. This red artery was beautifully vifible both on the under and upper furface 
 of the leaf; but on the upper fide many red branches were feen going from it to the 
 extremities of the leaf, which on the other fide were not vifible except by looking 
 through it againft the light. On this under fide a fyftem of branching velTels carrying 
 a pale milky fluid were feen coming from the extremities of the leaf, and covering 
 the whole underfide of it, and joining into two large veins, one on each fide of the red 
 artery in the middle rib of the leaf, and along with it defcer.ding to the footftalk or 
 petiole. On flitting one of thefe leaves with fciflars, and having a common magnify¬ 
 ing lens ready, the milky blood was feen oozing out of the returning veins on each fide 
 of the red artery in the middle rib, but none of the red fluid from the artery. 
 
 All thefe appearances were more eafily feen in a leaf of Picris treated in the fame 
 manner ; for in this milky plant the ftems and middle rib of the leaves are fometimes 
 naturally coloured reddilh, and hence the colour of the madder feemed to pafsfurther 
 into the ramifications of their leaf-arteries, and was there beautifully vifible with the 
 returning branches of milky veins on each fide. 
 
 3. From thefe experiments the upper furface of the leaf appeared to be the immediate 
 organ of refpiration, becaufe the coloured fluid was carried to the extremities of the leaf 
 by veflels mod confpicuous on the upper furface, and there changed into a milky fluid, 
 which is the blood of the plant, and then returned by concomitant veins on the under 
 furface, which were feen to ooze when divided with fciflars, and which, in Picris par¬ 
 ticularly, render the under furface of the leaves greatly whiter than the upper one. 
 
 4. As the upper furface of leaves conftitutes the organ of refpiration, on which the 
 fap is expofed in the terminations of arteries beneath a thin pellicle to the action of the 
 atmofphere, thefe furfaces in many plants ftrongly repel moifture, as cabbage-leaves, 
 whence the particles of rain lying over their furfaces without touching them, as obferved 
 by Mr. Melville (Effays Literary and Philofoph. Edinburgh) have the appearance of glo¬ 
 bules of quickfilver. And hence leaves laid with the upper furfaces on water, wither 
 as foon as in the dry air, but continue green many days, if placed with the under furfaces 
 on water, as appears in the experiments of Monf. Bonnet (Ufagedes Feuilles.) Hence 
 fome aquatic plants, as the water-lily (Nymphoea) have the lower iides of their leaves, 
 floating on the water, while the upper furfaces remain dry in.the air. 
 
 c As thofe infects, which have many fpiracula, or breathing apertures, as wafps 
 and flies, are immediately fuffocated by pouring oil upon them, I carefully covered.with. 
 
104 
 
 VEGETABLE RESPIRATION. Note XXXVII. 
 
 oil the fur faces of feveral leaves of Phlomis, of Portugal Laurel, and Balfams, and 
 though it would not regularly adhere, I found them all die in a day or two. 
 
 Of aquatic leaves, fee Note on Trapa and on Fucus, in Vol. II. to which muft be 
 added that many leaves are furnifhed with mufcles about their footftalks, to turn their 
 upper furfaces to the air or light, as Mimofa and Hedyfarum gyrans. From all thefe 
 analogies I think there can be no doubt but that leaves of trees are their lungs, giving 
 out a phlogiftic material to the atmofphere, and abforbing oxygene or vital air. 
 
 6. The great ufe of light to vegetation would appear from this theory to be by dif- 
 engaging vital air from the water which they perfpire, and thence to facilitate its union 
 with their blood expofed beneath the thin furface of their leaves ; fince when pure air 
 is thus applied, it is probable, that it can be more readily abforbed. Hence in the cu¬ 
 rious experiments of Dr. Prieftley and Mr. Ingenhouz, fome plants purified air lefs 
 than others, that is, they perfpired lefs in the fun(hine ; and Mr. Scheele found that 
 by putting peas into water, which about half-covered them, they converted the 
 vital air into fixed air, or carbonic acid gas, in the fame manner as in animal refpira- 
 tion. See Note XXXIV. 
 
 7. The circulation in the lungs or leaves of plants is very fimilar to that of fifh. In 
 fi(h the blood after having palfed through their gills does not return to the heart as from 
 the lungs of air-breathing animals, but the pulmonary vein taking the ftru£lure of an 
 artery after having received the blood from the gills, which there gains a more tiorid 
 colour, diftributes it to the other parts of their bodies. I he lame ftru&ure occurs in the 
 livers of filh, whence we fee in thofe animals two circulations independent of the power 
 of the heart, viz. that beginning at the termination of the veins of the gills, and branching 
 through the mufcles , and that which pafies through the liver; both which are carried 
 on by the a£tion of thofe refpeftive arteries and veins. Monro’s Phyfiology of Fifh, p-^ 9 * 
 
 The courfe of the fluids in the roots, leaves, and buds of vegetables feems to be per¬ 
 formed in a manner fimilar to both thefe. Firft the abforbent veflels of the roots and 
 furfaces unite at the footftalk of the leaf; and then, like the Vena Portarum, an artery 
 commences without the intervention of a heart, and fpreads the fap in its numerous rami¬ 
 fications on the upper furface of the leaf; here it changes its colour and properties, and 
 becomes vegetable blood ; and is again collected by a pulmonary vein on the under fur¬ 
 face of the leaf. This vein, like that which receives the blood from the gills of fifti, 
 aflumes the office and name of an artery, and branching again difperfes the blood up¬ 
 ward to the bud from the footftalk of the leaf, and downward to the roots ; where it is 
 all expended in the various fecretions, the nourifhment and growth of the plant, as fall 
 as it is prepared. 
 
 II. The organ of refpiration already fpoken of belongs particularly to the fhoots or 
 buds, but there is another pulmonary fyftem, perhaps totally independent of the green 
 foliage, which belongs to the falsification only, I mean the corol or petals. In this 
 there is an artery belonging to each petal, which conveys the vegetable blood to its ex¬ 
 tremities, expofing it to the light and air under a delicate membrane covering the internal 
 furface of the petal, where it often changes its colour, as is beautifully feen in fome party- 
 
Note XXXVII. VEGETABLE RESPIRATION. 
 
 I0 5 
 
 coloured poppies ; though it is probable fomc of the iridefcent colours of flowers may 
 be owing to the different degrees of tenuity of the exterior membrane of the leaf refrad- 
 ing the light like foap-bubbles, the vegetable blood is then returned by correfpondent 
 vegetable veins, exadly as in the green foliage; for the purpofes of the important fe- 
 cretions of honey, wax, the finer eflential oil, and the prolific dull of the anthers. 
 
 1. The vafcular ftrudure of the corol as above defcribed, and which is vifible to the 
 naked eye, and its expofing the vegetable juices to the air and light during the day, 
 evinces that it is a pulmonary organ. 
 
 2. As the glands which produce the prolific duft of the anthers, the honey, wax, and 
 frequently fome odoriferous eflential oil, are generally attached to the corol, and always 
 fall off and perifli with it, it is evident that the blood is elaborated or oxygenated in this 
 pulmonary fyftem for the purpofe of thefe important fecretions. 
 
 3. Many flowers, as the Colchicum, and Hamamelis, arife naked in autumn, no 
 green leaves appearing till the enfuing fpring; and many others put forth their flowers 
 and complete their impregnation early in the fpring before the green foliage appears, 
 as Mezereon, cherries, pears, w hich fhew's that thefe corols are the lungs belonging 
 to the frudification. 
 
 4. This organ does not feem to have been neceflary for the defence of the ftamens 
 and piftils, fince the calyx of many flowers, asTragopogon, performs this office; and in 
 many flovrers theie petals themfelresare fo tender as to require being ftiut up iu the calyx 
 during the night, for what other ufe then can fuch an apparatus of veflels be defigned? 
 
 5. In the Helleborus niger, Chriftmas-rofe, after the feeds are grown to a certain fize, 
 the nedaries and ftamens drop off, and the beautiful large white petals change their 
 colour to a deep green, and gradually thus become a calyx inclofing and defending the 
 ripening feeds, hence it would feem that the white veflels of the corol ferved the office 
 of expofing the blood to the adion of the air, for the purpofes of feparating or producing 
 the honey, wax, and prolific dull, and when thefe were no longer wanted, that thefe 
 veflels coalefced like the placental veflels of animals after their birth, and thus ceafed 
 to perform that office and lofl at the fame time their white colour. Why fhould they 
 lofe their white colour, unlefs they at the fame time loft fome other property befides 
 that of defending the feed-veflel, which they ftill continue to defend ? 
 
 6. From thefe obfervations I am led to doubt whether green leaves be abfolutely 
 neceffary to the progrefs of the fruit-bud alter the laft years leaves are fallen off. The 
 green leaves ferve as lungs to the (hoots and foftcr the new buds in their bofoms, 
 whether thefe buds be leaf-buds or fruit-buds; but in the early fpring the fruit-buds 
 expand their corols, which are their Lungs, and feem no longer to require green leaves; 
 hence the vine bears fruit at one joint without leaves, and puts out a leaf-bud at another 
 joint w ithout fruit. And I fuppofe the green leaves w hich rife out of the earth in the 
 fpring from the Colchicum are for the purpofe of producing the new bulb, and its pla¬ 
 centa, and not for the giving maturity to the feed. When currant or goofberry trees 
 lefe their leaves by the depredation of infeds the fruit continues to be formed, though 
 lefs fweet and lefs in fize. 
 
I0 6 VEGETABLE IMPREGNATION Note XXXVIII. 
 
 7 From thefe fafls it appears that the flower-bud after the corol falls off, (which is its 
 lunes,) and the ftamens and nedary along with it, becaufe Amply an uterus for the 
 purpofe of fupplying the growing embryon with nourifliment, together with a fyftem 
 of abforbent veifels which bring the juices of the earth to the footftalk of the fruit, 
 and which there changes into an artery for the purpofe of diftnbuting the fap for t ie 
 fecretion of the faccharine or farinaceous or acefccnt materials for the ufe of t e 
 embryon. At the fame time as all the veffels of the different buds of trees inofculate 
 or communicate with each other, the fruit becomes fweeter and larger when the green 
 leaves continue on the tree, but the mature flowers themfelves, (the fucceeding frui 
 not confidered) perhaps fuffer little injury from the green leaves being taking oft, as 
 
 fome florifts have obferved. . . , , . 
 
 8 That the veffels of different vegetable buds inofculate in various parts of their 
 
 circulation is rendered probable by the increafed growth of one bud, when others in 
 its vicinity are cut away ; as it thus feems to receive the nourifliment which was before. 
 
 divided amongft many. 
 
 NOTE XXXVIII.-VEGETABLE IMPREGNATION. 
 
 Love out his hour and leave his life in air. Canto IV. 1 . 460. 
 
 FROM the accurate experiments and obfervations of Spallanzani it appears that 
 in the Spartium Junceum, rufli-broom, the very minute feeds were difeerned in the 
 pod at leafl twenty days before the : flower is in full bloom, that is twenty days before 
 fecundation. At this time alfo the pow-der of the anthers was vifible, but glued fall to 
 their fummits. The feeds however at this time, and for ten days after the bloffom had 
 fallen off, appeared to confift of a gelatinous fubftance. On the eleventh day after the 
 falling of the bloffom the feeds became heart-lhape, with the bafis attached by an ap¬ 
 pendage to the pod, and a white point at the apex ; this white point was on preflure 
 
 found to be a cavity including a drop of liquor. 
 
 On the 25th day the cavity which at firft appeared at the apex was much enlarged and 
 (till full of liquor, it alfo contained a very fmall femi-tranfparent body, of a yellowifh 
 colour, gelatinous, and fixed by its two oppofite ends to the fides of the cavity. 
 
 In a month the feed was much enlarged and its fliape changed from a heart to a 
 kidney, the little body contained in the cavity was increafed in bulk and was lels 
 tranfparent, and gelatinous, but there yet appeared no organization. 
 
Note XXXVIII. VEGETABLE IMPREGNATION. 10? 
 
 On the 40th day the cavity now grown larger was quite filled with the body, which 
 was covered with a thin membrane ; after this membrane was removed the body ap 
 peared of a bright green, and was eafily divided by the point of a needle into two por¬ 
 tions, which manifeftly formed the two lobes, and within thefe attached to the lower 
 part tne exceedingly fmall plantule was eafily perceived. 
 
 The foregoing obfervations evince, i. That the feeds exift in the ovarium many 
 days before fecundation. 2. That they remain for feme time folid, and then a cavitv 
 contain,ng a liquid is formed in them. 3. That after fecundation a body begins to 
 appear within the cavity fixed by two points to the fides, which in procefs of time 
 proves to be two lobes containing a plantule. 4. That the ripe feed confirts of two 
 lobes adhering to a plantule, and furrounded by a thin membrane which is itfelf covered 
 with a hulk or cuticle. Spallanzani’s Differtations, Vol. II. p. 257. 
 
 The analogy between feeds and eggs has long been obferved, andls confirmed by the 
 mode of their produdion. The egg is known to be formed within the hen long before 
 its impregnation ; C. F. Wolf alferts that the yolk of the egg is nourifhed by the vefTels 
 of the mother, and that it has from thofe its arterial and venous branches, but that after 
 impregnation thefe veilcls gradually become impervious and obliterated, and that new 
 ones are produced from the foetus and difperfed into the yolk. Haller’s Phyfiolog. 
 Tom. VIII. p. 94. The young feed after fecundation, I fuppofe, is nourifhed ina 
 fimilar manner from the gelatinous liquor, which is previoufly depofited for that pur- 
 pofe ; the uterus of the plant producing or fecrcting it into a tefervoir or amnios in which 
 the embryon is lodged, and that the young embryon is furnifhed with velTels to abforb 
 a part of it, as in the very early embryon in the animal uterus. 
 
 The fpawn of frogs and of fifh is delivered from the female before its impregnation. 
 M. Bonnet fays that the male falamander darts his femen into the water, where it 
 forms a little whitifh cloud which is afterwards received by the fwoln anus of the 
 female, and fhe is fecundated.—He adds that marine plants approach near to thefe ani¬ 
 mals, as the male does not project a fine powder but a liquor which in like manner 
 forms a little cloud in the water.—And further adds, who knows but the powder of 
 the ftamina of certain plants may make fome imprdlion on certain germs belong¬ 
 ing to the animal kingdom ! Letter XLIII. to Spallanzani, Oeuvres Philof. 
 
 Spallanzani found that the feminal fluid of frogs and dogs even when diluted with 
 much water retained its prolific quality. Whether this quality be Amply a ftimulus ex¬ 
 citing the egg into animal action, which may be called a vivifying principle, or whether 
 part of it be actually conjoined with the egg is not yet determined, though the latter 
 feemsmore probable from the frequent refemblance of the fetus to the male parent. A 
 conjunction however of both the male and female influence feems neceflary for the 
 purpofe of reproduction throughout all organized nature, as well in hermaphrodite 
 infects, microfcopic animals, and polypi, and exifls as well in the formation of the 
 buds of vegetables as in the production of their feeds, which is ingcnioully conceived 
 and explained by Linneus. After having compared the flower to the larva of a butterfly, 
 
 O 2 
 
io8 
 
 VEGETABLE GLANDULATION. Note XXXIX. 
 
 confiding of petals inftcad of wings*, calyxes inftead of wing-fheaths, with the organs of 
 reprodudtion, and having (hewn the ufe of the farina in fecundating the egg or feed, 
 he proceeds to explain the production of the bud. The calyx of a flower, he fays, is 
 an expanfion of the outer bark, the petals proceed from the inner bark or rind, the 
 flamens from the alburnum or woody circle, and the ftyle from the pith. In the pro¬ 
 duction and impregnation of the feed a commixture ot the fecretions of the flamens 
 and ftyle are necefl'ary ; and for the production of a bud he thinks the medulla or pith 
 burfts its integuments and mixes with the woody part or alburnum, and thefe forcing 
 their paffage through the rind and bark conftitute the bud or viviparous progeny of the 
 vegetable. Syftem of Vegetables tranflated from Linneus, p. 8. 
 
 It has been fuppofed that the embryon vegetable after fecundation, by its living 
 activity or flimulus exerted on the veflels of the parent plant, may produce the fruit or 
 feed-lobes, as the animal fetus produces its placenta, and as vegetable buds may be 
 fuppofed to produce their umbilical veflels or roots down the bark of the tree. This in 
 refpect to the production of the fruit furrounding the feeds of trees has been aflimiiated 
 to the gall-nuts on oak-leaves, and to the bedeguar on briars, but there is a powerful 
 objection to this doctrine, viz. that the fruit of figs, all which are female in this country, 
 grow nearly as large without fecundation, and therefore the embryon has in them no 
 felf-living principle. 
 
 NOTE XXXIX.—VEGETABLE GLANDULATION. 
 
 Seeks , where fine pores their dulcet balm dijlil . Canto IV. 1 . 521. 
 
 THE glands of vegetables which feparate from their blood the mucilage, ftarch, or 
 fugar for the placentation or fupport of their feeds, bulbs, and buds ; or thofe which 
 depofit their bitter, acrid, or narcotic juices for their defence from depredations of 
 infects or larger animals; or thofe which fecrete refins or wax for their protection from 
 moifture or frofts, conflft of veflels too fine for the injection or abforption of coloured 
 fluids, and have not therefore yet been exhibited to the infpection even of our glaffes, 
 and can therefore only be known by their effects, but one of the mod curious and im¬ 
 portant of all vegetable fecretions, that of honey, is apparent to our naked eyes, though 
 before the difeoveries of Linneus the nectary or honey-gland had not even"acquired a 
 name. 
 
 The odoriferous effential oils of feveral flowers feem to have been defigned for their 
 defence againft the depredations of infects, while their beautiful colours were a neceffarv 
 confequence of the fize of the particles of their blood, or of the tenuity of the exterior 
 
Note XXXIX. VEGETABLE GLANDULATION. 
 
 109 
 
 membrane of the petal. The ufe of the prolific dull is now well afcertained, the wax 
 which covers the anthers prevents this dull from receiving moifture, which would make 
 it burft prematurely and thence prevent its application to the fligma, as fometimes 
 happens in moift years and is the caufe of deficient fecundation both of our fields and 
 orchards. 
 
 The univerfality of the produdlion of honey in the vegetable world, and the very 
 complicated apparatus which nature has conftrudted in many flowers, as well as the 
 acrid or deleterious juices (he has furnifhed thofe flowers with (as in the Aconite) to 
 protect this honey from rain and from the depredations of infedls, feem to imply that 
 this fluid is of very great importance in the vegetable economy ; and alfo that it was 
 neceffary to expofe it to the open air previous to its reabforption into the vegetable 
 veffels. 
 
 In the animal fyflem the lachrymal gland feparates its fluid into the open air for the 
 purpofe of moiftening the eye, of this fluid the part which does not exhale is abforbed 
 bv the pundla lachrymalia and carried into the noftrils ; but as this is not a nutritive 
 fluid the analogy goes no further than its fecretion into the open air and its reabforption 
 into the fyflem ; every other fecreted fluid in the animal body is in part abforbed again 
 into the fyflem, even thofe which are efteemed excrementitious, as the urine and 
 perfpirable matter, of which the latter is fecreted, like the honey, into the external air. 
 That the honey is a nutritious fluid, perhaps the molt fo of any vegetable produdlion, 
 appears from its great fimilarity to fugar, and from its affording fuftenance to fitch 
 numbers of infers, which live upon it folely during fummer, and lay it up for their 
 winter provifion. Thefe proofs of its nutritive nature evince the necefiity of its re¬ 
 abforption into the vegetable fyflem for fome ufeful purpofe. 
 
 This purpofe however has as yet efcaped the refearches of philofophical botanifls. 
 M. Pontedcra believes it defigned to lubricate the vegetable uterus, and compares the 
 horn-like nedlaries of fome flowers to the appendicle of the cxcum inteftinum of ani¬ 
 mals. (Antholog. p. 49.) Others have fuppofed that the honey, when reabforbed, 'might 
 ferve the purpofe of the liquor amnii, or white of the egg, as a nutriment for the young 
 embryon or fecundated feed in its early date of exiftence. But as the nectary is found 
 equally general in male flowers as in female ones ; and as the young embryon or feed 
 grows before the petals and nedlary are expanded, and after they fall off; and, thirdly, 
 as the nedlary fo foon falls off after the fecundation of the piftillum ; thefe feem to be 
 infurmountable objeaions to both the above-mentioned opinions. 
 
 In this (late of uncertainty conjedtures may be ol ufe fo far as they lead to further 
 experiment and inveftigation. In many tribes of infers, as the filk-worm, and perhaps 
 in all the moths and butterflies, the male and female parents die as foon as the eggs are 
 impregnated and excluded ; the eggs remaining to be perfeded and hatched at fome 
 future time. The fame thing happens in regard to the male and female parts of flowers; 
 the anthers and filaments, which conflitute the male parts of the flower, and the ftigma 
 and ftyle, which conflitute the female part of the flower, fall off and die as foon as the 
 feeds are impregnated, and along with thefe die petals and nedtary. Now the moths 
 
no 
 
 VEGETABLE GLANDULATION. Note XXXIX. 
 
 and butterflies above-mentioned, as foon as they acquire the paflion and the apparatus 
 for the reprodu&ion of their fpecies, lofe the power of feeding upon leaves as they 
 did before, and become nourifhed by what r—by honey alone. 
 
 Hence we acquire a ftrong analogy for the ufe of the nectary or fecrction of honey 
 in the vegetable economy, which is, that the male parts of flowers, and the female parts, 
 as foon as they leave their fetus flate, expanding their petals, (which conftitute their 
 lungs,) become fenlible to the paflion, and gain the apparatus for the reproduction of 
 their fpccies, and are fed and nourifhed with honey like the infeCts above deferibed ; 
 and that hence the neCtary begins its office of producing honey, and dies or ceafes to 
 produce honey at the fame time with the birth and death of the ftamens and the piffils; 
 •which, whether exifting in the fame or in different flowers, are feparate and diffinCt 
 animated beings. 
 
 Previous to this time the anthers with their filaments, and the fligmas with their 
 ffyles, are in their fetus-ftate fuftained by their placental vefiels, like the unexpanded 
 leaf-bud ; with the feeds exifling in the vegetable womb yet unimpregnated, and the 
 duff yet unripe in the cells of the anthers. After this period they expand their petals, 
 which have been fhewn above to conftitute the lungs of the flower ; the placental 
 veffels, which before nourifhed the anthers and the ftigmas, coalefce or ceafe to nourifli 
 them ; and they now acquire blood more oxygenated by the air, obtain the paffion and 
 power of reproduction, are fen Able to heat, and cold, and moifture, and to mechanic 
 ftimulus, and become in reality infeCts fed with honey, fimilar in every refpeCt except 
 their being attached to the tree on which they were produced. 
 
 Some experiments I have made this fummer by cutting out the neCtaries of feveral 
 flowers of the aconites before the petals were open, or had become much coloured, fome 
 of thefe flow'ers near the fummit of the plants produced no feeds, others lower dow r n 
 produced feeds; but they were not fufficiently guarded from the farina of the flowers in 
 their vicinity ; nor have I had opportunity to try if thefe feeds w r ould vegetate. 
 
 I am acquainted with a philofopher, who contemplating this fubjeCt thinks it not 
 impoflible, that the fir ft infeCls were the anthers or ftigmas of flowers; which had by 
 fome means loofed themfelves from their parent plant, like the male flowers of Vallif- 
 neria; and that many other infeCts have gradually in long procefs of time been formed 
 from thefe; fome-acquiring wings, others fins, and others claws, from their ceafelefs 
 efforts to procure their food, or to fecure themfelves from injury. He contends, that 
 none of thefe changes are more incomprehenfible than the transformation of tadpoles 
 into frogs, and caterpillars into butterflies. 
 
 There are parts of animal bodies, which do not require oxygenated blood for the 
 purpofe of their fecretions, as the liver; which for the produ&ion of bile takes its blood 
 from the mefenteric veins, after it muft have loft the whole or a great part of its oxyge¬ 
 nation, which it had acquired in its paflage through the lungs. In like manner the 
 pericarpium, or womb of the flower, continues to fecrete its proper juices for the prefent 
 nourishment of the newly animated embryon-feed; and the faccharine, acefcent, or 
 ftarchy matter of the fruit or feed-lobes for its future growth ; in the fame manner as 
 
Note XXXIX. VEGETABLE GLANDULATION. m 
 
 thefe things went on before fecundation ; that is, without any circulation of juices in 
 the petals, or production of honey in the neCtary; thefe having perifhed and fallen 
 oft with the male and female apparatus for impregnation. 
 
 It is probable that the depredations of infers on this nutritious fluid muft be injurious 
 to the produds of vegetation, and would be much more fo, but that the plants have 
 either acquired means to defend their honey in part, or have learned to make more than 
 is abfolutely neceflary for their own economy. In the fame manner the honey-dew on 
 trees is very injurious to them ; in which difeafe the nutritive fluid, the vegetable-fap- 
 juice, feems to be exfuded by a retrograde motion of the cutaneous lymphatics, as in 
 the fweating ficknefs of the laft century. To prevent the depredation of infeds on 
 honey a wealthy man in Italy is faid to have poifoned his neighbour’s bees perhaps by 
 mixing arfenic with honey, againft which there is a moft flowery declamation in Quin¬ 
 tilian. No. XIII. As the ufe of the wax is to preferve the duft of the anthers from 
 moifture, which would prematurely burft them, the bees which colled this for the 
 conftrudion of the combs or cells, muft on this account alfo injure the vegetation of 
 a country where they too much abound. 
 
 It is not cafy to conjedure why it was neceflary that this fecretion of honey fliould 
 be expofed to the open air in the nedary or honey-cup, for which purpofe fo great an 
 apparatus for its defence from infeds and from fhowers became neceflary. This diffi¬ 
 culty increafes when we recoiled that the fugar in the joints of grafs, in the fugar cane, 
 
 and in the roots of beets, and in ripe fruits is produced without expofure to the air._ 
 
 On fuppofition of its ferving for nutriment to the anthers and ftigmas it may thus ac¬ 
 quire greater oxygenation for the purpofe of producing greater powers of fenfibility, 
 according to a dodrine lately advanced by a French philofopher, who has endeavoured 
 to fhew that the oxygene, or bafe of vital air, is the conftituent principle of our power 
 of fenfibility. 
 
 So caterpillars are fed upon the common juices of vegetables found in their leaves, 
 till they acquire the organs of reprodudion, and then they feed on honey, all I believe 
 except the filkworm, which in this country takes no nouriftiment after it becomes a 
 butterfly. Thus alfo the maggot of the bee, according to the obfervations of Mr. Hun¬ 
 ter, is fed with raw vegetable matter, called bee-bread, which is colleded from the 
 anthers of flowers and laid up in cells for that purpofe, till the maggot becomes a 
 winged bee, acquires greater fenfibility, and is fed wfith honey. Phil. Tranf. 1792. 
 See Zoonomia Sed. XIII. on vegetable animation. 
 
 From this provifion of honey for the male and female parts of flowers, and from 
 the provifion of fugar, ftarch, oil, and mucilage, in the fruits, feed-cotyledons, roots, 
 and buds of plants laid up for the nutriment of the expanding fetus, not only a very 
 numerous clafs of infeds, but a great part of the larger animals procure their food ; 
 and thus enjoy life and pleafure without producing pain to others, for thefe feeds or eggs 
 with the nutriment laid up in them are not yet endued with fenfitive life. 
 
 The fecretions from various vegetable glands hardened in the air produce gums, 
 refins, and various kinds of faccharine, faponaceous, and wax-iike fubftances, as the 
 
n2 VEGETABLE GLANDULATION. Note XXXIX. 
 
 gum of cherry or plumb-trees, gum tragacanth from the aftragalus tragacantha, camphor 
 from the lauruscamphora,elemi from amyris clemifera,aneme frornhymenGeacourbaril, 
 turpentine from piftacia terebinthus, balfam of Mecca from the buds of amyris opobal- 
 famum, branches of which are placed in the temples of the Eaft on account of their 
 fragrance, the wood is called xylobalfamum, and the fruit carpobalfamum ; aloe from a 
 plant of the fame name ; myrrh from a plant not yet defcribcd ; the remarkably elaflic 
 refin is brought into Europe principally in the form of flafks, which look like black 
 leather, and are wonderfully elaflic, and not penetrable by water, rectified ether dillblvcs 
 it; its flexibility is encreafed by warmth and deftroyed by cold ; the tree which yields 
 this juice is the jatropha elaflica, it grows in Guaiana and the neighbouring trails of 
 America; its juice is faid to refemble wax in becoming foft by heat, but that it ac¬ 
 quires no dafticity till that property is communicated to it by a fecret art, after which 
 it is poured into moulds and well dried and can no longer be rendered fluid by heat.— 
 Mr. de la Borde, pbyfician at Cayenne has given this account. Manna is obtained at 
 Naples from the fraxinus tormis, or manna-afh, it partly iflues fpontaneoufly, which is 
 preferred, and partly exfudes from wounds made purpofely in the month of Align ft, 
 many other plants yield manna more fparingly; fugar is properly made fiom the fac- 
 charum officinale, or fugar-cane, but is found in the roots of beet and many other plants; 
 American wax is obtained from the myrica cerifera, candle-berry myrtle, the berries 
 are boiled in water and a green wax feparates, with luke-warm water the wax is yellow: 
 the feeds of croton febiferum are lodged in tallow; there are many othir vegetable ex- 
 fudations ufed in the various arts of dyeing, varnifhing, tanning, lacquering, and which 
 fupply the fhop of the druggift with medicines and with poifons. 
 
 There is another analogy, which would feem to aflociate plants with animals, and 
 which perhaps belongs to this Note on Glandulation, I mean the fimilarity of their 
 digeftive powers. I n the roots of growing vegetables, as in the procefs of making mall, 
 the farinaceous part cf die feed is converted into fugar by the vegetable power of 
 digeftion in the fame manner as the farinaceous matter of feeds is converted into fweet 
 chyle by the animal digeflion. The fap-juice which rifes in the vernal months from 
 the roots of trees through the alburnum or fap-wood, owes itfc fweetnefs I fuppofe to a 
 fimilar digeftive power of the abforbent fyftem of the young buds. This exifts in many 
 vegetables in great abundance as in vines, fycamore, birch, and mod abundantly in the 
 palm-tree, (Iferl’s Voyage to Guinea,) and feems to be a fimilar fluid in all plants, as 
 chyle is fimilar in all animals. 
 
 Hence as the digefted food of vegetables confifts principally of fugar, and from that 
 is produced again their mucilage, ftarch, and oil, and fince animals are fuftained by 
 thefe vegetable prodti&ions, it wouki feem that the fugar-making procefs carried on in 
 vegetable veffcls was the great fource of life to all organized beings. And that if our 
 improved chcmiltry fhould ever difeover the art of making fugar from foflile or aerial 
 matter without the afliftance of vegetation, food for animals would then become as 
 plentiful as water, and mankind might live upon the earth as thick as blades of grafs, 
 with no reftraint to their numbers but the want of local room. 
 
Note XXXIX. VEGETABLE GLANDULATION. rrj 
 
 It would feem that roots fixed in the earth, and leaves innumerable waving in the 
 air were neceflary for the decompofition ef water, and the converfion of it into faccharine 
 matter, which would have been not only cumberous but totally incompatible with the 
 ocomotion of animal bodies. For how could a man or quadruped have carried on his 
 head or back a foreft of leaves, or have had long branching ladeal or abforbent veffels 
 terminating in the earth ? Animals therefore fubfift on vegetables ; that is, they take 
 he matter fo far prepared, and have organs to prepare it further for the purpofes of 
 higher animation, and greater fenfibility. In the fame manner the apparatus of green 
 leaves and long roots were found inconvenient for the more animated and fenfitive parts 
 of vegetable-flowers, I mean the anthers and ftigmas, which are therefore feparate be¬ 
 ings, endued with the paflion and power of reproduaion, with lungs of their own, 
 and fed with honey, a food ready prepared by the long roots and green leaves of the* 
 plant, and prefented to their abforbent mouths. 
 
 From this outline a philofopher may catch a glimpfe of the general economy of na¬ 
 ture ; and like the mariner call upon an unknown fhore, who rejoiced when he faw 
 t e print of a human foot upon the fand, he may cry out with rapture, “ a Gon 
 “ DffEUS HERE.” 
 
 P 
 
VISIT of HOPE 
 
 TO 
 
 SYDNEY COVE, 
 
 NEAR 
 
 BOTANY BAY. 
 
 REFERRED TO IN CANTO II. 1; 3*7' 
 
 WHERE Sydney Cove her lucid bofom fwells. 
 
 And with wide arms the indignant ftorm repels; 
 
 High on a rock amid the troubled air ^ 
 
 Hope flood fublime, and wav d her golden hair; „ 
 
 Calm’d with her rofy fmile the tolling deep, 
 
 And with fweet accents charm’d the winds to fleep; 
 
 To each wild plain fhe ftretch’d her fnowy hand. 
 
 High-waving wood, and fea-encircled flrand. 
 
 « Hear me,” fhe cried, “ ye riftng realms! record 
 “ Time’s opening fcenes, and Truth’s prophetic word. 
 n <Th ere (hall broad flreets their flately walls extend, 
 
 “ The circus widen, and the crefcent bend ; 
 a There, ray’d from cities o’er the cultur’d land, 
 
 t< Shall bright canals, and folid roads expand.- 
 
 a There the proud arch, coloffus-like, beflride 
 tt Yon glittering flreams, and bound the chafing tide ; 
 a Embellifh’d villas crown the landfcape-fcene, 
 a Farms wave with gold, and orchards blufh between. 
 a There fit all tall fpires, and dome-capt towers afcend, 
 a And piers and quays their mafly flru&ures blend , 
 a While with each breeze approaching veffels glide, 
 
 a And northern treafures dance on every tide!”- 
 
 Then ceas’d the nymph— tumultuous echoes roar. 
 
 And Joy’s loud voice was heard from fhore to fhore— 
 
 Her graceful fleps defending prefs’d the plain, 
 
 And Peace, and Art, and Labour, join’d her train. 
 
 Mr. Wedgwood, having been favoured by Sir Jofeph Banks with a fpecimenof 
 clay from Sydney Cove, has made a few medallions of it, reprefenting Hope encou¬ 
 raging Art and Labour, under the influence of Peace, to purfue the employments 
 neceffary for rendering an infant colony fecure and happy. The above verfes were 
 written by the author of The Botanic Garden, to accompany thefe medallions. 
 
OF THE 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 Note I. Meteors. 
 
 THERE are four flrataof the atmofpherej, and four kinds of meteors, i. Lightning 
 is eleftric, exifts in vifible clouds, its fhort courfe, and red light. 2. Shooting ftars 
 exift in vifible vapour, without found, white light, have no luminous trains. 3. Twi¬ 
 light ; fire-balls move thirty miles in a fecond, and are about fixty miles high, have 
 luminous trains, occafioned by an eledtric fpark palling between the aerial and inflam¬ 
 mable flrata of the atmofphere, and mixing them and fetting them on fire in its paffage; 
 attrafled by volcanic eruptions ; one thoufand miles through fuch a medium refills lefs 
 than the tenth of an inch of glafs. 4. Northern lights not attra£led to a point butdif- 
 fufed ; their colours ; paflage of eledric fire in vacuo dubious ; Dr. Franklin’s theory 
 of northern lights countenanced in part by the fuppofition of a fuperior atmofphere of 
 inflammable air; antiquity of their appearance ; defcribed in Maccabees. 
 
 , Note II. Primary Colours. 
 
 The rainbow was in part underflood before Sir Ifaac Newton ; the feven colours 
 were difcovered by him ; Mr. Gabon’s experiments on colours ; manganefe and lead 
 produce colourlefs glafs. 
 
 Note III. ...Coloured Clouds. 
 
 The rays refradled by the convexity of the atmofphere ; the particles of air and of 
 water are blue ; fhadow by means of a candle in the day ; halo round the moon in a 
 fog; bright fpot in the cornea of the eye ; light from cat’s eyes in the dark, from a 
 horfe’s eyes in a cavern, coloured by the choroid coat within the eye. 
 
 Note IV. Comets. 
 
 Tails of comets from rarified vapour, like northern lights, from ele&ricity; 
 twenty millions of miles long; expelled comet ; 72 comets already defcribed. 
 
 P 2 
 
[ n6 ) 
 
 Note V.Son’s Rays. 
 
 Dispute about phlogifton ; the fun the fountain from whence all phlogifton is de¬ 
 rived; its rays not luminous till they arrive at ouratmofphere ; light owing to their com- 
 bullion with air, whence an unknown acid; the fun is on fire only on its furface; the 
 dark fpots on it are excavations through its luminous cruft. 
 
 Note VI.Central Fires. 
 
 Sun’s heat much lefs than that from the fire at the earth’s centre ; fun’s heat pene¬ 
 trates but a few feet in fummer; fome mines are warm; warm fprings owing to fub- 
 terraneous fire; fixations of volcanos on high mountains; original nucleus of the earth; 
 deep vallies of the ocean; diftant perception of earthquakes ; great attradion of 
 mountains; variation of the compafs ; countenance the exiftence of a cavity or fluid- 
 lava within the earth. 
 
 Note VII.Elementary Heat. 
 
 Combined and fenfible heat; chemical combinations attrad heat, folutions rejed 
 heat; ice cools boiling water fix times as much as cold water cools it; cold produced 
 by evaporation; heat by devaporation ; capacities of bodies in refped to heat, i. Exift¬ 
 ence of the matter of heat fhewn from the mechanical condenfation and rarefadion of 
 air, from the fteam produced in exhaufting a receiver, fnow from rarefied air, cold- 
 from difeharging an air-gun, heat from vibration or fridion ; 2 Matter of heat analo¬ 
 gous to the eledric fluid in many circumftances, explains many chemical phenomena. 
 
 Note VIII. Mem non* s Lyre. 
 
 Mechanical impulfe of light dubious; a glafs tube laid horizontally before a fire 
 revolves; pulfe-glafs fufpended on a centre; black leather contrads in the funlhine 
 Memnon’s ftatue broken by Cambyfes. 
 
 Note IX.Luminous Insects. 
 
 Eighteen fpccies of glow-worm, their light owing to their refpiration in tranfpa- 
 rent lungs ; Acudia of Surinam gives light enough to read and draw by, ufe of its light 
 to the infed ; luminous fea-infeds adhere to the flein of thofe who hathc in the ports ot 
 Languedoc, the light may arife from putrefeent flime. 
 
 Note X.Phosphorus. 
 
 Discovered by Kunkel, Brandt, and Boyle; produced in refpiration, and by 
 luminous infeds, decayed wood, and calcined (hells ; bleaching a flow combuftion in 
 which the water is decompofed; rancidity of animal fat owing to the decompofition ot. 
 water on its furface ; aerated marine acid does not whiten or bleach the hand.. 
 
Note XI .Steam-Engine. 
 
 Hero of Alexandria firft applied fleam to machinery, next a French writer in 1630* 
 the Marquis of Worcefler in 1655, Capt. Savcry in 1689, Newcomen and Cawley 
 added the pifton ; the improvements of Watt and Boulton; power of one of their 
 large engines equal to two hundred horfes. 
 
 Note XII .Frost. 
 
 Expansion of water in freezing ; injury done by vernal frofts; fifh, eggs, feeds, re- 
 lift congelation ; animals do not refift the increafe of heat ; frofts do not meliorate the 
 ground, nor are in general falubrious ; damp air produces cold on the fkin by evapo¬ 
 ration ; fnow lefs pernicious to agriculture than heavy rains for two reafons. 
 
 Note XIII .Electricity. 
 
 1. Pjlnts preferable to knobs for defence of buildings ; why points emit the eledlric 
 fluid ; diffufion of oil on water ; mountains are points on the earth’s globe ; do they 
 produce afeending currents of air ? 2. Fairy-rings explained ; advantage of paring and 
 
 burning ground. 
 
 Note XIV .Buds and Bulbs. 
 
 A Tree is a fwarm of individual plants; vegetables are either oviparous or vivi¬ 
 parous ; are all annual produflions like many kinds of infedls ; hybernacula ; a new 
 bark annually produced over the old one in trees and in fome herbaceous plants, whence 
 their roots feem end-bitten ; all bulbous roots perifh annually; experiment on a tulip- 
 root; both the leaf-bulbs and the flower-bulbs are annually renewed. 
 
 Note XV .Solar Volcanos. 
 
 The fpots in the fun are cavities, fome of them four thoufand miles deep and many 
 times as broad ; internal parts of the fun are not in a.ftate of combuftion ; volcanos vi- 
 fible in the fun ; all the planets together are lefs than one fix hundred and fiftieth part of 
 the fun ; planets were ejected from the fun by volcanos ; many reafons (hewing the pro¬ 
 bability of this hypothefis ; Mr. Buffon’s hypothefis that planets were ftruck off from 
 the fun by comets ; why no new planets are ejedled from the fun ; fome comets and the 
 georgium fidus may be of later date; Sun’s matter decreafed ; Mr. Ludlam’s opinion,, 
 that it is poflible the moon might be projected from the earth. 
 
 Note XVI .Calcareous Earth. 
 
 High mountains and deep mines replete with (hells; the earths nucleus covered 
 with limeftone; animals convert water into limeftone; all the calcareous earth in the 
 world formed in animal and vegetable bodies ; folid parts of the earth increafe ; the 
 water decreafes ; tops of calcareous mountains diffolved ; whence fpar, marbles, chalk*. 
 ftala£lites ; whence alabafter, fluor, flint, granulated limeftone, from folution of their 
 angles, and by attrition ; tupha depofited on mofs ; limeftones from (hells with animals> 
 
o 
 
 ( ”8 ) 
 
 in them ; liver-ftonc from frefh-water mufcles ; calcareous earth from land-animals 
 and vegetables, as marl ; beds of marble foftened by fire ; whence Bath-ftone contains 
 lime as well as limeftone. 
 
 Note XVII .Morasses. 
 
 The produ&ion of moraffes from fallen woods; account by the Earl Cromartie of 
 a new morafs ; moraffes lofe their falts by folution in water ; then their iron ; their 
 vegetable acid is converted into marine, nitrous, and vitriolic acids; whence gypfum, 
 alum, fulphur; into fluor-acid, whence flour; into filiceous acid, whence flint, the 
 fand of the fea, and other ftrata of filiceous fand and marl; fome moraffes ferment like 
 new hay, and, fubliming their phlogiftic part, form coal-beds above and clay below, 
 which are alfo produced by elutriation ; fhell-fifh in fome moraffes, hence fhells fome- 
 times found on coals and over iron-ftone. 
 
 Note XVIII .Iron. 
 
 Calciform ores; combuftion of iron in vital air; fteel from deprivation of vital 
 air; welding; hardnefs; brittlenefs like Rupert’s drops ; fpecific levity; hardnefs and 
 brittlcnefs compared ; Heel tempered by its colours ; modern production of iron, man- 
 ganefe, calamy ; feptaria of iron-ftone ejected from volcanos ; red-hot cannon balls. 
 
 Note XIX .Flint. 
 
 I. Siliceous rocks from moraffes ; their cements. 2. Siliceous trees ; coloured by iron 
 or manganefe ; Peak-diamonds; Briftol-ftones ; flint in form of calcareous fpar; has 
 been fluid without much heat; obtained from powdered quartz and fluor-acid by 
 Bergman and by Aehard. 3. Agates and onyxes found in fand-rocks ; of vegetable origin ; 
 have been in complete fufion; their concentric coloured circles not from fuperinduction 
 but from congelation ; experiment of freezing a folution of the blue vitriol ; iron and 
 manganefe repelled in fpheres as the nodule of flint cooled; circular ftains of marl in 
 falt-mines; fome flint nodules refemble knots of wood or roots. 4. Sand of the fea; its 
 acid from moraffes ; its bafe from fhells. 5. Chert or petrofilex ftratified in cooling; their 
 colour and their acid from fea-animals ; labradore-ftone from mother-pearl. 6. Flints 
 in chalk-beds ; their form, colour, and acid, from the flefh of fca-animals; fome are 
 hollow and lined with cryftals ; contain iron ; not produced by injeftion from without; 
 coralloids converted to flint; French-millftones; flints fometimes found in folid ftrata. 
 7. Angles of fand deftroyed by attrition and folution in fteam ; filiceous breccia cement¬ 
 ed by folution in red-hot water. 8. Bafaltes and granites are antient lavas; bafaltes 
 raifed by its congelation not by fubterraneous fire. 
 
 Note XX .Clay. 
 
 Fire and water two great agents ; ftratification from precipitation; many ftratified 
 materials not foluble in water. 1. Stratification of lava from fucceflive accumulation. 
 2. Stratifications of limeftone from the different periods of time in which the fhells were 
 
depofited. 3. Stratifications of coal, and clay, and fandftone, and iron-ores, not from 
 currents of water, but from the production of morafs-beds at different periods of time ; 
 morafs-beds become ignited; their bitumen and fulphur is fublimed; the clay, lime, and 
 iron remain; whence fand, marl, coal, white clay in valleys, and gravel-beds, and 
 fome ochres, and fome calcareous depofu : ons owing to alluviation ; clay from decom- 
 pofed granite; from the lava of Vefuvius; from vitreous lavas. 
 
 Note XXI .Enamels. 
 
 Rose-colour and purple from gold ; precipitates of gold by alcaline fait preferable 
 to thofe by tin ; aururn fulminans long ground ; tender colours from gold or iron not 
 diffolved but fufpended in the glafs; cobalts; calces of cobalt and copper require a 
 ftrong fire; Ka-o-lin and Pe-tun-tfe the fame as our own materials. 
 
 Note XXII .Portland Vase. 
 
 Its figures do not allude to private hiftory ; they reprefent a part of the Eleufiniar* 
 myfteries; marriage of Cupid and Pfyche; proceffion of torches; the figures in one 
 compartment reprefent Mortal Life in the aCl of expiring, and Humankind at¬ 
 tending to her with concern; Adam and Eve hieroglyphic figures; Abel and Cain other 
 hieroglyphic figures; on the other compartment is reprefented Immortal Life, the 
 Manes or Ghoft defcending into Elyfium is led on by Divine Love, and received by 
 Immortal Life, and conduced to Pluto ; Trees of Life and Knowledge are emble¬ 
 matical; the figure at the bottom is of Atis, the firft great Hierophant, or teacher of 
 myfteries. 4 u 
 
 Note XXIII .Coal. 
 
 1. A fountain of foftile tar in Shropfhire; has been diftilled from the coal-beds 
 beneath, and condenfed in the cavities of a fand-rock; the coal beneath is deprived of 
 its bitumen in part; bitumen fublimed at Matlock into cavities lined with fpar. 2. Coal 
 has been cxpofed to heat; woody fibres and vegetable feeds in coal at Bovey and 
 Polefworth ; upper part of coal-beds more bituminous at Beaudefert; thin ftratum of 
 afphaltum near Caulk ; upper part of coal-bed worfe at Alfreton ; upper ftratum of no 
 value at Widdrington; alum at Weft-Hallum ; at Biifton. 3. Coal at Coalbrooke- 
 Dale has been immerfed in the fea, fhewnby fea-fhells; marks of violence in the col¬ 
 liery at Mendip and at Ticknal, Lead-ore and fpar in coal-beds; gravel over coal 
 near Lichfield ; Coal produced from moraffes fhewn by fern-leaves, and bog-fhells, 
 and mufclc-fhells; by fome parts of coal being (till woody ; from Loch Neagh and 
 Bovey, and the Temple of the devil; fixed alcali; oil.. 
 
 Note XXI V.../.Granite. 
 
 'Granite the loweft ftratum of the earth yet known; porphory, trap, moor- 
 ftone, whin-ftone, flate, bafaltes, all volcanic productions diffol veil in red-hot water; 
 volcanos in granite ftrata; differ from the heat of moraftes from fermentation ; the- 
 

 C 120 3 
 
 nucleus of the earth ejefled from the fun ; was the fun originally a planet ? fuppofed 
 fe&ion of the globe. 
 
 Note XXV .Evaporation. 
 
 i. Solution of water in air; in the matter of heat; pulfe-glafs. 2. Heat is the 
 principal caufe of evaporation ; th*rmometer cooled by evaporation of ether; heat given 
 from fleam to the worm-tub ; warmth accompanying rain. 3. Steam condenfed on the 
 edu&ion of heat; moifture on cold walls ; fouth-weft and north-eaft winds. 4. Solu¬ 
 tion of fait and of blue vitriol in the matter of heat. II. Other vapours may precipi¬ 
 tate fleam and form rain. I. Cold the principal caufe of devaporation ; hence the fleam 
 diflolved in heat is precipitated, but that dilfolved in air remains even in frofts; fouth- 
 weft wind. 2. North-eaft winds mixing with fouth-weft winds produce rain ; becaufe 
 the cold particles of air of the north-eaft acquire fome of the matter of heat from the 
 louth-weft winds. 3. Devaporation from mechanical expanfion of air, as in the receiver 
 of an air-pump ; fummer clouds appear and vanilh; when the barometer finks without 
 change of wind the weather becomes colder. 4. Solution of water in ele&ric fluid 
 dubious. 5. Barometer finks from the leflened gravity of the air, and from the rain 
 having lefs prefliire as it falls; a mixture of a folution of water in calorique with an 
 aerial folution of water is lighter than dry air ; breath of animals in cold weather why 
 condenfed into vifible vapour and dilfolved again. 
 
 Note XXVI. Springs. 
 
 Lowest ftrata of the earth appear on the higheft hills; fprings from dews Aiding 
 between them ; mountains are colder than plains; 1. from their being infulated in the 
 air; 2. from their enlarged furface; 3. from the rarety of the air it becomes a better 
 condudor of heat; 4. by the air on mountains being mechanically rarefied as it afeends; 
 5. gravitation of the matter of heat; 6. the daftiing of clouds againft hills; of fogs 
 againft trees ; fprings ftronger in hot days with cold nights; ftreams from fubterranean 
 caverns; from beneath the fnow on the Alps. 
 
 Note XXVII. Shell-Fish. 
 
 The armour of the Echinus moveable; holds itfelf in ftorms to ftoncs by 1200 or 
 2000 firings : Nautilus rows and fails ; renders its (hell buoyant: Pinna and Cancer ; 
 Byfllis of the antients was the beard of the Pinna; as fine as the filk is fpun by the 
 filk worm ; gloves made of it; the beard of mufcles produces licknefs; Indian weed ; 
 tendons of rats tails. 
 
 Note XXVIII. ....Sturgeon. 
 
 Sturgeon’s mouth like a purfe; without teeth; tendrils like worms hang before 
 his lips, which entice fmall fiftt and fea infe&s miftaking them for worms; his fkin 
 ufed for covering carriages; ifinglafs made from it; caviare from the fpawn. 
 
Note XXIX. Oil on Water. 
 
 Oil and water do not touch; a fecond drop of oil will not diffufe itfelf on the pre¬ 
 ceding one ; hence it Hills the waves; divers for pearl carry oil in their mouths; oil on 
 water produces prifmatic colours; oiled cork circulates on water ; a phial of oil and 
 water made to ofcillate. 
 
 Note XXX. Ship-Worm. 
 
 The Teredo has calcareous jaws; a new enemy; they perilh when they meet to¬ 
 gether in their ligneous canals; United Provinces alarmed for the piles of the banks of 
 Zrdand; were deftroyed by a fevere winter. 
 
 Note XXXI. Maelstrom. 
 
 A Whirlpool on the coaft of Norway ; pafles through a fubterraneous cavity; 
 lefs violent when the tide is up; eddies become hollow in the middle; heavy bodies 
 are thrown out by eddies ; light ones retained ; oil and water whirled in a phial; hur¬ 
 ricanes explained. 
 
 Note XXXII. Glaciers. 
 
 Snow in contadl with the earth is in a ftate of thaw ; ice-houfes; rivers from be¬ 
 neath the fnow; rime in fpring vanilhes by its contact with the earth ; and fnow by 
 its evaporation and contadl with the earth; mofs vegetates beneath the fnow; and 
 Alpine plants perilh at Upfal for want of fnow. 
 
