SEMI-SCIENTIFIC 
 
 LECTUEES, 
 
 BY 
 
 CHAS.EGERTON FITZ-GEBALD,M.D., 
 
 PEESIDENT, 
 FOLKESTONE NATUEAL HISTOBY SOCIETY. 
 
 FOLKESTONE : 
 
 J. ENGLISH, STEAM I'KIXTEIS, 1IIGU STREET. 
 1880.
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 The following papers were at various times 
 read before the Folkestone Natural History 
 Society, and were, without exception, hurriedly 
 written in the very brief leisure intervals of an 
 active practice, usually late in the night ; they 
 do not profess to be original ; indeed they are, 
 for the most part, merely abstracts of various 
 scientific works, such as those of Darwin, 
 Guillemin, Lubbock, Figuier, Gosse, Tynclall, 
 &c., &c., which are not universally read by the 
 members of our Society. I have somewhat 
 reluctantly consented to publish these fugitive 
 papers, because I am but too well aware of their 
 many imperfections ; but if I succeed in inducing 
 any of my readers to pursue the subjects I have 
 touched on to the sources indicated I shall bo 
 more than satisfied. 
 
 Folkestone, 1880. 
 
 2090886
 
 TEN MINUTES IN THE MOON. 
 
 There are probably few of us who, when abroad on 
 a moonlight night, have not speculated as to the 
 nature of that beautiful and mysterious looking body 
 which is inundating the landscape with its pure and 
 silvery light. What is it ? Is it a world such as 
 ours ; Is it inhabited by creatures like ourselves, or 
 by beings of a holier, wiser, fairer type '? There is 
 to my mind an undefinaUe attraction in speculations 
 such as these, as we watch that silvery orb which 
 seems ' so near and yet so far," The moon more 
 than other of the heavenly orbs, makes us realise the 
 true nature of the celestial bodies, and brings home 
 to us their actual shape and configuration. She is 
 so near we can distinctly perceive that she is a 
 perfect sphere, and even with the naked eye we can 
 see markings which a very slight effort of the 
 imagination transforms into seas and continents. 
 What wonder then that men in a less practical and 
 more superstitious age than ours, attributed all soils of 
 weird and mysterious effects to her influence* Blind- 
 ness to those sleeping in her light, furious mania to 
 the insane, and various occult influences on men 
 and plants, superstitions " baseless as the fabric of a 
 dream, M but which have nevertheless left traces of 
 their influence in., the minds of some even in this 
 enlightened age ; while the popular idea that the
 
 go-called "changes " of the moon influence the 
 Weather, though equally unfounded, is to this day 
 firmly implanted in the public mind, The moon 
 appears to us far larger than the numberless stars 
 and planets which surround her, hut she is in fact 
 much smaller, being only a tiny globe of 2,153 miles 
 in diameter, so small that it would take 49 moons to 
 make one earth. Her apparent size is of course due to 
 her near neighbourhood to us, our Satellite is indeed 
 only nine times the circumference of the earth, or 80 
 times its thickness away from us, a distance which many 
 a sailor or traveller has accomplished in his voyages, 
 and which could be gone over by an express train in 
 300 days, Of course we all know that the moon 
 revolves round us as we revolve round the sun, turn- 
 ing round on her own axis also as our earth turns on 
 hers, but there is this peculiarity about her move- 
 ments that she revolves on her own axis in almost 
 exactly the same time that she takes to perform her 
 journey round the earth, namely, 27days 7h. 43m. 
 lls., the consequence is that she always keeps the 
 same side towards us, so that we never see much 
 more than one-half of the moon, the other half 
 always has been and ever will be invisible to mortal 
 eye ; I say much more, because as the moon's axis it* 
 a little inclined to the plane of her orbit we see some- 
 times the region rotind one pole and sometimes round 
 the other ; her rate of motion round the earth also 
 varies a little, so we see sometimes more of one side 
 and sometimes more of the other. (Lockyer). We arc 
 thus acquainted with about four- sevenths of the 
 moon's surface, the Other three- sevenths must be for 
 ever unseen, though there is no reason to suppose it
 
 8 
 
 differs materially from the parts exposed to our view. 
 The moon has no inherent light, she only reflects back 
 to us a portion of the light which she receives from the 
 sun, and although the full moon on a clear night 
 seems to flood the heavens with its radiance, her 
 light is small indeed in comparison with that given 
 by the lordly Sun, it would in fact take 547,513 full 
 moons to give as much light as is supplied by the 
 sun ; indeed, if the whole visible sky was as full as it 
 could hold of moons it would not give half as much 
 light as the sun, and yet we ourselves receive only 
 the 227jmillionth part of the light given out by the 
 great centre of our system ! What becomes of the 
 other 226 million parts of light and heat ? This is 
 a curious question, and to my mind points incon- 
 trovertibly to the fact that our earth is only one 
 among an infinite multitude of inhabited worlds, 
 some perhaps peopled with beings as far superior to 
 ourselves in intellect and beauty, as we are to the 
 lowest forms of life, others perhaps roamed over by 
 gigantic creatures of the Megatherium type. We know 
 that the various planets differ vastly in weight or 
 specific gravity, thus the moon is less dense than our 
 earth in the proportion of 6 to 10, so that what 
 weighs a pound here, would be little over 2ozs. in 
 the moon. It follows that any force would be six 
 times more effective there than with us ; a man, for 
 example, who could jump 6ft., or lift 6 stone on the 
 earth, could, with no greater muscular exertion, 
 jump if6ft., or lift 86 stone on the moon's surface a 
 fact which goes far to explain the prodigious energy 
 displayed in the formation of some of the enormous 
 lunar volcanoes. Now as this difference in he
 
 specific gravity of Planets must be compensated for 
 by difference of size in their inhabitants, there are in 
 all probability some orbs where dwell veritable 
 dwarfs, in others giants, and possibly in others, 
 beings of a type far superior to ourselves, so, after 
 all, the dreams of fairy-land are not so impossible 
 as we generally think them, and there may be more 
 analogy between the instinctive beliefs of childhood, 
 and the speculations of philosophy, than we are 
 prone to imagine. But I find I am wandering away 
 from the moon ! In consequence of her comparative 
 nearness we ate able to see more of the actual details 
 of the moon's surface than of any other celestial 
 body, indeed, maps of the moon are constructed, 
 giving every mountain and valley, together with their 
 names, heights and sizes. We can in fact see the moon, 
 as plainly as though she were actually brought within. 
 240 miles of us, for as her average distance is about 
 240,000 miles, and as our most powerful telescopes 
 magnify about 1000 times, i.e. bring an obj ect apparent- 
 ly 1000 times nearer, it follows that we can observe the 
 moon at an apparent distance of 240 miles. (Lockyer). 
 Now, although we could not see an animal even as large 
 as an elephant at that distance, it has been calculated 
 that a large herd of buffaloes, an army on the march, 
 or even a veiy large building, such as Windsor Castle 
 or Sydenham Palace would be quite \isible with the 
 splendid instruments now in use. As you gaze at 
 the moon through a good glass, it is easy to believe 
 you are actually transported to those wondrous 
 solitudes which are so plainly visible ; you see around 
 you the jagged and contorted rocks, with their out- 
 lines sharply cut out against the black sky, enormous
 
 craters yawn on every side, vast volcanic mountains 
 rear their shattered peaks far overhead, frightful 
 chasms seam the rifted and uptorn ground as far 
 as the eye can reach. A death-like silence reigns 
 around, for there is no atmosphere to form a medium 
 for sound, no soft lights and shades gladden the eye, 
 fill is hard, sharp, dazzling white or deepest black. 
 All around are gloomy gulfs and rifts of unfathomable 
 depth, or vast circular plains strewn with fantastic 
 debris, and surrounded with lofty, perpendicular 
 walls. Overhead is the jet black sky, with the stars 
 for ever visible, and the " Full Earth " shining with 
 a size and light equal to 14 full moons ; no life, no 
 sound, no movement, a weird scene to which the 
 bleakest part of our Arctic Eegions would seem like 
 paradise. Many of the mountains of the moon, are, 
 in proportion to its size, of enormous heights, their 
 craters, too, far exceed those we are acquainted with 
 on Earth, many of them form circular plains of 40 
 or 50 miles in diameter, and are so deep that the sun 
 and earth would be invisible from the bottom. Are 
 there living inhabitants to this dreary land ? This 
 is a question very difficult to answer with certainty, 
 but all probabilities point the other way, for firstly, 
 there is no atmosphere, and secondly, there is no 
 water. How do we know this ? Well, if there were 
 any atmosphere we should see clouds over the moon, 
 for we know that even a cloud of 200 yards in 
 diameter would be plainly visible with the splendid 
 telescopes now in use, and moreover, when a star is 
 occulted, that is, passed over and obscured by the 
 moon, it would disappear gradually, instead of 
 suddenly, as it now does ; .besides, the diameter of
 
 6 
 
 the moon is known, and we see that the star dis- 
 appears at the instant the real edge of the moon 
 passes it, whereas, if there were an atmosphere the 
 star would be refracted by it, and we should see it for 
 a moment after it had really disappeared behind 
 the moon, just as we see the sun after it is in 
 reality below the horizon. As to the water, if there 
 were any, it would send up vapour under the intense 
 heat to which the moon is exposed for 15 days 
 together, and this vapour would form visible clouds. 
 So you see that organised beings such as exist on 
 this our earth, could not possibly live in the moon ; 
 still, it is by no means impossible that beings of 
 whose needs or organization we can form no con- 
 ception, and to whom atmospheric air is not a 
 necessity, may exist there ; this sounds paradoxical, 
 but it really is not so. For example, supposing we 
 were wholly unacquainted with fishes and their, 
 method of living beneath the waters, would it not 
 seem impossible that creatures could live and breathe 
 beneath an element in which a few moments' 
 immersion causes death to us and other warm- 
 blooded animals ? So that it by no means follows 
 that because we can prove that no denizen of our 
 globe could exist in the moon, that, therefore, there 
 may not be creatures of a different structure, to 
 whom our conditions of life are not essential. Still, 
 there are other circumstances which render life (a-t 
 any rate such as we know it) impossible. The lunar 
 day and night are each 854^ hours in duration. 
 Thus, for 16 entire days, the surface of the moon 
 is exposed to the full force of the blazing sun, with 
 no clouds or vapour to shelter it or modify the
 
 7 
 
 intense heat, a heat wliich raises its temperature to 
 over 500 degrees of Fahrenheit, or the melting point 
 of iron ; then follows the long night of 354 
 hours' duration, and as there is no atmosphere 
 to prevent the acquired heat from radiating off into 
 space, the cold must be more intense than anything 
 \ve can conceive, reaching as low as 250 degrees 
 below zero, a temperature at which even gases 
 would be solid. All these circumstances must render 
 our little Satellite a very undesirable, if not an 
 impossible abode ! What then is the moon ? Well, 
 it is probably an exhausted world, a gliost of its 
 former self, and a picture of what our own globe 
 will become at some remote period. Those vast 
 plains were at one time sea bottoms, those enormous 
 volcanoes were in active force, those arid rocks were 
 covered with vegetation. In the remote past (how 
 many millions of years ago, who can say) the silver 
 globe was an incandescent mass, glowing with 
 intense heat, as it gradually cooled on its surface 
 its vapours and gases were resolved into Continents 
 and seas, and perhaps (or probably) rendered life 
 possible. Now, as the bulk or volume of the moon 
 is so much less than that of the earth, its mass 
 cooled more rapidly, just as a red hot bullet would 
 cool more quickly than a cannon ball, till the cold 
 became too intense for life to be possible. The 
 revolutions of our Satellite on itis axis became 
 gradually slower and slower (just as the revo- 
 lutions of our own earth are becoming imper* 
 ceptably slower and more slow), so that each surface 
 was exposed for a longer and longer time to the 
 action of the sun, the ice became water, which either
 
 8 
 
 passed into the cavernous depths of the interior, or 
 became vapour, and passed off into space. The 
 volcanic forces were the only ones now active (and 
 we see with what terrific violence they must have 
 acted), till finally the surface became covered with 
 lava, both soil and water disappeared, and our lonely 
 Satellite sailed on its way, the silver ghostly globe 
 we now behold it. 
 
 (Vide Lockyer's "Elementary Astronomy," "The Moon," 
 Nasmythe and Carpenter. " The Heavens," 
 Guillemin, Proctor.)
 
 ON CORALS. 
 
 In reflecting on the physical structure of the earth, 
 and on its repeated alterations of level, the mind is 
 prone to be more impressed by the " Infinitely 
 Great " forces of nature, the earthquakes, volcanoes, 
 and floods, than by the " Infinitely Small " agencies 
 which are nevertheless unceasingly at work, and do 
 more to alter the physical geography of the globe, 
 than the most furious convulsions of nature. 
 Invisible diatoms, of which 100 thousand occupy 
 only a square inch, form beds of hundreds of miles 
 in extent, in fact the entire sea bottom, is largely 
 composed of the remains of dead forajnenifera, while 
 the wliite chalk cliffs of England ,which are continued 
 across the channel, and form ranges of hundreds of 
 miles tlirough Europe, are almost entirely composed 
 of the remains of the same microscopic animalcules. 
 Nearly the whole of the limestone rocks from the 
 Lavu-entian epoch, though formerly supposed to 
 belong to a period before life in any form existed 
 on the earth, are now known to owe their origin to 
 minute organic remains. The entire city of Paris 
 is re-built with a limestone largely consisting of 
 dead miliolae (little shells the size of a millet seed) 
 and the gigantic pyramids and spliinx are built of 
 stone made of the bodies of the nmnunulites, a small 
 disc -like mollusc about as large as a lentil. Some
 
 10 
 
 of these smaller organisms exist in such countless 
 myriads, that the mind refuses to take cognizance of 
 their number; thus Sclileiden has calculated that 
 the tripoli, which we use for polishing steel articles, 
 and which forms beds of twenty-five or thirty miles 
 square in Bohemia, contains as many as 41 millions 
 of infusoria in a cubic inch. Since the commence- 
 ment of life on the earth, these creatures have been 
 multiplying by millions of millions daily, and their 
 remains form immense beds in almost all parts of 
 the world. But there is another series of tiny 
 workers, which although not microscopic, are yet 
 infinitely small compared with the gigantic struc- 
 tures they rear, structures compared with which the 
 mightiest works of man sink into puny insignificance, 
 structures by whose side the mighty pyramids, or the 
 giant wall of China are but as card houses made by 
 children. I allude, of course, to the coral zoophites, 
 those insignificant but mighty workers who are still 
 ceaselessly employed building Islands and raising 
 Continents from tie bottom of the Ocean. You are 
 all familiar with the various forms of coral, both the 
 red, which is comparatively rare, and the white, of 
 which there are many kinds, and which is the builder 
 of the coral reefs. On the table you will find a few 
 specimens of the latter. All these varieties are the 
 work of small, jelly-like animals, or polyps of very 
 much the same nature and appearance as the 
 smaller sorts of sea anemones, which you all know 
 so well. Yet it was not so very many years ago that 
 coral was positively stated to be a vegetable, and 
 that not by simple fishermen or sailors, but by grave 
 members of learned Societies. It is a curious re-
 
 11 
 
 flection that an intelligent schoolboy or schoolgirl of 
 the present day, possesses knowledge which would 
 have astonished and delighted the wisest philosophers 
 and savants of half a century ago. The youngest 
 member of our Society could have, to go a little 
 farther back, imparted astronomical facts to Galileo, 
 which would have made him start with amazement, 
 and there is probably not a child in this room, who 
 could not have taught even the great Newton a thing 
 or two. For 2,000 years nothing certain was known 
 as to the real nature of coral ; up to the last century 
 it was considered alternately a mineral and a vegetable. 
 About 1725, Count Marsigli, a savant of that day, 
 announced to the scientific world that he had dis- 
 covered the true nature of coral, having succeeded in 
 witnessing it " in flower." So that it was un- 
 doubtedly a vegetable. But, being a vegetable, why 
 was it so hard in texture ? Well, there was another 
 theory to account for that, it was said to be quite 
 soft below the surface of the water, but that it hard- 
 ened directly it was exposed to the air ; very plausible 
 all this sounded, only it was not true ! One scientific 
 gentleman ( M. Nicolai) even took a " header " into 
 the Mediterranean to test this phenomenon for 
 himself, and having possibly knocked his head 
 against a branch, became convinced it really was 
 hard ! Not long after this a country physician in 
 France, Dr. Peysonnel, announced to the Academy 
 of Sciences that the so-called flowers of the coral 
 were in reality small, jelly-like animals, or polyps, 
 and that the hard stern was secreted by them, and 
 was in fact literally their skeleton, being formed 
 in a manner exactly analogous to our own bony
 
 12 
 
 structure. The Academy treated this communication 
 with contempt and ridicule, utterly refused to believe 
 in the animal origin of coral, and so discouraged the 
 unfortunate doctor, that he retired in disgust, and 
 did not even publish the record of his laborious 
 researches. However the affair made so great a 
 commotion, that the Academy was obliged to re- 
 investigate the matter ; but it was not till twenty-five 
 years after that it acknowledged its error, and the 
 obscure Doctor was proved to be right, and the 
 learned Academicians wrong. The red coral, used 
 for ornaments, grows principally in the Mediter- 
 ranean, its form is branched and tree-like, and its 
 substance as hard as ivory, and capable of taking a 
 high polish. In the water it looks like a small tree, 
 covered with a soft, velvety red bark, and sprinkled 
 with pretty delicate, white, star-like blossoms. 
 These flowers are the separate polyps, while the 
 stem and bark are common to the numberless 
 animals which compose the tree. Coral fishing is a 
 very laborious and hazardous employment, it is 
 pursued in small boats of from six to ten tons, and 
 with very rough apparatus. Each boat is provided 
 with a sort of coarse drag net suspended to a heavy 
 cross beam of wood, weighted with large stones, and 
 let down to the bottom of the sea, and slowly towed 
 behind the vessel. When it meets with the coral, 
 the net becomes entangled in its branches, and it is 
 then dragged on board by main force, and freed 
 from its load. The best specimens of red coral, are 
 worth 10 an ounce, the commoner sorts not as 
 many pence. But the red coral, though of more 
 commercial importance, bears no comparison with
 
 13 
 
 its wliite cousin, as an agent in modifying the earth's 
 surface. There is a great variety of white corals, 
 but they -are all formed in the same manner, and 
 consist essentially of a common stony body, with a 
 soft gelatinous covering, composed of numberless 
 individual polyps, each possessing a central aperture 
 or mouth surrounded by delicate tenacles. The stony 
 skeleton and the gelatinous envelope is common to 
 the whole community, however numerous, each polyp 
 however, possessing a body of its own, and having 
 a separate individuality and independent movement. 
 They are all nevertheless actuated by a common will, 
 and nourished by a circulation common to the whole 
 colony, which is thus united by ties far closer than 
 the Siamese twins or the Two-Headed Nightingale, 
 These polyps multiply with extraordinary rapidity ; 
 small egg-like bodies pass out of the mouth of the 
 parent and float off on their own account, propelling: 
 themselves by the aid of delicate cilio3 or rays which 
 strike the water like so many tiny oars, and by their 
 movement and the action of sea currents, the little 
 creatures are carried to great distances. When they 
 have had enough of a roving life they " settle down ' T 
 to some convenient rock, grow and multiply by 
 budding on to each other until a branched body is 
 produced, and a regular colony established. It is by 
 these humble workers that the vast coral reefs and 
 islands, which cover an area of 20,000 square miles 
 in the Pacific are formed, not that they consist, ex- 
 cept at the upper surface, of living corals, lower down 
 they are found to.be of a more or less compact lime- 
 stone which is composed of the dead skeletons of 
 these industrious architects. The question may
 
 14 
 
 suggest itself to you. " Where do they procure the 
 lime which they use in constructing these enormous 
 masses " ? Well, you know the " fur " which collects 
 in boilers and kettles ? this is simply Carbonate of 
 Lime which previously existed in the water, and was 
 precipitated by the process of boiling ; heat, as you 
 are aware, driving off the carbonic acid gas, which 
 before rendered the lime soluble. Sea water eon- 
 tains among many other constituents (Chloride of 
 Sodium, Sulphate of Magnesia, &c.), a considerable 
 quantity of Lime. This carbonate of lime is separa- 
 ted from the sea water by these little animals by 
 some mysterious process, of which chemistry knows 
 little or nothing, and deposited in their interiors in 
 the manner shown in this diagram (vide diagram.) 
 It is there arranged gradually in the syrnetrical, and 
 elegant forms with which you are all so familiar in 
 coral. You have all seen pictures of the round coral 
 islands of the Pacific Ocean, called usually by their 
 Indian name of Atolls. One of which you see here 
 cleverly depicted by that talented artist, Mrs. 
 Jeaffreson. You see they are low circular reefs with 
 a beach of snowy white coral siirmounted with a 
 grove of green cocoatrees, with a shallow lagoon or 
 lake in the centre. Now ever since the true nature 
 of coral was known it has been a subject of scientific 
 speculation how these islands could have been formed. 
 It was evident they were not built up from the 
 bottom of the ocean, because it is an established fact 
 that the reef building corals cannot live at a greater 
 depth than from 20 to 30 fathoms (or about 120 to 
 180 feet), and many of these Islands rise abruptly 
 from a depth of 2000, or 3000 fathoms or more.
 
 15 
 
 The theory that found, and with some, still finds 
 most favour was that, as they are very generally 
 more or less circular with a central depression, 
 they Were formed round the craters of extinct vol- 
 canoes. This theory, however, requires rather a 
 curious set of conditions or coincidences, namely that 
 there should be a chain of volcanic mountains all 
 with their summits exactly of the right height for 
 the coral builders, Now no one ever knew or heard 
 of such a range of mountains with perfectly level 
 summits extending even a short distance, far less 
 for thousands of miles as do these reefs, It was 
 reserved for that prince of investigators Darwin, 
 to hit upon the true explanation by one of those 
 happy strokes of genius which seems rather intui- 
 tion than reasoning. He argued thus, these reef 
 building Polypi cannot exist at a greater depth than 
 about 120 feet, therefore they cannot commence 
 building in a fathomless ocean ; they cannot be formed 
 round the brink of extinct volcanoes, for some of the 
 ring Atolls are as much as 90 miles across in one 
 direction and 30 miles in another, and moreover we 
 should have to pre- suppose a long range of volcanic 
 mountains all reaching to exactly the same height 
 below the surface of the sea, not to mention that 
 some of the Barrier reefs are not circular, but com- 
 paratively straight banks skirting the mainland for 
 distances of hundreds of miles. As we know by 
 sounding that dead coral formations exist at the base 
 of these islands at depths of 1000 and 2000 feet, 
 whereas the living coral is only near the surface, 
 then one of two things must have happened, either 
 the sea must have risen, or the foundation on which
 
 16 
 
 the corals built must have sunk. There is uo es- 
 caping from this alternative, we know the ocean has 
 not risen, for if it had its effects would have been 
 visible elsewhere, then the land must have sunk, 
 said Darwin, and this is undoubtedly what has taken 
 place ; the corals must have built on the sides of 
 Islands which have gradually subsided below the sea, 
 but so slowly that the tiny workers have been able ro 
 keep pace with its downward movement by ever in 
 dustriously building upwards as the land sank lower 
 and lower. It may sound strange to talk of the land 
 subsiding or rising and the sea keeping its level, but 
 it has long been a paradoxical axiom with Geologists 
 that it is the restless Sea which is really stable, and 
 the solid Earth which is unstable, for while the earth 
 is constantly altering its level with more or less ra- 
 pidity, sea bottoms filling up with debris, mountains 
 elevated by volcanic action, land subsiding in the 
 Avater, the great ocean preserves the same level 
 while the land is oscillating in all directions. 
 As you all know, our own chalk cliffs were at some 
 remote period the bottom of a smooth sea, and 
 most mountain ranges show undoubted signs of 
 having been at one time submerged and afterwards 
 raised from the sea, The appearance of a ring Atoll, 
 as seen from a ship is most curious and picturesque, 
 it appears from the mast head like a green 
 garland cast 011 the broad bosom of the ocean. 
 These Atolls are usually more or less cir- 
 cular rings, raised only a few feet above the surface 
 of the sea, enclosing a shallow lake in the centre, 
 called by the Spanish name Lagoon. This Lagoon 
 occupies a shallow cup-like depression in the coral
 
 17 
 
 formation, and is often of a vivid green colour, con- 
 trasting strongly with the glittering white of the 
 coral strand surrounding it, and with the deep blue 
 of the ocean outside. Through the clear transparent 
 waters of this central lake may be seen the living 
 polyps looking like lovely flowers of every dazzling 
 hue, while to and fro sail beauteous fish of a brilliant 
 green or red colour, which feed on the tender 
 Zoophites like a flock of sheep cropping the herbage. 
 On the upper portion of this coral strand, which is 
 often only a few hundred yards in width, grows a 
 broad band of bright green cocoa trees, the elegant 
 and luxuriant foliage of which relieves the glaring 
 white of the external beach which surrounds the 
 whole Island, while on the outside beat the thunder- 
 ing billows of the Pacific with ceaseless fury, looking 
 as though they would sweep the frail fabric away in 
 a few days. But the very fury of the breakers helps 
 to build up .the barriers more and more strongly. As 
 you see in the diagram, the edge of the reef is always 
 the highest part, for it is there the polyps principally 
 flourish, growing most vigorously where the breakers 
 are ever bringing a fresh supply of nourishment to 
 the untiring builders. In vain do the mighty billows 
 dash against the reef, tearing off vast fragments, and 
 piling them high on the beach ; atom by atom, 
 ceaselessly, day and night, do these tiny workers 
 extract the particles of. carbonate of lime from tho 
 waves, and build up these wonderful reefs. Some 
 utilitarian naturalist has suggested that the coral 
 insects might be utilized in building breakwaters, and 
 piers for harbours, and it really does not seem im- 
 possible, as it has been proved that if transplanted
 
 18 
 
 to a favourable site they will at once commence their 
 labours, and multiply with extraordinary rapidity. 
 This of course applies only to tropical seas, and to 
 the reef building species, which are chiefly Porites, 
 Madrepora, Millipora, and Astreas, for although we 
 have corals and corallines in temperate regions, they 
 are not gregarious, and form only insignificant and 
 isolated structures. There are three different kinds 
 of coral reefs called respectively fringing reefs, barrier 
 or encircling reefs, and atolls or circular reefs, but 
 they all originate in the same way, in fact the 
 fringing reef may become a bariier, and the barrier 
 reef an atoll, if only sufficient time be allowed, this 
 you will understand more clearly from the diagram. 
 Suppose for example a mountainous Island such as 
 the Mauritius, with a fringing reef of coral close 
 round its shores. Now if the Island begins slowly to 
 sink, the coral polyps will build their beds in the same 
 ratio upwards, for, as you know, they cannot exist 
 below a certain depth ; what is the consequence ? 
 You see the flinging reef which was close to the 
 shore while the diameter of the Island was, say five 
 miles, is, now that the diameter is reduced one half 
 by its subsidence, separated from the land by a wide 
 channel, it is now in fact a barrier reef. Some of 
 these barriers are formed along the coast of a main- 
 land, for example, there is one extending for 11 cr 
 12 hundred miles along the coast of Australia. 
 According to Darwin's theory this must imply a sub- 
 sidence of that land. To return to our imaginary 
 Island, there is now a circular barrier reef surround- 
 ing, at a distance of, say, two miles, a small peaked 
 Island, with the shallow channel between the two,
 
 19 
 
 but let the subsidence still continue, the peak will 
 gradually disappear beneath the waters, the corals 
 will continue to build higher, and as the outer edge 
 of the reef is always more vigorously developed than 
 the inner one, you will get the solid cupshaped struc- 
 ture of coral with the central lagoon, which consti- 
 tutes the atoll or circular reef. It seems wonderful 
 that on this narrow strip of barren coral rock, raised 
 only a few feet above the foaming billows, and 
 situated hundreds or thousands of miles from any 
 shore, that any, far less so luxuriant a vegetation 
 should arise, but so it is, seabirds first settle on the 
 new made land, drift wood, seaweed, dead fish, shells, 
 all contribute their quota to form a scanty soil. 
 Then seeds are dropped by birds, cocoa nuts are 
 drifted thither by currents, these, under the genial 
 influence of a tropical sun, rapidly germinate, until 
 at last is formed the girdle of trees and vegetation, 
 depicted in the diagram. The subjects I have so 
 imperfectly glanced at are but few among the many 
 marvels which a study of natural history opens up 
 to the earnest seeker, and whose mere enumeration 
 would occupy more time than 1 have at my disposal, 
 let me only, in conclusion, hope that I may have 
 been instrumental in inducing some among you to 
 take a more hearty interest in that grandest and 
 most elevating of all subjects the study of Natural 
 History. 
 
 Vide Darwin's " Naturalist's Voyage " and " Structure and 
 
 Distribution of Coral Reefd " ; Lyall's Principles of Geology ' ; 
 
 Jriguer's " Ocean World"; Wallace'.* "Archipelago," cc.
 
 FIEST ANNUAL ADDBESS. 
 
 If a love of Natural History be once awakened, its 
 study becomes the most fascinating of pursuits ; every 
 surrounding object, however familiar and common- 
 place, assumes a new interest; it is like the first 
 dawn of love in the human breast, when every object 
 takes a more roseate and lovely hue, and unlike, 
 too often, the grosser passion, the love of nature lasts 
 until the termination of our life. What greater 
 difference can there be then between the dull " con- 
 stitutional" along an uninteresting road, taken 
 perhaps at th/fe urgent instigation of some tyrannical 
 doctor, and the happy " ramble " of the Naturalist, 
 to whom every blade of grass, every peeping wild 
 flower or graceful fern, every stone becomes an object 
 of rational interest, to whom every little pond swarms 
 with curious and interesting life ; to whom to have 
 discovered a new or even a rare specimen is worth 
 any expenditure of time, trouble, or exertion. What 
 can be more exhilarating than the first dip with the 
 net in a new and tempting looking water ; what can 
 equal the healthy excitement when the net comes to 
 the surface laden with what a single glance tells us 
 to be rare or interesting specimens. What care we 
 then for muddy clothes, wet boots, or even aching 
 backs, c'oes not the result fully compensate for such 
 trivial misfortunes ? You may laugh, but I only say 
 " Try it ! " and if you do not then agree with me, I 
 shall pronounce you different to all the specimens of
 
 21 
 
 humanity I have ever met. Perhaps you will say, 
 or think, "But! don't care for a parcel of dirty 
 beetles, snails, and newts." I can only repeat, " Try 
 the experiment and the love will surely come." You 
 will find nature is one lovely and harmonious whole, 
 to which all things, however apparently trivial, con- 
 tribute. You will find nature is full, she swarms 
 and palpitates with life under a myriad of unseen 
 and unsuspected forms ; the very air we breathe ia 
 full, each drop of water swarms with life, with tiny 
 animalcules, so small that 150 millions of thm 
 would not weigh a grain. The earth we tread teems 
 with life, and to the naturalist all this is lovingly re- 
 vealed. He is invited to an intellectual repast, such 
 as might tempt the most fastidious, and his researches 
 are the more delightful because there is still so much 
 to discover, so many difficulties to reconcile, so many 
 theories to corroborate or disprove, so much informa- 
 tion to impart to others. Already we have had 
 several highly interesting papers read by members of 
 our Society, one on " Geology," by our indefatigable 
 Secretary, which possessed a peculiar interest for us, 
 because the site whence it was delivered (the Warren) 
 is not only peculiar in its geological formation, but 
 because just now it is undergoing changes produced 
 by the gradual action of landsprings, &c., and presents 
 an admirable instance of how alterations of the 
 earth's crust have been and are even now effected ; 
 how chalk cliffs are left perpendicular, the bottoms 
 of lakes changed and elevated, and islands thrown 
 up at sea. All these phenomena have lately taken 
 place, on a small scale, in the Warren. 
 I shall hope, to hear to-night sottK* discussion on
 
 22 
 
 a very clever and original paper by Mr. Ullyett, in 
 which he distinctly states his belief in the reasoning 
 powers of the lower animals, and which he believes them 
 to possess in common with ourselves. Although I 
 cannot follow him quite so far as that, I freely grant 
 that the lower animals possess " sense," " instinct," 
 " promptings " (call them what you will, for they are 
 merely words which conceal our ignorance on the 
 subject), which we not only do not possess, but which 
 we cannot even conceive, which our minds cannot 
 grasp. Mr. Ullyett instanced the migration of birds, 
 which he partly explained by the existence of reason- 
 ing powers, but can a reasoning power tell a vulture 
 that a camel lies dead in the desert when it is far, 
 far out of what we can conceive the limits of sight 
 or smell ? Often at sea, when the sky has been 
 cloudless and no speck visible on the horizon, have 
 I thrown a morsel of biscuit or meat into the water, 
 and yet within a few minutes hundreds of birds were 
 hovering around the vessel, following in her wake 
 and watching hungrily for more. I might multiply 
 instances by the score, but to what good ? we simply 
 do not know, we can but wait patiently and strive to 
 understand what our mother nature teaches us. 
 
 And to those who really mean to study the more 
 easily solved problems of Nature, I would say at once, 
 " Buy a microscope," or rather " Procure a micro- 
 scope." Buy it if you can by hook or by crook 
 afford it ; save for it beg for it, at any rate, get a 
 microscope, and if possible, a good one ; get a steady 
 stand and good lenses, but do not attempt at first to 
 have them of too high a power, these are difficult to 
 work and not necessary for anything but the higher
 
 23 
 
 and more elaborate researches of the Physiologist. 
 A 1 inch. inch, and a J inch are sufficient to hegin 
 with, though they now make lenses as high as 1-12 
 and even 1-25 of an inch. Then what wonders will 
 you behold ! Each dewdrop, each withered leaf, be- 
 comes a world. We see the veiy stones of whicli 
 our houses are built, the chalky cliffs of old England, 
 which we love so well, are composed of microscopic 
 forms, the relics of a bye-gone age. Now may we 
 find the "Bed Snow," which was formerly considered 
 a portent of awful omen (and of which I have myself 
 seen vast fields in the polar regions), to be merely 
 caused by the growth of a minute plant, Protococcm 
 NiraUs, which is reproduced with marvellous rapidity, 
 and spreads immense distances in a single night. 
 We discover " Life within Life," as for example, in 
 the common Aphis-, with which our roseries swarm. 
 Inside you will find another insect nearly perfect, 
 open this carefully and you will find another, and 
 again within this last you will discover eggs, which 
 require only time to become perfect insects. 
 
 There is one point in Natural History which will, 
 I am sure, commend itself to our Lady Members. I 
 allude to the very poor figure often cut by our sex 
 among the lower forms of animal life, and which they 
 will doubtless argue, extends upwards in the scale of 
 creation, though it might be difficult to say how high ! 
 They will find that not only are male creatures often 
 inferior to their partners in strength, intelligence, and 
 beauty, but that there actually exists a race of insects 
 without any males whatever (I allude to the Apus). 
 True, they are only Eutomostraca}, allied to the 
 Daphnia or Water Flea, which is again a sort of poor
 
 24 
 
 relation or distant cousin of the shrimp, crab, &c. 
 JBut then compare the lazy, ugly drone with the re- 
 eplendent and stately Queen Bee ; the puny male 
 Bpider with his fierce and pugnacious lady, who 
 sometimes even goes the length of eatiny him up ! and 
 there is even a parasite Lernea, whose husband is 
 merely a parasite to her and actually lives on her ! 
 Can male depravity go farther than this ? 
 
 What can be more wonderful than the way a 
 naturalist, such as Professor Owen will take up a 
 piece of fossil bone thousand^ of years old, and from 
 this imperfect fragment give a correct description of 
 an extinct animal, describing not only the texture of its 
 skin, whether scaly, feathery, or smooth, but will tell 
 its food and habits of life, and even make a drawing 
 of its external form and appearance ! Indeed even a 
 very humble naturalist may sometimes tell a good 
 deal from a bone. I remember some years ago when 
 I was in Cologne going over the Church of St. 
 Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, her companions, I 
 was shewn a portion of the skull of St. Ursula, and 
 by the side of it the skull of St. Elfrida, her especial 
 favourite. " Was she one of the Virgins " ? I asked ; 
 " of course " said my indignant guide. " But tin's is 
 the skull of a man," I replied. ''Impossible, per- 
 haps you will tell me this is a man's skull," said the 
 monk taking up another " Virgin." " Yes, she was 
 also a man." " But how can you possibly tell ? ' 
 said my guide, who did not quite know whether to 
 be more outraged or staggered. " Because " I re- 
 plied, "I can by some points of its structure, such 
 as the frontal sinus, its thickness, size, &c., tell the 
 difference just as certainly between a. male and
 
 25 
 
 female skull after death as I can between a man 
 and woman when alive." 
 
 Camper, if you remember, formed a very sensible 
 and ingenious theory from the formation of the skull ; 
 professing to discover from the different facial angles, 
 not only the distinctions between the skulls of the 
 several species of animals, but also those which exist 
 between different nations. Thus he considered the 
 Negro an intermediate step between the European 
 and the Orang-Utang, and he established a sort of 
 scale graduating from a newt up to the loftiest type 
 of human beauty. Birds have the smallest 
 angles, asses an angle of 42 to 50, Negroes and 
 Cahnucks a facial angle of 70, while the average angle 
 of European faces is 80, except in the loftiest or most 
 sublime style of beauty where it amounts to 100 
 degrees. On tin's difference of 10 degrees, depends 
 the difference in beauty between the Negro and the 
 lovliest of Europeans. But I am sorry to say that, 
 ingenious as this theory undoubtedly is, it is not 
 quite true ; indeed it was founded on an error, as 
 the skulls of the apes which were used for comparison 
 were those of immature animals, and Professor Owen 
 has clearly proved that in the adult ape the facial 
 angle is far less than stated by Camper, being indeed 
 only 30 to 35, so that the transition is far more 
 abrupt than he imagined, and makes a difference so 
 great that the utmost diversity between any two 
 human races becomes quite insignificant compared 
 with it. I had intended. giving a slight Ethnologi- 
 cal sketch in my paper this evening, but I found it 
 would unduly extend its limits ; I trust, however, some 
 of you will give us a paper on this subject erelong. It
 
 26 
 
 was a subject which first forced itself on my attention 
 when travelling in Iceland and afterwards in Lap- 
 land, where I noticed the curious nomadic or wander- 
 ing habits of the people, apparently so inappropriate 
 to the cold, inhespitable country in which they dwell, 
 and which must have been, as they undoubtedly were, 
 imported from the sunny skies and burning deserts 
 of the far east. In the interior of Iceland you see a 
 scattered people, travelling continually on horseback 
 from place to place, dwelling in tents, subsisting by 
 scanty flocks, just as do the Arabs of the desert, practis- 
 ing too, like them, a prodigal hospitality, which is given 
 and accepted as a sacred right. They are, however, 
 a different looking people to the degraded Lapps, 
 who are by some classed among the Celtic family. It 
 needs only a glance at their oblique eyes, high cheek 
 bones, low foreheads, bronzed skins, and straight 
 black hair, to detect their Mongolian origin ; and this 
 brings us to the fertile field for speculation opened up 
 by modern philosophers, as to the fixity or mutability 
 of species. How sublimely simple and harmonious 
 appears Darwin's theory of the development of all 
 species from one type, and yet, at first sight how 
 unanswerable seems the objection made by the other 
 school, that if certain species have not altered during 
 the last 4,000 years, i.e., since the time of Pharoah, 
 they are not likely ever to have varied, for, as I 
 daresay you know, the beetles, dogs, cats, and negroes 
 portrayed on the Egyptian obelisks and tombs are 
 identical with the same animals and negroes of the 
 present day, and the black slave who offers the 
 jewelled cup to Pharoah, is identical Avith the grin- 
 ning Sambo- who brings up tiffin in a Peninsular
 
 27 
 
 and Oriental steam boat. The reason of this is 
 plain ; where like is united with like, varieties do not 
 arise ; but once introduce a point of divergence, 
 let two divergences unite, and the begininng of a new 
 variety is established. This we see even in our own 
 day : take sheep for an example ; what can differ 
 more than the Spanish sheep with large curled horns, 
 long hair and bushy tails, and the fat-tailed sheep of 
 Syria, with their large pendant ears, and their enor- 
 mous fat-laden tails ? and yet both, together with 
 our own totally different looking sheep, are allowed 
 by ah 1 sides to be from the same stock. Again how 
 different are the several breeds of dogs ; compare the 
 Scottish terrier with the staghound ; a Newfoundland 
 with a greyhound, and say if members of different 
 species, such as wolves and jackals, are not more 
 like some dogs than these several breeds are to one 
 another. Then we are tempted to enquire, do the 
 different races of men arise from one common origin, 
 modified by climate, habits, and dispositions ? or 
 were they essentially different from the beginning ? 
 But this is far too wide a subject to discuss to-night. 
 Let ine rather remind you that not only all men, but 
 all animal nature, whether Vertebrate, Articulate, 
 Radiate or Mollusc are precisely alike at one period 
 of their existence, and this is the period when, as 
 someone observes, there is no difference between a 
 frog and a philosopher, for all alike arise originally 
 from the development of a single cell,
 
 THE MECHANISM OF THE HUMAN VOICE, 
 
 I purpose to-night to give a short description of 
 the Larynx, that most wonderful and complex organ 
 by which the Human Voice is produced. We hear a 
 person speak, or hum a tune, and it appears to be a 
 very simple and easy act, requiring little effort and 
 less thought, while in reality it is a most complicated 
 operation, requiring an instrument of marvellous 
 delicacy and intricate construction to perform it. 
 
 All sonorous vibrations may be divided into "Noises' ' 
 and " Sounds." Noises are irregular impulses com- 
 municated "To the ear, such as the report of a gun, 
 the wash of the waves on the beach, &c. Sounds are 
 produced by regular vibration of the elastic air, for 
 example, the note of a musical instrument, of a violin 
 or flute, the sounds of the human voice, &c. 
 
 When we hear a note struck, we are able to dis- 
 tinguish three points about it. 
 
 1st Its "Strength" or " Loudness," which de- 
 pends on the size of the waves of vibrating air. 
 
 2nd Its "Height" or "Pitch." This is dependent 
 on the number of vibrations performed in a given time. 
 The greater the number of vibrations the higher or 
 sharper the note, and, of course, vice versa, the smaller 
 the number the graver or more bass will be the sound; 
 practically 82 vibrations in one second is the smallest 
 number capable of producing sound, and even then 
 the pitch will be so low as hardly to be perceptible 
 it is, in fact, a mere " hum."
 
 29 
 
 There is a good deal of talk just now of lowering 
 the pitch of the " A " tuning fork, in our English 
 orchestras, and it would, no doubt, he a most sensible 
 thing to do, and an immense boon to our public 
 singers, whose voices are prematurely worn out by 
 having to sing up to the present high pitch a pitch 
 which has gradually risen in England until it is now 
 nearly half a tone higher than it was in the time of 
 Handel. The middle A was formerly produced by 
 417 double vibrations, whereas now the A of the 
 London Philharmonic requires 440 vibrations. The 
 French legislature has very wisely enacted that the 
 same note shall not be higher than 424. 
 
 I think I before mentioned that a note is said to be 
 sharper than another when it is produced by a larger, 
 and flatter when it is produced by a smaller number 
 of vibrations in a given time. 
 
 There is a vast difference in the capacity of different 
 ears to perceive acute sounds. I know a gentleman 
 who can never hear the sharp hissing sound emitted 
 by the field cricket, and which has been calculated to 
 require no less than 24,000 distinct vibrations in a 
 second to produce it. But some fine and highly 
 educated ears will detect the faint click emitted by 
 36,000 double vibrations, or (to jump to the other 
 end of the scale) the slight hum produced by 1 6, the 
 smallest number capable of producing audible sounds. 
 
 As we know, all our senses are finite, this is the 
 case both with sight and sound. If I whirl this ball, 
 attached to a string, round slowly you can perceive 
 clearly both ball and string, and moreover no percepti- 
 ble sound is produced ; but if I increase the momen- 
 tum beyond a certain point both ball and string
 
 80 
 
 become imperceptible and then sound is also produced. 
 3rd Sounds of the same pitch may differ widely 
 in their Timbre or Quality (the Germans call it Tone 
 Colour), thus the same note on a violin and a violon- 
 cello, a trombone, or a piccolo, differ materially in 
 character, and even the same note on the same 
 instrument produced by two different players is often 
 very dissimilar in tone, this is due to the form of the 
 vibrations. 
 
 Having now, I hope, arrived at a definite idea of 
 what sound is, I will endeavour to explain the means 
 by which the human voice is produced. To 
 understand the mechanism of this I must ask 
 ask your attention to these diagrams. The human 
 voice may be roughly compared to a wind instrument, 
 in which air is forced between two vibrating bodies, 
 as for example, the reeds of the clarionet. To produce 
 voice we require a current of air (as from the lungs), 
 a bellows to force it between the vibrating bodies (as 
 the muscles of the chest) and vibrating bodies, capable 
 of delicate adjustment (as the vocal chords). 
 
 The vocal chords are, properly speaking, not chords 
 at all, but membranes with free edges like the split 
 parchment of a broken drumhead. These chords 
 are stretched across the larynx, which is a sort of 
 cylindrical cartilaginous box, situated at the top of 
 the trachea, or windpipe, and in speaking they are 
 set in vibration by the air which is forced between 
 them by the lungs. These chords must be brought 
 parallel to each other to produce sound, in ordi- 
 nary breathing they are slightly divergent, forming a 
 triangular opening which allows the breath to pass 
 noiselessly; when we speak they are brought very
 
 8L 
 
 quickly together by the Posterior Arytenoid muscle 
 and rendered tense by the Cricothyroid. The Thyro 
 Arytenoid re-elevates the Thyroid and relaxes the 
 chords. The greater the degree of tension of the vocal 
 chords, he higher the note, and vice versa. 
 
 The difference of voice in men and women is pro- 
 duced by the difference of length of the vocal chords, 
 which are J longer in men than in women and boys. 
 Men have less flexibility of voice than women bscause 
 though their vocal chords are equally elastic, they are 
 unable to vibrate as rapidly. The size of the 
 bronchial tubes, and capacity of the chest also modify 
 the sound of the voice. The range of the voice de- 
 pends on the difference of tension which we can give 
 to the vocal chords, and on the control we posses:; 
 over the muscles which tense and relax them, and it 
 is for this reason practice is so useful to singers, as 
 it developes the two sets of antagonistic muscles, 
 ' and gives greater power over both or either, accord- 
 ing as we practice more at one or other end of the 
 scale. Accuracy of singing depends on the precision 
 with which one can voluntarily regulate and adjust 
 the opposing contractions of these two sets of muscles 
 (the Crico-Thyroid and Thyro-Arytenoid), this, of 
 course, can only be obtained by careful practice. 
 
 The quality of a voice bass, barytone, tenor, or 
 soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto depends on the 
 length of the chords and their elasticity, the shape 
 of the larynx, resonance of the chest, &c. 
 
 That wonderful invention of modern days, the 
 Laryngoscope has revealed some curious facts about 
 the different actions of the vocal chords in producing 
 different sounds and notes. Thus we see that in
 
 83 
 
 making a fair resonant chest note the vocal chords 
 vibrate throughout their entire length and substance 
 The vibrations become more rapid and ample as the 
 sounds become sharper, and the opening between the 
 chords is rectilinear ; the tension is also greater than 
 in falsetto notes. In falsetto notes the chords vibrate 
 only on their free borders; the parts constituting 
 their base not taking any part in producing the sound. 
 The longitudinal tension is also much feebler than in 
 chest notes, and the opening of the glottis is elliptical 
 instead of rectilinear. 
 
 When the vocal sounds are modified by the mouth, 
 tongue, lips, &c., they form speech. All the vowel 
 sounds a, ah, o (long or short), e, oo (German u), 
 can be produced by a continuous expiration with the 
 mouth more or less open, and can be continued in- 
 definitely ; while the consonants require the current 
 of air to be interrupted by the action of the tongue 
 or lips ; m and n are formed by allowing the air free 
 passage through the nose, while the mouth is closed 
 by the lips in the one case, and by the tongue in the 
 other. Some consonants, such as B and P, are 
 called "Explosive," because the current of air is pre- 
 vented from escaping by the mouth or nostrils, and 
 is then suddenly forced through the lips, the form of 
 the orifice determining the letter ; In the hard G and 
 K the middle of the tongue, and in T and D, the 
 point pressed against the palate perform the same 
 office ; Th, which should be expressed by one 
 letter, being really only a single sound, is formed by 
 placing the tip of the tongue behind the front teeth, 
 and causing the current of air to whistle rapidly round 
 or past it ; S and Z are produced by a rapid current
 
 83 
 
 sent between the tip of the tongue and the closed 
 incisor teeth. The letter E is caused by the vibra- 
 tion of the tongue in a current of air between itself 
 and the upper palate. In some Continental 
 languages, however, it is formed by a rapid vibration 
 of either the uvula or some part of the posterior 
 palate, or of the tip of the tongue. As this rapid 
 action of these parts is not required in the English 
 language, and is only acquired by early training and 
 exercise, it is extremely difficult for us to accomplish 
 it. You will now understand why it is impossible 
 in singing to prolong a word terminating with a hard 
 consonant such for example as "Hand;" but if 
 the voice be allowed to dwell on the vowel sound 
 (the A, or Ah), it can be prolonged for an indefinite 
 time, and the consonants be formed only at the 
 extreme end of the note a fact well known to 
 singers. 
 
 Stammering is caused by a nervous and convulsive 
 action of the muscles concerned in speech ; it is 
 chiefly experienced in forming the labial and explo- 
 sive consonants, B, D, M, &c. It is entirely a 
 nervous phenomenon, and consequently much 
 aggravated by anxiety or overconsciousness. I have 
 cured several people of this painful defect by the 
 simple expedient of teaching them never to speak 
 until they had thoroughly expanded the chest by 
 taking a very long, deep breath, and then speaking 
 during expiration. They should afterwards practise 
 reading aloud very deliberately when alone ; always 
 drawing a good deep breath before commencing a 
 sentence. Sometimes stammering is closely allied 
 to Chorea or St. Vitus' Dance; it then, of course, 
 
 D
 
 84 
 
 requires constitutional treatment. In conclusion, 
 let me advise none of my more juvenile hearers to 
 imitate those who stammer or stutter, for it is a 
 habit very easily acquired, and very difficult to get 
 rid of. 
 
 Vide " Huxley's Elements of Physiology ; " " Carpenter's Phy- 
 siology ; " Paget, Kirk, Max Miiller, &c.
 
 ICELAND AND SPITZBEEGEN. 
 
 I propose to-night to give you a short sketch of a 
 voyage to Iceland and Spitzbergen, which I made 
 with Lord Dufferin in 1858. I have already read 
 you a paper on the flora of these regions, and I hope 
 on another occasion to give you one on their geology, 
 which is peculiarly interesting ; I shall therefore say 
 little on these topics to-night, as they alone would 
 occupy more than the time allotted to me for my 
 short paper. 
 
 The only companion of our voyage was a young 
 Icelander, named Sigurdr, who had been educated 
 in Copenhagen as a Law student and who spoke 
 English well. The crew consisted of a sailing master 
 and six hands. Our vessel which was called " The 
 Foam," was a small schooner of 85 tons, and though 
 an excellent sea boat, was little fitted to encounter 
 the rough shocks she afterwards sustained, her entire 
 thickness of planking being only two inches.. When 
 I expressed some misgivings on this subject to Lord 
 Dufferin, he very sensibly pointed out that if the 
 schooner had been sheathed and strengthened at the 
 bows, &c., whaler-fashion, the men would have let 
 her run against everv iceberg that came in our way, 
 but when they knew that every life on board de- 
 pended on steering entirely clear of the ice they 
 would be sure to keep a pretty bright look out ! 
 besides, no strength could save us if we got jammed in 
 the ice, for the strongest vessel ever built would then
 
 36 
 
 be cracked like an eggshell. In the early summer 
 (2nd June) we sailed away for Iceland via the 
 Hebrides and across the North Atlantic, and any- 
 thing more trying than the weather we there en- 
 countered it would be difficult to conceive, for gales 
 and calms alternated till I hardly knew which I hated 
 the most, the heavy seas and headwinds which seemed 
 perversely bent on sending us back, or the wretched 
 rolling, from one side to the other, on the tops of the 
 huge waves when the wind fell calm. You must 
 know I am not a very first rate sailor, for I generally 
 get violently sick after I have been about 24 hours 
 at sea, and now I was so bad that I think I only kept 
 life in me by laudably trying to look on my suffer- 
 ings from a purely scientific point of view, and so I 
 set to work to discover a remedy for sea sickness, 
 first I tried the more pleasant antidotes, such as 
 champagne, bottled stout, soda and brandy, then ice, 
 chloroform, cresot, salts, sea water, salt pork, ginger, 
 opium and prussic acid, all these and many more 
 were conscientiously exhibited, but all alas were 
 re-exhibited with painful punctuallity' ! At last we 
 sighted Iceland, and one glance was sufficient to 
 chase away all recollections of our wearisome cruise, 
 so strange, so fairylike did the laud appear. In the 
 midst of dark and jagged peaks of the most contorted 
 and fantastic forms up rose one high pyramid of 
 silver snow, against a background of deep blue sky, 
 while around were numerous other ice mountains 
 whose snowy summits were changed to the most 
 lovely opal tints by the setting sun. We happened 
 to sight Iceland at the very same point as did its 
 first discoverers some 1000 years previously, when a
 
 37 
 
 Norwegian Viking was accidentally driven there by 
 foul winds. On Ins return to Norway he gave so 
 flattering an account of the land that Floki, another 
 Viking, determined to settle there, and as this was 
 before the days of mariner's compasses, he adopted 
 a very ancient device to guide him. He took with him 
 from Norway three ravens ; when he had proceeded 
 some distance he liberated one, which immediately 
 flew astern, by which he knew he was nearer Nor- 
 way than any other land ; sailing on he let go a 
 second bird, which, circling round the ship finally 
 settled on the mast, so he concluded he was about 
 half way ; proceeding onwards for some days he let 
 fly his third raven which flew right ahead, and Floki 
 following his winged guide arrived safely in Iceland. 
 These Vikings were fine brave fellows, though now- 
 a-days their profession would be stigmatised as piracy, 
 but at that time it was considered a very fine thing 
 to make raids on any of one's weaker neighbours, to 
 slay the men, carry off the women, and annex all 
 their valuables. These same Norse Vikings who 
 founded Iceland are the same nation which colonized 
 and gave laws to a great portion of this kingdom, 
 and it is to them we owe our parliaments, our civil 
 and religious liberty, trial by jury, influence of public 
 opinion on the conduct of public affairs, and more 
 than all that spirit of daring enterprise and personal 
 bravery which is everywhere synonornous with the 
 name of Englishman. 
 
 The following day we were anchored in Eeikjavik 
 bay and hurried ashore to inspect the capital of 
 Iceland. The town consists of a collection of small 
 wooden houses built on a foundation of blocks of
 
 38 
 
 lava, and interspersed with huts of turf. The whole 
 island is volcanic, and Keykjavik is situated on a 
 lava plain which must have surged up ages ago from 
 some inland volcano and come roaring and hissing 
 down to the sea ; all around was lava, the black 
 beach was comminuted lava, the rude pier was built of 
 lava blocks, so were the foundations of all the houses, 
 and as we soon found, lava mud was very plentiful 
 in the streets ! There were no trees, and the only 
 visible vegetation was the grass grown roofs of the 
 huts where the turf had sprouted from the heat of 
 the summer sun. Our first visit was with our 
 Icelandic companion (who I must tell you, was a 
 most agreeable and gentlemanly man) to a native 
 washerwoman, a lady by no means either young or 
 lovely, and who, if she expended much soap in the 
 exercise of her profession, certainly wasted none on 
 her person. Guess my astonishment then when 
 Sigurdr politely lifted his hat and advancing to this 
 unsavoury lady gravely kissed her ! She must be 
 his mother, thought I, so when we were outside, I 
 began, " Sigurdr, what relation was that old lady 
 to you ? " " None," said he, in a tone of great in- 
 dignation," "But you kissed her, I urged, " Of course 
 I did," he answered," " so ought you," and on 
 further questioning he informed me it was the uni- 
 versal custom, evn with strangers, to salute in this 
 fashion. 
 
 Our next business was to buy ponies for our inland 
 journey, about which there was no difficulty, and 
 Lord Dufferin soon found himself master of 26 strong 
 active looking little animals, from about 12 to 12 
 hands high, with as many bridles and pack saddles,
 
 89 
 
 for as there are no roads or wheeled carriages in the 
 island everything has to be carried on pony's backs, 
 and as there are no inns it is necessary to carry 
 tents and all paraphanalia for sleeping en-route. As 
 we spoke no Icelandic, and very few of the natives 
 spoke either English or French, we had to rub up 
 our Latin as the only means of conversation, and 
 this was the more difficult as the Icelanders, like 
 every nation except our obstinate selves, pronounce 
 Latin in the Continental fashion with the broad soft 
 a. You are perhaps surprised to hear of our con- 
 versing with the natives in Latin, but you must 
 know they are a very highly civilised and educated 
 people, and it is a rare thing to meet a man who 
 cannot reply in one of the classical languages. 
 Nowadays, when a new country is colonised it is by 
 the outcasts of society, or at any rate by the poorest 
 and most ignorant of an overteeming population, 
 but the first settlers in Iceland were proud and in- 
 dependent nobles and their followers, men who would 
 not brook the tyranny of Harold Haarfager, and who 
 were acquainted with all the learning and refinement 
 the age they lived in could bestow. I know no 
 country of equal size (for Iceland is nearly as large 
 as England) of which so little is known, even among 
 the educated classes, as Iceland. Most people, if 
 they think of it all, imagine it to be an insignificant 
 icebound island, inhabited by a few semi-barbarous 
 natives. Whereas owing to its manly and educated 
 founders, the profitable employment of long winter 
 nights which are usually devoted to study and in- 
 struction, there is probably not so highly educated a 
 population in the world. The population is, how-
 
 40 
 
 ever, very scanty in comparison to the size of the 
 Island, and consists of only G5,000, there heing 
 immense tracts of ice and lava not only uninhabited 
 but unexplored, the largest of which comprises over 
 4,000 square miles. The population of Eeykjavik 
 the capital, is only 1400. It is in these unexplored 
 regions that the most recent volcanic eruptions have 
 taken place, the most awful of which occurred from 
 Skaftur Yokul in 1788. It is a curious fact, and 
 not generally known, that America was discovered 
 by the Icelanders as early as the llth century, and 
 in February, 1477, Columbus himself landed in 
 Eeykjavik, and was much interested in the accounts 
 of a vast continent far away to the S. W. which was 
 still traditional in Iceland. 
 
 Nothing could be more hospitable than the way 
 we were received in Eeykjavik, indeed it seemed an 
 established custom that we were to eat and drink in 
 every house we entered, but the climax was a feast 
 (I can hardly call it a dinner) to which we were in- 
 vited by the Danish Governor of the island. We 
 commenced eating at the early hour of 4 o'clock ; 
 Lord Dufferin and I were placed on either side 
 of our host at the top of a long table at which were 
 ranged some 30 other guests, tke only lady present 
 being the wife of the Governor who never sat still 
 during the whole time of the entertainment, but 
 flitted about ministering to the wants of one or other 
 of her guests. The table was garnished with an in- 
 finity of wine bottles, and each guest was furnished 
 with at least half-a-dozen glasses. The dinner con- 
 sisted of 11 or 12 courses, beginning with a thin 
 soup, then came fish cutlets, called fricadella, these
 
 41 
 
 went round twice and were followed by fowls 
 and parsnips, next came smoked uncooked salmon, 
 cut in thin slices and served with salad, then fricasseed 
 mutton, these were all handed round separately with 
 long intervals between each course which were filled 
 up with drinking and toasting. We now concluded 
 dinner was over and we should only have the sweets, 
 and as out of curiosity we had partaken of ah 1 the 
 dishes, we were not sorry to he near the conclusion 
 of our repast, hut presently roast fowls were handed 
 round and these were followed by sweet cream with . 
 cakes in it, and then when we flattered ourselves 
 that the meal really must be over at last, we were 
 horrified at the introduction of ham cut in slices, and 
 served with parsnips chopped up in a sweet white 
 sauce, of which everyone partook, nor did we like 
 to refuse anything lest it should be considered rude. 
 Ah 1 this time we had been drinking an incredible 
 quantity of wine, for it is a point of politeness for 
 each guest to keep Ins neighbour's glasses continually 
 full of wine, and it was vain to protest, as each time 
 one's head was turned all the glasses were refilled. 
 There were lots of toasts, everyone of which it was 
 necessary to drink in a bumper, and each guest is 
 expected to drink the health of everyone else at 
 table, and not only to drain the glass each time, 
 but to tilt it up to show it is empty. But our 
 long dinner was not yet over, roast plovers were 
 now brought in, then came fowls again, dressed in a 
 sweet sauce, foUowed by an avalanche of puddings, 
 cakes, creams. &c. The dinner lasted from 4 o'clock 
 until past 9. and altho' I drank more wine on that 
 occasion than I have ever taken either before or
 
 42 
 
 since, I can't say that I felt any the worse for it, I 
 suppose the quantity we eat, and the length of time 
 we were about it neutralised the effect. 
 
 We afterwards went for a sail in one of the yacht's 
 boats and landed on a small island where Lord 
 Dufferin discovered some wonderful white rabbits 
 with red noses, which, on nearer approach, flew 
 away and resolved themselves into birds, being 
 neither more nor less than the Puffin (Alca Arctica), 
 but as this mistake occurred several hours after 
 dinner, I don't think it could have had any connec- 
 tion with that memorable meal. 
 
 There is a small lava biiilt church, in Reykjavik 
 which is dignified by the name of Cathedral, and 
 where we attended divine service. The Icelanders 
 are Lutherans, but this particular congregation did 
 not appear very devout, as they kept walking in and 
 out of the church at frequent intervals and spittiilg 
 very constantly in the spittoons which adorned every 
 pew ; the clergyman wore a ruff round the neck in the 
 fashion of Queen Elizabeth's time. Christianity was 
 introduced into Iceland at the close of the 10th cen- 
 tury ; the priest who was first sent was not exactly 
 the sort of person who would now be selected by the 
 Missionary Society. In the ancient sagas, or re- 
 cords, we read " There was a Saxon priest in King 
 Olaf s house, called Thangbrand, a passionate un- 
 governable man and a great manslayer, but he was 
 a good scholar and a clever man. The King would 
 not have him in his house on account of his mis- 
 deeds ; him sent he to Iceland to bring that landto the 
 Christian faith. Thangbrand proclaimed Christianity 
 in Iceland, and on his persuasion (which was, no
 
 48 
 
 doubt forcible enough !) many chiefs allowed them- 
 selves to be baptised, but many spoke against it. 
 Thorvalde Veile and Veterlid the scald, composed 
 a satire about Thangbrand, but he killed them out- 
 right ! Thangbrand was two years in Iceland and 
 was the death of three men before he left it." The 
 Icelanders are a most innocent and primitive people, 
 but like the natives of most northern climes they 
 drink a good deal of a coarse brandy called Brend- 
 Vin, a rough spirit made in Norway from potatoes. 
 Theft and crime are almost unknown in Iceland, 
 and there are neither prisons, police, nor soldiers in 
 the island. The Icelanders have but few laws and these 
 are very simple, and are all comprised in one small 
 book which anyone can understand, so there cannot be 
 much occupation for lawyers there ! The law with 
 regard to marriage is peculiar and very simple. If 
 from any cause a married couple disagree and wish 
 to be separated they have merely to give notice to 
 the Governor, and if at the end of three years they 
 are still of the same mind they are divorced, and may 
 each marry again, but they told me this rarely 
 happened. The ornithologist finds a rich field for 
 study in Iceland, there being no less than 82 indige- 
 nous birds and 21 casual visitors, including the Falcon 
 (Falco Islandicus), the Sea Eagle (Halictus Albicilla), 
 the Swan, and the rare giant Auk (Geirfugl), but 
 the Eider Duck (Anas mollissima) is the most useful 
 and profitable of all the feathered inhabitants. We 
 visited one of the breeding places, a small island 
 named Videy, these breeding places are all private 
 property and very strictly preserved. The birds are 
 very tame and will allow you to raise them from their
 
 44 
 
 nests, which are made on the ground, and inspect 
 their eggs. The female lays five or six olive green 
 eggs (very good eating) in a nest thickly lined with 
 delicate down off her hreast, no sooner is this done 
 than the nest is robbed of its contents ; the pool- 
 bird then begins to lay afresh, though this time only 
 three or four eggs are deposited, and again she plucks 
 all the available down off her body to protect them ; 
 this second crop is now removed, she is then obliged 
 to line her nest a third time, but having exhausted 
 all her own stock of down she plaintively calls her 
 submissive mate to her assistance who at once plucks 
 all the soft feathers from his breast to supply the 
 deficiency ! If the robbery is again cruelly repeated 
 the poor birds forsake the spot never to return. 
 
 Our chief object in visiting Iceland was to see the 
 world-famed Geysers, or boiling springs, and the 
 ponies having been duly loaded, our cavalcade left 
 Keykjavik. Never have I so much enjoy ed travelling, 
 the weather happened to be lovely, the thermometer 
 at noonday standing at over 70 deg., and the ponies 
 were fresh and active, poor little wretches, they have 
 but a hard time of it in the winter, for the snow during 
 the greater length of the year, entirely covers up the 
 scanty pasturage, and it is only by diligent digging 
 and scraping they manage to get at the scanty 
 herbage which is their only sustenance, if we except 
 the fish-offal and bones, on which starvation fre- 
 quently compels them to feed. There is no arable 
 land in the island, so the ponies get no corn, and it 
 is not until spring is far advanced that they are 
 strong enough, after their winter starvation, to do 
 much work. The baggage train, consisting of twenty
 
 45 
 
 ponies laden with tents, beds, cooking utensils, &c., 
 had been sent on some hours previously, and our 
 own party consisted of Lord Dufferin, Sigurdr, and 
 myself, and six ponies, 3 of which we drove ahead of us 
 and rode alternately. I could not previously have 
 believed that any horse could maintain its footing, 
 far less travel, over such a country as we now 
 traversed, for road there was none, and our course 
 was over tracts of basaltic rock, and loose scorioe of 
 lava, sometimes towering in enormous and fantastic 
 peaks overhead, sometimes broken and rounded into 
 boulders, relics of the glacial period, but more fre- 
 quently strewing the entire country in masses very 
 much resembling the clinkers seen in a blacksmith's 
 forge, and varying in size from a few inches to 30 
 or 40 feet high. There are no roads in Iceland, but 
 centuries of travel have worn narrow tracts which 
 the nimble little ponies find for themselves and 
 traverse with unfailing foot. The loose ponies go 
 scampering along without saddle or bridle, kicking 
 up their heels while we gallop after them in break- 
 neck fashion, shouting and cracking our long whips. 
 Occasionally the loose ponies may spy out a few 
 blades of grass growing high up on some bleak 
 mountain side, away they go off the track, scram- 
 bling, slipping, clattering, but never falling, more 
 like goats than horses, up the apparently inaccessible 
 heights, loose lava clattering down on our heads. 
 There is then nothing for it but to ride after them 
 and turn them back into the track, apparently a 
 difficult feat, but one in which the mounted animal 
 takes so laudable an interest that we never failed to 
 accomplish it ; this troublesome duty we each take in
 
 46 
 
 turn. After about twenty miles ride we alight at a 
 grassy spot, unsaddle our ponies and allow their 
 bridles to trail on the ground winch is a sign to our 
 intelligent steeds that they are not to stray far, and 
 one which they quite understand. We then throw 
 ourselves on the grass and take our lunch, after 
 which we change the saddles on to the fresh ponies 
 and start anew. 
 
 The few houses we passed were more like large 
 graves than anything else, they have no side walls, but 
 consist simply of a pointed roof covered over with turf, 
 and as in summer the grass grows ah 1 over it, one 
 might almost ride over an Icelandic dwelling without 
 being aware of it. Inside they are dug out to the 
 depth of a few feet, and the ground stamped hard, 
 while around are ranged the sleeping places for the 
 entire family, these are not unlike the berths on board 
 a steamer, each being covered with a rough blanket of 
 home-made coarse flannel (called Wadinal), and an 
 eider down quilt, this latter would, be an expensive 
 luxury here, but in Iceland costs comparatively little. 
 
 The first day is passing away and we begin to be 
 a little fatigued with our fourteen or fifteen hours' 
 riding, for we had missed the track several times, 
 and have taken nothing since lunch, except a drink 
 of ewe's milk at a farm house, when we unexpect- 
 edly find ourselves on the brink of a perpendicular 
 precipice, extending on either side of us as far as 
 the eye can reach, and which appears to bar com- 
 pletely our further progress. Beyond lies a perfectly 
 flat surface of country for eight or ten miles, riven 
 into a thousand deep jagged seams, while immedi- 
 ately below us a deep blue lake reflects the evening
 
 47 
 
 sun. We look reproachfully at Sigurdr, who, we 
 suppose, has misled us, but he only smiles, and 
 appears to enjoy our astonishment, and presently 
 leads the way to where a narrow precipitous track 
 is formed down the face of the abyss by blocks of 
 fallen lava. The prospect of going, far more of riding, 
 down such a precipice is rather staggering, but the 
 ponies commence the descent with the greatest de- 
 liberation, and we are soon down at the bottom. 
 This precipice is the renowned Almannagia, the 
 level plain is Thingvalla, where we are to halt for 
 the night, the opposite perpendicular cliff is the 
 Hrabua Gia (Eavens' Bift), and the face of the 
 precipice at a distance of eight or ten miles, com- 
 pletely dovetails into the Almannagia, which we 
 have just descended. Ages ago some vast flood of 
 lava must have come streaming and boiling from 
 one of the many active volcanoes then existing, 
 and spread out over the level country, attaining a 
 breadth of twelve or fifteen miles. When dry and 
 hard, some powerful agency, possibly frost, must 
 have caused a shrinking and rupture of the entire 
 mass, the centre of which must have then sunk, 
 rent into a thousand chasms, to its present level. 
 Thingvalla is the plain where in ancient times was 
 held the famous " Thing," the prototype of our own 
 Parliament, where met the Icelandic Chieftains and 
 Warriors to make laws and to administer justice. We 
 soon find ourselves on the ancient place of meeting, 
 which is an irregular oval, surrounded on all sides 
 by a broad deep chasm, save at one point, where 
 a small natural causeway connects it with the ad- 
 joining laud. There are still three mounds of earth
 
 48 
 
 on which sat the chieftains. It was here was 
 held the celebrated debate as to whether Christianity 
 should be adopted as the religion of the country. 
 While the debate was at its hottest the rumbling 
 of subterranean thunder was heard, and the ground 
 trembled violently under the feet of the assembled 
 multitude. "Hark!" said a pagan orator, waving 
 Iris sword on high, " Odin is angry at our daring to 
 discuss a rival religion." While the meeting listened 
 breathless to his words, up sprung a Christian mis- 
 sionary, and pointing to the shattered rocks and 
 yawning chasms around, exclaimed, " With whom 
 then was Odin angry when these rocks were rent ?" 
 And so Christianity was adopted by the assembly. 
 
 There is a small church at Thingvalla, about twelve 
 or fourteen feet long, and about six or eight feet 
 high, a dark and dismal earth built hut, which is 
 commonly used as a sleeping place by stray travellers, 
 who are unprovided with tents. The clergyman is 
 a poor man, who is -obliged to supplement his 
 wretched stipend of some 8 or 10 a year by 
 working as a blacksmith, and indeed almost ah 1 the 
 Icelandic clergymen are blacksmiths in addition to 
 their sacred calling, this gentleman was exceed- 
 ingly kind to us, and contributed lamb, milk, and 
 coffee to our dinner. 
 
 We slept two nights in our tent at Thingvalla in 
 order to recruit our ponies, for in Iceland ones halting 
 places are entirely regulated by the possibility of 
 pasturage, we then started for the Geysers. 
 
 Our way still lay through the same weird looking 
 scenery. We diversified our route by occasionally 
 stopping our ponies (without dismounting) and
 
 49 
 
 shooting some of the numerous plovers (Pressiros- 
 trnm Aureatum) and curlews for our dinner, 
 About midday we crossed a very remarkable river, 
 the Bruarra ; the bed of this stream is very broad 
 and shallow, composed of loose, rounded, slippery 
 boulders, the stream ran furiously, and our ponies 
 stumbled and floundered in a very trying manner. 
 Just in the middle is an enormous rift down 
 which the river thundered in a cascade, and across 
 this abyss is laid a couple of planks, without rail or 
 parapet, and over which the foaming water rushed. 
 I assure you it required all one's nerve, and unlimited 
 confidence in the surefootedness of our ponies to 
 ride across this very ugly place. 
 
 Late in the evening we arrived at the plain of the 
 Geysers. The whole surrounding country has here 
 a scorched ?jid arid appearance, the soil being 
 covered with a greyish white deposit of silica and car- 
 bonate of lime. On all sides rose vast volumes 
 of steam, which indeed often spirted up out of the 
 ground in the prints of a foot- step. The ground is 
 here all honeycombed with deep wells of boiling water. 
 
 The Great Geyser itself rises about 30ft. above the 
 surrounding level, the mound having been formed 
 during countless ages by the deposit of carbonate of 
 liine from the water, though the proportion it contains 
 is only very small. The basin, which is composed 
 of liine and perfectly smooth and symetrical, 
 measures about 56 feet in diameter, in the middle is a 
 perfectly smooth tube or pipe about 16 or 18 feet in 
 diameter, composed also of lime ; it has been sounded 
 to a depth of 70ft., but is probably far deeper, it 
 pursues a curved and irregular course, and is full
 
 to the brim of clear boiling water. 
 
 We had to wait several days before seeing a 
 really good eruption, for these phenomena are 
 very irregular in their intervals, but when one did 
 occur the spectacle well repaid our patience. It 
 commenced with loud rumbling and subterranean 
 thunders, and a violent agitation of the water, sud- 
 denly up rose a dome of water to a height of 8 or 
 10ft., which broke and feh 1 back, then with a mighty 
 roar and a rush of angry steam the whole column 
 rose, some 18ffc. broad, straight up into the air to a 
 height of at least 80 or 100ft. The effect was sublime, 
 we held our breath as the boiling pillar burst forth 
 again and again ; then its force evidently lessened, 
 it wavered, shortened, and finally subsided to a depth 
 of 6 or 8ft. down the pipe, leaving the basin entirely 
 empty, nor did it refill for some hours after. 
 
 The theory of the eruption of the Great Geyser 
 may be thus explained, there must be an internal 
 chamber of water above the level of the bent end of 
 the pipe, at the upper part of which steam is gene- 
 rated, and when the pressure exceeds the weight of 
 the superincumbent mass of water an eruption takes 
 place. "When water is submitted to great pressure 
 it takes longer to boil and then the prochictiou of 
 steam is so rapid and violent as to act explosively. 
 
 There is also a smaller spring called the Strokrr 
 situated about 400ft. from the Geyser but with no 
 basin. The tube is about 6ft. in diameter at the 
 orifice but contracts to a breadth Of only a few inches 
 at a depth of 20ft. below the surface. This pecu- 
 liarity enables one to "take a rise out of him " at 
 any time ; all that is necessary is to throw a few sods
 
 51 
 
 of turf down his pipe which block it up at the nar- 
 row part and obstruct the escape of the steam; 
 shortly after his dose there is a violent sobbing, 
 giu-gling, and commotion, followed by a violent burst 
 of steam and a column of boiling water which rises 
 to a -height of 150ft. 
 
 Just as the eruption of the Great Geyser was over, 
 appeared a horseman riding furiously, and evidently 
 hoping to be in time for the eruption. He proved to 
 be the avant courier of Prince Napoleon who was a 
 few hours behind him with a large staff of Savans 
 and Officers. On the Prince's arrival he was good 
 enough to dine in our tent with us, and we regaled 
 him with roast plover and English plum pudding 
 boiled in one of the hot springs. When we were all 
 in our first sleep we were roused by the notes of a 
 bugle and all tumbled out thinking the geyser was 
 about to perform, as the rumblings were veiy loud. 
 His Imperial Highness was so anxious not to be late 
 that he came rushing out in his night shirt, vainly 
 struggling to pull on a pair of very tight nether 
 garments as he ran, a feat he only half accomplished, 
 and worse still, it proved to be only a false alarm, 
 for no eruption took place. You must remember it 
 was quite light during the night for we were already 
 so far north that the sun only set for an hour or two, 
 and at midnight it was light enough to read in the 
 open air. 
 
 On our return to Eeikjavik, Prince Napoleon made 
 us the tempting offer of towing us as far as Yau 
 Mayen. a small island in the Greenland ice, which 
 we were very desirous of reaching as no one had 
 succeeded hi lauding there for very many years. This
 
 52 
 
 ^ 
 
 offer, I need not say, we accepted with gratitude. 
 After proceeding in tow of the Prince's yacht, the 
 " Heine Hortense " about 800 miles north and 
 getting entangled in the field ice, the French steamer 
 was obliged to return, and left us to make our way 
 north alone. Well, on we went, and were delightedjwith 
 our first sight of an icefield, though we got heartily sick 
 of ice before we returned. Icebergs of the most 
 lovely tints, deep azures, transparent tender greens, 
 dazzling white, flashing crimson and opal tints 
 surrounded us on all sides, assuming the most fan- 
 tastic and curious forms, peaks, domes, 'pyramids 
 and shapes too numerous to describe. As we pro- 
 ceeded the ice got closer and closer and navigation 
 became more and more dangerous and critical. A 
 dense fog surrounded us, the cold was intense, and 
 we had almost despaired of ever reaching or even 
 peeing Yan Mayeu, when suddenly the clouds, were 
 rent asunder and against a patch of deep blue sky 
 appeared a sharp cone of dazzling ice, 5,000 or 
 6,000 feet above our heads, and we knew we beheld 
 Mount Beerenberg, the loftiest point of Yan Mayen. 
 But how to land was the question, we had run in 
 before the wind through a narrow channel in the ice 
 and it was now too thickly packed to admit of 
 further progress. However, we were determined 
 not to. be baffled, so Lord Dufferiu and I took our 
 rifles and managed to push through the ice in a boat 
 and land on the narrow beach. We then climbed up 
 a precipitous glacier and built a cairn, in which we 
 deposited our visiting cards, and surmounted it with 
 the English flag. Our descent of the glacier was 
 rapid but not dignified, we merely sat down 011 the
 
 53 
 
 snow and found ourselves at the bottom before we 
 knew, where we were. It was certainly somewhat 
 destructive to our attire, and for some time I scarcely 
 knew whether I was most cold from the snow or hot 
 from the rapid friction of our slide ! 
 
 We reached f;he schooner with the greatest diffi- 
 culty, and then began the perilous task of escaping 
 from the ice. We had run in through a narrow 
 passage in the ice and before the wind, we had now 
 to beat out through a channel which was every 
 moment getting more and more obstructed by the 
 ice which was drifting down upon us, besides which 
 it began to blow half a gale of wind, and the cold 
 was intense. First one apparent opening, then 
 another did we try, like rats caught in a trap, there 
 seemed no escape, nor could anything but closely 
 packed ice be seen from the mast head. We felt we 
 were doomed men, for we were out of the track of 
 any vessel and had no provisions for wintering on 
 the island, even could we reach it, indeed the only 
 sailors who ever attempted to live there through the 
 winter perished miserably of cold and scurvy. 
 When a collision became inevitable, every hand on 
 board was called into requisition to fend off the 
 schooner from the ice, for then our only chance was to 
 let her go stem on and to break the shock with oars 
 and poles, and even occasionally by jumping out on 
 to the ice and warding off her bows by manual 
 exertion. 
 
 It was no wonder that the hands got a little unruly 
 and murmuring, and wanted to know why they had 
 been brought there to die ! Lord Dufferin and 
 myself affected not to believe in there being any
 
 54 
 
 danger, and I sat on a hen coop and made a sketch 
 of the island which I then believed would be our 
 grave. 
 
 This state of things continued some 24 hours, when 
 suddenly the ice currents, which are very mysterious 
 in their movements, changed, the ice gradually got 
 less and less close, and ere long we were dancing 
 merrily over a clear sea and resolved not again to 
 venture among ice fields save with a competent pilot. 
 We sailed straight away to Norway where at Harnmer- 
 fest, which is the farthest north of any inhabited 
 town, we got an ice pilot. We were assured the ice 
 was very thick this year and that it would be impos- 
 sible to reach Spitzbergen, we however determined 
 to try, and accordingly, after having sheathed our 
 bows with fir planks and engaged a pilot, we started. 
 It was wearisome work, day after day, battling 
 among floating or field ice, then coming to the pack 
 ice and finding our further progress northward 
 barred. Again and again we strove to get round the 
 ice, and it was only after many days of anxiety and 
 peril, we at last reached Spitzbergen, the ultimate 
 object of our cruise. Anything more bleak, barren, 
 and desolate than the appearance of this large . 
 island (for it is about the same size as Ireland) it is 
 impossible to conceive. The chief characteristic of 
 the scene was its absolute stillness, no sound broke 
 the dead cold silence, no living thing was to be seen, 
 all around the silence of the grave, naught visible 
 but primeval rocks and eternal ice. Just in front of 
 where we were anchored was a broad and deep 
 valley filled half way up with an enormous Glacier, 
 looking like some vast river which had been suddenly
 
 55 
 
 frozen in full flood, above our heads uprose its shear 
 precipice of ice towering over us hundreds of feet. 
 Here we remained some time, and managed to shoot 
 one large polar bear. Each day we went ashore in 
 pursuit of reindeer and bears, and photographed the 
 neighbouring country, and I succeeded in doing what 
 I believe has never been previously accomplished, 
 namely, taking views at midnight by the sun. Of 
 course there was no difficulty in doing this for during 
 the time we were there the sun was never below the 
 horizon. I will not weary you by the details of our 
 home voyage, suffice it to say, we sailed over the 
 famous Maelstrom, which is by no means the awful 
 funnel shaped vortex of our geography books, were 
 very nearly wrecked off the Luffoden Isles, and 
 reached England in -a very shattered, battered, dirty, 
 but triumphant condition.
 
 ON KE STOKING THE APPABENTLY 
 DROWNED. 
 
 A Lecture delivered at Folkestone Harbour to Sailors 
 and Coastynanlsmen. 
 
 It is necessary to a proper understanding of the 
 subject of drowning, that I should briefly describe to 
 you the composition of the air we breathe, and the 
 manner in which we take it into our lungs. For I 
 must tell you at starting that drowning is simply the 
 cutting off the air we breathe, by the head being 
 immersed under water, or any other fluid ; and 
 whether this absence of air be caused by drowning, 
 strangling, or suffocation, death takes place in just 
 the same manner. So whether you tie a string 
 round an animal's neck, poison it with foul air, or 
 hold its head under water, the effect is the same. 
 I daresay many of you are not aware that the air we 
 breathe is a chemical substance, and is made up 
 principally of two separate gases, called nitrogen and 
 oxygen, the former is merely for the purpose of 
 diluting the latter, in the same way that water, 
 (which would represent the nitrogen) is used to 
 weaken brandy (or oxygen), and in much the same 
 proportion (1 to 4) as in " sailor's grog." It is the 
 oxygen which is absolutely necessary to life, for 
 without it the necessary changes cannot take place 
 in the blood, and life ceases. The blood, in circu- 
 lating through the body becomes very impure, and
 
 57 
 
 Unfit to nourish the body, and it is in the lungs that 
 it is purified so as to be capable of maintaining life. 
 There is not more difference between pure spring water 
 and the dirty suds in which your wife has washed 
 the week's clothes, than there is between the pure 
 air we take into our lungs, and the foul air we breathe 
 out again. I have in this glass some perfectly clear 
 pellucid fluid, which is limewater : I take this small 
 pair of bellows, and force some pure ah 1 into the 
 fluid, which remains clear and transparent because 
 pure air does not contain carbonic acid ; but air which 
 has been once breathed, abstracts from the blood in 
 the lungs an appreciable quantity of Carbonic Acid, 
 which would otherwise poison the whole system. I 
 now place in the fluid a glass tube and breathe 
 through it, you see the lime water at once becomes 
 turbid and milky, this is because I have forced into 
 it air contaminated with Carbonic Acid, which at once 
 unites with the lime in the water forming Carbonate 
 of Lime, and produces the white cloud you now per- 
 ceive in the liquid. It is this Carbonic Acid, given 
 off from the lungs, which makes the air of crowded 
 assemblies so unwholesome and poisonous, producing 
 at first headache, flushing, giddiness and lassitude, 
 and in larger quantities suffocation and death. Now 
 the way the oxygen in the air acts is this, it' unites 
 with the impurities in the blood and forms this 
 poisonous gas, Carbonic Acid, which it is absolutely 
 necessary for us to breathe out into the air. You 
 have all heard the story of the Black Hole at Calcutta. 
 When we first began to get possession of India, 
 the Governor of Fort William having imprisoned 
 an India merchant, the Nabob of Bengal, only too
 
 58 
 
 glad to find an excuse, marched against Fort William 
 with a force of 70,000 men ; after a gallant resist- 
 ance he captured the place and confined the remains 
 of the brave garrison, 146 men and officers, in the 
 barrack room, a small place only 18 feet square, 
 where, with the exception of 23, they all, after fear- 
 ful suffering, perished before morning. This calamity 
 was due to just what takes place in drowning, viz., 
 preventing the pure air getting in, and the foul air 
 getting out of the lungs. Precisely the same thing 
 happened in 1858 on board the Londonderry, an 
 emigrant ship sailing from Liverpool. It came on 
 to blow ; the captain ordered all passengers below, 
 and 200 unfortunate creatures were packed in a 
 small cabin 18 feet long by 11 wide and 7 feet high. 
 Had the hatches been left open no great harm would 
 have happened ; but they were fastened down, and 
 a tarpaulin thrown over the entrance. In a very 
 short time these poor people began to suffer horribly, 
 and a fearful scene of violence and confusion arose. 
 At last one strong man forced his way out, and 
 alarmed the mate, who rushed down to find 110 less 
 than 72 corpses on the cabin floor. We have all 
 experienced the same thing, only in a less degree, at 
 theatres, public meetings, &c., whence we come out 
 with severe headaches and pale faces, from breathing 
 the impure air contaminated with the breath of so 
 many people. Many persons object to putting their 
 lips to a glass or cup out of which another may have 
 drank. To my mind it is a far more unpleasant 
 idea to take into the mouth and lungs the foul air 
 others have already contaminated. All this may 
 readily be prevented by proper ventilation. Having
 
 59 
 
 now, I liope, made you all understand liovv all im- 
 portant is pure air for maintaining life and health, I 
 must endeavour briefly to explain how the blood is 
 purified in its passage through the lungs, which may 
 be compared to a large sponge, into which pass the 
 air-passages, branching in every direction, and ending 
 in small air-cells ; these are surrounded by blood 
 vessels, so that the blood and air are brought 
 together ; the blood absorbs the Oxygen or pure 
 air, and uniting with the Carbon in the impure 
 blood forms the Carbonic Acid, or foul air. Now, 
 though the lungs are packed up so as to occupy only 
 a small space, yet ah 1 these little cells increase the 
 surface so much that the actual area to which the 
 blood is exposed is no less than 2,642 square feet. 
 I must now explain how the blood gets into the lungs. 
 The heart consists of two sides, which do not directly 
 communicate ; one contains pure and the other im- 
 pure blood. We start, say, from the pure side : the 
 blood passes along the arteries to the head and ex- 
 tremities &c., gets deprived of its nourishment (or 
 oxygen), and returns impure to the right side of the 
 heart, whence it is pumped through the lungs, where 
 it combines with the oxygen, and is so purified. Now 
 before you can properly understand what I am coming 
 to next, viz., how to perform artificial breathing, it 
 is necessary that I should explain how the natural 
 breathing takes place in life. By the diagram you 
 see that the lungs are enclosed in a bony case (the 
 ribs) which is elastic, and in fact acts much like a 
 bellows, the powerful muscles pulling the ribs up and 
 open and so sucking in the air, when the ribs return 
 to their place, from their own elasticity, and pump it
 
 60 
 
 out again. I have here a tall wide -mouthed glass jar, 
 apparently empty, in reality it is one-half full of 
 Carbonic Acid gas, and the rest atmospheric air, the 
 Carbonic Acid gas being the heavier sinks to the 
 bottom, filling the lower hah of the jar, while the 
 atmospheric air remains at the top. I light this wax 
 taper and plunge it into the jar, as long as it remains 
 in the upper half of the jar it burns brightly, but 
 directly it reaches the level of the Carbonic Acid gas 
 it is at once extinguished. I now take this unfortunate 
 little mouse in the wire cage (which I have saved 
 from a more painful death). I lower the cage into the 
 jar, at first the little prisoner runs about briskly 
 enough, but directly it gets below the level of the 
 Carbonic Acid gas it expires. This gas is called 
 choke damp, and often accumulates in old wells, 
 coal mines, &c. Fortunately the same air which is 
 fatal to life also (as you have seen) extinguishes a 
 flame, so that we have a ready means of ascertaining 
 the safety of a suspected place, such as a well, by 
 lowering a candle into it. Now I have said that 
 drowning is simply cutting off the supply of ah' by 
 means of water, and it is not necessary that the 
 whole body, or even the whole head, should be under 
 water, it is sufficient if only the nostrils and mouth 
 are covered. Many instances have been known where 
 persons in a fit, or in a state of intoxication, have 
 fallen with the face in a small puddle, and been 
 drowned. Three or four inches of water will in this 
 way drown a person as effectually as the Atlantic 
 ocean. Again, a man may fall into the water, and 
 not be drowned at all, for he may strike his head 
 against a rock or spar, and die before he has time to
 
 61 
 
 be drowued. What occurs in drowning is this . first 
 the person makes violent efforts to escape, which, 
 unless he be a good swimmer, merely hastens his 
 end, for the faster the heart beats, the greater the 
 necessity for pure air, and the sooner death occurs. 
 Thus a strong healthy person in robust health running 
 fast, or skating, and then falling into the water, is 
 very quickly drowned. On the other hand, a delicate 
 girl, who has perhaps fainted from fright at falling in, 
 and whose heart is consequently almost at a stand- 
 still, can support the absence of air for a much 
 longer time, and this, no doubt, explains some of those 
 cases of which one reads of persons being restored 
 to life after being under water a considerable time. 
 It is a well-known fact that a bat or dormouse, while 
 in a state of torpor, may be placed under water for 
 half an hour without inconvenience, for the heart in 
 this condition is scarcely acting at all, and there is 
 therefore very little demand for fresh air. To resume, 
 there are then first, violent efforts to escape, then 
 the blood unable to be purified by the outward air, 
 circulates in an impure state and poisons the brain, 
 so that total insensibility comes on. There are then 
 no attempts at breathing, though the heart still acts 
 very feebly and imperceptibly. If a person be taken out in 
 this condition life may stillbe restored, but if not at once 
 rescued, a few involuntary gasps occur, and death 
 takes place. I have heard it said that the sensation- 
 of drowning is pleasant. I can only say I once very 
 nearly tried the experiment myself, and did not find 
 it so. The' first grand principle in treating a case of 
 drowning is to lose no time. Commence your treat- 
 ment instantly, and on the spot, and do not be
 
 62 
 
 discouraged by the length of time you may suppose 
 a body has been in the -water, for some remarkable 
 instances have occurred of persons being restored 
 after being in the water a considerable period. For 
 although, as a rule, if the mouth has been under 
 water for five minutes at a stretch life will be extinct, 
 still cases have been known of restoration after the 
 head has been under water for eight, ten, and even 
 twenty minutes. There was a remarkable instance 
 not long ago, related by Mr. Cook, of Guildford, of 
 a boy of 16, who was winding up a sluice gate in a 
 lock, when the handle slipped off and he fell in ; the 
 water was rushing in fast and his head was jammed 
 under the gate. A man saw him, and ran to his 
 assistance, but was unable to pull him out ; he then ran 
 200 yards for another handle ; the woman of the 
 cottage where he went was upstairs ; he got one out of 
 the yard, ran back to the lock, and tried to throw it 
 across ; it fell in and he had to shout to some millers 
 150 yards off for another. They opened the opposite 
 gate and let the lock fill (3J minutes), then wound 
 up the gate under which the boy was, and pulled him 
 out. I mention all this to give an idea ofthetinie, which 
 could not have been less than eight or ten minutes, 
 yet the boy was by proper means recovered. In this 
 cane the head was jammed under water. But a 
 person may rise to the surface, and breathe once or 
 twice, and so prolong life, or, if a woman, air may 
 get under her dress and support her partially above 
 water. In the melancholy case which recently 
 occurred here, I think it quite possible that life was 
 not altogether extinct when the body was brought 
 ashore. The girl was certainly not very long absent
 
 63 
 
 from home before her body was found. And we 
 must remember it takes a good deal longer to drown 
 if a person walks into the water than if she jumps 
 off from a height ; besides, her courage may have 
 failed her, and she may have attempted to escape, 
 and even have regained her footing in the shallow 
 water. She may have floated some time, her dress 
 may have kept her up ; and again, she may have 
 fainted from fright, which would have prolonged her 
 life. I mention all these circumstances as possibi- 
 lities ; of course the chances are that she was dead 
 when brought ashore. I need hardly say that when 
 a fellow creature's life is at stake, it becomes us to 
 give them every possible chance, if ever so remote, 
 and to persevere in our exertions for some hours, 
 even hoping against hope. A case is mentioned by 
 Dr. Taylor of a man who had been under water 14 
 minutes, and who was restored after 8J hours of 
 unceasing exertion. Nor should you ever be dis- 
 couraged by the remarks of bystanders, who are often 
 Job's comforters, and are very free with such remarks 
 as " Ah, it's all lip with him," " He's gone sure 
 enough," &c., &c. Now I must tell you there are 
 two methods proposed for restoring animation, one 
 called the Marshall Hall method, and the other and 
 more recent one, the Sylvester method. The latter, 
 which I am about to teach you, is the one recom- 
 mended by the Eoyal Humane Society, a society for 
 the express purpose of recovering apparently drowned 
 people. The Medico-Chirurgical Society appointed 
 a committee to make experiments, and decide which 
 of the two methods was the best, and they came 
 unanimously to the conclusion that the one I am
 
 64 
 
 about to show you was the best. The first thing to 
 do on taking a body out of the water, is to send at 
 once for a doctor, directing another messenger to 
 bring dry clothes, blankets, and towels ; but do not 
 wait for the doctor ; lose not an instant, but begin 
 to treat ths patient at once and in the open air. 
 Eemember he wants air urgently, so, unless the 
 weather be very severe snow or frost, treat him at 
 once in the open air, letting the air play freely about 
 the face and chest. Lose no time ; remember, if as 
 much as ten minutes elapses after a body apparently 
 dead is brought ashore, without some means being 
 adopted, life in all probability, will be extinct. The 
 first thing then you must do, is to turn the body 
 on the face, to aUow the water, which is often 
 swallowed in large quantities, to run out of the 
 mouth. This may be assisted by pressing once or 
 twice firmly on the back. At the same time the 
 mouth and nostrils must be carefully wiped out, to 
 get rid of the froth and mucus which is always there. 
 "When the water ceases to run from the mouth, turn 
 the patient carefully on his back, with the shoulders 
 slightly raised by means of folded clothes, an old 
 sail, or anything handy, unless you have a door near, 
 which is better as it can at once be converted into 
 p.n incline by raising one end of it. At the same 
 time the body is turned care must be taken to pull 
 the tongue well forward, and fix it there. Now this 
 is a most important point, for if it falls to the back 
 of the mouth it blocks up completely both the air 
 passage and gullet. It is then absolutely necessary 
 to keep it forward, and this may be done in several 
 ways, by string, or an elastic band, or simply
 
 65 
 
 confined between the front teeth. But if there is 
 any difficulty about this, do not hesitate to run a pin 
 through the tip, and fasten it to a string. It must 
 be remembered that the person is quite insensible, 
 and a wound hi the tongue heals very quickly. By 
 this means the windpipe is kept open and the gullet 
 clear. Should there all this time be the slightest 
 attempt at natural breathing, do not by any means 
 interfere with it. Watch and wait, although the 
 attempt may not be made oftener than two or three 
 times in a minute. Should there be no attempt, 
 endeavour to excite breathing by passing sal volatile 
 or smelling salts under the nose, blowing a little 
 snuff up the nostrils, or tickling the throat with a 
 feather ; at the same time rub the chest warm and 
 dry, and then suddenly slap a wet towel on the face 
 and chest. Should these means be unsuccessful, 
 proceed at once to imitate natural breathing. Stand- 
 ing behind the patient whose shoulders are slightly 
 raised, grasp the arms just above the elbows, and 
 raise them steadily and firmly until they meet above 
 the head. The object of this is to open the chest by 
 the strong muscles attached to it and the arms, and 
 so draw air into the lungs. . They must be kept in 
 this position for two seconds, then turn them down, 
 and press them firmly against the sides or ribs for 
 two seconds. This is for the purpose of pressing the 
 air out of the lungs, and may be assisted by another 
 person pressing on the breast bone at the same time. 
 This must be continued steadily and perseveringly, 
 15 times in a minute, until the patient makes an 
 effort to breathe, when you must immediately cease. 
 Be sure never to interfere with nature by trying to
 
 66 
 
 imitate breathing if there is the slightest attempt at 
 natural breathing. Persevere in this for some hours, 
 or until a doctor tells you life is extinct. While all 
 this is going on other assistants must strip the 
 patient and rub him dry, and immediately put on 
 dry clothes from a bystander, or better still wrap the 
 patient in a blanket. Continue brisk rubbing, under 
 the blanket or over the dry clothes, all this time. 
 The rubbing should be firmly made with a grasping 
 motion, and from the extremities towards the heart. 
 If by these means life begins to return, put the patient 
 to bed in an airy room, turning out all idlers, (for re- 
 member that every unnecessary person helps to poison 
 the air,) and then endeavour to keep up the warmth of 
 the body by hot bottles, rubbing, hot bricks, &c. 
 Should he begin to revive, try first if he can swallow 
 with a teaspoonful of warm water ; if so, give brandy 
 and water, or wine, or even coffee. The patient 
 may now be kept in bed, and encouraged to sleep. 
 You will perhaps be surprised that I have said 
 nothing about the warm bath. This is a question 
 which must always be left to the doctor. It is 
 allowed by all authorities that when used it should 
 be only for the purpose of producing a shock to the 
 system, by dipping in and then dashing cold water 
 on the chest. I advise you never to use it without 
 medical advice, and in no case allow a patient to 
 remain in a hot bath for more than a few minutes 
 at a time. If you have no doctor do not use it at all. 
 I need hardly tell you what not to do. All rough 
 handling is wrong, such as rolling on casks, or 
 holding up by the heels, rubbing with salt or spirits, 
 or injecting tobacco (which is immediately fatal).
 