 Note XXXIII. Winds. 
 
 Air is perpetually fubjedt to increafe and to diminution; Oxygene is perpetually pro¬ 
 duced from vegetables in the funlhine, and from clouds in the light, and from water; 
 Azote is perpetually produced from animal and vegetable putrefaction, or combuftion ; 
 from fprings of water ; volatile alcali; fixed alcali; fea-water; they are both perpetually 
 diminifhed by their contadl with the foil, producing nitre ; Oxygene is diminilhedin the 
 produdtion of all acids; Azote by the growth of animal bodies ; charcoal in burning 
 confumes double its weight of pure air ; every barrel of red-lead abforbcs 2000 cubic 
 feet of vital air ; air obtained from variety of fubftances by Dr. Prieftlcy ; Officinaaeris 
 in the polar circle, and at the Line. South-weft winds ; their wefterly diredtion from the 
 lefs velocity of the earth’s furface; the contrary in refpedl to north-eaft winds; South- 
 weft winds confift of regions of air from the fouth; and north-eaft winds of regions 
 of air from the north; when the fouth-weft prevails for weeks and the barometer links 
 to 28, what becomes of above one fifteenth part of the atmofphere ? 1. It is not carried 
 back by fuperior currents; 2. Not from its lofs of moifture ; 3. Not carried over the 
 pole ; 4. Not owing to atmofpheric tides or mountains; 5. It is abforbed at the polar 
 circle; hence fouth-weft winds and rain ; fouth-weft fometimes cold. North-eaft winds 
 confift of air from the north; cold by the evaporation of ice; are dry winds; 1. Not fup- 
 
[ 122 ] 
 
 plied by fuperiorcurrents; 2. The whole atraofphere increafed in quantity by air fet at 
 liberty from its combinations in the polar circles. Soutb-eajl winds confift of north 
 winds driven back. North-wejl winds confift of fouth-weft winds driven back ; north- 
 weft winds of America bring froft; owing to a vertical fpiral eddy of air between the 
 eaftern coaft and the Apalachian mountains ; hence the greater cold of North America. 
 Trade-winds ; air over the Line always hotter than at the tropics ; trade-winds gain their 
 eafterly direction from the greater velocity of the earth’s furface at the line; not fupplied 
 by fuperior currents: fupplied by decompofed water in the fun’s great light; I. Becaufe 
 there are no conftant rains in the trad of the trade-winds ; 2. Becaufe there is no con- 
 denfible vapour above three or four miles high at the line. Alonfoons and tornadoes ; 
 fome places at the tropic become warmer when the fun is vertical than at the line, hence 
 the air afcends, fupplied on one fide by the north-eaft winds, and on the other by the 
 fouth-weft; whence an afcending eddy or tornado, railing water from the fea, or fand 
 from the defert, and inceffant rains ; air diminilhed to the northward produces fouth- 
 weft winds ; tornadoes from heavier air above finking through lighter air below, which 
 rifes through a perforation ; hence trees are thrown down in a narrow line of twenty or 
 forty yards broad, the fea rifes like a cone, with great rain and lightning. Land and fea 
 breezes; fea lefs heated than land; tropical ifiands more heated in the day than the 
 fea, and are cooled more in the night. Conclujion ; irregular winds from other caufes; 
 only two original winds north and fouth ; different founds of north-eaft and fouth- 
 weft winds; a Bear or Dragon in the arctic circle that fwallows at times and dif- 
 embogues again above one fifteenth part of the atmofphere; wind-inftruments ; re¬ 
 capitulation. 
 
 Note XXXIV .Vegetable Perspiration. 
 
 Pure air from Dr. Prieftley’s vegetable matter, and from vegetable leaves, owing 
 to decornpofition of water; the hydrogene retained by the vegetables ; plants in the 
 fhade are tanned green by the fun’s light; animal fkins are tanned yellow by the retention 
 of hydrogene ; much pure air from dew on a funny morning ; bleaching why fooner 
 performed on cotton than linen ; bees wax bleached; metals calcined by decompo- 
 fition of water; oil bleached in the light becomes yellow again in the dark ; nitrous 
 acid coloured by being expofed to the fun ; vegetables perfpire more than animals, 
 hence in the funfhine they purify air more by their perforation than they injure it by 
 their refpiration ; they grow fafteft in their deep. 
 
 Note XXXV .Vegetable Placentation. 
 
 Buds the viviparous offspring of vegetables; placentation in bulbs and feeds; 
 placentation of buds in the roots, hence the rifing of fap in the fpring, as in vines, 
 birch, which ceafes as foon as the leaves expand ; production of the leaf of Horfe- 
 chefnut, and of its new bud ; oil of vitriol on the bud of Mimofa killed the leaf alfo ; 
 placentation fhewn from the fvvcetnefs of the fap ; no umbilical artery in vegetables. 
 
Note XXX VI. Vegetable Circulation. 
 
 Buds fet in the ground will grow if prevented from bleeding to death by a cement; 
 vegetables require no mufcles of locomotion, no ftomach or bowels, no general fyftem 
 of veins ; they have, i. Three fyftems of abforbent veflels ; 2. Two pulmonary fyftems; 
 
 3. Arterial fyftems; 4. Glands; 5. Organs of reproduction ; 6. Mufcles. I. Ab¬ 
 forbent fyftem evinced by experiments by coloured abforptions in fig-tree and picris; 
 called air veflels erroneoudy; fpiral ftruCture of abforbent veflels ; retrograde motion 
 of them like the throats of cows. II. Pulmonary arteries in the leaves, and pulmo¬ 
 nary veins ; no general fyftem of veins (hewn by experiment; no heart ; the arteries 
 aCt like the vena portarum of the liver; pulmonary fyftem in the petals of flowers; 
 circulation owing to living irritability; vegetable abforption more powerful than 
 animal, as in vines ; not by capillary attraction. 
 
 Note XXXVII. Vegetable Respiration. 
 
 I. Leaves not perfpiratory organs, nor excretory ones ; lungs of animals. 1. Great 
 furfaces of leaves. 2. Vegetable blood changes colour in the leaves ; experiment with 
 fpurge; with picris. 3. Upper furface of the leaf only a&s as a refpiratory organ. 
 
 4. Upper furface repels moifture; leaves laid on water. 5. Leaves killed by oil like 
 infeCts; mufcles at the foot-ftalks of leaves. 6. Ufe of light to vegetable leaves; 
 experiments of Prieftley, Ingenhouz, and Scheele. 7. Vegetable circulation fimilar 
 to that of fifh. II. Another pulmonary fyftem belongs to flowers ; colours of flowers. 
 1. Vafcular ftruCture of the corol. 2. Glands producing honey, wax, &c. perifh with 
 the corol. 3. Many flowers have no green leaves attending them, as Colchicum. 
 4. Corols not for the defence of the ftamens. 5. Corol of Helleborus Niger changes 
 to a calyx. 6. Green leaves not neceflary to the fruit-bud ; green leaves of Colchi¬ 
 cum belong to the new bulb not to the flower. 7. Flower-bud after the corol falls is 
 Amply an uterus ; mature flowers not injured by taking off the green leaves. 8. Inof- 
 culation of vegetable veflels. 
 
 Note XXXVIII. Vegetable Impregnation. 
 
 Seeds in broom dilcovered twenty days before the flower opens; progrefs of the 
 feed after impregnation; feeds exift before fecundation ; analogy between feeds and 
 eggs ; progrefs of the egg within the hen ; fpawn of frogs and fifties ; male Salaman¬ 
 der ; marine plants projeCt a liquor not a powder ; feminal fluid diluted with water, if^ 
 a ftimulus only ? Male and female influence neceflary in animals, infers, arid vege¬ 
 tables, both in production of feeds and buds; docs the embryon feed produce the fur¬ 
 rounding fruit, like infeCts in gall-nuts ? 
 
[ 3 
 
 Note XXXIX .Vegetable Glandulation. 
 
 Vegetable glands cannot be injeded with coloured fluids; eflential oil; wax; 
 honey; nedary, its complicate apparatus; expofes the honey to the air like the lacry- 
 mal gland ; honey is nutritious; the male and female parts of flowers copulate and die 
 like moths and butterflies, and are fed like them with honey; anthers fuppofed to be¬ 
 come infeds ; depredation of the honey and wax injurious to plants; honey-dew; 
 honey oxygenated by expofure to air; neceflary for the produdion of fenfibility; the 
 provilion for the embryon plant of honey, fugar, ftarch, &c. fupplies food to nume¬ 
 rous clafles of animals; various vegetable fecretions as gum tragacanth, camphor, 
 elemi, anime, turpentine, balfam of Mecca, aloe, myrrh, elaftic refin, manna, fugar, 
 wax, tallow, and many other concrete juices; vegetable digeftion ; chemical produc¬ 
 tion of fugar would multiply mankind; economy of nature. 
 
 THE END. 
 
. Frtniti+fivtKX ) ol. 2 . 
 
THE 
 
 BOTANIC GARDEN. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS. 
 
 A POEM. 
 
 WITH 
 
 Philofophical Notes. 
 
 VlVUNT IN VENEREM FRONDES; NEMUS OMNE PER ALTUM 
 
 Felix arbor amat; nutant ad mutua Palma: 
 
 Fadera, populeo suspirat Populus ictu, 
 
 Et Platani Platanis, Alnoque assibilat Alnus. Claud, epith 
 
 THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD. 
 
 MDCCXCIV. 
 
 ENTERED AT STATIONERS 9 HALL. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Linneus has divided the vegetable world into 24 Clalfes; thefe 
 dalles into about 120 Orders ; thefe Orders contain about 2000 
 Families, or Genera; and thefe Families about 20,000 Species; be- 
 fldes the innumerable Varieties, which the accidents of climate or 
 cultivation have added to thefe Species. 
 
 The Clalfes are diftinguilhed from each other in this ingenious 
 fyftem, by the number, fituation, adhefion, or reciprocal proportion 
 of the males in each flower. The Orders, in many of thefe Clalfes, 
 are diftinguilhed by the number, or other circumflances of the fe¬ 
 males. The Families, or Genera, are characterized by the analogy 
 of all the parts of the flower or fructification. The Species are dif- 
 tinguilhed by the foliage of the plant; and the Varieties by any ac¬ 
 cidental circumftance of colour, tafte, or odour; the feeds of thefe 
 do not always produce plants fimilar to the parent; as in our nume¬ 
 rous fruit-trees and garden flowers; which are propagated by grafts 
 or layers. 
 
 The firft eleven Clalfes include the plants, in whofe flowers both 
 the fexes relide; and in which the Males or Stamens are neither 
 united, nor unequal in height when at maturity; and are therefore 
 diftinguilhed from each other Amply by the number of males in 
 each flower, as is feen in the annexed Plate, copied from the 
 DiCtionaire Botanique of M. Bulliard, in which thenumbersof 
 each diviflon refer to the Botanic Clalfes. 
 
 A 
 

 ii PREFACE. 
 
 CLASS I. One Male, Monandna; includes the plants which 
 poflefs but One Stamen in each flower. 
 
 II. Two Males, Diandria. Two Stamens. 
 
 III. Three Males, Triandria. Three Stamens. 
 
 IV. Four Males, Tetrandria. Four Stamens. 
 
 V. Five Males. Petandria. Five Stamens. 
 
 VI. Six Males, Hexandria. Six Stamens. 
 
 VII. Seven Males, Hcptandria. Seven Stamens. 
 
 VIII. Eight Males, Ottandria. Eight Stamens. 
 
 IX. Nine Males, Enneandria. Nine Stamens. 
 
 X. Ten Males, Decandria. Ten Stamens. 
 
 XI. Twelve Males, Dodecandria. Twelve Stamens. 
 
 The next two Clafles are diftinguiflied not only by the number 
 of equal and difunited males, as in the above eleven Clafles, but 
 require an additional circumftance to be attended to, viz. whether 
 the males or ftamens be fituated on the calyx, or not. 
 
 XII. Twenty Males, Icofandria. Twenty Stamens inferted 
 on the calyx or flower-cup ; as is well feen in the laft Figure of 
 No. xii. in the annexed Plate. 
 
 XIII. Many Males, Polyandria. From 20 to 100 Stamens, 
 which do not adhere to the calyx; as is well feen in the firfl: Figure 
 of No. xiii. in the annexed Plate. 
 
 In the next two Clafles, not only the number of ftamens are to 
 be obferved, but the reciprocal proportions in refpeft to height. 
 
 XIV. Two Powers, Didynamia. Four Stamens, of which 
 two are lower than the other two; as is feen in the two firfl; Figures 
 of No. xiv. 
 
 XV. Four Powers, ‘Tetradynamia. Six Stamens; of which 
 four are taller, and the two lower ones oppofite to each other; as 
 is feen in the third Figure of the upper row in No. xv. 
 
PREFACE. iii 
 
 The five fubfequent Clafles are diftinguifhed not by the number 
 of the males, or ftamens, but by their union or adhefion, either by 
 their anthers, or, filaments, or to the female or piftil. 
 
 XVI. One Brotherhood, Monadelphia. Many Stamens 
 united by their filaments into one company; as in the fecond Fi¬ 
 gure below of No. xvi. 
 
 XVII. Two Brotherhoods, Diadelphia. Many Stamens 
 united by their filaments into two Companies : as in the uppermoft 
 Fig. No. xvii. 
 
 XVIII. Many Brotherhoods, Many Stamens 
 
 united by their filaments into three or more companies, as in No. 
 xviii. 
 
 XIX. Confederate Males, Syngenejia. Many Stamens 
 united by their anthers; as in the firftand fecond Figures, No. xix. 
 
 XX. Feminine Males, Gynandria . Many Stamens attached 
 to the piftil. 
 
 The next three Clafles confift of plants, whofe flowers contain 
 but one of the fexes; or if fome of them contain both fexes, there 
 are other flowers accompanying them of but one fex. 
 
 XXI. One House, Mortcecia. Male flowers and female flowers 
 feparate, but on the fome plant. 
 
 XXII. Two Houses, Dicecia. Male flowers and female flowers 
 feparate, on different plants. 
 
 XXIII. Polygamy, Polygamia. Male and female flowers on 
 one or more plants, which have at the fame time flowers of both 
 fexes. 
 
 The laft Clafs contains the plants whofe flowers are not difcernible. 
 
 XXIV. Clandestine Marriage, Cryptogamia. 
 
 The Orders of the firft thirteen Clafles are founded on the num¬ 
 ber of Females, or Piftils, and diftinguifhcd by the names, One 
 
 A 2 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 iv 
 
 Female, Monogynia. Two Females, Digynia. Three Fe¬ 
 males, Trigynia , &c. as is feen in No. i. which reprefents a plant 
 of one male, one female; and in the firft figure of No. xi. which 
 reprefents a flower with twelve males, and three females; (for, 
 where the piftils have no apparent ftyles, the fummits, or ftigmas, 
 are to be numbered) and in the firfl: figure of No. xii. which repre¬ 
 fents a flower with twenty males and many females; and in the laft 
 Figure of the fame No. which has twenty males and one female; 
 and in No. xiii. which reprefents a flower with many males and 
 many females. 
 
 The Clafs of Two Powers is divided into two natural Orders; 
 into fuch as have their feeds naked at the bottom of the calyx, or 
 flower cup; and fuch as have their feeds covered; as is feen in No. 
 xiv. Fig. 3. and 5. 
 
 The Clafs of Four Powers is divided alfo into two Orders; 
 in one of thefe the feeds are inclofed in a filicule, as in Shepherd's- 
 purfe . No. xv. Fig. 5. In the other they are inclofed in a filiquq, 
 as in JVall-Jlower. Fig. 4. 
 
 In all the other Clafles, excepting the Clafles Confederate Males, 
 and Clandeftine Marriage, as the character of each Clafs is diftin- 
 guifhed by the fituations of the males; the character of the Orders 
 is marked by the numbers of them. In the Clafs One Brother¬ 
 hood, No. xvi. Fig. 3. the Order of ten males is reprefented. And 
 in the Clafs Two Brotherhoods, No. xvii. Fig. 2. the Order 
 ten males is reprefented. 
 
 In the Clafs Confederate Males, the Orders are chiefly 
 diftinguifhed by the fertility or barrennefs of the florets of the difk, 
 or ray of the compound flower. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 v 
 
 And in the Clafs of Clandestine Marriage, the four Or¬ 
 ders are termed Ferns, Mosses, Flags, and Funcusses. 
 
 The Orders are again divided into Genera, or Families, which are 
 all natural affociations,. and arc defcribed from the general refem- 
 blances of the parts of fructification, in rcfpedt to their number, 
 form, fituation, and reciprocal proportion. Thefe are the Calyx, or * 
 Flower-cup, as feen in No. iv. Fig. i. No. x. Fig. i. and 3. No. 
 xiv. Fig. 1.2. 3. 4. Second, the Corol, or Blofibm, as feen in 
 No. i. ii. &c. Third, the Males or Stamens, as in No. iv. Fig. 1. 
 and No. viii. Fig. 1. Fourth, the Females, or Piftils, as in No. i. 
 No. xii. Fig. 1. No. xiv. Fig. 3. No. xv. Fig. 3. Fifth, the 
 Pericarp or Fruit-veffel, as No. xv. Fig. 4. 5. No. xvii. Fig. 2. 
 Sixth, the Seeds. 
 
 The illuftrious author of the Sexual Syftem of Botany, in his 
 preface to his account of the Natural Orders, ingenioufly imagines, 
 that one plant of each Natural Order was created in the beginning; 
 and that the intermarriages of thefe produced one plant of every 
 Genus, or Family: and that the intermarriages of thefe Generic, or 
 Family plants, produced all the fpecies: and laltly, that the inter¬ 
 marriages of the individuals of the Species produced the Varieties. 
 
 In the following Poem, the name or number of the Clafs or 
 Order of each plant is printed in italics; as “ Two brother fwains.” 
 
 “ One Houfe contains them.” and the word “ fecret .” exprefies the 
 Clafs of Clandeftinc Marriage. 
 
 The Reader, who willies to become further acquainted with this 
 delightful field of fcience, is advifed to ftudy the works of the Great 
 Mailer, and is apprized that they are exactly and literally tranllated 
 into Englilh, by a Society at Lichfield, in four Volumes O< 5 tavo. 
 
To die SYSTEM OF VEGETABLES* is prefixed a copious 
 explanation, of all the Terms ufed in Botany, tranflated from a 
 thefis of Dr. Elm screen, with the plates and references from 
 the Philofophia Botanica of Linneus. 
 
 To the FAMILIES OF PLANTS+ is prefixed a Catalogue of 
 the names of plants, and other Botanic Terms, carefully accented, 
 to fhew their proper pronunciation; a work of great labour, and 
 which w r as much wanted, not only by beginners, but by proficients 
 in Botany. 
 
 * The STSTEM OF VEGETABLES tranflated. from the Syflema Vege¬ 
 tal ilium, in two Vols. is fold by Leigh and Sotheby, York Street, Covent 
 Garden: Price eighteen Shillings, in Boards. 
 
 f The FAMILIES OF PLANTS tranflated from the Genera Planta- 
 rum, in two Vols. by Johnson, St. Pauls Church—Yard, London • Price 
 fixteen Shillings, in Boards. 
 
/ 
 
 
 P R O E M. 
 
 GENTLE READER! 
 
 Lo, here a Camera Obscura is prefented to thy 
 view, in which are lights and fhades dancing on a 
 whited canvas, and magnified into apparent life!— 
 if thou art perfectly at leafure for fuch trivial amufe- 
 ment, walk in, and view the wonders of my In- 
 chanted Garden. 
 
 Whereas P. Ovidius Naso, a great Necro¬ 
 mancer in the famous Court of Augustus C^sar, 
 did by art poetic tranfmute Men, Women, and 
 even Gods and Goddeffes, into Trees and Flowers; 
 I have undertaken by fimilar art to reftore fome of 
 them to their original animality, after having re¬ 
 mained prifoners fo long in their refpedive vegeta¬ 
 ble manfions; and have here exhibited them before 
 

 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 ( viii ) 
 
 thee. Which thou may’ll contemplate as diverfe 
 little pictures fufpended over the chimney of a 
 Lady’s dreffing room, connected only by a flight 
 fefloon of ribbons. And which, though thou may’ll 
 not be acquainted with the originals, may amufe 
 thee by the beauty of their perfons, their graceful 
 attitudes, or the brilliancy of their drefs. 
 
 FAREWELL. 
 
 
LOVES OF THE PLANTS. 
 
 CANTO I. 
 
 Descend, ye hovering Sylphs! aerial Quires, 
 And fweep with little hands your fdver lyres ; 
 With fairy footfleps print your graffy rings, 
 
 Ye Gnomes ! accordant to the tinkling firings : 
 While in foft notes I tune to oaten reed 
 Gay hopes, and amorous forrows of the mead.— 
 From giant Oaks, that wave their branches daik, 
 To the dwarf Mofs that clings upon their bark, 
 
[ 2 ] 
 
 What Beaux and Beauties crowd the gaudy groves, 
 
 And woo and win their vegetable Loves. io 
 
 How Snowdrops cold, and blue-eyed Harebels blend 
 Their tender tears, as o’er the Bream they bend ; 
 
 The love-flck Violet, and the Primrofe pale, 
 
 Bow their fweet heads, and whifper to the gale; 
 
 With fecret fighs the Virgin Lily droops, 1 5 
 
 And jealous Cowflips hang their tawny cups. 
 
 How the young Rofe in beauty’s damafk pride 
 Drinks the warm blufhes of his bafliful bride; 
 
 With honey’d lips enamour’d Woodbines meet, 
 
 Clafp with fond arms, and mix their kifles fweet.— so 
 
 Stay thy foft-murmuring waters, gentle Rill; 
 
 Hufh, whifpering Winds; ye ruftling Leaves be Bill; 
 ReB, Blver Butterflies, your quivering wings; 
 
 Alight, ye Beetles, from your airy rings ; 
 
 Vegetable Loves. 1. io. Linneus, the celebrated Swedifli naturalift, has demonftrated, 
 that all flowers contain families of males or females, or both ; and on their marriages 
 has conftrudted his invaluable fyftem of Botany. 
 
25 
 
 u 
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 Ye painted Moths, your gold-eyed plumage furl, 
 Bow your wide horns, your fpiral trunks uncurl; 
 Glitter, ye Glow-worms, on your molly beds; 
 Defcend, ye Spiders, on your lengthened threads; 
 Slide here, ye horned Snails, with varnilh’d fhells ; 
 Ye Bee-nymphs, liden in your waxen cells! 
 
 30 
 
 BOTANIC MUSE! who in this latter age 
 Led by your airy hand the Swedilh fage, 
 
 Bade his keen eye your fecret haunts explore 
 On dewy dell, high wood, and winding fhore ; 
 Say on each leaf how tiny Graces dwell; 
 
 How laugh the Pleafures in a bloflom’s bell; 
 
 Ho w infe£t Loves arife on cobweb wings, 
 
 Aim their light fhafts, and point their little dings. 
 
 35 
 
 “ Full the tall Canna lifts his curled brow 
 Erect to heaven, and plights his nuptial vow ; 
 
 40 
 
 Canna . 1. 39 . Cane, or Indian Reed. One male and one female inhabit each flower. 
 It is brought from between the tropics to our hot-houfes, and bears a beautiful crimfon 
 flower; the feeds are ufed as (hot by the Indians, and are ftrung for prayer-beads in 
 fome Catholic countries. 
 
 B 2 
 
The virtuous pair, in milder regions born, 
 
 Dread tlie rude blaft of Autumn’s icy morn; 
 
 Round the chill fair be folds bis crimfon veil, 
 
 And clafps the timorous beauty to bis breaft. 
 
 Tby love, Callitriche, two Virgins fhare, 45 
 Smit with tby flarry eye and radiant bail , 
 
 On the green margin fits the youth, and laves 
 His floating train of trefles in the waves; 
 
 Sees bis fair features paint the ftreams that pafs, 
 
 And bends for ever o’er the watery glafs. 5 C 
 
 Two brother fwains, of Collin s gentle name, 
 The fame their features, and their forms the fame, 
 
 Callitriche. 1. 45 . Fine-hair, Stargrafs. One male and two females inhabit each flower. 
 
 Th^ upper leaves grow in form of a (far, whence it is called Ste tan. Aquatica by Ray 
 and others • its Items and leaves float far on the water, and are often fo matted together, 
 " t0 be ” 1 perfon walking on them. The male fometimes lives m a feparate flower. 
 
 CMnia 1 <1 Two males one female. I have lately obferved a very Angular cir- 
 
 cumftance in this flower ; the two males (land widely diverging from each other, and ne 
 female bends herfelf into contaft firft with one of them, and after fome time leaves t 
 Ld applies herfelf to the other. It is probable one of the anthers may be mature befor. 
 
With rival love for fair Collinia figli, 
 
 Knit the dark brow, and roll the unfteady eye. 
 
 With fweet concern the pitying beauty mourns, 55 
 And fooths with fmiles the jealous pair by turns. 
 
 Sweet blooms Genista in the myrtle lhade, 
 And ten fond brothers woo the haughty maid. 
 
 the other. See note on Gloriofa, and Genifta. The females in Nigella, devfl in the 
 bufh, are very tall compared to the males; and bending over in a circle to them, give 
 the flower fome refemblance to a regal crown. The female of the Epilob.um Augufti- 
 folium, rofe bay willow herb, bends down amongft the males for feveral days, and be- 
 comes upright again when impregnated. 
 
 Genifta. 1 . 57. Dyer’s broom. Ten males and one female inhabit this flower. The 
 males are generally united at the bottom in two fets, whence Linneus has named the clafs 
 “ two brotherhoods.” In the Genifta, however, they are united in but one fet. The 
 flowers of this clafs are called papilionaceous, from their refemblance to a butterfly, as 
 the pea-bloflbm. In the Spartium Scoparium, or common broom, I have lately obferved 
 a curious circumftance, the males orltamens are in two fets, one fet nfing a quarter of 
 an inch above the other; the upper fet does not arrive at their maturity fo foon as the 
 lower, and the ftigma, or head of the female, is produced amongft the upper or im¬ 
 mature fet; but as foon as the piftil grows tall enough to burft open the keel-leaf or 
 hood of the flower, it bends itfelf round in an inftant, tike a French horn and'nfers 
 its head, or ftigma, amongft the lower or mature fet of males. The p.ft.l, or female, 
 continues to grow in length ; and in a few days the ftigma arrives again amongl 
 upper fet, by the time they become mature. This wonderful contrivance is readi.y 
 feen by opening the keel-leaf of the flowers of broom before they burft fpontaneoufly,.. 
 See note on Collinfonia, Gloriofa, Draba. 
 
C 6 ] 
 
 Two knights before thy fragrant altar bend, 
 
 Adored Melissa ! and two fquires attend. 60 
 
 Meadia’s foft chains five fuppliant beaux confefs, 
 
 And hand in hand the laughing belle addrefs ; 
 
 Alike to all, fhe hows with wanton air, 
 
 Rolls her dark eye, and waves her golden hair. 
 
 Meliffa. 1. 60. Balm. In each flower there are four males and one female; two of 
 the males ftand higher than the other two; whence the name of the clafs “ two powers.” 
 I have obferved in the Ballota, and others of this clafs, that the two lower ftamens, or 
 males, become mature before the two higher. After they have fhed their duft, they turn 
 themfelves away outwards, and the piftil, or female, continuing to grow a little taller, 
 is applied to the upper ftamens. See Gloriofa and Genifta. 
 
 All the plants of this clafs, which have naked feeds, are aromatic. The Marum 
 and Nepeta are particularly delightful to cats ; no other brute animals feern delighted 
 with any odours but thofe of their food or prey. 
 
 Meadia. 1. 6t. Dodccatheon, American Cowflip. Five males and one female. The 
 males, or anthers, touch each other. The uncommon beauty of this flower occafioned 
 Linneus to give it a name fignifying the twelve heathen gods; and Dr. Mead to affix 
 his own name to it. The piftil is much longer than the ftamens, hence the flower- 
 ftalks have their elegant bend, that the ftigma may hang downwards to receive the fe¬ 
 cundating duft of the anthers. And the petals are fo beautifully turned back to prevent 
 the rain or dew-drops from Hiding down and wafhingoff this duft prematurely; and at 
 the fame time expofing it to the light and air. As foon as the feeds are formed, it 
 ere&s all the flower-ftalks to prevent them from falling out, and thus lofes the beauty 
 of its figure. Is this a mechanical effedt, or does it indicate a vegetable ftorge to pre- 
 ferve its offspring ? See note on Ilex, and Gloriofa. 
 
 In the Meadia, the Borago, Cyclamen, Solanum, and many others, the filaments are 
 very lhort compared with the ftyle. Hence it became neceffary, ift, to furnifli the ftamens 
 
Woo’d with long care, Curcuma, cold and lliy, 65 
 Meets her fond hufband with averted eye: 
 
 Four beardlefs youths the obdurate beauty move 
 With foft attentions of Platonic love. 
 
 with long anthers. 2d. To lengthen and bend the peduncle or flower-ftalk, that the 
 flower might hang downwards. 3d. To reflect the petals. 4th. To erect thefe pe¬ 
 duncles when the germ was fecundated. We may reafon upon this by obferving, that 
 all this apparatus might have been fpared, if the filaments alone had grown longer; 
 and that thence in thefe flowers that the filaments are the moft unchangeable parts; 
 and that thence their comparative length, in refpect to the ftyle, would afford a moft 
 permanent mark of their generic character. 
 
 Curcuma. 1. 65. Turmeric. One male and one female inhabit this flower; but there 
 are befides four imperfect males, or filaments without anthers upon them, called by Lin- 
 neus eunuchs. The flax of our country has ten filaments, and but five of them are ter¬ 
 minated with anthers ; the Portugal flax has ten perfet males or ftamens ; the Verbena 
 of our country has four males; that of Sweden has but two; the genus Albuca, the Big- 
 nonia Catalpa, Gratiola, and hemlock-leaved Geranium, have only half their filaments 
 crowned with anthers. In like manner the florets, which form the rays of the flowers 
 of the order fruftraneous polygamy of the clafs fyngenefia, or confederate males, as the 
 fun-flower, are furnifhed with a ftyle only, and no ftigma: and are thence barren. 
 There is alfo a ftyle without a ftigma in the whole order dioecia gynandria ; the male 
 flowers of which are thence barren. The Opulus is another plant, which contains fome 
 unprolific flowers. In like manner fome tribes of infets have males, females, and 
 neuters among them; as bees, wafps, ants. 
 
 There is a curious circumftance belonging to the clafs of infets which have two 
 wings, or diptera, analogous to the rudiments of ftamens above deferibed ; viz. two little 
 knobs are found placed each on a ftalk or peduncle, generally under a little arched fcale; 
 which appear to be rudiments of hinder wings, and are called by Linneus halteres, or 
 poifers, a term of his introduction. A.T. Bladh. Amxn. Acad. V. 7. Other animals 
 have marks of having in a long procefs of time undergone changes in fome parts of their 
 bodies, which may have been effected to accommodate them to new ways of procuring 
 their food. The exiftence of teats on the breads of male animals, and which are gene- 
 
With vain defires the pcnfive Alcea burns, 
 
 And, like fad Eloisa, loves and mourns. 7 ° 
 
 The freckled Iris owns a fiercer flame, 
 
 And three unjealous hufbands wed the dame. 
 
 rally replete with a thin kind of milk at their nativity, is a wonderful inftance of this 
 kind Perhaps all the productions of nature are in their progrefs to greater perfection ? 
 an idea countenanced by the modern difeoveries and deductions concerning the pro- 
 greflive formation of the folid parts of the terraqueous globe, and confonant to the 
 dignity of the Creator of all things. 
 
 Alcea. I.69. Flore plcno. Double hollyhock. The double flowers, fo much ad¬ 
 mired by the florifts, are termed by the botanift vegetable monfters; in fome of thefe 
 the petals are multiplied three or four times, but without excluding the ftamens, hence 
 they produce fome feeds, as Campanula and Stramoneum ; but in others the petals be¬ 
 come fo numerous as totally to exclude the ftamens or males: as Caltha, Peoma, and 
 Alcea ; thefe produce no feeds, and are termed eunuchs. Philof. Botan. No. 150. 
 
 Thefe vegetable monfters are formed in many ways: ift. By the multiplication of 
 the petals and the exclufion of the neCtaries, as in larkfpur. 2d. By the multiplication 
 of the neCtaries and exclufion of the petals, as in columbine. 3d. In fome flowers 
 growing in cymes, the whecl-fhape flowers in the margin are multiplied to the exclu- 
 iion of the bell-fhape flowers in the centre, as in gelder-rofe. 4th. By the elongation 
 of the florets in the centre. Inftances of both thefe are found in daify and feverfew ; 
 for other kinds of vegetable monfters, fee Plantago. 
 
 The perianth is not' changed in double flowers, hence the genus or family may be 
 often difeovered by the calyx, as in Hepatica, Ranunculus, Alcea. In thofe flowers, 
 which have many petals, the lowed feries of the petals remains unchanged in refpea to 
 number; hence the natural number of the petals is eafily difeovered. As in poppies, 
 rofes, and Nigella, or devil in a bufh. Phil. Bot.p. 128. 
 
 Iris. I.71. Flower de Luce. Three males, one female. Some of the fpecies have 
 a beautifully freckled flower; the large ftigma or head of the female covers the three 
 males, counterfeiting a petal with its diviflons. 
 
Cupressus dark difdains his dufky bride, 
 
 One dome contains them, but two beds divide. 
 The proud Osyris flies his angry fair, 
 
 Two houfes hold the fafliionable pair. 
 
 Cupreflus . 1 . 73. Cyprefs. One houfe. The males live in feparate flowers, but on 
 the fame plant. The males of fome of thefe plants, which are in feparate flowers from 
 the females, have an elaftic membrane ; which difperfes their dull to a confiderable dif- 
 tance, when the anthers burft open. This dud, on a fine day, may often be feen like 
 a cloud hanging round the common nettle. The males and females of all the cone-bearing 
 plants are in feparate flowers, either on the fame or on different plants; they produce 
 refins, and many of them are fuppofed to fupply the mod durable timber : what is called 
 Venice-turpentine is obtained from the larch by wounding the bark about two feet from 
 the ground, and catching it as it exfudes ; Sandarach is procured from common juniper; 
 2nd incenfe from a juniper with yellow fruit. The unperifhable cherts, which contain 
 the Egyptian mummies, were of Cyprefs ; and the Cedar, with which black-lead pen¬ 
 cils are covered, is not liable to be eaten by worms. See Miln’s Bot. DiCt. art. coni¬ 
 fers. The gates of St. Peter’s church at Rome, which had larted from the time of Con- 
 ftantine to that of Pope Eugene the Fourth, that is to fay, eleven hundred years, were of 
 Cyprefs, and had in that time fuffered no decay. According to Thucydides, the Athe¬ 
 nians buried the bodies of their heroes in coffins of Cyprefs, as being not fubjedt to 
 decay. A fimilar durability has alfo been afcribcd to Cedar. Thus Horace, 
 
 - fperamus carmina fitigi 
 
 Pofj'e linenda cedro & Icevi jervanda cupreffb . 
 
 Ofyris. 1. 75. Two houfes. The males and females are on different plants. There 
 are many inftances on record, where female plants have been impregnated at very 
 great diftance from their male; the duft difcharged from the anthers is very light, 
 (inall, and copious, fo that it may fpread very wide in the atmofphere, and be carried 
 to the diftant pirtils, without the fuppofition of any particular attraction; thefe plants 
 refemble fome infeCts, as the ants, and cochineal infeCt, of which the males have 
 wings, but not the female. 
 
 C 
 
{ ^J 
 
 [ 10 ] 
 
 With ftrange deformity Plantago treads, 
 
 A monfter-birth! and lifts his hundred heads ; 
 
 Yet with foft love a gentle belle he charms, 
 
 And clafps the beauty in his hundred arms. - 80 
 
 So haplefs Desdemona, fair and young, 
 
 Won by Othello’s captivating tongue, 
 
 Sigh’d o’er each ftrange and piteous tale, diftrefs’d, 
 
 And funk enamour’d on his footy breaft. 
 
 Two gentle fhepherds and their fifter-wives 85 
 
 With thee, Anthoxa ! lead ambrofial lives ; 
 
 Plantago. 1 .77. Rofea. Rofe-Plantain. In this vegetable monfter the brakes, or di- 
 vifions of the fpike, become wonderfully enlarged; and are converted into leaves. The 
 chaffy feales of the calyx in Xeranthemum, and in a fpecies of Dianthus, and the 
 glume in fome alpine graffes, and the feales of the ament in the Salix Rofea, rofe wil¬ 
 low, grow into leaves ; and produce other kinds of monfters. The double flowers be¬ 
 come monfters by the multiplication of their petals or ne&arics. See note on Alcea. 
 
 Anthoxanthum. 1 . 83. Vernal grafs. Two males, two females. The other graffes 
 have three males and two females. The flowers of this grafs give the fragrant Rent to 
 hay. I am informed it is frequently vivaporous, that is, that it bears fometimes roots 
 or bulbs inftead of feeds, which after a time drop off and (trike root into the ground. This 
 circumftance is faid to obtain in many of the alpine graffes, whofe feeds are perpetually 
 devoured by fmall birds. The Feftuca Dumetorum, fefeue grafs of the bu(hes, produces 
 bulbs from the (heaths of its draw. The Allium Magicum, or magical onion, produces 
 
v^‘ 
 
 [ ■> ] 
 
 Where the wide heath in purple pride extends, 
 And fcatter’d furze its golden luftre blends, 
 Clofed in a green recefs, unenvy’d lot! 
 
 The blue fmoak rifes from their turf-built cot; 
 Bofom’d in fragrance blufli their infant train, 
 Eye the warm fun, or drink the lilver rain. 
 
 90 
 
 
 The fair Osmunda feeks the filent dell, 
 The ivy canopy, and dripping cell; 
 
 There hid in (hades clandeftme rites approves, 
 Till the green progeny betrays her loves. 
 
 95 
 
 onions on its head, inftead of feeds. The Polygonum Viviparum, viviparous biftort, 
 Tifesabouta foot high, with a beautiful fpike of flowers, which are fucceeded by buds 
 or bulbs, which fall off and take root. There is a bulh frequently feen on birch-trees, 
 like a bird’s neft, which feems to be a fimilar attempt of nature to produce another 
 tree; which falling off, might take root in fpongy ground. 
 
 There is an inftance of this double mode of produ&ion in the animal kingdom, 
 which is equally extraordinary, the fame fpecies of Aphis is viviparous in fummer, 
 and oviparous in autumn. A. T. Bladh. Amxn. Acad. V. 7. 
 
 OJmunda. 1 . 93. This plant grows on moift rocks; the parts of its flower or its 
 feeds are fcarce difcernible; whence Linneus has given the name of clandeftine mar¬ 
 riage to this clafs. The younger plants are of a beautiful vivid green. 
 
 C 2 
 
 
 
[ 12 ] 
 
 With charms defpotic fair Chondrilla reigns 
 O’er the foft hearts of five fraternal fwains; 
 
 If fighs the changeful nymph, alike they mourn; 
 
 And, if die fmiles, with rival raptures burn. ioo 
 
 So, tun’d in unifon, Eolian Lyre ! 
 
 Sounds in fweet fpmphony thy kindred whe , 
 
 Now, gently fwept by Zephyr’s vernal wings, 
 
 Sink in foft cadences the love-fick firings ; 
 
 And now with mingling chords, and voices higher, 105 
 Peal the full anthems of the aerial choir. 
 
 Five fifler-nymplis to join Diana’s train 
 With thee, fair Lychnis ! vow,—but vow in vain ; 
 
 Chondrilla. I. 97. Of the clafs Confederate Males. The numerous florets, which 
 conftitute the dilkof the flowers in this clafs, contain in each five males furrounding one 
 female, which are connected at top, whence the name of the clafs. An Italian wri¬ 
 ter in a difcourfe on the irritability of flowers, alTerts, that if the top of the floret be 
 touched, all the filaments which fupport the cylindrical anther will contraft themfelves, 
 and that by thus raifing or deprefling the anther the whole of the prolific dull is collec¬ 
 ted on the ftigma. He adds, that if one filament be touched after it is feparated from 
 the floret, that it will contraft like the mufcular fibres of animal bodies ; his experi¬ 
 ments were tried on the Centaurea Calcitrapoides, and on artichokes, and globe-thif- 
 tles. Difcourfe on irritabilitysof plants. Dodfley. 
 
 Lychnis. 1 . 108. Ten males and five females. The flowers which contain the five 
 females, and thofe which contain the ten males, are found on different plants; andoften 
 
no 
 
 Beneath one roof reticles the virgin hand, 
 
 Flies the fond fwain, and fcorns his offer’d hand; 
 
 But when foft hours on breezy pinionsmove, 
 
 \ 
 
 And fmiling May attunes her lute to love, 
 
 Each wanton beauty, trick’d in all her grace, 
 
 Shakes the bright dew-drops from her blufhing face; 
 
 In gay undrefs difplays her rival charms, 1 15 
 
 And calls her wondering lovers to her arms. 
 
 When the young Hours amid her tangled hair 
 Wove the frefh rofe-bud, and the lily fair, 
 
 Proud Gloriosa led three chofen fwains, 
 
 The blufhing captives of her virgin chains.— 120 
 
 at a great diftance from each other. Five of the ten males arrive at the.r maturity fome 
 days before the other five, as may be feen by opening the corol before it naturally ex¬ 
 pands itfelf. When the females arrive at their maturity, they rife above the peta s, as 
 if looking abroad for their diftant hulbands ; the fcarlet ones contribute much to the 
 beauty of our meadows in May and June. 
 
 CW..1.,,,. Superb,. Six males, one female. The pe.als of this beautiful flower 
 with three of the (lamens, which are full mature, (land up in apparent dtforder i and the 
 

 C *4 ] 
 
 -When Time’s rude hand a bark of wrinkles fpread 
 
 Round her weak limbs, and filver’d o’er her head, 
 
 !Three other youths her riper years engage, 
 
 The flatter’d vidtims of her wily age. 
 
 So, in her wane of beauty, Ninon won 125 
 
 With fatal fmiles her gay unconfcious fon.—• 
 
 Clafp’d in his arms fhe own’d a mother’s name,— 
 
 “ Deflft, rafh youth ! reftrain your impious flame, 
 
 piftil bends at nearly a right angle to infert its ftigma amongft them. In a few days, as 
 thefe decline, the other three ftamens bend over, and approach the piftil. In the Fritil- 
 laria Perfica, the fix ftamens are of equal lengths, and the anthers lie at a diftance 
 from the piftil, and three alternate ones approach firft; and, when thefe decline, the 
 other three approach: in the Lithrum Salicaria, (which has twelve males and one female) 
 a beautiful red flower, which grows on the banks of rivers, fix of the males arrive at 
 maturity, and furround the female fome time before the ether fix; when thefe decline, 
 the other fix rife up, and fupply their places. Several other flowers have in a fimilar 
 manner two fets of ftamens of different ages, as Adoxa, Lychnis, Saxifraga. See Ge- 
 nifta. Perhaps a difference in the time of their maturity obtains in all thefe flowers, 
 which have numerous ftamens. In the Kalmia the ten ftamens lie round the piftil 
 like the radii of a wheel; and each anther is concealed in a nich of the corol to pro¬ 
 tect it from cold and moifture; thefe anthers rife feparately from their niches, and 
 approach the piftil for a time, and then recede to their former fituations. 
 
“ Firft on that bed your infant form was prefs’d, 
 
 “ Born by my throes, and nurtured at my breaft.”—130 
 Back as from death he fprung, with wild amaze 
 Fierce on the fair he fix’d his ardent gaze; 
 
 Dropp’d on one knee, his frantic arms outfpread, 
 
 And ftole a guilty glance toward the bed; 
 
 Then breath’d from quivering lips a whifper’d vow, 135 
 And bent on heaven his pale repentant brow ; 
 
 “ Thus, thus!” he cried, and plung’d the furious dart, 
 And life and love gulh’d mingled from his heart. 
 
 The fell Silene, and her fillers fair, 
 
 Skill’d in deftru&ion, fpread the vifcous fnare. 140 
 The harlot-band ten lofty bravoes fcreen, 
 
 And, frowning, guard the magic nets unfeen. 
 
 Silene. ]. 139. Catchfly. Three females and ten males inhabit each flower; the 
 vifcous material, which furrounds the ftalks under the flowers of this plant, and of the 
 Cucubalus Otites, is a curious contrivance to prevent various infe&s from plundering 
 the honey, or devouring the feed. In the Dionaea Mufcipula there is a ftill more wonder¬ 
 ful contrivance to prevent the depredations of infe&s: the leaves are armed with long 
 teeth, like the antenna:' of infers, and lie fpread upon the ground round the Item, and 
 
JBr 
 
 I- 3 
 
 Hafte, glittering nations, tenants of the air, 
 
 Oh, fleer from hence your viewlefs courfe afar! 
 
 If with foft words, fweet bluflies, nods, and fmiles, 145 
 The three dread Syrens lure you to their toils, 
 
 Limed by their art, in vain you point your flings, 
 
 In vain the efforts of your whirring wings !— 
 
 Go, feek your gilded mates and infant hives, 
 
 Nor tafle the honey purchas’d with your lives! 150 
 
 When heaven’s high vault condenflng clouds deform, 
 Fair Amaryllis flies the incumbent florm. 
 
 are fo irritable, that when an infeft creeps upon them, they fold up, and crufli or pierce 
 it to death. The laft profeflbr Linneus, in his Supplementum Plantarum, gives the fol¬ 
 lowing account of the Arum Mufcivorum. The flower has the fmell of carrion; by 
 which the flies are invited to lay their eggs in the chamber of the flower, but in vain 
 endeavour to efcape, being prevented by the hairs pointing inwards; and thus perifli in 
 the flower, whence its name of fly-eater. P. 411. In the Dypfacus is another contri¬ 
 vance for this purpofe, a bafon of water is placed round each joint of the ftem. In the 
 Drofera is another kind of fly-trap. See Dypfacus and Drofera ; the flowers of Silene 
 and Cucubalus are clofed all day, but are open and give an agreeable odour in the 
 night. See Cerea. See additional notes at the end of the poem. 
 
 Amaryllis . 1 . 152. Formofiflima. Moft beautiful Amaryllis. Six males, one female. 
 Some of the bell-flowers clofe their apertures at night, or in rainy or cold weather, as 
 the convolvulus, and thus protect their included ftamens and piltils. Other bell-flowers 
 
v3 
 
 t i i i 
 
 r 
 
 Seeks with unfteady ftep the fhelter’d vale, 
 
 And turns her blufhing beauties from the gale.— 
 
 Stx rival youths, with foft concern imprefs’d, 155 
 Calm all her fears, and charm her cares to reft.— 
 
 So iliines at eve the fun-illumin’d fane, 
 
 Lifts its bright crofs, and waves its golden vane; 
 
 hang their apertures downwards, as many of the lilies; in lliofe the pidil, when at 
 maturity, is longer than the damens; and by this pendant attitude of the bell, when the 
 anthers burd, their dud falls on the ftigma; and thefe are at the fame time fheltered as 
 with an umbrella from rain and dews. But, as a free expofure to the air is necefTary for 
 their fecundation, the dyle and filaments in many of thefe flowers continue to grow longer 
 after the bell is open, and hang down below its rim. In others, as in the Martagon, the 
 bell is deeply divided, and the divifions are refle£led upwards, that they may not prevent 
 the accefs of air, and at the fame time afford Tome ihelter from perpendicular rain or 
 dew. Other bell-flowers, as the Hemerocallis and Amaryllis, have their bells nodding 
 only, as it were, or hanging obliquely towards the horizon; which, as their (terns arc 
 (lender, turn like a weathercock from the wind, and thus very effe&ually preferve their 
 inclofed (tamens and anthers from the rain and cold. Many of thefe flowers, both be¬ 
 fore and after their feafon of fecundation, eredl their heads perpendicular to the hori¬ 
 zon, like the Meadia, which cannot be explained from mere mechanifm. 
 
 The Amaryllis Formofiflima is a flower of the lad-mentioned kind, and affords an 
 agreeable example of art in the vegetable economy. 1. The piftil is of great length 
 • compared with the Aamens; and this I fuppofe to have been the mod unchangeable part 
 
 of the flower, as in Meadia, which fee. 2. To counteradt this circumdance, the pidil 
 and damens are made to decline downwards, that the prolific dud might fall from the 
 anthers on the digma. 3. To produce this effedl, and to fecure it when produced, the 
 corol is lacerated, contrary to what occurs in other flowers of this geitus, and the lowed 
 divifion with the two next lowed ones are wrapped clofely over the dyle and filaments, 
 binding them forcibly down lower towards the horizon than the ufual inclination of the 
 bell in this genus, and thus conditutes a mod elegant flower. There is another contri¬ 
 vance for this purpofe in the Hemerocallis Flav-a: the long pidil often is bent fomewhat 
 like the capital letter N f with defign to (horten it, and thus to bring the digma amongd 
 the anthers. 
 
 D 
 
 V 
 
[ 18 ] 
 
 *From every breeze the polifh d axle turns, 
 
 And high in air the dancing meteor burns. 160 
 
 Four of the giant brood with Ilex hand, 
 
 Each grafps a thoufand arrows in his hand ; 
 
 A thoufand fteely points on every fcale 
 Form the bright terrors of his briftly mail.— 
 
 So arm’d, immortal Moore uncharm’d the fpell, 165 
 And flew the wily dragon of the well.— 
 
 Sudden with rage their injur d boioms burn, 
 
 Retort the infult, or the wound return; 
 
 Unwrong d, as gentle as the breeze that fweeps 
 The unbending harvefls or undimpled deeps, 170 
 
 They guard, the Kings of Needwood’s wide domains, 
 Their filler-wives and fair infantine trains; 
 
 Ilex. 1 . 161. Holly. Four males, four females. Many plants, like many animals, 
 are furnifhed with arms for their proteftion ; thefe are either aculei, prickles, as in rofe 
 and barberry, which are formed from the outer bark of the plant ; or fpinx, thorns, as 
 in hawthorn, which are an elongation of the wood, and hence more difficult to be tom 
 off than the former; or ftinwli, flings, as in the nettles, which are armed with a 
 
Lead the lone pilgrim through the tracklefs glade, 
 
 Or guide in leafy wilds the wandering maid. 
 
 So Wright’s bold pencil from Vefuvio’s hight 175 
 Hurls his red lavas to the troubled night; 
 
 From Calpe harts the intolerable flafh, 
 
 Skies burll in flames, and blazing oceans dafli?- 
 
 venomous fluid for the annoyance of naked animals. The fhrubs and trees, which have 
 prickles or thorns, are grateful food to many animals, as goofeberry and gorfe; and 
 would be quickly devoured, if not thus armed ; the flings feem a protedlion againft 
 fome kinds of infefls, as well as the naked mouths of quadrupeds. Many plants lofe 
 their thorns by cultivation, as wild animals lofe their ferocity ; and fome of them their 
 horns. A curious circumftance attends the large hollies in Needwood foreft; they are 
 armed with thorny leaves about eight feet high, and have fmooth leaves above, as if 
 they w'er.e confcious that horfes and cattle could not reach their upper branches. See 
 note on Meadia, and on Mancinella. The numerous clumps of hollies in Needwood 
 foreft ferve as land-marks to diredt the travellers acrofs it in various directions ; and as a 
 flicker to the deer and cattle in winter; and in fcarce feafons fupply them with much 
 food. For when the upper branches, which are without prickles, are cut down, the 
 deer crop the leaves and peel off the bark. The bird-lime made from the bark of hollies 
 feems to be a very fimilar material to the elaftic gum, or Indian rubber, as it is called. 
 There is a foflile elaftic bitumen found at Matlock in Derbyfhire, which much refemblce 
 thefe fubftances in its elafticity and inflammability. The thorns of the Mimofa Cornigera 
 refemble cow’s horns in appearance as well as in ufe. Syftem of Vegetables, p. 782. 
 