 67 
 
 Let there be no liiirry, flurry, or confusion. I re- 
 member seeing a child at Teignmouth nearly 
 drowned from the well meant but impetuous exer- 
 tions made to save it. Except those actually em- 
 ployed, let all others keep clear of the patient, and 
 let there be one calm person to read the printed 
 directions I will give you in an audible voice. The 
 signs of death are clearly given in the printed in- 
 structions ; there is no breathing or pulse, eyelids 
 half closed, pupils dilated (black and large), jaws 
 clenched, fingers half shut, mouth and nostrils 
 covered with a frothy mucous, tongue between the 
 teeth, the coldness and corpselike colour of the body 
 increases, and stiffness of the limbs begins. Let me 
 briefly run over the chief points. First, lose no 
 time ; second, pull the tongue forward ; third, let the 
 water run out of and wipe the mouth ; fourth, send 
 instantly for a doctor and dry clothes ; fifth, try first 
 to excite breathing ; sixth, then resort to artificial 
 respiration, the arms up two seconds, and down two 
 seconds, 15 times in a minute, and above all persevere. 
 
 Vide, Lewis' " Physiology of Common Life," Dr. Silvester, &c
 
 ON THE THEORY OF 
 
 NATUBAL SELECTION, 
 Being a brief Abstract of Darn-iris Oiiijin of Species, 
 
 In the course of this paper I shall endeavour to give 
 as nearly in Darwin's own words as possible his views 
 on the Origin of Species, reserving the point of the 
 Descent of Man from a lower ape-like progenitor for 
 another paper. But as one of the chief difficulties to the 
 acceptance of the latter view, is the difference be- 
 tween the mental powers of man and those of the 
 lower orders of animals, I shall also give, from 
 Darwin, a few examples of the intelligence of those 
 animals which, he contends, show the difference to be 
 one of degree and not of land. Darwin's theory is 
 that as myriads more of both animals and plants are 
 produced than can possibly survive, there is a con- 
 stant " struggle for existence", going on. That leads 
 to what is called "Natural Selection," or, "The 
 survival of the fittest." There exists no animal or 
 plant wliich would not of itself entirely stock the 
 whole world if its existence were not interfered with 
 by insufficient nourishment, epidemic disease, or 
 attacks of predatory animals and many other obscure 
 causes. Linnaeus calculated that if one annual plant 
 produced two seeds, and those seedlings next year 
 produced each two more, and so on, in 20 years 
 there would be a million plants ; and that if nothing 
 but the ordinary rate of mortality, checked the in-
 
 69 
 
 crease of, say the inhabitants of America, in 657 
 years they would occupy the whole world to such an 
 extent that four men would have to stand on every 
 square yard of ground. If any region were fully or 
 over- stocked, then any favourable variation in indi- 
 viduals would tend to preserve its possessors. Now 
 we know that variations in animals do occur, both 
 under domestication and in a state of nature ; and 
 these in thousands of centuries must be various and 
 numerous. Can we then doubt that some of these 
 variations must be useful to their individual posses- 
 sors in the great and complex struggle for life ? For 
 individuals having any advantage however slight over 
 their fellows, would have a better chance of surviving 
 during periods of scarcity, death, pestilence, or 
 attacks of superior animals. On the other hand, 
 variations prejudicial to an animal or plant would 
 certainly lead to its extinction. Leaf-eating insects 
 are green, and bark-feeders a mottled grey ; grouse 
 are the colour of heather, and ptarmigan the colour 
 of snow ; and thus we can easily see that any varia- 
 tion in colour would lead to an increase or decrease 
 of these animals, the favourably coloured animals 
 would escape the attacks of their enemies, and trans- 
 mit their colours to their descendants, while any 
 unfavourable variation would tend to the destruction 
 of its possessor. Take for example the case of a wolf 
 in a country where deer existed, but where ah 1 smaller 
 prey had from some cause become extinct, it is mani- 
 fest that the slimmest and swiftest wolves would have 
 the best chance of securing their prey and so be 
 preserved, or selected. I remember seeing, the other 
 day, a number of cows in a very barren field in
 
 70 
 
 which grew two or three trees. These cows were all 
 attempting to reach the foliage of the trees, but only 
 one succeeded in so doing, and this by stretching its 
 neck and making short jumps. Now exaggerate 
 these conditions and suppose these animals had 
 existed in a country, where from some cause all the 
 herbage had failed or been devoured by smaller 
 animals, it is obvious that those animals possessing 
 the longest necks and those most capable of jumping, 
 would have had the best chance of surviving, and their 
 acquired habits and slightly lengthened necks would 
 have been transmitted to their descendants, in whom, 
 supposing the same circumstances still to exist, they 
 would have still further developed, until after count- 
 less generations of longer and longer-necked descen- 
 dants, we might have had an animal with the long 
 neck and leaf-feeding habits of the giraffe. The use 
 or disuse of any organ leads to modification or varia- 
 tion. Thus the leg of a tame duck weighs mere and 
 the bone of the wing less than in the wild varieties 
 obviously because it walks more and flies less. The 
 ears of all our domestic animals tend to drop more 
 than in the wild condition, because they are less fre- 
 quently alarmed. We could all recall familiar ex- 
 amples of variations under domestication. Who 
 could compare a dray horse with a racer, a blood- 
 hound with a toy terrier, or a King Charles' spaniel, 
 and not be struck with the difference. Again, how 
 vast is the contrast between various breeds of pigeons 
 tumblers, pouters, fantails, Jacobins, all de- 
 scended froni the same wild stock. Under domesti- 
 cation species seem to become plastic, or easily 
 varied, even in the course of one or two generations ;
 
 71 
 
 thus in Yorkshire the black cattle were displaced by 
 the longhorns and these again have been literally 
 swept away by the short-horned cattle. If man 
 can effect so much in so short a time, what may not 
 Natural Selection have effected during countless 
 generations, and under so many and various changes 
 of condition ? An argument has been frequently 
 used against Darwinism drawn from the fact that 
 the domestic animals, cats especially, portrayed in 
 the Egyptian hieroglyphs 3,000 years ago, are evi- 
 dently precisely like their descendants at the present 
 day, and as they are not modified, so no other ani- 
 mal can be modified in other parts of the world. 
 Now the case of those animals which Geology teaches 
 us have remained unchanged since the Glacial period, 
 (which Mr. Croll calculates was 240,000 years ago,) 
 would have been a stronger case in point, but neither 
 one or the other in fact tells* ' against the doctrine of 
 natural selection, which implies only that variation 
 or individual differences of a favourable character 
 arise occasionally under certain conditions in a few 
 species, and are preserved ; whereas the conditions 
 of life of the domestic animals of Egypt have re- 
 mained during the last 3,000 years, as far as we 
 know, absolutely uniform. Time alone does nothing, 
 nor does it even imply advance. It is when the 
 struggle for existence is the strongest that forms 
 vary most ; and tin's struggle we are constantly 
 tempted to overlook. We forget the destruction that is 
 going on around us, how seeds are destroyed by 
 birds, eggs by numberless animals, spawn by fish, 
 animals themselves by parasitic forms or by preda- 
 tory beasts, disease attacldng the strongest, and
 
 72 
 
 scarcity of food the less favourably modified. Natural 
 selection acts solely through the preservation of 
 variations in any way advantageous to the possessor, 
 and this law tends surely to the extinction of other 
 and especially the more nearly allied species, for if 
 two races of animals lead nearly the same kind of 
 life, it is clear that they must come most closely in 
 collision, and that the less endowed race must even- 
 tually become extinct, and it is this circumstance 
 which makes so many breaks in the chain of allied 
 species, each species as it were kicking away the 
 rounds of the ladder by which it mounted. When 
 the difference is great and specific between two 
 animals, it constitutes a species ; when less, a varia- 
 tion. Now variations are only incipient species ; but 
 how do the lesser differences of variation merge into 
 the greater difference of species, and the animal or 
 plant become specifically different ? Take the case 
 of some carnivorous animal inhabiting a country al- 
 ready overstocked with its own species, it is evident 
 it can only live by modifying its habits, perhaps by 
 becoming less carnivorous, and feeding partially on 
 vegetable food, by changing its prey, and seeking 
 dead or different animals, or by becoming partly 
 aquatic, acquiring habits of diving and living on fish, 
 or by learning to climb trees and rocks and to sub- 
 sist on their produce. These modified habits would 
 lead in tune to altered organs, more adapted to their 
 new uses, these modifications if useful would still 
 further increase, and be transmitted to their descen- 
 dants, who would become more and more divergent 
 from the original lorrn, till at last an animal would 
 be formed (the intermediate forms having become
 
 73 
 
 extinct or emigrated) hardly recognisable as the 
 descendant of its remote and long since extinct pri- 
 mogenitor. It is curious how the development or 
 non-development of any one organ may tell on an 
 animal ; thus, in Madeira it was found that nearly all 
 the beetles had either rudimentary or no wings, and 
 that those species which possessed wings had them 
 very large, and this is accounted for by the fact that 
 Madeira being an Island, those beetles which flew but 
 feebly were blown away to sea andperished, the ground 
 frequenting beetles being of course preserved, as were 
 also those whose flight was sufficiently strong-to pre- 
 vent their being blown away. The absence of tran- 
 sitional forms has sometimes been urged as an 
 objection to the theory of natural selection ; this is 
 accounted for, as I before remarked, by each new 
 species causing the extinction of its parent form. 
 Exit that there are many transitional forms no one 
 can deny ; for instance, there is a pole cat in North 
 America (the Mustela Visori) which has webbed feet, 
 and fur like an otter, with the same short legs and 
 same description of tail. During the summer this 
 animal lives on fish, for which purpose it dives with 
 great dexterity, and steers itself with its tail. In 
 winter, when the waters are frozen, it lives in the 
 woods, and feeds on mice and other small animals. 
 The whole family of Squirrels present a Avell gradu- 
 ated line of animals, from those with only bushy 
 tails to the so-called flying squirrel, having its 
 limbs and the base of its tail united by a broad liga- 
 ment, which acts like a parachute, and enables it to 
 glide through the air. It is easy to conceive under 
 certain conditions, that this membrane might like
 
 74 
 
 the wings of a bat, become extended to the points of 
 the digits, and form true wings. The flying Lemur 
 is another example ; and though no gradations con- 
 nect it with the other Lemuridas, such no doubt at 
 one time existed. The difference of the mental 
 powers has been urged as an insuperable objection 
 to the doctrine of the descent of man from any one of 
 the lower animals ; and there is no doubt a great 
 gulf between the mind of the lowest savage and that 
 of the highest ape ; but then there is a vast inter- 
 regnum between the mind of a barbarian who cannot 
 count four, and who does not scruple to dash 
 his child's brains out on a rock, and that of a 
 Shakspeare or a Newton. The difference between 
 the mental powers of man and those of the ape is 
 not nearly so great as that between the slave making 
 ant (Formica Eufescens), and the Coccus, and yet no 
 one dreams of putting them in different classes. 
 But then man invented his own classification, and 
 naturally gave himself a rank he would have been 
 loth to accord to any other anhnal where the differ- 
 ence was so ill-defined. We had, not long ago, an 
 excellent paper on Ants, so I will not enter into any 
 particulars as to their instincts, but will only remind 
 you that some species go to battle and capture slaves, 
 which they compel to work. They keep Aphides, 
 which they milk like cows ; they build edifices, of 
 which they close the doors at night ; they communi- 
 cate intelligence freely to each other ; they make 
 roads and tunnels, they play together, collect food by 
 mutual exertions, recognise each other after length- 
 ened absence, and perform scores of other acts, 
 showing strong reasoning powers, while other varieties
 
 75 
 
 seem totally devoid of sense or judgment. I will not 
 dwell on the points of anatomical similarity between 
 man and the ape tribe, though they are many and 
 unmistakeable ; nor will I further allude to the fact 
 that several of the baboon tribe are as nearly desti- 
 tute of a tail as man himself ; but I will point out 
 the similarity of pattern (homology as it is called) 
 between the hand of a man or monkey, the foot of a 
 horse, the wing of a bat, or the flipper of a seal, &c., 
 all consist identically of the same parts, variously 
 modified in size, but not in function ; a similarity 
 which is quite inexplicable on any other theory save 
 that of descent from a common progenitor. Though 
 the difference of mental power between man and the 
 ape-tribe is immense, we must look to the other side 
 of the question, and not forget (what any intelligent 
 ape would remind us of) that there is still greater 
 difference between the mind of an ape and that of 
 some of the lower vertebrata, say for example, the 
 stock fish (not to go still lower and instance an 
 oyster), yet the links of intelligence are not difficult 
 to trace between these two extremes. Man has a 
 few instincts in common with the lower animals, such 
 as maternal love, self preservation, fear, and some 
 others ; but in most instincts he is decidedly deficient. 
 The Orang and the Chimpanzee both build platforms 
 on which they sleep, the former animal has also been 
 known to cover itself at night with leaves. Brelm 
 says that one of his baboons used to protect himself 
 from the heat of the sun by throwing a mat over his 
 head ; thus we see the two arts of architecture and 
 clothing originating in the early progenitors of man. 
 Bengger saw a female monkey driving away the flies
 
 76 
 
 which teased her infants, and another observer wit- 
 nessed a female of the same species washing the 
 faces of her offspring in the stream. So intense is 
 the grief of some female monkeys for the loss of 
 their young, that it always caused the death of the 
 mothers kept in confinement by Brehn. Other mon- 
 keys adopt orphans, and make pets of dogs and cats ; 
 this latter is a very human instinct. They are also 
 very jealous and dislike ridicule, while I suppose 
 there is no animal, out of the human race, which ex- 
 hibits so much curiosity as the monkey. Darwin 
 gives a ludicrous account of a snake he introduced 
 into the monkey house in the Zoological gardens, in 
 a paper bag ; although the whole monkey tribe 
 have a great and instinctive horror of snakes, they 
 could none of them resist the temptation of again 
 and again peeping into the mysterious bag, and then 
 dashing terrified away. That the ape tribe reason 
 there can be no doubt ; when Eengger first gave eggs 
 to his monkeys they smashed them and lost most of 
 the contents; after awhile they tapped the tops 
 gently against a stone, and picked off the pieces of 
 shell with their fingers. He often put lumps of sugar 
 into a screw of paper and gave them to these animals, 
 and occasionally he enclosed a live wasp with the 
 sugar ; after one had been stung in this way they 
 invariably held the screw of paper to their ears, to 
 listen if there was anything living inside before open- 
 ing it. It has often been popularly supposed that 
 monkeys might talk if they liked ; it is certain their 
 vocal organs are precisely like our own ; these with 
 long practice might have been used for speech, (just 
 as analogous organs are used by birds for song,) or
 
 77 
 
 even for articulating words, for there is no difference 
 between the vocal organs of the silver noted nightin- 
 gale, and the croaking crow. I might instance 
 numerous other examples, but time will not permit ; 
 nor indeed can I go further into the matter to-night, 
 though very much remains to be said. Yet I cannot 
 help alluding to the curious way in which man occa- 
 sionally reverts to his early progenitors (in accord- 
 ance with' the well-known law of reversion) in the 
 case of idiots ; their small brains and retreating fore- 
 heads, their muscular activity, aud love of climbing 
 and going on all fours, their inability to concentrate 
 their attention, and love of imitation, all clearly point 
 to their ancestry, and indeed can be explained on no 
 other theory. That Geology has not supplied the 
 missing links between man and his ape-like proge- 
 nitor is deeply to be regretted ; but tin's is no argu- 
 ment against the theory, when we remember how 
 imperfect is the geological record, how very small a 
 portion of the- globe has been searched for fossil 
 remains, how perishable those remains are, and how 
 many physical circumstances interfere to prevent a 
 deposit which will endure for uncounted thousands of 
 years. On this subject I cannot do better than quote 
 Darwin's own words : " For my part I look at the 
 geological record as a history of the world imperfectly 
 kept, and written in a changing dialect ; of this his- 
 tory we possess the last volume alone, relating to 
 only two or three countries. Of this volume only 
 here and there a short chapter has been preserved, 
 and of each page only here and there a few lines. 
 Each word of the slowly changing language, more or 
 less different in the successive chapters, may repre-
 
 78 
 
 sent the forms of life which are entombed in our con- 
 secutive formations, and which falsely appear to us 
 to have been abruptly introduced. On this view the 
 difficulties above discussed are greatly diminished, 
 or even disappear." 
 
 [Vide Darwin's " Origin of Species," "Descent of Man," " Ex- 
 pression of the emotions," &c., &c.
 
 The Geology of the adjoining 
 COASTS OF FBANCE AND ENGLAND. 
 
 The subject I have chosen to-day for a few brief 
 minutes, will, I trust, have an interest it would not 
 otherwise possess, from the fact that the success of 
 the scheme for connecting this coast with France by 
 means of a tunnel must entirely depend upon geolo- 
 gical considerations, which are set forth by Mr. Topley 
 somewhat thus . You are all, no doubt, aware of the nu- 
 merous possible and impossible plans for abolishing or 
 mitigating the horrors of the wretched two hours 
 between this country and France : plans for flying 
 across by means of balloons, steaming over on monster 
 ferries, which will transport the trains of passengers 
 and luggage bodily over ; crossing by bridges ; pass- 
 ing through an enormous tube placed at the bottom 
 of the sea ; and lastly, the plan which mainly con- 
 cerns us to-day, of boring a tunnel beneath the bed 
 of the sea. Whether any of these schemes would 
 succeed financially speaking does not concern us 
 now ; but that the last mentioned scheme of the 
 tunnel is feasible I shall hope to show you. 
 
 Anyone who takes even a cursory view of the 
 adjoining coasts of France and England will have no 
 difficulty in believing that in the remote past the two 
 adjoining countries were joined together : the same 
 bluff chalk cliff on either side extending the same 
 distance between the two shores, and the parallelism 
 of the opposite sides, all point to the same conclu-
 
 80 
 
 sion ; but when we further find identically the same 
 strata underlying the chalk cliffs on both sides, the 
 helief becomes a certainty. You can all see where 
 the chalk cliffs are cut by the sea ; carrying the eye 
 along the surface, you observe they leave the sea 
 coast and strike inland as a range of rounded hills, 
 known as the chalk escarpment, which extend in a 
 westerly direction till they are again cut by the sea 
 at Beachy Head ; the large flat district, thus held 
 as it were in the arms of the chalk hills, is known 
 as the Weald of Kent and Sussex, and is of great 
 geological interest. Just in the same way on the 
 other side the chalk cliffs are cut by the sea, and are 
 then continued in a curved line till they meet the 
 sea again at Neufchatel ; the enclosed flat district, 
 which corresponds to our Weald, is there called the 
 Bas-Boulonnais, and is geologically identical with the 
 Weald, though now intersected by the Channel. 
 
 When we contemplate the mass of chalk which 
 exists not only in this country, but extends for 
 thousands of miles through Europe, it is difficult to 
 believe that it is almost entirely an animal formation, 
 and consists to a great extent of the remains of micro- 
 scopic forarnenifera and allied species, gradually deposi- 
 ted beneath the surf ace of a still sea, and which have, in 
 countless ages, accumulated to their present thickness 
 before they were elevated above the surface of the 
 sea ; but the microscope has placed this fact beyond 
 a doubt. The same process of accumulation may be 
 witnessed taldng place at the present time in some of the 
 lagoons or lakes enclosed in the coral islands of the 
 Pacific, and Professor Wyville Thompson has pointed 
 out that a similar deposit is going on at the bottom
 
 81 
 
 of the Atlantic Ocean. The cliffs on either side of the 
 Channel are identical in composition, consisting of 
 first, a stratum of chalk with layers of flint, then chalk 
 without flint, which at its hase is mixed with clay, 
 and is called grey chalk (which rises from the shore 
 close to where we now are) : then comes a thin layer 
 of what is called upper greensand, though in fact it 
 is not very green ; helow this again is a substance 
 with which you are familiar, from the numerous 
 fossils it contains I mean the blue clay called gault ; 
 under this again come several layers of sand and 
 clay, known as the lower greensand ; and then comes 
 the Weald clay. Thus far the two sides are identi- 
 cal, and as it is sufficient for my present purpose, I 
 do not propose to puzzle you by going further down 
 to the numerous layers which underlie these. I 
 must get you now to glance at the diagram, and 
 you will perceive the dip of the different layers. 
 Dover Castle stands on the chalk with flints, whereas 
 the cliff here is chiefly chalk without flints, which dips 
 as you see at Deal beneath the sea level, and is so 
 continued right across the Channel. It is through this 
 chalk that Mr. Hawkshaw proposes to drive a tunnel. 
 Of course the chief difficulty in boring would be water 
 I do not mean the sea water, but the water contained 
 in the various strata through which the tunnel 
 would pass, and for this reason it would be very inad- 
 visable to make it from Copt Point to Cape Grisnez, 
 as a French engineer has proposed ; for this tunnel 
 must necessarily run through an indefinite number 
 of water-bearing strata of the lower greensand, which 
 it would enter at once on this coast ; and as we know 
 that the greensand gradually gets thinner and thinner
 
 as it nears the French coast, it would prohably 
 emerge in the Portland beds, of which Grisnez con- 
 sists. The blue gault which you see at East Wear 
 Bay is not a water-bearing stratum, and were it 
 possible to bore a tunnel entirely through this it 
 would be safe enough ; but unfortunately the gault 
 also thins off as it approaches the opposite side, so 
 that any boring would infallibly go into the water- 
 bearing strata of the lower greeusand. I said that 
 the chief danger in sub-marine tunnelling would be the 
 water contained in the strata themselves ; but in 
 such a highly porous stratum as the upper part of the 
 greensand (called the Folkestone beds) there would 
 also be a great danger of the sea above filtering 
 through and flooding the workings. In making the 
 Saltwood tunnel near here which is bored through 
 the lower greensand, there was immense difficulty 
 and expense, owing to the quantity of water en- 
 countered. In fact the lower chalk, or chalk without 
 flints, is the only single stratum sufficiently thick to 
 bore through, as you will see from the diagram of a 
 section of the Channel. But we must not suppose 
 the chalk to be without water ; nearly all the deep 
 wells in the neighbourhood of London are sunk into 
 the chalk, but this is chiefly the upper chalk (or 
 chalk with flints), the lower chalk does not contain 
 water in any quantity which could not be got rid of 
 by pumping, and it has another advantage over the 
 upper chalk, as the continuous layers of flint (for the 
 presence of which in the chalk formations it is so diffi- 
 cult to account) aUow the water to percolate through 
 them. There have been numerous tunnels con- 
 structed through the chalk, indeed nearly all the
 
 88 
 
 railways approaching London go through chalk for- 
 mations ; but in no case, I believe, was any great 
 difficulty experienced from the water ; nor is it sup- 
 posed that there would be under the Channel, for in one 
 or two of the Cornish mines which extend under the 
 bed of the sea (notably Portalloeh) and which I have 
 seen myself,itisnotfoundthatthe submarine workings 
 are wetter than those on shore. And now it may be 
 asked, How did this island become separated from 
 the Continent ? Some have imagined that there was 
 a gigantic fault or crack in the chalk formation, 
 that this fault extends beneath the present bottom of 
 the Channel, and would be fatal to the tunnel scheme ; 
 but there are no grounds for this supposition, nor is 
 it probable that any of the faults or cracks are con- 
 tinuous so as to allow the sea water to go through. 
 In picturing to ourselves the original separation of 
 the two coasts we must bear in mind what thousands 
 and thousands of years have elapsed since it took 
 place, and then we shall have no difficulty in believ- 
 ing that what was first probably only the course of a 
 small brook gradually widened into a broad stream, 
 rushing down to the Atlantic, the mouth of this river 
 would in course of ages widen into an estuary, which 
 the constant wash of the waves and waters would in 
 time prolong far up the country, till they had worn 
 through the remaining barrier of chalk, and united 
 themselves with the waters of the German Ocean. 
 
 Vide Mr. W. Topley, F.G.S. in the Quarterly Journal of Science.
 
 PEIMEVAL MAN. 
 
 One of the principal objects to which our members 
 should give their attention is the search for flint 
 implements, arrow heads, hatchets, and flint flakes ; 
 nor, indeed, is any fragment of flint winch bears 
 even a suspicion of being altered in its shape, how- 
 ever rudely, without interest, for by means of 
 these flint implements we have been able to 
 ascertain as much as we now know of the life, habits, 
 and even moral character of pre-historic man. Till 
 within a comparatively recent period we were content 
 to accept the doctrine that the whole age of created 
 man dated back only some 6,000 years. Before that 
 period we knew there existed various antediluvian 
 monsters mammoth, mastodon, megatherium, &c. ; 
 but no one for a moment believed that man was co- 
 existent with them. It is true that some facts, such 
 as the great diversity of races at the earliest historic 
 date, some 2,000 or 8,000 years B.C., the informa- 
 tion to be gathered from diluvial deposits, &c., &c., 
 militated against this theory, still " So much the 
 worse for the facts ! " But of late years such decisive 
 discoveries have been made as have convinced 
 the most sceptical that the age of the world, and 
 even of man, must be counted backwards, not by 
 thousands, but by hundreds of thousands of years. 
 Flint implements, arrow heads, hatchets, &c., of 
 undoubted human manufacture, have been discovered
 
 85 
 
 in immediate proximity to the bones of long extinct 
 mammalia ; nay, these bones are found notched 
 with the edge of the primitive flint knife, cleft for the 
 purpose of extracting the marrow, so dear to the 
 palate of primitive man (a taste which is not yet 
 quite extinct among his descendants), and the rude 
 stone arrow heads of our forefathers have been found 
 embedded in the skulls of the great extinct cave bear, 
 &c. Thus Baron Bunsen is forced to admit an 
 antiquity of the human race of 20,000 years, and 
 Sir Charles Lyell is disposed to regard the glacial 
 period, when, as we know, the whole of Northern 
 Europe was shrouded in ice, as representing a period 
 of 800,000 years ago, and from certain data, based 
 on the slow formation of chalk, Sir John Lubbock 
 has calculated that the denudation of the Wealden 
 Valley must have required more than 150,000,000 of 
 years. These figures seem to us enormous, but to 
 the Geologist, who traces the vast changes which 
 our globe has undergone, and who knows how slowly 
 some of them must be and are still effected, there 
 is nothing extraordinary in their magnitiule. How- 
 ever, as Lubbock remarks " Our belief in the 
 antiquity of man rests not on isolated calculation, 
 but on the changes which have taken place since 
 his appearance : changes in the geography, in the 
 launa, and in the climate of Europe ; valleys have 
 deepened, widened, and partially filled up again ; 
 caves through which subterranean rivers flowed are 
 now left dry, &c." Thus the vast desert of Sahara 
 was undoubtedly once sea; its cliffs and ancient 
 beaches are still quite visible, and the common cockle 
 is still found living in some of its salt lakes, and
 
 86 
 
 there can be no doubt that Europe and Africa were 
 that time united. But the question now arises, 
 What manner of men were these our early ancestors ? 
 Were they a fairer, stronger, wiser race than our- 
 selves, or do we derive our origin from a type far 
 lower than our own, or even, as some would have us 
 believe, by insensible transitions and development 
 from the ape ? What was Primitive Man like ? 
 This is a subject on which there has been much con- 
 troversy, but I think all the weight of evidence tends 
 to prove most clearly that pre-historic man was very 
 like, both in physical structure and mental develop- 
 ment, what the least advanced of modern savages are 
 now. If we take the few fossil skeletons which 
 have been found under circumstances free from all 
 suspicion as to age, we find a skull which is not 
 unlike that of many existing races of the present 
 day, while the bones of the leg are thicker and the 
 insertions of the muscles are more prominent, as 
 might be expected in men who led so active and 
 savage a life. Thus of the Engis skull, about whose 
 antiquity there can be no doubt, Huxley says " It is 
 a fair average human skull, which might have 
 belonged to a philosopher or might have contained 
 the thoughtless brains of a savage." In the case of 
 one other most remarkable skull the Neanderthal 
 skull, it is, however, very different, the sloping fore- 
 head and enormously thick and prominent superciliary 
 ridges certainly give it a very apelike appearance ; 
 but setting aside the fact that its age is not so well 
 authenticated, we have no evidence to prove that it 
 was not an exceptional skulL and might very likely 
 have belonged to an idiot, at any rate none other has
 
 87 
 
 been discovered at all like it, nor have any transitional 
 forms ever been brought to light, as we might have 
 reasonably expected. We may then, I think, take it 
 as proved that primitive man was what we should 
 now term a savage of a very low type, whom we 
 can well picture to ourselves by comparison with 
 many of the existing savage races. There is no 
 evidence of any race ever losing its natural mechanical 
 contrivances, such as the use of flint and steel, 
 spinning, &c,, and although nations may have 
 degenerated from over civilisation, it is not likely 
 tha't any race of men would ever forget what contri- 
 buted to their material comfort and support. From 
 this argument it follows, says Sir John Lubbock, 
 " The lowest races of existing savages must, always 
 assuming the common origin of man, be at least as 
 far advanced as were our ancestors when they spread 
 over the earth's surface." The history of Primeval 
 Man has been conveniently divided into two great 
 periods. The Stone age and the Metal Age. These 
 have been again subdivided into I. The Bough 
 Stone Age, or that of the Drift, when the mammoth, 
 great cave bear, hairy rhinoceros, and other extinct 
 animals existed, when, of course, no metal was in 
 use, and the stone implements were unpolished 
 II. The Polished Stone Age, or Reindeer Epoch, when 
 the stone implements were polished, and vast herds of 
 reindeer roamed through the land ; and towards the 
 latter end of which domesticated existing animals 
 begin to appear. The Metal Age, may be divided 
 into I. The Bronze Age, and II. The Iron Age. 
 In the first of these, bronze (an amalgam of tin and 
 copper) was in sole use, while stone implements were
 
 88 
 
 still in existence; in the second iron superseded 
 bronze for tools, &c., while the latter was used for 
 ornaments, &c. During the first part of the Stone 
 Age man's life must have been indeed hard and 
 savage, his food could have consisted only of roots 
 and fauit ; in constant danger from the attacks of 
 enormous and savage animals, among which the huge 
 cave lion and the vast and savage cave bear were 
 prominent ; without weapons to defend himself, and 
 forming but a very small minority of existing 
 animals, he could have trusted only to swiftness and 
 cunning for his safety ; no covering but the skins of 
 the smaller animals he was enabled to catch and 
 devour raw. Such must have been the first ap- 
 pearance of man on the earth ; soon, however, 
 would his superior intelligence begin to assert itself. 
 His first attempt at self defence would be some 
 knotted club. He would then see, strewing the 
 ground, the sharp flints which now served only to 
 wound his naked feet. The first step to all arts, 
 manufactures, and civilisation was made when the 
 first man struck the first blow in a crude attempt to 
 fasliion some rough weapon from a flint ! A jagged 
 flint wedged in a cleft stick would soon supersede 
 the club and enable him to attack animals more 
 powerful than himself ; his next step in advance 
 was kindling a fire, though at what period he first 
 learnt to do so, or by what means he succeeded, we 
 can never know, probably in the same way as some 
 savage tribes in the present day, by rubbing together 
 two dry sticks. As this way is tedious and uncer- 
 tain, he must have endeavoured, as do modern 
 savages, to keep the flanae burning by supplies of
 
 89 
 
 resinous wood, &c., though it would probably not 
 occur to him to adopt the ingenious device of the 
 Faroe islanders, which is to draw a wick through the 
 body of the Stormy Petrel (a bird containing a large 
 per centage of fat) and light the end which is left 
 projecting at the beak ! Primitive Man must soon 
 have attained great perfection in the only mechanism 
 he practised, namely fashioning tools and weapons 
 of stone, for flint knives, hatchets, spearheads, and 
 arrow heads are found in enormous numbers 
 wherever pre-historic remains are met with. Pot- 
 tery was, probably, the next art learnt, for fragments 
 of vessels, rough and rude, with the marks of the 
 primeval maker's fingers still on them, were dis- 
 covered in the cave of Nabuges, by the side of a 
 skull pierced with a flint arrow head, and other 
 remains. Caves were evidently used as shelter by 
 these our remote ancestors, probably after they had 
 been evacuated by their first tenants, which were 
 hyaenas, bears, &c. ; and they were also used as 
 burial places, one of which was recently discovered 
 in France containing no less than 17 bodies, which 
 the over-zealous Mayor of Aurignac unfortunately 
 ordered to be buried in the parish churchyard, and 
 they were thus for ever lost to science ! Were the 
 men of the Stone Age cannibals ? Well, I am afraid 
 the evidence directly tends that way, nor need we be 
 surprised if they were, as many savage tribes practise 
 it even in our own day, at any rate children's bones 
 have been found split open for the extraction of the 
 marrow, and still plainly showing evidence of cook- 
 ing and the marks of human teeth. That the dress 
 of Primitive Man was pretty much like that of
 
 90 
 
 modern savages, and consisted of skins, we may con- 
 clude from the fact of their bone needles and bod- 
 kins, flintpiercers, &c. being almost identical with those 
 in use amongst the Esquimaux and Laplanders of 
 the present day ; their ornaments too were much the 
 same, and consisted of teeth or shells perforated and 
 strung together. In one of the Bone Caves lately 
 discovered in France there were found, among other 
 things, no less than 22 pounds weight of the bones 
 of the water rat, either scorched or roasted, and 
 which had evidently served as food when more in- 
 viting fare had failed, so there was at any rate no 
 novelty in the poor Parisians eating rats during the 
 disastrous siege of 1870-1. The most interesting relics 
 of the polished Stone Epoch are furnished by the 
 " Kjoekken-moeddings," or " Kitchen-middens," 
 which means simply kitchen refuse heaps, these are 
 large flattened mounds or beds of shells ; they were 
 long supposed to be natural deposits of fossil shells, 
 and their true character has only recently been 
 known, they mark the site of the villages or settle- 
 ments of our early fathers, and are of course always 
 situated close to the sea. The huts of our ancestors 
 must have surrounded these kitchen -middens, and 
 each household must have contributed its share of 
 oyster shells, cockle shells, fish and animal bones, 
 &c.. forming the heap, which often rises to a height 
 of eight or ten feet, while the length is sometimes as 
 much as 1,000 feet, with a width of 150 to 250 feet. 
 These refuse heaps (first noticed in Denmark) have 
 been found in England, France, Australia, and 
 America. In these kitchen-middens numerous 
 most interesting flint relics have been found and
 
 91 
 
 also bones of the domestic dog, which appears 
 to have been frequently eaten by his master in 
 times of scarcity. I have said that pre-historic 
 man buried his dead in caves, but there is now no 
 doubt that during the latter part of the Stone Epoch 
 and the beginning of the Bronze, there arose those 
 mysterious stone structures which have puzzled the 
 world for so many generations, and which are called 
 Celtic and Druidical monuments, though both 
 Figuier and Lubbock are agreed that they arose long 
 antecedent to the incursion of the Celts in Europe, 
 and must have been as great a puzzle to them as they 
 are to us. There exists not the slightest doubt 
 that they are sepulchral, and the majority were 
 originally covered with earth and constituted mounds 
 or tumuli, from which the soil has gradually be- 
 come detached ; some, however, as Stonehenge 
 for instance, were probably never covered. These 
 Dolmens, as they are called, exist in large numbers 
 in Brittany as well as in England, the Channel Isles 
 and various other parts, and even in India we find 
 their exact counterpart. Their essential construction 
 appears to be two or three upright stones with hori- 
 zontal ones laid across the top. Numerous skeletons 
 with flint implements and even fragments of dress 
 and bronze arms have been discovered in these 
 Dolmens. Perhaps 110 discovery has given us so 
 clear an insight into the life and customs of the 
 Stone and Bronze Ages, as the discovery of the 
 Swiss Lake Dwellings ; this discovery was quite 
 accidental, and resulted from an exceedingly dry 
 season, which so lowered the water in the lakes that 
 numerous piles, ancient canoes, pottery, &c. became
 
 92 
 
 visible. Explorations were made which demon- 
 strated the fact that in remote ages dwellings had 
 been erected on piles driven into the bottom of the 
 lake, planks had then been laid over them and the 
 wooden huts contracted on the flooring thus made. 
 The object of their construction was, probably, 
 safety from attack ; the labour of driving the piles 
 without adequate machinery must have been im- 
 mense. Herodotus mentions a lake building, of a 
 similar character, which existed over the lake Prasias 
 in Thrace. He says these habitations are built La 
 the following way : "On long piles sunk into the 
 bottom of the lake planks are placed forming a floor, 
 a narrow bridge gives access to them. These piles 
 used to be fixed by the inhabitants at their joint 
 expense, but afterwards it was settled that each man 
 should bring three for every woman he married. On 
 these planks each has his hut, with a trap door down 
 to the lake, and lest any of the children should fall 
 through, they took care to attach a string to their 
 legs. In this lake fish was so abundant that if a 
 basket was let down from the trap door it might be 
 drawn up shortly after filled with figh." Though 
 this description was written of a people who existed 
 in historic times, thousands of years after the epoch 
 of which I am speaking, it probably very nearly 
 describes the style of lake dwelling inhabited by 
 Primitive Man. I have been able in this brief paper 
 to give you only the baldest, barest sketch of what 
 we have lately learnt of the habits and life of Primi- 
 tive Man ; but I hope I have said enough to show 
 you it is a subject of enthralling interest to the 
 naturalist, and one which any of you may help to
 
 98 
 
 elucidate, by the discovery of flint implements or 
 fossil bones, of which many have been found in this 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 [Vide Figuier's " Primitive Man," Sir John Lubbock's 
 bitsoric Man," Lyell's " Antiquity of Man."] 
 
 Pre-
 
 AN ADDKESS. 
 
 There is nothing more characteristic of the period 
 in which we live than the great interest which all ques- 
 tions relating to religion and science now excite in ge- 
 neral society. Ladies converse eagerly about proto- 
 plasm, evolution, and " the survival of the fittest" 
 just as they used formerly to talk about the Paris 
 fashions ; while positivism, Papal infallibility, and 
 the Transit of Venus are discussed by men over 
 their wine in lieu of the all-absorbing politics of for- 
 mer years. Whether this condition of intellectual 
 ebullition is altogether safe is another question, and 
 that a violent reaction will some day occur is, I 
 think, only too probable. Some profound thinkers 
 consider that the whole civilised world is on the eve 
 of an ensanguined religious war, and when we see 
 the attitude of bitter and irreconcilable hostility 
 assumed by earnest members of the religious world 
 on the one hand, and by hard, practical men of 
 science on the other, the idea seems far from im- 
 probable ; though I can hardly believe that men in 
 this enlightened age would be barbarous and 
 unreasonable enough to resort to so unphilosophical a 
 method of deciding their differences. Disputes 
 might often be avoided if we remembered that truth is 
 vast and many-sided, and that it is not possible for 
 our finite intelligence to grasp it in all its aspects at 
 one and the same time. Two men may regard the 
 same truth from diametrically opposite points of
 
 95 
 
 view, but while itself tvnchanged, how different it 
 may appear to each ! Opal-like, its colour changes 
 as we vary our position, or like the cloud which is 
 dark in the morning, snowy white at noon, and 
 crimson at sunset, the sanje fact may appear widely 
 different under various lights. We have all heard of 
 what is called colour-blindness, or the inability to dis- 
 tinguish between certain colours, noteably red and 
 green, which is far from uncommon (and which, 
 by the way, may perhaps account for some of the 
 fatal accidents caused by railway signalmen failing 
 to distinguish between red and green lights and 
 flags). Now, if we are thus tricked and deceived by 
 our material senses, are not our moral natures often 
 as much misled by what we may call mental colour 
 blindness '? May not the truth or doctrine which to 
 us appears of such a decidedly red or green colour 
 assume a widely different tint to the eyes of our 
 equally honest opponent ? We are often told that 
 science and religion are opposed to each other, and 
 perhaps to those who cling to the letter rather than 
 the spirit of its teachings it may seem so. It appears 
 to me difficult to understand how the investigations 
 .of the wonders of nature, of the marvellous adaptation 
 of means to the end which is displayed in animal life, 
 the stupendous truths of astronomy, the vast scope 
 and unchangeableness of those laws which equally 
 mould a universe or round a dewdrop, rouse the con- 
 tractility of a cilia or excite the brain of a Newton, 
 can do otherwise than " lead us to look through 
 Nature up to Nature's God." It is no doubt 
 true that there are a certain number of scientific 
 men in the present day who seem to regard
 
 96 
 
 mankind only as a sort of living automata, 
 human machines, gradually developed or evolved 
 from the lower animals, but requiring scarcely more 
 than their former prototypes, the elevating influences 
 of religion and morality. I do not here allude to the 
 great master-minds of the day, the nohle pioneers of 
 scientific advancement, the Tyndalls, the Darwins, 
 and the Huxleys, whose doctrines are often so wan- 
 tonly misunderstood and misrepresented, but to a 
 host of servile imitators, who, while eagerly accept- 
 ing any doctrine which seems to strike at the roots 
 of old beliefs, fail to perceive or appreciate the more 
 sublime parts of their teaching. The attitude as- 
 sumed by such men is, to my mind, eminently un- 
 scientific, the hard and decided manner in which 
 they lay down the law, and attempt to force their 
 necessarily imperfect discoveries beyond their legiti- 
 mate scope, and the persistent way in which they 
 ignore every feeling of veneration and awe implanted 
 in us all by nature, is most unphilosophical. There 
 exists, I believe, in every human being an innate 
 yearning after a something better, nobler, purer than ' 
 the world around us, an instinctive craving for 
 an expression of our feelings of veneration, which 
 makes, and always will make, religion in some form 
 equally a necessity to the savage and the sage. Yet 
 thesemen seem bent on knocking away every ancient 
 prop from under us, and depriving us of every 
 holdfast, leaving nothing to support us save 
 hard, bare, and often immature scientific facts. 
 Do not imagine that I would depreciate the teach- 
 ings of science. I am one of those who would 
 pursue the investigations of nature to their furthest
 
 97 
 
 possible limit, and consent to abide by their result, 
 well assured that we must ultimately arrive at a 
 point beyond which not only our senses, but even 
 our imagination, fail to carry us, and we are driven 
 perforce to acknowledge the Divine creative energy. 
 Let the researches of science put this point back, 
 again and yet again, to its furthest conceivable limit ; 
 we must at last face the inevitable conclusion that 
 some power mightier than molecular attraction or 
 chemical affinity must have been at work to create 
 the force the laws of which we attempt to investigate 
 But it seems tome eminently unphilosophical, because 
 we cannot understand this creative energy, to deny 
 its existence, and assert that the beginnings of life 
 are only a heterogeneous collection of atoms arranged 
 in accordance with mechanical laws. There are 
 some problems winch we can never hope to solve, 
 simply because of the imperfection of our senses. 
 We are accustomed to think of our senses as though 
 they were infinite and perfect, whereas they are not 
 only finite but often deceptive. There are thousands ' 
 of phenomena daily taking place around us which 
 our finite senses do not even- perceive, simply because 
 we have no special senses adapted to take cognisance 
 of them, but are aware of them only by the effects 
 which they produce. For example, our eyes per- 
 ceive the light and our bodies the warmth of the sun, 
 but two-thirds of his rays, i.e., all the chemical and 
 actinic portion are, under ordinary circumstances, 
 entirely lost to our senses, we are not personally cog- 
 nisant of them and only know of their existence by 
 their action 011 other substances. We cannot even 
 satisfactorily explain so apparently simple a fact as
 
 98 
 
 why a fly is able to walk head downwards on a ceil- 
 ing in opposition to the laws of gravitation, though 
 here we are able to investigate every stage of the 
 phenomenon with all our microscopic and other 
 powers. It is of course possible that some unex- 
 pected flash of light may be thrown on the obscure 
 subjects which are just now exciting so much con- 
 troversy, just as spectrum analysis revealed the 
 chemical composition of the far distant stars in so 
 unforeseen a manner. Who could have conceived it 
 possible only a few years ago that we should be able 
 to tell the exact composition of a star so distant that 
 its light, though travelling at the rate of 192,000 
 miles a second, yet takes thousands of years to reach 
 us ? A distance literally inconceivable to us. Yet 
 this star, which for aught we know may have been 
 extinct ages ago though its light is still travelling 
 towards us, we can now pronounce positively to be a 
 sun whose component parts are hydrogen, sodium, 
 iron, &c., in a state of incandescence. This know- 
 ledge we owe entirely to spectrum analysis. Some 
 such unexspectecl revelation may perchance, some 
 day, enable us to know more than we do now of the 
 many vexed questions which are at present agitating 
 the scientific world, but until such time we must 
 be content to bow the head in reverence, and to 
 acknowledge that we are face I o face with problems 
 too mighty for our finite seuces to solve.
 
 PKESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDBESS, 1874. 
 
 (Transit of Venus Deep Sea Soundings.) 
 
 Nothing can be more indicative of the progress of 
 scientific culture in this country than the rapid in- 
 crease, during the last few years, of local Scientific 
 Societies. Twenty years ago the extra-urban Natural 
 History Societies and Field Clubs of England might 
 almost have been counted on the fingers of one hand, 
 now there is scarcely a neighbourhood of any im- 
 portance which does not possess at least one such 
 Society. Even Government is awakening to the 
 necessity of scientific training, so that, in addition to 
 the help afforded in the shape of Science and Art 
 Classes, and prizes, it is hoped that ere long typical 
 museums and apparatus for lectures will be placed 
 at the disposal of local Scientific Societies. People 
 are becoming alive to the fact that scientific men are 
 not mere idle speculative dreamers, totally unfitted 
 for the hard practical business of life, that Natural 
 Science is not simply an amusement for leisure 
 hours, or a subject fit only to beguile the tedium of 
 a country walk, but good, hard, practical, mental 
 discipline, requiring the greatest exactitude and 
 method, and the best of all training for men or boys, 
 and, in these days of " Women's, rights," I suppose 
 I should say also for women entering the arena of 
 life, whether as members of the learned professions, 
 or engaged in commercial pursuits. 
 
 There is also, I am happy to say, a more liberal 
 spirit prevalent, and people are beginning to per-
 
 100 
 
 ceive that a love of science, and the investigation of 
 the deeper mysteries of nature's laws, are not incom- 
 patible with a spirit of profound reverence and true 
 religion. Beligion and science are both incontro- 
 vertible truths, and it is impossible that there can be 
 anything more than an apparent antagonism be- 
 tween them. 
 
 There are of course some narrow-minded and 
 short-sighted people who still doubt the practical 
 value of scientific training, and who are continually 
 asking " Cui bono ?" To these I would say, look 
 around at the present aspect of the world in which 
 we live and you will see abundant evidence of the 
 good of science. To take the most familiar example, 
 who could have foreseen 50 years ago the practical 
 good of electricity, and yet how could we have ar- 
 rived at our whole system of telegraphy, if students 
 and experimentalists had not thought and worked 
 out the phenomena of electricity hi their studies and 
 laboratories, until it has now attained the truly 
 wondrous perfection of allowing two separate and 
 distinct messages to be sent at the same moment, in 
 opposite directions, along the same single wire. 
 This is in truth the acme of scientific and yet practi- 
 cal perfection, and one which the mind can scarcely 
 realise. What again is our whole system of manu- 
 facturing industry, our steamboat and railway traffic, 
 bat a development of the scientific discovery of the 
 expansion of steam. The same may be said of 
 ' chemistry. The beautiful mauve and violet dyes 
 and inks in common use are all made from aniline 
 extracted from the waste products of gas works, which 
 formerly only polluted rivers, but are now literally
 
 101 
 
 worth millions of pounds sterling annually. Instances 
 might be multiplied ad infinitum, for there is no 
 branch of manufacturing industry which is not 
 indebted to science for its existence or improvement. 
 Lord Derby in the excellent speech which he de- 
 livered when inaugurating a society for the promo- 
 tion of Scientific Industry at Manchester, made some 
 admirable remarks which we may profitably recall ; 
 he reminds us that the present prosperity of England 
 depends on causes which may or may not continue 
 to operate, that although we have had a great ad- 
 vantage hitherto in having the start of other nations, 
 both from our Island offering greater security to per- 
 son and property, from our manufactories, from the 
 the use of steam power and machinery on a large 
 scale, as well as from our railways and our colonies, 
 yet history warns us that commercial supremacy, 
 even when apparently most secure, is perilously apt 
 to pass from one country to another, and this feat 
 may await us unless we are prepared to keep our 
 foremost place in the race of nations, by the cultiva- 
 tion of technical knowledge. He tells us that 
 machinery can now be prodiiced almost as cheaply 
 and as well in Belgium as in England, for we have 
 no monopoly of mechanical appliances and machinery. 
 It is not that we have gone back, but that others 
 have advanced, and we have to compete with coun- 
 tries where labour is much cheaper than it is with us. 
 Mechanical power is not wanting, but the brains to 
 apply it, for all past history, all past experience 
 teaches us, that success, whether in war or in the 
 peaceful arts, depends less on natural or acquired 
 advantages than on the people who wield them. In
 
 102 
 
 the same proportion that machinery spares the 
 muscles it taxes the brain, and as the labourer deve- 
 lopes into the skilled artisan, he requires technical 
 training in place of- the old " rule of thumb." 
 
 There are several problems yet for science to solve, 
 such as how profitably to dispose of our sewage, 
 which, if properly applied, would be worth millions 
 annually to the country, and which is now a source 
 of endless difficulty ; the utilization of the enor- 
 mous clouds of smoke which hover over our 
 large cities, and which is simply good unconsumed 
 carbon, and would represent a fabulous amount of 
 money if beneficially consumed and the power result- 
 ing from it converted into labour. Then there is the 
 almost inconceivable waste of coal and other fuel, 
 both in our houses and factories, the result oi ignor- 
 ance or obstinacy. All these things (and dozens 
 more might be cited) show the necessity for original 
 scientific researches and art teaching, which have a 
 very practical bearing on our commercial prosperity 
 It has been calculated, from reliable statistics, that 
 the amount of work performed by machinery of 
 various kinds in the British Isles is equal to the 
 labour of 600 million adults ; now the estimated 
 proportion of labour for any community is one-fourth 
 of its population, and as the population of the wtfole 
 world is 1,200 millions, it foUows that England alone 
 is doing the mechanical work of two worlds as popu- 
 lous as our own. So you see our mechanical re- 
 sources are enormous, \vhat we really want is more 
 scientific training, to enable us to turn them to the 
 best account, and thus to hold our own against all 
 comers.
 
 103 
 
 That Government is becoming more alive to the 
 claims of science there can be no doubt, this is 
 shown not only in the repeated attempts made to 
 reach the North Pole, where probably lies hid the 
 key to many a scientific problem (and which the 
 partial success of the ill-equipped " Polaris" proves 
 to be accessible), but also in the elaborate and expen- 
 sive preparations made for observing the Transit 
 of Venus. This is an event of even more importance 
 than the Solar eclipses which have attracted so much 
 scientific attention during the last few years ; for 
 whereas eclipses take place almost annually, a Tran- 
 sit of Venus occurs only once during a period of 100 
 years, and is succeeded by a second one at a short 
 interval of eight years; then comes another long 
 period of more than a century, and so on. Thus the 
 last Transit but one was in 1769, the last as you 
 know, was on the 8th December, 1874 ; there will be 
 another in 1882, after which time there will be no 
 more until 2,004 and 2,012 respectively. The ex- 
 planation of this is that the plane of the orbit of 
 Venus being inclined to that of our Earth, she 
 usually goes either above or below the Sun, and it is 
 only at rare intervals she passes directly between the 
 two. 
 
 The reason why a Transit of Venus is of so much 
 scientific importance is that it affords astronomers 
 the means of ascertaining correctly the exact distance 
 of the sun from our Earth, and it is on the exact 
 determination of that distance that all astronomical 
 calculations are based, it is in fact the standard yard 
 measure for the whole system of celestial surveying. 
 Three hundred, years ago the sun was believed to be
 
 104 
 
 a body only two or tliree times larger than our Earth, 
 and situated some five millions of miles away from 
 us. The celebrated astronomer Kepler afterwards 
 calculated the distance to be thirteen millions of 
 miles, this was considered at the time to be a stu- 
 pendous idea; Cassini, with better and more ac- 
 curate instruments at his command, increased 
 Kepler's thirteen millions to eighty-five millions, 
 which is not far from the truth. In my schoolboy 
 days we were taught that the sun's distance was 
 ninety-five and a half millions of miles, but of late years 
 it has been again reduced, after careful calculations 
 and reconsideration of data, to between ninety-one 
 and ninety-two millions of miles. 
 
 To give you an idea of the extreme care requisite 
 in these measurements Mr. E. Proctor has calculated 
 that this distance of over three millions of miles 
 required the examination and measurement of a 
 dimension which was only the size of a single human 
 haii- as seen from a distance of 125 feet, or of a sove- 
 reign as looked at from a distance of eight miles. 
 
 You will, perhaps, be enabled to form some con- 
 ception of the vast distance which separates us from 
 the sun, when I tell you that a locomotive travelling 
 at the rate of 500 miles a day would take over 520 
 years to traverse it. The bulk of the sun is so 
 enormous that it would require a million and a 
 quarter of our earths to equal him in size ! The 
 usual method of ascertaining the distances of the 
 celestial bodies, is somewhat similar to that employed 
 by a surveyor who wishes to determine the height of 
 an inaccessible point. He selects two distant 
 positions from each of which he observes, say a
 
 105 
 
 mountain or other object whose distance he wishes to 
 measure. He then connects these two points by a 
 straight line, from the two extremities of which he 
 projects imaginary lines to the distant object ; he 
 thus obtains the base line and two base angles of a 
 triangle the measurement of which will of course give 
 the length of the other two sides. In the same way 
 the astronomer observes the direction of, say the 
 moon or one of the planets, from two distant parts 
 of the earth, and then connects the two places by an 
 imaginary straight line, this gives the base and two 
 base angles of a triangle, from which the length of 
 the two sides of the triangle (i.e., the distance of the 
 object) can be calculated. As the relative distances 
 of all the heavenly bodies are already known, if the 
 real distance of the sun can once be settled it will 
 serve as a key to that of all the others. But the 
 distance of the sun is so enormous, that even with a 
 base line of 4,000 miles (half the diameter of our 
 globe) the two side lines appear parallel, and the 
 quantity to be dealt with is in size equivalent only to 
 about an ordinary sized pin's head split into 450 
 divisions, and it is the dimension of one of these 
 minute sub-divisions which has to be measured, so 
 you can readily understand that errors are very prone 
 to arise ; hence the importance of a transit of Venus, 
 when the distance can be determined by other 
 methods. Venus, during a transit, passes over 
 the face of the sun, looking like a small round 
 black spot on the illuminated dial-plate of his 
 bright surface, and it is by measuring and timing its 
 passage from different points that the distances of 
 Venus from the earth and from the sun can be deter-
 
 106 
 
 mined. This is done by two different processes, one 
 of which is called Halley's method, and the other 
 Delisle's, in the one the transit is observed from two 
 opposite points of the earth, from each of which the 
 passage appears of different length and duration ; in 
 the other the exact moment of ingress and egress (i.e. 
 of entering and leaving the sun's bright disc) is ac- 
 curately timed from different stations. Both methods 
 have their several advantages, and both were im- 
 partially employed ; but on this point a very pretty 
 paper warfare was carried on between the Astronomer 
 Royal (Sir Geo. Airey) and Mr. Proctor, as to which 
 method was the more appropriate for observing the 
 last transit. As you may well imagine, the observa- 
 tions, which were made by the aid of photography, 
 and the most exquisitely refined and accurate astro- 
 nomical instruments, taxed all the care and science 
 of our astronomers. This is not surprising when we 
 reflect that, in addition to the stupendous distances 
 to be measured, they had to deal with bodies not 
 stationary, but moving with enormous velocity. Our 
 own earth, rotating on her axis at the rate of 1,038 
 miles an hour, and travelling in her orbit at no less 
 than 68,000 miles in the same time ; Venus speeding 
 onwards at the rate of 80,000 miles an hour, and the 
 sun himself, whom we are accustomed to regard as 
 stationary, rushing through space and carrying the 
 whole solar system with him at a speed of 14,400 
 miles an hour. 
 
 The same liberal spirit which has influenced the 
 Government in spending so much money for astro- 
 nomical purposes, induced them last year to send out 
 the "Challenger Expedition." The "Challenger,"
 
 107 
 
 as most of yon know, is a large steam vessel fitted 
 np with all sorts of scientific apparatus, and is under 
 the direction af Dr. Wyville Thompson, and a large 
 staff of skilled assistants, whose mission is to sound, 
 dredge, and explore the hitherto almost unknown 
 depths of the sea. Dr. Wyville Thompson has 
 already given us a most interesting account of the 
 cruises of the "Lightning," and the "Porcupine" 
 which were, under his own and Dr. Carpenter's 
 superintendence, similarly employed in 1870. The 
 advantage of these expeditions, in a scientific point 
 of view, can scarcely be exaggerated ; not to mention 
 the excellent technical training they afford to both 
 officers and crew, the knowledge we have already 
 gained from Dr. Thompson's reports, is most in- 
 teresting and novel. As he points out, these inves- 
 tigations have practically added some 140 millions of 
 square miles to the domains of natural history, and 
 we now learn that this vast area, Avhich was pre- 
 viously a terra incognita is inhabited by living crea- 
 tures, many of them far exceeding in beauty and 
 delicacy, both of shape and colour, the well-known 
 forms which inhabit the narrow strip of sea surround- 
 ing our shores. 
 
 We may now dismiss the notion, once so prevalent, 
 that the extreme depths of the ocean are a dark void 
 where the pressure is so enormous that no life can 
 exist and no sounding line can penetrate. We now 
 know that numberless forms, some of exquisite 
 beauty, are dredged up from depths of 3,435 fathoms, 
 no less than 14,600 feet, or very nearly three miles. 
 
 It appears, however, that although life is possible 
 at all depths, it becomes less abundant below 1,000
 
 . 108 
 
 fathoms. Professor Forbes divided the seaboard into 
 four zones, the first he called the coast or littoral 
 zone, which is the space between high and low water, 
 and is distinguished by dark brown seaweeds, and 
 small crustaceans, such as sandhoppers (Gammarus) 
 limpets, mussels, &c. ; the second or Laminarian 
 zone, which reaches to a depth of 15 fathoms, and is 
 distinguished by its bright red seaweeds, and by 
 abundance of animal life ; this zone is always under 
 water, except at the very lowest tides ; the 3rd, or 
 Coralline zone, which extends to 50 fathoms, and 
 contains corallines, zoophytes, large crustaceans and 
 numerous fish, such as soles, cod, turbot, &c. ; and 
 the fourth, which shelves down from 50 fathoms to 
 an unknown depth, this is the zone of corals. " In 
 its depths," says Forbes, " the number of peculiar 
 creatures are few, whilst other portions of its popu- 
 lation are derived from higher zones ; as we descend 
 deeper and deeper in this region, its inhabitants 
 become more and more modified, and fewer and 
 fewer, indicating our approach towards an abyss 
 where life is either extinguished, or exhibits but a few 
 sparks to mark its lingering presence." Although 
 Forbes' division of zones of depth is commonly 
 recognised, we know that, in spite of theoretical 
 difficulties, life not only may, but does exist at any 
 depth. The conditions which were considered so 
 adverse to life as to render it impossible, were first, 
 the stupendous pressure ; 2nd, the absence of light 
 which would prevent vegetation ; and, 3rd, the in- 
 tense cold ; but experience has proved the fallacy of 
 ah 1 these theories. 
 
 The average depth of the sea is 2,000 fathoms
 
 109 
 
 (rather under 2 miles) which is just about the height 
 of the Swiss Alps, but there are occasional hollows 
 where the depth is double this, or even more, though 
 the supposition formerly entertained that vast 
 abysses existed is found to be erroneous ; the pres- 
 sure at these great depths must be enormous. There 
 used to be a popular idea that the sea became gradually 
 more and more dense as the depth increased, and 
 that objects floated in it at different levels, according 
 to their specific gravity, for example, wood on the 
 surface, dead men's bones lower down, iron yet 
 deeper, and gold lowest of all, whilst yet deeper still 
 was a dense layer of water, so compact that not even 
 the weightiest body could sink through it. This idea 
 has, of course, been long abandoned as fallacious, and 
 Dr. Wyville Thompson's interesting book tells us, 
 that water is almost incompressible, so that at a depth 
 of 2,000 fathoms its density is hardly appreciably 
 greater than at the surface. According to Jamin, 
 water at the depth of a mile, is compressed by the 
 weight of 159 atmospheres, and is more dense by the 
 l-144th part of its bulk ; supposing the pressure to 
 increase regularly with the depth, water at 20 miles 
 below the surface would only be compressed by l-7th 
 of its volume. A man at a depth of 2,000 fathoms 
 would sustain on the surface of his body a weight 
 about equal to 20 steam engines, each with a long 
 train of trucks laden with iron, but we must remem- 
 ber that this weight and pressure is equally distri- 
 buted within and without the bodies of the creatures 
 inhabiting these depths, and is counterbalanced by 
 similar incompressible fluids in their tissues, although 
 any air in the water, or in the animal itself would be
 
 110 
 
 pressed into a very minute compass. Thompson 
 mentions a heavy beam made of pine-wood, used in 
 dredging at a great depth, which was not only 
 crushed and broken, but the hard knots in the wood 
 stood out more than i an inch above the level. We 
 all, as you know, support, on every square inch of 
 the surface of our bodies, a weight equal to 1 51bs, so 
 that we endure altogether a pressure of 32,400 Ibs. 
 or 14 tons, equally distributed over our surface. A 
 rise in the Barometer of one or two inches, showing 
 increased density of the surrounding air, sometimes 
 adds another ton or two, which, so far from oppress- 
 ing us, gives that feeling of exhilaration which results 
 from a healthy bracing up of our bodies. It is now 
 quite proved that not only is life possible at all 
 depths, in spite of the immense pressure, but that 
 even highly organized animals, for example, sharks, 
 exist at depths which necessitate a pressure of half a 
 ton (instead of 15lbs) on every square inch of their 
 bodies, and there seems no reason why it might not 
 be increased to a ton or more without injury. But 
 curiously enough what does seem to injure animals 
 which exist under these conditions, is the removal 
 of this enormous pressure, for creatures of low or- 
 ganizations are all either inanimate or torpid, even if 
 living, when brought up from, great depths ; and 
 vertebrate animals are invariably dead when they 
 reach the surface. The temperature of the sea was 
 also formerly, a source of considerable misapprehen- 
 sion, it was confidently asserted that at a certain 
 depth there was always a uniform temperature of 
 36 F. (4 C.) and this was called the isothermal 
 floor of the ocean. Instead of which it is found that
 
 Ill 
 
 the temperature steadily decreases from the surface 
 to the bottom, which is always about the zero of C. 
 or 32 F. This you know, is the freezing point of 
 fresh water, but sea water requires several degrees 
 more of cold before it freezes. Thompson never 
 found the temperature of the sea lower than 3 C, or 
 5 degrees of frost, (about 26 Fahrenheit) but even 
 this extreme of cold does not prevent, or interfere 
 with, abundant animal life. There is a curious 
 inverted- analogy between the distribution of land 
 plants and animals and those inhabiting the sea ; 
 you may perhaps remember, that in my paper on our 
 voyage to the North Pole, we found vegetation 
 became more stunted and scarce as we went farther 
 and farther north, and the same effect is observed in 
 ascending high mountains in temperate regions. In 
 the ocean the seaboard with its shallow water pre- 
 sents abundant variety of beauty both of plants and 
 animals ; as we descend deeper the conditions of life 
 become more rigorous, vegetation, which is scanty 
 after 5 J fathoms, ceases altogether at 200 fathoms, 
 while the extreme depths are tenanted by animals 
 that only approach the surface at the icy temperature 
 of the Poles, and it seems also to be a necessary con- 
 dition of their existence, that they should be of a 
 sufficiently low organization to absorb nourishment 
 from the surface of their bodies. But the most 
 curious and interesting result of deep sea dredging 
 has been the discovery of the Geological identity of 
 the bight grey mud, or ooze, of the bed of the Atlantic, 
 with the chalk of which our cliffs are composed, 
 indeed so close is the resemblance that when both 
 arc moist it is difficult to distinguish one from the
 
 other. Dr. W.yville Thompson is of opinion that in 
 the deeper parts of the Atlantic it has been deposited 
 continuously from the cretaceous period, when our 
 own chalk cliffs formed the bottom of a still, deep sea, 
 until the present moment. The grey ooze is com- 
 posed almost entirely of minute foraminifera (chiefly 
 Globigeriiia Bulloides, and Orbulina Universa) so 
 small that a cubic inch of chalk has been calculated 
 to contain more than a million of them. Dr. 
 Thompson also believes, from what he has seen 
 during his present voyage in the " Challenger" that 
 the fine red mud, found at great depths in the 
 Atlantic bed, is also of animal origin, though consist- 
 ing of one per cent, only, of the remains of minute 
 organisms. This red ooze he is disposed to consider 
 is identical with the red clay which Geologists have 
 always believed to be the result of disintegration or 
 powdering, of older rocks, and which is sometimes 
 found on land, in beds of over a mile in thickness. 
 If this theory be true, -wiiat a stupendous length of 
 time must have been required to form beds a mile 
 thick, if their mass be composed solely of only the 
 hinul I'c.dtli jxirt of the remains of a microscopic crea- 
 ture ! We are now getting to prove the world so old, 
 that we literally have neither words nor figures com- 
 petent to express such vast antiquity, and we are 
 compelled to admit of millions, or billions, of years, 
 in place of the few thousands which were all we were 
 formerly allowed. 
 
 [Vide Proctor in " Quarterly Eeview," Wyville Thompson's 
 " Depths of the Sea," &c.
 
 WINE; WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT 
 OUGHT TO BE. 
 
 The subject I have chosen for nry lecture on this 
 occasion, is too extensive and complicated to be pro- 
 perly dealt with in one evening, so that I propose to 
 give you a brief outh'ne only of the principal points 
 of interest. It' is necessary first of all, that we 
 should clearly understand what is meant by the word 
 "wine." If one of you were asked for a definition 
 he would probably reply, "Wine is the fermented 
 juice of the grape," and he would be perfectly right, 
 but then the important question arises, are we to 
 exclude grape juice which has been sweetened, 
 flavoured, brandied or otherwise modified ? If so we 
 shall have to refuse the name of wine to sherry, port, 
 Marsala, Madeira, Eoussillon, and a host of others ; 
 And then again in what category are we to place 
 rhubarb, elderberry, gooseberry, and other fruit wine, 
 and lastly palm wine, the fermented juice of various 
 palms, which, although almost unheard of in Eng- 
 land, is extensively consumed in Asia, Africa and 
 America, and, in fact, forms the staple beverage of a 
 far larger section of mankind than does grape wine 
 itself. I shall however in my lecture to-night confine 
 niy observations to grape wine, drawing a careful 
 distinction between " Natural Wines," that is to say, 
 
 I
 
 114 
 
 wines made from the thoroughly fermented juice of 
 the grape, without addition or admixture ; and, what 
 may be called, "Liqueur Wines," or wines which have 
 been strengthened with brandy, and contain sugar 
 produced either by checking their fermentation, or by 
 the addition of syrup. 
 
 There are some substances in nature which, 
 though widely different in their external appearance 
 and properties, are yet almost identical in their 
 chemical composition, and which can readily be 
 made to pass from one condition to the other by a 
 slight change or re-arrangement of their ultimate 
 molecules ; thus starch may be converted into dextrine, 
 dextrine into sugar, sugar into alcohol, and alcohol 
 into acetic acid or vinegar ; and yet sugar and vine- 
 gar, spirits of wine and starch, are very different in 
 their external characteristics ; they are all, neverthe- 
 less, composed of Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen in 
 nearly the same proportion, and as they all contain 
 Hydrogen and Oxygen in the proportion that these 
 gases are found in water, they may be considered as 
 compounds of carbon with waterl 
 
 Chemists are in the habit of resolving everything 
 into its component parts or ultimate constituents , 
 so callc.l because they cannot be further split or 
 divided ; thus a meat pie consists of flour and meat, 
 the flour is composed of starch, gluten, albuminous 
 substances, various salts, &c., the meat, of albumen, 
 fibrine, creatine, water, salts, &c., and these may be 
 again sub-divided or split up, into Carbon, Hydrogen, 
 "Nitrogen, and Oxygen, which are called ultimate 
 elements, because they are, as far as we know, 
 incapable of further subdivision.
 
 115 
 
 The one essential ingredient in making wine is 
 sugar ; now sugar is easily produced from starch, 
 which is abundantly formed in vegetables, the con- 
 version of starch into sugar taking place naturally in 
 ripening fruits and growing vegetables. It is in this 
 way malt is made, the barley being in a moist warm 
 atmosphere 1 , begins to sprout, or germinate, thereby 
 changing its starch into sugar. For the same 
 reason potatoes which have begun to sprout are 
 sweet. The saliva has a similar effect on starch, 
 converting it first into dextrine, and then into sugar, 
 by reason of a peculiar principle it contains called 
 ptyaliu. If any of you will persistently chew a 
 piece of the driest and stalest bread, you will find 
 that after awhile, it becomes quite sweet in the 
 mouth ; the starch in the bread has been converted 
 into sugar by the chemical action of the saliva. It 
 is on this principle that the Tonga Islanders make 
 their fermented drink called ava, by chewing the 
 root of the long pepper, spitting it into a wooden 
 vessel, and adding water to it. Sugar can be 
 produced from almost any vegetable matter, by 
 acting on it with sulphuric acid (vitriol) ; thus 
 it can be obtained from all rags of linen and 
 cotton, flax, raw cotton, paper, even from this desk, 
 and I have here some sugar, or glucose made from 
 sawdust by means of vitriol, which is extensively 
 used for sweetening cheap wine and beers. The 
 delicious syrups, so much drunk in France with 
 asrated or plain waters, are mostly made from pota- 
 toe, or other starch, in the manner I have described. 
 
 This sugar then (the chemical composition of 
 which is C6 H6 06) and which is so essential to the
 
 116 
 
 production of wine, is formed iu the juice of the 
 grape during the process of ripening. "When any 
 saccharine fluid is exposed in the air at a tempera- 
 ture of above 80 it ferments, that is to say, it is 
 split up into two different substances, alcohol, and 
 carbonic- acid, the bland sweet fluid becomes a brisk, 
 acid, vinous liquid, highly charged with gas. Now 
 whether we believe this transformation is brought 
 about by the obscure action of a ferment, the yeast plant 
 (torula cerevisias) a microscopic fungus of the lowest 
 organization, which is capable of propagating itself 
 with marvellous rapidity, and possessing the won- 
 derful property of inducing a re-arrangement of the 
 ultimate molecules of any fluid of unstable composi- 
 tion with which it is in contact ; whether we adopt 
 this, which is called the chemical theory, and was 
 advocated by Liebig, or whether we accept the 
 teaching of Pasteur and the Panspermists, who tell 
 us that the whole atmosphere is peopled with myriads 
 of germs of living organisms, which act as ferments 
 to grape juice, or other suitable fluids, exposed to 
 their influence whichever theory we adopt, it is 
 sufficient for us to know that grape or palm juice, 
 unlike solutions of pure sugar, will ferment sponta- 
 neously, or at least without yeast, when exposed to 
 the action of warm air. Any one who likes to squeeze 
 a little grape juice into a glass will see with what 
 rapidity this takes place ; even in half an hour it 
 begins to get cloudy and give off bubbles of carbonic 
 acid gas, and it soon acquires the vinous taste. So 
 that wine must have been discovered at a very early 
 period of the world's history. Tradition tells us that 
 the intoxicating properties of grape juice were dis-
 
 117 
 
 covered by a woman, Gulnare the Beautiful, one of 
 the 500 wives of Dschemschid, Shah of Persia. This 
 lady, weary of the tedium of the Harem, and jealous 
 of the arrival of a 501st wife, determined to put an 
 end to her existence. Now it chanced that the Shah 
 was inordinately fond of grapes and had caused a 
 large quantity to be stored in jars, that he might 
 enjoy them beyond the usual season. These grapes 
 had, of course, fermented, and the frothy evil-smelling 
 fluid was supposed to be poisonous, and set aside to 
 be thrown away. The unhappy Gulnare whose 
 access to means of destroying herself was limited, 
 determined to put a period to her existence by means 
 of some of this new and poisonous fluid ; she accord- 
 ingly drank of it, and finding it rather pleasant 
 poison, she drank deeply. Soon she perceived a 
 delightful languor creeping over her, and placing her- 
 self in a becoming attitude, sank back insensible. 
 To her great astonishment however she awoke the 
 next morning to find herself alive in her own apart- 
 ment, and, barring a slight headache, none the worse 
 for her poison ; the next night in desperation she 
 doubled the dose, but still it only produced the same 
 effect, she then remembered that when she first began 
 her libations she felt singularly happy, and therefore 
 resolved to try a smaller dose, thinking it might 
 after all, be only a potent medicine and not a poison. 
 So well did the experiment succeed that she resorted 
 to the exhilarating liquid whenever she felt unhappy. 
 One day feeling particularly merry she revealed her 
 secret to the Shah, who, after verifying her report, 
 determined not only to cultivate the vine, but always 
 to keep a stock of such a delicious beverage. But
 
 118 
 
 there is no doubt that wine was known hundreds of 
 thousands of years before there were Shahs in Persia, 
 for perfect fossil vine leaves and grape pips have 
 been discovered in beds of lignite in tertiary strata, 
 overlaid with beds 180 feet deep, of solid basaltic 
 rock ; and there is no question that where vines grew 
 wine was made. Every people, however rude and 
 barbarous, knows how to prepare fermented drinks? 
 witness the koumiss, or fermented mare's milk of the 
 Arab, the palm wine of so many barbarous tribes, the 
 pulque, or agave wine, made by the Mexicans from 
 the sap of the aloe, the ava of the Tonga Islanders 
 and the chica drunk in the sierras of South America. 
 Both the latter are made by masticating in the one 
 case ava, the root of the long pepper, and in the other 
 maize, and adding water, the saliva in both instances 
 acting as a ferment. 
 
 The vine requires peculiar conditions of climate to 
 bear wine-producing grapes, for while tropical heat is, 
 curiously enough, prejudicial, much summer cold 
 and moisture is still more so. You will see from the 
 map the limits of cultivation of the wine-producing 
 grape ; the southern limit dipping down far South in 
 Africa, Arabia and Hindustan, nearly parallel to their 
 seaboards, while the northern passes just south of 
 England through a portion of Ehenish Prussia, and 
 South Kussia to the Northern end of the Caspian Sea. 
 Many of these places have an average temperature 
 far below that of England, but to produce wine the 
 grape requires a great and uninterrupted summer heat ; 
 this it does not get in England, for our moist, fog- 
 laden atmosphere prevents the maturing of the grape 
 at the very period when continued heat is essential.
 
 119 
 
 Although I believe the reckless consumption of 
 alcohol to be the greatest curse with which this world 
 of ours is afflicted, and although I am convinced that 
 the sin and misery caused by it far exceed its bene- 
 ficial effects ; I nevertheless believe the taste for pure 
 wine to be perfectly natural and legitimate. I dis- 
 tinctly confine this opinion to wines containing only 
 their natural amount of alcohol. Fortified wines 
 come under the denomination of drams, the desire 
 for which is the result of a vitiated and depraved 
 taste and should be discouraged. 
 
 Why it is, I cannot say, but alcohol, added to 
 wine or even to water, acts on the system in a man- 
 ner altogether different from the natural spirit de- 
 veloped in, and combined with the wine ; though there 
 is no doubt on this point, it it one on which chemistry 
 fails to throw any light. I believe the occasional 
 craving of the nervous system for a stimulant to be 
 as natural a result of exhaustion, especially that 
 caused by overwork of brain and body combined, as 
 the craving for food or water after long abstinence, 
 and I do not believe this natural appetite would have 
 been implanted in us had we not been intended to 
 satisfy it in moderation. And I hold that there is no 
 more legitimate way of satisfying this natural feeling, 
 than with a moderate draught of light wine. 
 
 For the young and robust I regard wine as to say 
 the least, unnecessary, but to the aged and weakly 
 or overworked, it is as essential as oil to the works of 
 a clock, it is in fact the " milk of the old." 
 
 There is, however, a growing tendency to give wine . 
 to young children, and this injurious practice cannot 
 be too strongly deprecated. Now, in upholding light
 
 120 
 
 wine, I do not intend to disparage beer, which is 
 more truly a food than spirits, or even wine ; beer is 
 an excellent drink for the man who works hard in the 
 open air, the man who uses his muscles more than 
 his brain, and whose digestion is good ; but it is not 
 suited to those of sedentary pursuits, or for " the 
 harmless conviviality of the table." Let each look 
 around his own circle, and note how few are able to 
 take beer with impunity. There is a very common 
 delusion that beer is much stronger than claret, now, 
 although it undoubtedly contains more sugar, and 
 nitrogenous matter, which renders it more satisfying, 
 its alcoholic strength is not great, for while very 
 good strong old ales are about the strength of natural 
 wines, common table beer is only half as strong as 
 ordinary claret. You must not for an instant sup- 
 pose I am to-night advocating what is called " drink- 
 ing," as I said before, I believe alcohol to be, on the 
 whole, a terrible evil ; according to Dr. dc Marmond 
 it kills by slow and indirect diseases no less than 
 50,000 persons annually in England alone, while 
 Mr. Everett tells us, in his report on the census of 
 America in 1860, that for the last ten years the use 
 of ardent spirits has " first imposed on that nation a 
 direct expense of 600 million of dollars ; secondly, 
 has caused an indirect expense of 600 million dollars ; 
 thirdly, has destroyed 300,000 lives, fourthly, has 
 sent 100,000 children to the workhouse ; fifthly, has 
 committed 150,000 people into prisons, &c. ; sixthly, 
 has made 1,000 insane ; seventhly, has determined 
 at least 2,000 suicides ; eighthly, has caused the loss 
 by fire of 10,000,000 dollars worth of property; 
 ninthly, has made 20,000 widows and one million
 
 121 
 
 orphans." The consumption of spirits in England, 
 in all forms, is about 3 gallons a head annually, 
 which though not large as an average, implies an 
 immense consumption in individual cases. I am 
 happy to say the consumption in England of ardent 
 spirits is decreasing. Now the general use of pure 
 light wines would not only greatly diminish drunken- 
 ness, but would be in many cases an excellent sub- 
 stitute for tea and coffee, which are, I believe, the 
 cause of half the dyspepsia and nervousness of the 
 present generation. Many a dyspeptic would find an 
 immense improvement in his health, if he would only 
 consent to take a tumbler of light wine and water for 
 his breakfast, in place of the nerve-destroying tea 
 now so universal. Dr. Druitt, to whose excellent 
 little book on wine I am so much indebted, defines four 
 kinds of thirst ; the first from excessive perspiration 
 which is almost certainly allayed by water, secondly 
 a false thirst dependant on a disagreeable state of the 
 lining of the mouth and throat, this is not only 
 not relieved, but is aggravated by copious draughts 
 of water, it is a common symptom with dyspeptic 
 people and sickly children ; the third is "a thirst 
 depending entirely on the nervous system, the thirst 
 of mental agitation, bodily pain, or intense fatigue 
 and exhaustion" in this kind of thirst while water 
 only mitigates the sensation, a draught of wine acts 
 like magic ; this is the sort of thirst from which gen- 
 tlemen who are " unaccustomed to public speaking," 
 and lecturers, suffer ; and instead of the traditional 
 glass of water Dr. Druitt says a more advanced know- 
 ledge of physiology would have caused the glass to be 
 filled with wine, to oil the brain, which is really the
 
 122 
 
 dry place. The fourth, he defines as " the thirst that 
 from the soul doth spring" the craving for intellectual 
 enjoyment and gaiety, which light wine satisfies 
 effectually and innocently in a way which nothing 
 else can." As a drink in fever a light sub-acid wine 
 like claret, well diluted is invaluable ; and in cases 
 of ulcerated sore throat, quinsey and such-like, it 
 forms not only an excellent gargle in going down, 
 being both acid and astringent, but is just that light 
 stimulant which is usually required. But the great 
 stumbling block in the way of light wines in England 
 is the bugbear acidity. I am constantly asked why I 
 order claret and other acid wines in cases of dys- 
 pepsia, gout, or rheumatism, where the system is 
 already overloaded with acid. Now it cannot be too 
 widely known that mineral and vegetable acids have no 
 tendency to generate acidity in the system, it is sugar, 
 ami starchy food, and sweet drinks, which ferment in the 
 stomach, and generate free acid ; or the chemical 
 changes which take place in melted fats, &c., which 
 give rise to fatty acids and trouble the dyspeptic. 
 The most trying of these fatty acids is the butyric, 
 the acid which gives so disagreeable a taste to rancid 
 butter or bacon, and which is present in overbaked 
 piecrust, burnt fat, or whenever a greasy substance 
 has been submitted to a very high temperature, these 
 are the acids which try the stomach and give rise to 
 gout, rheumatism, and dyspepsia. It is for this 
 reason that port and sherry, with their uuferrnented 
 sugar, are so injurious to weak digestions, this is why 
 beer, a fluid in a state of half fermentation and con- 
 taining unchanged sugar, is so trying to invalids. 
 Wine, to be safe to such persons, should have
 
 123 
 
 thoroughly completed its fermentation, that is to say, 
 should have converted all its sugar into alcohol and 
 have become what is called " dry," so that no further 
 change or re-fermentation, with evolution of gas, may 
 occur in the stomach. 
 
 The principal acid of wine, is tartaric acid, existing 
 chiefly as tartrate of potass which, combining with the 
 tannin, is deposited on the sides and bottoms of the 
 bottles in old wine, and is known as the " crust." 
 Acid is not only an absolutely essential ingredient in 
 pure wines, but' is the means of developing their 
 bouquet and aroma, by combining with part of their 
 alcohol and giving rise to the numerous ethers, to 
 which old wines owe their fragrance. The ether to 
 which old wine 'is chiefly indebted for its aroma, is 
 enanthic ether, a dense heavy fluid of the same 
 nature as the " sweet spirit of nitre" with which you 
 are all familiar, and which like many other fragrant 
 essences, is, in its concentrated form, exceedingly 
 unpleasant both to the smell and taste ; it is so pow- 
 erful that one part in 200,000 of wine is sufficient to 
 impart to it a decided flavour. The fact of a young, 
 or cheap wine possessing a very decided bouquet? 
 is therefore, always suspicious, and is presumptive 
 evidence of adulteration, for real bouquet can only be 
 imparted to wine by age, and old wine must, of ne- 
 cessity, be dear. The strong muscatel flavour of 
 Moselle wine is almost always produced by elder- 
 flowers, while orris-root, vine flowers and a variety 
 of chemical flavouring and essential oils, some of 
 them exceedingly unwholesome, are often used to 
 give a fictitious bouquet to cheap wines. 
 
 I consider a good sound claret to hold the same
 
 124 
 
 place among wines that mutton does among meats, 
 that is to say it agrees hest with the greatest number, 
 is the most easily attainable, the most generally 
 liked, and is the wine of which we tire least readily. 
 I will briefly describe its preparation, as ah 1 wines are 
 made, with some slight modification, by the same 
 process. The grapes having been gathered, usually 
 about the end of September, are thrown into wooden 
 receptacles, or presses, where they are trodden out by 
 men's feet ; the treading is done, as Dr. Thudichum 
 tells us, to the sound of music, usually a violin or 
 clarionet, " while they dance regular contre-danses 
 till the pulp has been trodden through;" this method, 
 however, is gradually falling into disuse, and many 
 proprietors do not crush their grapes at ah 1 . The 
 liquid which comes from the presses is put into the 
 fermentation vats, together with the stalks, kernels, 
 and skins, the two first of these give ^stringency to 
 the wine, from the tannin they contain, and the 
 skins impart the characteristic red, or claret colour. 
 Many people imagine that red wine is made from 
 purple grapes and white wine from green or white 
 guapes ; this is not so, the colouring matter is given 
 to wine by the skin of the grape, the juice itself being 
 nearly colourless. When red wine is wanted, the 
 skins are allowed to ferment with the wine, and as 
 the colouring matter is soluble only in alcohol, it 
 is dissolved out as soon as the spirit is formed 
 in the nrust. It is quite insoluble in water, as all 
 good housewives know to their cost, when they get 
 wine stains on their tablecloths ; they may, however, 
 be removed by soaking in milk. If white wine be 
 required the skins, stalks, &c., are removed, prior to
 
 125 
 
 fermentation, which accounts for white wines being 
 less astringent than red. The wine usually requires 
 ahout five days to ferment, after which it is run off 
 into large barrels or " barriques" where it is suffered 
 to remain at rest for three or four months, when it is 
 racked off clear into barrels. This racking is repeated 
 three times during the first year, and twice a year 
 subsequently, the object being to free the wine from 
 nitrogenous or fermentable matter. It is left in the 
 barriques about four years, and is then bottled ; it is 
 generally fit for drinking in about six years, though 
 there is a great difference in this respect, some wines 
 requiring twice, or three times as long to mature. 
 It would therefore be absurd to expect cheap wine to 
 be either old, or to have much bouquet ; as I said 
 before, a cheap, bland, non-acid wine with much 
 bouquet is always suggestive of " doctoring." Still, a 
 cheap wine may be both sound and good, and in cer- 
 tain cases better, speaking medically, than an older 
 and more expensive wine, the roughness resulting 
 from the tannin is often valuable, and the acidity 
 which is caused by the tartaric acid and should be 
 always present in new wine, is not only the means 
 of developing fragrant ether hereafter, but materially 
 assists the elirninative action of wine ; the tartness 
 which it communicates to natural wines can always 
 be got rid of by the addition of a little water. In 
 old wines both the tannin and tartaric acid are 
 deposited, leaving the wine more mellow and less 
 acid. How can I describe the flavour of a good 
 Bordeaux wine ? Of course, I do not mean a " vin 
 ordinaire," but a good Chateau Lafitte, or Chateau 
 Margaux, fresh, bright, fragrant with a bouquet
 
 12G 
 
 winch recalls raspberries, pines and roses, just 
 sufficiently sub-acid and sub-astringent to give zest 
 and piquancy, an arorna which lingers on the 
 delighted palate, its very colour a joy ; how different 
 is all this to the hot, coarse, sugary flavour of our 
 fortified favourite wines it is almost an insult to 
 the educated palate to compare the two. 
 
 Burgundy is a wine too little drunk or appreciated 
 in England, and yet, though not so well adapted for 
 for general drinking as claret, it is invaluable in 
 cases where port wine used to be prescribed. It has 
 got a bad character in this country, simply because 
 the French think we like all our full flavoured wines 
 heavily branded, and accordingly they load it for us, 
 just as, in the same way, they' insist on bringing 
 half-raw beefsteaks to every Englishman in a French 
 restaurant, under the delusion we prefer them so ! 
 Druitt, whose cheap and excellent little book I advise 
 you all to get and read, says, Burgundy is to claret, 
 as Aphrodite to a wood nymph ; an excellent simile, 
 the former mature, developed, and luxuriant, the 
 latter piquant, sparkling, like innocent girlhood. 
 For true, full wine flavour there are few wines to be 
 compared to a really good Chambertin or Hermitage, 
 but then it must be good, and is not to be drunk in 
 common like claret. When jaded and exhausted, 
 wearied in mind and body, an honest goblet of 
 Burgundy is one of the finest restoratives I know. 
 It seems impossible that anyone can taste Hermitage 
 and Port side by side (as I invite you to do), and yet 
 hesitate as to which possesses most wine flavour. 
 
 There is one objectionable point in the preparation 
 of Burgundy, and that is the method of mixing the
 
 127 
 
 must or juice, with the murk or pressed-out grapes, 
 husks, &c., which float on the top, and are technicality 
 called the "chapeau." When the fermentation is 
 complete, Dr. Thudichuni tells us, the chapeau is so 
 thick that two or three men can stand on it ; these 
 men (-having previously divested themselves of then- 
 clothe s,) gradually work, first their legs, and then their 
 whole bodies through the chapeau, till they sink down 
 into the wine below, where they work violently with 
 their arms and legstih 1 the whole is thoroughly mixed ; 
 this proceeding has to be repeated twice, the men ah 1 
 the time perspiring profusely and desisting at length 
 in a state of utter prostration, not only from the vio- 
 lent exertion, but from the poisonous effect of 
 breathing the carbonic acid, which is given off from 
 the fermenting liquid ! this obnoxious practice, you 
 will be glad to learn, is being gradually discontinued. 
 I have always regarded Champagne as a paradox, 
 for while theoretically it ought to be, and indeed 
 generally is, an unwholesome wine, yet, in excep- 
 tional cases, it certainly acts like magic. In obsti 
 nate vomiting, in some forms of neuralgia, in in- 
 fluenza, it is often invaluable. When good, it rarely 
 disagrees, if only it be taken when no soh'd food is 
 being consumed, but under ordinary circumstances, 
 except for young people who can digest anything, it 
 is a very trying wine, especially for. the gouty and dys- 
 peptic. I need not tell you there is more champagne 
 sold in London alone than the whole Champagne 
 district could produce, indeed three-fourths of the 
 entire vintage is converted into red wine, and only 
 one-fourth into the effervescing white wine, which we 
 know as Champagne. I say it cannot be a wholesome
 
 128 
 
 wine, for it is essentially a manufactured wine, and 
 is in a state of imperfect fermentation, it is moreover 
 strengthened with brandy, or mixed with other wines 
 and sweetened and flavoured with syrups and liqueurs. 
 The first stage of the manufacture of Champagne is 
 much like that of other wines, it is fermented in the 
 usual way, but not so thoroughly, it is then racked 
 off, fined with isinglass, bottled and wired, and 
 stored up in piles 40 or 50 feet long, by four or 
 five feet high. As the heat of the next summer 
 advances, the wine again ferments, bottles begin to 
 leak and burst, and often as many as 15 or 20 per 
 cent, are wasted. When the cold weather comes on, 
 the fermentation ceases, and the wine has to undergo 
 the process of " disgorging;" this consists of turning 
 the bottles upside down in perforated benches, where 
 they remain until all the deposit settles down above 
 the cork ; the wire is then cut, and the cork adroitly 
 withdrawn, when the sediment is projected with 
 a loud report. The next step is the " liqueuring;"- 
 the liqueur is either made with brandy, or wine, 
 sugar, and liqueurs to flavour it, according to the 
 fancy of the manufacturer, or the market for which 
 it is intended. The French like a very sweet Cham- 
 pagne, and often 40 per cent, of the wine is syrup. 
 We in England prefer a stronger and less sugary 
 wine, while that sent to Austria and Germany is the 
 sweetest of all. 
 