 Hurls his red lavas. 1 . 176. Alluding to the grand paintings of the eruptions of 
 Vefuvius, and of the deftrudtion of the Spanifh vefTels before Gibraltar; and to the 
 beautiful landfcapes and moonlight fcenes, by Mr. Wright of Derby. 
 

 
 [ 20 ] 
 
 Or birds in fweet repofe his diades recede, 
 
 Winds the dill vale, and dopes the velvet mead; 180 
 
 On the pale dream expiring Zephyrs fink, 
 And Moonlight deeps upon its hoary brink. 
 
 Gigantic Nymph! the fair Kleinhovia reigns. 
 
 The grace and terror of Orixa’s plains ; 
 
 O’er her warm cheek the blufh of beauty fwims, 185 
 And nerves Herculean bend her dnewy limbs ; 
 
 With frolic eye die views the affrighted throng. 
 
 And diakes the meadows as die towers along; 
 
 With playful violence difplays her charms, 
 
 And bears her trembling lovers in her arms. 190 
 
 Kleinhovia . 1 . 183. In this clafs the males in each flower are fupported by the female. 
 The name of the ciafs may be tranflated “ Viragoes,” or “ Feminine Males.” 
 
 The large!! tree perhaps in the world is of the fame natural order as Kleinhovia; it 
 is the Adanfonia, or Ethiopian Sour-gourd, or African Calabafli-tree. Mr. Adanfon 
 fays the diameter of the trunk frequently exceeds 25 feet, aud the horizontal branches 
 are from. 45 to 55 feet long, and fo large that each branch is equal to the largeft trees 
 of Europe. The breadth of the top is from 120 to 150 feet; and one of the roots bared 
 only in part by the wafhing away of the earth from the river, near which it grew, mea- 
 fured 110 feet long; and yet thefe flupendous trees never exceed 70 feet in height. 
 Voyage to Senegal. 
 
r 2i ] 
 
 ✓ 
 
 So fair Thalestris diook her plumy creft, 
 
 And hound in rigid mail her jutting bread ; 
 
 Poifed her long lance amid the walks of war, 
 
 And Beauty thunder’d from Bellona’s car; 
 
 Greece arm’d in vain, her captive heroes wove 195 
 The chains of conqueft with the wreaths of love. 
 
 * 
 
 When o’er the cultivated lawns and dreary wades 
 Retiring Autumn dings her howling blads, 
 
 Bends in tumultuous waves the druggling woods, 
 
 And fhowers their leafy honours on the doods, 200 
 In withering heaps collods the dowery fpoil, 
 
 And each dull inie£t dnks beneath the fod j 
 
 Quick dies fair Tulipa the loud alarms, 
 
 / • 
 
 And folds her infant clofer in her arms ; 
 
 Tulipa. 1 . 204. Tulip. What is in common language called a bulbous-root, is by 
 Linneus termed the Hybernacle, or Winter-lodge of the young plant. As thefe bulbs 
 in every refpeft refemble buds, except in their being produced under ground, and in¬ 
 clude the leaves and flower in miniature, which are to be expanded in the enfumg 
 Coring. By cautioufly cutting in winter through the concentric coats of a tul.p-root, 
 longitudinally from the top to the bafe, and taking them off fucceflively, the whole 
 
In Tome lone cave, fecure pavilion, lies, 205 
 
 And waits tlie courtihip of ferener Ikies.— 
 
 So, fix cold moons, die Dormoufe charm’d to reft, 
 Indulgent Sleep ! beneath thy eider breaft, 
 
 In fields of Fancy climbs the kernel’d groves, 
 
 Or ftiares the golden harveft with his loves.— 210 
 
 O 
 
 Then bright from earth amid the troubled Iky 
 Afcends fair Colchica with radiant eye, 
 
 flower of the next fummer’s tulip is beautifully feen by the naked eye, with its petals, 
 pifl.il, and ftamens; the flowers exift in other bulbs, in the fame manner, as in Hya¬ 
 cinths, but the individual flowers of thefe being lefs, they are not fo eafily differed, or 
 fo confpicuous to the naked eye. 
 
 In the feeds of the Nymphaea Nelumbo, the leaves of the plant are feen fo diftindtly, 
 that Mr. Ferber found out by them to what plant the feeds belonged. Amaen. Acad. V. 
 vi. No. 120. He fays that Mariotte firft obferved the future flower and foliage in the 
 bulb of a Tulip; and adds, that it is pleafant to fee in the buds of the Hepatica and 
 Pedicularis hirfuta, yet lying in the earth ; and in the gems of Daphne Mezereon ; and 
 at the bafe of Ofmunda Lunaria, a perfedt plant of the future year complete in all its 
 parts. Ibid. 
 
 Colchicum autumnale. 1 . 212. Autumnal Meadow-faffron. Six males, three females. 
 The germ is buried within the root, which thus feems to conftitute a part of the flower. 
 Families of Plants, p. 242. Thefe Angular flowers appear in the autumn without any 
 leaves, whence in fome countries they are called Naked Ladies: in the March following 
 the green leaves fpring up, and in April the feed-veflel rifes from the ground ; the feeds 
 ripen in May, contrary to the ufual habits of vegetables, which flower in the fpring, and 
 ripen their feeds in the autumn. Miller’s Didt. The juice of the root of this plant is fo 
 acrid as to produce violent effedts on the human conftitution, which alfo prevents it from 
 being eaten by fubterranean infedts, and thus guards the feed-veflel during the winter. 
 
Warms the cold bofom of the hoary year, 
 
 And lights with Beauty’s blaze the duiky fphere. 
 
 Three blulhing Maids the intrepid Nymph attend, 215 
 And fx gay Youths, enamour’d train ! defend. 
 
 So dimes with filver guards the Georgian ftar, 
 
 And drives on Night’s blue arch his glittering car ; 
 Hangs o’er the billowy clouds his lucid form, 
 
 Wades through the mift, and dances in the ftorm. 220 
 
 Great Helianthus guides o’er twilight plains 
 In gay folemnity his Dervife-trains; 
 
 The defoliation of deciduous trees is announced by the flowering of the Colchicum; of 
 thefe the aft is the laft that puts forth its leaves, and the firft that lofes them. I hil. 
 
 Bot. p. 275. „ . , 
 
 The Hamamelis, Witch Hazle, is another plant which flowers in autumn; when the 
 
 leaves fall off, the flowers come out in clufters from the joints of the branches, am m 
 Virginia ripen their feed in the enfuing fpring; but in this country their feeds feldom 
 ripen. Lin. Spec. Plant, Miller s Di£t. 
 
 Helianthus. 1 . 22i. Sun flower. The numerous florets which conftitute the difk of 
 this flower, contain in each five males furrounding one female, the five ftamens have 
 their anthers conneded at top, whence the name of the clafs “ confederate ma es; -e 
 note on Chondrilla. The fun-flower follows the courfe of the fun by nutation, not >y 
 twilling its Hem. (Hales .eg. flat.) Other plants, when the, are confined maroon,, 
 turn the ftiining furfacc of their leaves, and bend their whole branches to th a 
 Mimofa. 
 

 I 24 ] 
 
 Marfhall’d in fives each gaudy band proceeds, 
 
 Each gaudy band a plumed Lady leads ; 
 
 With zealous ftep he climbs the upland lawn, 225 
 And bows in homage to the riling dawn ; 
 
 Imbibes with eagle eye the golden ray, 
 
 And watches, as it moves, the orb of day. 
 
 f , * . * 
 
 Queen of the marlh, imperial Drosera treads 
 Rulli-fringed banks, and mofs-embroider’d beds; 230 
 
 A plumed Lady leads. 1. 224. The feeds of many plants of this clafs-are furnifhed with 
 a plume, by which admirable mechanifm they are difleminated by the winds far from 
 their parent ftern, and look like a fhuttlecock, as they fly. Other feeds are difleminated 
 by animals; of thefe fome attach themfelves to their hair or feathers by a gluten, as 
 mifletoe-; others by hooks, as cleavers, burdock, hou nds-tongue; and others are fwal¬ 
 lowed whole for the fake of the fruit, and voided uninjured, as the hawthorn, juniper, 
 and fome grafles. Other feeds again difperfe themfelves by means of an elaftic feed-vef- 
 fel, as Oats, Geranium, and Impatiens; and the feeds of aquatic plants, and of thofe 
 which grow on the banks of rivers, are carried many miles by the currents, into which 
 they fall. See Impatiens. Zoftera. Caflia. Carlina. 
 
 Drofera. 1 . 229. Sun-dew. Five males, five females. The leaves of this marfh- 
 plant are purple, and have a fringe very unlike other vegetable produ&ions. And, which 
 is curious, at the point of every thread of this erecl fringe ftands a pellucid drop of mu¬ 
 cilage, refembling a ducal coronet. This mucus is a fecretion from certain glands, and 
 like the vifcous material round the flower-flalks of Silene (catchfly) prevents fmall in¬ 
 fers from infefting the leaves. As the ear-wax in animals feems to be in part defigned 
 to prevent fleas and other infers from getting into their cars. See Silene. Mr. Wheailv, 
 an eminent furgeon in‘Cateaton-ftreet, London, obferved thefe leaves to bend upwards 
 when an infed fettled on them, like the leaves of the Mufcipula Veneris, and pointing 
 
Redundant folds of glofly 111 k furround. 
 
 Her {lender waifl, and trail upon the ground; 
 
 Five fifter-nymphs colle£t with graceful eafe, 
 
 Or fpread the floating purple to the breeze ; 
 
 And five fair youths with duteous love comply 235 
 With each foft mandate of her moving eye. 
 
 % 
 
 As with fweet grace her fnowy neck fhe bows, 
 
 A zone of diamonds trembles round her brows; 
 
 Bright fliines the fllver halo, as (he turns; 
 
 And, as fhe fteps, the living luftre burns. 240 
 
 Fair Lonicera prints the dewy lawn, 
 
 And decks with brighter blulli the vermil dawn; 
 
 all their globules of mucus to the centre, that they completely intangled and deftroyed 
 it. M. Brouflonet, in the Mem. de l’Acad. des Sciences for the year 1784, p. 615, 
 after having defcribed the motion of the Dionxa, adds, that a fimilar appearance has 
 been obferved in the leaves of two fpecies of Drofera. 
 
 Lonicera. 1 . 241. Caprifolium, Honeyfuckle. Five males, one female. Nature has in 
 many flowers ufed a wonderful apparatus to guard the neftary or honey gland from in¬ 
 fers. In the honeyfuckle the petal terminates in a long tube like a cornucopia:, or 
 horn of plenty; and the honey is produced at the bottom of it. In Aconitum, monks¬ 
 hood, the neftaries ftand upright like two horns covered with a hood, which abounds 
 
[ 26 ] 
 
 Winds round the fhadowy rocks, and pancied vales, 
 
 And (cents with Tweeter breath the fummer-gales. 
 
 With artlefs grace and native eafe (he charms, 245 
 And bears the horn of plenty in her arms. 
 
 Five rival Swains their tender cares unfold, 
 
 And watch with eye alkance the treafured gold.. 
 
 with fuch acrid matter that no infe&s penetrate it. In Helleborus, hellebore, the many 
 ne&aries are placed in a circle like little pitchers, and add much to the beauty of the 
 flower. In the columbine, Aquilegia, the nedtary is imagined to be like the neck and 
 body of a bird, and the two petals {landing upon each fide to reprefent wings ; whence 
 its name of columbine, as if refembling a neft of young pigeons fluttering whilft their 
 parent feeds them. The importance of the nedlary in the economy of vegetation is 
 explained at large in the notes on part the fird. 
 
 Many infedls are provided with a long and pliant probofeis for the purpofe of ac¬ 
 quiring this grateful food, as a variety of bees, moths, and butterflies: but the Sphinx 
 Convolvuli, or unicorn moth, is furnifhed with the mod remarkable probofeis in this 
 climate. It carries it rolled up in concentric circles under its chin, and occafionally 
 extends it to above three inches in length. This trunk confids of joints and mufcles, 
 and feems to have more verfatile movements than the trunk of the elephant; and near 
 its termination is fplit into two capillary tubes. The excellence of this contrivance for 
 robbing the flowers of their honey, keeps this beautiful infedt fat and bulky ; though 
 it flies only in the evening, when the flowers have clofed their petals, and are thence 
 more difficult of accefs ; and at the fame time the brilliant colours of the moth contri¬ 
 bute to its fafety, by making it midaken by the late fleeping birds for the flower it 
 reds on. 
 
 Befldes thefe there is a curious contrivance attending the Ophrys, commonly called 
 the Bee-orchis, and the Fly-orchis, with fome kinds of the Delphinium, called Bee- 
 larkfpurs, to preferve their honey; in thefe the nedlary and petals refemble in form and 
 colour the infefts which plunder them; and thus it may be fuppofed, they often efcape 
 thefe hourly robbers, by having the appearance of being pre-occupied. See note on 
 Psiib-ia, and Conferva Polymorpha, 
 
2 50 
 
 Where rears huge Tenerif his azure creft, 
 
 Afpiring Dr aba builds her eagle neft ; 
 
 Her pendant eyry icy caves furround, 
 
 Where erft Volcanos mined the rocky ground. 
 
 Pleafed round the Fair four rival Lords afcend 
 The fhaggy fteeps, two menial youths attend. 
 
 High in the fetting ray the beauty ftands, 255 
 
 And her tall fliadow waves on diftant lands. 
 
 \ 
 
 4 
 
 Oh, flay, bright habitant of air, alight, 
 
 Ambitious Visca, from thy angel-flight!— 
 
 Draba. 1 . 250. Alpina. Alpine Whitlow-grafs. One female and fix males. Fouf 
 of thefe males (land above the other two; whence the name of the clafs “ four pow¬ 
 ers.” I have obferved in feveral plants of this clafs, that the two lower males arife, 
 in a few days after the opening of the flower, to the fame height as the other four, not 
 being mature as foon as the higher ones. See note on Gloriofa. All the plants of this 
 dafs poflefs fimilar virtues; they are termed acrid and antifcorbutic in their raw Hate, 
 as muftard, watercrefs; when cultivated and boiled, they become a mild wholefome 
 food, as cabbage, turnep. 
 
 There was formerly a Volcano on the Peake of Tenerif, which became extinct about 
 the year 1684. Philof. Tranf. In many excavations of the mountain, much below the 
 fummit, there is now found abundance of ice at all feafons. Tench’s Expedition to 
 Botany Bay, p. 12. Are thefe congelations in confequence of the daily folution of the 
 hoar-froft, which is produced on the fummit during the night ? 
 
 Vifcum . 1 . 258. Mifleto. Two houfes. This plant never grows upon the ground; 
 the foliage is yellow, and the berries milk-white; the berries are fo vifeous, as to ferve 
 
 E 2 
 
o 
 
 [ 28 ] 
 
 -Scorning the fordid foil, aloft fhe fprings, ^59 
 
 Shakes her white plume, and claps her golden wings; 
 High o’er the fields of boundlefs ether roves, 
 
 And feeks amid the clouds her foaring loves! 
 
 Stretch’d on her molfy couch, in tracklefs deeps, 
 Queen of the coral groves, Zostera fleeps; 
 
 The filvery fea-weed matted round her bed, 265 
 
 And diftant furges murmuring o’er her head.— 
 
 for bird-dime; and when they fall, adhere to the branches of the tree, on which the plant 
 grows, and ftrike root into its bark; or are carried to diftant trees by birds. The Til- 
 landfia, or wild pine, grows on other trees, like the Mifletoe, but takes little or no 
 nouriftiment from them, having large buckets in its leaves to colleft and retain the rain 
 water. See note on Dypfacus. The modes, which grow on the bark of trees, take 
 much nouriftiment from them; hence it is obferved that trees, which are annually 
 cleared from mofs by a brufh, grow nearly twice as faft. (Phil. Tranfadl.) In the 
 cyder countries the peafants brufh their apple-trees annually. 
 
 lofiera. 1 . 264. Grafs-wrack. Clafs, Feminine Males. Order, many Males. It 
 grows at the bottom of the fea, and rifing to the furface when in flower, covers many 
 leagues; and is driven at length to the fhore. During its time of floating on the fea, 
 numberlefs animals live on the under furface of it; and being fpecifically lighter than 
 the fea-water, or being repelled by it, have legs placed as it were on their backs for the 
 purpofe of walking under it. As the Scylloea. See Barbut’s Genera Vermium. Itfeems 
 neceflary that the marriages of plants fhould be celebrated in the open air, either becaufe 
 the powder of the anther, or the mucilage on the ftigma, or the refervoir of honey 
 might receive injury from the water. Mr. Needham obferved, that in the ripe duft 
 of ^very flower, examined by the microfcope, fome veficles are perceived, from which 
 
High in the flood her azure dome afcends, 
 
 / 
 
 The cryftal arch on cryftal columns bends; 
 
 Roof’d with tranflucent (hell the turrets blaze, 
 
 And far in ocean dart their colour’d rays; 270 
 
 O’er the white floor fucceflive fliadows move, 
 
 As rife and break the ruffled waves above.— 
 
 Around the nymph her mermaid-trains repair, 
 
 And weave with orient pearl her radiant hair; 
 
 With rapid fins Ihe cleaves the watery way, 275 
 
 Shoots like a filver meteor up to day; 
 
 Sounds a loud conch, convokes a fcaly hand, 
 
 Her fea-born lovers, and afcends the ftrand. 
 
 E’en round the pole the flames of Love afpire, 
 
 And icy bofoms feel the fecrct fire!—- 
 
 a fluid had e f c aped ; and that thofe, which ftill retain it, explode if they be wetted like 
 
 tzzx v-ss 
 
 zzz £•*«* Md rifmg 
 
 1 furface are wafted by dr. air to the female Sowers. See V allrtoem. 
 
o 
 
 • l 
 
 C. 30 ] 
 
 Cradled in inow and fann’d by ar&ic air 
 Shines, gentle Barometz ! thy golden hair ; 
 
 Rooted in earth each cloven hoof defeends, 
 
 And round and round her flexile neck flie bends; 
 
 Crops the gray coral mofs, and hoary thyme, 285 
 
 Or laps with rofy tongue the melting rime. 
 
 Barometz . 1. 282. Polypodium Barometz. Tartarian Lamb. Clandeftine Marriage. 
 This fpecies of Fern is a native of China, with a decumbent root, thick, and every 
 where covered with the moft foft and denfc wool, intenfely yellow. Lin. Spec. Plant. 
 
 This curious ftem is fometimes puftied out of the ground in its horizontal fituation 
 by fome of the inferior branches of the root, fo as to give it fome refemblance to a 
 Lamb {landing on four legs ; and has been faid to deftroy all other plants in its vici¬ 
 nity. Sir Hans Sloane deferibes it under the name of Tartarian Lamb, and has given 
 a print of it. Philof. Tranf. abridged, v. 11, p. 646. but thinks fome art had been 
 ufed to give it an animal appearance. Dr. Hunter, in his edition of the Terra of 
 Evelyn, has given a more curious print of it, much refembling a fheep. The down 
 is ufed in India externally for flopping hemorrhages, and is called golden mofs. 
 
 T he thick downy clothing of fome vegetables feems defigned to protect them from 
 the injuries of cold, like the wool of animals. Thofe bodies, which are bad conduc¬ 
 tors of ele&ricity, are alfo bad condudtors of heat, as glafs, wax, air. Hence either 
 of the two former of thefe may be melted by the flame of a blow-pipe very near the 
 fingers which hold it without burning them ; and the lad, by being confined on the 
 furface of animal bodies, in the interflices of their fur or wool, prevents the efcape of 
 their natural warmth; to which fliould be added, that the hairs themfelves are imperfect 
 conductors. The fat or oil of whales, and other northern animals, feems defigned 
 for the fame purpofe of preventing the too fudden efcape of the heat of the body in 
 cold climates. Snow protects vegetables which are covered by it from cold, both be- 
 caufe it is a bad conductor of heat ltfelf, and contains much air in its pores. If a piece 
 of camphor be immerfed in a fnow-ball, except one extremity of it, on fetting fire to 
 this, as the fnow melts, the water becomes abforbed into the furrounding fnow by ca¬ 
 pillary attraction; on this account, when living animals are buried in fnow, they are 
 not moiftened by it; but the cavity enlarges as the fnow diflolves, affording them both 
 a dry and warm habitation. 
 

 [ 31 ] 
 
 Eyes with mute tendernefs her diftant dam, 
 
 Or Teems to bleat, a Vegetable Lamb. 
 
 —So, warm and buoyant in his oily mail, 
 
 Gambols on Teas of ice the unwieldy Whale; 290 
 
 Wide-waving fins round floating iflands urge 
 His bulk gigantic through the troubled furge; 
 
 With hideous yawn the flying fhoals he feeks, 
 
 Or clafps with fringe of horn his mafly cheeks; 
 
 Lifts o’er the tolling wave his noftrils bare, 295 
 
 And fpouts pellucid columns into air; 
 
 The filvery arches catch the fetting beams, 
 
 And tranfient rainbows tremble o’er the ftreams. 
 
 Weak with nice fenfe the chafte Mimosa Hands, 
 From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands; 300 
 
 Mimofa. I.299. The fenfitive plant. Of the clafs Polygamy, one houfe. Naturalifts 
 have not explained the immediate caufe of the collapfing of the fenfitive pla nt; the leaves 
 meet and clofe in the night during the fleep of the plant, or when expofed to much cold 
 in the day-time, in the fame manner as when they are affefied by external violence, fold¬ 
 ing their upper furfaces together, and in part over each other like feales or tiles, fo as to 
 expofe as little of the upper furface as may be to the air; but do not indeed collapfe quite 
 
[ 32 ] 
 
 » 
 
 Oft as liglit clouds o’er-pafs the Summer-glade, 
 
 Alarm’d fhe trembles at the moving (hade; 
 
 » 
 
 And feels, alive through all her tender form, 
 
 The whifper’d murmurs of the gathering florm ; 
 
 Shuts her fweet eye-lids to approaching night, 305 
 And hails with frefhen’d charms the rifing light. 
 
 Veil’d, with gay decency and modeft pride, 
 
 Slow to the mofque fhe moves, an eaftern bride; 
 
 There her foft vows unceafing love record, 
 
 Queen of the bright feraglio of her lord.— 310 
 
 So finks or rifes with the changeful hour 
 The liquid filver in its glaffy tower. 
 
 fo far, fince I have found, when touched in the night during their deep, they fall dill 
 farther; efpecially when touched on the foot-ftalks between the ftems and the leaflets, 
 which feems to be their mod fenfitive or irritable part. Now, as their fituation after 
 being expofed to external violence refembles their fleep, but with a greater degree of col- 
 lapfe, may it not be owing to a numbnefs or paralyfis confequent to too violent frritation, 
 like the faintings of animals from pain or fatigue? I kept a fenfitive plant in a dark 
 room till fome hours after day-break ; its leaves and leaf-ftalks were collapfed as in its 
 mod profound fleep, and on expofing it to the light, above twenty minutes pafled before 
 the plant was thoroughly awake and had quite expanded itfelf. During the night the 
 upper or fmoother furfaces of the leaves are apprefled together ; this would feem to fhew 
 that the office of this furface of the leaf was to expofe the fluids of the plant to the light 
 as well as to the air. See note on Helianthus. Many flowers clofe up their petals du¬ 
 ring the night. See note on vegetable refpiration in Part I. 
 
 / 
 
So turns the needle to the pole it loves, 3 T 5 
 
 With fine librations quivering, as it moves. 
 
 All wan and fhivering in the leaflefs glade 
 The fad Anemone reclin’d her head ; 
 
 Grief on her cheeks had paled the rofeate hue, 
 
 And her fweet eye-lids dropp’d with pearly dew. 320 
 
 _« See, from bright regions, borne on odorous gales 
 
 “ The Swallow, herald of the fummer, fails; 
 
 Anemone. 1 . 318. Many males, many females. Pliny fays this flower never opens 
 its petals but when the wind blows; whence its name : it has properly no calyx, but 
 two or three fets of petals, three in each fet, which are folded over the ftamens and 
 piftil in a Angular and beautiful manner, and differs alfo from ranunculus in not having 
 a melliferous pore on the claw of each petal. 
 
 The Swallow. 1 . 322. There is a wonderful conformity between the vegetation of 
 feme plants, and the arrival of certain birds of pafTage. Linneus obferves that the wood 
 anemone blows in Sweden on the arrival of the fwallow; and the marfh mary-gold, 
 Caltha, when the cuckoo fings. Near the fame coincidence was obferved in England 
 by Stillingfleet. The word Coccux in Greek fignifies both a young fig and a cuckoo, 
 which i« fuppofed to have arifen from the coincidence of their appearance in Greece. 
 Perhaps a fimilar coincidence of appearance in fome part of Afia gave occafion to the 
 ftorv of the love of the rofe and nightingale, fo much celebrated by the eaftern poets. 
 See Dianthus. The times however of the appearance of vegetables in the tyring feem 
 cccafionally to be influenced by their acquired habits, as well as by their fenfibility to 
 heat: for the roots of potatoes, onions, Ac. will germinate with much lefs heat in the 
 fpring than in the autumn ; as is eafily obfervable where thefe roots are ftored for ufe ; 
 
L 34 1 
 
 “ Breathe, gentle Air ! from cherub-lips impart 
 u Thy balmy influence to my anguifh’d heart; 324 
 
 “ Thou, whofe foft voice calls forth the tender blooms, 
 “ Whofe pencil paints them, and whofe breath perfumes; 
 “ Oh chafe the Fiend of Fro ft, with leaden mace 
 “ Who ieals in death-like fleep my haplefs race; 
 
 “ Melt his hard heart, releafc his iron hand, 
 
 “ And give my ivory petals to expand. 330 
 
 and hence malt is beft made in the fpring. 2d. The grains and roots brought from more 
 fouthern latitudes germinate here fooner than thofe which are brought from more nor¬ 
 thern ones, Owing to their acquired habits* Fordyce on Agriculture. 3d. It was ob- 
 ferved by one of the fcholars of Linneus, that the apple trees fent from hence to New 
 England bloffomed for a few years too early for that climate, and bore no fruit; but 
 afterwards learnt to accommodate thcmfelves to their new fituation. (Kalm's Travels) 
 4th. The parts of animals become more fenfible to heat after having been previoufly 
 expofed to cold, as our hands glow on coming into the houfe after having held fnow in 
 them ; this feems to happen to vegetables; for vines in grape-houfes, which have been 
 expofed to the winter’s cold, will become forwarder and more vigorous than thofe 
 which have been kept during the winter in the houfe. (Kennedy on Gardening.) 
 This accounts for the very rapid vegetation in the northern latitudes after the folution 
 of the fnows. 
 
 The increafe of the irritability of plants in refpeft to heat, after having been pre¬ 
 vioufly expofed to cold, is farther illuflrated by an experiment of Dr. Walker’s. He 
 cut apertures into a birch-tree at different hights; and on the 26th of March fome of 
 thefe apertures bled, or oozed with the Tap-juice, when the thermometer was at 39 ; 
 which fame apertures did not bleed on the 13th of March, when the thermometer was 
 at 44. The reafon of this I apprehend was, becaufe on the night of the 25th the 
 thermometer was as low as 34j whereas on the night of the 12th it was at 41j though 
 the ingenious author aferibes it to another caufe. Tranf. of the Royal Soc. of Edin¬ 
 burgh, v. 1, p. 19. 
 
“ So may each bud, that decks the brow of fpring, 
 “ Shed all its incenfe on thy wafting wing!”— 
 
 To her fond prayer propitious Zephyr yields, 
 Sweeps on his Aiding fhell through azure fields, 
 O’er her fair manfion waves his whifpering wand, 
 And gives her ivory petals to expand! 
 
 Gives with new life her filial train to rife, 
 
 And hail with kindling fmiles the genial Ikies. 
 
 So lliines the Nymph in beauty’s bluAiing pride, 
 When Zephyr wafts her deep calaAi afide, 
 
 Tears with rude kifs her bofom’s gauzy ved, 
 
 And Aings the Auttering kerchief to the gale. 
 
 So bright, the folding canopy undrawn, 
 
 Glides the gilt Landau o’er the velvet lawn, 
 
 Of beaux and belles difplays the glittering throng, 
 And foft airs fan them, as they roll along. 
 
 Where frowning Snowden bends his dizzy brow 
 O’er Conway, liftening to the furge below; 
 
35 ° 
 
 C 36 ] 
 
 Retiring Lichen climbs the topmoft ftone, 
 
 And drinks the aerial folitude alone.— 
 
 Bright fliine the ftars unnumber’d o'er her head , 
 
 And the cold moon-beam gilds her flinty bed ; 
 
 While round the rifted rocks hoarfe whirlwinds breathe, 
 And dark with thunder fail the clouds beneath .— 
 
 The fleepy path her plighted fwain purfues, 3 55 
 
 And tracks her light fteps o’er the imprinted dews ; 
 Delighted Hymen gives his torch to blaze, 
 
 Winds round the craggs, and lights the mazy ways; 
 Sheds o’er their fecret vows his influence chafte, 
 
 And decks with rofes the admiring waile. 360 
 
 High in the front of heaven when Sirius glares, 
 And o’er Britannia fhakes his fiery hairs : 
 
 Lichen. I.349. Calcareum. Liver-wort. Clandeftine Marriage. This plant is the 
 firft that vegetates on naked rocks, covering them with a kind of tapeftry, and draws its 
 nourifhment perhaps chiefly from the air ; after it perilhes, earth enough is left for other 
 mofles to root themfelves ; and after fome ages a foil is produced fufficient for the growth 
 of more fucculent and large vegetables. In this manner perhaps the whole earth has 
 been gradually covered with vegetation, after it was raifed out of the primeval ocean 
 by fubtcrraneous fires. 
 
When no foft fhower defcends, no dew didills, 
 
 Her wave-worn channels dry, and mute her rills; 
 
 When droops the fickenmg herb, the bloflom fades, 3^5 
 And parch’d earth gapes beneath the withering glades; 
 
 _With languid llep fair Dypsaca retreats, 
 
 « Fall, gentle dews!” the fainting nymph repeats, 
 
 Seeks the low dell, and in the fultry lhade 
 
 Invokes in vain the Naiads to her aid. ^7° 
 
 Four fylvan youths in cryflal goblets bear 
 
 The untafted treafure to the grateful fair; 
 
 Pleafed from their hands with modeft grace (he ftps, 
 And the cool wave reflects her coral lips. 
 
 Dypfacus. 1 . 367. Teafel. One female, and four males. There is a cup around 
 every joint of the ftem of this plant, which contains from a fpoonful to half a pint o 
 water ^ and ferves both for the nutriment of the plant in dry feafons, and to prevent 
 ZZs from creeping up to devour its feed. See Silene. The Ti.landfta, or wild pine, 
 of the Weft Indies has every leaf terminated near the ftalk with a hollow bucke , 
 Jhlch contains from half a pint to a quart of water. Dampier’s Voyage to Campe - 
 chy. Dr. Sloane mentions one kind of aloe furniflied with leaves which, like the 
 wild pine and Banana, hold water; and thence afford necefTary refrefhment to trave 
 Icrs in hot countries. Nepenthes has a bucket for the fame purpofe at the end of every 
 
 leaf. Burm* Zeyl. 4 2 * ] 7* 
 
t 38 ] 
 
 With nice feledtion modeft Rubia blends 375 
 
 Her vermil dyes, and o’er the cauldron bends; 
 
 Warm mid the riling fleam the Beauty glows, 
 
 As blufhes in a mift the dewy rofe. 
 
 With chemic art four favour’d youths aloof 
 
 Stain the white fleece, or ftretch the tinted woof; 380 
 
 Rubia . 1 . 375. Madder. Four males and one female. This plant is cultivated in 
 very large quantities for dying red. If mixed with the food of young pigs or chickens, 
 it colours their bones red. If they are fed alternate fortnights, with a mixture of mad- 
 der, and with their ufual food alone, their bones will confift of concentric circles of 
 white and red. Belchier. Phil. Tranf. 1736. Animals fed with madder for the pur- 
 pofe of thefe experiments were found upon difle&ion to have thinner gall. Comment, 
 de rebus. Lipfue. This circumftance is worth farther attention. The colouring ma¬ 
 terials of vegetables, like thofe which ferve the purpofe of tanning, varniihing, and the 
 various medical purpofes, do not feem eflential to the life of the plant; but feem given 
 it as a defence againft the depredations of infers or other animals, to whom thefe ma¬ 
 terials are naufeous or deleterious. The colours of infers and many fmaller animals 
 contribute to conceal them from the larger ones wdiich prey upon them. Caterpillars 
 which feed on leaves are generally green; and earth-worms the colour of the earth 
 which they inhabit; butterflies which frequent flowers are coloured like them ; fmall 
 birds which frequent hedges have greenifh backs like the leaves, and light coloured bel¬ 
 lies like the iky, and are hence lefs viiible to the hawk, who pafles under them or over 
 them. Thofe birds which are much amongft flowers, as the goldfinch, (Fringilla Car- 
 duelis) are furniflied with vivid colours. The lark, partridge, hare, are the colour of 
 dry vegetables, or earth on which they reft. And frogs vary their colour with the mud 
 of the ftreams which they frequent; and thofe which live on trees are green. Fiih, 
 which are generally fufpended in water, and fwallows, which are generally fufpended 
 in air, have their backs the colour of the diftant ground, and their bellies of the iky. 
 In the colder climates many of thefe become white during the cxiftence of the fnows. 
 Hence there is apparent defign in the colours of animals, whilft thofe of vegetables 
 feem confequent to the other properties of the materials which poflefs them. 
 
O’er Age’s cheek the warmth of youth diffule, 
 
 Or deck the pale-eyed nymph in rofeate hues. 
 
 So when Medea to exulting Greece 
 
 From plunder’d Colchis bore the golden fleece; 
 
 On the loud fhore a magic pile (lie rais’d, 385 
 
 The cauldron bubbled, and the faggots blaz’d ; 
 
 Pleafed on the boiling wave old iEsoN fwims, 
 
 And feels new vigour ftretch his fwelling limbs; 
 Through his thrill’d nerves forgotten ardors dart, 
 
 And warmer eddies circle round his heart; 39 ° 
 
 With fofter fires his kindling eye-balls glow, 
 
 And darker trefles wanton round his brow. 
 
 Pleafed on the boiling wave. 1 . 387. The dory of ^Efon becoming young, from the 
 medicated bath of Medea, feems to have been intended to teach the efficacy of warm 
 bathing in retarding the progrefs of old age. The words relaxation and bracing, which 
 are generally thought expreffive of the effeds of warm and cold bathing, are mechani¬ 
 cal terms, properly applied to drums or firings; but are only metaphors when applied 
 to the effeds of cold or warm bathing on animal bodies. The immediate caufe of old 
 age feems to refide in the inirritability of the finer veffiels or parts of our fyftem ; hence 
 thefe ceafe to ad, and collapfe, or become horny or bony. The warm bath is pecu¬ 
 liarly adapted to prevent thefe circumdances by its increafing our irritability, an y 
 moiftening and foftening the fldn, and the extremities of the finer veffiels, which ter¬ 
 minate in it. To thofe who are pad the meridian of life, and have dry flcins, and 
 begin to be emaciated, the warm bath, for half an hour twice a week, 1 believe to be 
 eminently ferviceable in retarding the advances of age. 
 
As dafli the waves on India’s breezy ftrand, 
 
 Her flulh’d cheek prefs’d upon her lily hand, 
 Vallisner fits, up-turns her tearful eyes, 395 
 
 Calls her loft lover, and upbraids the Ikies ; 
 
 For him {he breathes the filent ftgh, forlorn, 
 
 Each fetting day ; for him each rifing morn.— 
 
 “ Bright orbs, that light yon high etherial plain, 
 
 “ Or bathe your radiant treftes in the main ; 400 
 
 “ Pale moon, that filver’ft o’er night’s fable brow;— 
 
 “ For ye were witnefs to his parting vow ! 
 
 “ Ye {helving rocks, dark waves, and founding fhore,— 
 “ Ye echoed fweet the tender words he fwore !— 
 
 Vallifneria. 1 . 395. This extraordinary plant is of the clafs Two Houfes. It is. 
 found in the Eaft Indies, in Norway, and various parts of Italy. Lin. Spec. Plant. 
 They have their roots at the bottom of the Rhone \ the flowers of the female plant 
 float on the furface of the water, and are furnifhed with an elaftic fpiral (talk, which 
 extends or contracts as the water rifes and falls ; this rife or fall, from the rapid defeent 
 of the river, and the mountain torrents which flow into it, often amounts to many 
 feet in a few hours. The flowers of the male plant are produced under w r ater, and 
 as foon as their farina, or duft, is mature, they detach themfclves from the plant, and 
 rife to the furface, continue to flourifli, and are wafted by the air, or borne by the 
 currents to the female flowers. In this refembling thofe tribes of infeds, where the 
 males at certain feafons acquire w'ings, but not the females, as ants, Coccus, Lam- 
 pyris, Phalxna, Brumata, Lichanella. Thefe male flowers are in fuch numbers, 
 though very minute, as frequently to cover the furface of the river to confiderable ex¬ 
 tent. See Families of Plants, tranflated from Linneus, p. 677. 
 
405 
 
 Can ftars or Teas the fails of love retain ? 
 u O guide my wanderer to my arms again !” 
 
 Her buoyant fkifF intrepid Ulva guides, 
 And feeks her Lord amid the tracklefs tides; 
 
 Ulva . 1 . 407. Clandeftine marriage. This kind of fea-weed is buoyed up by blad¬ 
 ders of air, which are formed in the duplicatures of its leaves, and forms immenfe 
 floating fields of vegetation; the young ones, branching out from the larger ones, and 
 borne on fimilar little air-vefiels. It is alfo found in the warm baths of Patavia, where 
 the leaves are formed into curious cells or labyrinths for the purpofe of floating on the 
 water. See Ulva labyrinthi-formis Lin. Spec. Plant. The air contained in thefe cells 
 was found by Dr. Prieftley to be fometimes purer than common air, and fometimes 
 lefs pure ; the air-bladders of fifh feem to be fimilar organs, and ferve to render them 
 buoyant in the water. In fome of thefe, as in the Cod and Haddock, a red mem¬ 
 brane, confiding of a great number of leaves or duplicatures, is found within the air¬ 
 bag, which probably fecretes this air from the blood of the animal. (Monro. Phyfiol. 
 of Fifh, p. 28.) To determine whether this air, when firft feparated from the blood 
 of the animal or plant, be dephlogifticated air, is worthy inquiry. The bladder-fena 
 (Colutea) and bladder-nut (Staphylasa) have their feed-veflels diflended with air; the 
 Ketmia has the upper joint of the Item immediately under the receptacle of the flower 
 much diftended with air; thefe feem to be analogous to the air-velTel at the broad end 
 of the egg, and may probably become lefs pure as the feed ripens ; fome, which I 
 tried, had the purity of the furrounding atmofphere. The air at the broad end of the 
 eg g i s probably an organ ferving the purpofe of refpiration to the young chick, fome of 
 w hofe veflels are fpread upon it like a placenta, or permeate it. Many are of opinion 
 that even the placenta of the human fetus, and cotyledons of quadrupeds, are refpi- 
 ratory organs rather than nutritious ones. 
 
 The air in the hollow ftems of grades, and of fome unbelliferous plants, bears ana¬ 
 logy to the air in the quills, and in fome of the bones of birds; fupplying the place of 
 the pith, which fhrivcls up after it has performed its office of protruding the young 
 Item or feather. Some of thefe cavities of the bones are faid to communicate with the 
 lun^s in birds. Phil. Tranf. 
 
 The air-bladders of fifh are nicely adapted to their intended purpofe; for though t ey 
 render them buoyant near the furface without the labour of uiing their fins, yet, when 
 they reft at greater depths, they are no inconvenience, as the increased preffure of the 
 water condenfes the air which they contain into lefs fpace. Thus, if a cork or bladder 
 
 G 
 

 [ 42 ] 
 
 Her fecret vows the Cyprian Queen approves, 
 
 And hovering Halcyons guard her infant-loves; 410 
 
 Each in his floating cradle round they throng, 
 
 And dimpling Ocean bears the fleet along.— 
 
 Thus o’er the waves, which gently bend and fwell, 
 
 Fair Galatea fleers her fllver fliell; 
 
 Her playful Dolphins ftretch the fllken rein, 415 
 
 Hear her fweet voice, and glide along the main. 
 
 As round the wild meandring coaft fhe moves 
 By gulhing rills, rude cliffs, and nodding groves ; 
 
 Each by her pine the Wood-nymphs wave their locks, 
 And wondering Naiads peep amid the rocks! 420 
 
 Pleafed trains of Mermaids rife from coral cells ; 
 Admiring Tritons found their twifted fhells \ 
 
 Charm’d o’er the car purfuing Cupids fweep, 
 
 Their fnow-white pinions twinkling in the deep ; 
 
 of air was immerfed a very great depth in the ocean, it would be fo much comprefled, 
 as to become fpecifically as heavy as the water, and would remain there. It is probable 
 the unfortunate Mr. Day, who was drowned in a diving-fliip of his own conftrudion, 
 mifcarried from not attending to this circumftance • it is probable the quantity of air 
 he took down with him, if he defeended much lower than he expeded, was condenfed 
 into fo fmall a fpace as not to render the lliip buoyant when he endeavoured to afeend. 
 
And, as the luftre of her eye (lie turns, 425 
 
 Soft fighs the Gale, and amorous Ocean burns. 
 
 On Dove’s green brink the fair Tremella hood, 
 And view’d her playful image in the flood ; 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 To each rude rock, lone dell, and echoing grove 
 Sung the fweet forrows of her fecret love. 430 
 
 Tremella . 1 . 427. Clandeftine marriage. I have frequently obferved fungulfesof this 
 Genus on old rails and on the ground to become a tranfparent jelly, after they had been 
 frozen in autumnal mornings; which is a curious property, and diftinguifhes them 
 from fome other vegetable mucilage; for I have obferved that the pafte, made by boil¬ 
 ing wheat-flour in water, ceafes to be adhefive after having been frozen. I fufpedted 
 that the Tremella Noftoc, or ftar-gelly, alfo had been thus produced; but have fince 
 been well informed, that the Tremella Noftoc is a mucilage voided by Herons after 
 they have eaten frogs; hence it has the appearance of having been prefled through a 
 hole; and limbs of frogs are faid fometimes to be found amongft it ; it is always feen 
 upon plains, or by the fides of water, places which Herons generally frequent. 
 
 Some of the fungufles are fo acrid, that a drop of their juice blifters the tongue; 
 others intoxicate thofe who eat them. The Oft lacks in Siberia ufe them for the latter 
 purpofe; one fungus of the fpecies Agaricus Mufcarum, eaten raw, or the decodtion 
 of three of them, produces intoxication for 12 or 16 hours. Hiftory of Ruflia, v. I. 
 Nichols. 1780. As all acrid plants become lefs fo, if expofed to a boiling heat, it is 
 probable the common muftiroom may fometimes difagree from being not fufficiently 
 ftewed. The Oftiacks blifter their fkin by a fungus found on Birch-trees ; and ufe the 
 Agaricus officin. for Soap. Ib. 
 
 There was a difpute whether the fungufles ftiould be clafled in the animal or vege¬ 
 table department. Their animal tafte in cookery, and their animal fmell when burnt, 
 together with their tendency to putrefadtion, infomuch that the Phallus impudicus has 
 gained the name of ftink-horn ; and laftly, their growing and continuing healthy with¬ 
 out light, as the Licoperdon tuber or truffle, and the fungus vinofus or mucor in dark 
 cellars, and the efculent mufhrooms on beds covered thick with ftraw, would feem to 
 (hew that they approach towards the animals, or make a kind of ifthmus connedting 
 the two mighty kingdoms of animal and of vegetable nature. 
 
 G 2 
 
[ 44 3 
 
 Oh, ftay!—return!”—along the founding fliore 
 Cry’d the fad Naiads,—die return’d no more !— 
 
 Now girt with clouds the fullen Evening frown d, 
 
 And withering Eurus fwept along the ground ; 
 
 The mifly moon withdrew her horned light, 435 
 
 And funk with Hefper in the fkirt of night; 
 
 No dim ele&ric dreams, (the northern dawn) 
 
 With meek effulgence quiver’d o’er the lawn; 
 
 No flar benignant fhot one tranfient ray 
 
 To guide or light the wanderer on her way. 440 
 
 * 
 
 Round the dark craggs the murmuring whirlwinds blow, 
 Woods groan above, and waters roar below ; 
 
 As o’er the deeps with paudng foot die moves, 
 
 The pitying Dryads diriek amid their groves. , 
 
 She flies—fhe flops—die pants—die looks behind, 445 
 And hears a demon howl in every wind. 
 
 # —As the bleak blafl unfurls her fluttering ved, 
 
 Cold beats the fnow upon her fhuddering bread ; 
 Through her numb’d limbs the chill fenfations dart, 
 And the keen ice-bolt trembles at her heart. 450 
 
_ 
 
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
 I fink) I fall! oh, help me, help!” (he cries, 
 Her ftiffening tongue the unfiniflied found denies ; 
 Tear after tear adown her cheek fucceeds, 
 
 And pearls of ice beftrew the glittering meads ; 
 Congealing fnows her lingering feet furround, 
 
 Arreft her flight, and root her to the ground ; 
 With fuppliant arms flie pours the filent prayer; 
 Her fuppliant arms hang cryftal in the air; 
 
 Pellucid films her fhivering neck o erfpread, 
 
 Seal her mute lips, and filver o’er her head; 
 
 Veil her pale bofom, glaze her lifted hands, 
 
 And fhrined in ice the beauteous flatue ftands. 
 
 _Dove’s azure nymphs on each revolving year 
 
 For fair Tremella fhed the tender tear; 
 
 With rufh-wove crowns in fad proceflion move, 
 And found the forrowing fhell to haplefs love. 
 
 Herepaufed the Muse,— acrofs the darken’d pole 
 Sail the dim clouds, the echoing thunders roll; 
 
 455 
 
 460 
 
 4 6 5 
 
 9 i 
 
 n 
 
The trembling Wood-nymphs, as the tempeft lowers, 
 Lead the gay goddefs to their in mo ft bowers ; 470 
 
 Hang the mute lyre the laurel fliade beneath, 
 
 And round her temples bind the myrtle wreath. 
 
 —Now the light fwallow with her airy brood 
 Skims the green meadow, and the dimpled flood ; 
 
 Loud lhrieks the lone thrufh from his lcaflefs thorn, 475 
 Th’ alarmed beetle founds his bugle horn ; 
 
 Each pendant fpider winds with Angers fine 
 His ravel’d clue, and climbs along the line ; 
 
 Gay Gnomes in glittering circles ftand aloof 
 Beneath a fpreading mulhroom’s fretted roof; 480 
 
 Swift bees returning feek their waxen cells, 
 
 And Sylphs cling quivering in the lily’s bells. 
 
 Through the ftill air defcend the genial fhowers, 
 
 And pearly rain-drops deck the laughing flowers,. 
 
Bookfeller. Y'oUR verfes, Mr. Botanift, confift of pure de¬ 
 scription, I hope there is fenfe in the notes. 
 
 Poet. I am only a flower-painter, or occafionally attempt a 
 landfkip; and leave the human figure with the fubjedts of hiftory 
 to abler artifts. 
 
 B. It is well to know what fubjedls are within the limits of 
 your pencil; many have failed of fuccefs from the want of this felf- 
 knowledge. But pray tell me, what is the eflential difference be¬ 
 tween Poetry and Profe ? is it folely the melody or meafure of the 
 language ? 
 
 P. I think not folely; for fome profe has its melody, and even 
 meafure’. And good verfes, well fpoken in a language unknown to 
 the hearer, are not eafily to be diftinguiflied from good profe. 
 
 B. Is it the fublimity, beauty, or novelty of the fentiments? 
 
 P. Not fo; for fublime fentiments are often better exprefled 
 in profe. Thus when Warwick, in one of the plays of Shakefpear, 
 is left wounded on the field after the lofs of the battle, and his 
 friend fays to him, “ O, could you but fly!” what can be more 
 fublime than his anfwer, “ Why then, I would not fly.” No 
 meafure of verfe, I imagine, could add dignity to this lentiment. 
 
T 
 
 l 48 ] 
 
 And it would be eafy to feled examples of tbe beautiful or new 
 from profe writers, which, I fuppofe, no meafure of verfe could 
 improve. 
 
 B. In what then confifts the effential difference between Poetry 
 and Profe ? 
 
 P. Next to the meafure of the language, the principal dif- 
 tindion appears to me to confift in this: that Poetry admits of but 
 few words expreffive of very abftraded ideas, whereas Profe abounds 
 with them. And as our ideas derived from vifible objeds are more 
 diftind than thofe derived from the objeds of our other fenfes, the 
 words expreffive of thefe ideas belonging to vifion make up the 
 principal part of poetic language. That is, the Poet writes princi¬ 
 pally to the eye, the Profe-writer ufes more abftraded terms. Mr. 
 Pope has written a bad verfe in the Windfor Foreft: 
 
 “ And Kennet fwift for filver Eels renown d.” 
 
 The word renown’d does not prefent the idea of a vifible objed to 
 the mind, and is thence profaic. But change this line thus : 
 
 “ And Kennet fwift, where filver Graylings play.” 
 
 and it becomes poetry, becaufe the feenery is then brought before 
 the eye. 
 
 B. This may be done in profe. 
 
 P. And when it is done in a fingle word, it animates the profe; 
 fo it is more agreeable to read in Mr. Gibbon’s Hiftory, “ Germany 
 
 
\ 
 
 [ 49 3 
 
 was at this time over-foadowed with extenfive forefts; than Germany 
 was at this time full of extenfive forefts. But where this mode of 
 expreflion occurs too frequently, the profe approaches to poetry: 
 and in graver works, where we expedt to be inftrudted rather than 
 amufed, it becomes tedious and impertinent. Some parts of Mr. 
 Burke’s eloquent orations become intricate and enervated by fuper- 
 fluity of poetic ornament; which quantity of ornament would have 
 been agreeable in a poem, where much ornament is expedted. 
 
 B. Is then the office of Poetry only to amufe ? 
 
 P. The Mufes are young Ladies; we expedt to fee them drefled; 
 though not like fome modern beauties, with fo much gauze and 
 feather, that “ the Lady herfelf is the leaft part of her.” There arc 
 however didadtic pieces of poetry, which are much admired, as the 
 Georgies of Virgil, Mafon’s Englifh Garden, Hayley’s Epiftles ; 
 neverthelefs Science is beft delivered in Profe, as its mode of rea- 
 foning is from ftridter analogies than metaphors or fimilies. 
 
 B. Do not Perfonifications and Allegories diftinguilh Poetry? 
 
 P. Thefe are other arts of bringing objedts before the eye; or 
 of exprefling fentiments in the language of vifion; and are indeed 
 better fuited to the pen than the pencil. 
 
 B. That is ftrange, when you have juft faid they are ufed to 
 bring their objedts before the eye. 
 
 P. In poetry the perfonification or allegoric figure is generally 
 indiftindt, and therefore does not ftrike us fo forcibly as to make us 
 attend to its improbability; but in painting, the figures being all 
 much more diftindt, their improbability becomes apparent, and 
 feizes oux attention to it. Thus the perfon of Concealment is very 
 
 H 
 

 [ JO ] 
 
 indiftinft, and therefore does not compel us to attend to its impro¬ 
 bability, in the following beautiful lines of Shakefpear: 
 
 “ . She never told her love ; 
 
 But let Concealment, like a worm i’ th’ bud, 
 
 Feed on her damafk cheek.”— 
 
 But in thefe lines below the perfon of Reafon obtrudes itfelf into 
 our company, and becomes difagreeable by its diftin<5tnefs, and 
 confequent improbability : 
 
 “ To Reafon I flew, and intreated her aid, 
 
 Who paufed on my cafe, and each circumftance weigh d; 
 Then gravely reply’d in return to my prayer, 
 
 That Hebe was faireft of all that were fair. 
 