 The Ehine wines, all of which we call hock, are 
 not much consumed in England ; the cheaper sorts, 
 so delicious when drunk on the spot, do not travel 
 well, and the better kinds are too dear for common 
 use. For true grape flavour, for delicate and fragrant
 
 129 
 
 bouquet, I believe no wine comes up to a " cabinet" 
 hock, such as Johannisberg or Steinberg. Good hocks 
 are excellent and wholesome wines, generally better 
 made than the Moselle wines, the peculiar grape-like 
 flavour of which is nearly always obtained hy the ad- 
 dition of elder flowers. Leaving, for the present, the 
 light wines, let us contrast their pure, fresh fragrance 
 with the hot and branded liquid we call sherry. Just as 
 all Ehine wines are called hock, so all the numerous 
 Spanish white wines, sent from all parts of Spam to 
 Xeres, are called sherry. As they are " doctored out 
 of all semblance to themselves," it is perhaps as well 
 to give them one generic title. It is well known that 
 no " natural " or unbrandied sherry is imported'into 
 England it has been several times attempted, but 
 the wines have not hitherto been made with sufficient 
 care and chemical nicety to keep, without the addition 
 of spirit, and have therefore turned "ropy" or as- 
 cescent from the presence of albuminous matter. 
 The best wines in Spain are kept for what they call 
 " soleras." These are only used for flavouring in- 
 ferior wines. Many of these soleras are so strongly 
 flavoured as to be, unless diluted, positively disagree- 
 able to the taste. In making sherry the grapes are 
 thrown into the vats and freely sprinkled with plaster 
 of Paris, or sulphate of lime, the sulphuric acid of 
 which, combining with the potass of the must, pro- 
 duces sulphate of potass, a bitter aperient salt, some- 
 what of the nature of Glauber's salts. The wine is 
 also further impregnated with sulphuric acid, from 
 the practice of burning sulphur in the casks to pre- 
 vent re-fermentation in the imperfectly-made wine. 
 The amontillado flavour which characterises some
 
 130 
 
 sherries, seems to be quite accidental, for of the 
 same vat of wine some barrels will turn out amon- 
 tillado and others ordinary sherry. This charac- 
 teristic bitter flavour appears to be produced by the 
 development of a peculiar principle called aldehyde, 
 a transitional substance between alcohol and acetic 
 acid (or vinegar), so that it is, in fact, caused by a 
 species of degeneration in the wine. What we call a 
 good sherry in this country is a mixture of Spanish 
 white wines, flavoured with a solera, and usually 
 sweetened by the addition of must, or grape juice, which 
 has been boiled and evaporated to the consistency 
 of syrup ; this gives both sweetness and colour. The 
 strength is now artificially augmented by the addi- 
 tion of brandy to double the amount naturally con- 
 tained in the wine ; so that instead of a wine with 
 some 10 or 12 per cent, or alcohol, we have a fluid 
 just about half the strength of gin, containing, in fact, 
 often as much as 42 per cent, of proof spirit. If 
 this is a sample of good, expensive sherry, what are 
 we to expect in the cheap kinds ? These, if they 
 come from Spain at all, are generally ill-made and 
 imperfectly fermented wines, their natural acidity 
 neutralised with lime, sweetened and flavoured 
 with caramel, or partially burnt sugar, and for- 
 tified with rough, raw spirit, made from beetroot, 
 maize, or potatoe sometimes even from roots 
 and containing much noxious fusel oil. Then 
 there are the Elbe and Harnbro' sherries, et hoc 
 fjenus oiiine. These precious concoctions often 
 contain not a single drop of real wine, being com- 
 posed only of cheap and nasty potatoe spirit sweetened 
 with sugar, or glucose (made from sawdust and
 
 131 
 
 vitriol), and flavoured with essence of sherry or capil- 
 laire. Sometimes they are made from acid or spoilt 
 Ehine wines, the acidity heing neutralised with lime. 
 The common spirit of beet or potatoes, worth from 
 Is 3d. to Is. 8d. a gallon, is used to fortify them, and 
 then when sufficiently sweetened with glucose, or 
 cheap sugar, a fine nutty flavour is communicated to 
 them by the imitation of sherry essence. These 
 wines, if they can be so called, are sold at from 
 Is. 6d. to Is. 8d. per bottle, and even at this price 
 realise a handsome profit. People buy these wines 
 because, forsooth, they go so much farther than 
 claret and other light wines ; no wonder they go 
 farther when they are nearly half the strength of gin ! 
 But is it well to dose women and children with stuff 
 like this and call it wine ? It seems to me almost 
 treacherous to allow persons ignorant of the strength 
 of wine fco drinksuch heady, powerful concoctions under 
 the impression that they are taking only light, harm- 
 less wine, whereas they are really imbibing a power- 
 ful dram, and perhaps acquiring a fatal relish for 
 strong stimulants. It is like introducing a foe into 
 the inmost citadel under the guise of a familiar 
 friend. Sherry in its natural state, as drunk in 
 Spain, is a wine of a hock or chablis character, with 
 sometimes a dash of amontillado flavour in fact a 
 wine of much the same character as the Greek St. 
 Elie, though not so strong. Wine merchants tell us 
 that people will not drink a wine of this class in 
 England, that they insist on a total absence of acidity, 
 a certain invariable orthodox flavour, a great alcoholic 
 strength, and a moderate price. To secure these 
 conditions they neutralise the natural acid of the
 
 132 
 
 wine -with plaster of Paris, while the remaining 
 sulphuric and acetic acids are disguised hy the 
 unnatural sweetness of the wine. The addition of 
 spirit enables the producer to meet the other re- 
 quirements of strength and cheapness, for it is not 
 only inexpensive in itself, hut enables an ill-made, 
 poor wine to be sold at once without any costly delay 
 for maturing. Let me again repeat, acidity is 
 natural and essential to wine, though in old wine it 
 becomes relatively less. If you taste this St. Elie, 
 you will say it is decidedly tart, it is in fact a new 
 wine : now compare it with the sweet Vinsanto ; 
 though they are of precisely the same degree of 
 acidity and are made from the same grape, the Vin- 
 santo is so sweet that the taste of the acid is entirely 
 disguised. Sweetness is attained in genuine sweet 
 wines by slightly drying the grapes making them 
 into raisins, before they are fermerted. As much 
 less juice is thus obtained from them, it follows that 
 pure sweet wines must always be dear, and it is just 
 as well they should be, for the unchanged sugar is 
 very apt to set up secondary fermentation in the 
 stomach, and produce acidity, flatulence, and their 
 long train of concomitant evils. Good sherry ought 
 to be, and once was an excellent wine ; and if we 
 can only convince the Spaniards that we insist on 
 having a natural wine, of moderate alcoholic strength, 
 we shall eventually get it. 
 
 We are the only people on the face of the earth 
 who habitually drink such sweet and powerful wines 
 as port and sherry ; and it will no doubt, at some 
 future day, be thought incredible that with the 
 choicest vintages of the world at our command we
 
 133 
 
 voluntarily confined ourselves to these brandied 
 wines. It is true, sherry is occasionally drunk 
 abroad, but only as a liqueur. Apropos of the spirit 
 used for fortifying port and sherry, Dr. Druitt says, 
 " Think of this, ye rosy-gilled commercial travellers 
 ye British farmers, who don't like claret, and vow 
 'tis washy stuff, that would be port if it could ; ye 
 who praise the " body" and potency of port, think to 
 your comfort that this 20 per cent, of added spirit ; 
 this glorious "body" and " strength" that make port 
 and sherry so superior to claret, or other pure 
 wines ; so fit for Englishmen ; that which tints 
 your face and dries your tongue, and causes you to 
 enquire for Seidlitz powders in the morning ; that 
 which enlarges your waistband and makes you ask 
 for a leetle more room over that joint of the big toe 
 costs less than three farthings a bottle !" 
 
 I was speaking just now of Hambro' sherry ; let 
 us hear what Eidley's Wine Circular tells us of its 
 composition. Here is the recipe. Take 40 gallons 
 of potatoe spirit at Is. 4d. a gallon, 2 18s. 6d. ; 
 56 gaUs. of pure Elbe water, cost nil ; 4 galls, of 
 capillaire, 1 ; and to be liberal, allow that 10 galls, 
 of sweet wine or grape juice are added, at a cost of 
 2 ; then for cask, 12s. ; labour and shipping 
 charges, 10s. ; commission, 2s. 6d. ; discount, 4s. ; 
 total, 1 2s. But when the composition consists 
 only of diluted spirits, capillaire, and flavouring, 
 minus the 10 gallons of wine, the first cost does not 
 exceed 5 for 108 gallons, or less than Is. a gaUon, 
 and this is palmed off 011 the English consumer as 
 Elbe and Hambro' sherry. . No wonder they can 
 afford to sell such stuff cheap. If we want to drink
 
 134 
 
 sweetened spirits, how much better it is to buy good 
 old whiskey, and flavour and sweeten it for ourselves ; 
 at any rate we shall then know what we are drink- 
 ing, and shall not be imbibing gout and acidity un- 
 consciously. Alcohol alone will not cause gout ; 
 delirium tremens, disease of the liver, dyspepsia, 
 nervousness, and a host of other complaints it will 
 and does produce, but not gout at least when it is 
 taken alone it is only when mixed with sugar and 
 nitrogenous fermentable matter, that it causes gout. 
 It is for this reason doctors so often order claret and 
 whisky, and forbid you to mix either of them with 
 sugar. It grieves me to say it, but the ladies are the 
 great friends and advocates of fortified wines ; they 
 always like something "hot, strong, and sweet," 
 something that, as they express it, " warms them as 
 it goes down !" It reminds one of the story of the 
 Glasgow man who went into a chemist's shop to buy 
 a " go" of whisky. As they are very strict in Glas- 
 gow with regard to selling spirits on Sunday, the 
 chemists retail them as " medicine." The assistant 
 made a mistake and gave our friend a glass of diluted 
 vitriol instead of spirits, which he not only swallowed, 
 but protested, with tears in his eyes, it was the 
 " best drap o.' whisky he'd tasted for rnony a day." 
 Londoners frequently prefer their gin strengthened 
 with vitriol and turpentine, so as to burn the throat 
 well ; but ladies, so sensitive and delicate in most 
 things, whose palates ought to be naturally more 
 refined than our own should really set a better 
 example to our ruder and coarser sex, and should 
 favour, rather than discourage, a taste for natural 
 \vines.
 
 185 
 
 A hundred and fifty years ago, claret and Bur- 
 gundy were the wines invariably consumed by the 
 upper classes, not only in England, but in Ireland 
 and Scotland ; the introduction of port was entirely a 
 political measure. It was considered advisable, at 
 once to conciliate the Portuguese and to punish the 
 French for their sympathy with the Stuarts ; the 
 consequence was the Methuen Treaty, which admit- 
 ted Portuguese wines at a small duty, while the 
 wines of France were taxed to an extent which was 
 practically prohibitory. You must not imagine this 
 violent interference with the public taste was not 
 resented, on the contrary there were murmurs loud 
 and deep, innumerable squibs, lampoons, and satires 
 were written on the subject, two of which, " The 
 Farewell to Wine," and " The Contention of 
 Liquors," I hold in my hand. Port was stigma- 
 tised as ''sluggish," "dull," "thick," "muddled," 
 "vile," and "poisonous;" it was ridiculed on 
 the stage, and nicknamed "black-strap" and 
 " Methuen," after Paul Methuen, our ambassador at 
 Lisbon, just as cheap claret is now called " Gladstone" 
 Port was credited with causing every possible and 
 impossible evil ; one writer says : 
 
 " Proud and erect the Caledonian stood, 
 Sound was his claret, and his mutton good ; 
 Let him drink port, the English i-tatesmen cried 
 He drank the poi?on, arid his spirit died." 
 However, Englishmen-like, though we grumbled, we 
 at first tolerated, and ended by loving the new bever- 
 age. "Never was there a more complete instance of 
 legislation altering the taste of an entire nation." In 
 time port became the fashion, and then its fortune 
 was made. Very few of us take the trouble to think
 
 186 
 
 for ourselves, we like to get that done for us ; and, 
 after all, habit is far stronger than judgment ; as we 
 all dress alike, so we all drink alike, without much 
 reference to individual taste. At last medical men 
 began to prescribe port, and in their justification, it 
 must be said that it was at that time a far better aift 
 purer wine than it now is ; there is no doubt that; *:& 
 a period when a strong prejudice existed against 
 stimulants in medicine, good old port, with its 20 or 
 30 per cent, of proof spirit, (far stronger than the 
 public imagined) did excellent service, especially at a 
 time when blood-letting was so much in vogue. 
 And here let me say that I have no intention of 
 detracting from the merits of really good, old (not 
 too old) port, it undoubtedly has its uses, especially 
 in sickness and old age. But we must remember it 
 is essentially a liqueur wine, a combination of strong 
 spirit and luscious, but not fully fermented, grape 
 juice ; with age it acquires wonderful mellowness 
 and real wine flavour. It ought, however, to be 
 sipped in small glasses, not to be taken at a meal as 
 we should quaff pure, natural, light wine. As the 
 nigger steward said, it is a " drinkee for drunkee, 
 not a drinkee for dry." Let us see, now, how port 
 wine is made. The grapes are thrown indiscrimi- 
 nately together with their stalks and skins, into 
 large stone-built vats called "lagars," where they 
 are trodden out by the naked feet of men. When 
 the fermentation has proceeded a certain length, the 
 whole mass is gently agitated, either by tools or by 
 men who get into the vats naked (Thudichuin), so 
 that the stalks and husks may be intimately mixed 
 with the must. A large quantity of brandy is now
 
 137 
 
 added, in the proportion of from twelve to twenty four 
 gallons to the pipe of must, to check fermentation 
 and ensure sweetness, by preventing the entire 
 conversion of the sugar of the must into alcohol. 
 The wine is then removed from the vat and placed in 
 tonels, where the colour is deepened, except in the 
 most expensive wines, by either dried elderberries or 
 a thick luscious syrup called " jeropiga." This used 
 to be made, formerly, of pure, unfermeuted grape 
 juice, or must, evaporated to the consistency of 
 syrup, and strengthened with a large proportion of 
 brandy. Now it is often made with sugar and water, 
 coloured with Brazil or logwood, black cherries, or 
 elderberries, and strongly dosed with spirits ; Baron 
 Forrester describes a variety of "jeropiga" composed 
 of treacle, unfermented must, elderberries, and 
 brandy. This compound is called " the doctor." 
 Another addition of from four to six gallons of brandy 
 per pipe is now made, after which the wine remains 
 quiescent for two months ; it is then racked two or 
 three times and receives a further dose of two gallons 
 of brandy to each pipe. 
 
 Now, this brandy was originally made from the 
 native grapes ; afterwards it was imported in large 
 quantities from England. In 1864 we received from 
 Portugal 3,344,871 gallons of port wine, while they 
 in return took from England 1,630,804 gallons of 
 spirit. (Kidley.) Dr. Druitt pithily remarks, " He 
 must be dull indeed who does not see that in paying 
 high prices for port wine, we are, in fact, buying 
 back very deaiiythe British spirits we have ourselves 
 manufactured." But now we have not even the 
 miserable satisfaction of being dosed with spirits of
 
 138 
 
 our own manufacture, for the Portuguese have 
 discovered that they can he supplied from Prussia 
 with a very cheap, low-class spirit made from potatoes 
 and roots, and containing, of course, much fusel 
 oil ; so they no longer deal largely with us. What is 
 worse still, we are told that this coarse spirit is 
 extensively used in England for fortifying wine in 
 bond. The addition of hrandy to port or sherry 
 answers several purposes : First, it ensures sweet- 
 ness by checking complete fermentation and retaining 
 sugar in the wine. Secondly, it prevents re-ferment- 
 ation when it travels, so that the producer, instead 
 of having to keep his wine in the cellar for four or 
 five years, can sell il at once without fear of its 
 spoiling ; and thirdly, as the added spirit is cheaper 
 than good wine, he is able to introduce another 
 element of profit. Thousands of gallons of port 
 are sold which have never been near Portugal. 
 They are made of spoilt, or inferior French or German 
 wines sometimes even of sour cyder, the acidity of 
 which is neutralised with chalk or lime ; they are 
 then flavoured, coloured, brandied, and sweetened up 
 to our standard. As I before observed, nothing is so 
 easy to imitate as a doctored wine. I am told that 
 excellent " public-house port," "fine tawney wine, 
 old in the wood," &c., " with peculiar bouquet" (very 
 peculiar !) is sold, which contains no trace of wine at all. 
 At Cette, Marseilles, and other places in France, but 
 especially at the first-named, there are regular 
 manufactories for fabricating artificial wines. 
 " Amelioration des Vins," as they delicately phrase 
 it ! This is so thoroughly recognised a branch of 
 industry, that some of these licensed wine-forgers
 
 139 
 
 were actually awarded prizes at the last Paris Exhi- 
 bition for the best imitation wines ! 
 
 At Cettte you may get the common acid rough 
 wine, which, as the French say, takes two to drink 
 it, one to hold and the other to swallow you may 
 get this wretched stuff transformed into splendid 
 Hermitage or Chateau Lafitte ; the rough, strong 
 wines of the Midi are made into English port, and 
 acid hock or Moselle into Cabinet Johannisberg ! 
 There are in Cette alone 176 houses engaged in this 
 trade, and they use two and a-half million litres of 
 alcohol for fortifying their spurious wines. As to 
 really good wine, that is represented only by various 
 essences and dyes, such as " Alcolat de framboises 
 parfumee," "Extrait de Bordeaux," " Seve de Her- 
 mitage," " Bouquet de Pomard, &c., and a fine rich 
 colour is given by a dye called " Teinte Bordelaise." 
 Some of this stuff is sold as cheaply as six francs 
 the case of one dozen bottles, which, deducting the 
 cost of case, bottles, labels, &c., leaves about two- 
 pence half-penny as the price of each bottleful of 
 wine ! You will be relieved to hear that little or 
 none of this liquid comes to England, as it is sent 
 principally to the Colonies. 
 
 The difference of flavour between a pure, well fer- 
 mented, natural wine and the sweet, haft-fermented, 
 brandied compositions, which we drink under the 
 names of port and sherry, is so marked that I can 
 hardly understand anyone choosing the artificial 
 rather than the natural, the sophisticated rather than 
 the pure. It is like preferring a pungent pinch of 
 snuff, to the pure fragrance of the violet or the rose, 
 the gaudy colouring of a newly-painted sign-board
 
 140 
 
 to the lovely tints of a sunset by Claude, or a 
 Madonna by Correggio, the painted tinselled beauty 
 of the actress to the purity, freshness, and grace of 
 girlhood. Of course taste in wine is like taste in 
 music or art the palate, like the ear and the eye, 
 requires cultivation ; no one would expect an un- 
 sophisticated ear to prefer a symphony of Haydn or 
 Beethoven, to a merry dance tune, and any of us in 
 a picture gallery must have been struck by the 
 crowds gathered round some garish, highly- coloured 
 battle-piece, and ignoring some priceless gem of art 
 by its side. The alcohol must be thoroughly washed 
 off the national palate, before we can properly ap- 
 preciate the delicate flavour of pure wines. For the 
 last hundred years we have looked up reverently to a 
 false standard ; we have regarded port as the type of 
 a red, and sherry as the type of a white wine. We 
 unconsciously contrast other wines with these and 
 call them cold, or dry, or acid, or rough, according 
 to the extent to which they differ from our spurious 
 standard. But do wine-drinking nations nations 
 whose palates have been educated by centuries of 
 experience do these people prefer sweetened and 
 brandied wines ? Do the French drink them ? The 
 Germans ? Or, most significant of ah 1 , do their pro- 
 ducers the Spaniards and Portuguese drink them ? 
 Pas si bete. These wines are specially prepared for 
 the English markets, and are made, not to drink, 
 but to sell. And how have we acquired tin's vitiated 
 taste ? How is it that port and sherry have become 
 " household words" with us ? Is it because of the 
 dampness and coldness of our climate ? Not at ah 1 ; 
 our climate is no colder or damper than it was before
 
 141 
 
 port wine was known in England. The taste for 
 branched wines, is entirely an artificial one, and we 
 drink them for no better reason than that our fathers 
 drank them before us. 
 
 If we require, or rather prefer, a stronger wine 
 than claret or hock, then the Greek or Austra- 
 lian are the wines to drink. These wines were 
 introduced into this country by Mr. Denman, who 
 has not only written a standard work on wine, but is 
 the author of numerous pamphlets in praise of 
 natural wine. The Greek wines are at present pure, 
 unbrandied, unsophisticated ; fragrant of the honey- 
 flavoured grapes which grow in their sunny clime ; 
 beautiful, even in name, they are the perfection of 
 a natural wine. Their alcoholic strength is 24 or 25 
 per cent, of proof spirit ; they are consequently 
 stronger than claret or hock, which contain from 16 
 to 18 per cent of spirit, and form an excellent tran- 
 sitional wine for those who are hardly as yet weaned 
 from fortified wines. St. Elie (the wine of night) is 
 as far superior to sherry, as champagne is to table- 
 beer the flavour, a delicious compound of chablis 
 and amontillado, like yet unlike, but thoroughly 
 vinous, and a wine that you feel to be wine, even to 
 the tips of your toes, as you drink it ! White 
 Kephisia, Thera, Patras ; taste them side-by-side 
 with our standard sherry, and say which has the 
 most delicacy of flavour. The red wines are excellent 
 but very rough and acid when new ; when mixed with 
 one-third water they are still as strong as French 
 wines, so that their price is really one-third lower than 
 claret of the same nominal value. These wines are 
 grown on a volcanic soil the soil which always pro-
 
 142 
 
 duces the finest-flavoured grapes and they would, 
 I do not doubt, if it were not for their acidity 
 and a certain roughness which only young people 
 can tolerate, hecome favourite wines in England. 
 Then there are the wines of Australia, not half suffi- 
 ciently known, or appreciated, in this country. The 
 first specimens sent over were certainly far from 
 satisfactory, hut now Mr. Auld, the father of 
 Australian viticulture, produces wines which, for 
 delicacy and flavour, will compete favourably 
 with those of any of the older wine countries. The 
 white and ruby Auldana are delicious wines, and are 
 prepared with a care and cleanliness which are 
 beyond praise. However good a wine may be we 
 sometimes require a change, toitjour perdrix is some- 
 what monotonous, and when we want a vaiiety, the 
 Hungarian wines offer a delightful resource ; sound, 
 of good alcoholic strength, delicate and original in 
 flavour, they are ah 1 the most sensitive palate could 
 desire. Their name is legion, and if their producers 
 will only be wise and keep down their price, to what 
 it ought to be (for in Hungary wine is very cheap), 
 they will be far more generally drunk than they are. 
 Carlowitz is an exceUent wine, fuller and more fruity 
 than claret, and has already made itself a name both 
 with the doctors and the public. Ofner Auflese (first 
 growth) is a delicious wine, as indeed are numbers 
 of the others, but the multitude of names is rather 
 bewildering, and it is difficult to recall their several 
 flavours. The best plan with these Greek, Australian 
 and Hungarian wines, is to order a sample hamper 
 from your own wine merchant, and judge for your- 
 self; always remembering that all pure natural wines
 
 143 
 
 must, of necessity, le add. and generally are rough, 
 when new. Natural wines mature far more rapidly 
 thaa fortified wine, and are generally in excellent 
 condition when three or four years in bottle. Seneca, 
 in his epistle to Lucilius, says that he prefers a young 
 man of a grave temper, even though rough and dis- 
 agreeable, to one who is more lively and pleasing to 
 the vulgar ; wine which when recent is rough and 
 hard, will by time acquire strength and agreeable 
 qualities ; but the sweet wine which pleases when 
 young, will not be durable or improve by time. 
 
 Do not for an instant imagine I have any " hobby" 
 on the subject of wines, or that I wish unduly to de- 
 preciate port and sherry ; when old and good they 
 are, in some cases, most valuable liqueur wines, but 
 then, when old and good, they are far too dear for 
 ordinary use. No doubt a much better class -ef port 
 and sherry was formerly imported into England, 
 but the excessive demand for them and the facility 
 with which they could be imitated, has led to a great 
 deterioration in their quality, in other words to their 
 adulteration ; for I contend it is no less adulteration 
 to put lime and potatoe spirit in wine, than it is to 
 put alum and potatoes in bread. 
 
 There ha's been an immense increase in the con- 
 sumption of light wine in England since the altera- 
 tion of the duty in 1859, and it is still, I am happy 
 to say, on the increase. Previous to 1859, the im- 
 portation of wine from France was 625,932 gallons, 
 last year it was 5,714,030 gallons, an increase of five 
 million gallons. The importations of port and sherry 
 have increased it is true, though in nothing like the 
 same proportion, but this is less a sign of a greater
 
 144 
 
 taste for these wines, than a result of the improve- 
 ment of our material prosperity, for somehow a quart 
 decanter of port, or sherry, has come to be regarded 
 as almost a criterion of assured respectability ! 
 
 There is little or no re-action after drinking a mo- 
 derate quantity of pure wine, and there is no doubt 
 that its effects are quite different from those produced 
 by drinking a mixture of spirits and water of the 
 same strength, nor does it produce intoxication 
 nearly so rapidly. Why this is, it is difficult to 
 explain, for, as I said before, chemistry throws no 
 light on the subject, but there is no doubt there is 
 some property in the marvellous mixture of acids, 
 ethers, alcohols, phosphates, and nearly a hundred 
 other substances of which wine consists, in other 
 words in the " naturalness" of wine, which causes it 
 to act in a more beneficent manner, than any arti- 
 ficial imitation of it can do. In the same way a 
 natural mineral water (and wine contains more 
 mineral matter than many mineral waters), acts 
 quite differently from an artificial water, although it 
 may contain precisely the same ingredients, grain 
 for grain. 
 
 I, therefore, contend that, next to pure water, 
 natural wine occupies the highest place as a general 
 beverage ; to be wholesome, it must be pure, must 
 contain its due proportion of acids, ethers, and 
 alcohol, any changing of the one, or adding to the 
 other, being prejudicial alike, to health and morality. 
 
 [Vide Dr. Druitt, on wine ; Thudichim and Dupre's ' Chemis- 
 try of Wine;" Mr. J. L. Denman's "The Vine and its Fruit" 
 " Pure "Wine," &c., &c.]
 
 A FEW WOBDS ABOUT COMETS. 
 
 1874. 
 
 Coggia's brilliant comet which has just left us, and 
 which is now displaying its glories at the antipodes, 
 has excited much popular as well as scientific in- 
 terest, both from its splendour, its unexpected ap- 
 pearance and its sudden departure. Although comets 
 are no longer regarded with the superstitious awe 
 and terror of former ages, when they were looked 
 upon as the certain harbingers of death and disaster, 
 there still exists considerable doubt and misappre- 
 hension as to their real nature and characteristics ; 
 doubts which, as yet, science is unable wholly to 
 solve. This is especially remarkable with regard 
 to the effect of a possible collision between our earth 
 and one of these erratic visitors. 
 
 The number of comets traversing our solar system 
 is enormous, and may certainly be reckoned by 
 millions ; some astronomers, Lambert for example, 
 say by hundreds of millions. Very few, however, of 
 this vast number come within the sphere of our 
 vision, for their tenuity and transparency are so 
 great that they are invisible at very great distances, 
 and only a few of those that traverse our system are 
 well placed for observation when nearest the sun. 
 Comets are now generally believed to be gaseous 
 bodies in a state of incandescence or white heat, 
 shining partly by light reflected from the sun (in the
 
 146 
 
 same way as the moon) and partly from beat which 
 is inherent, or self- generated. As comets approach 
 nearer to the sun, and his attraction becomes more 
 powerful, their velocity, temperature, and brilliancy 
 increase enormously ; the comet of 1680, which 
 almost brushed the surface of the sun, moved at its 
 nearest approach at the rate of 1,200,000 miles an 
 hour and threw out a tail of sixty millions of miles 
 in the short space of two days, its temperature being 
 at the time about 2,000 times the heat of red hot 
 iron! 
 
 The name comet, as I daresay most of you know, 
 is derived from the Greek word kometes, hairy, in 
 allusion to the flowing nebulous matter seen around 
 the nucleus or kernel. Some comets revolve round 
 the sun in comparatively short periods, and we have 
 a little family of what we may call " Home Comets," 
 such as Encke's, Halley's, Faye's, &c., which com- 
 plete their revolutions in periods varying from three- 
 and-a-half to 76 years ; these ah 1 move in ellipses or 
 elongated ovals of various lengths and diameters. 
 Then there are the long period comets which revolve 
 in enormous elliptical orbits ; in periods varying 
 from 2, or 3,000 to 100,000 years. The comet of 
 July, 1844, for example, is expected to return here 
 again about the year 101,844, that is to say in some- 
 thing like 100,000 years. Some comets again move 
 in what are called parabolas, or open curves, in con- 
 tra-distinction to ellipses or closed curves, curves so 
 slight that it appears impossible the ends can ever 
 meet. It seems as though these comets simply 
 dashed straight down at our sun, perhaps from some 
 far distant system, and then passed on into space
 
 147 
 
 never again to return, at least within any conceivable 
 length of time. And yet it is quite possible that 
 these apparently parabolic paths, are merely seg- 
 ments of some enormous elliptical orbit. We know 
 that our sun is not really fixed and stationary, but 
 that he is moving at the rate of 14,000 miles an hour 
 (carrying the whole of our solar system with him) 
 round some far distant centre in the neighbourhood 
 of the Pleiades. Is it not then possible that comets 
 are no exception, as is generally supposed, to the 
 otherwise universal law of orbital or circular move- 
 ments among heavenly bodies, but may be moving 
 in infinitely vast circles round the same far distant 
 centre as our sun ? One of the most striking points 
 about comets is the enormous dimensions they attain, 
 and their very small comparative weight, thus a 
 mass of comet hundreds of thousands of miles in 
 volume may weigh only a few ounces or a few pounds. 
 The head of the great comet of 1811 was calculated 
 at 1,250,000 miles in diameter, it must have been 
 therefore three times the size of the sun. Now when 
 we remember that the sun is so large that were it 
 placed in the position of our earth it would not only 
 occupy all the space intervening between us and the 
 moon, but extend as far again beyond, we may per- 
 haps be able to form some slight conception of the 
 vast proportions of a comet of which the head alone 
 occupied a s pace three times as large ! It was in 
 tact equal to four million times the size of the earth, 
 and if we include the tail it was not less than 500 
 million times as large as our little planet. The 
 comet of 1843 again had a tail 200 millions of miles 
 in length, more than double the distance we are froin
 
 148 
 
 the sun, so that it would not only have reached from 
 here to the surface of our great huniiiary, but as far 
 again beyond him. This enormous tail was thrown 
 out in twenty days. But 'when we come to investi- 
 gate the weight of these enormous volumes we find 
 them singularly disproportionate to their size, they 
 are in fact thousands of times lighter than the air 
 we breathe. Their mass is not only gaseous, but it 
 is gas of such extreme rarity and transparency that 
 no amount of it impedes our vision ; the star Arcturus 
 was plainly visible through the tailof Donati's comet 
 in 1858, where it was 90,000 miles in diameter, and 
 even faint stars shine through their mass with undi- 
 minished lustre, indeed the nucleus itself, which is 
 of course the densest part, often permits stars to be 
 seen through it. As to the actual weight it is hardly 
 possible for us to imagine anything light enough to 
 compare with it, as it is far less dense than the so- 
 called vacuum in the interior of an air pump. This 
 extreme rarity need not surprise us when we learn 
 that one cubic inch of air, if removed 4000 miles 
 beyond the earth's surface would expand sufficiently 
 to fill a sphere equal to the space occupied by the 
 sun and the whole of the solar system as far as 
 the orbit of Neptune, or something like four billions 
 of miles in diameter, a space of which the mind is 
 utterly powerless to form any conception. 
 
 There are many extraordinary phenomena about 
 comets which astronomers are quite unable to under- 
 stand or explain, and one of the most puzzling is the 
 fact of their tails being always turned away from the 
 sun, whether they are approaching to, or receding 
 from him. We could imagine that the denser
 
 149 
 
 nucleus might, under the influence of the sun's 
 attraction, move faster than the feathery tail, or that 
 it might stream out behind the head, during its 
 approach to the sun, like the smoke from a locomo- 
 tive or steamer, though of course there is in space 
 no atmosphere to produce this effect ; but how can 
 we explain the tail flowing in front of the head as it 
 recedes from the sun ? IvI. Faye, the celebrated 
 astronomer, says it is due to a repulsive action exer- 
 cised by the sun by virtue of its heat, at the same 
 tune that it attracts by virtue of its mass. By some 
 it is attributed to electrical action, which would also 
 account for some of the light which is undoubtedly 
 inherent in comets. 
 
 The speed with which comets move through space 
 is very variable, for while at their greatest distance 
 from the sun they may travel only at the rate of two 
 or three yards a second, as they approach nearer and 
 nearer, their pace waxes fast and furious, reaching 
 sometimes a velocity of over a million miles an hour, 
 and jets of incandescent gas are thrown out tending 
 to swell the enormous bulk of the tail, which has 
 been known to increase at the rate of 30 millions of 
 miles a day. 
 
 That the weight of comets is very small we know 
 from what happened to the comet of 1770. This 
 unfortunate wanderer was attracted by, and entangled 
 among Jupiter's moons, where it was detained in 
 captivity for four months, and although its mass 
 was not sufficient to influence, in the slightest degree, 
 these small satellites, it was so seriously deflected 
 from its course that its entire orbit was changed 
 and from being a long period comet it was altered
 
 150 
 
 into one of a short period of 20 years or so. This is 
 one of the most extraordinary facts ever recorded in 
 astronomy, for it seems impossible to understand 
 how any body could be thus checked in its course, 
 and thereby deprived of its initial velocity, and then 
 after four months of comparative inertia, start off 
 again on its career with undiminished speed. 
 
 The only way in which a collision between our 
 earth and a comet could possibly take place is 
 by their paths or orbits, intersecting one another, 
 and then by their both happening to arrive at 
 this point of intersection at the same identical 
 moment of time. Tin's is a very improbable occur- 
 rence in any case, and as far as the known comets 
 are concerned it is an impossibility, for none of their 
 orbits happen to intersect that of the earth or indeed 
 any of the planets. Besides which our earth is pro- 
 tected on all sides by a belt of tiny planets or 
 asteroids numbering nearly 400,000 (many of them 
 not larger than a labourer's cottage) with which an 
 approaching comet must almost necessarily come in 
 contact first. It is, however, within the limits of 
 possibility that of the millions of comets traversing 
 space, some may pursue a course which inter- 
 sects that of the earth, and if one of them 
 chanced to arrive at this critical point at the same 
 instant, a collision would ensue. Now if this very 
 remote possibility were actually to occur, what would 
 be the result ? Well, it would be in ah 1 probability 
 like Stephenson's cow, " vera bad for the comet." 
 When Stephenson was giving evidence before a 
 Parliamentary Committee, in the early days of rail- 
 roads, some obstructive committee man gravely said,
 
 151 
 
 " Well, Mr. Stephenson, suppose now a cow were to 
 get in the way of one of these wonderful engines of 
 yours, going at this tremendous rate of 15 or 20 
 miles an hour, would it not be very awkward ?" 
 "Vera awkward," replied Stephenson, drily, "for 
 the coo !" 
 
 There is every reason to believe that we actually 
 did pass through the tail of the large comet of 1861, 
 and the only effect produced was a peculiar phos- 
 phorescent appearance in the air. However we are 
 told by M. Faye that it is not safe to assume that no 
 collision with a comet coiild possibly hurt us. 
 Donati's comet, for example, although excessively 
 rare, was calculated to equal in weight a sea of 
 48,000 square miles in surface, and a depth of 125 
 yards. Now such a mass as this striking the earth 
 with a velocity of 41 miles a second, or 150,000 an 
 hour would M. Faye tells us " generate heat sufficient 
 to shatter, dissolve and volatilize a portion of the 
 earth's crust and destroy all living creatures." But 
 with all due respect to so high an authority, I cannot 
 help thinking he forgets over how large an area this 
 weight is distributed, and that it could not possibly 
 strike the earth in a concentrated form. I believe 
 the earth would shoot through the nebulous haze 
 composing a comet as easily as a cannon ball would 
 traverse a fog, and with no more injury. However 
 this may be, it is not very likely that we shall ever 
 try the experiment, for the chances have been calcu- 
 lated, and it has been found that, supposing the 
 number of unknown comets, traversing the solar 
 system to be the largest possible, i.e. many millions ; 
 the chances against any one comet intersecting the
 
 152 
 
 same point of the earth's orbit at the same moment, is 
 something like 281 millions to one ! 
 
 There is a very prevalent idea that there is some 
 eounectiou hetween comets and warm, weather ; this 
 is a mistake, as constant observations have been made 
 by various astronomers for over 70 years uninter- 
 ruptedly, and it has been found that there is not the 
 slightest connection between a high temperature and 
 the appearance of a comet. You must all remember 
 the great variations from hot to cold weather during 
 the appearance of the late comet, and that even 
 while it was at its brightest. It is true that good 
 vintages have occasionally accompanied the appear- 
 ance of a comet, which is not wonderful as they 
 average two a year, but it does not follow that they 
 were caused by it any more than the crowds in the 
 Boulevards which, as the story runs, a French lady 
 thought were assembled there because of her ap- 
 pearance whenever she looked out of window. The 
 comet which has just left us was an unexpected 
 visitor, and is not likely to return for many ages. It 
 was first discovered on the 17th April, by M. Coggia, 
 of Marseilles, after whom it has been named. I 
 have here a rough diagram (after a drawing of 
 Norman Lockyer) of the head of the late cornet, 
 shov/ing the nucleus and coma as seen through the 
 magnificent telescope of Mr. Newall. It is a striking 
 proof of the extreme transparency and tenuity of 
 comets, that although a most sensitive photographic 
 plate was exposed to the influence of this one for ten 
 minutes it afforded not the slightest trace of an 
 image, though a faint star shining at the same tune 
 produced an impression in two minutes.
 
 153 
 
 Our knowledge of comets is still very imperfect, 
 and the facts revealed by the telescope and spectro- 
 scope, though deeply interesting, are most perplex- 
 ing and contradictory. Spectrum analysis has lately 
 afforded some presumptive evidence of the truth of 
 the novel theory that the mysterious Aurora Borealis, 
 which has so long puzzled astronomers, is caused by 
 the passage of the earth through the tail of a comet. 
 1 think, too, we have already abundant evidence to 
 prove that the old bugbear of a possible collision 
 between the earth and a comet is a purely imaginary 
 danger. 
 
 [Vide Norman Lockyer's "Astronomy," Ed. Proctor, Guil- 
 lemin, " The Heavens," &c.
 
 THE DEVIL FISH, OCTOPUS, OE MAN- 
 SUCKEE. 
 
 I have preferred calling the subject of this paper 
 by its popular name (at the risk of shocking your 
 susceptibilities) because I thought if a paper were 
 announced under the title " Acetabuliferous Cepha- 
 lopoda," it would have frightened many of you from 
 coming here at all. The subject was suggested to 
 me by ajar of baby cuttle-fish and eggs, presented 
 to me by a sailor, and which he called " the wonders 
 of the deep." I wish I could have brought them 
 here to-night as they then appeared, but they died in 
 a few hours, and I can now only show you their 
 pickled remains ; when alive they were darting about 
 the water with the greatest vivacity and grace, tail 
 first, as is the fashion with all the cephalopods. 
 The family of the Acetabuliferous Cephalopods, 
 derives its name from the Greek words, kephale a 
 head, and pous-podos a foot (head-footed), "and 
 Acetabuluni, the Latin for a shallow cup, in allusion 
 to their suckers, which I will explain presently ; it 
 includes the Cuttle-fish or Sepia, the squids or 
 Calarnaries, and the Argonaut or Nautilus, and is 
 represented in the secondary Geological epoch by 
 the Belemnites and Ammonites, both of which are 
 now extinct, but their fossil remains are plentifully 
 found in the blue gault at Eastwear Bay, and 
 elsewhere.
 
 155 
 
 The Octopus (from octo, eight, and pous, a foot,) 
 which is just now the hero of the Brighton and 
 Crystal Palace aquaria, is perhaps the best repre- 
 sentative of the group, and it is to this, and other 
 closely allied species, that the term Devil-fish is 
 especially applicable. 
 
 A most graphic account of a combat with a 
 gigantic octopus is given by Victor Hugo in his 
 " Toilers of tlie Sea." A Guernsey fisherman had 
 waded into a gloomy cavern among the rocks, in 
 search of a large crab, he was up to his shoulders in 
 the water, when he observed a dark fissure, 
 just above the level of the sea, in which he 
 thought the crab might have taken refuge ; then, to 
 quote the words of the author, " he plunged his 
 hand in as far as possible and groped about in that 
 dusky aperture ; suddenly he felt himself seized by 
 the arm ; a strange indescribable horror thrilled 
 through him. Some living thing, thin, rough, flat, 
 cold, slimy, had twisted itself round his naked arm 
 in the dark depth below. It crept upwards towards 
 his chest. Its pressure was like a tightening cord ; 
 its steady persistence like that of a screw. In less 
 than a minute some mysterious spiral form had 
 passed round his wrist and elbow, and had reached 
 his shoulder. A sharp point penetrated beneath the 
 arm-pit. Gilliatt recoiled ; but he had scarcely 
 power to move. He was, as it were, nailed to the 
 place. With his left hand, which was disengaged, 
 he seized his knife, which he still held between his 
 teeth, and with that hand holding the knife he sup- 
 ported himself against the rocks, while he made a 
 desperate effort to withdraw his arm. He succeeded
 
 156 
 
 only in disturbing his persecutor, which wound itself, 
 still tighter. It was supple as leather, strong as 
 steel, cold as night. A second form, sharp, elon- 
 gated, and narrow, issued out of the crevice, like a 
 tongue out of monstrous jaws. It seemed to lick his 
 naked body. Then suddenly stretching out, it 
 became longer and thinner, as it crept over his skin 
 and wound itself round him. At the same time a 
 terrible sense of pain, comparable to nothing he had 
 ever known, compelled ah 1 his muscles to contract. 
 He felt upon his skin a number of flat rounded 
 points. It seemed as if innumerable suckers had 
 fastened to his flesh and were about to drink his 
 blood. A third long undulating shape issued from 
 the hole in the rock, seemed to feel its way about his 
 body, lashed round his ribs like a cord, and fixed 
 itself there. Agony when at its height is mute. 
 Gilliatt uttered no cry. There was sufficient light 
 for him to see the repulsive forms which had 
 entangled themselves about him. A fourth ligature, 
 but this one as swift as an arrow, darted towards Ins 
 waist and wound around him there. It was im- 
 possible to sever or tear away the slimy bands, which 
 were twisted tightly round his body, and were 
 adhering by a number of points. Each of the points 
 was a focus of frightful and singular pangs. It was 
 as if numberless small mouths were devouring him 
 at the same time. A fifth long, slimy, ribband- 
 shaped strip issued from the hole. It passed over 
 the others and wound itself tightly around his chest. 
 The compression increased his sufferings. He could 
 scarcely breathe. These riving thongs were pointed 
 at their extremities but broadened like the blade of a
 
 157 
 
 -sword towards its hilt. All belonged evidently to 
 the same centre. They crept and glided about him ; 
 he felt the strange points of pressure, which seemed 
 to him like mouths, change their places from time 
 to time. Suddenly a large, round, flattened, 
 glutinous mass issued from beneath the crevice. It 
 was the centre ; the five thongs were attached to it 
 like spokes to the nave of a wheel. On the opposite 
 side of this disgusting monster appeared the com- 
 mencement of three other tentacles, the ends of 
 which remained under the rock. In the middle of 
 this slimy mass appeared two eyes. The eyes were 
 fixed on Gilliatt. He recognised the Devil-fish. . . 
 He was in the water up to his belt ; his 
 naked feet clutching the slippery roundness of the 
 huge stones at the bottom ; his right arm bound and 
 rendered powerless by the flat coils of the long ten- 
 tacles of the creature, and his body almost hidden 
 under the folds and cross-folds of this horrible band- 
 age. Of the eight arms of the Devil-fish three adhered 
 to the rock, while five encircled Gilliatt. In this 
 way, clinging to the granite on the one hand, and 
 with the other to its human prey, it enchained him 
 to the rock, eighteen hundred suckers were upon him, 
 tormenting him with agony and loathing. He was 
 grasped by gigantic hands, the fingers of which were 
 nearly a yard long, and furnished inside with living 
 blisters eating into the flesh. It is impossible to 
 tear oneself from the folds of the Devil-fish, the 
 attempt ends only iu a firmer grasp. The monster 
 cling!; with more determined force. Its effort in- 
 creases with that of its victim ; every struggle pro- 
 duces a tightening of its ligatures. Gilliatt had but
 
 158 
 
 one resource, his kniff> ; his left hand only was free, 
 his open knife was in his hand. The antennae of the 
 Devil-fish cannot be cut ; it is a leathery substance, 
 impossible to divide with a knife, it slips under its 
 edge. Its position also in attack is such that to cut 
 it would be to wound the victim's own flesh. The 
 Cephaloptera is only vulnerable through the head. 
 Gilliatt was not ignorant of this fact. WMi the 
 Devil-fish, as with a furious bull, there is a certain 
 moment in the conflict which nrnst be seized. It is 
 the instant when the bull lowers its neck ; it is the 
 instant when the Devil-fish advances its head. The 
 movement is rapid. He who loses that moment is 
 destroyed. Gilliatt grasped his knife ; the sucking 
 increased. He looked at the monster which seemed 
 to look at him. Suddenly it loosened from the rock 
 its sixth antenna and darting at him, seized him by 
 the left arm ; at the same moment advanced its 
 head with a violent movement. In one second more 
 its mouth would have fastened on his breast. Bleed- 
 ing in the sides, and with his two arms entangled, he 
 would have been a dead man. But Gilliatt was 
 watchful ; he avoided the antenna, and at the 
 moment when the monster darted forward to fasten 
 on his breast, he struck it with the knife clenched in 
 his left hand. There were two convulsions in oppo- 
 site directions, that of the Devil-fish and its prey. 
 The movement was rapid as a double flash of light- 
 ning. He had plunged the blade of his knife into 
 the flat, slimy substance, and by a rapid movement, 
 like the flourish of a whip in the air, describing a 
 circle round the two eyes, he wrenched the head off, 
 as a man would draw a, tooth, The struggle was
 
 159 
 
 ended ; the folds relaxed. The monster dropt away, 
 like the slow detaching of bands. The eighteen 
 hundred suckers dropt at once from the man and the 
 rock. The mass sank to the hottom of the water 
 Gilliatt clasped his knife." 
 
 Now, although we do not find octopods of the size 
 described by Victor Hugo on these shores, and it is 
 very doubtful whether they exist on those of the 
 Channel Islands, there is now no doubt that enor- 
 mous molluscs of the cuttle family are occasionally 
 met with in tropical seas, indeed what seems to be a 
 well authenticated account of one, was read before 
 the French Academy of Science by Lieutenant Boyer, 
 of the Corvette Alectron. It appears they fell in with 
 the monster while cruising between Teneriffe and 
 Madeira, and estimated its length at 50 feet, and its 
 circumference, at the widest part, at 20 feet, not 
 reckoning its enormous tentacles, which were covered 
 with suckers ; the smaller extremity of the body 
 terminated in two large flat fleshy lobes or fins, and 
 the weight of the whole was estimated at 4,000. ; the 
 flesh was soft, glutinous, and of reddish brick-colour. 
 The captain of the ship endeavoured to secure the 
 creature, and fired repeated shots into it, Avhich, 
 however, did not produce any effect on its flaccid and 
 glutinous body ; harpoons were then tried, but at 
 first they took no hold of the soft gelatinous flesh of 
 the monster, the only result being to make the crea- 
 ture exhale a strong smell of musk, a peculiarity 
 which has been before observed when many of the 
 cephalopod tribe are wounded ; at last they succeeded 
 in getting a harpoon to bite, and passed a rope with 
 a clove-hitch round the tail. However, in endeavour-
 
 160 
 
 ing to draw it on board, the rope penetrated the soft 
 flesh, and the head portion and tentacles swam away, 
 leaving only the tail to he hauled on hoard. This 
 small portion alone weighed 40 Ihs. Although this 
 account is apparently well authenticated and must 
 be accepted (perhaps cum grano Kalis] as a scientific 
 fact, it is in many cases somewhat difficult to separate 
 the facts from the fictions, nor is this astonishing, 
 for there is something decidedly uncanny and 
 mysterious about these creatures ; had the object of 
 their creation been to inspire terror, one can hardly 
 imagine any form more calculated to excite fear and 
 loathing. The sinister look of the large glaring, 
 revengeful eye, the livid gangrenous appearance of 
 the blotchy pustular skin, which gives the idea of 
 some hideous diseased mass, the rapid yet insinuating 
 and serpentine action of the tentacles, with their 
 hundreds of adhering suckers, the voracity, strength, 
 and cunning of the creatures, all seeni to place them 
 in the domain of the mysterious and the fabulous. 
 To the scientific mind, it is, of course, different ; we 
 recognise them at once, not as fish, but as molluscs, 
 high up, undoubtedly, in the order, but belonging to 
 the same great class as the oyster and scollop, snail 
 and slug. We admire the beautiful adaptation of the 
 means to the end displayed in the perfect system of 
 air-pump-like suckers, so plenteously endowed with 
 nerves of amazing sensibility, and are struck with 
 wonder at the curious faculty possessed by the skin 
 of changing its colour and aspect. The earlier 
 naturalists, such as Magnus and de Montfort, not to 
 mention Pliny and Aristotle, believed in poulps or 
 cuttle-fish of gigantic proportions ; and even Buffon,
 
 161 
 
 in one of his earlier editions, gave an engraving of a 
 monstrous cephalopod crushing a large frigate ! 
 This colossal creature was called the Kraken in 
 Norway and the north of Europe, and was regarded 
 with superstitious awe. Pontoppidan, Bishop of 
 Bergen, a fair naturalist, declared that a whole regi- 
 ment of soldiers could manoeuvre on its hack ! 
 
 Frank Buckland suggests, with great probability, 
 that the hundred-headed Hydra, with which Hercules 
 fought, was an enormous cuttle, and that the 
 heads which sprang up successively as each was 
 cut off were nothing more than the various tentacles. 
 That these animals attain great dimensions in warm 
 seas there can be no doubt, for Peron, the naturalist, 
 found one near Australia, which measured eight feet ; 
 the body of another was cast on the shore of Jutland, 
 and when cut up for bait filled several wheelbarrows, 
 and tentacles are preserved in several museums, 
 which are as thick round as the thigh of a man. 
 
 No doubt one of these monsters attacking a swim- 
 mer would make short work of him, and indeed the 
 comparatively small ones of our shore, with bodies 
 not larger than a doubled fist, would be very embar- 
 rassing antagonists if they wound their long and 
 powerful tentacles round the limbs of a bather. 
 Even on shore a small octopus has been known to 
 attack a man. A gentleman named Beale, a well- 
 known naturalist, was searching for shells on the 
 beach, when he suddenly came upon an uncanny 
 looking object crawling back to the sea ; it was 
 creeping, awkwardly enough, on its eight tentacles, 
 which bent under its weight, and scarcely lifted its 
 body from the ground. It seemed much alarmed and
 
 162 
 
 endeavoured to escape, Mr. Beale however put his 
 foot on one of its tentacles and tried to prevent its 
 doing so, but in spite of all the strength he could 
 exert, the creature repeatedly tore its linilo away 
 from him ; he then seized hold of one of its tentacles 
 with his hand, while the octopus fixed the others to 
 a rock. Then commenced a regular pulling match, 
 and the limb seemed as though it would be torn 
 asunder in the struggle. To terminate the contest 
 Mr. Beale gave a powerful jerk, the animal resisted 
 it, but the next moment raised its head, and, fixing 
 its vengeful eyes on Mr. Beale, suddenly loosed its 
 hold of the rock, and sprang upon his naked arm, 
 fixing itself firmly on by its suckers, while it tried to 
 get its head into position to bite. " Nothing can 
 describe," says Mr. Beale, " the horribly sickening 
 sensation of its cold, slimy grasp." He shouted 
 lustily for the captain of his ship, who was also on 
 shore, to come to his assistance, and while he kept 
 the animal's beak from biting him, his companion 
 succeeded in killing the creature with the boat knife. 
 This poulpe measured four feet across its expanded 
 arms, while its body was not larger than a closed fist. 
 In all these animals the soft muscular body is en- 
 closed in a fleshy sac or mantle, which is provided 
 with a transverse slit to admit water, and a tubular 
 arrangement near the head by which it is expelled ; 
 by this alternate admission and expulsion of water 
 (which also answers the purpose of respiration by 
 aerating the blood) they are enabled to propel them- 
 selves through the water, tail first, with great 
 velocity : the tentacles, which are sometimes con- 
 nected by a membranous fold at their base, are also
 
 163 
 
 occasionally used for swimming, and are expanded 
 and contracted after tlie manner of an umbrella. 
 
 In the Octopus the eye is large, prominent, and 
 threatening ; and the mouth, which is in a depres- 
 sion and surrounded by the tentacles, is provided 
 with two sharp beaks not unlike a parrot's bill 
 which move vertically, like the blades of a pair of 
 scissors ; the tongue is covered on its upper part by 
 a thick horny coat, studded in the centre with a 
 series of hooked teeth ; the branchiae, or gills, are 
 voluminous, tufted, and leaf-like. The Octopus s 
 provided with no less than three hearts. Like the 
 zoophytes, it possesses the power of reproducing any 
 limb which may be destroyed. But perhaps the most 
 curious characteristic of this singular animal, and 
 one which it possesses in common with the human 
 species, is that of blushing ! Under the influence 
 of rage, or strong excitement, it changes colour re- 
 peatedly ; and having assumed a variety of vivid 
 tints, only resumes its natural hue after a con- 
 siderable interval. I think I said it shared this 
 peculiarity with the fair sex but I ought to qualify 
 the remark, because the octopus not only changes 
 colour when angry or alarmed, but shows its annoy- 
 ance by covering its skin with tubercles and warts, a 
 peculiarity which would quite destroy all the poetry 
 of the blush of youth ! 
 
 The tentacles are flat and somewhat sword-shaped, 
 and the surface is densely studded with suckers of 
 various sizes ; these suckers are perfect miniature 
 air-pumps, and it is by their means the cuttle-fish 
 family adhere so firmly to an object ; indeed, the 
 limb may be torn asunder rather than be loosened
 
 164 
 
 from its hold. These suckers are variously computed 
 at from 1,000 to 2,000 : and so sensitively are they 
 endowed with nerves, that the whole number can, 
 by an effort of the creature's will, be simultaneously 
 detached from an object in the fraction of a second. 
 
 I wish especially to direct your attention to the 
 mechanism of these suckers or acetabul, which is 
 most curious and beautiful, and is one of the number- 
 less instances of that perfect adaptation of an organ 
 to the purpose it is meant to fulfil which a study of 
 Natural History so often discloses. Each cup-like 
 orifice is surrounded by a hard cartilaginous rim, 
 with muscular fibres converging to the centre, where 
 there is an orifice or circular aperture, provided with 
 a sort of soft, moveable floor, capable of being raised 
 or depressed like the piston of a syringe, and thereby 
 creating a perfect vacuum. In some of the poulpe 
 family the sucker is also provided with a. central 
 sharp hook so as to seize more firmly any slimy or 
 slippery fish. 
 
 The common cuttle (sepia officinalis) has ten ten- 
 tacles, eight short and two long ones ; and the mantle 
 is prolonged into a surrounding fringe or fin. The 
 arms are provided with suckers ; and the mouth is 
 furnished with two horny jaws. 
 
 You have all picked up on the beach the curious 
 substance which is called " cuttle bone "; it is formed 
 of carbonate of lime arranged in most delicate forms, 
 as seen under the microscope, and is enclosed in a 
 large hollow, occupying the whole extent of the back, 
 and is, in fact, the skeleton of the cuttle fish. 
 
 Most of the Cephalopods secrete a brownish-black 
 fluid, contained in a sac or ink purse, the use of
 
 165 
 
 which is not very clear : it is usually supposed to 
 enable them to conceal themselves from pursuers by 
 obscuring the surrounding water, thus serving the 
 same purpose as the clouds by which Homer's 
 heroes were enveloped at critical periods. This ink, as 
 it is termed, has sometimes been found fossilised, and 
 was, in one instance, ground down and re-made into 
 fluid, with which a drawing and history of the fossil 
 was actually written. 
 
 A story is told by Gosse of a young English officer 
 dressed for dinner in the regulation white ducks, stroll- 
 ing on to the beach to beguile a spare half-hour, when 
 he found a cuttle ensconced in a hollow rock. Much 
 interested, the young man stooped down and con- 
 fronted the animal. After steadily staring at each 
 other for some time, the cuttle unceremoniously ter- 
 minated the interview by the discharge of a volu- 
 minous jet of inky fluid, which effectually destroyed 
 the glory of the sailor's costume. 
 
 The ink of the cuttle is used in the manufacture 
 of the paint called sepia, and was long supposed to 
 be the secret ingredient in Indian ink ; this, however, 
 is a mistake, as this celebrated pigment is now known 
 to be composed of minutely sub-divided carbon. 
 
 I hope I have said enough about these creatures to 
 show you that, however repulsive in outward appear- 
 ance, they are not devoid of scientific interest ; and, 
 like all even the lowliest of God's creatures, the 
 study of their structure and habits cannot fail to 
 afford us abundant evidence of the unerring wisdom 
 and design of a beneficent Creator. 
 
 (Vide, Rymer Jones's " Animal Kingdom " and Gosse's 
 " Romance of Natural History,")
 
 THE MICEOSCOPE. 
 
 THE microscope is an instrument of great antiquity ; 
 indeed, there is no doubt that it was in use in its 
 simplest form namely, a globe of glass filled with 
 water at a period long antecedent to the birth of 
 Christ. Seneca and Pliny, both of whom were born 
 at the commencement of the Christian era, mention 
 lenses made with glass or water ; and Ptolemy 
 speaks of magnifying glasses and refraction in his 
 work on Optics. This, however, was the microscope 
 in its most primitive and simple form a single lens 
 of glass or water. It was not until the middle of the 
 17th century that the compound microscope, consist- 
 ing of a combination 01 lenses, came into limited 
 use ; these microscopes were large, unwieldy tubes, 
 with the objectsfixedinthem. Very formidable looking 
 instruments they must have been, for we read about 
 that period of a travelling philosopher who fell ill 
 with fever and died m a certain town. The municipal 
 authorities examined his effects, and found an 
 immense brass tube, some six feet long, which on 
 peeping into they found to contain bis familiar demon, 
 an enormous. monster of a very " uncanny" appear- 
 ance. Of course, the philosopher was refused 
 Christian burial, and it was not until some time had 
 elapsed that an adventurous burgess, who had suc- 
 ceeded in unscrewing the end of the apparatus, was 
 astonished to find that the philosopher's familiar 
 demon was nothing more formidable than the common
 
 167 
 
 flea. Although the microscope was known so many 
 centuries ago, it is really only within the last 30 
 years that it has been brought to its present state of 
 perfection. During that time it has made giant 
 strides, and has advanced from being a scientific toy, 
 giving only a confused and coloured image, to its 
 position of pioneer in the investigation of every 
 mystery of nature. I myself can remember when a 
 lens with a quarter-inch focal distance, magnifying 
 200 diameters, was the highest power known ; and 
 when, about ten years since, a l-26th of an inch 
 lens was manufactured by one of our enterprising 
 opticians, it was considered, and indeed is, a marvel 
 of delicate workmanship. Since then, however, they 
 have succeeded in making lenses with a focal distance 
 of l-50th, and subsequently of l-70th of an inch, 
 and magnifying between 4,000 and 5,000 diameters. 
 I should perhaps mention that the power of a lens is 
 known by the distance at which it is held from the 
 object magnified, the shorter the distance is, of 
 course, the more the object is magnified. By 
 the help of the microscope we can now penetrate 
 deeper and deeper into the secrets of nature, 
 and solve doubts and problems which only a 
 few years ago seemed hopeless mysteries. It was 
 by the aid of this instrument M. Trembley first dis- 
 covered that wonderful creature the hydra, or fresh- 
 water polype. I suppose there is no other creature 
 on earth which could undergo such treatment as this 
 can, and even flourish on it. It is nothing that it 
 propagates itself by buds like a plant, and that any 
 part cut off is reproduced ; its head may be severed or 
 slit up and each fragment will produce a row one ;
 
 168 
 
 it may be cut in halves or quarters, and produce two 
 or four new creatures ; it may be turned inside out, 
 so that what was stomach becomes now outer skin, 
 and vice versa. Two or three individuals may be 
 spliced together, head to head, tail to tail, or the 
 head of one to the tail of the other, and they will 
 become one animal, not only without injury, but 
 with every sign of placid enjoyment. 
 
 In observations made with the microscope, errors 
 will, of course, sometimes arise, not from any fault 
 of the instrument, but from want of care in observa- 
 tion. Thus there was great dispute some years 
 since as to the real form of the blood corpuscles. 
 The blood consists, I need hardly say, of a colourless 
 fluid, in which float numerous red and white discs 
 called blood corpuscles. Some observers described 
 them as globular, others as flattened discs, a third 
 as slightly convex, a fourth as highly convex, a fifth 
 as concave, &c. ; whereas the form of a corpuscle in 
 freshly drawn blood is a circular disc, with a slightly 
 concave surface, the differences of form being pro- 
 duced by maceration, or soaking in water or other 
 fluids, during or before the time of observation. 
 
 One of the most curious results of microscopic re- 
 search is the much greater certainty with which we 
 can assign to various creatures and plants their right 
 place in creation. Great obscurity prevailed among 
 the older microscopists as to what they termed 
 animalcules. There are sometimes not less than 27 
 varieties of animalcules in a single drop of water, 
 bearing, as we now know, no further resemblance 
 to one another than their microscopic size ; some 
 are plants, some are animals, though to decide which
 
 169 
 
 they are often remains a difficult question. Many 
 a fierce debate has been held, many a fiery word spoken 
 on this subject ; for even natural philosophers are not 
 devoidofangryfeelings. The borderline separating the 
 animal and vegetable kingdom has long been debate- 
 able ground, and the tribes in close contiguity on 
 either side have constantly, though unconsciously, 
 shifted positions, now being claimed by the animal 
 kingdom, now by the vegetarian. At one time 
 some unmistakeable spontaneous motion being dis- 
 covered, they are given up to the animal world ; at 
 another their outer coverings yielding un-doubted 
 evidence of starch, they are claimed as true vegeta- 
 bles. There is one specimen in particular, the 
 Volvox Globator which has changed sides so often, 
 that could it be supposed to possess our finer feelings, 
 it must be quite ashamed of itself. For a long time 
 it was considered an unmistakeable animal, as it 
 whirled round in the water by the aid of its ciliaB or 
 hair-like appendages, and was described as possess- 
 ing an eye, a mouth, and several stomachs. There 
 is now, however, no doubt as to its vegetable charac- 
 ter. Perhaps you will say, what is the difference 
 between a plant and a lower animal ? The boundary 
 line is indeed faint, and somewhat uncertain, and there 
 is no single characteristic mark by which to dis- 
 tinguish one from the other. Certainly spontaneous 
 motion is no sign, for so frequent is it among vegeta- 
 bles, that I really think the saiest plan for the young 
 microscopist is, when he sees anything he is quite 
 convinced is an animal, to at once put it down as 
 belonging to the vegetable kingdom ! Perhaps the 
 most practical test is that given by Carpenter the
 
 170 
 
 dependence of the animal for nutriment on organic 
 compounds taken into the interior of its body ; of the 
 vegetable, its power of obtaining its own alimentary 
 matter from inorganic material exterior to it. At 
 any rate these are the characteristics of the animal 
 and vegetable world as a whole. For while we find 
 the simplest animals, the Protozoa, which are nothing 
 more in fact than a mass of jelly, deriving their 
 nourishment as much from, other animals and plants 
 as .we do from beef or potatoes, so we find the Pro- 
 topliyta, the humblest class of plants, drawing their 
 support from water, carbonic acid, and ammonia 
 (inorganic compounds), and liberating oxygen and 
 absorbing carbonic acid, in the same manner as the 
 most highly organised plants. 
 
 The microscope has been most invaluable in in- 
 vestigating many diseases and blights, as they were 
 called. Thus it was discovered that the silkworm 
 disease (muscardine), which annually carried off 
 immense numbers of silkworms, was a fungous 
 vegetation ; that a most troublesome malady to which 
 our countrymen north of the Tweed are more parti- 
 cularly liable, and which James I. said no one but a 
 king should be allowed to have, is caused by the 
 burrowing of a small insebt (Acarus seabed) beneath 
 the skin : and what is still more important, we have 
 within the last few years discovered the Trichina 
 spiral, a little spiral worm, which is generated in 
 the muscles of unwholesome pork, and is the cause 
 of a frightful disease if taken into the human body. 
 It is for this reason, I should perhaps mention, that 
 it is so very necessary pork should be always 
 thoroughly cooked, for this animalcule is very tena-
 
 171 
 
 cious of life, and will live through any but the fiercest 
 heat. That troublesome disease called ringworm ia 
 now known to be of vegetable origin, consisting of a 
 fungoid growth ; and the same may, to a certain 
 extent, be said of . the thrush to which infants are 
 liable, and even of diptheria. By the aid of the 
 microscope it was discovered that all things, animal 
 and vegetable alike, are but a conglomeration of cells. 
 In the lower forms of life, each individual cell may 
 be considered perfect in itself, forming sometimes the 
 entire individual, and capable of independent life ; 
 in man and the higher animals the whole complex 
 organisation is gradually developed from the multi-- 
 plication and secretion of a single cell ; this is 
 however, far too abstruse a subject to be more 
 than alluded to in a discursive paper like the present. 
 Another very interesting result of microscopic dis- 
 coveries is the curious metamorphosis or transforma- 
 tion that goes on in the lower animals during the 
 different stages of life. We are all familiar with the 
 change which takes place from the tadpole to the 
 frog ; but this, which we are accustomed to consider 
 an exception, appears rather to be the rule in the 
 lower organisations. I shall show you presently the 
 Mayfly, swimming and diving through the water like 
 some ugly little fish, and as unlike the light aerial 
 fly which it ultimately becomes as any two objects 
 can be. Again, there is not much similarity between 
 a crab and a barnacle, yet in their earlier stages they 
 are very much alike, both bearing a great resem- 
 blance to the little water flea. Indeed the very 
 youthful crab was at one time considered and 
 described as a perfect adult animal of the water-flea
 
 172 
 
 class ; it must therefore be quite impossible for a 
 parent to recognise its own offspring. 
 
 The wonders which reward even a superficial 
 knowledge of the microscope are far too many and 
 attractive to enumerate in the limits of this paper. 
 What can be more interesting than to watch the cir- 
 culation of the blood corpuscles in the living animal, 
 and then to compare it with the analogous process 
 which goes on in plants, and is so well seen in the 
 Valisneria, &c. ? What more wonderful object in 
 nature than the compound eyes of many of our 
 common insects, which are made up of hundreds and 
 thousands of separate eyes placed side by side, each 
 eye provided with iris, retina, and optic nerve ? 
 The common fly possesses no less than 4,000 
 eyes ; while the cabbage butterfly has 17,000, the 
 dragon-fly 24,OuO, and the Mordella beetle no less 
 than 25,000. To the zoologist the assistance of the 
 microscope is invaluable. By its aid he can 
 determine from a minute portion of bone or tooth, 
 not only the natural family, but the genus and 
 species to which its animal possessor belonged. The 
 geologist again is not less indebted to this wonderful 
 instrument, for by its aid he is able to determine the 
 nature of various deposits which would be quite 
 inscrutable to the naked eye. By this means it has 
 been discovered that the calcareous shelled forarnini- 
 fera constitute a large proportion of the chalk 
 deposits, and that the silicious or flinty coverings of 
 the diatoms form extensive flinty deposits ; and this 
 is the way in which some geologists account for the 
 layers of flint in chalk formations, the presence of 
 which was at one time a source of great speculation.
 
 The whole city of Eichmond is built upon a layer of 
 infusorial earth 18 feet thick, and extending to un- 
 known limits ; while the remains of foraminifera 
 form a band often 1,800 miles in breadth and of 
 enormous thickness, that may be traced from the 
 Atlantic shores of Europe and Africa through 
 Western Asia to India and China, as well as over 
 large areas of North America. The material of 
 which the pyramids are built consists of remains of a 
 species of foraminifera known as a nummulites. 
 Indeed, minute fossil remains, often too small to be 
 recognised without the aid of the microscope, 
 constitute no small portion of the crust of the earth. 
 The Greensand, for example, which underlies the 
 chalk, is composed largely of silicious casts of the 
 interior of foraminifera and minute molluscs. Lastly, 
 in the discovery of crime the microscope plays no 
 unimportant part. By its means many of the 
 vegetable poisons are detected ; and especially is it 
 of use in deciding whether stains are produced by 
 blood or other fluids, for although the blood discs 
 bear a general family resemblance, there are marked 
 differences between the blood of man and some 
 other animals. This was well exemplified in one 
 case where there was a train of circumstantial 
 evidence pointing to the guilty man, and where, 
 although there was no moral doubt of his having 
 committed the murder, there was just one legal link 
 wanted to complete the chain, which was supplied 
 thus : the man had carefully washed his clothes ; no 
 stain could be identified as blood ; even the knife 
 found in his pocket had evidently been carefully 
 wiped, but on removing the blade a small dark-
 
 174 
 
 coloured mark was discovered in the hinge, which 
 being scraped off and placed under the microscope 
 displayed unequivocal evidence of being blood ; nay, 
 more, a few epithelial cells peculiar to the lining of 
 the air passages were also found mingled with it ; 
 and from this evidence the microscopist was not only 
 able to pronounce with certainty that the stain was 
 blood, but that the blood had flowed from the wind- 
 pipe of a human being. 
 
 Vide Carpenter " The Microscope ;" Quekett, " On the nse of 
 the Microscope," &c.
 
 ANNUAL ADDBESS, 1870. 
 
 In the pursuit of natural history, few people realise 
 how much each one individually might assist towards 
 building up, as it were, the edifice of science, how 
 easily each might bring one brick. There are so many 
 points on which more light is needed, more evidence 
 required, and here anyone of you might forward the 
 cause of science by his own observation and 
 experience. There are so many debateable questions 
 to be answered, for example, Do, or do not, Swallows, 
 Sandrnartins, &c., hybernate ? There are many 
 instances of their being seen in England in October, 
 November, and December, and again in March. Are 
 these late departures or early arrivals ? or have they 
 been hybernating in old walls, sandbanks, &c., where 
 they are said to have been found by trustworthy 
 witnesses ? Not many years since Swallows were 
 believed, even by scientific men, to hybernate 
 under water, though this notion is now exploded. 
 This is a mystery all might help to clear up by 
 a little trained and intelligent observation, and by 
 a careful noting of facts. Again, Do Toads live 
 in air-tight holes and other cavities for unheard- 
 of times '? Are the stories we hear to this effect fact 
 or fiction ? Are Birds fascinated by Snakes, and 
 Butterflies by Lizards ? Do Vipers swallow their 
 young when alarmed ? There is a very interesting 
 discussion going on at this moment in "Land and 
 Water " on this subject ; here again is a case in
 
 176 
 
 which every individual experience is important. 
 There are deeper questions than this in Natural 
 Science to which no one can at present return a 
 satisfactory answer, for example, What is Gravita- 
 tion ? Gravitation, that great force which Sir John 
 Herschell justly calls "the most universal truth at 
 which human reason has yet arrived," and concern- 
 ing the nature of which, except as seen in its effects, 
 we know absolutely nothing. What is this im- 
 measurably vast and all-pervading power which 
 binds the moon to the earth, the earth and other 
 planets to the sun, and the solar system itself to 
 some incalculably distant star, which may again 
 be only the satellite of some yet grander centre, 
 sending out its power from an inconceivable 
 distance, which no mortal eye can reach nor 
 mortal sense conceive ! What are these " Meteor 
 Showers " which we saw in November, 1868, and 
 again in 1869, and which, it appears, we are to 
 expect at regular intervals ? We have advanced so 
 far as to know there are, probably, many belts or 
 zones of meteors revolving with mathematical regu- 
 larity within the limits of our planetary system ; but 
 what are they ? What their object is, and what 
 then- composition we know not. That wonderful 
 discovery, Spectrum Analysis, hints darkly at incan- 
 descent Hydrogen Gas, but nothing more 1 I fear I 
 am straying from the immediate objects of our 
 Society, but these are tempting subjects for specu- 
 lation. The past year 1870 has been by no means an 
 eventful one. in new discoveries ; indeed, we seem to 
 have arrived at one of the pauses or halting-places of 
 Science, where discovery takes breath for fresh
 
 177 
 
 exertions, for all scientific progress is very inter- 
 mittent and fitful. We are very apt to talk of the 
 wonderful progress Science lias made in our time, 
 and to be rather disappointed if each recurring year 
 does not produce some fresh marvel ; but our modern 
 times, especially the last fifty years, have been re- 
 markable rather for the elaboration, the perfection, 
 and utilisation of ideas than for aught else. Electri- 
 city and the magnet were known 3,000 years ago to 
 the Greeks, though their application has only within 
 a comparatively recent period resulted in the Electric 
 Telegraph and Mariners' Compass. The expansive 
 power of steam was known to the ancients ; and modern 
 Chemistry withitsmany wonders, is but an elaboration 
 of the Alchemy of the Dark Ages. So we must be con- 
 tent to work on, each contributing his mite towards the 
 elucidation of existing mysteries. What a vast field 
 for speculation and interest is opened up by the 
 pursuit of Natural History ! By its aid we find life 
 and interest in the most unexpected places, for to the 
 Naturalist all around teems with life. At the bottom 
 of the Atlantic, at depths varying from 2,000 to 
 3,000 feet, we still find life, for here dwell countless 
 molluscs, corallines, &c., though how organic beings 
 can exist while sustaining the enormous pressure 
 which must be caused by so vast a column of water, 
 remains a mystery ! From the result of deep sea 
 soundings and dredgings it appears that the entire 
 sea bottom is positively coated with a layer of living 
 jelly which, probably, forms food for more highly 
 organised life, but which can itself obtain nourish- 
 ment only from mineral sources. The everlasting 
 snows of the North Pole sustain life, both animal and 
 
 N
 
 vegetable, and that part of the globe where, at first 
 sight, we should expect to find them in greater num- 
 bers is perhaps the most destitute of living creatures, 
 for in the tropical regions of South America extend 
 burning arid deserts, apparently quite devoid of organic 
 life. "Here," says Darwin, "I saw neither insect, rep- 
 tile, quadruped, nor bird, except the vulture, which 
 preys on the carcases of the unfortunate mules that 
 have perished of fatigue in attempting to cross the 
 desert." Even the very air we breathe is peopled 
 with minute dust composed of infusorial life, and 
 that in regions where we should least expect it. Far 
 away at sea, 1,500 or 1,600 miles from shore, 
 Professor Ehrenberg discovered no less than 67 
 different kinds of infusoria in five little specimens of 
 fine microscopic dust. How these living forms are 
 generated is one of the marvels of science. Some 
 say from spontaneous generation, though it is con- 
 trary to all our preconceived ideas that any living 
 being can spring into existence of itself, and yet they 
 are generated and live in solutions of organic matter 
 which have been put in hermetically sealed flasks, 
 and submitted to a boiling temperature for upwards 
 of 4 hours. You would think no germs of life could 
 survive such treatment as this ! We know also that 
 not only some water weeds, but even fish will live, and 
 apparently enjoy life, in water so hot that it would 
 actually boil them if dead ! Hurnboldt saw living fish 
 thrown up from a crater in South America, in water 
 whose temperature was 210, only 2 degrees less than 
 boiling point ! I have before alluded to those tiny 
 living atoms called Diatoms, each measuring from 
 l-5,000th to 140,000th of an inch, and which yet
 
 179 
 
 exist or existed in such vast myriads as to form no 
 inconsiderable portion of tlie earth's crust. Some 
 recent discoveries have revealed the curious fact that 
 there is a rather extensive list of animals inhabit- 
 ing vast gloomy caves, such as the Mammoth cave 
 in America, Adelsburg in Styria, &c., which are 
 entirely without any vestiges of eyes ; these animals 
 are principally Eats, Beetles of various species, 
 Fishes, Bats and Crustaceans. Now I need hardly 
 remind you, that although Bats and Beetles were 
 once commonly supposed to be blind, it was only a 
 popular delusion, and consequently the relation of 
 these really blind animals to the outer world 
 becomes of extreme interest, in connection with 
 Darwin's theory of the origin of species. His idea 
 is that their ancestors wandered into these caverns 
 in remote ages, that generation after generation was 
 born and died without ever seeing light, so that the 
 disuse of the organs of sight gradually led to their 
 entire suppression ; and this seems the more reason- 
 able because one kind of rat was discovered, which, 
 though quite blind in the daylight, had eyes enor- 
 mously developed, and with which it could very 
 probably see in the dark, while in others the optic 
 nerve existed, though there was no vestige of external 
 eye, and some of the beetles had their antenna; 
 enormously developed, 'as though to compensate for 
 the loss of vision. The whole theory of the origin of 
 species is one of enthralling interest. We all know 
 that many animals existed in remote ages, which 
 have no representatives now ; but we scarcely notice 
 the fact that in this our day species are dying off the 
 face of the earth ; several even have become extinct
 
 180 
 
 during the last 20 years, and Gosse estimates the 
 loss in this way at no less than one species for every 
 year. It would appear from tin's that species have 
 their allotted time for existence, just as individuals 
 have theirs, thus a Fly may have a span of life of a 
 few days, a Eaven or an Elephant of as many 
 centuries so the species of Irish Elk, or the species 
 of the Mastodon may have reached then- allotted 
 span in the Tertiary Era ; whereas that of the Dodo, 
 the Great Auk, &c., may have expired only recently, 
 and the terms of existence of the Wolf, Beaver, &c. 
 may be quickly approaching. We know that with 
 individuals the death-rate is very nearly counter- 
 balanced by the births. Does this law hold good 
 with species ? How many are and have been for 
 ages extinct? There was the huge Dinotherium 
 that wandered in the half-drained Swiss valleys and 
 in the swamps of Germany, a monster larger, than 
 the largest Elephant, with a body 20 feet long and 
 legs 10 feet high ; a head something like that of 
 an Elephant, but with a shorter proboscis and down- 
 curving tusks like pickaxes, to dig up succulent 
 roots. On the Himalayas roamed another vast non- 
 descript, something between a Ehinoceros and an 
 Elephant, with two pairs of enormous horns, one pair 
 somewhat like those of an Ox, the other large and 
 branching like those of the Fallow Deer. A vast land 
 Tortoise too existed, which measured some 30 feet 
 from head to tail, and wandered through the primeval 
 forests, beating down roads, broad as our highways, 
 as he walked. A huge two-horned Khinoceros 
 roamed on the plains bordering the Arctic Ocean, 
 and the Mammoth, a sort of hairy elephant, inhabited
 
 181 
 
 the same cold regions ; nor must we forget the 
 Mastodon, of which vast numbers must have existed, 
 an animal like an elephant in appearance, but with 
 a body longer and legs shorter and thicker. Then 
 there was the Megatherium, so weh 1 described by 
 Professor Owen, which reared its vast bulk on end, 
 and after digging round the base, would embrace 
 some great forest tree and wrestle with it till it fell. 
 How strange it is to reflect that here in England, 
 where now London stands with its miles of houses 
 and countless throng of busy men, here amid wild 
 primeval forests roved the vast Dinotherium and 
 Mastodon, while the Hippopotamus and Ehinoceros 
 wallowed in the adjacent swamps, and gigantic Oxen 
 and Stags, Eeindeer, long-tusked Mammoths, and 
 two or three different species of Horses browsed 
 around. Still more difficult is it to imagine that in 
 this now peaceful land, the Lion and Tiger once 
 held sway among these huge but harmless animals, 
 and that the Machairodon, a vast and bloodthirsty 
 creature larger and fiercer than the Bengal Tiger, 
 with curved and saw-edged teeth, preyed on the 
 peaceful stags and oxen. In this favoured isle 
 also existed ferocious Bears and gigantic Hysenas, 
 whose bones are still found surrounded by the 
 crushed and gnawed remains of their last victims. 
 How wonderful to reflect that all these particulars 
 can be gleaned from what I have heard described 
 contemptuously, as " a parcel of old dry bones ! " 
 for a man, like Professor Owen, from a single fossil 
 bone, will give you the whole history of the species, 
 shape, size, and habits of some long extinct animal. 
 M. Dupont has written a most interesting book
 
 182 
 
 ".On the People of the Reindeer Age " (that is, the 
 period before the Reindeer retreated to his present 
 quarters hi the north, and while he still roved the 
 south of Europe), in which he familiarly describes 
 their diseases their tastes ; for example, then- love 
 of curiosities, as evinced by fossil collections of shells 
 &c. ; their warlike habits, as evinced by the skeletons 
 of men not being found hi the same proportion as 
 the women who died at home ; and he notes their 
 industry, superstition, and respect for the dead, all 
 of which he infers from circumstances connected with 
 either the position or material of the objects found 
 in the caves. This brings us to the much debated 
 question, Was man co-existent with any, and if so, 
 with which of the extinct animals ? Geologists have 
 hitherto held that man was a subsequent creation, 
 but many facts have recently come to light, which if 
 they do not carry the existence of man farther back 
 in the vista of years, certainly brings the existence of 
 extinct fossil animals nearer to our own 1 me. It is not 
 many years since a Mammoth was discovered in arctic 
 Russia, frozen hi a mass of ice, with the flesh still ad- 
 hering to his enormous bones, tufts of coarse reddish 
 hair and bristles on his hard leathery skin, and even 
 the eyes perfect. The Mastodon has been discovered 
 in America, associated with some of those mysterious 
 remains of human work in some far far off age, and 
 it has even been suggested that these huge animals 
 were used as beasts of burden to carry some of the 
 ingeniously carved masses which are occasionally 
 found, though I must confess a Mastodon with a 
 packsaddle, or a Mammoth with a crupper, are quite 
 opposed to all one's notions of the dignity of the
 
 183 
 
 primeval giants ! The extinct Irish Elk has been 
 discovered in Ireland, not only associated with men's 
 bones, but with holes in the forehead, evidently 
 caused by some fossil butcher's axe, and at Wexford 
 some remains of the Elk were found in so recent a 
 condition that the Eoyal Dublin Society made soup 
 of the bones, which appears rather an Irish method 
 of pursuing a Scientific investigation ! But then if, 
 as we are told by some recent investigators, man 
 existed in a state of civilization in the Nile valley 
 13,500 years ago, what are we to think ? All our 
 preconceived ideas of the age of the world are upset, 
 and we can only reflect how very little we know, for 
 certain, on this subject. I spoke, just now, of the 
 air teeming with life, but Natural History teaches us 
 that the sea is sometimes literally converted into a 
 living mass. We are all familiar with the phospho- 
 rescent appearance of the sea at night when it 
 appears like liquid fire, an effect caused by minute 
 jelly-like animalcules. Darwin records how when the 
 vessel was 011 the coast of Chili, it passed through 
 bands oi reddish coloured water, which when micro- 
 scopically examined, was found to consist of minute 
 animalcules ; they were so small as to be invisible 
 to the naked eye, and yet the ship passed through 
 many successive miles of them. How inconceivable 
 then must have been their numbers ? In some parts 
 of the Arctic Ocean the water is coloured an opaque 
 green, owing to the presence of countless myriads of 
 minute Medusas. Scoresby calculates that in a space 
 of two miles there would be congregated together a 
 number, which 80,000 persons, counting incessantly 
 from the creation until now, would not have
 
 enumerated, though they counted at the rate of one 
 million a week ! Even man, the lord of creation, is 
 not free from a rather uncomfortable redundancy of 
 life within his organs, but as this is not a very 
 pleasant subject, I will not pursue it, further than to 
 caution you against eating underdone meat, especially 
 pork, lest you introduce the germs of numerous living 
 parasites into your internal system ! In that curious 
 phenomenon the so-called Singing Mouse, the sound 
 is caused by the spasmodic breathing of the animal, 
 due to the presence of a parasite, the Cysticercus 
 fascicularis ; though really the Eodents are so bird- 
 like in many of their habits and structural charac- 
 teristics that we need hardly be surprised if they all 
 sang, for why do birds sing ? It is quite a mistake 
 to believe all birds sing, the great majority do not, 
 and it is difficult to imagine why any of them do so, 
 or how they are thereby benefited in their struggle 
 for existence. The whole subject of Parasites is a 
 curious, but not a very inviting one for investigation, 
 so I think I cannot better conclude than by a quota- 
 tion of Tom Hood's humourous notion on the 
 subject : 
 
 Great fleas have little fleas upon their backb to bite 'em, 
 And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum. 
 
 Vide " Bomance of Natural History," by Gosse, ''Primitive 
 Man," Figuier, &c.
 
 ARCTIC BOTANY. 
 
 I propose this evening to say a few words on the 
 effects of temperature in modifying the growth and 
 external characteristics of plants. Some years ago 
 I made a voyage to the North Pole, with Lord 
 Dufferin, an account of which he subsequently 
 published. I have no intention to-night of giving 
 any account of that voyage, or of the many points 
 which might perhaps, be interesting to us as Natur- 
 alists ; this I propose to do, with your permission, on 
 some future occasion, when in the form of a Lecture 
 I may call your attention, not only to the Fauna and 
 Flora of the extreme North, but to the manners and 
 customs of the natives, some of them sufficiently 
 primitive, which may prove interesting to us as 
 Ethnologists. The specimens you see before you on 
 the table were collected by me during the voyage to 
 which I have alluded, and I intend at present, 
 merely to call your attention to the external dif- 
 ferences you will perceive between them and their 
 representatives which grow in a more southern 
 latitude. I am not going deeply into this subject. 
 I have often said that if each lecturer or author 
 of a paper, were content to impress one single point 
 on the memory of his hearers, he would do more 
 good than by entering into the abstruser details, 
 which are so hard to avoid. Now the point I 
 want to impress on you to-night is the very marked 
 diminution in size which occurs in plants growing
 
 186 
 
 in very high latitudes, or, what has nearly the same 
 effect, at great heights above the sea level. We 
 find that whether we recede farther and farther 
 from the equator, or whether we ascend higher and 
 higher above the sea level, either in a balloon or 
 up the sides of a mountain, the result is the same, 
 a steady decrease of temperature, and thus we have 
 the Flora of high mountain ranges, closely coin- 
 ciding with that of the extreme poles. As the 
 cold increases vegetation becomes less and less luxu- 
 riant ; ferns diminish in size, and finally disappear ; 
 trees dwindle down till only the hardy white Birch 
 and the Pine remain, which after pushing out an ad- 
 vanced guard as far as 70 degrees North latitude in 
 Norway, completely disappear and give place to 
 grasses, and finally to cryptogams (mosses), lichens, 
 and microscopic fungi. Many of the specimens be- 
 fore you are from Spitzbergen, the farthest north of 
 any known land. A large wild, bleak island, per- 
 petually hemmed in by ice. save where the genial 
 influence of the Gulf Stream thaws it away on its 
 western and southern coasts. A region almost en- 
 tirely covered by perpetual ice and snow where 
 human life is impossible, and where the ground, in 
 even the most favored localities, is never thawed 
 deeper than two inches below its surface. Here then 
 is the most advanced outpost of organic life while 
 beyond stretches only a death-like expanse of dreary 
 ice. Spitzbergen is not, it must be remembered, 
 the tiny spot of earth one usually sees it represented 
 on the maps : it extends over 10 degrees of latitude, 
 and is consequently larger than Ireland or even 
 England. When I remind you that there is total
 
 187 
 
 night in Spitzbergen for four months, and that during 
 four more the sun rises for only a very short period 
 above the horizon ; that during this long winter 
 mercury freezes and the human breath falls in snow 
 flakes through the air ; that the ground is almost 
 entirely covered with perpetual snow, even in Summer, 
 and where it is exposed, is of an icy hardness, it 
 seems almost ridiculous to talk of the " Flowers of 
 Spitzbergen," and yet as you see, flowers there are. 
 We were there in the very warmest part of the year 
 August, when, there is constant daylight, and yet, even 
 during the hottest portion of the day, the thermometer 
 never rose as high as the freezing point. Although 
 to counterbalance the long eight months ol winter 
 the sun never goes below the horizon for four months 
 of summer, yet his rays at this period penetrate so 
 great a thickness of the atmosphere, and finally strike 
 the surface of the Earth so obliquely that they have 
 very small heating properties. I need scarcely say 
 there are no water plants in Spitzbergen, for the simple 
 reason that there are no rivers or brooks ; the nearest 
 approach being a tiny trickling from the enormous 
 glaciers which occupy every valley, and end abruptly 
 at the sea. Very grand objects these glaciers are. 
 You may get some idea of them from this sketch 
 which I made from the sea, and which represents 
 their aspect at a distance of 8 or 10 miles. You would 
 suppose, from their appearance that they are much 
 nearer, but this is in consequence of the extreme and 
 curious transparency of the arctic atmosphere, which 
 is most deceptive, as I remember to my coat ; one 
 night being becalmed at a distance of (as we sup- 
 posed) 5 or 6 miles from land, Lord Dufferin and I
 
 188 
 
 started in the small boat to pull ashore. In turn we 
 pulled and pulled for several hours without apparently 
 getting any nearer ; our pride would not allow us to 
 return on board, and we had to row the entire night 
 before reaching the shore, which proved to be some 
 20 miles off, to increase our mortification, just as we 
 were preparing to land our arms and necks bitten 
 with mosquitoes the yacht quietly glided past us 
 into a little creek, and we could not fail to perceive 
 the grin of enjoyment of the men at our discomfiture. 
 The spot my sketch represents is called the Seven 
 Glaciers, and has a magnificent effect from the 
 sea. It appears as though seven gigantic rivers were 
 guddenly arrested in then- foaming and tumultuous 
 course and stricken into ice ; the abrupt surface to- 
 wards the sea measures about 500 feet, and I can 
 scarcely recall anything- more trying to the nerves 
 than an hour I once spent on one of them while in 
 solitary pursuit of a Bear, whose footprints I had 
 tracked hi the snow. The vast perpendicular fissures 
 with their glistening sides of azure ice, which one 
 had to jump or climb across, were calculated to sug- 
 gest unpleasant ideas of the effect of a slip or a false 
 step ; and the terrific reports, like the booming of a 
 thousand cannon, made one fancy that the whole 
 mass was being rent in fragments. These glaciers 
 are of great interest to the geologist, as they give an 
 idea of how England must have looked during the 
 Glacial Epoch ; indeed the entire appearance of Spitz- 
 bergen gives one a very fair representation of the 
 Glacial period which immediately preceded our present 
 one, when the whole of Northern Eiu*ope, as far as 58 
 of north latitude, was more or less entirely enveloped
 
 180 
 
 in ice. The first impression on landing in Spitzbergen 
 is one of utter desolation of bleak death ; no blade 
 of verdure gladdens the eye ; no sound of life greets 
 the ear ; all around is the silence of the tonib. One 
 might imagine oneself in an extinct world. It is only 
 after a close investigation that signs of vegetation 
 can be detected here a hardy moss, on the dark grey 
 rocks a yellow lichen, while nestled under some 
 sheltering stone may be found the downy Cerastium 
 alpinum (Mountain Chickweed), or the tiny bright 
 yellow Dryas octopetala (Mountain Avens) ; while in 
 favoured spots, frequented by seabirds, may be found 
 the Ranunculus, Cochlearia, several grasses, and oc- 
 casionally the Yellow Poppy (Papaver nudicale). The 
 only plant at all approaching the character of a tree 
 is the Salix reticulata, one of the smallest of the Wil- 
 low genus ; this tiny plant also grows high up on the 
 Alps, and I may here remark that while plants col- 
 lected at places just above the Arctic circle, such as 
 Hammerfest, North of Iceland, &c., will be found to 
 correspond with those just below the line of perpetual 
 snow on the Alps and Pyrenees, those found in 
 Spitzbergen correspond with Alpine plants above that 
 line. The remaining plants are mostly of very 
 minute size, and have to be very closely searched for ; 
 indeed it was for a long time imagined that the flora 
 of Spitzbergen consisted only of mosses and about half 
 a dozen flowering plants, but this number has been 
 gradually increased by successful voyagers, until it 
 has reached the imposing figure of 93 flowering 
 plants and 152 cryptogams (mosses and lichens), 
 which resist the most vigorous cold ; making a total 
 of 245. Now 93 flowering plants may, perhaps,
 
 190 
 
 strike you as being rather numerous ; but I would 
 remind you that Iceland with its bleak climate, though 
 far less in extent than Spitzbergen, numbers 402 
 species, while Ireland, again still smaller, boasts 960 
 flowering plants. 
 