 That’s a truth, reply’d I, I’ve no need to be taught, 
 
 I came to you, Reafon, to find out a fault. 
 
 If that’s all, fays Reafon, return as you came. 
 
 To find fault with Hebe would forfeit my name.” 
 
 Allegoric figures are on this account in general lefs manageable 
 in painting and in ftatuary than in poetry ; and can feldom be in¬ 
 troduced in the two former arts in company with natural figures, as 
 is evident from the ridiculous effe6t of many of the paintings of 
 Rubens in the Luxemburgh gallery; and for this reafon, becaufe 
 their improbability becomes more ftriking, when there are the figures 
 of real perfons by their fide to compare them with. 
 
 Mrs. Angelica Kauffman, well apprifed of this circumftance, has 
 introduced no mortal figures amongft her Cupids and her Graces. 
 And the great Roubiliac, in his unrivalled monument of Time and 
 Fame ftruggling for the trophy of General Wade, has only hung up 
 a medallion of the head of the hero of the piece. There are, however, 
 
■■■■I 
 
 C 51 3 
 
 fonie allegoric figures, which we have fo often heard defcribed or 
 fcen delineated, that we almoft forget that they do not exift in 
 common life; and thence view them without aftonilhment; as the 
 figures of the heathen mythology, of angels, devils, death, and time; 
 and almoft believe them to be realities, even when they are mixed 
 with reprefentations of the natural forms of man. Whence I con¬ 
 clude, that a certain degree of probability is neceflary to prevent us 
 from revolting with diftafte from unnatural images; unlefs we are 
 otherwife fo much interefted in the contemplation of them as not to 
 perceive their improbability. 
 
 B. Is this reafoning about degrees of probability juft ? When 
 Sir Joftiua Reynolds, who is unequalled both in the theory and 
 practice of his art, and who is a great mafter of the pen as well as 
 the pencil, has alferted in a difeourfe delivered to the Royal Academy, 
 December 11, 1786, that “ the higher ftyles of painting, like the 
 “ higher kinds of the Drama, do not aim at anything like decep- 
 “ tion; or have any expectation that the fpe&ators fhould think the 
 “ events there reprefented are really palling before them. And he 
 then accufes Mr. Fielding of bad judgement, when he attempts to 
 compliment Mr. Garrick in one of his novels, by introducing an 
 ignorant man, miftaking the reprefentation of a lcene in Hamlet 
 for a reality; and thinks, becaufe he was an ignorant man, he was 
 lefs liable to make fuch a miftake. 
 
 P. It is a metaphyfical queftion, and requires more attention 
 than Sir Jolhua has bellowed upon it—You will allow that we 
 are perfectly deceived in our dreams: and that even in our waking 
 reveries, we are often fo much abforbed in the contemplation of 
 what paftes in our imaginations, that for a while w'e do not attend 
 to the lapfe of time or to our own locality; and thus fuffer a fimilar 
 kind of deception, as in our dreams. That is, we believe things 
 
 prefent before our eves, which are not fo. 
 
 H 2 
 
t 52 ] 
 
 There are two circumflances which contribute to this complete 
 deception in our dreams. Firft, becaufe in fleep the organs of fenfe 
 are clofed or inert, and hence the trains of ideas affociated in our 
 imaginations are never interrupted or diflevered by the irritations of 
 external objedts, and cannot therefore be controlled with our fen- 
 fations. On this account, though we are affedted with a variety of 
 paflions in our dreams, as anger, love, joy, yet we never expe¬ 
 rience furprize.—For furprize is only produced when any external 
 irritations fuddenly obtrude themfelves, and diflever our palling 
 trains of ideas. 
 
 \ 
 
 Secondly, becaufe in fleep there is a total fufpenfion of our vo¬ 
 luntary power, both over the mufcles of our bodies, and the ideas 
 of our minds; for we neither walk about, nor reafon in complete 
 fleep. Hence, as the trains of our ideas are palling in our imagina¬ 
 tions in dreams, we cannot compare them with our previous know¬ 
 ledge of things, as we do in our waking hours; for this is a volun¬ 
 tary exertion, and thus we cannot perceive their incongruity. 
 
 Thus we are deprived in fleep of the only two means by which 
 we can diflinguilh the trains of ideas palling in our imaginations, 
 from thofe excited by our fenfations; and are led by their vivacity 
 to believe them to belong to the latter. For the vivacity of thefe 
 trains of ideas, palling in the imagination, is greatly increafed by 
 the caufes above mentioned; that is, by their not being dilturbed 
 or diflevered either by the appulfes of external bodies, as in furprize; 
 or by our voluntary exertions in comparing them with our previous 
 knowledge of things, as in reafoning upon them. 
 
 1 
 
 B. Now to apply. 
 
 P. When by the art of the Painter or Poet a train of ideas is 
 fuggefled to our imaginations, which interefls us fo much by the pain 
 
or pleafure it affords, that we ceafe to attend to the irritations of 
 common external objects, and ceafe alfo to ufe any voluntary efforts 
 to compare thefe interefting trains of ideas with our previous know¬ 
 ledge of things, a complete reverie is produced : during which time, 
 however fhort, if it be but for a moment, the objeds themfelves 
 appear to exift before us. This, I think, has been called by an in¬ 
 genious critic, “ the ideal prefence” of fuch objeds. (Elements of 
 Criticifm by Lord Kaimes). And in refped to the compliment in¬ 
 tended by Mr. Fielding to Mr. Garrick, it would feem that an ig¬ 
 norant Ruftic at the play of Hamlet, 'who has fome previous belief 
 in the appearance of Ghofts, would fooner be liable to fall into a 
 reverie, and continue in it longer, than one who poffeffed more 
 knowledge of the real nature of things, and had a greater facility 
 of exerciiing his reafon. 
 
 B. It muff require great art in the Painter or Poet to produce 
 this kind of deception ? 
 
 P. The matter muft be interefting from its fublimity, beauty, or 
 novelty; this is the fcientific part; and the art confifts in bringing 
 thefe diftindly before the eye, fo as to produce (as above mentioned) 
 the ideal prefence of the objed, in which the great Shakefpear par¬ 
 ticularly excells. 
 
 B. Then it is not of any confequence whether the rep re fen ta- 
 tions correfpond with nature ? 
 
 p Not if they fo much intereft the reader or fpedator as to in¬ 
 duce the reverie above defcribed. Nature may be feen in the market¬ 
 place, or at the card-table ; but we exped fomething more than this 
 in the play-houfe or pidure-room. The farther the artiils recedes 
 from nature, the greater novelty he is likely fo produce; if he rifcs 
 above nature, he produces the fublime; and beauty is probably a- 
 
C 54 1 
 
 fcledtion and new combination of her moft agreeable parts. Your- 
 felf will be fenfible of the truth of this dobtrine, by recollecting over 
 in your mind the works of three oi our celebrated aitifls. Sir Jofhua 
 Reynolds has introduced lublimity even into its portraits; we ad¬ 
 mire the reprefentation of perfons, whofe reality we lhould have 
 palled by unnoticed. Mrs. Angelica Kauffman attracts our eyes 
 with beauty, which I fuppofe no where exifls; certainly lew Gre¬ 
 cian faces are feen in this country. And the daring pencil of Fufeli 
 tranfports us beyond the boundaries ot nature, and ravilhes us with 
 the charm of the moft interefting novelty. And Shakefpear, who 
 exeel Is in all thefe together, fo far captivates the fpedtator, as to 
 make him unmindful ol every kind of violation of l ime, Place, or 
 Exiftence. As at the firft appearance of the Ghoft of Hamlet, “ his 
 “ ear nuift be dull as the 1 at w'eed which roots itlell on L<etne s 
 “ brink,” who can attend to the improbability of the exhibition. 
 So in many fcenes of the Tempeft we perpetually believe the adtion 
 palling before our eyes, and relapfe with lomewhat of diftafte into 
 common life at the intervals of the reprefentation. 
 
 B. I fuppofe a poet of lefs ability would find fuch great machi¬ 
 nery difficult and cumberlome to manage ? 
 
 P. Juft fo, we fhouldbe fhocked at the apparent improbabilities. 
 As in the gardens of a Sicilian nobleman, defcribed in Mr. Brydone’s 
 and in Mr. Swinburn’s travels, there are faid to be fix hundred fta- 
 tues of imaginary monfters, which fo difguft the fpedtators, that 
 the ftate had once a fcrious deiign of deftroying them; and yet the 
 very improbable monfters in Ovid’s Metamorphofes have entertained 
 the world for many centuries. 
 
 B. The monfters in your Botanic Garden, 1 hope, are of the 
 latter kind? 
 
 P. The candid reader muft determine. 
 
LOVES OF THE PLANTS. 
 
 , 
 
 CANTO II. 
 
 Again the Goddefs ftrikes the golden lyre, 
 And tunes to wilder notes the warbling wire ; 
 With foft fufpended ftep Attention moves, 
 And Silence hovers o’er the liftening groves; 
 Orb within orb the charmed audience throng, 
 And the green vault reverberates the Tong. 
 
C 56 ] 
 
 “ Breathe foft, ye Gales!” the fair Carlina cries, 
 Bear on broad wings your Votrefs to the Ikies. 
 
 “ How fweetly mutable yon orient hues, 
 
 As Morn’s fair hand her opening rofes ftrews ; 10 
 
 when Iris blending many a ray, 
 
 Binds in embroider’d wreath 
 
 “ Soft, when the pendant Moon with luftres pale 
 
 O’er heav’n’s blue arch unfurls 
 
 “ While from the north long threads of filver light 15 
 
 “ Dart on fwift {buttles o’er the tifTued night! 
 
 % 
 
 Carlina . 1. 7. Carline Thiftle. Of the clafs Confederate Males. The feeds of this 
 and of many other plants of the fame clafs are furnifhed with a plume, by which ad¬ 
 
 mirable mechanifm they perform long aerial journies, eroding lakes and deferts, and 
 
 are thus diffemipated far from the original plant, and have much the appearance of a 
 Shuttlecock as they fly. The wings are of different conftrudtion, fome being like a 
 divergent tuft of hairs, others are branched like feathers, fome are elevated from the 
 crown of the feed by a (lender foot-ftalk, which gives them a very elegant appearance, 
 
 others fit immediately on the crown of the feed. 
 
 Nature has majty other curious vegetable contrivances for the difperfion of feeds: 
 fee note on Helianthus. But perhaps none of them has more the appearance of defign 
 than the admirable apparatus of Tillandfia for this purpofe. This plant grows on the 
 branches of trees, like the mifleto, and never on the ground ; the feeds are furnifhed 
 with many long threads on their crowns; which, as they are driven forwards by the 
 winds, wrap round the arms of trees, and thus hold them fad till they vegetate. This 
 is very analogous to the migration of Spiders on the goflamer, who are faid to attach 
 themfelves to the end of a long thread, and rife thus to the tops of trees or buildings, 
 as the accidental breezes carry them. 
 
 V / 
 
“ Breathe foft, ye Zephyrs! hear my fervent fighs, 
 
 “ Bear on broad wings your Votrefs to the ikies!—• 
 
 _Plume over plume in long divergent lines 
 
 On whale-bone ribs the fair Mechanic joins ; 20 
 
 Inlays with eider down the filken firings, 
 
 And weaves in wide expanfe Dosdahan wings; 
 
 Round her bold fons the waving pennons binus, 
 
 And walks with angel-ftep upon the winds. 
 
 So on the iliorelefs air the intrepid Gaul 25 
 
 Launch’d the vaft concave of his buoyant ball.— 
 Journeying on high, the filken caftle glides 
 Bright as a meteor through the azure tides; 
 
 O’er towns, and towers, and temples, wins it’s way, 
 
 Or mounts fublime, and gilds the vault of day. 30 
 Silent with upturn’d eyes unbreathing crowds 
 Purfue the floating ivonder to the clouds; 
 
 And, flufli’d with tranfport or benumb’d with fear, 
 Watch, as it rifes, the diminifh d fpherc. 
 
[ 53 ] 
 
 —Now lefs and lefs—and now a fpeck is fcen ;— 35 
 
 % 
 
 And now the fleeting rack obtrudes between! 
 
 With bended knees, raifed arms, and fuppliant brow. 
 To every {brine with mingled cries they vow.— 
 
 “ Save him, ye Saints ! who o’er the good prefide ; 
 
 “ Bear him, ye Winds! ye Stars benignant! guide.” 40 
 —The calm Philofopher in ether fails, 
 
 Views broader ftars, and breathes in purer gales; 
 
 Sees, like a map, in many a waving line 
 Round Earth’s blue plains her lucid waters {bine; 
 
 Sees at bis feet the forky lightnings glow, 45 
 
 And hears innocuous thunders roar below. 
 
 - Rife, great Mongolfier ! urge thy venturous flight 
 
 High o’er the Moon’s pale ice-refle&ed light; 
 
 High o’er the pearly Star, whofe beamy horn 
 Hangs in the eaft, gay harbinger of morn ; - 50 
 
 Leave the red eye of Mars on rapid wing, 
 
 Jove’s fdver guards, and Saturn’s cryftal ring 
 Leave the fair beams, which, ifluing from afar, 
 
 Play with new luflres round the Georgian ftar; 
 
Shun with ftrong oars the Sun’s attra&ive throne, 55 
 The fparkling Zodiac, and the milky zone ; 
 
 Where headlong Comets with increafing force 
 Thro’ other fyftems bend their blazing courfe.— 
 
 For thee Calliope her chair withdraws, 
 
 For thee the Bear retracts his fhaggy paws; 60 
 
 High o’er the North thy golden orb fhall roll, 
 
 And blaze eternal round the wondering pole. 
 
 So Argo, riling from the fouthern main, 
 
 Lights with new liars the blue etherial plain; 
 
 With favouring beams the mariner prote&s, 65 
 
 And the bold courfe, which firll it lleer’d, dire&s. 
 
 Inventrefs of the Woof, fair Lina flings 
 
 The flying fhuttle through the dancing firings; 
 
 \ 
 
 For thee the Bear. 1 . 60. Tibi jambrachia contrahit ardens Scorpius. Virg. Georg. 
 1 . i. 34. A new (tar appeared in Caffiope’s chair in 1572. Herfchcl’s Conltrudlion 
 of the Heavens. Phil. Tranf. V. 75. p. 266. 
 
 Unum. 1. 67. Flax. Five males and five females. It was firft found on the banks 
 of the Nile. The Linum Lufitanicum, or Portugal flax, has ten males: fee the note 
 on Curcuma. Ifis was Paid to invent fpinning and weaving: mankind before that time 
 were clothed with the lkins of animals. The fable of Arachne was to compliment this 
 new art of fpinning and weaving, fuppofed to furpafs in finenefs the web of the Spider. 
 
 I 2 
 
7 ° 
 
 Inlays the broider’d weft with flowery dyes, 
 
 Quick beat the reeds, the pedals fall and rife ; 
 
 Slow from the beam the lengths of warp unwind, 
 
 And dance and nod the mafly weights behind.— 
 
 Taught by her labours, from the fertile foil 
 Immortal Isis clothed the banks of Nile ; 
 
 And fair Arachne with her rival loom 75 
 
 Found undeferved a melancholy doom.— 
 
 Five Sifter-nymphs with dewy fingers twine 
 The beamy flax, and ftretch the fibre-line ; 
 
 Quick eddying threads from rapid fpindles reel, 
 
 Or whirl with beating foot the dizzy wheel. 80 
 
 —Charm’d round the buly Fair jive fhepherds prefs, 
 Praife the nice texture of their fnowy drefs, 
 
 Admire the Artifts, and the art approve, 
 
 And tell with honey’d words the tale of love. 
 
 So now, where Derwent rolls his dufky floods 85 
 Through vaulted mountains, and a night of woods, 
 
[ 6i ] 
 
 The Nymph, Gossypia, treads the velvet fod, 
 
 And warms with rofy fmiles the watery God; 
 
 His ponderous oars to {lender fpindles turns, 
 
 And pours o’er mafly wheels his foamy urns; 90 
 
 With playful charms her hoary lover wins, 
 
 And wields his trident,—while the Monarch fpins. 
 
 —Firft with nice eye emerging Naiads cull 
 From leathery pods the vegetable wool; 
 
 Goffypia. 1 . 87. GolTypium.- The cotton plant. On the river Derwent, near Mat- 
 lock, in Derbylhire, Sir Richard Arkwright has erefled his curious and magni¬ 
 ficent machinery for fpinning cotton, which had been in vain attempted by many in¬ 
 genious artifts before him. The cotton-wool is firft picked from the pods and feeds 
 by women. It is then carded by cylindrical cards, which move againll each other, 
 with different velocities. It is taken from thefe by an iron hand ox comb, which has a 
 motion fimilar to that of fcratching, and takes the wool off the cards longitudinally in 
 refpea to the fibres or ftaple, producing a continued line loofely cohering, called the 
 Rove or Roving. This Rove, yet very loofely twilled, is then received or drawn into 
 a whirling cannijler, and is rolled by the centrifugal force in fp.ral lmes within it, be¬ 
 ing yet too tender for the fpindle. It is then palfed between two pa.rs of rollers ; the 
 fecond pair moving fader than the firft elongate the thread with greater equality than 
 can be-done by the hand; and is then twilled on fpoles or bobbins. 
 
 The great fertility of the Cotton-plant in thefe fine flexile threads, while thofc from 
 Flax, Hemp, and Nettles, or from the bark of the Mulberry-tree, require a previous 
 putrefaftion of .he parenchymatous fubilance, and much mechanical labour and af.e- 
 wards bleaching, renders this plan, of grea. importance to .he. world And fmee S.r 
 Richard Arkwright’s ingenious machtne has not only greatly a re.ia e 
 The labour and at, of carding and fpinning .he Cot,on-wool, but performsboth .hefe 
 citcLftanees JrHer than can be done by hand, i. is probable tha, .he clolhtog of th's 
 fmall feed will become the principal clothing ol mankind; tnotig f h 
 may be preferable in colder climates, as .hey ate mote tmperfea conduflors heat, 
 
 and are thence a warmer clothing. 
 
 -earn cireum Milelia velleraNymphae^ 
 
 Carpebant, hyali faturo fucata colore. \ ir. Georg. . 
 
 lit** 
 
 
 
95 
 
 [ 6z ] 
 
 With wiry teeth revolving cards releafe 
 
 The tanged knots, and fmooth the ravell’d fleece; 
 
 Next moves the iron hand with fingers fine, 
 
 Combs the wide card, and forms the eternal line; 
 Slow, with fort lips, the whirling Ca?i acquires 
 The tender lkeins, and wraps in rifing fpires; ] 
 With quicken’d pace fuccejftve rollers move, 
 
 And thefe retain, and thofe extend the rove; 
 
 Then fly the fpoles, the rapid axles glow, 
 
 And flowly circumvolves the labouring wheel below. 
 
 Papyra, throned upon the banks of Nile, ] 
 Spread her fmooth leaf, and waved her filvcr flyle. 
 
 Cyprus. Papyrus. I. 105. Three males, one female. The leaf of this plant was firft 
 ufed for paper, whence the word paper ; and leaf, or folium, for a fold of a book. After¬ 
 wards the bark of a fpecies of mulberry was ufed; whence liber fignifies a book, and 
 the bark of a tree. Before the invention of letters mankind may be faid to have been 
 perpetually in their infancy, as the arts of one age or country generally died with their 
 inventors. Whence arofe the policy, which ftill continues in Hindoftan, of obliging 
 the fon to pradife the profeflion of his father. After the difcovery of letters, the fads 
 of Aftronomy and Chemiftry became recorded in written language, though the antient 
 hieroglyphic charaders for the planets and metals continue in ufe at this day. The an¬ 
 tiquity of the invention of mufic, of agronomical obfervations, and the manufadurc 
 of Gold and Iron, are recorded in Scripture. 
 
[ 63 ] 
 
 I 
 
 —The ftoried pyramid, the laurel’d buft, 
 
 The trophy’d arch had crumbled into dull; 
 The facred fymbol, and the epic Tong, 
 (Unknown the charafter, forgot the tongue,) 
 With each unconquer’d chief, or fainted maid, 
 Sunk undiftinguifhed in oblivion’s fhade. 
 
 Sad o’er the fcatter’d ruins Genius figh’d, 
 
 And infant Arts but learn’d to lifp and died. 
 Till to aftonifh’d realms Papyra taught 
 
 u 5 
 
 no 
 
 To paint in my flic colours Sound and Thought. 
 
 With Wildom’s voice to print the page fublime, 
 
 And mark in adamant the fteps of Time. 
 
 —!Three favour’d youths her folt attention (hare, 
 
 The fond difciples of the ftudious Fair, 
 
 i 20 
 
 About twenty letters, ten cyphers, and feven crotchets, reprefent by their numerous 
 combinations all our ideas and fenfations! the mufical characters are probably arrived at 
 
 their perfection, utilefs emphafis, and tone, and fwell, could be exprelfed, as well as 
 note and time. Charles the Twelfth, of Sweden, had a defign to have introduced a 
 numeration by.fquares, in (lead of by decimation, which might have ferved the purpofes 
 
 of philofophy better than the prefent mode, which is faid to be of Arabic invention. 
 
 The alphabet is yet in a very imperfect date; perhaps feventeen letters could exprefs 
 all the fimple founds in the European languages. In China they have not yet learned 
 tq divide their words into fyllables, and are thence neceflitated to employ many thoufand 
 characters; it is faidabove eighty thoufand. It is to be wifhed, in this ingenious age, 
 that the European nations would accord to reform our alphabet. 
 
] 
 
 
 [ 
 
 64 
 
 Hear her fweet voice, the golden procefs prove ; 
 
 Gaze, as they learn ; and, as they liften, love. 
 
 The jirjl from Alpha to Omega joins 
 The letter’d tribes along the level lines ; 
 
 Weighs with nice ear the vowel, liquid, furd, 125 
 And breaks in fyllables the volant word. 
 
 Then forms the next upon the marflial’d plain 
 In deepening ranks his dexterous cypher-train; 
 
 And counts, as wdieel the decimating bands, 
 
 The dews of ./Egypt, or Arabia’s fands. 130 
 
 And then the third on four concordant lines 
 Prints the lone crotchet, and the quaver joins ; 
 
 Marks the gay trill, the folemn paufe inferibes, 
 
 And parts with bars the undulating tribes. 134 
 
 Pleafed round her cane-wove throne, the applaudingcroud 
 Clapp’d their rude hands, their fwarthy foreheads bow’d; 
 With loud acclaim “ a prefent God !” they cry’d, 
 
 “ A prefent God!” rebellowing fhores reply’d.— 
 
 Then peal’d at intervals with mingled fwcll 
 
 The echoing harp, fhrill clarion, horn, and {hell; 140 
 
While Bards ecftatic, bending o’er the lyre, 
 
 Struck deeper chords, and wing’d the fong with fire. 
 Then mark’d Aftronomers with keener eyes 
 
 The Moon’s refulgent journey through the Ikies; 
 
 / 
 
 Watch’d the fwift Comets urge their blazing cars, 145 
 And weigh’d the Sun with his revolving Stars. 
 
 High raifed the Chymifts their Hermetic wands, 
 
 (And changing forms obey’d their waving hands,) 
 
 Her treafured Gold from Earth’s deep chambers tore, 
 Or fufed and harden’d her chalybeate ore. 150 
 
 All with bent knee from fair Papyra claim 
 Wove by her hands the wreath of deathlefs fame. 
 
 -Exulting Genius crown’d his darling child, 
 
 The young arts clafp’d her knees, and Virtue fmiled. 
 
 So now Delany forms her mimic bowers, 155 
 
 Her paper foliage, and her filken flowers ; 
 
 So now Delany. 1. 155. Mrs. Delany has finifhed nine hundred and feventy accurate 
 and elegant reprefentations of different vegetables with the parts of their flowers, fructifi¬ 
 cation, See. according with the claflification of Linneus, in what flie terms paper-mofaic. 
 She began this work at the age of 74, when her fight would no longer ferve her to paint. 
 
] 
 
 u 
 
 [ 66 
 
 Her virgin train the tender fciflars ply, 
 
 Vein the green leaf, the purple petal dye : 
 
 Round wiry ftcms the flaxen tendril bends, 
 
 Mofs creeps below, and waxen fruit impends. 160 
 
 Cold Winter views amid his realms of fnow 
 Delany’s vegetable ftatues blow ; 
 
 Smooths his flern brow, delays his hoary wing, 
 
 And eyes with wonder all the blooms of fpring. 
 
 The gentle Lapsana, Nymphaia fair, 165 
 
 And bright Calendula with golden hair, 
 
 in which (he much excelled : between her age of 74 an d 82, at which time her eyes 
 quite failed her, (lie executed the curious Hortus ficcus above mentioned, which I fup- 
 pofe contains a greater number of plants than were ever before drawn from the life by 
 any one perfon. Her method confided in placing the leaves of each plant with the 
 petals, and all the other parts of the flowers on coloured paper, and cutting them with 
 feiflars accurately to the natural fize and form, and then pafting them on a dark ground ; 
 the eflfe& of which is wonderful, and their accuracy lefs liable to fallacy than drawings. 
 She is at this time (1788) in her 89th year, with all the powers of a fine underftanding 
 flill unimpaired. I am informed another very ingenious lady, Mrs. North, is con- 
 ftructing a fimilar Hortus ficcus, or Paper-garden ; which (he executes on a ground of 
 vellum with fuch elegant tafte and fcientific accuracy, that it cannot fail to become a 
 work of ineftimable value. 
 
 Lapjana Nympheea alba. Calendula. 1 . 165. And many other flowers clofe and open, 
 their petals at certain hours of the day; and thus conftitute what Linneus calls the Ho¬ 
 rologe, or Watch of Flora. He enumerates 46 flowers, which poflefs this kind of fen- 
 fibility. I (hall mention a few of them with their refpe£livc hours of rifing and fetting, 
 
Watch with nice eye the Earth’s diurnal way, 
 
 Marking her folar and fidereal day, 
 
 Her flow nutation, and her varying clime, 
 
 And trace with mimic art the march of Time ; 170 
 
 Round his light foot a magic chain they fling, 
 
 And count the quick vibrations of his wing.— 
 
 Firft in its brazen cell reluctant roll’d 
 Bends the dark fpring in many a fteely fold. 
 
 as Linneus terms them. He divides them firft into meteoric flowers, which lefs accu¬ 
 rately obferve the hour of unfolding, but are expanded fooner or later, according to the 
 cloudinefs, moifture, or preflure of the atmofphere. 2d. Tropical flowers open in 
 the morning and clofe before evening every day ; but the hour of the expanding be¬ 
 comes earlier or later, as the length of the day increafes or decreafes. 3dly. JEqui - 
 nodial flowers, which open at a certain and exad hour of the day, and for the mod 
 part clofe at another determinate hour. 
 
 Hence the Horologe or Watch of Flora is formed from numerous plants, of which the 
 following are thofe mod common in this country. Leontodon taraxacum, Dandelion, 
 opens at 5—6, clofes at 8—9. Hieracium pilofella, moufe-ear hawkweed, opens at 8, 
 clofes at 2. Sonchus lxvis, fmooth Sow-thiftle, at 5 and at 11—12. Laftuca fativa, 
 cultivated Lettice, at 7 and 10. Tragopogon luteum, yellow Goatlheard, at 3—5 and 
 at 9-10. Lapfana, nipplewort, at 5-6 and at 10-1. Nymphxa alba, white water 
 lily, at 7 and 5. Papaver nudicaule, naked poppy, at 5 and at 7. Hemerocallis fuha, 
 tawny Day-lily, at 5 and at 7—8. Convolvulus, at 5—6. Malva, Mallow, at 
 
 e_ I0 , and at 1. Arenarea purpurea, purple Sandwort, at 9—10, and at 2 3. Ana- 
 
 gallis, pimpernel, at 7—8. Portulaca hortenfis, garden Purflain, at 9—10, and at 11— 
 12. Dianthus prolifer, proliferous Pink, at 8 and at 1. Cichoreum, Succory, at 4 5, 
 
 Hypochxris, at 6—7, and at 4—5. Crepis, at 4—5, and at 10—11. 1 xns, at 4—3, 
 
 and at 12. Calendula field, at 9, and at 3. Calendula African, at 7, and at 3 4 - 
 
 As thefe obligations were probably made in the botanic gardens at Upfal, they mult 
 require farther attention to fuit them to our climate. See Sulhngfleet s Calen ar o 
 
 Flora. 
 
 K 2 
 
On fpiral brafs is Aretch’d the wiry thong 175 
 
 Tooth urges tooth, and wheel drives wheel along; 
 
 In diamond-eyes the polilh’d axles flow, 
 
 Smooth Aides the hand, the balance pants below. 
 Round the white circlet in relievo bold, 
 
 A Serpent twines his fcaly length in gold ; 180 
 
 And brightly pencil’d on the enamel’d fphere 
 Live the fair trophies of the palling year. 
 
 —Here Time s huge fingers grafp his giant mace, 
 
 And dafli proud Superftition from her bafe; 
 
 Rend her ftrong towers and gorgeous fanes, and fned 185 
 The crumbling fragments round her guilty head. 
 
 There the gay Hours , whom wreaths of rofes deck, 
 Lead their young trains amid the cumberous wreck, 
 And, flowly purpling o’er the mighty wafte, 
 
 Plant the fair growths of Science and of Tafte. 190 
 While each light Moment , as it dances by 
 With feathery foot and pleafure-twinkling eye, 
 
 Feeds from its baby-hand, with many a kifs, 
 
 The callow neftlings of domeftic Blifs. 
 
195 
 
 As yon gay clouds, which canopy the flues, 
 Change their thin forms, and lofe their lucid dyes; 
 So the foft bloom of Beauty’s vernal charms 
 Fades in our eyes, and withers in our arms. 
 
 —Bright as the fdvery plume, or pearly fhell, 
 
 The fnow-white rofe, or lily’s virgin bell, 
 
 # 
 
 The fair Helleboras attractive flione, 
 
 Warm’d every Sage, and every Shepherd won.— 
 
 200 
 
 Round the gay filters prefs the enamour d bands , 
 And feek with foft folicitude their hands. 
 
 —Ere while 
 The glance divine, 
 
 Cold are thofe lips, where fmiles feduCtive hung, 
 And the weak accents linger on their tongue ; 
 
 Helleborus . 1 . 201. Many males, many females. The Helleborus niger, or Chrift- 
 mas rofe, has a largfe beautiful white flower, adorned with a circle of tubular two- 
 lipp’d nedlaries. After impregnation the flower undergoes a remarkable change, the 
 ne&aries drop off, but the white corol remains, and gradually becomes quite green. 
 This curious metamorphofe of the corol, when the nedlaries fall off, feems to fhew 
 that the white juices of the corol were before carried to the nedtaries, for the purpofe 
 of producing honey : becaufe when thefe ne&aries fall ofF, no more of the white juice 
 is fecreted in the corol, but it becomes green, and degenerates into a calyx. See note 
 on Lonicera. The nedtary of the Tropxolum, garden nafturtion, is a coloured horn 
 growing from the calyx. 
 
210 
 
 C 7° 1 
 
 Each rofeate feature fades to livid green— 
 
 —Difguft with face averted fhuts the fcene. 
 
 So from his gorgeous throne, which awed the world, 
 The mighty Monarch of AlTyria hurl’d, 
 
 Sojourn’d with brutes beneath the midnight ftorm, 
 Changed by avenging Heaven in mind and form. 
 
 _Prone to the earth Pie bends his brow fuperb, 215 
 
 Crops the young floret and the bladed herb ; 
 
 Lolls his red tongue, and from the reedy fide 
 Of flow Euphrates laps the muddy tide. 
 
 Long eagle plumes his arching neck inveft, 
 
 Steal round his arms, and clafp his fharpen’d breaft; 220 
 Dark blinded hairs, in briftling ranks, behind, 
 
 Rife o’er his back, and ruftle in the wind ; 
 
 Clothe his lank fides, his flirivel’d limbs furround, 
 
 And human hands with talons print the ground. 
 
 Silent in fhining troops the Courtier-throng 225 
 
 Purfue their monarch, as he crawls along ; 
 
 
[ V 3 
 
 E’en Beauty pleads in vain with fmiles and tears, 
 Nor Flattery’s felf can pierce his pendant ears. 
 
 Two Sifter-Nymphs to Ganges’ flowery brink 
 Bend their light fteps, the lucid water drink, 230 
 
 Wind through the dewy rice, and nodding canes, 
 
 (As eight black Eunuchs guard the facred plains), 
 
 With playful malice watch the fcaly brood, 
 
 And (bower the inebriate berries on the flood.— 
 
 Stay in your cryftal chambers, fllver tribes ! 235 
 
 Turn your bright eyes, and fhun the dangerous bribes j 
 The tramel’d net with lefs deftrudion fweeps 
 Your curling (hallows, and your azure deeps; 
 
 With lefs deceit, the gilded fly beneath, 
 
 Lurks the fell hook unfeen,—to tafte is death ! 240 
 
 _Dim your flow eyes, and dull your pearly coat, 
 
 Drunk on the waves your languid forms (hall float, 
 
 Two Sifter-Nymphs. 1 . 229 - Menifpermum, Cocculus. Indian berry. Two houfes, 
 twelve males. In the female flower there are two ftyles and eight filaments without 
 anthers on their fummits; which are called by Linneus eunuchs, bee the note on Cur¬ 
 cuma. The berry intoxicates fiih. Saint Anthony of Padua, when the people refufed 
 to hear him, preached to the fifli, and converted them. Addifon’s Travels m Italy. 
 
On ufelefs fins in giddy circles play, 
 
 And Herons and Otters feize you for their prey.— 
 
 So, when the Saint from Padua’s gracelefs land 245 
 In lilent anguifli fought the barren ftrand, 
 
 High on the fhatter’d beech fublime He flood, 
 
 Still’d with his waving arm the babbling flood ; 
 
 “To Man’s dull ear,” He cry’d, “ I call in vain, 
 
 “ Hear me, ye fcaly tenants of the main!”— 
 Mislhapen Seals approach in circling flocks, 250 
 
 In dufky mail the Tortoife climbs the rocks, 
 
 Torpedoes, Sharks, Rays, Porpus, Dolphins, pour 
 Their twinkling fquadrons round the glittering fhore ; 
 With tangled fins, behind, huge Phocse glide, 255 
 And Whales and Grampi fwell the diftant tide. 
 
 Then kneel’d the hoary Seer, to Heav’n addrefs’d 
 His fiery eyes, and fmote his founding breaft ; 
 
 “ Blefs ye the Lord,” with thundering voice he cry’d, 
 
 “ Blefs ye the Lord!” the bending fliores reply’d ; 
 

 
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
 The winds and waters caught the facred word. 
 
 And mingling echoes fhouted “ Blefs the Lord!” 
 
 The listening fhoals the quick contagion feel, 
 
 Pant on the floods, inebriate with their zeal, 
 
 Ope their wide jaws, and bow their flimy heads, 2 65 
 
 And dalh with frantic fins their foamy beds. 
 
 Sopha’d on fllk, amid her charm-built towers, 
 
 Her meads of afphodel, and amaranth bow r ers, 
 
 Where Sleep and Silence guard the foft abodes, 
 
 In fullen apathy Pap aver nods. 270 
 
 Faint o’er her couch in fcintillating ftreams 
 Pafs the thin forms of Fancy and of Dreams; 
 
 Papaver. I. 207. Poppy. Many males, many females. The plants of this clafs arc 
 almoft all of them poifonous; the fined opium is procured by wounding the heads of 
 large poppies with a three-edged knife, and tying mufcle-fliells to them to catch the 
 drops. In fmall quantities it exhilarates the mind, raifes the paflions, and invigorates 
 the body: in large ones it is fucceedcd by intoxication, languor, dupor, and death. 
 It is cudomary in India for a meffenger to travel above a hundred miles without red 
 or food, except an appropriated bit of opium for himfelf, and a larger one foi his horfe 
 at certain dages. The emaciated and decrepid appearance, with the ridiculous and 
 idiotic gedures, of the opium-eaters in Condantinople is well deferibed in the Memoirs 
 of Baron de Tott. 
 
275 
 
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
 Froze by inchantment on the velvet ground, 
 Fair youths and beauteous ladies glitter round; 
 
 On cryftal pedeftals they feem to ligh, 
 
 Bend the meek knee, and lift the imploring eye. 
 
 _And now the Sorcerefs bares her fhrivel’d hand, 
 
 And circles thrice in air her ebon wand; 
 
 Flulh’d with new life defcending ftatues talk, 
 
 The pliant marble foftening as they walk ; 
 
 With deeper fobs reviving lovers breathe, 
 
 Fair bofoms rife, and foft hearts pant beneath ; 
 
 With warmer lips relenting damfels fpeak. 
 
 And kindling blulhes tinge the Parian cheek; 
 
 To viewlefs lutes aerial voices ling, 2 85 
 
 And hovering loves are heard on ruftling wing. 
 
 —She waves her wand again !—frefh horrors feize 
 Their ftiffening limbs, their vital currents freeze ; 
 
 By each cold nymph her marble lover lies, 
 
 And iron {lumbers feal her glafiy eyes. 290 
 
 So with his dread Caduceus Hermes led 
 From the dark regions of the imprifon’d dead. 
 
Or drove in filent fhoals the lingering train 
 To Night’s dull fhore, and Pluto’s dreary reign. 
 
 So with her waving pencil Crewe commands 295 
 The realms of Tafte, and Fancy’s fairy lands ; 
 
 Calls up with magic voice the lhapes, that fleep 
 In earth’s dark bofom, or unfathom’d deep ; 
 
 That fhrined in air on viewlefs wings afpire, 
 
 Or blazing bathe in elemental fire. 300 
 
 As with nice touch her plaftic hand fhe moves, 
 
 Rife the fine forms of Beauties, Graces, Loves; 
 
 Kneel to the fair Inchantrefs, fmile or figh, 
 
 And fade, or flourifh, as fhe turns her eye. 
 
 Fair Cista, rival of the rofy dawn, 305 
 
 Call’d her light choir, and trod the dewy lawn; 
 
 So with her waving pencil. 1 . 295 * Alluding to the many beautiful paintings by 
 Mifs Emma Crewe, to whom the author is indebted for the very elegant Frontil- 
 piece, where Flora, at play with Cupid, is loading him with garden-tools. 
 
 Cijlus labdaniferus. 1 . 305. Many males, one female. The petals of this beautiful 
 and fragrant Ihrub, as well as of the CEnothera, tree-primrofe, and others, continue ex- 
 
 L 2 
 
( 
 
 [ 76 3 
 
 Hail’d with rude melody the new-born May, 
 
 As cradled yet in April’s lap Ihe lay. 
 
 I. 
 
 “ Born in yon blaze of orient Iky, 
 
 “ Sweet May ! thy radiant form unfold, 3 10 
 
 “ Unclofe thy blue voluptuous eye, 
 
 “ And wave thy fhadowy locks of gold. 
 
 II. 
 
 l( For Thee the fragrant zephyrs blow, 
 
 “ For Thee defcends the funny fhower; 
 c< The rills in fofter murmurs flow, 315 
 
 11 And brighter blofloms gem the bower. 
 
 paneled but a few hours, falling off about noon, or foon after, in hot weather. The 
 mod beautiful flowers of the Ca£tus grandiflorus (fee Cerea) are of equally fhort dura¬ 
 tion, but have their exiftence in the night. And the flowers of the Hibifcus trionum 
 are faid to continue but a Angle hour. The courtfhip between the males and females 
 in thefe flowers might be eafily watched ; the males are faid to approach and recede 
 from the females alternately. The flowers of the Hibifcus finenfis, mutable rofe, live 
 in the Weft Indies, their native climate, but one day ; but have this remarkable pro¬ 
 perty, they are. white at their firft expanflon, then change to deep red, and become 
 purple as they decay. 
 
 The gum or refin of this fragrant vegetable is colle&ed from extenfive underwoods 
 of it in the Eaft by a lingular contrivance. Long leathern thongs are tied to poles and 
 cords, and drawn over the tops of thefe fhrubs about noon; which thus co!ie£t the dull 
 of the anthers, which adheres to the leather, and is occafionally feraped off. Thus in 
 fome degree is the manner imitated, in which the bee colledls on his thighs and legs the 
 fame material for the conflrudion of his combs. 
 
III. 
 
 u Light Graces drefs’d in flowery wreaths, 
 
 “ And tiptoe Joys their hands combine; 
 
 “ And Love his fweet contagion breathes, 
 
 “ And laughing dances round thy fhrine. 320 
 
 IV. 
 
 cc Warm with new life the glittering throngs 
 “ On quivering fin and ruffling wing 
 “ Delighted join their votive fongs, 
 
 <{ And hail thee, Goddess of the Spring.” 
 
 O’er the green brinks of Severn’s oozy bed, 3 2 5 
 
 In changeful rings, her fprightly troops She led ; 
 
 Pan tripp’d before, where Eudnefs fhades the mead, 
 And blew with glowing lip his fevenfold reed ; 
 Emerging Naiads fwell’d the jocund flrain, 
 
 And aped with mimic ftep the dancing train. 330 
 
 Sevenfold reed. 1 . 328. The fevenfold reed, with which Pan is frequently deferibed, 
 feems to indicate, that he was the inventor of the mufical gamut. 
 
C 7 * 3 
 
 “ I faint, I fall V'—at noon the Beauty cried, 
 
 « Weep o’er my tomb, ye Nymphs!”—and funk and died. 
 —Thus, when white Winter o’er the {hivering clime 
 Drives the ftill fnow, or fhowers the filver rime ; 
 
 As the lone fhepherd o’er the dazzling rocks 335 
 
 Prints his Beep ftep, and guides his vagrant flocks ; 
 
 Views the green holly veil’d in net-work nice, 
 
 Her vermil clufters twinkling in the ice ; 
 
 Admires the lucid vales, and {lumbering floods, 
 Sufpended catara&s, and cryftal woods, 340 
 
 Tranfparent towns, with feas of milk between, 
 
 And eyes with tranfport the refulgent fcene: 
 
 If breaks the funfhine o’er the fpangled trees, 
 
 Or flits on tepid wing the weftern breeze, 
 
 In liquid dews defcends the tranflent glare, 345 
 
 And all the glittering pageant melts in air. 
 
 1 
 
 Where Andes hides his cloud-wreath’d crcfl: in fnow, 
 And roots his bafe on burning fands below ; 
 
[ 79 3 
 
 Cinchona, faireft of Peruvian maids, 
 
 To Health’s bright Goddefs in the breezy glades 350 
 
 On Quito’s temperate plain an altar rear’d, 
 
 * 
 
 Trill’d the loud hymn, the folemn prayer preferr’d : 
 Each balmy bud Hie cull’d, and honey’d flower, 
 
 And hung with fragrant wreaths the facred bower ; 
 Each pearly fea fhe fearch’d, and fparkling mine, 355 
 And piled their treafures on the gorgeous flirine; 
 
 Her fuppliant voice for flckcning Loxa raifed, 
 
 Sweet breath’d the gale, and bright the cenfor blazed. 
 
 “ —Divine Hygeia ! on thy votaries bend 
 i( Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend ! 36° 
 
 “ While ftreaming o’er the night with baleful glare 
 “ The ftar of Autumn rays his mifty hair ; 
 
 “ Fierce from his fens the Giant Ague fprings, 
 
 “• And wrapp’d in fogs defcends on vampire wings j 
 
 Cinchona. 1 . 349. Peruvian bark-tree. Five males, and one female. Several of tliefe 
 trees were felled for other purpofes into a lake, when an epidemic fever of a very mor¬ 
 tal kind prevailed at Loxa in Peru, and the woodmen, accidentally drinking the water, 
 were cured j and thus were difeovered the virtues of this famous drug. 
 

 [ So ] 
 
 “ Before, with lliuddering limbs cold tremor reels, 365 
 “ And Fever’s burning noftril dogs his heels; 
 
 “ Loud claps the grinning Fiend his iron hands, 
 ic Stamps with black hoof, and fhouts along the lands; 
 “ Withers the damalk cheek, unnerves the ftrong, 
 
 “ And drives with fcorpion-lafli the fhrieking throng. 
 
 “ Oh, Goddefs! on thy kneeling votaries bend 371 
 “ Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend!” 
 
 —Hygeia, leaning from the bled: abodes, 
 
 The cryftal mandons of the immortal gods, 
 
 Saw the fad Nymph uplift her dewy eyes, 375 
 
 Spread her white arms, and breathe her fervid lighs ; 
 Call’d to her fair affociates, Youth and Joy, 
 
 And fliot all radiant through the glittering Iky; 
 
 Loofe waved behind her golden train of hair, 
 
 Her fapphire mantle fwam diffufed in air.— 38c 
 
 O’er the grey matted mofs, and panfied fod, 
 
 With flep fublime the glowing Goddefs trod. 
 
 Gilt with her beamy eye the confcious fhade. 
 
 And with her fmile celelfial blefs’d the maid. 
 
“ Come to my arms,” with fcraph voice fhe cries, 385 
 “ Thy vows are heard, benignant Nymph! arife; 
 
 “ Where yon afpiring trunks fantaftic wreath 
 “ Their mingled roots, and drink the rill beneath, 
 
 “ Yield to the biting axe thy facred wood, 
 
 “ And ftrew the bitter foliage on the flood.” 390 
 In fllent homage bow’d the blulhing maid,— 
 
 Five youths athletic haften to her aid, 
 
 O’er the fear’d hills re-echoing ftrokes refound, 
 
 And headlong forefts thunder on the ground. 
 
 Round the dark roots, rent bark, and fhatter’d boughs, 
 From ocherous beds the fwelling fountain flows; 396 
 
 With ftreams auftere its winding margin laves, 
 
 And pours from vale to vale its dulky waves. 
 
 —As the pale fquadrons, bending o’er the brink, 
 
 View with a flgh their alter’d forms, and drink ; 400 
 
 Slow-ebbing life with refluent crimfon breaks 
 O’er their wan lips, and paints their haggard cheeks: 
 Through each fine nerve rekindling tranfports dart, 
 Light the quick eye, and fwell the exulting heart. 
 
[ 82 ] 
 
 _Thus Israel’s heav’n-taught chief o’er tracklefs fands 
 
 Led to the fultry rock his murmuring bands, 406 
 
 Bright o’er his brows the forky radiance blazed, 
 
 And high in air the rod divine He railed.— 
 
 Wide yawns the cliff!—amid the thirfty throng 
 Rufh the redundant waves, and fhine along ; 410 
 
 With gourds, and fliells, and helmets, prefs the bands, 
 Ope their parch’d lips, and fpread their eager hands, 
 Snatch their pale infants to the exuberant fhower, 
 
 Kneel on the fhatter’d rock, and blefs the Almighty Power. 
 
 Bolfter’d with down, amid a thoufand wants, 415 
 Pale Dropfy rears his bloated form, and pants ; 
 
 “ Quench me, ye cool pellucid rills!” he cries, 
 
 Wets his parch’d tongue, and rolls his hollow eyes. 
 
 So bends tormented Tantalus to drink, 
 
 While from his lips the refluent water fhrink ; 420 
 
 Again the riling ftream his bofom laves, 
 
 And Thirfl: confumes him ’mid circumfluent waves. 
 
—Divine Hygeia, from the bending fky 
 Defcending, liftens to his piercing cry ; 
 
 Affumes bright Digitalis’ drefs and air, 425 
 
 Her ruby cheek, white neck, and raven hair; 
 
 Four youths protect her from the circling throng, 
 
 And like the Nymph the Goddefs fteps along.— 
 
 O’er Him She waves her ferpent-wreathed wand, 
 
 Cheers w r ith her voice, and raifes with her hand, 43^ 
 Warms with rekindling bloom his vifage wan. 
 
 And charms the fhapelefs monfter into man. 
 
 Digitalis. I. 425. Of the clafs Two Powers. Four males, one female. Foxglove. 
 The effed of this plant in that kind of Dropfy, which is termed anafarca, where the 
 leas and thighs are much fwelled, attended with great difficulty of breathing, is truly 
 aftoniffiinrr. In the afeites accompanied with anafarca of people part the meridian of 
 life it will alfo fometimes fuccecd. The method of admimftering it requires fome 
 caution, as it is liable, in greater dofes, to induce very violent and debilitating ficknefs, 
 which continues one or two days, during which time the dropf.cal collection, however, 
 difa PP ears. One large fpoonful, or half an ounce, of the following decoCtion, given 
 twice a day, will generally fuecced in a few days. But in more robuft people, one large 
 fpoonful every two hours, till four fpoonfuls are taken, or till ficknefs occurs, wi 
 evacuate the dropfical fwcllings with greater certainty, but is liable to operate more 
 violently. Boil four ounces of the freffi leaves of purple Foxglove (which leaves may 
 be had at all feafons of the year) from two pints of water to twelve ounces; ad to 
 the drained liquor, while yet warm, three ounces of redided fpint of wine. A 
 orv of the effieds of this medicine, with many fuccefsful cafes, may be fen in a pam¬ 
 phlet, called “ Experiments on Mucilaginous and Purulent Matter, publiflie y 
 
 Dr. Darwin, in 1780. Sold by Cadell, London. 
 
 M 2 
 
So when Contagion with mephitic breath 
 And wither’d Famine urged the work of death ; 
 Marfeilles’ good Bifhop, London’s generous Mayor, 435 
 With food and faith, with medicine and with prayer, 
 Raifed the weak head, and flayed the parting figh, 
 
 Or with new life relumed the fwimming eye.— 
 
 —And now, Philantropy ! thy rays divine 
 
 Dart round the globe from Zembla to the Line; 440 
 
 O’er each dark prifon plays the cheering light, 
 
 Like northern luflres o’er the vault of night.— 
 
 Marfeilles' good Bifbop. 1 . 435. In the year 1720 and 1722, the Plague made 
 dreadful havock at Marfeilles ; at which time the Bifhop was indefatigable in the exe- 
 cution of his pafloral office, vifiting, relieving, encouraging, and abfolving the fick 
 with extreme tendernefs; and though perpetually expofed to the infe&ion, like Sir John 
 Lawrence, mentioned below, they both are find to have efcaped the difeafe. 
 
 London's generous Mayor. 1 . 435. During the great Plague at London in the year 1665, 
 Sir John Lawrence, the then Lord Mayor, continued the whole time in the city; heard 
 complaints and redreffed them ; enforced the wifeft regulations then known, and faw 
 them executed. The day after the difeafe was known with certainty to be the Plague, 
 above 40,000 fervants were difmifTed, and turned into the ffreets to perifh, for no°one 
 would receive them into their houfes ; and the villages near London drove them away 
 with pitch-forks and fire-arms. Sir John Lawrence fupported them all, as well as the 
 needy who were fick, at firft by expending his own fortune, till fubfcriptions could be 
 folicited and received from all parts of the nation. Journal of the Plague-year. Printed 
 for E. Nutt , &c. at the R. Exchange , 1722. 
 
From realm to realm, with crofs or crefcent crown’d, 
 Where’er Mankind and Mifery are found, 
 
 O’er burning fands, deep waves, or wilds of fnow, 445 
 Thy Howard journeying feeks the houfe of woe. 
 Down many a winding ftep to dungeons dank, 
 
 Where anguilh wails aloud, and fetters clank; 
 
 To caves beftrew’d with many a mouldering bone, 
 
 And cells, whofe echoes only learn to groan ; 450 
 
 Where no kind bars a whifpering friend difclofe, 
 
 No funbeam enters, and no zephyr blows, 
 
 He treads, inemulous of fame or wealth, 
 
 Profufe of toil, and prodigal of health, 
 
 With foft aftuaftve eloquence expands 455 
 
 Power’s rigid heart, and opes his clenching hands; 
 Leads ftern-ey’d Juftice to the dark domains, 
 
 If not to fever, to relax the chains; 
 
 Or guides awaken’d Mercy through the gloom, 
 
 And fhews the pnfon, lifter to the tomb! 
 