 I am not going to weary you with a catalogue of 
 the names of the Spitzbergen plants, suffice it to say, 
 that as in all Northern regions, they consist chiefly 
 of the Graminacea; (grasses), Crucifercc, Caryophyllacea 
 (pink family), Saxifrayacea, and amongst the genera 
 we find Draba (Willow Grass), Saxifraga, Ranunculus, 
 Carex (Sedge), Poa (Meadow Grass). They are all 
 necessarily perennial, I say necessarily, because it 
 would be impossible for any annual long to survive 
 in so bleak a district, as a failure in any one year 
 would lead to its utter destruction. You will find 
 that while the Norwegian specimens are smaller than 
 English plants of the same nature, that the Icelandic 
 are smaller than the Norwegian, and the Spitzbergen 
 again are smaller than the Icelandic. Among the 
 Spitzbergen specimens you will find several Saxifra- 
 ges, one of which (Saxifraya Ccrnua) I found under 
 somewhat peculiar circumstances. I was wandering 
 away from my companions with my rifle, in search of 
 reindeer, and found myself in a gloomy valley, sur- 
 rounded with black and jagged rocks ; all around a 
 deathlike silence reigned, and as I wandered on, 
 unconsciously impressed with the solemnity of the 
 scene, but with my thoughts hundreds of miles away, 
 I came suddenly on an open coffin of bleached and 
 mouldering wood, within which lay stretched the 
 whitened skeleton of a man. A rough deal cross, 
 on winch was an almost obliterated inscription in
 
 191 
 
 Dutch was at his head, and I could just decipher 
 enough to learn that I was looking on the remains of 
 one Jacob Moore, who died in 1726, having, doubtless, 
 been one of the crew of some last century whaler. 
 The sailors had given him the only burial in then- 
 power, by leaving him in his coffin on this in- 
 hospitable shore, where the ground is so hardened 
 with ice, that even in Summer it is impossible to dig 
 three inches into its frosty surface. Within the 
 coffin and peeping out between the whitened bones, 
 grew this tiny graceful flowering Saxifrage !
 
 ON SOME KECENT PUBLICATIONS, 
 1873. 
 
 Of the many scientific works which have lately 
 appeared few are of more general interest than 
 Darwin's book on the expression of the emotions in 
 man and animals. 
 
 Few of us have hitherto ever cared to enquire into 
 the meaning and origin of our own most hahitual 
 expressions of anger, fear, or pleasure, far less to in- 
 vestigate analogous emotions in the lower animals ; 
 it is, nevertheless, a subject replete with interest. 
 Darwin refers all expressions of feeling to three dif- 
 ferent causes, 1st, what he calls, " The Principle of 
 Serviceable Associated Habits," that is to say, cer- 
 tain movements or actions may be of direct or indirect 
 service under certain circumstances or states of mind, 
 and whenever the same state of mind is induced, 
 however feebly, there is a disposition to perform the 
 same movements, from the mere force of habit and 
 association, even though they may be of no use. 
 These habitual movements are inherited, and become 
 in a few generations almost instinctive and involun- 
 tary ; thus, if a blow be aimed at the head the eye 
 instinctively winks, and the arm is instinctively thrown 
 up to protect the threatened part, and we even tend 
 naturally to make the same movements whenever 
 anything approaches the head, although our reason 
 may tell us there is no danger of a blow. An example 
 happened to me the other day as I was going my
 
 193 
 
 round of visits : I saw a young child suddenly run 
 off the pavement almost under the horse's feet, and 
 although I was inside the carriage, I immediately 
 made the movement with my arms of violently pull- 
 ing up a horse, and half uttered a low "whoa," 
 though, of course, my reason told me the instinctive 
 movements were quite useless. A good example of 
 an habitual movement becoming instinctive is when 
 a player sees a certain note in his music, his 
 fingers unconsciously assume the proper position for 
 producing it, though his brain is scarcely cognisant 
 of the act. As an instance of serviceable movements 
 becoming hereditary, Darwin alludes to dogs turning 
 round and round on a carpet when they intend to go 
 to sleep, as though to trample down grass and scoop 
 out a hollow iu the ground, which their wild proge- 
 nitors had been in the habit of doing ages ago while 
 in a savage state. 
 
 The Second Principle is that of "Antithesis," or 
 opposite actions. If under a certain state of mind 
 we find one set of actions serviceable, then when an 
 opposite condition is induced, there is a strong and 
 involuntary tendency to the performance of move- 
 ments of a directly opposite character. Thus when a 
 dog is savage and approaches with hostile intentions, 
 as, for example, to attack another dog, or a man, he 
 walks with a stiff upright gait, every muscle braced 
 up, the tail erect and rigid, the hair on the back and 
 neck bristling, the ears cocked and pointed forwards, 
 the eyes staring with a fixed glare ; this is his way 
 of expressing anger and a determination to attack. 
 But when he intends to express affection, gentleness, 
 and submission, his attitudes and expressions are, 
 
 o
 
 194 
 
 according to the doctrine of Antithesis, directly the 
 reverse of these now, instead of walking erect he 
 crouches down and slinks up to his master, every 
 muscle relaxed, the tail lowered or tucked between 
 his legs, the hair on his hack smooth, the ears droop- 
 ing, the eyes no longer round and staring, but 
 almost covered with their elongated lids; and so 
 wonderfully expressive are these movements, that 
 could he speak, it would be scarcely possible more 
 plainly to express his devotion. The attitude of a 
 cat about to fight is like that of a tiger, and directly 
 the reverse of a dog under similar circumstances, she 
 crouches down on the ground prepared for a spring, 
 the tail gently waving from side to side, the ears 
 pressed back close to the head, the claws protruded 
 and the teeth exposed ; when she wishes to express 
 affection her actions are directly the opposite of these, 
 she gently arches her back and walks upright, pur- 
 ring softly as she rubs herself against her mistress's 
 dress, the mouth is closed, the ears erect, the tail 
 instead of being lowered and waved from side to side 
 is held stiff and straight upon an end. Tin's differ- 
 ence and contrast of expression in the two animals 
 when pleased, is explained by Mr. Darwin on the 
 principle of Antithesis, or contrast to those assumed 
 by them when savage. The affirmative nod, and the 
 negative shake of the head, winch are common to 
 almost ah 1 races of mankind clearly arose on the 
 principle of Antithesis, though these signs are not 
 quite so universal as as we are apt to imagine ; thus 
 some Australian and also some Hindoo tribes ex- 
 press a negative by throwing the head back and 
 making a "cluck" with the tongue; the modern
 
 195 
 
 Greeks and Turks also, according to Lieber, make 
 the same sign of negation, expressing yes by a shake 
 of the head ; the Esquimaux again nod when they 
 mean yes, and ivink when they mean no ; I am told 
 the latter sign is sometimes used derisively by civilized 
 nations. But one of the best examples of a gesture 
 acquired by Antithesis is the almost universal prac- 
 tice of shrugging the shoulders ; I say universal, 
 because although we are rather prone to imagine it 
 belongs exclusively to Frenchmen and Italians, it is 
 found to be very general, not only among civilized 
 nations, but even among savages. An indignant 
 man, who resents some injury, frowns, squares his 
 shoulders, clenches his fists, holds his head erect, 
 tenses his muscles, and expands his chest ; when he 
 wishes to express helplessness, inability, or apology, 
 his attitudes, on the principle of Antithesis, are ex- 
 actly the reverse of these, the eyebrows are raised 
 and the forehead wrinkled .by the muscles which are 
 antagonistic to those which produce a frown, the 
 shoulders are shrugged, that is to say raised and 
 rounded, the hands are opened widely, the palms 
 spread outwards, and the head thrown a little for- 
 ward and on one side, this attitude has become so 
 expressive, that the mere raising of the eyebrows, 
 with a slight outward motion of the palms is univer- 
 sally recognised as a sign of deprecation or inability. 
 The Third Principle is, that certain expressive 
 actions are the direct result of the constitution of the 
 nervous system, and are independent of the will ; for 
 example, trembling of the muscles from -agitation or 
 fear, perspiring from extreme pain, and blushing 
 from self-consciousness. All these are apparently
 
 196 
 
 quite useless, and it is difficult to say why they are 
 transmitted. An extreme instance of the influence 
 of fear on the nutrition of the hair is recorded by 
 Mr. Darwin, in the case of an unfortunate man led 
 out to execution in India, whose hair turned grey so 
 rapidly that its change of colour was perceptible to 
 the eye. Blushing is due to the capillaries or minute 
 blood vessels of the face etc., becoming temporarily 
 gorged with blood, from relaxation of the muscular 
 coats of the small arteries. This peculiarly human 
 expression, nothing similar to which has been 
 observed in the lower animals, is usually accom- 
 panied by great confusion of mind, of which a 
 ludicrous example is cited by Darwin. " A 
 small dinner party," he says, " was given in 
 honour of an exceedingly shy man, who, when 
 he rose to return thanks, rehearsed his speech, 
 .which he had evidently learnt by heart, in abso- 
 lute silence, and did not utter one single word 
 aloud, but acted as if he were speaking with much 
 emphasis ! His friends, perceiving how the case 
 stood, loudly applauded the imaginery bursts of 
 eloquence whenever his gestures indicated a pause, 
 and the man never discovered he had remained the 
 whole time completely silent, indeed he afterwards 
 remarked to a friend, that he thought he had suc- 
 ceeded extremely well." As I shall hope on some 
 future occasion to give you a further abstract of Mr. 
 Darwin's remarkable book, I shall now turn to a 
 subject more nearly concerning ourselves. 
 I sincerely trust that when a knowledge of Geology, 
 Astronomy, Physiology, and other branches of Na- 
 tural Science, shall have become more general, we
 
 197 
 
 shall cease to be haunted by the old bugbear which 
 has lately been revived by some excellently well 
 meaning persons, that Science is opposed to the 
 teachings of Keligion. This is one of those phantoms 
 which disappear and resolve themselves into nothing, 
 when they are boldly and steadily approached. 
 
 We have again arrived (they say history repeats 
 itself) at an almost exactly analogous state of opinion 
 to that which existed in Europe in the 16th and 
 1 7th century. Up to that time the theory of Ptolemy 
 that the earth was the stationary centre of the 
 universe, with the sun and the heavenly bodies re- 
 volving round it on enormous crystalline spheres, 
 was universally accepted. Then arose the theory of 
 Copernicus (or Copernik) which all now know to 
 have been the true one, declaring the sun to be the 
 centre of our system, with the earth and the other 
 planets revolving round it. Thus was the earth dis- 
 placed from her position of grand and stationary 
 centre of the universe, and found to be only an insig- 
 nificant orb revolving round a secondary star, which, 
 though relatively vast in comparison with the earth, 
 is yet only as a speck of sand on the boundless shores 
 of Infinity. But this grand and enlightened theory 
 was far in advance of the age, and was credited by 
 a few advanced thinkers only, conspicuous among 
 whom was Galileo. Early in life this deep thinker, 
 who was originally destined for the medical profes- 
 sion, saw the' fallacies of the Ptolemaic system as 
 opposed to the Copernican theory, but so strong were 
 the prejudices of the Churchmen against the latter 
 that he dared not openly advocate or teach it, and 
 when at last he ventured to do so, it was only mo-
 
 198 
 
 dcstly advanced as a hypothesis which was capable 
 of explaining the several astronomical phenomena. 
 It is difficult for us now, when these things have be- 
 come familiar to every school-child, and when they 
 cease to suggest any religious difficulty, to realize the 
 abhorrence that these philosophical views excited ; 
 by the Churchmen they were regarded with horror 
 and disgust, while the so-called philosophers and the 
 ignorant public, united in ridiculing them as impos- 
 sible and contrary to the evidence of their senses 
 for could not any person of sense, so they reasoned, 
 see for himself that the earth was stationary, and 
 that the sun pursued his daily course round the 
 world, rising in the east and setting in the west 
 before their very eyes ! When, therefore, Galileo, 
 becoming bolder in after life, ventured more openly 
 to advocate the Copernican theory, he was seized, 
 imprisoned, and cited before the Inquisition, which 
 compelled him to sign his celebrated recantation, 
 viz. : " The proposition that the sun is the centre of 
 the universe and immovable irom its place is absurd, 
 philosophically false, and formally heretical, because 
 it is expressly contrary to the Scripture," and further, 
 " The proposition that the earth is not the centre of 
 the universe, nor immoveable, but that it moves, and 
 also with a diurnal motion, is absurd, philosophically 
 false, and at least erroneous in faith." No wonder 
 that the poor old philosopher, he was now seventy 
 years of age, muttered to a friend as he was being 
 led back to prison: " E pur si muove" " It moves 
 for all that." 
 
 As I said before, the movement of the earth has 
 long since ceased to be felt as a religious difficulty,
 
 199 
 
 but just the same conscientious scruples have arisen, 
 just the same opprohrium has been poured on the 
 heads of those advanced thinkers and philosophers 
 of the present day, who have ventured to penetrate 
 the secrets of nature, or have run counter to the pre- 
 judices of the well-meaning majority, on such ques- 
 tions as the age of the world, the beginning of life, or 
 man's place in nature, and this only because these 
 opinions chance to be opposed to their own very 
 narrow-minded view of the object and purposes of 
 the Inspired Yolume. We need not hesitate to 
 admit that the Bible was not intended to teach us 
 science; had it been, we should long since have 
 arrived at the perfection of knowledge on every 
 scientific subject, for its teaching must necessarily be 
 right ; but its functions were of a far higher order 
 it was intended to teach us the deeper and more 
 important truths of religion, revelation, and morality. 
 For the acquisition of science, our natural faculties 
 were bestowed upon us. The holy men, whose 
 words have been handed down to us in such a mar- 
 vellous manner, through numberless generations, 
 spoke of earthly things according to the knowledge 
 of their day and generation only, had they done 
 otherwise, they would have been distrusted and mis- 
 understood. 
 
 I referred just now to the inquiries into the begin- 
 nings of life as being one of the things which have 
 caused needless uneasiness. Dr. Charlton Bastian 
 has recently published an account of his researches 
 on spontaneous generation, or Archebiosis. His ex- 
 periments are most pains-taking and philosophical, 
 and he has done perhaps more than any mon living
 
 200 
 
 towards arching over the impassable gap which 
 separates the living from the non-living. 
 
 The doctrine he advocates, and which he believes 
 he has proved experimentally, is the possibility of 
 the origination of the lower forms of life from the 
 elements of dead organic matter. Thus he takes 
 a solution of animal matter, guch as serum, the 
 watery portion of the blood, or a solution of caseine 
 or cheese in distilled water, and places it in chemi- 
 cally clean tubes, from which the air has been ex- 
 hausted,he then raises the temperature above boiling 
 point (212) and in some cases over 300. These 
 tubes are then carefully placed aside, when after a 
 lapse of some hours or days they are examined, it is 
 found that they contain living forms of a low, though 
 not the lowest, type, called Bacteria, minute cylin- 
 drical bodies, which move to and fro with great 
 rapidity. It may perhaps be asked, did not these 
 bodies exist in the fluid previously ? Dr. Charlton 
 Bastian however, tells us that he had previously 
 examined the solutions with a lens which magnifies 
 1000 diameters, and tuat had they been present he 
 must have detected them ; and that even had they 
 existed they must have been destroyed by the applied 
 heat, as it is proved that Bacteria cannot survive a 
 temperature of 107, whereas these solutions were 
 heated to 300 and over. These experiments are 
 certainly [most interesting and puzzling, though I 
 confess I am one of those who cannot bring myself 
 to believe in the chemical origin of even the lowest 
 forms of life. I believe that even in the very humblest 
 organism exists a vital power not only different from, 
 but, as we see in our own bodies, even opposed to
 
 201 
 
 chemical action. We may not be able to define this 
 marvellous power or to say in what it consists, but 
 we see and feel its might, and our minds recognize 
 it as that " Breath of Life " which emanated from 
 an Allwise Creator. Dr. Charlton Bastian has, how- 
 ever, by no means proved his theory to the satisfac- 
 tion of all the scientific world, for there are several 
 possible sources of error, thus one or two germs of 
 Bacteria might have been introduced into the tubes, 
 in spite of every care, and Devaine has calculated 
 that one Bacterium particle would in the course of 
 62 hourse produce seventy- one trillion similar 
 bodies ! And thus again Bacterium germs may 
 possibly, though this does not seem probable, some- 
 times escape death at a higher temperature than we 
 suppose. But should Dr. Bastian succeed in sub- 
 stantiating his theory, I, for one, see nothing to 
 startle or alarm us, for the deeper we penetrate into 
 the mysteries of nature, the more we are impressed 
 with the omnipotence of God. Let us admit, for the 
 sake of argument, the possibility of so arranging 
 chemical elements that they take forms which cannot 
 be distinguished from the lower organisms, or let us 
 accept the doctrine of Huxley, that all life commences 
 with a single atom of homogeneous protoplasm; 
 is it not merely a proof of the mighty power of God, 
 which compels tiny atoms, to the chemist and the 
 microscopist apparently identical, to assume such 
 widely different, such Protean forms. Life can 
 never be a mere heterogeneous collection of atoms, 
 there must be some Almighty guiding influence 
 directing each tiny particle to the place it is to fill in 
 the grand and harmonious scheme of nature, No
 
 202 
 
 spectacle can be imagined more calculated to excite 
 emotions of awe and humility, than to trace the 
 life history of two tiny molecules of precisely similar 
 appearance, size, and apparent structure, and to 
 discover that one was destined to be, by some mys- 
 terious and inscrutable process, developed into a 
 sentient and immortal man, with all his wonderful 
 apparatus of ever beating heart, active reflecting 
 brain and complex organisation, and the other to 
 become, we know not how or why, the simple lichen 
 clinging to some weather-beaten stone. I do not say 
 these things are so, though that is undoubtedly the 
 tendency of some modern teaching, but I say, if 
 these things be so, that they only the more teach us 
 the wonderful and illimitable power of an Almighty 
 Creator. 
 
 " The Expression of the Emotions," Darwin ; " The begin- 
 nings of Life," Oharlton Bastian.
 
 ANNUAL ADDKESS, 1878. 
 
 It would almost seem as though scientific progress 
 were made in a series of starts and bounds. Years 
 will occasionally elapse apparently barren of any 
 invention ; then comes a short period absolutely 
 teeming with discoveries which literally revolutionise 
 the universe This, is however, more apparent than 
 real ; men of science are like the coral polyps of 
 which I recently spoke. These tiny workers, inde- 
 pendent, yet united by a common purpose, labour on 
 unceasingly, drawing unobserved fresh material from 
 the ocean waves, atom by atom, until they have built 
 up these imposing structures which only receive 
 recognition when they raise themselves above the 
 surface of the waves, as some fair island, to be dis- 
 covered and named by the fortunate observer. So 
 it is with scientific discovery. Hundreds, thousands, 
 of scientific men, working independently of one 
 another, but united by the same love of science, are 
 ceaselessly making experiments, accumulating facts, 
 and comparing the results of their labours, until they 
 culminate in some grand discovery to be called after 
 the fortunate man who has probably only collected 
 and utilised the researches of thousands of his pre- 
 decessors, each of whom had contributed his mite 
 towards the common store of knowledge. The year 
 which has just passed has been a fruitful one in dis- 
 coveries of practical importance. I may mention
 
 204 
 
 one in particular, which although at present hardly 
 developed beyond the stage of a scientific toy, is yet, 
 I believe, destined to play an important part in the 
 history of the future. I allude to the Telephone, a 
 specimen of which you have before you to-night, and 
 which you will, I trust, test for yourselves. The 
 structure of it is simple in the extreme ; you have 
 here a disc of thin metal placed, as you see, at the end 
 of this mouth-piece of wood, on the other side of 
 which is a bar magnet surrounded with a coil of wire 
 connected with two insulated wires communicating 
 the one with the earth, and the other with a similar 
 instrument at a distance ; the voice of the speaker 
 causes the disc to vibrate, and these vibrations are 
 transmitted, in a manner which is not fully under 
 stood, along the telegraphic wire to the disc of the 
 corresponding instrument, and can be heard by 
 placing the ear close to it; the distance to which 
 sounds can be transmitted is at present practically 
 limited to, I believe, 200 or 300 miles, but improve- 
 ments are being almost daily effected, and both the 
 range and practical utility of the instrument will 
 doubtless be eventually limitless. A still more 
 wonderful development of the same principle is the 
 talking Phonograph, which can be made to reproduce 
 a speech months or years after it is spoken. Imagine, 
 for example, being enabled to hear an oration of Lord 
 Beaconsfield or Mr. Gladstone on the now celebrated 
 six million vote, or the supposed designs of Kussia 
 on Constantinople, years, possibly centuries, after 
 the events are forgotten. It is even conceivable 
 that we might transmit Patti's delicious notes for the 
 admiration of a succeeding generation. Thus Baron
 
 205 
 
 Munchansen's story of the words being frozen in the 
 speaking trumpet and only heard weeks after when 
 the thaw came, is not so absurd as it used to sound. 
 I wish I had a speaking Phonograph to show you, 
 but I was unable to get one. The principle is 
 shortly this : a vibrating diaphragm moves in unison 
 with the voice of a speaker. This diaphragm has 
 a small metal pointer connected with it, so 
 arranged that with each movement of the disc, it 
 makes more or less deep dots or indentations on a 
 piece of tin-foil placed spirally on a revolving cylinder 
 or drum. To re-translate the words the drum is 
 made to revolve at exactly the same rate as when 
 they were spoken, and a new pointer re-enters the 
 indentations previously made, and excites similar 
 vibrations in a fresh diaphragm, which would thus 
 reproduce the exact words, nay, even the very tones 
 of the voice of a speaker who had perhaps long since 
 passed into another world. What privileges will not 
 our descendents enjoy ? Cannot each of us think 
 regretfully of voices long silent whose accents we 
 would give worlds to recall ? The rising generation 
 already possesses, through Photography, the advan- 
 tage, not of only studying the exact features of them- 
 selves from infancy to maturity, but those of many 
 celebrated men now passed away. Is the next 
 generation to preserve also their very utterances ? 
 
 One of the greatest chemical problems of the day 
 has also recently been solved ; it was once thought 
 that the gases hydrogen and nitrogen were not 
 capable of being either liquified or solidified ; both 
 these feats have now been accomplished. It has 
 always been a scientific axiom that every solid could
 
 by heat be rendered fluid and that by continued in- 
 crease of temperature it would become gaseous ; 
 conversely it has been theoretically supposed that 
 every gas could, by cold and pressure, be first 
 rendered fluid and then solid. Hydrogen had how- 
 ever hitherto resisted all efforts at solidification 
 until M. Cailletet, by employing a temperature of 
 140 or 220 degrees below the zero of Fahrenheit, 
 and a pressure of 650 atmospheres, or 8,7501bs on 
 the square inch, has succeeded in first liquifying and 
 then rendering it solid. A very practical application 
 of electricity has also been made by M. Paul Jabloch- 
 koff ; it is called the " electric candle," and will, no 
 doubt in time, entirely supersede gas in the illumi- 
 nation of towns and buildings. Of course, elec- 
 tricity has long been used to produce single lights 
 of great intensity, but these were expensive, and 
 required regulators, &c., of great complexity ; a pro- 
 cess has now been discovered of subdividing the 
 lights into any required number, and of different 
 degrees of intensity, and these can be lighted and 
 extinguished separately or simultaneously. It is 
 possible cheaply to generate the current by a 
 magneto-electric machine, and lay on the wires to 
 the lamps, just as gas is now laid on. The burner 
 consists of two pencils of carbon, placed side by side 
 and separated by a bar of kaolin, or Chinese clay. 
 When the current passes, these candles are slowly 
 consumed, the kaolin burning at exactly the same 
 rate. For small lights the carbon pencils may be 
 dispensed with, and only kaolin used. 
 
 We have all suffered more or less annoyance and 
 loss from our iron and steel possessions rusting and
 
 207 
 
 becoming useless. A process has lately been dis- 
 covered by Professor Barff for preserving iron from 
 corrosion. Iron or steel articles when exposed to 
 the influence of moisture or damp air, become 
 covered with a reddish powder, consisting of oxide 
 of iron, formed by the union of the oxygen of the 
 atmosphere with metallic iron. On further exposure 
 this ferrous oxide abstracts still more oxygen from 
 the air, and becomes sesqui-oxide of iron ; this 
 sesqui-oxide gives off some of its superfluous oxygen 
 to the unchanged iron beneath, and converts it into 
 the oxide. This process continues, until at last the 
 whole of the iron becomes a sesqui-oxide, or, in 
 popular language, is " eaten away." Professor Barff 
 has succeeded in obviating all these changes and 
 rendering the iron practically rust-proof, by exposing 
 it for six or seven hours to the action of very highly 
 heated steam, when it becomes covered with a black 
 layer of magnetic oxide of iron. This film is so hard 
 as to resist the action of water or weak acids, and 
 can hardly be touched by the file, indeed it adheres 
 to the iron more firmly than its own metallic particles 
 cohere together. If the process prove a commercial 
 success it will supersede all enamelled and galvanised 
 iron-work, and it will, I trust, take the place of the 
 objectionable leaden water-pipes and cisterns, which 
 are now a source of so much danger to the com- 
 munity. 
 
 The astronomical world has not been idle during 
 the last year, for in August, Professor Asaph Hall, 
 discovered two moons accompanying the planet 
 Mars. These tiny satellites are calculated to be not 
 more than ten or fifteen miles in diameter, but they
 
 208 
 
 are practically of great importance, for astronomers 
 have been able in a few days to determine more 
 accurately the mass of the planet, from the observa- 
 tions of the outer satellite, than has been possible 
 during a previous century of careful and laborious 
 calculations, and it has been in consequence found 
 necessary to reduce our estimate of the bulk of Mars 
 by some thirty millions, of millions, of millions, of 
 tons. Mars is a perfect miniature of our earth, being 
 about half its diameter, a quarter of its surface, and 
 one-seventh of its weight ; like the earth it has 
 oceans, continents, and ice-capped poles, and to in- 
 crease the resemblance, it is now found to have 
 attendant satellites. Kespecting these two moons of 
 Mars, Mr. Proctor has been indulging the readers of 
 Belgravia with some whimsical, but amusing scientific 
 speculations. He assumes the size of either satellite 
 to be certainly not more than 20 miles in diameter, 
 and its density to be not greater than that of our moon, 
 therefore the attraction of gravitation on its surface 
 will be less, exactly in proportion to the difference of 
 its density and diameter and that of our earth, i.e., 
 it will amount to only l-600th part of our terrestrial 
 gravitation. Supposing these moons to be inhabited 
 by beings like ourselves, a man of average size 
 (lOst. lOlbs.) would weigh there only |lb. If they 
 possess the same activity and strength as ourselves, 
 a man would there be able to jump to a height of 
 half a mile, and a length of two miles, because he 
 would apply the same impulse to a weight of 4oz., 
 that an earthly .man applies to 1501bs., and this in 
 a much rarer atmosphere. Mr. Proctor, however, 
 thinks it more probable that these Martian moon-
 
 209 
 
 thinks it more probable that these martian moon- 
 men, in consequence of the extreme rarity of the 
 atmosphere, possess such feeble vital energy, that 
 they are not more active than we are, in spite of 
 their light weight. An ingenious writer in the 
 Spectator points out how readily, in so small a world, 
 a man might change his climate, for a short excur- 
 sion would take him from the cold of the Arctic, to 
 the heat of the Torrid Zone. Such speculations are 
 of course only the diversions of science, for we do 
 not in the least know whether these tiny moons are 
 habitable, in our sense of the word, and in my humble 
 judgment, the probabilities are very much against 
 their being so in this case. Not that I, in the 
 faintest degree, doubt the existence of other inha- 
 bited worlds besides ours ; to do so would imply the 
 waste of such enormous stores of light, heat, and 
 energy, as would be, to my mind, utterly incon- 
 ceivable. Think of the countless suns revolving 
 majestically through space, vast orbs compared to 
 which our own sun is a mere pigmy. What is then: 
 office, if not to supply heat, light, and potential 
 energy to the myriads of planets circling around 
 them. But this subject, although of absorbing 
 interest, is far too stupendous and complicated for 
 discussion to-night. 
 
 There seems some chance that light may be thrown 
 ere long on the connection between the spots on the 
 sun, which exercise so great an influence on his 
 temperature, and the climate of our earth. Mr. H. 
 Jeula has recently pointed out a remarkable coinci- 
 dence between the periods when sun-spots are most 
 numerous, and the number of wrecks recorded annu-
 
 210 
 
 ally in Lloyd's "Loss Book." The laws which govern 
 storms and influence weather, though still involved 
 in obscurity, promise each year to become easier of 
 solution, and to afford useful information to all inter- 
 ested in that uncertain subject. 
 
 I alluded not long ago to the fact of bodies of ex- 
 tinct animals, such as the mammoth and ancient 
 rhinoceros, having been recently found imbedded in 
 the ice in Siberia, where they must have remained 
 buried for thousands of years ; since the time in fact, 
 when that part of the globe was under the influence 
 of a far warmer temperature ttian at present. It 
 had been suggested that these animals had strayed 
 or been drifted from warmer regions to the North. 
 A German naturalist, Dr. Schmalhausen, has lately 
 made a microscopical examination of some fragments 
 of food extracted from the teeth of a Siberian rhi- 
 noceros discovered in the ice, and has identified 
 portions of woody fibre and grasses, which closely 
 resemble those still growing in high northern lati- 
 tudes, thus proving that these animals must have 
 actually lived at or near the spot where their frozen 
 bodies are still to be found, and that probably at a 
 period not so remote as had formerly been supposed. 
 This last is not perhaps an illustration of the practical 
 benefit of science, but I think you will agree with 
 me that some of the recent discoveries, to which I 
 have so briefly and imperfectly alluded, prove that 
 scientific teaching is not only fascinating and in- 
 teresting in itself, but is of immense importance in 
 advancing the material prosperity of mankind.
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE AQUAEIUM. 
 
 When I tell you that I am going to say a few 
 words about " Domestic Life in the Aquarium," I dare 
 say the title will strike some of you as being an in- 
 appropriate one, but I shall try and convince you that 
 you are mistaken, and I will venture to predict that 
 if a few more of you be induced to follow my ex- 
 ample and start an Aquarium and then carefully 
 watch the manners and customs of its inmates, you 
 will perceive that all the best, as well as all the 
 worst feelings of humanity are reproduced in it on 
 a small scale. An Aquarium is, indeed, a little 
 world. There you will see represented the noble 
 chivalrous lover, in the form of a Stickleback, ever 
 ready to don his lady's colours of bright green and 
 red, to set his lance (I mean his sharp spikes) in 
 rest, and valiantly conquer or die for his silver 
 " Ladye-love." Or again you will find him in the 
 character of the faithful and patient husband tenderly 
 watching over and nursing his wife's babies (I should 
 say eggs), or scaring away noisy roystering bachelor 
 fish, who icill come and make a disturbance near the 
 nursery ! There you will see the lowly patient 
 drudge, in the shape of a snail, moving quietly along 
 on its unostentatious path, and yet, like some mem- 
 bers of our larger world, doing an infinity of good 
 with very little parade, making away with noxious 
 matter, and purifying and sweetening the waters of 
 life, cleaning and sweeping the chambers, doing good
 
 212 
 
 and finding virtue its own reward ! Here you may 
 see unsuspecting innocence, in the guise of some 
 simple gudgeon, suddenly become the prey of the 
 rapacious " Lawyer-fish," or Pike ; and here again 
 the "dangerous criminal classes" are represented 
 by the predatory and omnivorous " water beetle " 
 (Dijtiscus marginalis), who, whether in the larval 
 form of " water-tiger " or grown to beetle's estate, 
 is continually roving to and fro in the watery world 
 and preying on the unwary lying in wait in soli- 
 tary places with his head downwards, as though he 
 were thinking of nothing at all, and suddenly rising 
 under some stout, staid, respectable old fish, and 
 biting a piece out of the tenderest portion of his 
 flank (literally, his " silver side" !) or engaged in mur- 
 derous combat with one of his own species, a conflict 
 continued until one or the other succumbs, when the 
 victor usually proceeds to make a meal of the van- 
 quished ! But to leave generalities; supposing you wish 
 to keep an aquarium, the first thing to do is to get a 
 fitting receptacle for your treasures, this should be in 
 the form of a large glass tank some 18 or 24 inches 
 long, by 12 or 16 inches wide, and about 12 inches 
 deep, it should be thoroughly well made of stout 
 sheet, or better still, plate glass, and should have a 
 slate bottom. Aquaria are usually made so deep 
 that the water does not get sufficiently aerated. I 
 have one myself of the larger dimensions which 
 for years has scarcely needed a change of water, 
 it has also what I strongly recommend, a moveable 
 shutter of painted zinc to exclude the light from one 
 side when desirable, for fish, like ourselves, do not 
 care to dwell constantly in the full glare of daylight,
 
 213 
 
 but long for a little privacy and repose at times, 
 and moreover the heat of the summer sun occa- 
 sionally renders the water too warm to be either 
 agreeable or wholesome. Aquaria, such as I have 
 described, are rather expensive articles, ranging in 
 price from 80s. to 5 or 6, but a very good substi- 
 tute may be obtained, at any glass shop, for a few 
 shillings, by purchasing a bell- shaped propagating 
 glass, and turning it upside down on one of the 
 wooden stands usuaUy sold for that purpose, taking 
 care, only, not to fill it too full. 
 
 Before proceeding to stock your aquarium it is 
 absolutely necessary to understand the principle on 
 which it should be maintained, though I will not 
 tire you by going deeply into the chemical theory. 
 I need hardly teh 1 you that fish require Oxygen as 
 much as we do, their gills, or branchiae, performing 
 the same functions for the water thai our lungs do 
 for the air we breathe, viz., extracting the Oxygen it 
 contains for the purpose of respiration nnd purifying 
 the blood. You may have noticed how fish are 
 incessantly pumping water into their mouths, as 
 though they were drinking, this water is not sent into 
 the stomach, but through the gills, Vv'liere it parts 
 with the Oxygen it contains receiving in return Car- 
 bonic Acid. It is for this reason that fish he with 
 their heads up-stream, that water or rather Oxygen 
 may be passed through their gills more rapidly, and 
 in angling it is quite possible to drown a fish in its 
 own element by simply towing it gently by the line 
 with its head down the stream. But if fish, like all 
 living animals, require Oxygen for the purpose of 
 respiration, plants, on the other hand require Car-
 
 214 
 
 bonic Acid, the gas which is being constantly ex- 
 haled or given off from ah 1 living creatures, and 
 which though so deadly to us is essential to vegetable 
 life. Now it happens that plants absorb Carbonic 
 Acid and give off Oxygen, whereas fish (or other ani- 
 mals) absorb and breathe Oxygen and give off Car- 
 bonic Acid, and it is by exactly maintaining the 
 balance between the two gases that Aquaria (which 
 are ponds on a small scale) flourish. If you watch a 
 healthy plant growing in an Aquarium while the sun 
 is shining on it, you will see strings of tiny bubbles 
 rising from the leaves to the surface of the water, 
 these are bubbles of Oxygen gas and it is their office 
 to render the water sufficiently pure for the fish to 
 breathe. If you overstock your Aquarium with animal 
 life or have not plants enough, you will soon find all 
 your fish at the surface of the water with their poor 
 little noses protruded so as to breathe atmospheric air, 
 but as their gills are as unfitted to breathe undiluted 
 air as our lungs are to breathe undiluted Oxygen (for 
 the air we breathe contains only one part of Oxygen 
 to four of Nitrogen), their gills soon get irritated and 
 inflamed, and unless air is supplied to them in a 
 natural manner, that is to say, tln-ough the medium 
 of the water, they will soon die. It is of course 
 possible to aerate the water in an aquarium without 
 maintaining this exact balance between the oxygen 
 and carbonic acid, I have seen various ingenious 
 contrivances for this purpose, consisting of small 
 tubes, forming syphons, and so arranged that exactly 
 the same quantity of water may run out of one end 
 of the aquarium as is supplied at the other ; some 
 people attempt to achieve the same object by pump-
 
 215 
 
 ing in air by means of a bellows, or by splashing 
 the water about with a jug or some suitable vessel, 
 but these methods are very inefficient. 
 
 The first step towards stocking your aquarium is 
 to put in a layer of rough sand, some two inches 
 thick, taken from the bottom of a river or brook, 
 some use earth, but it is not necessary, and renders 
 it almost impossible to keep the water bright and pure ; 
 over the sand should be sprinkled a layer of shingle, 
 this latter must be previously washed thoroughly 
 clean by means of boiling wa.ter. You must now 
 procure a few aquatic plants of which the too 
 abundant Anacharis (Babbingtonia diabolica) is one 
 of the best, for it is a free and rapid grower and it 
 is not every water plant that will flourish in an 
 aquarium. This is the history of the introduction 
 of the Anacharis into England. Dr. Babbington 
 procured a small piece of the plant from America and 
 planted it in a brook near Cambridge, v> iience it soon 
 spread so rapidly as to render the river Cam un- 
 navigable, and ere long invaded all the brooks and 
 running streams in the South of England. A miller 
 informed me the other day, that he had spent no 
 less than 140 in ploughing it up from his mill- 
 stream, which had become quite useless from being 
 choked by this insidious plant. The Potamogeton 
 is another good plant, though the lower leaves are a 
 little apt to rot off and require removal ; the pretty 
 Italian Valisneria with its long ribbon like leaves and 
 starlike flowers is also a capital grower and is very 
 ornamental ; you can generally procure a root from 
 any chemist who keeps leeches, as it is now commonly 
 grown in the tanks in which these creatures are
 
 216 
 
 kept. The white blossomed water ranunculus is 
 also very pretty and grows well in confinement. 
 The plants should be first trimmed and freed from 
 all decaying leaves, &c., and then carefully planted 
 in the sand at the bottom of the Aquarium, a little 
 of the beach being afterwards piled round their roots 
 to keep them steady. The water may now be very 
 carefully and gently poured in until it is within a 
 few inches of the top of the Aquarium. It is a good 
 plan to have one or two large rough stones in the 
 centre of the Aquarium, for some fish, eels for 
 example, like to burrow under them, and they all 
 like the occasional shelter and darkness afforded by 
 them, besides which the newts absolutely require to 
 come out of the water occasionally, or they will not 
 live, and stoneloach and miller's thumbs delight to 
 bask on a stone with only an inch or so of water 
 over them. The live stock you introduce will, of 
 course, be to a certain extent, a matter of taste ; some 
 people prefer the frippery of ornamental shells, coral, 
 coloured quartz, and golden fish ; these last are only 
 interesting from their bright colour, for they are the 
 slowest and most stupid fish imaginable, and like 
 most handsome creatures, seem to trust exclusively 
 to their appearance to attract attention. But if you 
 really want to study the domestic life of ponds and 
 rivers, you must procure their most common inhabi- 
 tants, s-uch as, for example, the common Perch 
 (Perca fluviatttit) ; these, if not too large, are very good 
 fish for an Aquarium, they are hardy, their scales 
 are bright and silvery, and they shew well the row of 
 small orifices, on either side, whence exudes that 
 peculiar slimy secretion which causes fish to be such
 
 217 
 
 very " slippery customers." My perch arc quite tame, 
 and will feed from my fingers ; they are, however, 
 extremely voracious, and unless well fed with worms, 
 will make very short work of any smaller fish ; more 
 than one of mine have already fallen victims to their 
 gluttony in attempting to swallow too large a stickle- 
 back, for these latter fish erect the hard sharp spikes 
 on their hacks directly they are molested, so that, 
 unless very small, they usually stick half way down 
 the throat of the perch and cannot he moved either 
 way. Both the large water Newt (Triton cristatusj 
 and the small smooth Eft or Newt ( Triton punctatus) 
 are really very handsome animals, though they are 
 commonly regarded with great disgust, and most 
 absurd tales are told of their poisonous qualities. 
 The large male Triton, with his undersurface of 
 bright orange colour, spotted with black, and hand- 
 some fringed crest extending down his back, . is a 
 very attractive feature in the Aquarium, his pen- 
 sive way of sprawling on the central rock, or 
 climbing lizard-like among the branching weeds and 
 enjoying the dolce far niente is very amusing ; besides, 
 these fish teach us a valuable lesson in domestic eco- 
 nomy, namely, that nothing should be wasted ; thus, 
 when they cast their skin, which they do several times 
 a year like snakes, they pensively regard the trans- 
 parent envelope some time, and then apparently 
 reflecting that it is a pity so much good material 
 should be wasted, they slowly roll and pat it into a 
 lump and deliberately swallow it, wearing all the 
 time an expression of the most absurd gravity ! The 
 stone Loach are interesting and rather dignified 
 fish, but as they will not live constantly in deep water
 
 218 
 
 il is necessary to have some rocks on which, they 
 may lie, with only some few inches of water above. 
 They spend most of their time on the stony bottoms 
 of shallow streams, and are provided with long 
 moustache-like feelers ; it is amusing to watch their 
 indignation when some impudent adventurous Stickle- 
 back, a creature who indeed reverences nothing, ven- 
 tures to tweak him by his beard, for, like all dignified 
 people, when he once lays aside his dignity he does so 
 to some purpose, shooting and dashing about in a 
 perfect frenzy and sometimes leaping completely out 
 of the Aquarium. The Notonectcc or Water Boatman, 
 which abound in ponds are interesting insects, they 
 have a very amusing way of swimming about on 
 their backs, and rowing themselves with their two 
 oar-like fringed legs which is exceedingly curious, 
 they are, however, rather rapacious, and being pro- 
 vided with a sharp beak-like appendage to the jaw, 
 they are apt, unless well-fed, to destroy some of the 
 smaller fish, although they are not so voracious and 
 dangerous as the Dytiscus before alluded to. You 
 will find it a good plan to have a few smaller recep- 
 tacles for beetles, rapacious larvae, sick fish, micro- 
 scopic infusoria, pugnacious sticklebacks, &c., so 
 that you can study the habits of each separately, for 
 the subaqueous Millennium has not yet arrived, and 
 you will find that without judicious selection your 
 Aquarium will be " a watery world of strife." But 
 by far the most interesting fish for an Aquarium is, 
 to my mind, the Stickleback. He is handsome in 
 shape and colour, rapid in movement, fearless and 
 intrepid, and hardy by nature. It seems droll to 
 talk of fish building a nest, and yet this little
 
 219 
 
 creature does so, aye, and sits on, or perhaps I should 
 say, lies over, the eggs afterwards. During the 
 breeding season the conduct of the Stickleback is 
 very curious; the male becomes a vivid crimson 
 colour shot with bright green and gold, his eyes 
 look large and sparkle with a fierce light, he opens 
 his mouth, protrudes his under lip and darts about 
 breathing defiance at aU corners, and yet, what is 
 he about all the time ? Actually building a nest for 
 his wife ! fiercely biting off small leaves or pieces of 
 moss, and laboriously matting them together until 
 he has constructed what he considers a suitable 
 abode for his lady love. This abode is rather like a 
 mossy beer barrel with both ends knocked out, and 
 when the female fish is in it her head protrudes at 
 one end and her tail at the other, which has a suffi- 
 ciently comical effect. It is in this nest that the 
 eggs, which are few in number but of large size, are 
 deposited. The ferocious husband now commences 
 a strict watch and ward, for these eggs are considered 
 a great delicacy by the other fish, and would other- 
 wise soon be devoured ; no fish is allowed to approach 
 anywhere near the nest without being fiercely 
 attacked, and I have even seen a large loach ignomi- 
 nously dragged to the other side of an aquarium by 
 a tiny but determined Stickleback ; even the legitimate 
 occupier of the nest is sometimes treated to more 
 cuffs than would be considered expedient by most 
 terrestrial husbands. But should another equally 
 pugnacious male approach, then there is indeed a 
 commotion ; it is a case of " when Greek meets 
 Greek ;" the colours of the combatants grow more 
 vivid, and they fight until one or the other is van-
 
 220 
 
 quished or killed ; when one is put to flight the 
 colours of the conqueror increase in brilliancy, while 
 those of the conquered gradually fade until he 
 becomes as pale and respectable as a Quaker. When, 
 however, after an interval of three weeks, the young 
 fry begin to appear, I strongly advise you to put 
 them into a separate nursery by themselves, for 
 though the parental feelings may be strong, baby 
 fish are very tempting and very nice, and stickleback 
 nature is very weak !
 
 BKITISH SNAKES. 
 
 I do not propose to go at all deeply into the sub- 
 ject of Eeptiles, but merely to say a few words about 
 our common English snakes, and to point out such 
 of their differences and characteristics as may enable 
 you to distinguish between them, a point of no small 
 importance when we remember that one species is 
 venomous and the others quite harmless. The in- 
 stinctive horror of snakes which seems implanted, 
 not only in man but in the lower animals, is very 
 curious and unaccountable ; it seems to extend to all 
 the reptile genus, including the most harmless and 
 beautiful of their kind, often causing the innocent 
 to suffer for the guilty. The reason of this antipathy 
 cannot be that the eye is offended by their ugliness, 
 for few natural objects are more beautiful than some 
 of the more brightly coloured tropical snakes, and 
 even our own common ringed snake is intrinsically 
 very attractive, and as harmless as pretty, so is the 
 kindly tempered Slow worm with its smooth glisten- 
 ing steely skin (though this is really not a snake at 
 all), and the lively green lizard with its bright in- 
 telligent eye and graceful active movement, yet all 
 are included in one common hatred. There certainly 
 is something rather " uncanny " in the glassy fixed 
 stare of a snake, but the unfortunate creature cannot 
 help this, as it is caused "by circumstances over 
 which it has no control," namely, by the absence of 
 eyelids, a peculiarity common to all the snake tribe.
 
 This disagreeable impression is also increased by the 
 vibratile cleft tongue which is incessantly darted in 
 and out of the mouth, and is often erroneously sup- 
 posed to be a sting. Snakes like all other reptiles, 
 are cold blooded animals, not that their blood is 
 absolutely cold but only as compared to that of the 
 warm blooded animals ; this results from the heart 
 in reptiles being a far more simple structure than in 
 mammals, &c., having only one ventricle which causes 
 the oxygenising of their blood to be less effectively 
 performed. This chemical process of oxygenising, 
 which takes place in our lungs, evolves animal heat, 
 and where it is less actively performed less heat is 
 generated. The most common species, not only in 
 England but all over Europe is the ringed snake so 
 frequently met with by the hedgeside and in swampy 
 places, it is generally about two or three feet long. 
 The colour is very variable, ranging through almost 
 all the shades of gray, brown, green, and yellow ; the 
 most common tint is perhaps a dull greenish grey 
 with two parallel rows of black irregular spots down 
 the back, and a bright baud of yellow round the neck, 
 whence it derives its name, the colour varies very 
 much in the same animal at different times, appear- 
 ing bright and clean just after the process of slough- 
 ing, and closely resembling the colour of an ash stick 
 when its attire is just "ready for the wash." The 
 under surface is a dull leaden colour. The common 
 ringed snake (Natrix torquata) is "oviparous" that is 
 to say, it lays eggs, which are generally deposited in 
 some warm favourable locality, such as a hot bed, or a 
 dunghill, in batches of from 13 to 20, where they are 
 hatched by the combined heat of the sun, and of that
 
 223 
 
 developed in the damp straw. The female which is 
 larger than the male, does not seem at all oppressed 
 by any grave sense of maternal responsibility, for 
 having laid her eggs, and having done the best she 
 can for them in the way of situation, she glides off, 
 and leaves them to be "fetched up " as best they may. 
 Snakes change their skin, or rather their outside skin, 
 corresponding to our Epidermis or scarf skin, several 
 times in the year, they are then in their brightest 
 colours and move about with more alacrity as though 
 rejoicing in their smart attire. The slough (as it is 
 called) peels off inside out, much in the same way 
 as a stocking is pulled off, the snake rubbing itself 
 against some rough or prickly plant to assist in its 
 removal. All the reptile tribe live on animal food, 
 and the snake is no exception, it delights principally 
 in juicy frogs, tender little unfledged birds, eggs, and 
 even mice, nor will it refuse a nice plump garden 
 slug as a variety. Its method of swallowing a frog is 
 very amusing (except for the frog !) it generally, 
 according to Knapp, seizes it by one of its hind legs 
 as it is endeavouring to escape ; poor froggy imme- 
 diately gives himself up for lost, makes no further 
 effort to escape, and stretches himself out convul- 
 sively, the snake slowly swallows first the leg he has 
 seized, and then the rest of the body which slowly 
 disappears leaving finally only the head and three 
 legs projecting from the snake's mouth. The unfor- 
 tunate frog is not only alive all this while, but for a 
 short time after it reaches the snake's stomach, indeed 
 Cooke relates the case of a snake which was cut open 
 by a boy, when a full sized frog hopped out of its 
 stomach, and speedily made itself scarce, no doubt
 
 224 
 
 rejoicing in such an unexpected deliverance. The di- 
 gestion of all the snake tribe is very rapid, so much 
 so that when they have gorged a substance too large 
 to be swallowed at once, the portion in the stomach 
 will be dissolved and digested while the remainder is 
 still projecting from the mouth. Snakes take very 
 readily to the water, I have often seen them in the 
 dykes about Aldington swimming with great rapidity, 
 and they will also dive after Newts if pressed by 
 hunger. The common harmless ringed snake prefers 
 a wet or swampy situation, whereas the viper is almost 
 invariably found in very dry neighbourhoods. It is 
 a curious circumstance that no snake of any des- 
 cription, not even the slowworm, is found in Ireland, 
 their banishment is attributed to St. Patrick, at least 
 so every patriotic IrisTirnan will tell you ! However 
 that may be, it is certain that, though common enough 
 all over the rest of Europe, they do not exist in the 
 Emerald Isle. 
 