 Gives to her babes the felf-devoted wife, 
 
 To her fond hulband liberty and life!— 
 
 460 
 
CJ 
 
 t 86 ] 
 
 —The Spirits of the Good, who bend from high 
 Wide o’er thefe earthly fcenes their partial eye, 
 
 When firft, array’d in Virtue’s pureft robe, 465 
 
 They faw her Howard traverfing the globe; 
 
 Saw round his brows her fun-like Glory blaze 
 In arrowy circles of unwearied rays ; 
 
 Miftook a Mortal for an Angel-Gueft, 
 
 And afk’d what Seraph-foot the earth impreft. 470 
 ——Onward he moves!—Difeafe and Death retire, 
 
 And murmuring Demons hate him, and admire. 
 
 Here paufed the Goddefs—on Hygeia’s fhnne 
 Obfequious Gnomes repofe the lyre divine ; 
 
 Defcending Sylphs relax the trembling firings, 475 
 And catch the rain-drops on their fhadowy wings. 
 
 —And now her vafc a modefl Naiad fills 
 With liquid cryftal from her pebbly rills ; 
 
 Piles the dry cedar round her filver urn, 
 
 (Bright climbs the blaze, the crackling faggots burn), 480 
 
Culls the green herb of China’s envy’d bowers, 
 In gaudy cups the fteamy treafure pours; 
 
 And, fweetly finding, on her bended knee 
 Prefents the fragrant quintelfence of Tea. 
 


 » 
 
 INTERLUDE II. 
 
 Bookfeller. The monflcrs of your Botanic Garden are as fur- 
 prifing as the bulls with brazen feet, and the fire-breathing dragons, 
 which guarded the Hefperian fruit; yet are they not difgufting, nor 
 mifehievous: and in the manner you have chained them together 
 in your exhibition, they fucceed each other amufingly enough, like 
 prints of the London Cries, wrapped upon rollers, with aglafs be¬ 
 fore them. In this at leaf! they refemble the monfters in Ovid’s 
 Metamorphofes; but. your fimilies, I fuppofe, are Homeric? 
 
 Poet. The great Bard well nnderftood how to make ufe of this 
 kind of ornament in Epic Poetry. He brings his valiant heroes 
 into the field with much parade, and fets them a fighting with great 
 fury; and then, after a few thrufls and parries, he introduces a long 
 firing of fimilies. During this the battle is fuppofed to continue; 
 and thus the time neceflary for the action is gained in our imagi¬ 
 nations; and a degree of probability produced, which contributes to 
 the temporary deception or reverie of the reader. 
 
 But the fimilies of Homer have another agreeable charaderiltic; 
 they do not quadrate, or go upon all fours (as it is called), like the 
 more formal fimilies of fome modern writers; any one refembling 
 feature feems to be with him a fufficient excufe for the introduction 
 of this kind of digreffion; he then proceeds to deliver fome agree¬ 
 able poetry on this new fiibjcd, and thus com cits evciy fimiiieinto 
 a kind of fliort cpifode. 
 
 < 
 
 B. Then a fimile fhould not very accurately refemble the fubjed ? 
 
 P. No; it would then become a philofophical analogy, it would 
 be ratiocination inflead of poetry: it need only fo far refemble the 
 
 N 
 
fubjedt, as poetry itfelf ought to refemble nature. It fhould have 
 fo much fublimity, beauty, or novelty, as to intereft the reader; 
 and fhould be expreffed in pidturefque language, fo as to bring the 
 feenery before his eye; and fhould laftly bear fo much veri-funili- 
 tude as not to awaken him by the violence of improbability or in¬ 
 congruity. 
 
 B. May not the reverie of the reader be diffipated or difturbed 
 by difagreeable images being prefented to his imagination, as well 
 as by improbable or incongruous ones ? 
 
 P. Certainly; he will endeavour to roufe himfelf from a difa¬ 
 greeable reverie, as from the night-mare. And from this may be 
 difeovered the line of boundary between the Tragic and the Horrid; 
 which line, however, will veer a little this way or that, according to 
 the prevailing manners of the age or country, and the peculiar affo- 
 ciation of ideas, or idiofyncracy of mind, of individuals. For in- 
 ftance, if an artift fhould reprefent the death of an officer in battle, 
 by fhewing a little blood on the bofom of his fhirt, as if a bullet 
 had there penetrated, the dying figure would affedt the beholder 
 with pity; and if fortitude was at the fame time expreffed in his 
 countenance, admiration would be added to our pity. On the con¬ 
 trary, if the artift fhould chufe to reprefent his thigh as fhot away 
 by a cannon ball, and fhould exhibit the bleeding fieffi and fhattered 
 bone of the ftump, the pidture would introduce into our minds 
 ideas from a butcher’s fhop, or a furgeon’s operation room, and we 
 fhould turn from it w'ith difguft. So if characters were brought 
 upon the ftage with their limbs disjointed by torturing inftruments, 
 and the floor covered with clotted blood and fcattered brains, our 
 theatric reverie would be deftroyed by difguft, and w r e fhould leave 
 the play-houfe with deteftation. 
 
 The Painters have been more guilty in this refpedt than the 
 Poets; the cruelty of Apollo in flaying Marcias alive is a favourite 
 fubjedt with the antient artifts; and the tortures of expiring mar- 
 
tyrs have difgraced the modem ones. It requires little genius to 
 exhibit the mufcles in convulfive adion either by the pencil or the 
 chiflel, becaufe the interfaces are deep, and the lines ttrongly de¬ 
 fined: but thofe tender gradations of mufcular adion, which con- 
 ttitute the graceful attitudes of the body, are difficult to conceive or 
 to execute, except by a matter of nice difcernment and cultivated 
 tafte. 
 
 B. By what definition would you diftinguifh the Horrid from 
 the Tragic ? 
 
 P. I fuppofe the latter confitt of Diftrefs attended with Pity, 
 which is faid to be allied to Love, the moft agreeable of all our paf- 
 fions; and the former in diftrefs, accompanied with Difguft, which 
 is allied to Hate, and is one of our moft difagreeable fenfations. 
 Hence, when horrid fcenes of cruelty are reprefented in pidures, 
 we wifh to difbelieve their exiftence, and voluntarily exert ourfelves 
 to efcape from the deception : whereas the bitter cup of true Tra¬ 
 gedy is mingled with fome fvveet confolatory drops, which endear 
 our tears, and we continue to contemplate the interetting delufion 
 with a delight, which is not eafy to explain. 
 
 B. Has not this been explained by Lucretius, where he defcribes 
 a ffi ip wreck; and fays, the Spedators receive pleafure from feeling 
 themfelves fafe on land ? and by Akenfide, in his beautiful poem 
 on the Pleafures of Imagination, who aferibes it to our finding ob- 
 jeds for the due exertion of our paffions ? 
 
 P. We mutt not confound our fenfations at the contemplation 
 of real mifery with thofe which we experience at the kemcal 
 reprefentations of tragedy. The fpedators of a ffiipwreck may be 
 attraded by the dignity and novelty of the objed; and from thefe 
 may be faid to receive pleafure; but not from the dittrds of the 
 fufferers. An ingenious writer who has criticifed this dialogue in 
 
 N2 
 

 \ J 
 
 I 9 2 ) 
 
 the Englifh Review for Auguft, 1789, adds, that one great fource 
 of our pleafure from fcenical diftrefs arifes from our, at the fame 
 time, generally contemplating one of the nobleft objedts of nature, 
 that of Virtue triumphant over difficulty and oppreffion, or fup- 
 porting its votary under every fuffering: or, where this does not 
 occur, that our minds are relieved by the juftice of fome fignal 
 puniffimen? awaiting the delinquent. But, beftdes this, at the ex¬ 
 hibition of a good tragedy, we are not only amufed by the dignity 
 and novelty, and beauty, of the objedts before us ; but, if any dif- 
 trefsful circumftances occur too forcibly for our fenfibility, we can 
 voluntarily exert ourfelves, and recoiled!, that the feenery is not 
 real: and thus not only the pain, which we had received from the 
 apparent diftrefs, isleffened, but a new fource of pleafure is opened 
 to us, fimilar to that which we frequently have felt on awaking 
 from a diftrefsful dream ; we are glad that it is not true. We are 
 3t the fame time unwilling to relinquifh the pleafure which we re¬ 
 ceive from the other intereifing circumftances of the drama; and on 
 that account quickly permit ourfelves to relapfe into the delufion; 
 and thus alternately believe and difbelieve, almoft every moment, 
 the exiftence of the objedts reprefented before us. 
 
 B. Have thofe two fovereighs of poetic land, Homer and 
 Shakespe ar, kept their works entirely free from the Horrid?—or 
 even yourfelf in your third Canto ? 
 
 P. The deferiptions of the mangled carcafes of the companions 
 of Ulyftes, in the cave of Polypheme, is in this refpedt certainly ob- 
 jedt ionable, as is well obferved by Scaliger. And in the play of Titus 
 Andronicus, if that was written by Shakefpear (which from its in¬ 
 ternal evidence I think very improbable,) there are many horrid 
 and difguftful circumftances. The following Canto is fubmitted to 
 the candour of the critical reader, to whefe opinion I ffiall fubmit 
 in ftlence. 
 
LOVES OF THE PLANTS. 
 
 CANTO III. 
 
 And now the Goddefs founds her filver fhell, 
 And {hakes with deeper tones the inchanted dell; 
 Tale, round her grafly throne, bedew’d with tears, 
 Flit the thin forms of Sorrows, and of Fears; 
 
 Soft Sighs refponhvc whifper to the chords. 
 
 And Indignations half-uniheath their fwords. 
 

 [ 94 ] 
 
 <{ Thrice round the grave Circle a prints her tread, 
 And chaunts the numbers, which difturb the dead ; 
 Shakes o’er the holy earth her fable plume, 
 
 Waves her dread wand, and ftrikes the echoing tomb! io 
 —Pale fhoot the ftars acrofs the troubled night, 
 
 The tim’rous moon withholds her confcious light; 
 
 Shrill fcream the famifh’d bats, and fhivering owls, 
 
 And loud and long the dog of midnight howls!— 
 
 Cirraa. 1 . 7. Enchanters Nightfhade. Two males, one female. It was much cele¬ 
 brated in the myfteries of witchcraft, and for the purpofe of raifing the devil, as its 
 name imports. It grows amid the mouldering bones and decayed coffins in the ruinous 
 vaults of Sleaford church in Lincolnlhirc. The fuperftitious ceremonies or hiftories 
 belonging to fome vegetables have been truly ridiculous; thus the Druids are faid to 
 have cropped the Mifleto with a golden axe or fickle ; and the Bryony, or Mandrake, 
 was faid to utter a fcream when its root was drawn from the ground ; and that the ani¬ 
 mal which drew it up became difeafed and foon died: on which account, when it was 
 wanted for the purpofe of medicine, it was ufual to loofen and remove the earth about 
 the root, and then to tie it by means of a cord to a dog’s tail, who was whipped to pull 
 it up, and was then fuppofed to fuffer for the impiety of the a&ion. And even at this 
 day bits of dried root of Peony are rubbed fmooth, and ftrung, and fold under the name 
 of Anodyne necklaces, and tied round the necks of children, to facilitate the growth of 
 their teeth! add to this, that in Price’s Hiftoryof Cornwall, a book publifhed about ten 
 years ago, the Virga Divinatoria, or Divining Rod, has a degree of credit given to it. 
 This rod is of hazle, or other light wood, and held horizontally in the hand, and is faid 
 to bow towards the ore whenever the Conjuror walks over a mine. A very few 
 years ago, in France, and even in England, another kind of divining rod has been ufed to 
 difcover fprings of water in a fimilar manner, and gained fome credit. And in this very 
 year, there were many in France, and fome in England, who underwent an enchantment 
 without any divining rod at all, and believed themfelves to be afteded by an invifiblc 
 agent, which the Enchanter called Animal Magneiifm! 
 
 K 
 
—Then yawns the burfting ground !—two imps obfcene 15 
 Rife on broad wings, and hail the baleful queen ; 
 
 Each with dire grin falutes the potent wand, 
 
 And leads the Sorcerefs with his footy hand; 
 
 Onward they glide, where fheds the fickly yew 
 O’er many a mouldering bone its nightly dew; 20 
 
 The ponderous portals of the church unbar,— 
 
 Hoarfe on their hinge the ponderous portals jar; 
 
 As through the colour’d glafs the moon-beam falls, 
 Huge fhapelefs fpe&res quiver on the walls; 
 
 Low murmurs creep along the hollow ground, 25 
 
 And to each ftep the pealing ailes refound; 
 
 By glimmering lamps, prote&ing faints among, 
 
 The fhrines all trembling as they pafs along, 
 
 O’er the ftill choir with hideous laugh they move, 
 (Fiends yell below, and angels weep above!) 30 
 
 Their impious march to God s high altar bend, 
 
 With feet impure the facred fteps afcend; 
 
 With wine unblefs’d the holy chalice flam, 
 
 Affume the mitre, and the cope profane; 
 
To heaven their eyes in mock devotion throw, 35 
 
 \ 
 
 And to the crofs with horrid mummery bow; 
 
 Adjure by mimic rites the powers above, 
 
 And plight alternate their Satanic love. 
 
 Avaunt, ye Vulgar! from her facred groves 
 With maniac ftep the Pythian Laura moves; 
 
 Full of the God her labouring bofom lighs, 
 
 Foam on her lips, and fury in her eyes, 
 
 Strong writhe her limbs, hci wild diihrevelFd hair 
 
 Starts from her laurel-wreath, and fvvims in air.— 
 
 While twenty Priefts the gorgeous ihrine furround 45 
 Cin&ur’d with cphods, and with garlands crown’d, 
 
 Laura. 1. 40. Prunus. Lauro-cerafus. Twenty males,'one female. The Pythian 
 pricftefs is fuppofed to have been made drunk witli infufion of laurel-leaves when fhe 
 delivered her oracles. The intoxication or infpiration is finely defcribed by Virgil ^n. 
 L. vi. The diddled water from laurel-leaves is, perhaps, the mod fudden poifon we 
 are acquainted with in this country. I have feen about two fpoonfuls of it deftroy a large 
 pointer dog in lefs than ten minutes. In a fmaller dofe it is faid to produce intoxica¬ 
 tion : on this account there is reafon to believe it ads in the fame manner as opium and 
 vinous fpirit; but that the dofe is not fo well afeertained. See note on Tremella. It 
 is ufed in the Ratifie ol the Diftillers, by which fcfme dram-drinkers have been fud- 
 denly killed. One pint of water, diddled from fourteen pounds of black cherry dones 
 bruifed, has the fame deleterious effed, dedroying as fuddenly as laurel-water. It is 
 probable Apricot-kernels, Peach-leaves, Walnut-leaves, and whatever poffelTes the 
 kernel-flavour, may have fimilar Qualities. 
 
Contending hofts and trembling nations wait 
 The firm immutable behefts of Fate; 
 
 —She fpeaks in thunder from her golden throne 
 With words unwilled, and wifdom not her own. 50 
 
 So on his Nightmare through the evening fog 
 Flits the fquab Fiend o’er fen, and lake, and bog; 
 
 Seeks fome love-wilder’d Maid with fieep opprefs’d, 
 Alights, and grinning fits upon her bread:. 
 
 —Such as of late amid the murky Iky 55 
 
 Was mark’d by Fuseli’s poetic eye; 
 
 Whofe daring tints, with Shakespear’s happieft grace, 
 Gave to the airy phantom form and place.— 
 
 Back o’er her pillow finks her blufhing head, 
 
 Her fnow-white limbs hang helplefs from the bed; 60 
 While with quick fighs, and fuffocative breath, 
 
 Her interrupted heart-pulfe fwims in death. 
 
 —Then fhrieks of captur’d towns, and widows’ tears, 
 Pale lovers firetch’d upon their blood-ftain’d biers, 
 
< J 
 
 [ 9 ? ] 
 
 The headlong precipice that thwarts her flight, 65 
 
 % 
 
 The tracklefs defert, the cold ftarlefs night, 
 
 And ftern'eye’d Murderer with his knife behind, 
 
 In dread fuccefiion agonize her mind. 
 
 O’ er her fair limbs convulflve tremors fleet, 
 
 Start in her hands, and ftruggle in her feet; 70 
 
 In vain to fcream with quivering lips (he tries, 
 
 And drains in palfy’d lids her tremulous eyes; 
 
 In vain fhe wills to run, fly, fwim, walk, creep; 
 
 The WiLL'prefldes not in the bower of Sleep. 
 
 —On her fair bofom fits the Demon-Ape 75 
 
 Ere£t, and balances his bloated fhape; 
 
 The fVill prefides not . I. 74. Sleep confifts in the abolition of all voluntary power* 
 both over our mufcular motions and our ideas; for we neither walk nor reafon in fleep. 
 But at the fame time, many of our mufcular motions, and many of our ideas continue 
 to be excited into adlion in confequence of internal irritations and of internal fenfations; 
 for the heart and arteries continue to beat, and we experience variety of paffions, and 
 even hunger and third in our dreams. Hence I conclude, that our nerves of fenfe are 
 not torpid or inert during fleep ; but that they are only precluded from the perception 
 of external o\>je£ts, by their external organs being rendered unfit to tranfmit to them 
 the appulfes of external bodies, during the fufpenfion of the power of volition; thus 
 the eyelids are clofed in fleep, and I fuppofe the tympanum of the ear is not ftretched, 
 becaufe they are doprived of the voluntary exertions of the mufcles appropriated to 
 thefe purpofes; and it is probable fomething fimilar happens to the external apparatus 
 of our other organs of fenfe, which may render them unfit for their office of percep¬ 
 tion during fleep : for milk put into the mouths of fleeping babes occafions them to 
 fwallow and fuck; and, if the eye-lid is a little opened in the day-light by the exer¬ 
 tions of diflurbed fleep, the perfon dreams of being much dazzled. See firft Interlude 
 
Rolls in their marble orbs his Gorgon-eyes, 
 
 And drinks with leathern ears her tender cries. 
 
 • 
 
 Arm’d with her ivory beak, and talon-hands, 
 Defcending Fica dives into the bands ; 80 
 
 Chamber’d in earth with cold oblivion lies ; 
 
 Nor heeds, ye Suitor-train , your amorous fighs ; 
 Erewhile with renovated beauty blooms, 
 
 Mounts into air, and moves her leafy plumes. 
 
 —Where Hamps and Manifold, their cliffs among, 85 
 Each in his flinty channel winds along; 
 
 With lucid lines the dufky moor divides, 
 
 Hurrying to intermix their filler tides. 
 
 When there arifes in fleep a painful defire to exert the voluntary motions, it is called 
 the Nightmare or Incubus. When the fleep becomes fo imperfect that fome mufcular 
 motions obey this exertion of defire, people have walked about, and even performed 
 fome domeftic offices in fleep ; one of thcfe fleep-walkers I have frequently feen: once 
 fhe fmelt of a tube-rofe, and fung, and drank a dilh of tea in this (late; her awaking 
 was always attended with prodigious furprize, and even fear; this difeale had daily pe¬ 
 riods, and feemed to be of the epileptic kind. 
 
 Ficus indica. 1 . 80. Indian Fig-tree. Of the clafs Polygamy. This large tree rifes 
 with oppofite branches on all fides, with long egged leaves ; each branch emits a (lender 
 flexile depending appendage from its fummit like a cord, which roots into the earth and 
 rifes again. Sloan. Hift. of Jamaica. Lin. Spec. Plant. See Capri-ficus. 
 
[ loo ] 
 
 Where ftill their filver-bofom’d. Nymphs abhor, 
 
 The blood-fmear’d manfion of gigantic Thor, — ' 90 
 —Erft, fires volcanic in the marble womb 
 Of cloud-wrapp’d Wetton raifed the malfy dome ; 
 
 Rocks rear’d on rocks in huge disjointed 
 
 Form the tall turrets, and the lengthen’d ailes ; 
 
 Broad ponderous piers fuftain the roof, and wide 95 
 Branch the vail; rain-bow ribs from fide to fide. 
 
 Gigantic Thor . 1. 90. Near the village of Wetton, a mile or two above Dove-Dale, 
 
 near Afhburn in Derbvfhire, there is a fpacious cavern about the middle of the afcent 
 
 of the mountain, which dill retains the name of Thor’s houfe; below it is an exten- 
 five and romantic common, where the rivers Hamps and Manifold fink into the earth, 
 and rife again in Ilam gardens, the feat of John Port, Efq. about three miles below. 
 Where thefe rivers rife again there are impreflionsrefembling Fifti, which appear to be 
 of Jafper bedded in Limeftone. Calcareous Spars, Shells converted into a kind of 
 Agate, coral-lines in Marble, ores of Lead, Copper, and Zinc, and many ftrata of 
 Flint, or Chert, and of Toadftone, or Lava, abound in this part of the country. The 
 Druids are faid to have offered human facrifices inclofed in wicker idols to Thor. 
 Thurfday had its name from this Deity. 
 
 The broken appearance of thefurface of many parts of this country \ with the Swal¬ 
 lows, as they are called, or bafons on fome of the mountains, like volcanic Craters, 
 where the rain-water finks into the earth ; and the numerous large {tones, which feem 
 to have been thrown over the land by volcanic explofions; as well as the great mafles 
 of Toadftone or Lava; evince the exiftence of violent earthquakes at fome early period 
 of the world. At this time the channels of thefe fubterrancous rivers feem to have been 
 formed, when a long tra£t of rocks were raifed by the fea flowing in upon the central 
 fires, and thus producing an irrefiftible explofion of fleam ; and when thefe rocks 
 again ftibfided, their parts did not exactly correfpond, but left a long cavity arched over 
 in this operation of nature. The cavities at Caftleton and Buxton in Derbyftiire feem 
 to have had a fimilar origin, as well as this cavern termed Thor’s houfe. See Mr. 
 Whitehurft s and Dr. Hutton’s Theories of the Earth. 
 
While from above defcends in milky ftreams 
 One fcanty pencil of illulive beams, 
 
 Sufpended crags and gaping gulphs illumes, 
 
 And gilds the horrors of the deepen’d glooms. i 
 —Here oft the Naiads, as they chanced to play 
 Near the dread Fane on Thor’s returning day, 
 
 Saw from red altars ftreams of guiltlefs blood 
 Stain their green reed-beds, and pollute their flood; 
 Heard dying babes in wicker prifons wail, i 
 
 And fhrieks of matrons thrill the affrighted Gale ; 
 While from dark caves infernal Echoes mock, 
 
 And Fiends triumphant fliout from every rock! 
 
 —So ftill the Nymphs emerging lift in air 
 Their fnow-white fhoulders and their azure hair ; i 
 Sail with fweet grace the dimpling ftreams along, 
 Liftening the Shepherd’s or the Miner’s fong; 
 
 But, when afar they view the giant-cave, 
 
 On timorous fins they circle on the wave, 
 
 With ftreaming eyes and throbbing hearts recoil, i 
 Plunge their fair forms, and dive beneath the foil.— 
 
[ 102 ] 
 
 Clofed round their heads relu&ant eddies link, 
 
 And wider rings fucceflive dafh the brink.— 
 
 Three thoufand fteps in fparry clefts they ftray, 
 
 Or feek through fullen mines their gloomy way ; 120 
 
 On beds of Lava fleep in coral cells, 
 
 Or figh o’er jafper fifh, and agate fhells. 
 
 Till, where famed Ilam leads his boiling floods 
 Through flowery meadows and impending woods, 
 Pleafed with light fpring they leave the dreary night, 125 
 And ’mid circumfluent furges rife to light; 
 
 Shake their bright locks, the widening vale purfue, 
 Their fea-green mantles fringed with pearly dew ; 
 
 In playful groups by towering Thorp they move, 
 Boundo’erthe foamingwears, andrufh into the Dove. 130 
 
 With fierce diftra&ed eye Impatiens hands, 
 
 1 
 
 Swells her pale cheeks, and brandifhes her hands, 
 
 Impatiens . 1 . 131. Touch me not. The feed veflel confifts of one cell with five divi- 
 fions; each of thefe, when the feed is rips, on being touched, fuddenly folds itfelf into 
 a fpiral form, leaps from the (talk, and difperfes the feeds to a great diftance by its 
 elafticity. The capfule of the geranium and the beard of wild oats are twilled for a 
 
[ r °3 ] 
 
 With rage and hate the aftonifh’d groves alarms, 
 
 And hurls her infants from her frantic arms. 
 
 —So when Med^ea left her native foil, 135 
 
 Unaw’d by danger, unfubdued by toil ; 
 
 Her weeping fire and beckoning friends withftood, 
 
 And launch’d enamour d on the boiling flood ; 
 
 One ruddy boy her gentle lips carefs d, 
 
 And one fair girl was pillowed on her breaft ; 140 
 
 While high in air the golden treafure burns, 
 
 And Love and Glory guide the prow by turns. 
 
 fimiiar purpofe, and diflodge their feeds on wet days, when the ground is bed fitted to 
 receive them. Hence one of thefe, with its adhering capfule or beard fixed on a (land, 
 ferves the purpofe of an hygrometer, twifting itfelf more or lefs according to the moif- 
 ture of the air. 
 
 The awn of barley is furnilhed with diflf points, which, like the teeth of a faw, are 
 all turned towards the point of it; as this long awn lies upon the ground, it extends 
 itfelf in the moid air of night, and pulhes forwards the barley corn, which it adheres to; 
 in the day it fiiortens as it dries; and as thefe points prevent it from receding, it draws up 
 its pointed end; and thus, creeping like a worm, will travel many feet from the parent 
 Item. That very ingenious Mechanic Philofopher, Mr. Edgworth, once made on 
 this principle a wooden automaton ; its back confided of foft Fir-wood, about an inch 
 fquare, and four feet long, made of pieces cut the crofs-way in refped to the fibres of 
 the wood, and glued together: it had two feet before, and two behind, which fupport- 
 e d the back horizontally; but were placed with their extremities, which were armed 
 with fliarp points of iron, bending backwards. Hence, in moid weather the back 
 lengthened, and the twoforemod feet were pulhed forwards; in dry weather the hinder 
 feet were drawn after, as the obliquity of the points of the feet prevented it from rece¬ 
 ding. And thus, in a month or two, it walked acrofs the room which it inhabited. 
 Might not this machine be applied as an Hygrometer to fome meteorological purpofe ? 
 
[ 104 ] 
 
 But, when Theflalia’s inaufpicious plain 
 Received the matron-heroine from the main ; 
 
 While horns of triumph found, and altars burn, 145 
 And fhouting nations hail their Chief’s return; 
 
 Aghaft, She faw new-deck’d the nuptial bed, 
 
 And proud Creusa to the temple led; 
 
 Saw her in Jason’s mercenary arms 
 
 Deride her virtues, and infult her charms ; 150 
 
 Saw her dear babes from fame and empire torn, 
 
 In foreign realms deferted and forlorn ; 
 
 Her love reje&ed, and her vengeance braved, 
 
 By Him her beauties won, her virtues faved.— 
 
 With Hern regard fhe eyed the traitor-king, 155 
 
 And felt, Ingratitude ! thy keeneft fling ; 
 
 “ Nor Heaven,” Ihe cried, “ nor Earth, nor Hell can hold 
 “ A Heart abandon’d to the thirft of Gold !” 
 
 Stamp d with wdd foot, and {hook her horrent brow, 
 And call’d the furies from their dens below. 160 
 
 —Slow out of earth, before the fcftive crowds, 
 
 On wheels of fire, amid a night of clouds, 
 
[ io 5 1 
 
 Drawn by fierce fiends arofe a magic car, 
 
 Received the Queen, and hovering flam’d in air.— 
 
 As with raifed hands the fuppliant traitors kneel, 165 
 And fear the vengeance they deferve to feel, 
 
 Thrice with parch’d lips her guiltlefs babes flie prefs’d, 
 And thrice fhe clafp’d them to her tortur’d breaft; 
 Awhile with white uplifted eyes fhe flood, 
 
 Then plung’d her trembling poniards in their blood. 170 
 “ Go, kifs your fire ! go, fhare the bridal mirth !” 
 
 She cry’d, and hurl’d their quivering limbs on earth. 
 Rebellowing thunders rock the marble towers, 
 
 And red-tongued lightnings fhoot their arrowy fhowers; 
 Earth yawns !—the crafhing ruin finks !—o’er all 175 
 Death with black hands extends his mighty Pall ; 
 
 Their mingling gore the Fiends of Vengeance quaff, 
 
 And Hell receives them with convulfive laugh. 
 
 Round the vex’d ifles where fierce tornadoes roar, 
 
 Or tropic breezes footh the fultry fhore ; 180 
 
 p 
 
What time the eve her gauze pellucid ipreads 
 O’er the dim flowers, and veils the mifty meads; 
 
 Slow o’er the twilight fands or leafy walks, 
 
 Dictamna ftalks; 
 
 In fulphurous eddies round the weird dame 
 
 Plays the light gas, or kindles into flame. 
 
 DiRamnus. 1 . 184. Fraxinclla. In the (till evenings of dry feafons this plant emits 
 
 an inflammable air or gas, and flaflies on the approach of a candle. There are inftances 
 of human creatures who have taken fire fpontaneoufly, and been totally confumed. 
 
 Phil. Tranf. 
 
 The odours of many flowers, fo delightful to our fenfe of fmell, as well as the dif- 
 
 agreeable fcents of others, are owing to the exhalation of their eflential oils. Thefe 
 eflential oils have greater or lefs volatility, and are all inflammable; many of them are 
 poifons to us, as thefe of Laurel and Tabacco ; other poflefs a narcotic quality, as is 
 
 evinced by the oil of cloves inftantly relieving flight tooth-achs; from oil of cinnamon 
 
 relieving the hiccup ; and balfam of peru relieving the pain of fome ulcers. They are 
 all deleterious to certain infeCts, and hence their ufe in the vegetable economy, being 
 produced in flowers or leaves to proteCl them from the depredations of their voracious 
 enemies. One of the eflential oils, that of turpentine, is recommended, by M. de Thofle, 
 for the purpofe of deftroying infe&s which infeCl both vegetables and animals. Having 
 obferved that the trees were attacked by multitudes of fmall infeCts of different colours 
 (pucins ou pucerons) which injured their young branches, he deftroyed them all entirely 
 in the following manner: he put into a bowl a few handfuls of earth, on which he 
 poured a fmall quantity of oil of turpentine; he then beat the whole together with a 
 fpatula, pouring on it water till it became of the confidence of foup ; with this mix¬ 
 ture he moiftened the ends of the branches, and both the infeCts and their eggs were 
 deftroyed, and other infe&s kept aloof by the feent of the turpentine. He adds, that 
 he deftroyed the fleas of his puppies by once bathing them in warm water impregnated 
 with oil of turpentine. Mem. d’Agriculture, An. 1787, Tremeft. Printemp. p. 109. 
 I fprinkled fome oil of turpentine, by means of a brufti, on fome branches of a necta¬ 
 rine tree, which was covered with the aphis; but it killed both the infeft and the 
 branches: a folution of arfenic much diluted did the fame. The (hops of medicine 
 are fupplied with refins, balfams, and eflential oils ; and the tar and pitch, for mecha¬ 
 nical purpofes, are produced from thefe vegetable fecretions. 
 
If refls the traveller his weary head, 
 
 Grim Mancinella haunts the molTy bed, 
 
 Brews her black hebenon, and, Healing near, 
 
 Pours the curft venom in his tortured ear.— 190 
 
 Wide o’er the mad’ning throng Urtica flings 
 Her barbed fhafts, and darts her poifon’d flings. 
 
 Mancinella. 1. 188. Hyppomane. With the milky juice of this tree the Indians 
 poifon their arrows ; the dew-drops which fall from it are fo cauftic as to blifter the 
 {kin, and produce dangerous ulcers; whence many have found their death by deeping 
 under its (hade. Variety of noxious plants abound in all countries, in our own the 
 deadly night-fhade, henbane, hounds-tongue, and many others, are feen in almoft every 
 high road untouched by animals. Some have alked, what is the ufe of fuch abundance 
 of poifons? The naufeous or pungent juices of fome vegetables, like the thorns of 
 others, are given them for their defence from the depredations of animals ; hence the 
 thorny plants are in general wholefome and agreeable food to granivorous animals. See 
 note on Ilex. The flowers or petals of plants are perhaps in general more acrid than 
 their leaves ; hence they are much feldomer eaten by infe&s. This feems to have been 
 the ufe of the eflential oil in the vegetable economy, as obferved above in the notes on 
 Di&amnus and Ilex. The fragrance of plants is thus a part of their defence. Thefe 
 pungent or naufeous juices of vegetables have fupplied the fcience of medicine with 
 its principal materials, fuch as purge, vomit, intoxicate, &c. 
 
 Urtica. 1 . 191. Nettle. The ding has a bag at its bafe, and a perforation near its 
 point, exaflly like the flings of wafps and the teeth of adders ; Hook, Microgr. p. 142. 
 Is the fluid contained in this bag, and prefled through the perforation into the wound, 
 made by the point, a cauflic eflential oil, or a concentrated vegetable acid? The vege¬ 
 table poifons, like the animal ones, produce more hidden and dangerous effects, when 
 inftilled into a w^ound, than when taken into the ftomach ; whence the families of Marfi 
 and Pfilli, in antient Rome, fucked the poifon without injury out of w r ounds made by 
 vipers, and were fuppofed to be indued with fupernatural powers for this purpofe. By 
 the experiments related by Beccaria, it appears that four or five times the quantity, 
 taken by the mouth, had about equal effefls with that infufed into a wound. The male 
 flowers of the nettle are feparate from the female, and the anthers are feen in fair wea¬ 
 ther to burft with force, and to difeharge a dull, which hovers about the plant like a 
 cloud. 
 
t 108 ] 
 
 And fell Lobelia’s fuffocating breath 
 
 1 
 
 Loads the dank pinion of the gale with death. 
 
 —With fear and hate they blaft the affrighted groves, 195 
 
 Yet own with tender care their ktfidred Loves !— 
 
 So, where Palmira ’mid her wafted plains, 
 
 Her fhatter’d aquedu&s, 
 
 midnight pours 
 
 Long threads of lilver through her gaping towers, 200 
 O’er mouldering tombs, and tottering columns gleams,. 
 And frofts her deferts with diffuflve beams), 
 
 Lobelia . 1 . 193. Longiflora. Grows in the Weft Indies, and fpreads fuch deleterious 
 exhalations around it, that an oppreftion of the breaft is felt on approaching it at many 
 feet diftance when placed in the corner of a room or hot-houfe. Ingenhouz, Exper. 
 on Air, p. 146. Jacquini hort. botanic. Vindeb. The exhalations from ripe fruit or 
 withering leaves are proved much to injure the air in which they are confined ; and, it 
 is probable, all thofe vegetables which emit a ftrong fcent may do this in a greater or 
 lefs degree, from the Rofe to the Lobelia; whence the unwholefomenefs in living per¬ 
 petually in fuch an atmofphere of perfume as fome people w'ear about their hair, or 
 carry in their handkerchiefs. Either Boerhave or Dr. Mead have affirmed they were 
 acquainted with a poifonous fluid whofe vapour w r ould prefently deftroy the perfon who 
 fat near it. And it is w r ell known, that the gas from fermenting liquors, or obtained 
 from lime-ftone, will deftroy animals immerfed in it, as w r ell as the vapour of the 
 Grotto del Cani near Naples. 
 
 So, where Palmira . 1 . 197. Among the ruins of Palmira, which are difperfed not 
 only over the plains but even in the deferts, there is one Angle colonade above 2600 
 yards long, the bafes of the Corinthian columns of which exceed the height of a man . 
 and yet this row is only a fmall part of the remains of that one edifice! Volney’s Travels. 
 
 / 
 
[ i°9 3 
 
 Sad o’er the mighty wreck in filence bends. 
 
 Lifts her wet eyes, her tremulous hands extends.— 
 
 If from lone cliffs a burfting rill expands 205 
 
 Its tranfient courfe, and finks into the fands ; 
 
 O’er the moift rock the fell Hyaena prowls, 
 
 The Leopard hides, and the Panther growls; 
 
 On quivering wing the fanufh’d Vulture fcreams, 209 
 Dips his dry beak, and fweeps the gulhing ftreams; 
 With foaming jaws, beneath, and fanguine tongue, 
 Laps the lean Wolf, and pants, and runs along; 
 
 Stern ftalks the Lion, on the ruffling brinks 
 Hears the dread Snake, and trembles as he drinks; 
 Quick darts the fcaly Monfter o’er the plain, 215 
 
 Fold, after fold, his undulating train ; 
 
 And, bending o’er the lake his creftcd brow, 
 
 Starts at the Crocodile, that gapes below. 
 
 Where feas of glafs with gay reflexions fmile 
 Round the green coafts of Java’s palmy iile; 
 
 220 
 
[ no ] 
 
 A fpacious plain extends its upland fcene, 
 
 Rocks rife on rocks, and fountains guili between; 
 
 Soft zephyrs blow, eternal fummers reign, 
 
 And fhowers prolific blefs the foil,—in vain! 
 
 —No fpicy nutmeg feents the vernal gales, 225 
 
 Nor towering plaintain (hades the mid-day vales ; 
 
 No grafiy mantle hides the fable hills, 
 
 No flowery chaplet crowns the trickling rills; 
 
 Nor tufted mofs, nor leathery lichen creeps 
 
 In ruflet tapeftryo’er the crumbling fteeps. 230 
 
 —No ftep retreating, on the fand imprefs’d, 
 
 Invites the vifit of a fecond guefl:; 
 
 No refluent fin the unpeopled flream divides, 
 
 No revolant pinion cleaves the airy tides; 
 
 Nor handed moles, nor beaked worms return, 23 5 
 
 That mining pafs the irremeable bourn.- 
 
 Fierce in dread filence on the blafted heath 
 Fell Upas fits, the Hydra-Tree of death. 
 
 Upas. 1 . 238. There is a poifon-tree in the ifland of Java, which is faid by its ef¬ 
 fluvia to have depopulated the country for 12 or 14 miles round the place of its growth. 
 
240 
 
 Lo! from one root, the envenom’d foil below, 
 
 A thoufand vegetative ferpents grow ; 
 
 In Alining rays the fcaly monfler fpreads 
 O’er ten fquare leagues his far-diverging heads ; 
 
 Or in one trunk entwifts his tangled form, 
 
 Looks o’er the clouds, and hilfes in the ftorm. 
 
 Steep’d in fell poifon, as his fharp teeth part, 245 
 A thoufand tongues in quick vibration dart; 
 
 Snatch the proud Eagle towering o’er the heath, 
 
 Or pounce the Lion, as he ftalks beneath ; 
 
 Or flrew, as marfhall’d hofts contend in vain, 
 
 With human lkeletons the whiten’d plain. 250 
 
 It is called, in the Malayan language, Bohon-Upas; with the juice of it the mod poi- 
 fonous arrows are prepared; and, to gain this, the condemned criminals are fent to 
 the tree with proper dire&ion both to get the juice and to fecure themfelves from the 
 malignant exhalations of the tree; and are pardoned if they bring back a certain 
 quantity of the poifon. But by the regifters there kept, not one in four are faid to 
 return. Not only animals of all kinds, both quadrupeds, fifh, and birds, but all 
 kinds of vegetables alfo are deftroyed by the effluvia of the noxious tree ; fo that, in a 
 diftridl of 12 or 14 miles round it, the face of the earth is quite barren and rocky, 
 intermixed only with the fkeletons of men and animals, affording a fcene of melar - 
 choly beyond what poets have defcribed or painters delineated. Two younger trees of 
 its own fpecies are faid to grow near it. See London Magazine for 1784 or 1783. 
 Tranflated from a defcription of the poifon-tree of the ifland of Java, written in 
 Dutch by N, P. Foereh. For a further.account of it, fee a note at the end of the work. 
 
[ ], 
 
 —Chain’d at his root two fcion-demons dwell, 
 
 Breathe the faint hifs, or try the fhriller yell; . 
 
 Rife, fluttering in the air on callow wings, 
 
 And aim at infe6t-prey their little flings. 
 
 So Time’s ftrong arms with fweeping fey the erafe 255 
 Art’s cumberous works, and empires, from their bafe: 
 While each young Hour its flckle fine employs, 
 
 And crops the fweet buds of domeftic joys! 
 
 1 
 
 With bluflies bright as morn fair Orchis charms, 
 And lulls her infant in her fondling arms ; 260 
 
 Orchis . 1. 259. The Orchis morio in the circumftance of the parent-root fhrivelling 
 up and dying, as the young one increafes, is not only analogous to other tuberous or 
 knobby roots, but alfo to lome bulbous roots, as the tulip. The manner of the pro¬ 
 duction of herbaceous plants from their various perennial roots, feems to want further 
 inveftigation, as their analogy is not yet clearly eftabliftied. The caudex, or true root, 
 in the orchis lies above the knob ; and from this part the fibrous roots and the new knob 
 are produced. In the tulip the caudex lies below the bulb ; from whence proceed the 
 fibrous roots and the new bulbs; the root, after it has flowered, dies like the orchis-root; 
 for the ftem of the laft year’s tulip lies on the outlide, and not in the center of the bulb ; 
 which I am informed does not happen in the three or four firft years when raifed from 
 feed, when it only produces a ftem, and flender leaves without flowering. In the tulip- 
 root, di fleCted in the early fpring, juft before it begins to fhoot, a perfed flower is feen 
 in its center; and between the firft and fccond coat the large next year’s bulb is, I be¬ 
 lieve, produced; between the fecond and third coat, and between this and the fourth 
 coat, and perhaps further, other lefs and lefs bulbs are vifible, all adjoining to the cau¬ 
 dex at the bottom^of the mother bulb; and which, I am told, require as many years 
 before they will flower, as the number of the coats with which they are covered. This 
 
Soft plays Affeftion round her bofom’s throne, 
 
 * And guards his life, forgetful of her own. 
 
 So wings the wounded Deer her headlong flight, 
 Pierced by fome ambufli’d archer of the night, 
 
 Shoots to the woodlands with her bounding fawn, 265 
 And drops of blood bedew the confcious lawn; 
 
 There hid in fhades flie fliuns the cheerful day, 
 
 Hangs o’er her young, and weeps her life away. 
 
 annual reproduction of the tulip-root induces fome florifts to believe that tulip-roots 
 never die naturally, as they lofe fo few of them; whereas the hyacinth-roots, I am in¬ 
 formed, will not laft above five or feven years after they have flowered. 
 
 The hyacinth-root differs from the tulip-root, as the Item of the laft year’s flower is 
 always found in the center of the root, and the new off-fcts arife from the caudex below 
 the bulb, but not beneath any of the concentric coats of the root, except the external 
 one: hence Mr. Eaton, an ingenious florifl of Derby, to whom I am indebted for moft 
 of the obfervations in this note, concludes, that the hyacinth-root does not perifh an¬ 
 nually after it has flowered like the tulip. Mr. Eaton gave me a tulip-root which had 
 been fet too deep in the earth, and the caudex had elongated itfelt near an inch, and 
 the new bulb was formed above the old one, and detached from it, inflead of adhering 
 
 to its fide. Seeaddit. Notes to Vol. I. No. XIV. 
 
 The caudex of the ranunculus, cultivated by the florifls, lies above the claw-like 
 root; in this the old root or claws die annually, like the tulip and orchis, and the new 
 claws, which are feen above the old ones, draw down the caudex lower into the earth. 
 The fame is faid to happen to Scabiofa, or Devil’s bit, and fome other plants, as vale¬ 
 rian and greater plantain ; the new fibrous roots rifing round the caudex above the old 
 ones, the inferior end of the root becomes flumped, as if cut off, after the old fibres 
 are decayed, and the caudex is drawn down into the earth by thefe new roots, bee 
 
 Arum and Tulipa. 
 
 Q. 
 
270 
 
 [ 114 ] 
 
 \ 
 
 So flood Eliza on the wood-crown’d height, 
 
 O’er Minden’s plain, fpedtatrefs of the fight, 
 
 Sought with bold eye amid the bloody flrife 
 Her dearer felf, the partner of her life ; 
 
 From hill to hill the rufhing hoft purfued, 
 
 And view’d his banner, or believed fhe view’d. 
 
 Pleafed with the diflant roar, with quicker tread 275 
 Fall by his hand one lifping boy fhe led; 
 
 And one fair girl amid the loud alarm 
 Slept on her kerchief, cradled by her arm ; 
 
 While round her brows bright beams of Honour dart, 
 And Love’s warm eddies circle round her heart. 280 
 —Near and more near the intrepid Beauty prefs’d, 
 
 Saw through the driving fmoke his dancing crefl; 
 
 Saw on his helm, her virgin-hands inwove, 
 
 Bright liars of gold, and myftic knots of love ; 
 
 Heard the exulting fhout, “they run! they run!” 285 
 “ Great God!” fhe cried, “He’sfafe! the battle’s won!” 
 —A ball now hides through the airy tides, 
 
 (Some Fury wing’d it, and fome Demon guides!) 
 
Parts the fine locks, her graceful head that deck, 
 Wounds her fair ear, and finks into her neck ; 290 
 
 The red ftream, ifluing from her azure veins, 
 
 1 
 
 Dyes her white veil, her ivory bofom ftains.— 
 
 — <c Ah me fhe cried, and finking on the ground, 
 Kifs’d her dear babes, regardlefs of the wound ; 
 
 “ Oh, ceafe not yet to beat, thou Vital Urnl 295 
 “ Wait, gufhing Life, oh, wait my Love’s return! 
 
 “ Hoarfe barks the wolf, the vulture fcreams from far!— 
 “ The angel, Pity, fliuns the walks of war!— 
 
 “ Oh, fpare, ye War-hounds, fpare their tender age!— 
 
 “ On me, on me,” fhe cried, “ exhauft your rage!”— 
 Then with weak arms her weeping babes carefs’d, 301 
 And, fighing, hid them in her blood-ftain’d veft. 
 
 From tent to tent the impatient warrior flies, 
 
 Fear in his heart, and frenzy in his eyes ; 
 
 Eliza’s name along the camp he calls, 3°5 
 
 Eliza echoes through the canvas walls; 
 
( V 
 
 [ Ii6 ] 
 
 Quick through the murmuring gloom his footfteps tread, 
 O’er groaning heaps, the dying and the dead, 
 
 Vault o’er the plain, and in the tangled wood, 
 
 Lo! dead Eliza weltering in her blood!— 310 
 
 —Soon hears his liftening Ton the welcome founds, 
 With open arms and fparkling eyes he bounds:— 
 
 “ Speak low,” he cries, and gives his little hand, 
 
 “ Eliza fleeps upon the dew-cold fand ; 
 
 “ Poor weeping babe with bloody fingers prefs’d, 315 
 u And tried with pouting lips her milklefs breaft; 
 
 “ Alas ! we both with cold and hunger quake— 
 
 “ Why do you weep?—Mama will foon awake.” 
 
 —She’ll wake no more!” the hopelefs mourner cried. 
 Upturn’d his eyes, and clafp’d his hands, and figh’d: 320 
 Stretch’d on the ground awhile entranc’d he lay, 
 
 And prefs’d warm kifies on the lifelefs clay ; 
 
 And then upfprung with wild convulfive ftart, 
 
 And all the Father kindled in his heart; 
 
 “ Oh, Heavens!” he cried, “ my firft ralh vow forgive; 
 “ Thefe bind to earth, for thefe I pray to live !”— 
 
Vfl 
 
 [ M7 ] lllf 
 
 Round his chill bahes he wrapp’d his crimfon veft, 
 
 And clafp’d them fobbing to his aching bread. 
 
 Two Harlot-Nymphs, the fair Cuscutas, pleafe 
 With labour’d negligence, and fludied eafe ; 330 
 
 In the meek garb of modeft worth difguifed. 
 
 The eye averted, and the fmile chaftifed, 
 
 With fly approach they fpread their dangerous charms. 
 And round their vidim wind their wiry arms. 
 
 Cufcuta. 1 . 329. Dodder. Four males, two females. This parafite plant (the feed 
 fplitting without cotyledons), protrudes a fpiral body, and not endeavouring to root 
 itfelf in the earth, afcends the vegetables in its vicinity, fpirally W. S. E. 01 contrary to 
 the movement of the fun ; and abforbs its nourifhmcnt by velfels apparently inferted 
 into its fupporters. It bears no leaves, except here and there a fcale, very fmall, mem¬ 
 braneous, and clofe under the branch. Lin. Spec. Plant, edit, a Reichard. Vol. I. 
 p. 352. The Rev. T. Martyn, in his elegant letters on botany, adds, that, not con¬ 
 tent with fuupport, where it lays hold, there it draws its nourifhment; and, at length, 
 in gratitude for all this, firangles its entertainer. Letter xv. A conteft for air and light 
 obtains throughout the whole vegetable world ; Ihrubs rife above herbs, and, by pre¬ 
 cluding the air and light from them, injure or deftroy them; trees fuffocate or incom¬ 
 mode Ihrubs; the parafite climbing plants, as Ivy, Clematis, incommode the taller 
 trees; and other parafites, which exift without having roots on the ground, as Mifle- 
 toe, Tillandfia, Epidendrum, and the mofles and fungufles, incommode them all. 
 
 Some of the plants with voluble items afcend other plants fpirally eall-fouth-weft, as 
 H imulus, Hop, Lonicera, Honey-fuckle, Tamus, black Bryony, Helxine. Others turn 
 their fpiral Items weft-fouth-eaft, as Convolvulus, Corn-bind, Phofealus, Kidney-bean, 
 Bafella, Cynanche, Euphorbia, Eupatorium. The proximate or final caufesot this 
 difference have not been inveftigated. Other plants are.furnilhed with tendrils for the 
 purpofe of climbing: if the tendril meets with nothing to lay hold of in its firft revolu- 
 
 
335 
 
 [ n8 ] 
 
 So by Scamander when Laocoon flood, 
 
 "Where Troy’s proud turrets glitter’d in the flood, 
 Raifed high his arm, and with prophetic call 
 To flu-inking realms announced her fated fall ; 
 
 Whirl’d his fierce fpear with more than mortal force, 
 And pierced the thick ribs of the echoing horfe; 340 
 
 Two Serpent-forms incumbent on the main, 
 
 Lalhing the white waves with redundant train, 
 
 Arch’d their blue necks, and fliook their towering crefls, 
 And plough’d their foamy way with fpeckled breafts ; 
 Then, darting fierce amid the affrighted throngs, 345 
 Roll d their red eyes, and lliot their forked tongues.—— 
 —Two daring youths to guard the hoary fire, 
 
 Thwart their dread progrefs, and provoke their ire. 
 
 tion, it makes another revolution ; and fo on till it wraps itfelf quite up like a cork- 
 fcrew ; hence, to a carelefs obferver, it appears to move gradually backwards and for¬ 
 wards, being feen fometimes pointing caftward and fometimes weftward. One of the 
 Indian gralTes, Panicum arborefcens, whofe ftem is no thicker than a goofe-quill, rifes 
 as high as the tailed: trees in this conteft for light and air. Spec. Plant a Reichard, 
 V°l. I- P- 161. The tops of many climbing plants are tender from their quick growth; 
 and, when deprived of their acrimony by boiling, are an agreeable article of food. 
 The Hop-tops are in common ufe. I have eaten the tops of white Bryony, Bryonia 
 alba, and found them nearly as grateful as Afparagus, and think this plant might be 
 profitably cultivated as an early garden-vegetable. The Tamus (called black Bryony), 
 was lefs agreeable to the tafte when boiled. See Galanthus. 
 
Round fire and Tons the fcaly monfters roll’d, 
 
 Ring above ring, in many a tangled fold, 350 
 
 Clofe and more clofe their writhing limbs furround, 
 
 And fix with foamy teeth the envenom’d wound. 
 
 —With brow upturn’d to heaven the holy Sage 
 In filent agony fuftains their rage; 
 
 While each fond Youth, in vain, with piercing cries 355 
 Bends on the tortured Sire his dying eyes. 
 
 “ Drink deep, fweet youths,” fedu&ive Vitis cries, 
 The maudlin tear-trop glittering in her eyes; 
 
 Green leaves and purple clufters crown her head, 
 
 And the tall Thyrfus ftays her tottering tread. 360 
 
 Vitis . I. 357. Vine. Five males, one female. The juice of the ripe grape is a nutri¬ 
 tive and agreeable food, confiding chiefly of fugar and mucilage. The chemical procefs 
 of fermentation converts this fugar into fpirit; converts food into poifon! And it has 
 thus become the curfe of the Chriftian world, producing more than half of our chroni¬ 
 cal difeafes; which Mahomet obferved, and forbade the ufe of it to his difciples. The 
 Arabians invented diftillation; and thus by obtaining the fpirit of fermented liquors in 
 a lefs diluted (late, added to its deftru&ive quality. A Theory of the Diabetes ancl 
 Dropfy, produced by drinking fermented or fpirituous liquors, is explained in a Trea- 
 tife on the inverted motions of the lymphatic fyftem, publifhed by Dr. Darwin, Cadel. 
 
—Five haplefs fwains with foft afluafive fmiles 
 The harlot mefhes in her deathful toils ; 
 
 « Drink deep,” fhe carols, as {he waves in air 
 The mantling goblet, u and forget your care.”— 
 
 O’ er the dread feaft malignant Chemia fcowls, 365 
 And mingles poifon in the nedlar’d howls; 
 
 Fell Gout peeps grinning through the dimly fcene, 
 And bloated Dropfy pants behind unfeen; 
 
 white Lepra hides his ftains, 
 
 
 
 And blent Frenzy writhing bites his chains. 370 
 
 So when Prometheus brav’d the Thunderer’s ire, 
 Stole from his blazing throne ethereal fire, 
 
 Prometheus. 1 . 371. The ancient {lory of Prometheus, who concealed in his bofom 
 the fire he had flolen, and afterwards had a vulture perpetually gnawing his liver, affords 
 fo apt an allegory for the effe&s of drinking fpirituous liquors, that one fhould be in¬ 
 duced to think the art of diftillation, as well as fome other chemical procefTes (fuch as 
 calcining gold), had been known in times of great antiquity, and loft again. The 
 fwallowing drams cannot be better reprcfented in hieroglyphic language than by taking 
 fire into one’s bofom; and certain it is, that the general effect of drinking fermented 
 or fpirituous liquors is an inflamed fchirrous, or paralytic liver, with its various criti¬ 
 cal or confequential difeafes, as leprous eruptions on the face, gout, dropfy, epilepfy, 
 infanity. It is remarkable, that all the difeafes from drinking fpirituous or fermented 
 liquors are liable to become hereditary, even to the third generation, gradually increa- 
 fing, if the caufe be continued, till the family becomes extindl. 
 
And, lantern’d in his bread:, from realms of day 
 Bore the bright treafure to his Man of clay;— 
 
 High on cold Caucafus by Vulcan bound, 375 
 
 The lean impatient Vulture fluttering round, 
 
 His writhing limbs in vain he twifts and ftrains 
 To break or loofe the adamantine chains. 
 
 The gluttonous bird, exulting in his pangs, 
 
 Tears his fwoln liver with remorfelefs fangs. 380 
 
 i 
 
 % ^ • 
 
 The gentle Cyclamen with dewy eye 
 
 Breathes o’er her lifelefs babe the parting iigh; 
 
 And, bending low to earth, with pious hands 
 Inhumes her dear Departed in the fands. 
 
 Cyclamen. 1 . 181. Shew-bread, or Show-bread. When the feeds are ripe, the (talk of 
 the flower gradually twifts itfelf fpirally downwards, till it touches the ground, and for¬ 
 cibly penetrating the earth lodges its feeds, which are thought to receive nourilhment 
 from the parent root, as they are faid not to be made to grow in any other fituation. 
 
 The Trifolium fubterraneum, fubterraneous trefoil, is another plant which buries 
 its feeds, the globular, head of the feed penetrating the earth; which, however, in this 
 plant may be only an attempt to conceal its feeds from the ravages of birds; for there 
 is another trefoil, the Trifolium Globofum, or globular woolly-headed trefoil, which 
 has a curious manner of concealing its feeds ; the lower florets only have corols, and 
 are fertile; the upper ones wither into a kind of wool, and, forming a head, com¬ 
 pletely conceal the fertile calyxes. Lin. Spec. Plant, a Reichard. 
 
 R / 
 
[ 122 ] 
 
 “ Sweet Nurfling ! withering in thy tender hour, 385 
 “ Oh, fleep,” fhe cries, “ and rife a fairer flower!” 
 
 —So when the Plague o’er London’s gafping crowds 
 Shook her dank wing, and fleer’d her murky clouds; 
 When o’er the friendlefs bier no rites were read, 
 
 No dirge flow-chaunted, and no pall out-fpread ; 390 
 
 While Death and Night piled up the naked throng, 
 And filence drove their ebon cars along; 
 
 Six lovely daughters, and their father, fwept 
 To the throng’d grave Cleone faw, and wept; 
 
 Her tender mind, with meek Religion fraught, 395 
 Drank all-refign’d Afflictions bitter draught; 
 
 Alive and liflening to the whifper’d groan 
 Of others’ woes, unconfcious of her own!— 
 
 One fmiling boy, her laft fweet hope, fhe warms 
 Hufh’d on her bofom, circled in her arms.— 400 
 
 Daughter of woe ! ere morn, in vain carefs’d, 
 
 Clung the cold babe upon thy milklefs breaft, 
 
 With feeble cries thy lall fad aid required, 
 
 Stretch’d its fliff limbs, and on thy lap expired !— 
 
—Long with wide eye-lids on her child fbe gazed, 405 
 And long to Heaven their tearlefs orbs Ihe raifed ; 
 Then with quick foot and throbbing heart fhe found 
 Where Chartreufe open’d deep his holy ground ; 
 
 Bore her laft treafure through the midnight gloom, 
 And kneeling dropp’d it in the mighty tomb ; 410 
 
 “ I follow next!” the frantic mourner faid, 
 
 And living plunged amid the fettering dead. 
 
 Where vaft Ontario rolls his brinelefs tides, 
 
 And feeds the tracklefs forefts on his ttdes, 
 
 IVhere Chartreufe. 1 . 408. During the plague in London, 1665, one pit to receive 
 the dead was dug in the Charter-houfe, 40 feet long, 16 feet wide, and about 20 feet 
 deep; and in two weeks received 1114 bodies. During this dreadful calamity there 
 were inftances of mothers carrying their own children to thofe public graves, and of 
 people delirious, or in defpair from the lofs of their friends, who threw themfelves alive 
 into thefe pits. Journal of the plague-year in 1665, printed for E. Nutt, Royal Ex¬ 
 change. 
 
 Rolls his brinelefs tide . 1 . 413. Some philofophers have believed that the continent of 
 America was not raifed out of the great ocean at fo early a period of time as the other 
 continents. One reafon for this opinion was, becaufe the great lakes, perhaps nearly as 
 large as the Mediterranean Sea, confift of frefh water. And as the fea-falt leems to 
 have its origin from the deftruftion of vegetable and animal bodies, wafhed down by 
 rains, and carried by rivers into lakes or feas; it would feem that this fource of fea-falt 
 had not fo long exifted in that country. There is, however, a more fatisfa&ory way of 
 
o 
 
 [ 124 ] 
 
 Fair Cassia trembling hears the howling woods, 415 
 And trufts her tawny children to the floods.— 
 
 explaining this circumftance; 'which is, that the American lakes lie above the level of 
 the ocean, and are hence perpetually defalited by the rivers which run through them; 
 which is not the cafe with the Mediterranean, into which a current from the main 
 ocean perpetually paffes. 
 
 Caffia. 1 . 415. Ten males, one female. The feeds are black, the ftamens gold-co¬ 
 lour. This is one of the American fruits, which are annually thrown on the coafts of 
 Norway; and are frequently in fo recent a ftate as to vegetate, when properly taken 
 care of, the fruit of the anacardium, cafhew-nut; of cucurbita lagenaria, bottle-gourd ; 
 of the mimofa fcandens, cocoons ; of the pifcidia erythrina, logwood-tree; and cocoa- 
 nuts are enumerated by Dr. Tonning, (Amaen. Acad. 149.) amongft thefe emigrant 
 feeds. The fa£t is truly wonderful, and cannot be accounted for but by the exiftence 
 of under currents in the depths of the ocean ; or from vortexes of water palling from 
 one country to another through caverns of the earth. 
 
 Sir Hans Sloane has given an account of four kinds of feeds which are frequently 
 thrown by the fea upon the coafts of the illands of the northern parts of Scotland. Phil. 
 Tranf. abridged, Vol. III. p. 540, which feeds are natives of the Weft Indies, and 
 feem to be brought thither by the gulf-ftream defcribed below. One of thefe is called, 
 by Sir H. Sloane, Phafeolus maximus perennis, which is often thrown alfo on the coafts 
 of Kerry in Ireland ; another is called in Jamaica Horfe-eye-bean ; and a third is called 
 Niker in Jamaica. He adds, that the Lenticula marina, or Sargoflo, grows on the 
 rocks about Jamaica, is carried by the winds and current towards the coafts of Florida, 
 and thence into the North-American ocean, where it lies very thick on the furface of 
 the fea. 
 
 Thus a rapid current paftes from the gulph of Florida to the N. E. along the coaft of 
 North America, known to feamen by the name of the Gulf-stream. A chart of 
 this was publilhed by Dr. Franklin in 1768, from the information principally of Capt. 
 Folger. This was confirmed by the ingenious experiments of Dr. Biagden, publilhed 
 in 1781, who found that the water of the gulf-ftream was from fix to eleven degrees 
 warmer than the water of the fea through which it ran ; which muft have been occa- 
 iioned by its being brought from a hotter climate. He afcribes the origin of this current 
 to the power of the trade-winds, which, blowing always in the fame dire&ion, carry the 
 waters of the Atlantic ocean to the weftward, till they are ftopped by the oppofing con¬ 
 tinent on the welt of the Gulf of Mexico, and are thus accumulated there, and run 
 down the Gulf of Florida. Philof. Tranf. V. 71, p. 335. Governor Pownal has given 
 
Cin&ured with gold while ten fond brothers Hand, 
 
 And guard the beauty on her native land, 
 
 Soft breathes the gale, the current gently moves, 
 
 And bears to Norway’s coafts her infant-loves. 420 
 —So the fad mother at the moon of night 
 From bloody Memphis ftole her fdent flight ; 
 
 Wrapp’d her dear babe beneath her folded veft, 
 
 And clafp’d the treafure to her throbbing breaft, 
 
 With foothing whifpers hufh’d its feeble cry, 425 
 
 Prefs’d the foft kifs, and breath’d the fecret flgh.— 
 
 an elegant map of this Gulf-ftream, tracing it from the Gulf of Florida northward as 
 far as Cape Sable in Nova Scotia, and then acrofs the Atlantic ocean to the coaft of 
 Africa, between the Canary Iflands and Senegal, increafing in breadth, as it runs, till it 
 occupies five or fix degrees of latitude. The Governor likewife afcribes this current to 
 the force of the trade-winds protruding the waters weftward, till they are oppofed by the 
 continent, and accumulated in the Gulf of Mexico. He very ingenioully obferves, that 
 a great eddy muft be produced in the Atlantic ocean between this Gulf-ftream and the 
 wefterly current protruded by the tropical winds, and in this eddy are found the immenfe 
 fields of floating vegetables, called Saragofa weeds, and Gulf weeds, and fome light 
 woods, which circulate in thefe vaft eddies, or are occafionally driven out of them by 
 the winds. Hydraulic and Nautical Obfervations by Governor Pownal, 1757* Other 
 currents are mentioned by the Governor in this ingenious work, as thofe in the Indian 
 Sea, northward of the line, which are afcribed to the influence of the Monfoons. It 
 is probable, that in procefs of time the narrow tra£l of land on the weft of the Gulph 
 of Mexico, maybe worn away by this elevation ot water dafhing againft it, by which 
 this immenfe current would ceafe to exift, and a wonderful change take place in the 
 Gulf of Mexico and Weft-Indian iflands, by the fubfiding of the fea, which might 
 probably lay all thofe iflands into one, or join them to the continent. 
 
\ J 
 
 [ 126 ] 
 
 —With dauntlefs ftep fhe feeks the winding fhore. 
 Hears unappall’d the glimmering torrents roar; 
 
 With Paper-flags a floating cradle weaves, 
 
 And hides the fmiling boy in Lotus-leaves ; 430 
 
 Gives her white bofom to his eager lips, 
 
 The falt-tears mingling with the milk he lips; 
 
 Waits on the reed-crown’d brink with pious guile, 
 
 And trufls the fcaly monfters of the Nile.— 
 
 —Erewhile majeflic from his lone abode, 435 
 
 EmbafTador of Heaven, the Prophet trod ; 
 
 Wrench’d the red fcourge from proud Oppreflion’s hands, 
 And broke, curft Slavery! thy iron bands. 
 
 Hark! heard ye not that piercing cry, 
 
 Which fhook the waves and rent the fky?— 440 
 
 E’en now, e’en now', on yonder Weflern fhores 
 Weeps pale Defpair, and writhing Anguifh roars: 
 
 E’en now in Afric’s groves with hideous yell 
 Fierce Slavery flalks, and flips the dogs of hell; 
 
445 
 
 [ «*7 ] 
 
 From vale to vale the gathering cries rehound, 
 
 And fable nations tremble at the found!— 
 
 —Ye bands of Senators! whole fuffrage fways 
 Britannia’s realms, whom either Ind obeys ; 
 
 Who right the injured, and reward the brave^ 
 
 Stretch your ftrong arm, for ye have power to fave ! 450 
 Throned in the vaulted heart, his dread refort, 
 Inexorable Conscience holds his court; 
 
 With Hill fmall voice the plots of Guilt alarms, 
 
 Bares his malk’d brow, his lifted hand difarms ; 
 
 But, wrapp’d in night with terrors all his own, 455 
 He fpeaks in thunder, when the deed is done. 
 
 Hear him , ye Senates! hear this truth fublime, 
 
 “ He, who allows oppression, shares the crime.” 
 
 No radiant pearl, which crefted Fortune wears, 
 
 No gem, that twinkling hangs from Beauty’s ears, 460 
 Not the bright liars, which Night’s blue arch adorn, 
 
 Nor riling funs that gild the vernal morn, 
 
Shine with fuch luftre as the tear, that flows 
 
 Down Virtue’s manly cheek for others’ woes. 464 
 
 Here ceafed the Muse, and dropp’d her tuneful fhell, 
 Tumultuous woes her panting bofom fwell, 
 
 O’er her flufli’d cheek her gauzy veil fhe throws, 
 
 Folds her white arms, and bends her laurel’d brows; 
 For human guilt awhile the Goddefs flghs, 
 
 And human forrows dim celeftial eyes. 470 
 

 
 INTERLUDE III. 
 
 Booifeller. PoETRY has been called a lifter-art both to Paint¬ 
 ing and to Mu fie ; I wilh to know, what are the particulars of 
 their relationfliip ? 
 
 Poet. It has been already obferved, that the principal part of 
 the language of poetry con lifts of thofe words, which are expreflive 
 of the ideas, which we originally receive by the organ of fight; and 
 in this it nearly indeed refembles painting ; which can exprefs itfelf 
 in no other way, but by exciting the ideas or fenfations belonging 
 to the fenfe of vifion. But befides this eflential fimilitude in the 
 language of the poetic pen and pencil, thefe two lifters refemble 
 each other, if I may fo fay, in many of their habits and manners. 
 The painter, to produce a ftxong effeCt, makes a few parts of his 
 picture large, diltinCt, and luminous, and keeps the remainder in 
 lhadow, or even beneath its natural fize and colour, to give emi¬ 
 nence to the principal figure. This is fimilar to the common man¬ 
 ner of poetic compofition, where the fubordinate characters are kept 
 down, to elevate and give conference to the hero or heroine of the 
 piece. 
 
 In the fouth aile of the cathedral church at Lichfield, there is an 
 antient monument of a recumbent figure; the head and neck of 
 which lie on a roll of matting in a kind of niche or cavern in the 
 wall; and about five feet diftant horizontally in another opening or 
 
 S 
 
 
I J 
 
 [ 130 ] 
 
 » 
 
 cavern in the wall are feen the feet and ankles, with fome folds of 
 garment, lying alfo on a matt; and though the intermediate fpace 
 is a folid ftone-wall, yet the imagination fupplies the deficiency, and 
 the whole figure feems to exift before our eyes. Does not this re- 
 femble one of the arts both of the painter and the poet ? The former 
 often fhows a mufcular arm amidft a group of figures, or an im- 
 paflioned face; and, hiding the remainder of the body behind other 
 objects, leaves the imagination to complete it. The latter, defcrib- 
 ing a fingle feature or attitude in pidturefque words, produces be¬ 
 fore the mind an image of the whole. 
 
 1 remember feeing a print, in which was reprefentcd a fhrivelled 
 hand ftretched through an iron grate, in the ftone floor of a prifon- 
 yard, to reach at a mefs of porrage, which affected me with more 
 horrid ideas of the di ft refs of the prifoner in the dungeon below, 
 than could have been perhaps produced by an exhibition of the 
 whole perfon. And in the following beautiful fcenery from the 
 Midfummer-night’s Dream, (in which I have taken the liberty to 
 alter the place of a comma), the defcription of the fwimming ftep 
 and prominent belly bring the whole figure before our eyes with the 
 diftind:nefs of reality. 
 
 When we have laugh’d to fee the fails conceive. 
 
 And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; 
 
 Which fhe with pretty and with fwimming gate. 
 
 Following her womb, (then rich with my young fquire), 
 Would imitate, and fail upon the land. 
 
 There is a third fifter-feature, which belongs both to the pi<fto- 
 rial and poetic art; and that is the making fentiments and paftions 
 vifible, as it. were, to the fpedtator; this is done in both arts by de- 
 feribingor pourtraying the effects or changes w hich thofe fentiments 
 or paftions produce upon the body. At the end of the unaltered 
 play of Lear, there is a beautiful example of poetic painting ; the 
 old King is introduced as dying from grief for the lofs of Cordelia; 
 
at this crifis, Shakefpear, conceiving the robe of the King to he held 
 together by a clafp, reprefents him as only faying to an attendant 
 courtier in a faint voice, “ Pray, Sir, undo this button,—thank 
 you. Sir,” and dies. Thus by the art of the poet, the oppreftion 
 at the bofom of the dying King is made vifible, not defcribed in words. 
 
 B. What are the features, in which thefe Sifter-arts do not re- 
 femble each other ? 
 
 P. The ingenious Bifhop Berkeley, in his treatife on Vifion, a 
 work of great ability, has evinced, that the colours which we fee, 
 are only a language fuggefting to our minds the ideas of folidity 
 and extenfion, which we had before received by the fenfe of touch. 
 Thus when we view the trunk of a tree, our eye can only acquaint 
 us with the colours or fhades ; and from the previous experience of 
 the fenfe of touch, thefe fuggeft to us the cylindrical form, with 
 the prominent or deprelfed wrinkles on it. From hence it appears, 
 that there is the ftridteft analogy between colours and founds; as 
 they are both but languages, which do not reprefent their corre- 
 fpondent ideas, but only fuggeft them to the mind from the habits 
 or aflociations of previous experience. It is therefore reafonable to 
 conclude, that the more artificial arrangements of thefe two lan¬ 
 guages by the poet and the painter bear a fimilar analogy. 
 
 But in one circumftance the Pen and the Pencil differ widely from 
 each other, and that is the quantity of Time which they can in¬ 
 clude in their refpedtive reprefentations. The former can unravel a 
 long feries of events, which may conftitute the hiftory of days or 
 years; while the latter can exhibit only the adtions of a moment. 
 The Poet is happier in defcribing fucceflive fcenes; the Painter in 
 reprefcnting ftationary ones : both have their advantages. 
 
 Where the paflions are introduced, as the Poet, on one hand, has 
 the power gradually to prepare the mind of his reader by previous 
 climacteric circumftances ; the Painter, on the other hand, can throw 
 ftronger illumination and diftindtnefs on the principal moment or 
 
 S 2 
 
\ J 
 
 [132] 
 
 cataflrophe of the action; befides the advantage he has in ufing an 
 univerfal language, which can be read in an inflant of time. Thus 
 where a great number of figures are all feen together, fupporting or 
 contrafling each other, and contributing to explain or aggrandize 
 the principal effedt, we view a picture with agreeable furprife, and 
 contemplate it with unceafing admiration. In the reprefentation of 
 the facrifice of Jephtha’s Daughter, a print done from a painting of 
 Ant. Coy pel, at one glance of the eye we read all the interefting 
 paffages of the lafl adt of a well-written tragedy; fo much poetry is 
 there condenfed into a moment of time. 
 
 B. Will you now oblige me with an account of the relationfhip 
 between Poetry, and her other filler, Mufic ? 
 
 P. In the poetry of our language I don’t think we are to look for 
 any thing analogous to the notes of the gamut: for, except perhaps 
 in a few exclamations or interrogations, we are at liberty to raife or 
 fink our voice an odtave or two at pleafure, without altering the fenfe 
 of the words. Hence, if either poetry or profe be read in melo¬ 
 dious tones of voice, as is done in recitativo, or in chaunting, it 
 mufl depend on the fpeaker, not on the writer: for though words 
 may be feledted which are lefs harfli than others, that is, which 
 have fewer fudden flops or abrupt confonants amongft the vowels, 
 or with fewer fibilant letters, yet this does not conflitute melody, 
 which confifls of agreeable fucceflions of notes referable to the 
 gamut ; or harmony, which confifls of agreeable combinations of 
 them. If the Chinefe language has many words of fimilar articu¬ 
 lation, which yet fignify different ideas, when fpoken in a higher 
 or lower mufical note, as fome travellers affirm, it mufl be capable 
 of much finer effedt, in refpedt to the audible part of poetry, than 
 any language we are acquainted with. 
 
 There is however another affinity, in which poetry and mufic 
 more nearly refemble each other than has generally been underflood, 
 and that is in their meafure or time. There are but two kinds 
 
/ 
 
 [ x 33 ] 
 
 of time acknowledged in modern mufic, which are called triple 
 time , and common time. The former of thefe is divided by bars, 
 each bar containing three crotchets, or a proportional number of 
 their fubdivifions into quavers and femiquavers. This kind of time 
 is analogous to the meafure of our heroic or iambic verfe. Thus 
 the two following couplets are each of them divided into five bars 
 of triple time, each bar confifting of two crotchets and two quavers; 
 nor can they be divided into bars analogous to common time without 
 the bars interfering with fome of the crotchets, fo as to divide them. 
 
 3 Soft-warbling beaks | in each bright blof | fom move, 
 
 7 And vo | cal rofebuds thrill | the inchanted grove. J 
 
 In thefe lines there is a quaver and a crotchet alternately in every 
 bar, except in the laft, in which the in make two femiquavers; the 
 e is fuppofed by Grammarians to be cut off, which any one’s ear 
 will readily determine not to be true. 
 
 3 Life buds or breathes [ from Indus to | the poles, 
 
 7 And the | vaft furface kind | les, as it rolls. | 
 
 In thefe lines there is a quaver and a crotchet alternately in the 
 firft bar; a quaver, two crotchets, and a quaver, make the fecond 
 bar. In the third bar there is a quaver, a crotchet, and a reft after 
 the crotchet, that is after the word poles , and two quavers begin the 
 next line. The fourth bar confifts of quavers and crotchets alter¬ 
 nately. In the laft bar there is a quaver, and a reft after it, viz. 
 after the word kindles; and then two quavers and a crotchet. You 
 will clearly perceive the truth of this, if you prick the mufical cha¬ 
 racters above mentioned under the verfes. 
 
 The common time of muficians is divided into bars, each of which 
 contains four crotchets, or a proportional number of their fubdi- 
 vifion into quavers and femiquavers. This kind of mufical time is 
 analogous to the datfyle verfes of our language, the moft popular 
 
inftances of which are in Mr. Anftie’s Bath-Guide. In this kind 
 of verfe the bar does not begin till after the firft or fecond fy liable; 
 and where the verfe is quite complete, and written by a good ear, 
 thefe firft fyllables added to the laft complete the bar, exactly in this 
 alfo correfponding with many pieces of mufic; 
 
 2 Yet | if one may guefs by the | fize of his calf, Sir, 
 
 4 He J weighs above twenty-three | ftone and a half, Sir. 
 
 2 Mafter | Mamozet’s head was not | finifhed fo foon, 
 
 4 For it | took up the barber a | whole afternoon. 
 
 In thefe lines each bar confifts of a crotchet, two quavers, another 
 crotchet, and two more quavers : which are equal to four crotchets, 
 and, like many bars of common time in mufic, may be fubdivided 
 into two in beating time without difturbing the meafure. 
 
 The following verfes from Shenftone belong likewife to com¬ 
 mon time: 
 
 2 A | river or a fea | 
 
 4 Was to him a difh | of tea, 
 
 And a king | dom bread and butter. 
 
 The firft and fecond bars confift each of a crotchet, a quaver, a 
 crotchet, a quaver, a crotchet. The third bar confifts of a quaver, 
 two crotchets, a quaver, a crotchet. The laft bar is not complete 
 without adding the letter A, which begins the firft line, and then it 
 confifts of a quaver, a crotchet, a quaver, a crotchet, two quavers. 
 
 It muft be obferved, that the crotchets in triple time are in gene¬ 
 ral played by muficians flower than thofe of common time, and 
 hence minuets are generally pricked in triple time, and country 
 dances generally in common time. So the verfes above related, 
 which are analogous to triple time; are generally read flower than 
 
\ 
 
 [ 1 35 ] 
 
 thofe analogous to common time ; and are thence generally ufed for 
 graver compofitions. I fuppofe all the different kinds of verfes to 
 be found in our odes, which have , any meafure at all, might be 
 arranged under one or other of thefe two mufical times; allowing 
 a note or two fornetimes to precede the commencement of the bar, 
 and occafional refts, as in mulical compofitions: if this was at- 
 * tended to by thofe who fet poetry to mufic, it is probable the found 
 and fenfe would oftener coincide. Whether thefe mufical times can 
 be applied to the lyric and heroic verfes of the Greek and Latin 
 poets, I do not pretend to determine; certain it is, that the dadlyle 
 verfe of our language, when it is ended with a double rhime, much 
 refembles the meafure of Homer and Virgil, except in the length of 
 the lines. 
 
 B. Then there is no relationlhip between the other two of thefe 
 fifter-ladies. Painting and Mufic ? 
 
 P. There is at leaft a mathematical relationlhip, or perhaps I 
 ought rather to have faid a metaphyfical relationlhip, between them. 
 Sir Ifaac Newton has obferved, that the breadths of the feven pri¬ 
 mary colours in the Sun’s image refra&ed by a prifm, are propor¬ 
 tional to the feven mufical notes of the gamut, or to the intervals 
 of the eight founds contained in an odlave, that is, proportional to 
 the following numbers : 
 
 Sol. 
 
 La • 
 
 Fa. Sol. 
 
 La. 
 
 Mi. 
 
 Fa. Sol. 
 
 Red. 
 
 Orange. 
 
 Yellow. Green. 
 
 Blue. 
 
 Indigo. 
 
 Violet. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 r 1 
 
 r 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 16 
 
 10 9 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 7 
 
 Newton’s Optics, Book I. part 2. prop. 3. and 6. Dr. Smith, 
 in his Harmonics, has an explanatory note upon this happy difeo- 
 very, as he terms it, of Newton. Se£t. 4* Art. 7. 
 
 / 
 
E 136 ] 
 
 From this curious coincidence, it has been propofed to produce a 
 luminous mufic, confifting of fuccellions or combinations of colours, 
 analogous to a tune in refpedt to the proportions above mentioned. 
 This might be performed by a llrong light, made by means of Mr. 
 Argand’s lamps, palling through coloured glades, and falling on a 
 defined part of a wall, with moveable blinds before them, which 
 might communicate with the keys of a harpfichord, and thus pro¬ 
 duce at the fame time vifible and audible mufic in unifon with each 
 other. 
 
 The execution of this idea is faid by Mr. Guyot to have been 
 attempted by Father Caffel, without much fuccefs. 
 
 If this fhould be again attempted, there is another curious coin¬ 
 cidence between founds and colours, difcovered by Dr. Darwin, of 
 Shrewlbury, and explained in a paper on what he calls Ocular Spectra, 
 in the Philofophical Tranfadtions, Vol. LXXVI. which might much 
 facilitate the execution of it. In this treatife the Dodlor has demon- 
 ftrated, that we fee certain colours, not only with greater eafe and 
 diftindtnefs, but with relief and pleafure, after having for fome time 
 contemplated other certain colours; as green after red, or red after 
 green; orange after blue, or blue after orange; yellow after violet, 
 or violet after yellow. This, he fhews, arifes from the ocularJpec - 
 trum of the colour laft viewed coinciding with the irritation of the 
 colour now under contemplation. Now as the pleafure we receive 
 from the fenfation of melodious notes, independent of the previous 
 alfociations of agreeable ideas with them, mull arile from our hear¬ 
 ing fome proportions of founds after others more eafily, diftindtly, 
 or agreeably; and as there is a coincidence between the proportions 
 of the primary colours, and the primary founds, if they may be fo 
 called; he argues, that the fame laws mull govern the fenfations 
 of both. In this circumftance, therefore, confifts the fiflerhood of 
 Mufic and Painting; and hence they claim a right to borrow meta¬ 
 phors from each other; muficians to fpeak of the brilliancy of 
 founds, and the light and lhade of a concerto; and painters of the 
 
 I 
 
harmony of colours, and the tone of a pi&ure. Thus it is not 
 quite fo abfurd, as was imagined, when the blind man afked if the 
 colour fcarlet was like the found of a trumpet. As the coincidence 
 or oppofition of thefe ocular fpeflra, (or colours which remain in 
 the eye after we have for fome time contemplated a luminous object) 
 are more eafily and more accurately afcertained, now their laws 
 have been inveftigated by Dr. Darwin, than the relifts of evanefcent 
 founds upon the ear; it is to be wifhed that fome ingenious muli- 
 cian would further cultivate this curious field of fcience: for if vi- 
 lible mufic can be agreeably produced, it would be more eafy to add 
 fentiment to it by reprefentations of groves and Cupids, and deep¬ 
 ing nymphs amid the changing colours, than is commonly done by 
 the words of audible mufic ? 
 
 B. You mentioned the greater length of the verfes of Homer 
 and Virgil. Had not thefe poets great advantage in the fuperiority 
 of their languages compared to our own ? 
 
 P. It is probable, that the introduction of philofophy into a 
 country muft gradually affeCt the language of it; as philofophy 
 converfes in more appropriated and abffraCted terms; and thus by 
 degrees eradicates the abundance of metaphor, which is ufed in the 
 more early ages of fociety. Otherwife, though the Greek compound 
 words have more vowels in proportion to their confonants than the 
 Englifh ones, yet the modes of compounding them are lefs general; 
 as may be feen by variety of inftances given in the preface of the 
 Tranllators, prefixed to the System of Vegetables by the 
 Lichfield Society; which happy property of our own language ren¬ 
 dered that tranflation of Linneus as exprefiive and as concife, per¬ 
 haps more fo than the original. 
 
 And in one jrefpedt, I believe, the Englifh language ferves the 
 purpofe of poetry better than the antient ones, I mean in the greater 
 eafe of producing perfonifications ; for as our nouns have in general 
 
 T 
 
[ *3® ] 
 
 no renders affixed to them in profe-compofitions, and in the habits 
 of converfation, they become eafily perfonified only by the addition 
 of a mafeuline or feminine pronoun, as, 
 
 Pale Melancholy fits, and round her throws 
 A death-like filence, and a dread repofe. 
 
 Pope's Abelard , 
 
 And fecondly, as mod of our nouns have the article a or the pre¬ 
 fixed to them in profe-writing and in converfation, they in general 
 become perfonified even by the omiffion of thefe articles ; as in the 
 bold figure of Shipwreck in Mifs Seward’s Elegy on Capt. Cook : 
 
 But round the fteepy rocks and dangerous ftrand 
 Rolls the white furf, and Shipwreck guards the land. 
 
 Add to this, that if the verfes in our heroic poetry be ihorter than 
 thofe of the ancients, our words likewife are fliorter ; and in refpedl 
 to their meafure or time, which has erroneoufly been called melody 
 and harmony, I doubt, from what has been faid above, whether we 
 are fo much inferior as is generally believed; finee many palfages, 
 which have been ftolen from antient poets, have been tranflated into 
 our language without lofing any thing of the beauty of the verfifi- 
 cation. The following line tranllated from Juvenal by Dr. Johnfon, 
 is much fuperior to the original: 
 
 Slow rifes Worth by Poverty deprefs’d. 
 
 The original is as follows : 
 
 Difficile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obfiat 
 Res angufta domi. 
 
[ i39 ] 
 
 B. I am glad to hear you acknowledge the thefts of the modern 
 poets from the antient ones, whofe works I fuppofe have been 
 reckoned lawful plunder in all ages. But have not you borrowed 
 epithets, phrafes, and even half a line occafionally from modern 
 poets ? 
 
 P. It may be difficult to mark the exad boundary of what 
 ffiould be termed plagiarifm: where the fentiment and expreffion 
 are both borrowed without due acknowledgement, there can be no 
 doubt;—fingle words, on the contrary, taken from other authors, 
 cannot convid a writer of plagiarifm: they are lawful game, wild 
 by nature, the property of all who can capture them;—and perhaps 
 a few common flowers of fpeech may be gathered, as we pafs over 
 our neighbour’s inclofure, without ftigmatifing us with the title of 
 thieves ; but we mull not therefore plunder his cultivated fruit. 
 
 The four lines at the end of the plant Upas are imitated from 
 Dr. Young’s Night Thoughts. The line in the epifode adjoined to 
 Caffia, “ The fait tear mingling with the milk he Tips,” is from an 
 interefting and humane paflage in Langhorne’s Juftice of Peace. 
 There are probably many others, which, if I could recoiled them, 
 fliould here be acknowledged. As it is, like exotic plants, their 
 mixture with the native ones, I hope, adds beauty to my Botanic 
 Garden: and fuch as it is, Mr. Bookfe/Icr , I now leave it to you to 
 defire the Ladies and Gentlemen to walk in; but pleafe to apprize 
 them, that, like the fpedators at an unfkilful exhibition in fome 
 village-barn, I hope they will make Good-humour one of their 
 party j and thus theirfelves fupply the defeds of the reprefentation. 
 
 T a. 
 
LOVES OF THE PLANTS. 
 
 
 o 
 
 V 
 
 CANTO IV. 
 
 1C ; 
 
 NoW tlie broad Sun his golden orb unfhrouds, 
 Flames in the weft, and paints the parted clouds 
 O’er heaven’s wide arch refraded luftres flow, 
 And bend in air the many-colour’d bow.— 
 —The tuneful Goddefs on the glowing % 
 
 Fix’d in mute ecftafy her gliftening eye; 
 
[ 14 * 1 
 
 And then her lute to fweeter tones file ftrung, 
 
 And fwell’d with fofter chords the Paphian fong; 
 
 Long ailes of Oaks return’d the filver found, 
 
 And amorous Echoes talk’d along the ground ; IO 
 Pleas’d Lichfield liften’d from her facred bowers, 
 
 Bow’d her tall groves, and lhook her {lately towers. 
 
 “ Nymph! not for thee the radiant day returns, 
 Nymph! not for thee the golden folftice burns, 
 Refulgent Cerea !—at the dulky hour 15 
 
 She feeks with penfive ftep the mountain-bower, 
 
 Pleas'd Lichfield . I. 11. The fcenery defcribed at the beginning of the firft part, or 
 economy of vegetation, is taken from a botanic garden about a mile from Lichfield. 
 
 Cerea. 1 . 15. Ca£lus grandiflorus, or Cereus. Twenty males, one female. This 
 flower is a native of Jamaica and Veracrux- Tt expands a mod exquifitely beautiful 
 corol, and emits a mod fragrant odour for a few hours in the night, and then clofes to 
 open no more. The flower is nearly a foot in diameter ; the infide of the calyx of a 
 fplendid yellow, and the numerous petals of a pure white : it begins to open about feven 
 or eight o’clock in the evening, and clofes before fun-rife in the morning. Martyn’s 
 Letters, p. 294. The Ciftus labdaniferus, and many other flowers, lofe their petals 
 after having been a few hours expanded in the day-time ; for in thefe plants the ftigma is 
 foon impregnated by the numerous anthers : in many flowers of the Ciftus labdaniferus 
 I obferved two or three of the ftamens were perpetually bent into contact with the piftil. 
 
 The Ny&anthes, called Arabian Jafmine, is another flower, which expands a beau¬ 
 tiful corol, and gives out a moft delicate perfume during the night, and not in the day, 
 in its native country, whence its name; botanical philosophers have not yet explained 
 
Bright as the blufh of riling morn, and warms 
 The dull cold eye of Midnight with her charms. 
 
 There to the Ikies fhe lifts her pencill’d brows, 
 
 Opes her fair lips, and breathes her virgin vows; 20 
 
 Eyes the white zenyth; counts the funs that roll 
 Their diftant fires, and blaze around the Pole ; 
 
 Or marks where Jove directs his glittering car 
 O’er Heaven’s blue vault,—Herfelf a brighter ftar. 
 
 —There as foft zephyrs fweep with paufing airs 2 5 
 Thy fnowy neck, and part thy fhadowy hairs, 
 
 Sweet Maid of Night! to Cynthia’s fober beams 
 Glows thy warm cheek, thy polifli’d bofom gleams. 
 
 In crowds around thee gaze the admiring fwains, 
 
 And guard in filence the enchanted plains 5 30 
 
 this wonderful property; perhaps the plant "deeps during the day as fome animals do; 
 and its odoriferous glands only omit their fragrance during the expansion of the petals; 
 that is, during its waking hours: the Geranium trifle has the fame property of giving 
 up its fragrance only in the night. The flowers of tlie Cucurbita lagenaria are faid to 
 clofe when the fun fhines upon them. In our climate many flowers, as tragopogon, 
 and hibifus, clofe their flowers before the hotteft part of the day comes on ; and the 
 flowers of fome fpecies of cucubalus, and Silenc, vifeous campion, areclofed all day; 
 but when the fun leaves them they expand, and emit a very agreeable feent; whence 
 fuch plants are termed no tli flora. 
 
[ *44 T 
 
 Drop the frill tear, or breathe the impaflion’d frgh, 
 
 ■ 
 
 And drink inebriate rapture from thine eye. 
 
 * 
 
 Thus when old Needwood’s hoary fcenes the Night 
 
 Paints with blue fhadow, and with milky light; 
 
 * . . 
 
 Where Mundy pour’d, the liftening nymphs among, 35 
 
 Loud to the echoing vales his parting fong; 
 
 With meafured ftep the Fairy Sovereign treads, 
 
 Shakes her high plume, and glitters o’er the meads ; 
 
 Round each green holly leads her fportive train, 
 
 And little footfteps mark the circled plain; 40 
 
 Each haunted rill with frlver voices rings, 
 
 And Night’s fweet bird in livelier accents lings. 
 
 Ere the bright ftar, which leads the morning Iky, 
 Hangs o’er the blufliing eaft his diamond eye, 
 
 The chafte Trop^o leaves her fecret bed ; 45 
 
 A faint-like glory trembles round her head ; 
 
 Where Mundy . 1 . 35. Alluding to an unpubliflied poem by F. N. C. Mundy, Efq. on 
 his leaving Needwood-Foreft. See the paifage in the notes at the end of this volume. 
 
 Tropaolum . I. 45. Majus. Garden Naflurtion, or greater Indian crefs. Eight males, 
 one female. Mifs E. C. Linneus firft obferved the Tropaeolum Majus to emit fparks or 
 
[ 145 3 
 
 Eight watchful fwains along the lawns of night 
 With amorous fteps purfue the virgin light; 
 
 O’er her fair form the ele£tric luftre plays, 
 
 And cold fhe moves amid the lambent blaze. 50 
 
 So fhines the glow-fly, when the fun retires, 
 
 And gems the night-air with phofphoric fires; 
 
 flafhes in the mornings before fun-rife, during the months of June or July, and alfo 
 during the twilight in the evening, but not after total darknefs came on ; thefe fingular 
 cintiilations were (hewn to her father and* other philofophers; and Mr. Wilcke, a cele¬ 
 brated eleflrician, believed them to be ele&ric. Lin. Spec. Plantar, p. 490. Swedifh 
 A£ls for the year 1762. Pulteney’s View of Linneus, p. 220. Nor is this more won¬ 
 derful than that the ele&ric eel and torpedo fhould give voluntary (hocks of ele£lricity; 
 and in this,plant perhaps, as in thofe animals, it may be a mode of defence, by which 
 it harrafles or deftroys the night-flying infers which infeft it; and probably it may emit 
 the fame fparks during the day, which muft be then invifible. This curious fubjeft 
 defervcs further inveftigation. See Di&amnus. The ceafing to (hine of this plant 
 after twilight might induce one to conceive, that it abforbed and emitted light, like the 
 Bolognian Phofphorus, or calcined oyfter-(hells, fo well explained by Mr. B. Wilfon, 
 and by T. B. Beccari. Exper. on Phofphori, by B. Wilfon, Dodfley. The light of 
 the evening, at the fame diftance from noon, is much greater, as I have repeatedly ob- 
 ferved, than the light of the morning: this is owing, I fuppofe, to the phofphorefcent 
 quality of almoft all bodies, in a greater or lefs degree, which thus abforb light during 
 the fun-(hine, and continue to emit it again for fome time afterwards, though not in 
 fuch quantity as to produce apparent fcintillations. The ne&ary of this plant grows 
 from what is fuppofed to be the calyx ; but this fuppofed calyx is coloured ; and per¬ 
 haps, from this circumftance of its bearing the nedary, fhould rather be efteemed a 
 part of the corol. See an additional note at the end of the poem. 
 
 So Jhines the glow-fly. 1 . 51. In Jamaica, in fome feafons of the year, the fire-flies 
 are feen in the evenings in great abundance. When they fettle on the ground, the 
 bull-frog greedily devours them; which feems to have given origin to a curious, though 
 cruel, method of deflroying thefe animals : if red-hot pieces of charcoal be thrown 
 towards them in the du(k of the evening, they leap at them, and, haftily fwallowing 
 them, are burnt to death. 
 
 
 U 
 
I J 
 
 [ 146 I 
 
 Thus o’er the marfh aerial lights betray, 
 
 And charm the unwary wanderer from his way. 
 
 So when thy King, Alfyria, fierce and proud, 
 
 Three human victims to his idol vow d ; 
 
 Rear’d a vaft pyre before the golden fhrine 
 Of fulphurous coal, and pitch-exfuding pine ;— 
 
 —Loud roar the flames, the iron noftrils breathe, 
 And the huge bellows pant and heave beneath ; 
 Bright and more bright the blazing deluge flows, 
 
 And white with feven-fold heat the furnace glows. 
 And now the Monarch fix’d with dread furprife 
 Deep in the burning vault his dazzled eyes. 
 
 “ Lo! Three unbound amid the frightful glare, 
 c< Unfcorch’d their fandals, and unfing’d their hair 
 “ And now a fourth with feraph-beauty bright 
 “ Defcends, accofts them, and outlhines the light 
 « Fierce flames innocuous, as they ftep, retire ! 
 
 « And flow they move amid a world of fire !” 
 
 He fpoke,—to Heaven his arms repentant fpread, 
 And kneeling bow’d his gem-incircled head. 
 

 
 I 147 3 
 
 Two Sifter-Nymphs, the fair Avenas, lead 
 Their fleecy fquadrons on the lawns of Tweed ; 
 Pal's with light ftep his wave-worn banks along, 
 And wake his Echoes with their ftlver tongue ; 
 Or touch the reed, as gentle Love infpires, 
 
 In notes accordant to their chafte defires. 
 
 U 
 
 u 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 Sweet Echo ! fleeps thy vocal Ihell, 
 Where this high arch o’erhangs the dell ; 
 While Tweed with fun-refle£ting ftreams 
 Chequers thy rocks with dancing beams ?- 
 
 Ovena . 1 . 73. Oat. The numerous families of grafles have all three males, and two 
 females, except Anthoxanthum, which gives the grateful fmell to hay, and has but two 
 males. The herbs of this order of vegetables fupport the countlefs tribes of gramini¬ 
 vorous animals. The feeds of the fmaller kinds of grades, as of aira, poa, briza, 
 ftipa, &c. are the fuftcnance of many forts of birds. The feeds of the large grades, 
 as of wheat, barley, rye, oats, fupply food to the human fpecies. 
 
 It feemsto have required more ingenuity to think of feeding nations of mankind with 
 fo fmail a feed, than with the potatoe of Mexico, or the bread fruit of the fouthern 
 iflands; hertce Ceres in Egypt, which was the birth-place of our European arts, was 
 defervcdly celebrated amongfttheirdivinities, as well as Ofyris, who invented the Plough. 
 
 Mr. Wahlborn obferves, that as wheat, rye, and many of thegraffes, and plantain, 
 lift up their anthers on long filaments, and thus expofe the enclofed fecundating duff to 
 be wafhed away by the rains, a fcarcity of corn is produced by wet fummers; hence 
 the neceflityof a careful choice of feed-wheat, as that, which had not received the duff 
 of the anthers, will not grow, though it may appear well to the eye. The ftraw of the 
 oat feems to have been the firfl mufical inftrument, invented during the paftoral ages of 
 
 the world, before the difeovery of metals. Sec note on Ciftus. 
 
 U 2 
 
 
I 
 
 1C 
 
 [ 148 ] 
 
 II. 
 
 Here may no clamours hardi intrude, 
 
 “ No brawling hound or clarion rude ; 
 
 “ Here no fell bead; of midnight prowl, 
 And teach thy tortured cliffs to howl! 
 
 <C 
 
 85 
 
 hi. 
 
 “ Be thine to pour thefe vales along 
 “ Some artlefs Shepherd’s evening fong ; 
 i( While Night’s fweet bird, from yon high fpray 
 Refponfive, lidens to his lay. 90 
 
 u And if, like me, fome love-lorn Maid 
 Should fing her forrows to thy fhade, 
 Oh, footh her bread, ye rocks around! 
 c With fofted fympathy of found.” 
 
 «< 
 
 « 
 
 From ozier bowers the brooding Halcyons peep, 
 The Swans purfuing cleave the glaffy deep, 
 
 95 
 
 
On hovering wings the wondering Reed-larks play, 
 
 And filent Bitterns liften to the lay.— 
 
 !Three fhepherd-fwains beneath the beechen fliades 
 Twine rival garlands for the tuneful maids ; ioo 
 
 On each fmooth bark the rnyflic love-knot frame, 
 
 Or on white fands infcribe the favour’d name. 
 
 Green fwells the beech, the widening knots improve, 
 
 So fpread the tender growths of living love ; 
 
 Wave follows wave, the letter’d lines decay, 105 
 
 So Love’s foft forms uncultured melt away. 
 
 From Time’s remoteft dawn where China brings 
 In proud fucceflion all her Patriot-Kings; 
 
 O’er defert-fands, deep gulphs, and hills fublime, 
 Extends her malfy wall from clime to clime ; no 
 
 With bells and dragons crefts her Pagod-bowers, 
 
 Her filken palaces, and porcelain towers; 
 
 With long canals a thoufand nations laves j 
 Plants all Iter wilds, and peoples all her waves; 
 

 [ I JO ] 
 
 Slow treads fair Cannabis the breezy ftrand, 115 
 
 The diftaff ftreams dilhevell’d in her hand j 
 Now to the left ber ivory neck inclines, 
 
 And leads in Paphian curves its azure lines ; 
 
 Dark waves the fringed lid, the warm cheek glows, 
 
 And the fair ear the parting locks difclofe ; 1 20 
 
 Now to the right with airy fweep (he bends, 
 
 Quick join the threads, the dancing fpole depends. 
 
 « • 
 
 —Five Swains attradled guard the Nymph, by turns 
 Pier grace inchants them, and her beauty burns; 
 
 To each fhe bows with fweet alfualive fmile, 125 
 
 Hears his foft vows, and turns her fpole the while. 
 
 Cannabis . L 115. Chinefe Hemp. Two houfes. Five males. A new fpecies of 
 hemp, of which an account is given by K. Fitzgerald, Efq. in a letter to Sir Jofeph 
 Banks, and which is believed to be much fuperior to the hemp of other countries. A 
 few feeds of this plant were fovvn in England on the 4th of June, and grew to fourteen 
 feet feven inches in height by the middle of October ; they were nearly feven inches in 
 circumference, and bore many lateral branches, and produced very white and tough 
 fibres. At fome parts of the time thefe plants grew' nearly eleven inches in a week — 
 Philof. Tranf. Vol. LXX 1 I. p. 46. 
 
 Paphian curves, 1. 118. In his ingenious work, entitled, The Analyfis of Beauty, 
 Mr. Hogarth believes that tile triangular glafs, which was dedicated to Venus in her 
 temple at Paphos, contained in it a line bending fpirally round a cone with a certain 
 -degree of curvature , and that this pyramidal outline and ferpentine curve conftitute the 
 principles of Grace and Beauty. 
 
So when with light and ffiade, concordant ftrife! 
 Stern Clotho weaves the chequer’d thread of life; 
 Hour after hour the growing line extends, 
 
 The cradle and the coffin bound its ends; 130 
 
 Soft cords of {ilk the whirling fpoles reveal, 
 
 If fmiling Fortune turn the giddy wheel; 
 
 But if fweet Love with baby-fingers twines, 
 
 And wets with dewy lips the lengthening lines, 
 
 Skein after fkein celeffial tints unfold, 135 
 
 And all the filken tiffue fhines with gold. 
 
 Warm with fweet bluffies bright Galantha glows, 
 And prints with frolic ftcp the melting fnows: 
 
 GaJanfhus. I. 137. Nivalis. Snowdrop. Six males, one female. The firft flower 
 that appears after the winter folftice. See Stillingfleet's Calendar of Flora. 
 
 Some fnowdrop-roots taken up in winter, and boiled, had the infipid mucilaginous 
 tafte of the Orchis, and, if cured in the fame manner, would probably make as good 
 falep. The roots of the Hyacinth, I am informed, are equally infipid, and might be 
 ufed as an article of food. Gmelin, in his hiftory of Siberia, fays the Martigon Lily 
 makes a part of the food of that country, which is of the fame natural order as the 
 fnow-drop. Some roots of Crocus, which I boiled, had a difagreeable flavour. 
 
 The difficulty of raifing the Orchis from feed has, perhaps, been a principal reafon 
 of its not being cultivated in this country as an article of food. It is affirmed, by one 
 of the Linnean School, in the Amoenit. Academ. that the feeds of Orchis will ripen, if 
 
Mil 
 
 C 152 ] 
 
 O’er fllent floods, white hills, and glittering meads, 
 
 Six rival fwains the playful beauty leads, 140 
 
 Chides with her dulcet voice the tardy Spring, 
 
 Bids (lumbering Zephyr flretch his folded wing, 
 
 Wakes the hoarfe Cuckoo in his gloomy cave, 
 
 And calls the wondering Dormoufe from his grave, 
 
 Bids the mute Redbreaft cheer the budding grove, 145 
 And plaintive Ringdove tunc her notes to love. 
 
 Spring! with thy own fweet fmile and tuneful tongue, 
 Delighted Bellis calls her infant throng. 
 
 Each on his reed aftride, the Cherub-train 
 
 Watch her kind looks, and circle o’er the plain ; 150 
 
 you deftroy the new bulb; and that Lily of the Valley, Convallaria, will produce 
 many more feeds, and ripen them, if the roots be crowded in a garden-pot, fo as to 
 prevent them from producing many bulbs, Vol. VI. p. 120. It is probaole either of 
 thefe methods may fucceed with thefe and other bulbous-rooted plants, as fnowdiops, 
 and might render their cultivation profitable in this climate. The root of the afpho- 
 delus ramofus, branchy afphodel, is ufed to feed fwine in France; the llarch is ob¬ 
 tained from the alftromeria lida. Memoires d’Agricult. 
 
 BeilisproVifera . 1 . 148. Hen and chicken Daify ; in this beautiful monfter not only 
 the impletion or doubling of the petals takes place, as defcribed in the note on Alcea ; 
 but a numerous circlet of lefs flowers on peduncles, or footflalks, rife from the fides of 
 the calyx, and furround the proliferous parent. The fame occurs in Calendula, ma¬ 
 rigold ; in Heracium, hawk-weed; -and in Scabiofa, Scabious. Phil. Botan. p. 82. 
 
[ 153 ] 
 
 Now with young wonder touch the hiding fnail, 
 
 Admire his eye-tipp’d horns, and painted mail; 
 
 Chafe with quick hep, and eager arms outfpread, 
 
 The paufing Butterhy from mead to mead ; 
 
 Or twine green oziers with the fragrant gale, 155 
 
 The azure harebel, and the primrofe pale, 
 
 Join hand in hand, and in procehion gay 
 Adorn with votive wreaths the (brine of May. 
 
 —So moves the Goddefs to the Idalian groves, 
 
 And leads her gold-hair’d family of Loves. 160 
 
 Thefe, from the darning furnace, hrong and bold 
 Pour the red heel in many a fandy mould ; 
 
 On tinkling anvils (with Vulcanian art), 
 
 Turn with hot tongs, t and forge the dreadful dart ; 
 
 The fragrant Gale. 1 . 155. The buds of the Myrica Gale pofTefs an agreeable aro¬ 
 matic fragrance, and might be worth attending to as an article of the Materia Medica. 
 Mr. Sparman ftifpeds, that the green wax-like fubltance, with which at certain tunes 
 of the year the berries of the Myrica cerifera, or candle-berry Myrtle, are covered, 
 are depofited there by infeds. It is ufed by the inhabitants for making candles, wh.ch 
 he fays burn rather better than thofe made of tallow. Voyage to the Cape, V. I. p. 
 •UC Du Halde gives an account of a white wax made by fmall tnfeds round the 
 branches of a tree in China in great quantity, which is there colleded for medical and 
 economical purpofes. The tree is called Tong-tfin. DTcrtp. oi China. Vol. I. p. 230. 
 
 X 
 

 r ? 54 3 
 
 The barbed bead on whirling jafpers grind, 165 
 
 And dip tbe point in poifon for tbe mind ; 
 
 Each polifh’d lhaft with fnow-white plumage wing, 
 
 Or ftrain tbe bow reluctant to its firing. 
 
 Thofe on light pinion twine with buiy hands, 
 
 Or ftretch from bough to bough the flowery bands; 170 
 Scare the dark beetle, as he wheels on high, 
 
 Or catch in fllken nets the gilded fly; 
 
 Call the young Zephyrs to their fragrant bowers, 
 
 And flay with kilfes fweet the Vernal Hours. 
 
 Where, as proud Maflon rifes rude and bleak, 175 
 And with misfliapen turrets crefts the Peak, 
 
 Old Matlock gapes with marble jaws, beneath, 
 
 And o’er fear’d Derwent bends his flinty teeth ; 
 
 Deep in wide caves below the dangerous foil 
 
 Blue fulphurs flame, imprifon’d waters boil. 180 
 
 Deep in wide caves . 1. 179. The arguments which tend to fhew that the warm fprings 
 of this country are produced from (team raifed by deep fubterraneous fires, and after¬ 
 wards condenfed between the ftrata of the mountains, appear to me much more con¬ 
 clude than the idea of their being warmed by chemical combinations near the furface of 
 
Impetuous fleams in fpiral columns rife 
 Through rifted rocks, impatient for the Ikies; 
 
 Or o’er bright feas of bubbling lavas blow ; 
 
 As heave and tofs the billowy fires below ; 
 
 Condenfed on high, in wandering rills they glide 185 
 From Maffon’s dome, and burft his fparry fide ; 
 
 Round his grey towers, and down his fringed walls, 
 From cliff to cliff, the liquid treafure falls; 
 
 In beds of ftala&ite, bright ores among, 
 
 O’er corals, fliells, and cryftals, winds along; 190 
 
 the earth; for, ift, their heat has kept accurately the fame perhaps for many centuries; 
 certainly as long as we have been poileffed of good thermometers ; which cannot be 
 well explained, without fuppofing that they are firft in a boiling (late. For as the heat 
 of boiling water is 212, and that of the internal parts of the earth 48, it is eafy to under- 
 ftand, that the fleam raifed from boiling water, after being condenfed in fome moun¬ 
 tain, and pafling from thence through a certain fpace of the cold earth, muft be cooled 
 always to a giv<in degree; and it is probable the diftance from the exit of the fpring, to 
 the place where the fleam is condenfed, might be gueffed by the degree of its warmth. 
 
 2. In the dry fummer of 1780, when all other fprings were either dry or much di- 
 minilhed, thofe of Buxton and Matlock (as I was well informed on the fpot), had fuf- 
 fered no diminution ; which proves that the fources of thefe warm fprings are at great 
 depths below the furface of the earth. 
 
 *2. There are numerous perpendicular fiflures in the rocks of Derbyfhire, in which 
 -the ores of lead and copper are found, and which pafs to unknown depths, and might 
 
 thence afford a paffage to fleam from great fubterraneous fires. 
 
 If thefe waters were heated by the decompofition of pyrites, there would be fome 
 chalybeate tafte or fulphureous fmell in them. See note in part I. on the exiflence of 
 
 central fires. 
 
 X 2 
 
I 156 ] 
 
 Crufts the green mofies, and the tangled wood, 
 
 And fparkling plunges to its parent flood. 
 
 —-O’er the warm wave a fmiling youth prefldes, 
 
 Attunes its murmurs, its meanders guides, 
 
 (The blooming Fucus) in her fparry coves 195 
 
 To amorous Echo flngs his fecret loves, 
 
 Bathes his fair forehead in the mifly ftream, 
 
 And with fweet breath perfumes the riling fteam. 
 
 —So, erft, an Angel o’er Bethefda’s fprings, 
 
 Each morn defcending, fhook his dewy wings; 200 
 
 Fucus. 1. 195. Clandeftine marriage. A fpecies of Fucus, or of Conferva, foon 
 appears in all bafons which contain water. Dr. Prieftley found that great quantities of 
 pure dephlogifticated air were given up in water at the points of this vegetable, particu¬ 
 larly in the funlhine, and that hence it contributed to preferve the water in refervoirs 
 from becoming putrid. The minute divifions of the leaves of fubaquatic plants as men¬ 
 tioned in the note on Trapa, and of the gills of fifh, feem to ferve another purpofe be- 
 fides that of incrcafing their furface, which has not, I believe, been attended to, and 
 that is to facilitate the feparation of the air, which is mechanically mixed or chemically 
 diffolved in water by their points or edges ; this appears on immerfing a dry hairy leaf 
 in water frefli from a pump ; innumerable globules like quickfilver appear on almoft 
 every point; for the extremities of thefe points attrad the particles of water lefs forcibly 
 than thofe particles attrad each other; hence the contained air, whofe elafticity was but 
 juft balanced by the attradive power of the furrounding particles of water to each other, 
 linds at the point of each fibre a place where the refiftance to its expanfion is lefs; and 
 in confequence it there expands, and becomes a bubble of air. It is eafy to forefee 
 • that the rays of the funlhine, by being refraded and in part refleded by the two fur- 
 faces of thefe minute air-bubbles, mud impart to them much more heat than to the 
 tranfparent water ; and thus facilitate theif afcent by further expanding them ; that the 
 pomts of vegetables attrad the particles of water lefs than they attrad each other, is 
 
 feen by the fpherical form of dew-drops on the points of grafs. See note on Vegetable 
 Rcfpiration in Part I. 
 
C *57 3 
 
 And as his bright tranflucent form He laves, 
 Salubrious powers enrich the troubled waves. 
 
 Amphibious Nymph, from Nile’s prolific bed 
 Emerging Trapa lifts her pearly head; 
 
 Trapa . 1 . 204. Four males, one female. The lower leaves of this plant grow un¬ 
 der water, and are divided into minute capillary ramifications; -while the upper leaves 
 are broad and round, and have air-bladders in their footftalks to fupport them above the 
 furface of the water. As the aerial leaves of vegetables do the office of lungs, by ex- 
 pofing a large furface of veflels with their contained fluids to the influence of the air; 
 fo thefe aquatic leaves anfwer a fimilar purpofe like the gills of fi(h ; and perhaps gain 
 from water or give it to a fimilar material. As the material'thus neceflary to life feems 
 to abound more in air than in water, the fubaquatic leaves of this plant, and of fifym- 
 brium, oenanthe, ranunculus aquatilis, water crowfoot, and fome others, are cut into 
 fine divifions to increafe the furface ; whilft thofe above water are undivided. So the 
 plants on high mountains have their upper leaves more divided, as pimpinella, petrofe- 
 linum, and others, becaufe here the air is thinner, and thence a larger furface of contaft 
 is required. The ftream of water alfo pafles but once along the gills of fiffi, as it is 
 fooner deprived of its virtue ; whereas the air is both received and eje&ed by the adlion 
 of the lungs of land-animals. The whale feems to be an exception to the above,-as he 
 receives water and fpouts it out again from an organ, which I fuppofe to be a refpira- 
 tory one. As fpring-water is nearly of the fame degree of heat in all climates, the 
 aquatic plants, which grow in rills or fountains, are found equally in the torrid, tem¬ 
 perate, and frigid zones, as water-crefs, water-parfnip, ranunculus, and many others. 
 
 In warmer climates the watery grounds are ufefully cultivated, as with rice; and 
 the roots of fome aquatic plants are faid to have fupplied food, as the ancient Lotus in 
 Egypt, which fome have fuppofed to be the Nymphaea.—In Siberia the roots of the 
 Butomus, or flowering rufh, are eaten, which is well worth further enquiry, as they 
 grow fpontaneoufly in our ditches and rivers, which at prefent produce no efculent ve¬ 
 getables ; and might thence become an article of ufeful cultivation. Herodotus affirms 
 that the Egyptian Lotus grows in the Nile, and refembles a Lily. That the natives dry 
 it in the fun, and take the pulp out of it, which grows like the head of a poppy, and 
 bake it for bread. Enterpe. Many grit-flones and coals, which I have feen, feem to 
 bear an impreffion of the roots of the Nymphsea, which are often three or four inches 
 thick, efpecially the white-flowered one. 
 
 
 m 
 
/ 
 
 [ 153 ] 
 
 v 
 
 Fair glows her virgin check and modeft bread, 205 
 A panoply of fcales deforms the reft ; 
 
 Her quivering fins and panting gdls fhe hides, 
 
 But fpreads her filver arms upon the tides; 
 
 Slow as flie fails, her ivory neck (he laves. 
 
 And (hakes her golden treftes o’er the waves. 210 
 
 Charm’d round the Nymph, in circling gambols glide 
 Four Nereid-forms, or (hoot along the tide ; 
 
 Now all as one they rife with frolic fpring, 
 
 And heat the wondering air on humid wing; 
 
 Now all defeending plunge beneath the main, 215 
 And la(h the foam with undulating train ; 
 
 Above, below, they wheel, retreat, advance, 
 
 In air and ocean weave the mazy dance ; 
 
 Bow their quick heads, and point their diamond eyes, 
 And twinkle to the fun with ever-changing dyes. 220 
 
 Where Andes, crefted with volcanic beams, 
 
 Sheds a long line of light on Plata’s dreams; 
 
Opes all his fprings, unlocks his golden caves, 
 
 And feeds and freights the immeafurable waves ; 
 Delighted Ocyma at twilight hours 225 
 
 Calls her light car, and leaves the fultry bowers; 
 Love’s riling ray, and Youth’s fedu&ive dye, 
 
 Bloom’d on her cheek, and brighten’d in her eye j 
 
 Ocymum falinum. 1. 225. Saline Bafil. Glafs Two Powers. The Abbe Molina, in 
 his Hiftory of Chili, mandated from the Italian by the Abbe Grewvel, mentions a fpe- 
 cies of Bafil, which he calls Ocymum falinum: he fays it refembles the common bafil, 
 except that the flalk is round and jointed; and that though it grows fixty miles from 
 the fea, yet every morning it is covered with faline globules, which are hard and fplen- 
 did, appearing at a diftance like dew ; and that each plant furnilhes about half an 
 ounce of fine fait every day, which the peafants collect, and ufe as common fait, but 
 efteem it fuperior in flavour. 
 
 As an article of diet, fait feems to a£l Amply as a ftimulus, not containing any nou- 
 rifhment, and is the only foflil fubflance which the caprice of mankind has yet taken 
 into their flomachs along with their food ; and, like all other unnatural ftimuli, is not 
 neceflary to people in health, and contributes to weaken our fyftem ; though it may be 
 ufeful as a medicine. It feems to be the immediate caufe of the fea-fcurvy, as thofe 
 patients quickly recover by the ufe of frefh provifions; and is probably a remote caufe 
 of fcrophula (which confifts in the want of irritability in the abforbent veflelsj and is 
 therefore ferviceable to thefe patients ; as wine is neceflary to thofe whofe flomachs have 
 been weakened by its ufe. The univerfality of the ufe of fait with our food, and in 
 our cookery, has rendered it difficult to prove the truth of thefe obfervations. 1 fuf- 
 pe£t that flclh-meat cut into thin flices, either raw or boiled, might be preferved in 
 coarfe fugar or treacle ; and thus a very nourilhing and faiutary diet might be prefented 
 to our feamen. See note on Salt-rocks, in Vol. I. Canto II. If a perfon unaccuf- 
 tomed to much fait Ihould eat a couple of red herrings, his infenfible perfpiration will 
 be fo much increafed by the ftimulus of the fait, that he will find’it neceflary in ab >ut 
 two hours to drink a quart of water: the effbas of a continued ufe of fait in weaken- . 
 ing the adion of the lymphatic fyftem may hence be deduced. 
 
[ 160 ] 
 
 Chafte, pure, and white, a zone of filver graced 
 Her tender bread, as white, as pure, as chafte; 230 
 By four fond fwains in playful circles drawn, 
 
 On glowing wheels (lie tracks the moon-bright lawn, 
 Mounts the rude cliff, unveils her blulliing charms, 
 
 And calls the panting zephyrs to her arms. 
 
 Emerged from ocean fprings the vaporous air, 235 
 Bathes her light limbs, uncurls her amber hair, 
 
 Incrufts her beamy form with films faline, 
 
 And Beauty blazes through the cryftal ftirine.— 
 
 So with pellucid ftuds the ice-flower gems 
 
 Her rimy foliage and her candied Items. 240 
 
 So from his glaffy horns, and pearly eyes, 
 
 The diamond-beetle darts a thoufand dyes; 
 
 Mounts with enamel’d wings the vefper gale, 
 
 And wheeling fliines in adamantine mail. 
 
 Thus when loud thunders o’er Gomorrah burft, 245 
 And heaving earthquakes fliook his realms accurft, 
 
 Ice-flower . 1. 239. Mefembryanthemum cryftallinum. 
 

 
 
 * 
 
 v_> 
 
 [ 161 ] 
 
 An Angel-gueft led forth the trembling Fair 
 With fhadowy hand, and warn’d the guiltlefs pair ; 
 
 “ Hade from thefe lands of fin, ye Righteous! fly, 
 
 “ Speed the quick ftep, nor turn the lingering eye !”— 
 —Such the command, as fabling Bards recite, 251 
 When Orpheus charm’d the grifly King of Night; 
 Sooth’d the pale phantoms with his plaintive lay, 
 
 And led the fair Affurgent into day.— 
 
 Wide yawn’d the earth, the fiery tempeft flafh’d, 255 
 And towns and towers in one vaft ruin crafh’d;— 
 Onward they move,—loud horror roars behind, 
 
 And fhrieks of Anguifh bellow in the wind. 
 
 With many a fob, amid a thoufand fears, 
 
 The beauteous wanderer pours her gufhing tears; 260 
 Each foft conne&ion rends her troubled bread:, 
 
 —She turns, unconfcious of the ftern beheft!— 
 
 u I faint!—I fall!—ah, me!—fenfations chill 
 
 * 
 
 u Shoot through my bones, my fhuddering bofom thrill! 
 I freeze! I freeze! juft Heaven regards my fault, 266 
 Numbs my cold limbs, and hardens into fait!— 
 
 il 
 
 CC 
 
 ¥ 
 
 
 
[ 162 ] 
 
 Not yet, not yet, your dying love refign ! 
 
 “ This lad, lad kifs receive !—no longer thine! 
 
 She faid, and ceafed,—her diffen d form He prcfs d, 27° 
 And drain’d the briny column to his bread:; 
 
 Printed with quivering lips the lifelefs fnow, 
 
 And wept, and gazed the monument of woe. 
 
 So when iEneas through the flames of Troy 
 
 Bore his pale fire, and led his lovely boy ; 275 
 
 With loitering dep the fair Creufa flay’d, 
 
 And Death involved her in eternal fliade.— 
 
 —Oft the lone Pilgrim, that his road forfakes, 
 
 Marks the wide ruins, and the fulphur’d lakes; 
 
 On mouldering piles amid afphaltic mud 
 
 Hears the hoarfe bittern, where Gomorrah flood ; 280 
 
 Recals the unhappy Pair with lifted eye, 
 
 Leans on the cryflal tomb, and breathes the filent figh. 
 
 With net-wove fafh and glittering gorget drefs’d. 
 And fcarlet robe lapell’d upon her bread, 
 

 r >«3 ] 
 
 Stern Ara frowns, the meafured march affumes, 285 
 Trails her long lance, and nods her fhadowy plumes; 
 While Love’s foft beams illume her treacherous eyes, 
 And Beauty lightens through the thin difguife. 
 
 So erft, when Hercules, untamed by toil, 
 
 Own’d the foft power of Dejanira’s fmile ;— 290 
 
 His lion-fpoils the laughing Fair demands, 
 
 And gives the diftaff to his awkward hands ; 
 
 Arum. 1 . 285. Cuckow-pint, of the clafs Gynandria, or tnafculine ladies. The 
 piftil or female part of the flower, rifcs like a club, is covered above or clothed, as it 
 ■were, by the anthers or males; and fomc of the fpecies have a large fcarlet blotch in 
 
 the middle of every leaf. ... 
 
 The Angular and wonderful ftruaure of this flower has occafioned many difputes 
 amongft botanifts. See Tourniff. Malpig. Dillen- Riven. &c. The receptacle is en¬ 
 larged into a naked club, with the germs at its bafe ; the ftamens arc affixed to the re¬ 
 ceptacle amidft the germs (a natural prodigy), and thus do not need the affirtance of 
 elevating Alaments: hence the flower may be faid to be inverted. Families of Plants 
 
 tranflated from Linneus, p. 6i8. ... r ,, 
 
 The fpadix of this plant is frequently quite white, or coloured, and the leaves liable 
 
 to be flreaked with white, and to have black or fcarlet blotches on them. As the plant 
 has no corol orbloflbm, it is probable the coloured juices in thefe parts of the (heath or 
 leaves may ferve the fame purpofe as the coloured juices in the petals of other flowers; 
 from which 1 fuppofe the honey to be prepared. See note on Helleborus. I am in¬ 
 formed that thofe tulip-roots which have a red cuticle produce red flowers See Rub.a. 
 
 When the petalsof the tulip become flriped with many colours, the plant lofts almofl 
 half of its height; and the method-of making them thus break into colours is by tranf- 
 nhntin- them into a meagre or fandy foil, after they haveprevioufy enjoyed a richer foil: 
 Lnce it appears, that the plant is weakened when the flower becomes variegated. See 
 note on Anemone. For the acquired habits of vegetables. See Tul.pa, Orchis. 
 
 ‘ The roots of the Arum are fcratched up and eaten by thruffies in fevere fnowy fea- 
 fons. White’s Hift. of Selbourn, p. 43 * y ^ 
 
 1 
 
 
w , 
 
 t -64 3 
 
 O’ er her white neck the briflly mane fhe throws, 
 
 And binds the gaping whifkers on her brows ; 
 
 Plaits round her (lender waift the fhaggy veff, 295 
 And clafps the velvet paws acrofs her breaft. 
 
 Next with foft hands the knotted club flic rears, 
 
 Heaves up from earth, and on her fhoulder bears. 
 Onward with loftier flep the Beauty treads, 
 
 And trails the brinded ermine o’er the meads ; 300 
 
 Wolves, bears, and pards, forfake the affrighted groves, 
 And grinning Satyrs tremble, as fhe moves. 
 
 Caryo’s fweet ffnile Dianthus proud admires, 
 And gazing burns with unallow’d defires ; 
 
 Dianthus . 1 . 303. Superbus. Proud Pink. There is a kind of pink called Fairchild’s 
 mule, which is here fuppofed to be produced between a Dianthus fuperbus, and the 
 Caryophyllus, Clove. The Dianthus fuperbus emits a mod fragrant odour, particularly 
 at night. Vegetable mules fupply an irrefragable argument in favour of the fexual fyf- 
 tem of botany. They are faid to be numerous; and, like the mules of the animal 
 kingdom, not always to continue their fpecies by feed. There is an account of a curious 
 mule from the Antirrhinum linaria, Toad-flax, in the Amoenit. Academ. V. I. No. 3. 
 and many hybrid plants deferibed in No. 32. The Urtica alienata is an evergreen plant, 
 which appears to be a nettle from the male flowers, and a Pellitory (Parietaria) from the 
 female ones and the fruit; and is hence between both. Murray, Syft. Vcg. Amongft 
 the Engliffi indigenous plants, the veronica hybrida mule Speedvvel is fuppofed to have 
 originated from the officinal one, and the fpiked one. And the SibthorpiaEuropsea to have 
 
[ 16s ] 
 
 With fighs and forrows her compaflion moves, 305 
 And wins the damfel to illicit loves. 
 
 The Monfter-oflspring heirs the father’s pride, 
 
 Mafk’d in the damafk beauties of the bride. 
 
 So, when the Nightingale in eaftern bowers 
 On quivering pinion woos the Queen of flowers; 310 
 Inhales her fragrance, as he hangs in air, 
 
 And melts with melody the blufhing fair ; 
 
 Half-rofe, half-bird, a beauteous Monfter fprings, 
 Waves his thin leaves, and claps his glofly wings; 
 
 Long horrent thorns his inofly legs furround, 315 
 
 And tendril-talons root him to the ground ; 
 
 for its parents the golden faxifrage and marfh pennywort. Pulteney’s View of Linneus, 
 p. 253. Mr. Graberg, Mr. Schreber, and Mr. Ramftrom, feem of opinion, that the in¬ 
 ternal ftru&ure or parts of fru&ification in mule-plants refemble the female parent ; but 
 that the habit or external ftru&ure refembles the male parent. See treatifes under the 
 above names in V. VI. Amoenit. Academic. The mule produced from a horfe and the 
 afs refembles the horfe externally with his ears, main, and tail * but with the nature or 
 manners of an afs : but the Hinnus, or creature produced from a male afs, and a mare, 
 refembles the father externally in ftature, afh-colour, and the black crofs, but with the 
 nature or manners of a horfe. The breed from Spanifh rams and Swedish ewes re- 
 fembled the Spanifh fheep in wool, ftature, and external form; but was a* hardy as the 
 Swedifh fheep ; and the contrary of thofe which were produced from Swedifh rams and 
 Spanifh ewes. The offspring from the male goat of Angora and the Swedifh female 
 goat had long foft camel’s hair; but that from the male Swedifh goat, and the female 
 one of Angora, had no improvement of their wool. An Englifh ram without horns, 
 and a Swedifh liornedevve, produced fheep without horns. Amoen. Acad. V. VI. p. 13. 
 
 
 
[ 166 ] 
 
 * 
 
 Green films of rind his wrinkled neck o’erfpread. 
 
 And crimfon petals crefi: his curled head ; 
 
 Soft-warbling beaks in each bright hloflom move, 
 
 And vocal Rofebuds thrill the enchanted grove !— 320 
 Admiring Evening flays her beamy ftar, 
 
 And ftill Night liftens from his ebon car; 
 
 While on white wings defcending Houries throng, 
 
 And drink the floods of odour and of fong. 
 
 When from his golden urn the Solflice pours, 325 
 O’er Afric’s fable fons the fultry hours; 
 
 When not a gale flits o’er her tawny hills, 
 
 Save where the dry Harmattan breathes and kills; 
 When ftretch’d in duft her gafping panthers lie, 
 
 And writh’d in foamy folds her ferpents die ; 33 ° 
 
 The dry Harmattan. 1 . 328. The Harmattan is afingular wind blowing from the in¬ 
 terior parts of Africa to the Atlantic ocean, fometimes for a few hours, fometimes for 
 feveral days without regular periods. It is always attended with a fog or haze, fodenfe 
 as to render thofe obje&s invifible which are at thediftance of a quarter of a mile; the 
 fun appears through it only about noon, and then of a dilute red, and very minute par¬ 
 ticles fubfide from the mifly air fo as to make the grafs, and the (kins of negroes appear 
 whitifh. The extreme drynefs which attends this wind or fog, without dews, withers 
 and quite dries the leaves of vegetables; and Ls faid by Dr. Lind at fome feafons to be 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Indignant Atlas mourns his leaflefs woods, 
 And Gambia trembles for bis finking floods; 
 Contagion flalks along the briny fand, 
 
 And Ocean rolls bis fickning fhoals to land. 
 
 fatal and malignant to mankind; probably after much preceding wet, when it may be¬ 
 come loaded with the exhalations from putrid marfhes; at other feafons it is fa id to 
 check epidemic difeafes, to cure fluxes, and to heal ulcers and cutaneous eruptions ; 
 which is probably effected by its yielding no moifture to the mouths of the external ab- 
 forbent veflels, by which the adion of the other branches of the abforbent fyftem is m- 
 creafed to fupply the deficiency* Account of the Hurmuttany Phil, Ptunf, V.LXXI. 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Sterling gives an account of a darknefs for fix or eight hours at 
 Detroit in America, on the 19th of Odober, 1762, in which the fun appeared as red 
 as blood, and thrice its ufual fize: fome rain falling, covered white paper with dark 
 drops, like fulphur or dirt, which burnt like wet gunpowder, and the air had a very 
 fulphureous fmell. He fuppofes this to have been emitted from fome diftant earthquake 
 
 or volcano. Philof. Tranf. V.LIII. p. 63. 
 
 In many circumftances this wind feems much to referable the dry fog which covered 
 mod parts of Europe for many weeks in the fummer of 1780, which has been fuppofed 
 to have had a volcanic origin, as it fucceeded the violent eruption of Mount Hccla, 
 and its neighbourhood. From the fubfldence of a white powder, it feems probable that 
 the HarmaUan has a fimilar origin, from the unexplored mountains of Africa. Nor is 
 it improbable, that the epidemic coughs, which occafionally traverfe immenfe trads of 
 country, may be the produds of volcanic eruptions; nor impoflible, that at fome future 
 time contagious miafmata may be thus emitted from fubterraneous furnaces, in fuch 
 abundance as to contaminate the whole atmofphere, and depopulate the earth! 
 
 Hisjickeningfhoals. 1 . 334. Mr. Marfden relates, that in the illand of Sumatra, during 
 the November of 1775, the dry monfoons, or S. E. winds, continued fo much longer 
 than ufual, that the large rivers became dry; and prodigious quantities of fea-filh, dead 
 and dying, were feen floating for leagues on the fea, and driven on the beach by the 
 tides. This was fuppofed to have been caufed by the great evaporation, and the defi¬ 
 ciency of frefh-water rivers having rendered the fea too fait for its inhabitants. The 
 feafon then became fo fickly as to deftroy great numbers of people, both foreigners and 
 .natives. Phil. Tranf. V.LXXI. p. 3 ^ 4 * 
 
335 
 
 —Fair Chunda fmiles amid the burning wafte, 
 
 Her brow unturban’d, and her zone unbrac’d; 
 
 TI’cji brotber-youtbs with light umbrella’s (hade, 
 
 Or fan with bufy bands the panting maid ; 
 
 Loofe wave her locks, difclofing, as they break, 
 
 The riling bofom and averted cheek ; 340 
 
 Clafp’d round her ivory neck with ftuds of gold 
 
 \ 
 
 Flows her thin veil in many a gauzy fold ; 
 
 O’ 'er her light limbs the dim tranfparence plays, 
 
 And the fair form, it feems to bide, betrays. 
 
 Chunda, 1. 335. Chundali Borrum is the name which the natives give to this plant; 
 it is the Hedyfarum gyrans, or moving plant; its clafs is two brotherhoods, ten males. 
 Its leaves are continually in fpontaneous motion ; fome rifing and others falling; and 
 others whirling circularly by twilling their Hems; this fpontaneous movement of the 
 leaves, when the air is quite ftill and very warm, feems to be necelfary to the plant, as 
 perpetual refpiration is to animal life. A more particular account with a good print 
 of the Hedyfarum gyrans is given by M. Brouffonet in a paper on vegetable motions in 
 the Hiftoire de l’Academie des Sciences. Ann. 1784. p. 609. 
 
 There are many other inftances of fpontaneous movements of the parts of vegetables. 
 In the Marchantia polymorpha fome yellow wool proceeds from the flower-bearing an¬ 
 thers, which moves fpontaneoufly in the anther, while it drops its dull like atoms. 
 Murray, Syft. Veg. See note on Collinfonia for other inftances of vegetable fponta- 
 neity. Add to this, that as the fleep of animals confift in a fufpenlion of voluntary 
 motion, and as vegetables are likewife fubjed to fleep, there is reafon to conclude, 
 that the various adions of opening and doling their petals and foliage may be juftly 
 aferibed to a voluntary power: for without the faculty of volition, fleep would not 
 .have been necelfary to them. 
 
ru'i *r ' ^ ^ 
 
 
C 169 ] 
 
 Cold from a thoufand rocks, where Ganges leads 345 
 The gufhing waters to his fultry meads ; 
 
 By moon-crown’d mofques with gay reflexions glides, 
 
 And vaft pagodas trembling on his fldes ; 
 
 ♦ 
 
 With fweet loquacity Nelumbo fails, 
 
 Shouts to his fhores, and parleys with his gales ; 350 
 
 Invokes his echoes, as fhe moves along, 
 
 And thrills his ripling furges with her fong. 
 
 —As round the Nymph her liftening lovers play, 
 
 And guard the Beauty on her watery way ; 
 
 Charm’d on the brink relenting tygers gaze, 35 5 
 
 And paufing buffaloes forget to graze; 
 
 Admiring elephants forfake their woods, 
 
 Stretch their wide ears, and wade into the floods; 
 
 Nelumbo. 1 . 349. Nymphaea Nelumbo. A beautiful rofe-red flower on a recepta¬ 
 cle as large as an artichoke. The capfule is perforated with holes at the top, and the 
 feeds rattle in it. Perfea leaves are feen in the feeds before they germinate. Linneus, 
 who has enlifted all our fenfes into the fervice of botany, has obferved this rattling of 
 the Nelumbo; and mentions what he calls an electric murmur, like diftant thunder in 
 hop-yards, when the wind blows, and afks the caufe of it. We have one kind of pedi-* 
 cularis in our meadows, which has obtained the name of rattle-grafs, from the rattling 
 of its dry feed-veflels under our feet. 
 
 ft 
 
 * 
 
 Z 
 
rm : ( 
 
 u 
 
 4 
 
 [ * 7 ° 1 
 
 In filent herds the wondering fea-calves lave, 
 
 Or nod their (limy foreheads o’er the wave ; 
 
 Poifed on ftill wing attentive vultures fweep, 
 
 And winking crocodiles are lull’d to deep. 
 
 Where leads the northern Star his lucid train 
 High o’er the fnow-clad earth, and icy main, 
 
 With milky light the white horizon dreams, 3 6 5 
 
 And to the moon each fparkling mountain gleams.— 
 Slow o’er the printed fnows with filent walk 
 Huge lhaggy forms acrofs the twilight ftalk ; 
 
 And ever and anon with hideous found 
 
 Burft the thick ribs of ice, and thunder round.— 37 ° 
 
 There, as old Winter flaps his hoary wing, 
 
 And lingering leaves his empire to the Spring, 
 
 Pierced with quick (hafts of filver-fhooting light 
 Fly in dark troops the dazled imps of night. 
 
 Burft the thick ribs of ice. 1 . 370. The violent cracks of ice heard from the Gla- 
 ciers feem to be caufed by fome of the fnow being melted in the middle of the day ; 
 and the water thus produced running down into valhes of ice, and congealing again in 
 a few hours, forces off by its expanfton large precipices from the ice-mountains. 
 
 

 a 
 
 a 
 
 cc 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 I i i i ] 
 
 Awake, my Love!” enamour’d Muschus cries, 375 
 Stretch thy fair limbs, refulgent Maid arife ; 
 
 Ope thy fweet eye-lids to the riling ray, 
 
 And hail with ruby lips returning day. 
 
 Down the white hills diflolving torrents pour, 
 
 Green fprings the turf, and purple blows the flower; 
 His torpid wing the Rail exulting tries, 381 
 
 Mounts the foft gale, and wantons in the Ikies; 
 
 Rife, let us mark how bloom the awaken’d groves, 
 And ’mid the banks of rofes hide our loves.” 
 
 Mufchus . 1 . 375. Corallinus, or lichen rangiferinus. Coral-mofs. Clandeftine- 
 marriage. This mofs vegetates beneath the fnow, where the degree of heat is always 
 about 40; that is, in the middle between the freezing point, and the common 
 heat of the earth ; and is for many months of the winter the foie food of the rein-deer, 
 who digs furrows in the fnow to find it ; and as the milk and flefh of this animal is 
 almoft the only fuftenance which can be procured during the long winters of the higher 
 latitudes, this mofs may be faid to fupport fome millions of mankind. 
 
 The quick vegetation that occurs on the folution of the fnows in high latitudes ap¬ 
 pears very aftonifhing; it feems to arife from two caufes, 1. the long continuance of 
 the approaching fun above the horizon; 2. the increafed irritability of plants which 
 have been long expofed to the cold. See note on Anemone. 
 
 Ail the water-fowl on the lakes of Siberia are faid by Profeflor Gmelin to retreat 
 fouthwards on the commencement of the froft, except the Rail, which fleeps buried in 
 the fnow. Account of Siberia. 
 
 
 Z 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[ * 7 2 3 
 
 Night’s tinfel beams on fmooth Lock-lomond dance, 
 Impatient jEga views the bright expanfe ;— 386 
 
 In vain her eyes the palling floods explore, 
 
 Wave after wave rolls freightlefs to the Ihore. 
 
 —Now dim amid the dillant foam fhe fpies 
 A riling fpeck,—“ ’tis! ’tis he!” Ihe cries; 390 
 
 As with firm arms he beats the ftreams alide, 
 
 And cleaves with riling chefl the tolling tide, 
 
 With bended knee Ihe prints the humid fands, 
 
 Up-turns her gliftening eyes, and fpreads her hands ; 
 
 —“ ’Tis he, ’tis he!—my Lord, my life, my love! 395 
 “ Slumber, ye winds; ye billows, ceafe to move! 
 
 “ Beneath his arms your buoyant plumage fpread, 
 
 “ Ye Swans! ye Halcyons! hover round his head !” — 
 
 2 Eg*. 1 . 386. Conferva asgagropila. It is found loofe in many lakes in a globular 
 form, from the fize of a walnut to that of a melon, much refembling the balls of hair 
 found in the ftomachs of cows; it adheres to nothing, but rolls from one part of the 
 lake to another. The Conferva vagabunda dwells on the European feas, travelling 
 along in the midft of the waves; (Spec. Plant.) Thefe may not improperly be called 
 itinerant vegetables. In a fimilar manner the Fucus natans (fwimming) ftrikes no roots 
 into the earth, but floats on the fea in very extenfive mafles, and may be faid to be a 
 plant of paflage, as it is wafted by the winds from one (bore to another. 
 
 
—With eager ftep the boiling furf fhe braves, 
 
 And meets her refluent lover in the waves; 400 
 
 Loofe o’er the flood her azure mantle fwims, 
 
 And the clear ftream betrays her fnowy limbs. 
 
 So on her fea-girt tower fair Hero flood 
 
 At parting day, and mark’d the dafliing flood ; 
 
 While high in air, the glimmering rocks above, 405 
 
 Shone the bright lamp, the pilot-ftar of Love. 
 
 _With robe outfpread the wavering flame behind 
 
 She kneels, and guards it from the fliifting wind; 
 
 Breathes to her Goddefs all her vows, and guides 
 
 Her bold Leander o’er the duiky tides; 410 
 
 Wrings his wet hair, his briny bofom warms. 
 
 And clafps her panting lover in her arms. 
 
 » 
 
 Deep, in wide caverns and their fhadowy ailes, 
 Daughter of Earth, the chafle Truffelia fmiles ; 
 
 Truffelia. 1 . 414. (Lycoperdom Tuber) Truffle. Clandeftine marriage. This 
 fungus never appears above ground, requiring little air, and perhaps no light. It is 
 
On filvery beds, of foft afbeftus wove, 415 
 
 Meets her Gnome-hufband, and avows her love. 
 
 —High o’er her couch impending diamonds blaze, 
 
 And branching gold the cryftal roof inlays; 
 
 With verdant light the modeft emeralds glow, 
 
 Blue fapphires glare, and rubies blufh, below ; 420 
 
 Light piers of lazuli the dome furround, 
 
 And pictured mochoes teffelate the ground ; 
 
 In glittering threads along reflective walls 
 The warm rill murmuring twinkles, as it falls; 
 
 Now fink the Eolian firings, and now they fwell, 425 
 And Echoes woo in every vaulted cell; 
 
 While on white wings delighted Cupids play, 
 
 Shake their bright lamps, and flaed celeftial day. 
 
 Clofed in an azure fig by fairy fpells, 
 
 Bofom’d in down, fair Capri-fica dwells ;— 430 
 
 found by dogs or fwine, who hunt it by the fmell. Other plants, which have no buds 
 or branches on their ftems, as the grades, (hoot out numerous doles or feions under 
 ground; and this the more, as their tops or herbs are eaten by cattle, and thus preferve 
 themfelves. 
 
 Caprificus. 1. 430. Wild fig. The fruit of the fig is not a feed-veffel, but a recep- 
 
So deeps in iilence the Curculio, Unit 
 In the dark chambers of the cavern’d nut, 
 Erodes with ivory beak the vaulted (hell, 
 And quits on filmy wings its narrow cell. 
 
 tacle inclofing the flower within it. As thefc trees bear Come male and others female 
 flowers, immured on all tides by the fruit, the manner of their fecundation was very 
 unintelligible, till Tournefort and Pontedera difeovered, that a kind of gnat produced 
 in the male figs carried the fecundating dull on its wings, (Cynips Pfenes Syft. Nat. 
 919.), and penetrating the female fig, thus impregnated the flowers; for the evidence 
 of this wonderful fa£t, fee the word Caprification, in Milne’s Botanical Dictionary. 
 The figs of this country are all female, and their feeds not prolific ; and therefore they 
 can only be propagated by layers and fuckers. 
 
 Monfieur de la Hire has (hewn in the Memoir, de l’Academ. de Science, that the 
 fummer figs of Paris, in Provence, Italy, and Malta, have all perfeft (lamina, and 
 ripen not only their fruits, but their feed ; from which feed other fig-trees are raifed ; 
 but that the (lamina of the autumnal figs are abortive, perhaps owing to the want of 
 due warmth. Mr. Milne, in his Botanical Di&ionary, (art. Caprification) fays, that 
 the cultivated fig-trees have a few male flowers placed above the female within the fame 
 covering or receptacle; which in warmer climates perform their proper office, but in 
 colder ones become abortive. And Linneus obferves, that fome figs have the navel ot 
 the receptacle open ; which was one realon that induced him to remove this plant from 
 the clafs Clandeftine Marriage to the clafs Polygamy. Lin. Spec. Plant. 
 
 From all thefe circumftances I (hould conjeflure, that thofe female fig flowers, which 
 arc clofed on all fides in the fruit or receptacle without any male ones, are monfters, 
 which have been propagated for their fruit, like barberries, and grapes without feeds 
 in them; and that the Caprification is either an ancient procefs of imaginary ufe, and 
 blindly followed in fome countries, or that it may contribute to -ripen the fig by de- 
 creafing its vigour, like cutting off a circle of the bark from the branch of a pear-tree. 
 Tournefort feems inclined to this opinion; who fays, that the figs in Provence and at 
 Paris ripen fooner, if their buds be pricked with a draw dipped in olive-oil. Plumbs 
 and pears punflured by fome infe£U ripen fooner, and the part round the puncture is 
 fweeter. Is not the honey-dew produced by the punflure of infers ? will not wound¬ 
 ing the branch of a pear-tree, which is too vigorous, prevent the bloffoms from falling 
 off; as from fome fig-trees the fruit is faid to fall off unlefs they are wounded by ca¬ 
 prification ? I had laft fpring fix young trees of the I (cilia fig with fruit on them in 
 pots in a (love ; on removing them into larger boxes, they protruded very vigorous 
 (hoots, and the figs all fell off; which I aferibed to the inertafed vigour of the plants. 
 

 [ ] 
 
 So the pleafed Linnet in the mofs-wove ned, 435 
 
 Waked into life beneath its parent’s bread:, 
 
 Chirps in the gaping fhell, burds forth erelong, 
 
 Shakes its new plumes, and tries its tender fong.— 
 
 —And now the talifman fhe drikes, that charms 
 Her hulband-Sylph,—and calls him to her arms.— 440 
 Quick, the light Gnat her airy Lord bedrides, 
 
 With cobweb reins the flying courfer guides, 
 
 From crydal deeps of viewlefs ether fprings, 
 
 * 
 
 Cleaves the foft air on dill expanded wings; 
 
 Darts like a funbeam o’er the boundlefs wave, 445 
 And feeks the beauty in her fecret cave. 
 
 So with quick impulfe through all nature’s frame 
 Shoots the ele&ric air its fubtle flame. 
 
 So turns the impatient needle to the pole, 
 
 .Tho mountains rife between, and oceans roll. 
 
 Where round the Orcades white torrents roar, 
 Scooping with ceafelefs rage the incumbent fliore, 
 
 45 ° 
 
Wide o’er the deep a dufky cavern bends 
 Its marble arms, and high in air impends; 
 
 Bafaltic piers the ponderous roof fuftain, 455 
 
 And Beep their mafly fandals in the main; 
 
 Round the dim walls, and through the whifpering ailes 
 Hoarfe breathes the wind, the glittering water boils. 
 Here the charm’d Byssus with his blooming bride 
 Spreads his green fails, and braves the foaming tide; 460 
 The ftar of Venus gilds the twilight wave, 
 
 And lights her votaries to the fecret cave ; 
 
 Light Cupids flutter round the nuptial bed, 
 
 And each coy Sea-maid hides her blufhing head. 
 
 Bafaltic piers. I. 455. This defeription alludes to the cave of Fingal in the ifland of 
 Staffa. The bafaltic columns, which compofe the Giants Caufeway on the coal! of 
 Ireland, as well as thofe which fupport the cave of Fingal, arc evidently of volcanic 
 origin, as is well illuftrated in an ingenious paper of Mr. Keir, in the Plnlof. 1 rani, 
 who obferved in the glafs, which had been long in a fufing heat at the bottom of the 
 pots in the glafs-houfes at Stourbridge, that cryftals were produced of a form fimilar 
 to the parts of the bafaltic clumns of the Giants Cauleway. 
 
 Bv/J'us. 1 . 459. Clandefline Marriage. It floats on the fea in the day, and finks a 
 little during the night; it is found in caverns on the northern Ihores, ot a pale green 
 colour, and as thin as paper. 
 
] 
 
 [ i7§ 
 
 Where cool’d by rills, and curtain’d round by woods, 
 Slopes the green dell to meet the briny floods,. 466 
 The fparkling 110011-beams trembling on the tide. 
 
 The ProteuS'Lover woos bis playful bride, 
 
 To win the fair be tries a tboufand forms, 
 
 Balks on the fands, or gambols in the ftorms. 470 
 A Dolphin now, bis fcaly fldes be laves, 
 
 And bears the fportive Damfel on the waves; 
 
 She ftrikes the cymbal as be moves along, 
 
 And wondering Ocean liftens to the fong. 
 
 —And now a fpotted Pard the lover ftalks, 475 
 
 * 
 
 Plays round her lfeps, and guards her favour’d walks ; 
 
 lhe rrofcus-lcver, 
 
 1. 40s. ^onterva polymorpha. Tins vegetable is put amongfl 
 the cryptogamia, or clandeftine marriages, by Linneus; but, according to Mr. Ellis, 
 the males and females are on different plants. Philof. Tranf. Vol. LVII. It twice 
 changes its colour, from red to brown, and then to black ; and changes its form by 
 lofing its lower leaves, and elongating fome of the upper ones, fo as to be miftaken 
 by the unlkilful for diffeient plants. It grows on the fhores of this country. 
 
 There is another plant, Medicago polymorpha, which may be faid to affumc a greal 
 variety of lhapes; as the feed-veffels refemble fometimes fnail-horns, at other time! 
 caterpillars with or without long hair upon them ; by which means it is probable they 
 fometimes elude the depredations of thofe infers. The feeds of Calendula, Mary gold 
 bend Updike a hairy caterpillar, with their prickles bridling outwards, and may thui 
 deter fome birds or infeds from preying upon them. Salicornia alfoaffumes an anima 
 
 fi null tilde. Phil. Bot. p. 87. See note on Iris in additional notes; and Cvpripedi: 
 in Vol. I. ' r r 
 

 E *79 1 
 
 As with white teeth he prints her hand, carefs’d, 
 
 And lays his velvet paw upon her bread;, 
 O’er his round face her fnowy fingers drain 
 The filken knots, and fit the ribbon-rein. 
 
 —And now a Swan, 
 
 And proudly glides before the fanning gales ; 
 Pleas’d on the dowery brink with graceful hand 
 
 She waves her doating lover to the land; 
 
 Bright diines his finuous neck, with crimfon beak 485 
 He prints fond kilfes on her glowing cheek, 
 
 wings, elates his ebon cred, 
 downy bread. 
 
 A hundred virgins join a hundred fwains, 
 
 And fond Adonis leads the fprightly trains; 490 
 
 Adonis. 1 . 490. Many males and many females live together in the fame flower. It 
 may feem a folecifm in language to call a flower, which contains many of both fexes, 
 an individual; and the more fo to call a tree or fhrub an individual, which con fills of 
 fo many flowers. Every tree, indeed, ought to be confidered as a family or fwarm of 
 its refpe&ive buds; but the buds themfelves feem to be individual plants; becaufe each 
 has leaves or lungs appropriated to it; and the bark of the tree is only a congeries of 
 the roots of all thefe individual buds. Thus hollow oak-trees and willows are often 
 fcen with the whole wood decayed and gone; and yet the few remaining branches flou- 
 ri(h with vigour; but in refpedl to the male and female parts of a flower, they do not 
 
 Aa 2 
 
[ 180 ] 
 
 0 * 
 
 Pair after pair, along his facred groves 
 To Hymen’s fane the bright proceflion moves; 
 
 Each fmiling youth a myrtle garland {hades, 
 
 _ t \ 
 
 And wreaths of rofes veil the blufhing maids; 
 
 Light Joys on twinkling feet attend the throng, 495 
 
 Weave the gay dance, or raife the frolic fong ; 
 
 / 
 
 —Thick, as they pafs, exulting Cupids fling 
 Promifcuous arrows from the founding bring ; 
 
 On w.ings of goflamer foft Whifpers fly, 
 
 And the fly Glance fteals flde-long from the eye. 500 
 —As round his {brine the gaudy circles bow, 
 
 And feal with muttering lips the faithlefs vow, 
 Licentious Hymen joins their mingled hands, 
 
 And loofely twines the meretricious bands.— 
 
 Thus where pleafed Venus, in the fouthern main, 505 
 Sheds all her fmiles on Otaheite’s plain, 
 
 deftroy its individuality any more than the number of paps of a fow, or the number 
 of her cotyledons, each of which includes one of her young. 
 
 The fociety, called the Areoi, in the ifland of Otaheite, confifts of about 100 male? 
 and 100 females, who form one promifcuous marriage. 
 
 
Wide o’er die ifle her filken net fhe draws, \ 
 
 And the Loves laugh at all but Nature’s laws.” 
 
 Here ceafed the Goddefs,—o’er the filent firings 
 Applauding Zephyrs fwept their fluttering wings; 5 
 Enraptur’d Sylphs arofe in murmuring crowds 
 To air-wove canopies and pillowy clouds; 
 
 Each Gnome reluctant fought his earthy cell, 
 
 And each chill Floret clos’d her velvet bell. 
 
 Then, on foft tiptoe, Night approaching near 5 
 Hung o’er the tunelefs lyre his fable ear; 
 
 Gem’d with bright ftars the ftill ethereal plain, 
 
 And bade his Nightingales repeat the ftrain. 
 
■■■■I ■ 
 
 ■ mm 
 
 ■mm 
 
 / 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 P. 7. Additional note to Curcuma. Thefe antherlefs filaments feem to be an endea¬ 
 vour of the plant to produce more ftamens, as would appear from fome experiments of 
 M. Reynier, inftituted for another purpofe : he cut away the ftamens of many flowers, 
 with defign to prevent their fecundity, and in many inftances the flower threw out new 
 filaments from the wounded part of different lengths, but did not produce new anthers. 
 The experiments were made on the guem rivale, different kinds of mallows, and the 
 aschinops citro. Critical Review for March, 1788. 
 
 P. 8. Addition to the note on Iris. In the Perfian Iris the end of the lower petal is 
 purple, with white edges and orange ftreaks, creeping, as it were, into the mouth of 
 the flower like an infe<ft ; by which deception in its native climate it probably prevents 
 a fimilar infeft from plundering it of its honey: the edges of the lower petal lap over 
 thofe of the upper one, which prevents it from opening too wide on fine days, and fa¬ 
 cilitates its return at night; whence the rain is excluded, and the air admitted. Sec 
 Polymorpha, Rubia, and Cypripedia, in Vol. I. 
 
 P. 12. Additional note on Chondrilla. In the natural ftate of the expanded flower of 
 the barberry, the ftamens lie on the petals; under the concave fummits of which the 
 anthers Ihelter themfelves, and in this fituation remain perfectly rigid; but on touch¬ 
 ing the infide of the filament near its bafe with a fine briftle, or blunt needle, the fta- 
 men inftantly bends upwards, and the anther, embracing the ftigma, ftieds its duft, 
 Obfervations on the Irritation of Vegetables, by T. E. Smith, M. D. 
 
 P. 15. Addition to the note on Silene. I faw a plant of the Diomea Mufcipula, Fly¬ 
 trap of Venus, this day, in the collection of Sir B. Boothby, at Afhburn-Hall, Dcr- 
 byfhire, Aug. 20th, 1788 ; and on drawing a ftraw along the middle of the rib of thfc 
 leaves as they lay upon the ground round the ftem, each of them, in about a fecond of 
 time, elofed and doubled itfelf up, crofting the thorns over the oppofite edge of the 
 leaf, like the teeth of a fpring rat-trap : of this plant I was favoured with an elegant 
 coloured drawing, by Mifs Maria Jackfon, of Tarporly, in Chefhire, a Lady who 
 adds much botanical knowledge to many other elegant acquirements. 
 
m 
 
 X 
 
 [ 184 ] 
 
 In the Apocynum Androfiemifolium, one kind of Dog's-bnne, the anthers converge 
 over the nedaries, which confift of five glanvlular oval corpufcies furrounding the germ; 
 and at the fame time admit air to the ne&aries at the interftice between each anther. 
 But when a fly inferts its probofeis between thefe anthers to plunder the honey, they 
 converge clofer, and with fuch violence as to detain the fly, which thus generally pe- 
 riflies. This account was related to me by R. W. Darwin, Efq. of Eldon, in Not- 
 tinghamfliire, who fliewed me the plant in flow r er, July 2d, 1788, with a fly thus held 
 faft by the end of its probofeis, and was well feen by a magnifying lens, and which 
 in vain repeatedly ftruggled to difengage itfelf, till the converging anthers were fepa- 
 rated by means of a pin : on fome days he had obferved that almoft every flower of this 
 elegant plant had a fly in it thus entangled; and a few weeks afterwards favoured me 
 with his further obfervations on this fubjed. 
 
 « My Apocynum is not yet out of flower. I have often vifited it, and have fre- 
 (< quently found four or five flies, fome alive, and fome dead, in its flowers; they are 
 “ generally caught by the trunk or probofeis, fometimes by the trunk and a leg; there 
 « is one at prefent only caught by a leg: I don’t know that this plant deeps, as the 
 “ flowers remain open in the night ; yet the flies frequently make their efcape. In a 
 “ plant of Mr. Ordoyno’s, an ingenious gardener at Newark, who is poflefled of a great 
 << colledion of plants, I faw many flowers of an Apocynum with three dead flies in each; 
 « they are a thin-bodied fly, and rather lefs than the common houfe-fly; but I have 
 JC feen two or three other forts of flies thus arrefted by the plant. Aug. 12, 1788.” 
 
 P. 18. Additional tiote on Ilex . The efficient caufe, which renders the hollies 
 prickly in Needwood Foreft only as high as the animals can reach them, may arife from 
 the lower branches being conftantly cropped by them, and thus lhoot forth more luxu¬ 
 riant foliage: it is probable the (hears in garden-hollies may produce the fame effed # 
 w hich is equally curious, as prickles are not thus produced on other plants. 
 
 P. 41. Additional note on Viva. M. Hubert made fome obfervations on the air 
 contained in the cavities of the bambou. The flems of thefe canes w r ere (rom 40 to 50 
 feet in height, and 4 or 5 inches in diameter, and might contain about 30 pints of 
 elaftic air. He cut a bambou, and introduced a lighted candle into the cavity, which 
 was cxtinguiflied immediately on its entrance. He tried this about 60 times in a cavity 
 of the bambou, containing about two pints. He introduced mice at different times 
 into thefe cavities, which feemed to be fomewhat atfe&ed, but loon recovered their agi¬ 
 lity. The ftem of the bambou is not hollow till it rifes more than one foot from the 
 earth ; the divifions between the cavities are convex downwards. Obferv. fur la Phy¬ 
 sique, par M. Rozier, 1 . 33, p. 130. 
 
 P. 136. Addition to the note on c fropaolu?n. In Sweden a very curious phenomenon 
 lias been obferved on certain flowers, by M. Haggren, Ledurer in Natural Hiltory. 
 One evening he perceived a faint flafli of lighi. repeatedly dart from a Marigold ; fur- 
 prized at fuch an uncommon appearance, he refolved to examine it with attention; and, 
 
[ IS S ] 
 
 to be allured that it was no deception of the eye, he placed a man near him, with 
 orders to make a fignal at the moment when he obferved the light. They both faw it 
 conftantly at the fame moment. 
 
 The light w r as mod brilliant on Marigolds, of an orange or flame colour; but 
 fcarcely vifible on pale ones. 
 
 The flafli was frequently feen on the fame flower two or three times in quick fuccef- 
 fion, but more commonly at intervals of feveral minutes; and when feveral flowers in 
 the fame place emitted their light together, it could be obferved at a confiderable diftance. 
 
 This phenomenon was remarked in the months of July and Auguft, at fun-fet, and 
 for half an hour after, when the atmofphere was clear; but after a rainy day, or when 
 the air was loaded with vapours, nothing of it was feen. 
 
 The following flowers emitted flaflies, more or lefs vivid, in this order: 
 
 1. The Marigold, (Calendula officinalis). 
 
 2 . Garden Nafturtion, (Tropceolum majusj. 
 
 3. Orange Lily, (Lilium bulbiferum). 
 
 4. African Marigold. (Tagetes patula et erefta). 
 
 Sometimes it was alfo obferved on the Sun-flowers, (Helianthus annuus). But 
 bright yellow, or flame colour, feemed in general neceifary for the production of this 
 light; for it was never feen on the flowers of any other colour. 
 
 To difeover whether fome little infeCls, or phofphoric worms, might not be the 
 caufe of it, the flowers were carefully examined even with a microfcope, without any 
 fuch being found. 
 
 From the rapidity of the flafli, and other circumflances, it might be conjeClured, that 
 there is fomething of eledtricity in this phenomenon. It is well known, that w hen the 
 pijlil of a flower is impregnated, the pollen burfts away by its elafticity, with which 
 eleCtricity may be combined. But M. Haggren, after having obferved the flafli from 
 the Orange-lily, the anthers of which are a confiderable fpace diflant from petals 9 
 
 found that the light preceded from the petals only; whence he concludes, that this 
 eleCtric light is caufed by the pollen y which in flying off is fcattered upon the petals. 
 Obfer. Physique par M. Rozier, Vol. XXXIII. p. hi. 
 
 Defcription of the Poifon-Tree in the IJland of Java. Tranjlatedfrom the original Dutch 
 
 of N. P. Foerfch. 
 
 THIS deftructive tree is called in the Malayan language Bohun-Upas y and has been 
 deferibed by naturalifts ; but their accounts have been fo tinCtured with the mari)ellous y 
 that the w ? hole narration has been fuppofed to be an ingenious fiCtion by the generality 
 of readers. Nor is this in the lead degree furprizing, when the circumflances which 
 we fliall faithfully relate in this defeription are confidered. 
 
 I mull acknowledge, that I long doubted the exiftence of this tree, until a ftriClcr 
 enquiry convinced me of my error. I fliall now only relate Ample unadorned fads, of 
 
 B b 
 
 
[ 186 ] 
 
 fcich I have been an eye-witnefs. My readers may depend upon the fidelity of this 
 It In the year 1774, 1 was ftationed at Batavia, as a furgeon, in the fervice 
 oHhe Dutch Eaft-India Company. During my refidence there I receivedf^veral different 
 
 ^ ^ . r i j Malayan Dried to another pried, who lives on the neared niha 
 
 JL ->-«*«• Theletter proved 
 
 of teat fmice to me in my undertaking, as that prieft is appointed by the Emperor 
 to fef.de there, in order to prepare for eternity the fouls of thofe who for different 
 crimes are fentenced to approach the tree, and to procure the poifon. 
 
 The Bohon-Upas is fituated in the ifland of Java, about twenty-feven leagues from 
 Batavia fourteen from Soura-Ckarta, the feat of the Emperor, and between eighteen 
 and twenty leagues from Tinkjoe, the prefent refidence of the Sultan of Java. It is 
 grounded on all fides by acircle of high hills and mountains; and the country^round 
 it, to the diftance of ten or twelve miles from the tree is entirely barren. Not a we 
 nor a fhrub, nor even the leaf! plant or grafs is to be feen. I have made ‘^e tour a 
 around this dangerous fpot, at about eighteen miles diftant from the centre, and I fo 
 the afpeft of the country on all fides equally dreary. The eafieft afeent of the lulls is 
 from that part where the old ecclefiaftic dwells. From h.s houfe the criminals are fent 
 for the poifon, into which the points of all warlike inflruments are dipped. It is oi 
 high value, and produces a confiderable revenue to the Emperor. 
 
 Account of the manner In which the Poifon is procured. 
 
 The poifon which is procured from this tree is a gum that iffues out between the bark 
 and the tree itfelf, like the camphor. Malefaaors, who for their crimes are fentenced 
 to die, are the only perfons who fetch the poifon; and this is the only chance they have 
 of faving their lives. After fentence is pronounced upon them by the judge, they are 
 afked in court, whether they will die by the hands of the executioner or whether they 
 wYgo to the Upas tree for a box of poifon ? They commonly prefer the latter pro- 
 pofalt as there is not only fome chance of prefixing their lives, but alfo acertainty, in 
 cafe of their fafe return, that a provifion will be made for them in future by the Empe¬ 
 ror They are alfo permitted to alk a favour from the Emperor, which is generally of 
 a trifling nature, and commonly granted. They are then provided with a filvei: or tor- 
 toifelhcll box, in which they are to put the poifonousgum, and are properly inftruaed 
 how to proceed while they are upon their dangerous expedition. Among other parti¬ 
 culars, they are always told to attend to the diredion of the winds; as they are to go 
 ow ris the tree before the wind, fo that the effluvia from the tree is always blown from 
 them. ' They are told likewife, to travel with the utmoft d.fpatch, as that is the only 
 
 
 I 
 
method of 'mfuring a fafe return. They are afterwards fent to the houfe of the old 
 prieft, to which place they are commonly attended by their friends and relations. Here 
 they generally remain fome days, in expedation of a favourable breeze. During that 
 time the ecclefiaftic prepares them for their future fate by prayers and admonitions. 
 
 When the hour of their departure arrives, the prieft puts them on a long leather-cap, 
 with two glaftes before their eyes, which comes down as far as their bread ; and alfo 
 provides them with a pair of leather-gloves. They are then conduced by the prieft, 
 and their friends and relations, about two miles on their journey; Here the prieft re¬ 
 peats his inflations, and tells them where they are to look lor the tree. He < lews 
 them a hill, which they are told to afcend, and that on the other fide they will find a 
 rivulet, which they are to follow, and which will conduft them d.reftly to the Upas. 
 They now take leave of each other; and amidft prayers for their fuccefs, the delin¬ 
 quents haften away. 
 
 The worthy old ecclefiaftic has afliired me, that during his refidence there, for up¬ 
 wards of thirty-years, he had difmiffed above feven hundred criminals in the manner 
 which I have defcribed; and that fcarcely two out of twenty have returned. He lhewed 
 me a catalogue of all the unhappy fufferers, with the date of their departure from his 
 houfe annexed; and a lift of the offences for which they had been condemned: to 
 which was added, a lift of thofe who had returned in fafety. I afterwards faw ano¬ 
 ther lift of thefe culprits, at the jail-keeper’s at Soura-Charta, and found that they per- 
 feftly correfponded with each other, and with the different informations which I af¬ 
 terwards obtained. . 
 
 I wasprefent at fome of thefe melancholy ceremonies, and defired different delin¬ 
 quents to bring with them fome pieces of the wood, or a fmall branch, or fome leaves 
 of this wonderful tree. I have alfo given them filk cords, defiring them to meafure 
 its thicknefs. I never could procure more than two dry leaves that were picked up by 
 one of them on his return ; and all I could learn from him, concerning the tree itfelf, 
 was, that it flood on a border of a rivulet, as defcribed by the old Prieft; that it was 
 of a middling fize; that five or fix young trees of the fame kind flood clofe by it; ut 
 that no other fhrub or plant could befeen near it; and that the ground was 
 i(h fand, full of ftones, almoft impraaicable for travelling, and covered with dead 
 bodies. After many converfations with the old Malayan priell, I queflioncd him about 
 the firft difcovery, and afked his opinion of this dangerous tree; upon which he gave 
 
 me the following anfwer: 
 
 “ We are told in our new Alcoran, that, above an hundred years ago, the country 
 « around the tree was inhabited by a people ftrongly addided to the fins of Sodom and 
 «. Gomorrah; when the great prophet Mahomet determined not to fuller them to lead 
 « fuchdeteftable lives any longer, he applied to God to pumfh them: upon w ic o 
 ,« cau fed this tree to grow out of the earth, which deftroyed them all, and rendered 
 it the country for ever uninhabitable. 
 
 Such was the Malayan opinion I toll not attempt a comment; but mult obfetve, 
 •ha. all the Malayans confider this .tee as an hoi, .niUumen. of the gtea. prophet to 
 
 B b 2 
 
[ .88 ] 
 
 punifli the fins of mankind; and, therefore, to die of the poifon of the Upas is generally 
 confidered among them as an honourable death. For that reafon I alfo obferved, that 
 the delinquents, who were going to the tree, were generally drelTed in their belt apparel. 
 
 This however is certain, though it may appear incredible, that from fifteen to eighteen 
 miles round this tree, not only no human creature can exift, but that, in that fpace of 
 ground, no living animal of any kind has ever been difcovered. I have alfo been adored 
 by feveral perfons of veracity, that there are no filh in the waters, nor has any rat, moufe, 
 or any other vermin, been feen there ; and when any birds fly fo near this tree that the 
 effluvia reaches them, they fall a facrifice to the effets of the poifon. This circumftance 
 has been afcertained by different delinquents, who, in their return, have feen the birds 
 drop down, and have picked them up dead, and brought them to the old ecclefiafiic. 
 
 I will here mention an inftance, which proves the fat beyond all doubt, and which 
 happened during my flay at Java. 
 
 In 1775 a rebellion broke out among the fubjets of the Maflay, a fovereign prince, 
 whofe dignity is nearly equal to that of the Emperor. They refufed to pay a duty im- 
 pofed upon them by their fovereign, whom they openly oppofed. The Maflay fent a 
 body of a thoufand troops todifperfe the rebels, and to drive them, with their families 
 out of his dominions. Thus four hundred families, cor.fifling of above fixteen hundred' 
 fouls, were obliged to leave their native country. Neither the Emperor nor the Sultan 
 would give them protection, not only becaufe they were rebels, but alfo through fear of 
 difpleafingtheir Neighbour, the Maflay. In this diftrefsful fituation, they had no other 
 refource than to repair to the uncultivated parts round the Upas, andrequefted permiflion 
 of the emperor to fettle there. Their requeft was granted, on condition of their fixing 
 their abode not more than twelve or fourteen miles from the tree, in order not to deprive 
 the inhabitants already fettled there at a greater diftance of their cultivated lands. 
 With this they were obliged to comply; but the confequence was, that in lefs than 
 two months their number was reduced to about three hundred. The chiefs of thofe 
 who remained returned to the Maflay, informed him of their Ioffes, and intreated his 
 pardon, which induced him to receive them again as fubje&s, thinking them fufficiently 
 puniflied tor their mifeondut. I have feen and converfed with feveral of thofe who 
 furvived foon after their return._ They all had the appearance of perfons'tainted with 
 an infedious diforder; they looked pale and weak, and from the account which they 
 gave of the lofs of their comrades, and of the fymptoms and circumftances which at¬ 
 tended their dilfolution, fuch as convulfions, and other figns of a violent death, I was 
 fully convinced that they fell victims to the poifon. 
 
 This violent effect of the poifon at fo great a diftance from the tree, certainly appears 
 furpriling, and almoft incredible: and efpecially, when we confider that it is pollible 
 for delinquents who approach the tree to return alive. My wonder, however, in a great 
 meafure, ceafed, after I had made the following obfervations: 
 
 I have fa id before, that malefa&ors are inftruted to go to the tree with the wind, and 
 to return againft the wind. When the wind continues to blow from the fame quarter 
 while the delinquent travels thirty, or fix and thirty miles, if he be of a good confti- 
 tution, he certainly furvives. But what proves the moft definitive is, that there is no 
 
 
[ 189 ] 
 
 dependence on the wind in that part of the world for any length of time.—There are 
 no regular land-winds; and the fea-wind is not perceived there at all, the fituation of 
 the tree being at too great a diftance, and furrounded by high mountains and uncultiva¬ 
 ted forefts. Befides, the wind there never blows a freih regular gale, but is commonly 
 merely a current of light, foft breezes, which pafs through the different openings of 
 the adjoining mountains. It is alfo frequently difficult to determine from what part of 
 the globe the wind really comes, as it is divided by various obftruaions in its paffage, 
 i which eafily change the direction of the wind, and often totally deftroy its effeas. 
 
 I, therefore, impute the diftant effUSls of the poifon, in a great meafure, tothecon- 
 ftant gentle winds in thofe parts, which have not power enough to difperfe the poifon- 
 ous particles. If high winds were more frequent and durable there, they would cer¬ 
 tainly weaken very much, and even deftroy the obnoxious effluvia of the poifon ; but 
 without them, the air remains infeaed and pregnant with thefe poifonous vapours. 
 
 I am the more convinced of this, as the worthy eccleftaftic affured me, that a dead 
 calm is always attended with the greateft danger, as there is a continual perfpiration 
 iffuing from the tree, which is feen to rife and fpread in the air, like the putrid fleam 
 of a marfliy cavern. 
 
 Experiments made with the Gum of the Upas-Tree. 
 
 IN the year 1776, in the month of February, I was prefent at the execution of thir¬ 
 teen of the Emperor’s concubines, at Soura-Charta, who were convided of infidelity 
 to the Emperor’s bed. It was in the forenoon, about eleven o’clock, when the fair cri¬ 
 minals were led into an open fpace within the walls of the Emperor’s palace. There 
 the judge paffed fentence upon them, by which they are doomed to fuffer death by a 
 lancet poifoned with Upas. After this the Alcoran was prefented to them, and they 
 were, according to the law of their great prophet Mahomet, to acknowledge and to 
 affirm by oath, that the charges brought againft them, together with the fentence ant 
 their punifhment, were fair and equitable. This they did, by laying their right hand 
 upon the Alcoran, their left hands upon their bread, and their eyes lifted towards hea¬ 
 ven ' the judge then held the Alcoran to their lips, and they killed it. 
 
 Thefe ceremonies over, the executioner proceeded on his bufinefs in the following 
 manner:—Thirteen polls, each about five feet high, had been prcvioufly erefted. 1 o 
 thefe the delinquents were fattened, and their breads ftr.pped1 naked. In this fituation 
 they remained a fhort time in continual prayers, attended by feveral priefts, until a ig- 
 nal was given by the judge to the executioner; on which the latter produced an in ru- 
 ment, much like the fpring lancet ufed by farriers for bleeding horfes. With this in¬ 
 fluent, it being poifoned with .he gum of the Upas, the unhappy wretches were 
 lanced in the'middle of their breads, and the operat.on was performed upon them all 
 
 in lefs than two minutes. & c\ ' 
 
 My aftonidiment was raifed to the higheft degree, when I beheld the hidden effeas 
 
 of that poifon, for in about five minutes after they were lanced they were taken with 
 a tremor attended with a Jubfultus tendimm, after which they died in the greateft agonies, 
 
n 
 
 [ 190 ] 
 
 \ 
 
 crying out to God and Mahomet for mercy. In fifteen minutes by my watch, which 
 I held in my hand, all the criminals were no more. Some hours after their death, I 
 obferved their bodies full of livid fpots, much like thofe of the Petechia , their faces 
 fwelled, their colour changed to a kind of blue, their eyes looked yellow, &c. &c. 
 
 About a fortnight after this, I had an opportunity of feeing fuch another execution 
 at Samarang. Seven Malayans were executed there with the fame inftrument, and in 
 the fame manner; and I found the operation in the poifon, and the fpots in their bo¬ 
 dies, exa&ly the fame. 
 
 Thefe circumftances made me defirous to try an experiment with fome animals, in 
 order to be convinced of the real effe£ls of this poifon ; and as I had then two young 
 puppies, I thought them the fitted obje&s for my purpofe. I accordingly procured with 
 great difficulty fome grains of Upas. I diffolved half a grain of that gum in a fmall 
 quantity of arrack, and dipped a lancet into it. With this poifoned inftrument I made 
 an incifion in the lower mufcular part of the belly in one of the puppies. Three mi¬ 
 nutes after it received the wound the animal began to cry out moft piteoufly, and ran 
 as faft as polfible from one corner of the room to the other. So it continued during 
 fix minutes, when all its ftrength being exhaufted, it fell upon the ground, was taken 
 with convulfions, and died in the eleventh minute. I repeated this experiment with 
 two other puppies, with a cat and a fowl, and found the operation of the poifon in all 
 of them the fame: none of thefe animals furvived above thirteen minutes. 
 
 I thought it neceffary to try alfo the effect of the poifon given inwardly, which I did 
 in the following manner. I diffolved a quarter of a grain of the gum in half an ounce 
 of arrack, and made a dog of feven months old drink it. In feven minutes, a retch¬ 
 ing enfued, and I obferved, at the fame time, that the animal was delirious, as it ran 
 up and down the room, fell on the ground, and tumbled about; then it rofe again, 
 cried out very loud, and in about half an hour after was feized with convulfions, and 
 died. I opened the body, and found the ftomach very much inflamed, as the inteftines 
 were in fome parts, but not fo much as the ftomach. There was a fmall quantity of 
 coagulated blood in the ftomach; but I could difeover no orifice from which it could 
 have iffued ; and therefore fuppofed it to have been fqueczcd out of the lungs, by the 
 animal’s (training while it was vomiting. 
 
 From thefe experiments I have been convinced that the gum of the Upas is the moft 
 dangerous and moft violent of all vegetable poifons ; and I am apt to believe that it 
 greatly contributes to the unhealthinefs of that ifland. Nor is this the only evil at¬ 
 tending it: hundreds of the natives of Java, as well as Europeans, are yearly deftroyed 
 and treacheroufly murdered by that poifon, either internally or externally. Every man 
 of quality or faftiion has his dagger or other arms poifoned with it; and in times of war 
 the Malayans poifon the fprings and other waters with it; by this treacherous pra&ice 
 the Dutch fiiffered greatly during the laft war, as it occafioned the lofs of half their 
 army. For this reafon, they have ever fmee kept fith in the fprings of which they drink 
 the water, and fentinels are placed near them, who infpeft the waters every hour, to 
 fee whether the fifti are alive. If they march with an army or body of troops into an 
 enemy’s country, they always carry live fifti with them, which they throw into the 
 
 
water fome hours before they venture to drink it; by which means they have been able 
 to prevent their total deflrudlion. 
 
 This account, I flatter myfelf, will fatisfy the curiofity of my readers, and the few 
 fafts which I have related will be confidered as a certain proof of the exiftence of this 
 pernicious tree, and its penetrating effe&s. 
 
 If it be afkcd why we have not yet any more fatisfa&ory accounts of this tree, I can 
 only anfwer, that the object of moft travellers to that part bf the world confifts more in 
 commercial purfuits than in the ftudy of Natural Hiftory and the advancement of Sci¬ 
 ences. Befides, Java is fo univerfally reputed an unhealthy ifland, that rich travellers 
 feldom make any long flay in it; and others want money, and generally are too igno¬ 
 rant of the language to travel, in order to make enquiries. In future, thofe whovifit 
 this ifland will now probably be induced to make it an obje£l of their refearches, and 
 will furnifh us with a fuller defcription of this tree. 
 
 I will therefore only add, that there exifts alfo a fort of Cajoe-Upas on the coaft of 
 Macaflar, the poifon of which operates nearly in the fame manner, but is not half fo 
 violent or malignant as that of Java, and of which I (hall likewife give a more cir- 
 cumftantial account in a defcription of that ifland.— London Magazine . 
 
 Another Account of the Boa Upas, or Poifon-Tree of Macafler, from an inaugural Dif - 
 
 fertation publijhed by Chrift. Aejmelseus, and approved by Profeflor Thunberg, at 
 
 Upfal. 
 
 Do&or Aejmebeus firft fpeaks of poifons in general, enumerating many virulent 
 ones from the mineral and animal, as well as from the vegetable kingdoms of Na¬ 
 ture. Of the firft he mentions arfenical, mercurial, and antimonial preparations; 
 amongfl the fecond he mentions the poifons of feveral ferpents, fiflies, and infe&s ; 
 and amongfl the lad the Curara on the bank of the Oronoko, and the Woorara on the 
 banks of the Amazones, and many others. But he thinks the ftrongefl is that of a tree 
 hitherto undeferibed, known by the name of Boa Upas, which grows in many of 
 the warmer parts of India, principally in the iflands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Bali, 
 Macafler, and Celebes. 
 
 Rumphius teftifies concerning this Indian poifon, that it was moreterrible to the 
 Dutch than any warlike inftrument; it is by him ftyled Arbor toxicaria, and mentions 
 two fpecies of it, which he terms male and female ; and deferibes the tree as having 
 a thick trunk, with fpreading branches, covered with a rough dark bark. The wood, 
 he adds, is very folid, of a pale yellow, and variegated with black fpots, but the fruc¬ 
 tification is yet unknown. 
 
 Profeflor Thunberg fuppofes the Boa Upas to be a Ceftrum, or a tree of the fame 
 natural family; and deferibes a Ceftrum of the Cape of Good Hope, the juice o f 
 which the Hottentots mix with the venom of a certain ferpent, which is faid to in- 
 creafe the deleterious quality of them both. 
 
 The Boa Upas tree is eafily recognifed at a diftance, being always folitary, the foil 
 around it being barren, and as it were burnt up ; the dried juice is dark brown, liqui- 
 
fying by heat, like other refins. It is collected with the greateft caution, the perfon 
 having his head, hands, and feet carefully covered with linen, that his whole body may 
 be prote&ed from the vapour as well as from the droppings of the tree. No one can 
 approach fo near as to gather the juice, hence they fupply bamboos, pointed like a 
 fpear, which they thruft obliquely, with great force, into the trunk ; the juice oozing 
 out gradually fills the upper joint; and the nearer the root the wound is made, the 
 more virulent the poifon is fuppofed to be. Sometimes upwards of twenty reeds are 
 left fixed in the tree for three or four days, that the juice may colled and harden in 
 the cavities; the upper joint of the reed is then cutoff from the remaining part, the 
 concreted juice is formed into globules or flicks, and is kept in hollow reeds, carefully 
 clofed, and wrapped in tenfold linen. It is every week taken out to prevent its be¬ 
 coming mouldy, which fpoils it. The deleterious quality appears to be volatile, fince 
 it lofes much of its power in the time of one year, and in a few years become totally 
 effete. 
 
 The vapour of the tree produces numbnefs and fpafms of the limbs, and if any one 
 flands under it bare-headed, he lofes his hair ; and if a drop falls on him, violent in¬ 
 flammation enfues. Birds which fit on the branches a fhort time, drop down dead, and 
 can even with difficulty fly over it; and not only no vegetables grow under it, but the 
 ground is barren a ftone caft around it. - 
 
 A perfon -wounded by a dart poifoned with this juice feels immediately a fenfe of 
 heat over his whole body, with great vertigo, to which death foon fucceeds. A perfon 
 wounded with the Java poifon was affe&ed with tremor of the limbs, and darting of 
 the tendons in five minutes, and died in lefs than fixteen minutes, with marks of great 
 anxiety ; the corpfe, in a few hours, was covered with petechial fpots, the face be¬ 
 came tumid and lead-coloured, and the white part of the eye became yellow. 
 
 The natives try the (frength of their poifon by a Angular tefl; fome of the exprelfed 
 juice of the root of Amomum Zerumbet is mixed with a little water, and a bit of 
 the poifonous gum or refin is dropped into it; an effervefcence inftantly takes place, by 
 the violence of which they judge of the ftrength of the poifon.—What air can be ex¬ 
 tricated during this effervefcence ?—This experiment is faid to be dangerous to the 
 operator. 
 
 As the juice is capable of being diffolved in arrack, and is thence fuppofed to be 
 principally of a refinous nature, the Profeffor docs not credit that fountains have been 
 poifoned with it. 
 
 This poifon has been employed as a punifhment for capital crimes in Macaffer and 
 other iflands ; in thofe cafes fome experiments have been made, and when a finger 
 only had been wounded with a dart, the immediate amputation of it did not fave the 
 criminal from death. 
 
 The poifon from what has been termed the female tree, is lefs deleterious than the 
 other, and has been ufed chiefly in hunting; the carcafes of animals thus deftroyed are 
 eaten with impunity. The poifon-juice is faid to be ufed externally as a remedy againfl 
 other poifons, in the form of a plafter ; alfo to be ufed internally for the fame purpofe; 
 
C 193 ] 
 
 and is believed to alleviate the pain, and extra# the poifon of venomous infe#s fooner 
 than any other application. 
 
 The author concludes that thefe accounts have been exaggerated by Mahomedan 
 priefts, who have perfuaded their followers that the Prophet Mahomet planted this 
 noxious tree as a punifhment for the fins of mankind. 
 
 An abftra# of this Diflertation of C. Aejmelaeus is given in Dr. Duncan’s Medical 
 Commentaries for the Year 1790, Decad. 2d. Vol. V. 
 
 Fairy-fcene from Mr. Mundy's Needzvood Forejl. Referred to in 
 
 Canto IV. 1. 35. 
 
 HERE, feen of old, the elfin race 
 With fprightly vigils mark’d the place; 
 
 Their gay procefiions charm’d the fight, 
 
 Gilding the lucid noon of night; 
 
 Or, when obfcure the midnight hour, 
 
 With glow-worm lantherns hung the bower, 
 
 —Hark!—the foft lute!—along the green 
 Moves with majeftic ftep the Queen ! 
 
 Attendant Fays around her throng, 
 
 And trace the dance or raife the fong; 
 
 Or touch the fhrill reed, as they trip, 
 
 With finger light and ruby lip. 
 
 High, on her brow fublime, is borne 
 One fcarlet woodbine’s tremulous horn ; 
 
 A gaudy Bee-bird’s * triple plume 
 Sheds on her neck its waving gloom ; 
 
 With filvery gofiamer entwin’d 
 Stream the luxuriant locks behind. 
 
 Thin folds of tangled network break 
 In airy waves adown her neck ;— 
 
 Warp’d in his loom, the fpider fpread 
 The far-diverging rays of thread, 
 
 Then round and round with fhuttle fine 
 Inwrought the undulating line;— 
 
 Scarce hides the woof her bofom’s fnow, 
 
 One pearly nipple peeps below. 
 
 ♦The humming-bird . 
 
 Cc 
 
One rofe-leaf forms her crimfon veft. 
 
 The loofe edge crofles o’er her bread; 
 
 And one tranllucent fold, that fell 
 From the tall lily’s ample bell, 
 
 Forms with fweet grace her fnow-white train, 
 Flows, as (he fteps, and fweeps the plain. 
 Silence and Night inchanted gaze, 
 
 And Hefper hides his vanquifh’d rays!— 
 
 Now the waked reed-finch fwells his throat. 
 And night-larks trill their mingled note; 
 
 Yet hu(h’d in mofs with writhed neck 
 The blackbird hides his golden beak ; 
 
 Charm’d from his dream of love, he wakes, 
 Opes his gay eye, his plumage (hakes, 
 
 And, ftretching wide each ebon wing, 
 
 Firft in low whifpers tries to fing ; 
 
 Then founds his clarion loud, and thrills 
 The moon-bright lawns, and fhadowy hills. 
 Silent the choral Fays attend, 
 
 And then their filver voices blend. 
 
 Each (hining thread of found prolong, 
 
 And weave the magic woof of fong. 
 
 Pleafed Philomela takes her (land 
 On high, and leads the Fairy band. 
 
 Pours fweet at intervals her (train, 
 
 And guides with beating wing the train. 
 Whilft interrupted Zephyrs bear 
 Hoarfe murmurs from the diftant wear; 
 
 And at each paufe is heard the fwell 
 Of Echo’s foft fymphonious (hell. 
 
CATALOGUE OF THE POETIC EXHIBITION. 
 
 CANTO I. 
 
 Group of infe&s 2 
 
 Tender hufband 3 
 
 Self-admirer 4 
 
 Rival lovers 4 
 
 Coquet 6 
 
 Platonic wife 7 
 
 Monfter-hulband jo 
 
 Rural happinefs 10 
 
 Clandeftine marriage 11 
 
 Sympathetic lovers 12 
 
 Ninon d’Enclos 14 
 
 Harlots 1 5 
 
 Giants 18 
 
 Mr, Wright’s paintings 19 
 
 Thaleftris 21 
 
 Autumnal feene 21 
 
 Dervife proceflion 23 
 
 Lady in full drefs 24 
 
 Lady on a precipice 27 
 
 Palace in the fea 28 
 
 Vegetable lamb 30 
 
 Whale 3 * 
 
 Senfibility 3 1 
 
 Mountain-fcene by night 35 
 
 Lady drinking water 37 
 
 Lady and cauldron 3 ^ 
 
 Medea and Aefon 39 
 
 Forlorn nymph 4 ® 
 
 Galatea on the fea 42 
 
 Lady frozen to a flatue 43 
 
 CANTO IL 
 
 Air-balloon of Montgolfier 57 
 
 Arts of weaving and fpinning 59 
 
 Arkwright’s cotton mills 60 
 
 Invention of letters, figures, and crotch¬ 
 
 ets 62 
 
 Mrs. Delany’s paper-garden 65 
 
 Mechanifm of a watch, and defign for 
 its cafe 67 
 
 Time, hours, moments 68 
 
 Transformation of Nebuchadnezzar 70 
 St. Anthony preaching to fifh 72 
 
 Sorcerefs 73 
 
 Mifs Crew’s drawings 75 
 
 Song to May 76 
 
 Froft feene 78 
 
 Difcovery of the bark 79 
 
 Mofes ftriking the rock 81 
 
 Dropfy 82 
 
 Mr. Howard and prifons 84 
 
 CANTO III. 
 
 Witch and imps in a church 94 
 
 lnfpired Prieftefs 96 
 
 Fufeli’s night mare 97 
 
 Cave of Thor and fubterranean Naiads 99 
 Medea and children 103 
 
 Palmira weeping 108 
 
 Group of wild creatures drinking 109 
 
 Poifon-tree of Java 109 
 
 Time and hours 112 
 
 Wounded deer ^ 113 
 
 Lady Ihot in battle 114 
 
 Harlots 117 
 
 Laocoon and his fons 118 
 
 Drunkards and difeafes 119 
 
 Prometheus and the vulture 120 
 
 Lady burying her child in the plague 122 
 Mofes concealed on the Nile 125 
 
 Slavery of the Africans 126 
 
 Weeping Mufe 128 
 
CANTO IV. 
 
 Maid of night 
 Fairies 
 Electric lady 
 
 Shadrec, Mcfliec, and Abednego, in 
 the fiery furnace 
 Shepherdelfes 
 Song to Echo 
 Kingdom of China 
 Lady and diftaff 
 Cupid fpinning 
 Lady walking in fnow 
 Children at play 
 Venus and Loves 
 Matlock Bath 
 Angel bathing 
 Mermaid and Nereids 
 Lady in fait 
 Lot’s wife 
 
 Lady in regimentals 
 
 Dejanira in a lion’s fldn 163 
 
 Offspring from the marriage of the 
 Rofe and Nightingale 164 
 
 Parched deferts in Africa 166 
 
 Turkifh lady in an undrefs 168 
 
 Ice-fcene in Lapland 170 
 
 Lock-lomond by moon-light 172 
 
 Hero and Leander 173 
 
 Gnome-hufband and palace under 
 ground 174 
 
 Lady inclofed in a fig 174 
 
 Sylph-hufband 176 
 
 Marine cave 176 
 
 Protcus-lover 178 
 
 Lady on a Dolphin 178 
 
 Lady bridling a Pard 178 
 
 Lady faluted by a Swan 179 
 
 Hymeneal proceffion 180 
 
 Night 181 
 
 142 
 
 144 
 
 144 
 
 146 
 
 147 
 
 147 
 
 149 
 
 150 
 
 151 
 
 152 
 
 153 
 
 154 
 
 156 
 
 157 
 
 158 
 
 160 
 
 162 
 
C 197 I 
 
 CONTENTS OF THE NOTES. 
 
 S EEDS of Canna ufed for prayer-beads 3 
 Stems and leaves of Callitriche fo mat¬ 
 ted together, as they float on the water, as 
 to bear a perfon walking on them 4 
 
 The female in Collinfonia approaches firft 
 to one of the males, and then to the other 4 
 Females in Nigella and Epilobium bend 
 towards the males for fomc days, and then 
 leave them 5 
 
 The fligma or head of the female in Spar- 
 tium (common broom) is produced amongft 
 the higher fet of males; but when the keel- 
 leaf opens, the piftil fuddenly twifls round 
 like a French-horn, and places the fligma 
 amidft the lower fet of males 5 
 
 The two lower males in Ballota become 
 mature before the two higher; and when 
 their duft is died, turn outwards from the 
 female 6 
 
 The plants of the clafs Two Powers with 
 naked feeds are all aromatic 6 
 
 Of thefe Marum and Nepeta are delight¬ 
 ful to cats 6 
 
 The filaments in Meadia, Borago, Cycla¬ 
 men, Solanum, Sec. fhewn by reafoning to be 
 the mofl unchangeable parts of thofe flowers 6 
 Rudiments of two hinder wings are feen 
 in the clafs Diptera, or two-winged infeCts 7 
 Teats of male animals 
 Filaments without anthers in Curcuma, 
 Linum, Sec. and flyles without ftigmas in 
 many plants, fliew the advance of the works 
 of nature towards greater perfection 7 
 
 Double flowers, or vegetable monfters, 
 how produced 8, 10 
 
 The calyx and lower feries of petals not 
 changed in double flowers 8 
 
 Difperflon of the duft in nettles and other 
 plants 9 
 
 Cedar and Cyprus unperifhable 9 
 
 Anthoxantlnim gives the fragrant feent 
 
 to hay 10 
 
 Viviparous plants: the Aphis is vivipa¬ 
 rous in fummer, and oviparous in autumn 11 
 Irritability of the ftamen of the plants of 
 the clafs Syngenefia, or Confederate males 12 
 Some of the males in Lychnis, and other 
 flowers arrive fooner at their maturity 13, 14 
 Males approach the female in Gloriofa, 
 Fritiilaria, and Kalmia 14 
 
 Contrivances to tteftroy infers in Silene, 
 Dionnea mufcipula, Arum mufeivorum, 
 Pyplacus, Sec. *5 
 
 Some bell-flowers clofe at night; others 
 hang the mouths downwards; others nod 
 and turn from the wind; ftamens bound 
 down to the piftil in Amaryllis formofiflima; 
 piftil is crooked in Hemerocallis flava, yel¬ 
 low day-lily 16 
 
 Thorns •and prickles defigned for the de¬ 
 fence of the plant; tall Hollies have no 
 prickles above the reach of cattle iS 
 
 Bird-lime from the bark of Hollies like 
 elaftic gum 19 
 
 Adanfonia the largeft tree known, its di- 
 menfions 20 
 
 Bulbous roots contain the embryon flow¬ 
 er, feen by dideCting a tulip-root 21 
 
 Flowers of Colchicum and Hamamelis 
 appear in autumn, and ripen their feed in 
 the fpring following 22 
 
 Sunflower turns to the fun by nutation, 
 not by gyration 23 
 
 Difperfion of feeds 24 
 
 Drofera catches flies 24 
 
 Of the nectary, its ftruCture to preferve 
 the honey from infeCts 25 
 
 Curious probofeis of the Sphinx Convol¬ 
 vuli 2$ 
 
 Final caufe of the refemblance of fome 
 flowers to infects, as the bee-orchis 26 
 
 In fome plants of the clafs Tetradynamia, 
 or Four Powers, the two fhorter ftamens, 
 when at maturity, rife as high as the others 27 
 Ice in the caves on Teneriff, which were 
 formerly hollowed by volcanic fires 27 
 
 Some parafites do not injure trees, as Til- 
 landfia and Epidendrum 28 
 
 Modes growing on trees injure them 2S 
 
 Marriages of plants neceflary to be cele¬ 
 brated in the air 28 
 
 Infects with legs on their backs 28 
 
 Scarcity of grain in wet feafons 29 
 
 Tartarian lamb; ufe of down on vegeta¬ 
 bles ; air, glafs, wax, and fat, are bad con¬ 
 ductors of heat; fnow does not moiften the 
 living animals buried in it, illuftrated by 
 burning camphor in fnow 30 
 
 Of the collapfe of the fenfitive plant 31 
 
 Birds of palfage 33 
 
 The acquired habits of plants 34 
 
 Irritability of plants increafed by previ¬ 
 ous expofure to cold 34 
 
 Lichen produces the firft vegetation on 
 rocks 36 
 
 Plants holding water 37 
 
[ *9 8 J 
 
 Madder colours the bones of young 
 animals 
 
 Colours of animals ferve to conceal them 
 Warm bathing retards old age 
 Male flowers of Vallifneria detach them- 
 felves from the plant, and float to the fe¬ 
 male ones 
 
 Air in the cells of plants, its various 
 ufes 
 
 How Mr. Day probably loft his life in 
 his diving (hip 
 
 Air-bladders of fifti 
 Star-gelly is voided by Herons 
 Intoxicating mufhrooms 
 Mufti rooms grow without light, and ap¬ 
 proach to animal nature 
 
 Seeds of Tillandfia fly on long threads, 
 like fpiders on the goflamer 
 Account of cotton mills 
 Invention of letters, figures, crotchets 
 Mrs. Delany’s and Mrs. North’s paper- 
 gardens 
 
 The horologe of Flora 
 The white petals of Helleborus niger 
 become firft red, and then change into a 
 green calyx 
 
 Berries of Menifpermum intoxicate fifti 
 Effects of opium 
 Frontifpiece by Mifs Crewe 
 Petals of Ciftus and Oenanthe continue 
 but a few hours 
 
 Method of colle&ing the gum from Cif¬ 
 tus by leathern thongs 
 Difcovery of the bark 
 Foxglove how ufed in dropfies 
 Bifhop of Marfeilles and Lord Mayor 
 of London 
 
 Superftitious ufes of plants, the divining- 
 rod, animal magnetifm 
 
 Intoxication of the Pythian Prieftefs, 
 poilon from Laurel leaves, and from Cher¬ 
 ry kernels 
 
 Sleep confifts in the abolition of volun¬ 
 tary power; night-mare explained 
 
 Indian fig emits flender cords from its 
 fummit 
 
 Cave of Thor in Derbyfhire, and fub- 
 terraneous rivers explained 
 
 The capfule of the Geranium makes an 
 hygrometer; Barley creeps out of a barn 
 Mr. Edgeworth’s creeping hygrometer 
 Flower of Fraxinella flafhes on the ap¬ 
 proach of a candle 
 
 Effential oils narcotic, poifonous, dele¬ 
 terious to infers 
 
 Dew-drops from Mancinella blifter the 
 fkin 
 
 Ufes of poifonous juices in the vegetable 
 economy 
 
 The fragrance of plants a part of their 
 defence 
 
 The fting and poifon of a nettle 
 Vapour from Lobelia fuflfocative; un- 
 whoiefomnefs of perfumed hair-powder 
 
 40 
 
 41 
 
 43 
 
 75 
 
 84 
 
 94 
 
 99 
 
 106 
 
 106 
 
 107 
 
 107 
 
 xo8 
 
 117 
 
 11 9 
 
 125 
 
 142 
 
 142 
 
 Ruins of Palmira 108 
 
 The poifon-tree of Java 110 
 
 Tulip-roots die annually 11 * 
 
 Hyacinth and Ranunculus roots 113 
 
 Vegetable conteft for air and light 117 
 
 Some voluble ftems turn E. S. W. and 
 others W. S. E. 
 
 Tops of white bryony as grateful as af- 
 paragus 
 
 Fermentation converts fugar into fpirit, 
 food into poifon 
 
 Fable of Prometheus applied to dram- 
 drinkers 
 
 Cyclamen buries its feeds and trifolium 
 fubterraneum 
 
 Pits dug to receive the dead in the plague 
 Lakes of America confift of frefti water 
 The feeds of Caflia and fome others are 
 carried from America, and thrown on the 
 coafts of Norway and Scotland 
 Of the gulph ft ream 
 Wonderful change predi&ed in the gulph 
 of Mexico 
 
 In the flowers of Caftus grandiflorus 
 and Ciftus fome of the ftamens are perpe¬ 
 tually bent to the piftil 
 
 Ny&anthes and others are only fragrant 
 in the night; Cucurbita lagenaria clofes 
 when the fun ftiines on it 
 
 Tropeolum, nafturtian, emits fparks in 
 the twilight 144 
 
 Ne&ary on its calyx 145 
 
 Phofphorefcent lights in the evening 145 
 Hot embers eaten by bull-frogs 145 
 
 Long filaments of grades, the caufe of 
 bad feed wheat 147 
 
 Chinefe hemp grew in England above 
 fourteen feet in five months 150 
 
 Roots of fnow-drop and hyacinth infipid 
 like orchis 151 
 
 Orchis will ripen its feeds if the new 
 bulb be cut off i5r 
 
 Proliferous flowers 152 
 
 The wax on the candle-berry myrtle 
 faid to be made by infects 153 
 
 The warm fprings of Matlock produced 
 by the condenfation of fteam raifed from 
 great depths by fubterranean fires 154 
 
 Air feparated from water by the attrac¬ 
 tion of points to water being lefs than that 
 of the particles of water to each other 156 
 
 Minute divifion of fub-aquatic leaves 157 
 
 Water-crefs and other aquatic plants in¬ 
 habit all climates 157 
 
 Butomus efculent; Lotus of Egypt; 
 Nymphaea 157 
 
 Ocymum covered with fait every night 159 
 
 Salt a remote caufe of fcrophula, and 
 immediate caufe of fea-fcurvy 159 
 
 Coloured fpatha of Arum, and blotched 
 leaves, if they ferve the purpofe of a co¬ 
 loured petal 163 
 
 Tulip-roots with a red cuticle produce 
 red flowers 163 
 
 # 
 
[ *99 ] 
 
 Of vegetable mules the internal parts, 
 as thofe of fructification, refemble the fe¬ 
 male parent; and the external parts the 
 male one 164 
 
 The fame occurs in animal mules, as the 
 common mule and the hinnus, and in fheep 165 
 The wind called Harmattan from vol¬ 
 canic eruptions; fome epidemic coughs or 
 
 influenza have the fame origin 166 
 
 Fifh killed in the fea by dry fummers in 
 Afia 167 
 
 Hedyfarum gyrans perpetually moves its 
 leaves like the refpiration of animals 168 
 
 Plants pofTefs a voluntary power of mo¬ 
 tion 168 
 
 Loud cracks from ice-mountains ex¬ 
 plained 170 
 
 Mufchus corallinus vegetates below the 
 fnow, where the heat is always about 40. 171 
 
 Quick growth of vegetables in nor¬ 
 thern latitudes after the folution of the 
 fnows explained 171 
 
 The Rail fleeps in the fnow 17* 
 
 Conferva aegagropila rolls about the 
 bottom of lakes 171 
 
 Lycoperdon tuber, truffle, requires no 
 light , 7J 
 
 Account of capnncation 174 
 
 Figs wounded with a ftraw, and pears 
 and plumbs wounded by infers, ripen 
 fooner, and become fweeter 175 
 
 Female figs clofed on all fides, fuppofed 
 to be monfters 175 
 
 Bafaltic columns produced by volcanos 
 {hewn by their form 177 
 
 Byflus floats on the fea in the day, and 
 finks in the night 177 
 
 Conferva polymorpha twice changes its 
 colour and its form 178 
 
 Some feed-vefTels and feeds refemble in¬ 
 fers 178 
 
 Individuality of flowers not deftroyed 
 by the number of males or females which 
 they contain 179 
 
 Trees are fwarms of buds, which are 
 individuals. 180 
 
 
 Index of the Names of the Plants , 
 
 Adonis.179 
 
 Aegagropila - -- -- -170 
 
 A'lcea - - - -- -- - 8 
 
 Amary'llis ------ 16 
 
 Anemone ------- 33 
 
 Anthoxanthum - -- -- - 10 
 
 Arum - - - -- -- - 162 
 
 Avena -------- 147 
 
 Barometz - -- -- -- 29 
 
 Beilis - - -.152 
 
 Byflus - -. 177 
 
 Caftus ..146 
 
 Calendula - -- -- -- 66 
 
 Callitriche - -- -- -- 4 
 
 Canna. 3 
 
 Cannabis - - - -- --149 
 
 Capri-ficus - -- -- -- 174 
 
 Carl in a - - -- -- -- 75 
 
 Caryophy'llus - ----- 164 
 
 Caflia - - ------123 
 
 Cereus - - - -- -- - 142 
 
 Chondrilla - -- -- -- 21 
 
 Chunda - 166 
 
 Cinchona - -- -- -- 78 
 
 Circaca - -- -- -- - 94 
 
 Ciftus - -- -- -- - 75 
 
 Cocculus - -- -- -- 71 
 
 Colchicum - -- -- -- 22 
 
 Collinfonia - -- -- -- 4 
 
 Conferva - - - - - 170, 177 
 
 Gupreflus ------- 9 
 
 Curcuma - -- -- -- 7 
 
 Cufcuta - -- -- -- - 117 
 
 Cy'clamen - -- -- -- 121 
 
 Cyperus - - -- -- --62 
 
Dianlhus ------ 
 
 - 
 
 164 
 
 Mellila - -- -- -- - 
 
 6 
 
 Did am nus ------ 
 
 
 106 
 
 Menifpermum ------ 
 
 7 r 
 
 Digitalis ------ 
 
 - 
 
 83 
 
 Mimofa ------- 
 
 3 1 
 
 Dodecatheon ----- 
 
 - 
 
 6 
 
 Mufchus ------- 
 
 9 1 
 
 Draba ------- 
 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 Drofera ------- 
 
 - 
 
 24 
 
 Nymphxa ------- 
 
 66 
 
 Dy'pfacus ------ 
 
 - 
 
 37 
 
 Nelumbo - -- -- -- - 
 
 169 
 
 Ficus ------- 
 
 
 99 
 
 / Ocymum ------- 
 
 158 
 
 Fucus ------- 
 
 
 i 54 
 
 
 112 
 
 Fraxinella ------ 
 
 
 106 
 
 Ofmunda - -- -- -- - 
 
 it 
 
 
 
 
 Ofy'ris - -- -- -- - 
 
 9 
 
 Galanthus ------ 
 
 
 
 
 
 Genifta ~ 
 
 
 5 
 
 Papaver - - -- -- -- 
 
 73 
 
 Gloriofa ------- 
 
 
 14 
 
 Papy'rus - -- -- -- - 
 
 62 
 
 Gofly'pium ------ 
 
 - 
 
 61 
 
 Plantago - -- -- -- - 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 Polymorpha ------- 
 
 177 
 
 Hedy'farum ----- 
 
 - 
 
 166 
 
 Polypodium ------- 
 
 29 
 
 Helianthus ------ 
 
 
 23 
 
 Prunus - - - -- -- - 
 
 96 
 
 Helleborus ------ 
 
 
 69 
 
 
 
 Hippomanc ------ 
 
 
 107 
 
 Rubia - -- -- -- -- 
 
 38 
 
 Hex - -- -- -- - 
 
 
 18 
 
 Silene - -- -- -- -- 
 
 15 
 
 Impatiens - ----- 
 
 - 
 
 102 
 
 
 
 Iris - -- -- -- - 
 
 
 8 
 
 Trapa - -- -- -- -- 
 
 i 57 
 
 
 
 
 Tremella ------- 
 
 43 
 
 Klenhovia ------ 
 
 
 20 
 
 Tropse'olum ------ 
 
 144 
 
 
 
 
 Truffelia - -- -- -- - 
 
 173 
 
 Lapfana - ----- 
 
 - 
 
 66 
 
 Tulipa - - - -- -- - 
 
 21 
 
 Lauro-cerafus ----- 
 
 
 96 
 
 
 
 Lichen ------- 
 
 - 
 
 , 3 6 
 
 Ulva - -- -- -- -- 
 
 41 
 
 Linum - - - - x — - - 
 
 
 59 
 
 Upas - -- -- -- -- 
 
 109 
 
 Lobelia ------- 
 
 - 
 
 108 
 
 Urtica - -- -- -- - 
 
 107 
 
 Lonicera ------ 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 Lychnis ------- 
 
 
 12 
 
 Vallifncria - ------ 
 
 40 
 
 Lycoperdon - 
 
 
 172 
 
 Vifcum - -- - - -- - 
 
 27 
 
 Mancinella ------ 
 
 - 
 
 107 
 
 Vitis - - -- -- -- - 
 
 119 
 
 Meadia ------- 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Zoztera - -- -- -- - 
 
 28 
 

 I