 The Viper or Adder (Pelias Berus) is viviparous, that 
 is to say the young are born alive, and it is wonder- 
 ful how soon afterwards they show their pugnacious 
 disposition. I have seen them when only a few inches 
 long, rear themselves up, if meddled with, and dart at 
 a stick with the greatest fury, but all snakes are very 
 timid and cowardly, and will invariably "skedaddle" 
 if at all possible, it is only when unable to escape 
 or when trodden upon that they turn and bite. I 
 remember reading in a book of Natural History " the 
 chief distinction between the common snake and the 
 viper is that the latter is provided with a gland secret- 
 ing a poisonous fluid and with perforated fangs by 
 which it is conveyed into the flesh of the person
 
 225 
 
 struck" this is rather unsatisfactory, because it would 
 be far more pleasant to ascertain the distinction be- 
 fore one is bitten. There seems no doubt that the 
 poison of the viper is more virulent during the heat 
 of summer, but this is of less practical importance, 
 because the viper like other English snakes is torpid 
 during the winter. The virulence of the poison seems 
 to increase with the anger of the animal, and the 
 length of time it has been storing up the supply, for 
 if a viper be made repeatedly to strike some inferior 
 animal or a stick its stock of poison gets exhausted, 
 and it is comparatively harmless, though I think it 
 would be better not to try it on oneself, even then ! 
 The poison fangs of the viper are placed in the upper 
 jaw, they consist of two curved teeth much longer 
 than the others, situated in the front of the mouth, 
 they are hollow inside and communicate by two nar- 
 row tubes with the poison glands which are placed 
 one on each side of the head, at the back of the eye. 
 The poison fang is perforated near the point by a 
 small orifice so that when the animal presses the 
 poison out of the gland by the action of its jaws, it 
 flows along the narrow duct into the hollow fang, 
 and then through the little orifice in the tooth into 
 the flesh of the victim. When a viper means mis- 
 chief it coils itself up like a spring with the head in 
 the centre and drawn slightly back, suddenly it 
 throws out the whole length of its body with light- 
 ning-like rapidity, so rapidly indeed, that the eye can 
 scarcely follow it, but it does not really leave the 
 ground though it appears to do so, the tail remains 
 in contact with it, while the mouth is widely distended, 
 and the poison fangg, which, when in a state of quies- 
 
 Q
 
 226 
 
 cence, lie flat in a groove in the jaw, are erected ; the 
 action is one of striking rather than biting, and it 
 sends its fangs into its victim much in the same 
 fashion as a labourer uses his pick axe. The bite of 
 an adder or viper is by no means necessarily fatal, at 
 any rate to the larger animals, dogs are frequently 
 killed by them, but then they are generally bitten on 
 the tongue which is usually protruded, and the swel- 
 ling causes suffocation. A gentleman told me a story 
 of a dog of his which used regularly for years, every 
 hot day in summer, to go viper hunting by himself, 
 his master could not for some time discover the 
 cause of these frequent absences until one day he 
 detected him seizing a viper by the back of its neck 
 and shaking it like a rat. At last however he fell a 
 victim to his ardour in the chase for he was found 
 dead in the woods having been bitten in the tongue. 
 One hears occasionally of persons who are said to 
 have died of the bite of a viper, but such cases must 
 be rare for I have not only never seen one but I have 
 never met with any one who could tell me of a well 
 authenticated case of a healthy person being so killed, 
 though I have heard of instances where the blood was 
 in so impure a condition that the patients died of the 
 viper's bite as they would probably have done had 
 they been scratched by a jagged rusty nail or severely 
 stung by bees. Still I should be extremely sorry to 
 try to solve the question by being bitten myself, and 
 I advise everyone cautiously to avoid such a risk, for 
 our chalky Kentish downs are rather celebrated for 
 vipers. Should any of you however be unfortunate 
 enough to get bitten, you should immediately suck 
 the part vigorously ; if you can procure any Harts-
 
 227 
 
 horn, Salvolatile, or Ammonia in any shape, rub it 
 into the wound at once, and afterwards smear the part 
 well with Olive oil, having previously tied a piece of 
 string tightly round the limb above the bite, a tea- 
 spoonful of Salvolatile or Hartshorn should also be 
 taken in a little water, then get some kind Doctor to 
 cut the place clean out and rub in plenty of caustic. 
 The stories one hears of cures by " Snake Stones " 
 are very curious and apparently well authenticated. 
 These snake stones are usually some porous sub- 
 stance, commonly calcined bone, and when placed on 
 the wound adhere till they are saturated with blood, 
 perhaps they act by absorbing the poison together 
 with the effused blood, at any rate they are 
 highly esteemed in the East and held to be quite 
 infallible, even in the case of bites by the most 
 deadly snakes. Have any of you ever seen a viper 
 swallow its young ? this is a moot point with natural- 
 ists, but I have of late heard so many well authenti- 
 cated instances of their doing so (one by a member 
 of our Society) that 1 am inclined to believe it, 
 though its possibility is vigourously denied by some 
 on Physiological grounds, and by others who assert 
 that nothing is so dangerous as to believe tvhat you see I 
 If it be possible for a mouse or a frog to remain 
 some time alive in the stomach of a snake, and of 
 this there are numerous instances, I cannot under- 
 stand why the same thing may not be credited of 
 a snake, especially when we remember how small 
 a quantity of air these reptiles require to carry on 
 respiration. 
 
 Vipers were in ancient times much used in medi- 
 cine, and were held in high repute, though I cannot
 
 228 
 
 say I prescribe them myself. Viper oil is, however, 
 still held in great esteem, even in our own day, by 
 country people, it is prepared by cutting up and 
 boiling the animal, and then skimming off the fat, it 
 is considered good for all kinds of wounds, and a 
 sovereign specific for the bite of a viper ; I suspect it 
 is neither better nor worse than any other oil ! 
 Before leaving the subject of the viper I should like 
 to call your attention to one practical and most im- 
 portant point, viz., the chief distinctive differences 
 between the poisonous viper and the common harm- 
 less ringed snake. The most immediately obvious 
 and reliable of these is the series of irregular zigzag, 
 triangular or lozenge shaped dark spots which extend 
 down the back of the viper in a continuous line. In 
 the common harmless snake tho spots are not con- 
 tinuous, but appear as dots arranged in parallellines along 
 the body. The colour of both is extremely variable, but 
 in the Ringed Snake the green shade predominates, 
 and in the viper the brown is most conspicuous. You 
 may generally make out amore or less distinctly defined 
 dark V shaped mark on the back of the head of a 
 Viper, whereas the Ringed Snake is distinguished by 
 a band or patch of yellow behind the ears. The 
 harmless snake is usually the larger of the two, and 
 is found in damp or swampy situations, the Viper 
 almost invariably frequenting dry, sandy or heathy 
 places. On a closer ex ami nation you will find the 
 so-called scales or plates of the head smaller and more 
 numerous in the Viper, whereas in the common 
 Snake they are larger, numbering three between the 
 eyes, and two above and below. 
 I must not conclude without mentioning the little
 
 229 
 
 innocent Slowworm, so often sacrificed to its un- 
 fortunate resemblance to a snake ; some of you were, 
 perhaps, surprised to hear me say it was not a snake 
 at all, nor indeed is it, being in fact a Lizard without 
 legs. It differs from Snakes in many important par- 
 ticulars ; thus, though it has no legs, yet rudimentary 
 ones may be discovered beneath the skin ; the tongue 
 is not forked, but is merely cleft at the point and its 
 jaws will not expand to the vast dimensions of the 
 snake tribe, so that it cannot indulge in swallowing 
 prey which is larger in diameter than its own body, 
 and finally it has eyelids which impart to it a more 
 benevolent expression than do the staring lidless eyes 
 of the snake. Why it should be called " Blindworm " 
 I cannot say, for though its eyes are smaU they are 
 bright and sharp, indeed it finds its prey, chiefly 
 insects, little slugs, &c., entirely by their use. It 
 has a curious propensity for breaking oif portions of 
 its body whence it derives its scientific name (Anguis 
 Fragilis) for when alarmed it becomes rigid, and 
 while in this state, if it be struck or forcibly bent a 
 portion of the tail breaks off ; most reptiles, however, 
 have a wonderful power of repair, and in this our 
 timid friend is not deficient, for after a time a short 
 conical tip makes its appearance on the broken sur- 
 face and is gradually developed into a very serviceable 
 "jury tail." The common name " Slowworm," is, 
 of course, derived from the slow and timid movement 
 of the animal ; instead of swiftly and instantly 
 gliding off as a snake would do when chased, it imme- 
 diately stops and falls an easy sacrifice to the 
 brutality of its often mistaken destroyer. The 
 Slowworm, as I need hardly repeat, is perfectly
 
 280 
 
 harmless, is easily tamed, and makes a very good pet 
 
 for the fernery. 
 
 Vide " Hardwick's British Reptiles," Figuier's " Reptiles," &c.
 
 CHALK. 
 
 A lump of chalk ! apparently a very insignificant 
 object, but one which, nevertheless, plays an 
 important part in the formation of the earth's crust. 
 Do not suppose at a meeting such as this I am about 
 to bore you with long geological names or technical 
 details, nothing of the kind ; but the spot * where we 
 now stand is so admirably adapted for observing the 
 chalk formation, that I thought a few words on the 
 subject could not be quite without interest. First, 
 then, what is chalk ? It is almost pure carbonate of 
 lime (a mixture of carbonic acid and lime), a substance 
 of the same nature as shells, corals, marble, &c., and 
 strange as it may sound, it is almost entirely of 
 animal origin. Yes, this piece of chalk I hold in my 
 hand, the lofty cliffs above you, are composed almost 
 exclusively of the remains, the skeletons if I may so 
 say, of countless myriads of tiny microscopic creatures 
 which lived, who can say how many millions of years 
 ago. They consisted principally of foraminifera tiny 
 gelatinous bodies inhabiting calcareous shells divided 
 into symmetrical compartments like that of the 
 nautilus. Each cubic inch of chalk contains countless 
 millions of these almost invisible shells. Think then 
 of the enormous lapse of tune required to deposit all 
 these hundreds of feet of chalk cliffs, atom by atom, 
 layer after layer. All chalk formations were, at one 
 time or other, the bottom of a deep and calm sea, 
 where the fine sediment gradually accumulated to its 
 present thickness, and was subsequently upheaved to 
 * Folkestone Warren,
 
 232 
 
 the surface during the many alterations of level 
 which the land has undergone and which are still 
 going on. I think it was Herschell who remarked 
 how inappropriate (geologically speaking) were the 
 terms, "the stable earth" and the "unstable sea," 
 for while the sea always preserves the same invariable 
 level, the land is constantly shifting its position, the 
 bottoms of seas and lakes being filled up or upheaved, 
 and so becoming dry land, while continents and 
 islands are gradually subsiding beneath the waves. 
 There are instances of this occurring even within 
 historical times ; for instance, large tracts of land are 
 rising on the shores of the Baltic, the bed of which is 
 gradually filling up and becoming more and more 
 shallow, and will undoubtedly become, some day, dry 
 land. Numerous islands have, within the memory 
 of man, appeared above the waters and then again 
 subsided, and we have only to look around us to see 
 the same action going on under our very eyes. Many 
 of you must remember the little house surrounded by 
 its pretty fruit and flower gardens which used to 
 stand some considerable distance inland in Eastwear 
 Bay, though the waves now roll over the spot where 
 we sat in days not so very long past and consumed 
 our strawberries and cream ! Large tracts of 
 Eomney marsh, and the low land about Hythe 
 formed, until within the last few hundred years, the 
 bottom of the sea. The Channel on whose shores we 
 now stand, and the Irish Channel, must both, we 
 know, have been dry laud twice during the glacial 
 period, and what is now France and England formed 
 one Continent, and twice must Great Britain and 
 Ireland have been sunk hundreds of feet beneath the
 
 icy waters. Bearing these facts in mind, we need 
 not be surprised to learn that the chalk cliffs around 
 us were once at the bottom of the sea, especially as 
 we know that similar deposits are even now being 
 formed beneath the Atlantic Ocean and elsewhere. 
 White mud of almost the same appearance and com- 
 position as ancient chalk is constantly accumulating 
 in our ocean beds, some day, perhaps, to emerge and 
 form new and vast continents when Europe and 
 America shall be covered by the sea. Who will be 
 the inhabitants of the earth in those days ? What 
 manner of man will then lord it over the lower 
 animals ? We have seen the world, in the remote 
 past, tenanted by gradually and progressively deve- 
 loped forms of life. First the zoophite of lowly 
 organisation, scarcely to be classed with the animal 
 creation, then fish, at first invertebrate (or without 
 backbones) afterwards vertebrate : later on gigantic 
 lizard- like creatures (Saurians) which wallowed in 
 the warm mud and luxurious vegetation of 'the Oolite 
 period. After them in the Tertiary epoch we find 
 mammals allied -to the animals of the present day, 
 and lastly, Man the master of the world ; but always 
 progressive development. I forgot ; I ought, in 
 accordance with modern teaching, to have said 
 monkeys, and then man ! But, seriously, are we to 
 believe that the animal creation has reached its acme 
 of perfection in man ? We see geological changes 
 still going on as they did in the remote past, as they 
 will in the unknown future. Why then should not 
 further developments of animal structure still con- 
 tinue ? We always say we are imperfect creatures 
 (though I don't think many of us believe it) ! Why
 
 234 
 
 then may we not anticipate still further development 
 and improvement ? Why may we not legitimately look 
 forward to a type of human beings as much superior to 
 ourselves as we are to the lizards of an earlier age ? 
 The chalk formations play an important part 
 in the geology of England and Europe generally. 
 Above where we now stand the chalk formations 
 are between 500 and 600 feet thick, and from 
 here they run northward and westward through 
 England. The chalk cliffs reach their greatest 
 height at Dover, whence they gradually get lower 
 and lower, until at Deal, or thereabouts, they dip 
 under the sea to reappear again on the French coast 
 at Sangatt, Wissant, &c. When I say the cliffs get 
 lower, I do not mean to say that the chalk diminishes 
 in thickness, but that the whole bed dips down to a 
 lower level, the different layers, of course, maintain- 
 ing the same relative positions. The uppermost 
 stratum of our chalk cliffs contains layers of flint, 
 and is called, technically, chalk with flints ; it is on 
 this layer Dover Castle stands. It has always been 
 a great puzzle to geologists to account for the 
 presence of these flints in chalk, or to say where the 
 silex, of which they are formed, came from. Geolo- 
 gical text books usually content themselves with 
 saying simply they are fossil sponges, though that is 
 hardly a satisfactory explanation. It has recently 
 been suggested that they may have been formed from 
 the siliceous envelopes or shells of diatoms. The 
 second layer consists of very pure white chalk, such 
 as you see overhead ; it is usually compact, and it is 
 through this layer of white chalk, which you remem- 
 ber I told you passes unaltered under the sea across
 
 235 
 
 to France, that it is proposed to drive the tunnel, in 
 order some day, perhaps, to connect England with 
 France. Next conies grey chalk or chalk marl, 
 which, from containing phosphates, makes a good 
 dressing for land. Under the chalk we find a layer 
 of what is called greensand, not that it is by any 
 means always green. The greensand, for example, 
 which you see on the beach below (it sounds like a 
 bull) is yellow ; when it is green it derives its colour 
 from the silicate of iron it contains. Next to the 
 greensand comes the gault, the dark blue clay which 
 you see everywhere about here at the base of the 
 cliffs, and which is so rich in fossils. It is this par- 
 ticular arrangement of strata which has caused the 
 extensive slips you see around you and which have 
 proved so disastrous to the South Eastern Eailway 
 Company. A few moments reflection will show how 
 these slips have taken place. The upper strata, the 
 chalk and greensand, allow the surface water to per- 
 colate, or filter through them until it reaches the 
 gault, which forms a dense layer through which the 
 water cannot pass. This water accumulates in the 
 greensand, which is essentially a waterbearing stratum, 
 and being unable to escape through the gault, it con- 
 verts its surface, with which it is in contact, into a 
 soft greasy mass which is squeezed out by the 
 pressure or weight of the superincumbent rocks, or 
 else allows them to slide over it. Now if these rocks 
 incline backwards they simply protrude the gault 
 and subside, but if they be at all precipitous like 
 some of those we see above us, they topple forward 
 as soon as their foundation is undermined, and hurl 
 the debris, as you see, in front of them. It is im-
 
 286 
 
 possible to look at the rounded chalk escarpments, 
 as the inland chalk cliffs are called, without heing 
 struck by their resemblance to the water washed 
 cliffs of a sea shore, and this there is no doubt they 
 at one time were. After having been through count- 
 less ages, slowly deposited at the bottom of the sea, 
 they must have been gradually elevated above its 
 surface and formed its margin. If you look at the 
 bluff rounded hills a little inland, such as Caesar's 
 Camp, Sugar Loaf Hill, &c., you can almost fancy 
 you see, with your minds eye, the sea washing their 
 base, so plain are the marks of the action of water 
 on their flowing outlines. The chalk formations ex- 
 tend thousands of miles through Europe, from the 
 north of Ireland to the Crimea, and from the south 
 of Sweden to Bordeaux, but it would take too much 
 time to do more than barely glance at points of im- 
 mediate or local interest. The facts I wish to 
 impress on you in this short paper, are firstly, that 
 chalk is almost entirely of animal structure, being 
 composed of the remains of tiny microscopic creatures, 
 chiefly Foraminifera and Diatoms. Secondly, that 
 it was deposited at the bottom of a still sea, and has 
 been subsequently upheaved. Thirdly, that the time 
 required for these tiny atoms to accumulate to their 
 present thickness must have been enormous. And 
 now I will not detain you longer, but will leave you 
 to chalk your clothes and make muddy your boots 
 by searching for the characteristic fossils of the chalk 
 and gault, which you will find in this neighbourhood 
 are chiefly Echini (or sea urchins), Terebratula, 
 Inocerami, Turrilites, Ammonites, Hamites, and 
 Belemnites,
 
 NOTES ON THE BOTANY OF THE WAKKEN, 
 FOLKESTONE. 
 
 It is to be regretted that Botany, perhaps the 
 least exacting of the various branches of natural 
 history, is not more generally cultivated, replete as 
 it is with various resources for amusement and 
 interest. Its attractions are manifold a study 
 which may be pursued in every locality without even 
 soiling the fingers, it requires none of the special 
 appliances which most of the other sciences demand. 
 Geology, full of interest as it is, needs hammers, 
 wallets, &c., to bring to light the fossil treasures 
 concealed in the various rocks, whilst difficulties of 
 situation must often present serious obstacles except 
 to those most ardent in the pursuit of science, whereas 
 every lane and hedgerow, copse and meadow, affords 
 a field for the pursuit of Botany, and many an other- 
 wise dull and disagreeable so-called " constitutional " 
 may by its help be rendered interesting, and enlivened 
 by the pleasure and excitement known only to a 
 Botanist, of finding some new specimen. 
 
 Unlike many objects of the animal kingdom, no 
 flower, leaf or blade of grass can be pronounced 
 repulsive or devoid of beauty even by the most fas- 
 tidious, for either in form, colour or symmetry, there 
 is always something to elicit feelings of wonder and 
 admiration, and inspire emotions akin to those 
 which must have been experienced by him who first 
 reduced Botany to a science. When Linnaeus for 
 the first time saw fields of yellow gorse, resplendent
 
 288 
 
 in golden blossom, he fell down and gave thanks to 
 the Almighty that he had been permitted to behold 
 such a magnificent sight. Botany, moreover, calls 
 forth the keenest powers of sight and observation to 
 discover the minute differences that exist in the most 
 ordinary field-flowers, for nature never precisely 
 repeats herself ; even the common primrose, if closely 
 examined, will be found to have marked distinctions 
 in the formation of its blossoms apparently so similar. 
 In some the pistil or seed-producing organ is sup- 
 ported on a long neck or style, and reaches almost 
 to the top of the flower, whilst in others the style is 
 short and almost concealed in the deep cup. This 
 so-called " freak of nature " was explained by Mr. 
 Darwin as a perfect arrangement to secure an inter- 
 change of pollen or fertilizing matter between the 
 two kinds of flowers, the process being carried on by 
 the agency of insects ; thus in the simplest form we 
 see a wonderful adaptation of a means to an end 
 observable in all nature's works. 
 
 The Flora of Kent is considered rich, though it 
 does not contain more than 500 of the 8,000 distinct 
 species known in Great Britain ; I believe the pro- 
 bable number of species on the whole globe is 
 estimated by Humboldt at one million, of which 
 however, only about 200,000 are scientifically 
 classified. 
 
 It would be tedious and unnecessary for me to 
 enumerate all the different plants which grow in this 
 neighbourhood, but I have jotted down a few of 
 those that you are likely to find in a day's ramble. 
 I need hardly tell you that some plants have a 
 greater affinity for one soil and some for another, so
 
 289 
 
 that here in the Warren we get those delighting 
 most in sulphur which abounds in this vicinity, 
 chiefly in the form of iron pyrites or bi-sulphuret of 
 iron, commonly called "thunderbolts." Such plants 
 are the wall-flower (Ckeiranthus Cheiri) and wild 
 cabbage (Brassica Oleracea) both of the natural order 
 Cruciferae, the latter being the parent stock of all 
 our cultivated kales and cabbages ; not only the 
 broccoli and cauliflower, but even the Swede turnip 
 is derived from it by cultivation. The total difference 
 of vegetation produced by various localities is very 
 curious and striking, and is due quite as much to the 
 modifying effects of climate as of soil. The vegetation 
 of .Australia for example has no resemblance to ours ; 
 even that of the East and West coast of New Zealand 
 is so remarkably different that in crossing the chain of 
 mountains which forms, as it were, the backbone of 
 the Middle Island, the very spot where the change 
 of foliage occurs may be distinctly traced ; America 
 contains no native Eose or Heath, while the Cactus 
 is almost peculiar to it, and in some islands, such as 
 St. Helena, out of 60 species fonnd, two only are 
 classified. Height and high latitude exert also a 
 very curious effect in modifying the growth of plants, 
 each tending to diminish their size in a marked 
 degree ; for instance, I have found specimens in 
 Iceland and Spitzbergen precisely similar in size to 
 those found at a much higher level on the mountains 
 of Scotland and Norway in a latitude much farther 
 south. One of the most remarkable plants growing 
 in this immediate neighbourhood is the Sea Buck- 
 thorn (Hippopliae Bhamnoides) which has been 
 called the wild olive of England. Wild privet
 
 240 
 
 (Ligustrum vulgare ) flourishes here in great perfection. 
 Juniper (Jimiperw communis) may also be found, but 
 usually at too great a height to be attainable. We 
 have besides, the Wild Beet (Beta maritimaj and the 
 Wild Carrot (Daucus Carrota), just like the cultivated 
 root in appearance, but poisonous. It is a curious 
 subject for reflection whence the poison in plants is 
 derived, why two plants growing in the immediate 
 vicinity of one another should be so different in their 
 effects, one producing sugar and another poison ; 
 both substances are without doubt chemically formed 
 in the plant itself, irrespective of the soil. 
 
 The Samphire (Crithmum Maritimum) grows here, 
 but at a great elevation. For pickling it should be 
 gathered early in the summer, when the leaves are 
 young and succulent. That beautiful plant, the 
 Vipers Bugloss (Echium Vulgare), said to be a specific 
 for a viper's bite, is very common, as also the Lady's 
 Finger (Anthyllis vulneraria). The perfoliate yellow 
 wort (Chlora perfoliata) is a rather curious plant, the 
 stalk appearing to penetrate the centre of a group of 
 leaves, though this is not really the case, the leaves 
 having grown together at the place where they shoot 
 from the stem, as they do in the honeysuckle. The 
 wild Teasel (Dipsacus Sylvestris) is sometimes met 
 with here. It was formerly of service in dressing 
 cloth, though no longer used that I am aware of, 
 except, indeed, for putting into boys beds at school, 
 when the effect is startling, but not pleasant. The 
 Devils bit (Scabiosa succisa) is supposed to grow here, 
 but I never found it. Old Culpepper says of this plant, 
 " This root was larger till the Devil bit away the rest 
 of it for spite, envying its usefulness to man, for sure
 
 241 
 
 he was not troubled with any complaint for which it 
 was good." I believe the explanation of the abrupt 
 termination of the root is that the lower part decays 
 as the upper develops. Just above high water mark 
 grows the yellow-horned Poppy (Glaucium luteuni), 
 also the Centaury (Erythraea centaurium). The 
 Keseda Lutea, in appearance just like Mignonette, 
 is common, though it has no pleasant scent, and is 
 not related to the cultivated plant, which is a native 
 of Egypt. The Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis) is 
 common ; of it Culpepper says : " If it were but as 
 much used as it is neglected it would spoil the 
 spectacle-makers trade," and adds, " of this I am 
 confident, for I have tried it ; if you mar the very 
 apple of a birds eye with a needle they will still 
 recover them, but whether with this herb or not I 
 know not." 
 
 I may mention the following as growing on the 
 Warren : Groin well (Lithospermum officinale), so 
 named because the seeds are coated with silica, 
 hence called "vegetable pearls," Gentian (Gentiana 
 Amarilla),Hemp Agrimony (Eupatorium Cannabinum), 
 Cli&w.ou\iie(Matricaria Chamomilla), Ragwort (Senecio 
 Jacobaea), Hawkweed (Hieracium -piloseUa), Goats 
 beard (Trapognn Pratensis), Sea purslane Orache(Atri- 
 plex laciniat a), Willow her\)(Epilobium Angusti-folium) , 
 Golden Eod (Solidago Virgaurea), Mealy Guelder Kose 
 (Viburnum Lantano), Sweet-briar (Rosa Rubiginosa), 
 Enchanters night-shade (Circea luteana), Corn-mint 
 (Mentha arvensis), Canterbury Bell (Campanula trache- 
 lium), Dwarf Thistle (Carduus acaulis}, Yellow cistus 
 or Rock Rose (Helianthemum vulgare), Wild Marjoram 
 (Origanum vulgare), Wild Thyme (Thymus Serpyllum) 
 
 B
 
 242 
 
 Woodsage (Teucrium Scorodonia), Toad-flax (Unaria 
 vulgaris), Fig-wort (Scrofularia nodosa), Convolvulus 
 (Conv. Septum), Yarrow (Achillea millefoliuri), Small 
 Woodruff (Asperula cynanchica).
 
 ANNUAL ADDEESS, 1876. 
 
 THE SUN, &c. 
 
 Not very long ago it was thought necessary in 
 popular discourses to introduce scientific subjects, 
 as it were, surreptitiously, and with a sort of apology 
 for alluding to them, as though they were of no 
 interest except to a limited number. Now, scientific 
 teachers assume a bolder attitude, and, encouraged 
 by the universal thirst for knowledge, are perhaps 
 a little inclined to usurp somewhat too dictatorial 
 a position, and to treat every subject from a purely 
 scientific point of view. The innocent beliefs of 
 childhood, the sentiments and even the religion of 
 later life, all are to be swept away, and nothing is 
 to be tolerated save hard and rigid facts which are 
 capable of mathematical demonstration. Science has 
 now invaded all classes and has even become the 
 fashion ! Gone are the days when discoverers and 
 men of science starved in garrets while working out 
 problems which were to enrich future generations. 
 Men of talent have now only to speak to be heard, 
 and, however startling their propositions, if such be 
 real or even plausible, the authors are rewarded with 
 public approbation and lucrative appointments. Has 
 a transit of Venus to be observed, money is voted 
 and a numerous and well paid staff of savants are 
 scattered over the most distant quarters of the globe. 
 National squadrons sound the depths of ocean or 
 circumna.igate the world in the interests of science ;
 
 244 
 
 or are sent to solve meteorological questions at either 
 pole, and more wonderful still, no one grumbles at 
 the expense ! But is it not possible that this thirst 
 for knowledge, this passion for scientific investiga- 
 tion may be carried too far ? Are we really about 
 to renounce all faith in morality and sentiment, and 
 implicitly to accept the new dogmas of science ? I 
 have been led to make these remarks from having 
 recently read two articles in the Contemporary Review, 
 by Mr. Mallock and Professor Clifford, the one con- 
 demning, the other advocating these views. Indeed 
 we can hardly take up a literary magazine without 
 finding these questions earnestly discussed and ad- 
 vocated by the ablest scientific writers of the day. 
 Think for a moment where these new doctrines will 
 land us. We are told that all the phenomena of 
 nature are produced by certain definite and invaria- 
 ble laws which are capable of mathematical demon- 
 stration, but beyond the action of these laws, we are 
 not to enquire, and that it is simply ridiculous to 
 insist on any truths which are not as capable of 
 proof as a geometrical problem. We are taught that 
 there is one force or energy in nature, indestructible, 
 incapable of loss or increase, now taking the form of 
 heat, now of electricity, now of motion, and so on. 
 All phenomena, whether of mind or body, whether 
 physical, moral, or mental, are the result of this 
 force. The germination of plants, the formation of 
 crystals, the movements of the Heavenly orbs, the 
 growth of the human body, the exercise of the in- 
 tellectual faculties, are all no more than different 
 manifestations of this same force. Man is in fact, a 
 mere animated machine, whose every act and thought
 
 245 
 
 is regulated by the same invariable laws which 
 govern the rest of nature, whether animate or in- 
 animate. Every feeling of sentiment or religion, as 
 at present understood, is considered too ridiculous 
 for scientific discussion. Curiously enough too, the 
 very men who advocate these views, are men of un- 
 impeachable lives, and inculcate what is really the 
 very highest morality, the practice of virtue for its 
 own sake, i.e., without fear of punishment, or hope 
 of reward, thus unconsciously bearing testimony to 
 the truth of the system, they verbally condemn. 
 Now these views may be called speculative and 
 theoretical, but if they be allowed to spread un- 
 checked, the evil will be a very real and a very grave 
 one. Let the hopes and restraints of religion and 
 morality be once removed, and the world will become 
 a chaos of lawless depravity. 
 
 But now let us turn from the abuse of scientific 
 knowledge to the contemplation of all the wonders it 
 reveals to us, and of these the grandest and most 
 awe -in spiling are, to my mind, the marvels of 
 astronomy. The inconceivable vastness of the uni- 
 verse, the enormous numbers and stupendous dis- 
 tances of the Heavenly bodies, and the fearful 
 velocities with which they rush and whirl in their 
 appointed orbits, the grandeur of the conception of 
 infinite space, all possess a singular charm and 
 fascination for the imagination. There are orbs so 
 distant, that light, which travels at the rate of 
 192,000 miles in a single second (a velocity equal to 
 eight times round the world between the two beats 
 of an ordinary pendulum) yet takes 50,000 years to 
 travel from them to our earth. Orbs that, for auglit
 
 246 
 
 we know, may have ceased to exist thousands of 
 years ago, though their rays still continue to reach 
 us. Yet, impossible as we should have thought it 
 formerly, we are ahle by means of spectrum analysis 
 to tell with certainty their physical structure and 
 chemical composition. What wonders are revealed 
 to us of the mighty sun, the father and ruler of the 
 whole solar system, the inexhaustible source of light, 
 heat, energy, and life, not only to our earth, but to 
 all the other planets. It has perhaps never occurred 
 to some of you, but the sun performs directly or in- 
 directly, all the work of the world, whether that work 
 be accomplished by means of steam, wind, or by 
 human hands, this was first pointed out by Herschell, 
 though Stephenson is usually credited with the obser- 
 vation. Let us take for example, a steam engine, its 
 force is dependent on steam, which is generated by 
 heating water by means of coal. Now coal is the fossil 
 remains of ancient vegetation, this vegetation was due 
 to the chemical action of the sun, which separates 
 the carbon from the oxygen, and turns the poisonous 
 carbonic acid gas into nourishment for plants. So 
 that coal is merely power stored up by the sun's 
 action countless ages ago, and this power it yields 
 up again in process of combustion. Again, wind is 
 principally due to the sun's rays unequally heating 
 different strata of the atmosphere. But how about 
 men's work ? Well, it is not less directly due to the 
 sun's beneficent action. What supports man and 
 enables him to do work ? Bread and meat ; bread, 
 like all vegetable substances, due to the chemical 
 action of the sun, and meat, the flesh of animals, fed 
 on this same vegetation (Lockyer).
 
 247 
 
 The dimensions of this our life-giver are so enor- 
 mous, that it is impossible to give any idea of them 
 in figures. We know, for example, the sun is as 
 large as 1,200,000 of our worlds heaped into one 
 mass, but this gives us no clear impression of his 
 size I think we get a better conception of his 
 dimensions by remembering that the moon revolves 
 round our earth at a distance of 240,000 miles. Now 
 supposing the sun to occupy the position of the earth, 
 he would not only fill the vast circle round which 
 the moon revolves, but would extend almost as far 
 again beyond it into space. An express train 
 travelling at the rate of 80 miles an hour would take 
 one month to go round the earth ; it would require 
 nine years to make a circuit of the sun. Yet vast as 
 is his bulk, the sun is, relatively, a small star in the 
 firmament. Sirius, for example, is 3,000 times 
 larger, and there are many others whose size far 
 exceed his. The mass of the sun being so much 
 greater than that of the earth, the force of gravitation 
 on his surface would of course transcend that of our 
 globe in the same proportion, that is to say, it would 
 be 315,000 times as great, " an earthly man if con- 
 veyed to the sun would weigh 20,000 tons ; a kitten 
 which would weigh a pound with us would there 
 weigh 14 tons, " and if a weight were raised only 
 an inch from the surface, it would strike the ground 
 with a velocity three times as great as that of an 
 express train " at full speed. (Proctor.) 
 
 The heat, which the sun supplies to the earth, is 
 calculated to be sufficient to melt a coating of ice 
 over the world 100 feet thick, or to raise an ocean 
 60 miles deep from the temperature of melting ice to
 
 248 
 
 that of boiling water (212). Sir John Herschell 
 calculated that if the sun's heat which is radiated 
 into space, were concentrated, it would melt a pillar 
 of ice 1,90 square miles in thickness, and 194,626 
 miles in height in a single second of time. Lockyer 
 says that the heat thrown out by each square yard 
 of the sun's surface is as great as would be produced 
 by burning six tons of coal on the same space each 
 hour ; now taking the sun's surface at 2 trillions, 
 284 billions of square miles, and each square mile 
 containing 3 million and 97,600 square yards, how 
 many tons of coal would require to be burnt in an 
 hour to represent the sun's heat ? A very pretty 
 little sum, which any of you are at liberty to work 
 out ! Of this prodigious heat, the earth, however, 
 receives only the 227 millionth part, that is to say if 
 the heat and light of the sun be divided into 227 
 million parts, our earth receives only one of them. 
 And yet it is by this infinitesimal fraction of his heat 
 (not nearly ah 1 of which do we utilize), that all the 
 work of the world is done, all life and vegetation 
 supported. By what means the apparently inex- 
 haustible supply of the sun's heat is replenished 
 remains a matter of curious speculation, for, of 
 course, his surface can no more burn on for ever 
 without a constant supply of fuel than can a terres- 
 trial fire. No doubt one great source of caloric is 
 the contraction of his globe, which has been going on 
 from the beginning. The sun, together with the 
 Heavenly bodies, was, at one time in the inconceive- 
 ably remote past, a mass of nebulous or cloudy 
 matter, occupying a space far transcending the limits 
 of the solar system, this nebulous matter gradually
 
 249 
 
 contracted and condensed into the solid spheres 
 which we call the sun and planets. Now condensa- 
 tion is accompanied by the evolution of heat, and 
 this to such an extent, that Helmholz calculates that 
 a contraction of the sun's diameter by the l-10,000th 
 part of its present length, would generate a supply of 
 heat sufficient to cover the sun's expenditure for 
 2,000 years. Another source of the sun's heat is 
 supposed to be the constant shower of meteoric 
 bodies which is constantly falling on his surface with 
 tremendous velocity, and whose impact would generate 
 heat in the same way that a bullet or cannon ball 
 does when it strikes a target, a heat often sufficient to 
 liquify the projectile. It is some consolation to learn 
 that even if the sun received no fresh fuel, his stock 
 in hand is still sufficient to last us for some millions 
 of years longer. But whatever the source of the 
 sun's heat may be, it must, of course, some day be 
 exhausted, and then, according to Sir W. Thompson, 
 the sun with all the planets welded into his mass 
 will roll on a cold black globe through infinite space. 
 As, however, this wih 1 not happen for some billions 
 of years, it need cause us no present uneasiness. 
 
 Since astronomy was first known as a science, the 
 estimated distance of the sun has progressively 
 increased. Pythagoras was the first to attempt a 
 scientific measurement of the distance, which he 
 estimated at 44,000 miles, and he startled the world 
 by boldly asserting that the sun was not less than 75 
 miles in diameter", and was actually larger than. the 
 Peloponnesus ! Copernicus placed the distance at 
 4,800,000 miles ; the next estimate was 20 millions, 
 and so on, until the distance at last reached 95
 
 250 
 
 millions of miles, at which it remained until a few 
 years since, when it was found necessary to correct 
 it to ahout 91 millions of miles. It may appear 
 strange, that with the hoasted accuracy of astronomy, 
 and all our delicate modern instruments, a mistake 
 of such magnitude as four millions of miles should he 
 possible in a calculation of such importance, 
 (Proctor). The problem is, however, one of enor- 
 mous difficulty, and the only wonder is that it should 
 have been so accurately solved. In the first place 
 the immense distance renders the angle to be 
 measured almost impercoptible, then both the sun 
 and the earth are rushing with inconceivable velocity 
 through space, each meanwhile revolving on its own 
 axis in different periods, and the earth round the sun 
 in an eccentric orbit ; not only, therefore, would the 
 minutest error in calculations of infinite complexity 
 make differences of thousands of millions of miles, 
 but there are imperfections of sight, weather, instru- 
 ments, &c.,to betaken into account, any one of which 
 would suffice to falsify the whole calculation. After 
 all, this error of four millions of miles corresponds, 
 according to Sir T. Herschell, only to the apparent 
 breadth of a human hair at a distance of 125 feet, or 
 of a sovereign at a distance of eight miles ! It may, 
 perhaps, assist us in realising the enormous space 
 which separates us from the sun, if we calculate the 
 time an express train, travelling at the rate of 30 
 miles an hour night and day without stopping, 
 would occupy in traversing this interval of 91 millions 
 of miles. I think I mentioned before, that a train 
 going at this rate would take one month to go round 
 the earth, it would take just 347 years to reach the
 
 251 
 
 sun, so that if we left here any time this year, we 
 should arrive at our destination in the year 2,223. 
 Any sound loud enough to traverse this space would 
 do so, travelling as it does at the rate of 1,115 feet a 
 second, in fourteen years and two months. Light, 
 which travels 192,000 miles in a single second, flashes 
 across this enormous void in eight minutes. It is a 
 very curious fact, and one testifying to the high 
 civilization and the knowledge of astronomy possessed 
 by the ancient Egyptians, that the correct distance 
 of the sun from the earth is accurately recorded on 
 the Great Pyramid. 
 
 The light of the sun is 800,000 times greater than 
 that of the full moon, 22,000 million times brighter 
 than that of the most brilliant star ; so dazzling is it 
 that any other light, however powerful, looks posi- 
 tively dark if seen against it. Lime light, which is 
 produced by playing on a piece of lime with a mingled 
 flame of hydrogen and oxygen, and which is itself so 
 vivid that the eye cannot look at it, yet appears 
 absolutely black if viewed against the sun's surface. 
 Sir J. Herschell calculated that it would require no 
 less than 146 globes of limelight, each as large as 
 the sun, and giving out light equally from all parts 
 of their surface, to produce a brilliancy equal to 
 sunlight. 
 
 After what I have said of the intense heat of the 
 sun you will perhaps be surprised to hear that the 
 greatest astronomer of his day, Sir W. Herschell, 
 believed that orb to be inhabited. His theory was 
 that the sun himself is a solid, cold, dark body ; in 
 fact a very large planet, surrounded with a glowing 
 and luminous atmosphere which gives off light and
 
 heat, the surface of the sun being protected from 
 their influence hy a dense envelope of opaque clouds 
 which are impervious to their rays. This theory, 
 ingenious as it is, is not, however, held by astrono- 
 mers of the present day, as it is at variance with 
 several now well known laws of light and heat. The 
 body of the sun is supposed to be an incandescent 
 mass, the centre probably solid from the enormous 
 pressure, the surface composed of oceans and seas of 
 molten, fluid, metals, with an atmosphere of glowing 
 gases, and the vapours of the various metallic bodies 
 which we know to exist there, I say, know to exist, 
 because the spectroscope has revealed to us the 
 presence of iron, copper, sodium, zinc, gold, potas- 
 sium, magnesium, hydrogen, &c., in the sun. It is, 
 therefore, probably no uncommon thing, when any 
 rapid alteration of temperature takes place in this 
 metallic atmosphere, to have a sudden shower of 
 molten iron, zinc, or gold, on the surface of the sun. 
 This, together with the constant pelting of the 
 myriads of meteoric bodies which we know must 
 strike his surface, would render the sun a very 
 undesirable residence to any creatures which our 
 imaginations are capable of conceiving ! On looking 
 at the sun through a telescope the observer will 
 usually be struck by the irregular dark spots which are 
 almost always visible on his surface. And here let me 
 impress on my younger hearers the danger of attempt- 
 ing to look at the sun through even the smallest tele- 
 scope with the unprotected eye, for the heat and light 
 both being concentrated by the lenses the eyesight 
 would be inevitably and instantly destroyed. Great 
 precautions and dark glasses are required in order to
 
 253 
 
 make solar observations safely. There are very few 
 days in the year in which sun spots are not visible with 
 the telescope, and occasionally they are even apparent 
 to the naked eye. when the best way of observing them 
 is to look through a piece of smoked glass. Now 
 any spot which we can see through a telescope must 
 be 50,000 miles in diameter (six times that of our 
 earth) ; just conceive then the enormous size a spot 
 must necessarily be in order to be visible to the 
 naked eye ! Small as they look to us, their dimen- 
 sions are really stupendous, 74,000 miles and 107,520 
 miles in diameter have been measured, and the 
 largest recorded was 186,000 miles in its longest 
 diameter, its surface comprising not less then 25 
 trillions of miles. At a moderate computation of its 
 depth it would have swallowed up at least 120 of our 
 worlds without being filled up to the level ! The 
 dark centre of a spot is called the umbra, which is 
 usually surrounded by a less dark shade caUed the 
 penumbra, in the middle of the umbra is sometimes 
 seen a still blacker part called the nucleus. These 
 appearances were ingeniously explained by Hers- 
 chell as being the dark body of the sun visible 
 through rents in the luminous atmosphere of clouds ; 
 a plausible theory, but not now the received one. 
 These spots seem to be constantly undergoing groat 
 and rapid changes, which far exceed in violence any 
 terrestial tornado, some of them having been known 
 to move at the rate of 120 miles a second. The 
 spots are supposed to be vast solar cyclones, pro- 
 bably caused by some partial cooling of the sun's 
 atmosphere. Occasionally they assume a spiral or 
 whirlpool form. The darkest portion, or umbra, is
 
 254 
 
 the part of the spot lying at the lowest level, the 
 penumbra, or lighter shade, being nearer the surface, 
 but still of course beneath it. The umbra and 
 penumbra are onlv relatively black, and not really 
 so, just as a limelight would look black if seen against 
 the face of the sun. Besides the rapid movements 
 proper to themselves these spots are observed to 
 move steadily across the sun's disc, always in the 
 same direction and at a uniform rate, the same spot 
 reappearing after an interval of 14 days. This fact 
 shows that the sun, like our earth, revolves on his 
 own axis, but whereas our earth takes 24 hours to 
 revolve, the sun performs his revolution in 28 days. 
 It has been observed that these sun spots are most 
 numerous at intervals of about eleven years, and that 
 they occur chiefly near the equator, they appeal- 
 moreover somehow to be mysteriously connected with 
 terrestial magnetism, for whenever they are most 
 abundant and most active, electrical storms and 
 magnetic phenomena are frequent on the earth. Of 
 course when these spots are most numerous the sun 
 gives out less light, for they blot out, as it were, 
 millions of millions of square miles of his light-giving 
 surface ; so that our sun is what is called a " vari- 
 able " star, and like many others in the firmanent, 
 gives out at one time more light than at another. I 
 speak of the sun as a star, for, strange as it sounds, 
 he is really one of the stars belonging to the Milky 
 Way, the nearest to us of that wonderful spiral 
 grouping of stars, that galaxy of glory, where the 
 heavenly bodies seem so crowded together that they 
 convey to the eye only the impression of a white 
 cloud. How is it possible to form any conception of
 
 255 
 
 the infinite vastness of the universe, when we reflect 
 that each star of those countless myriads is a sun as 
 larger or larger than our own, and in all probability 
 surrounded like him with a system of planets. Each 
 of those millions of stars is separated from the other 
 probably by distances as enormous, or more so, as 
 those which separate the nearest fixed star from our 
 own sun, a distance, that is to say, of 19 trillions of 
 miles. The mind is absolutely paralysed in attempt- 
 ing to grasp the idea of such immensity, and yet the 
 whole universe, as seen by us, is probably only one 
 of an unknown number of others ! 
 
 We still talk of fixed stars, although the expres- 
 sion is incorrect, for all stars are moving through 
 space with enormous velocity, many at the rate of 
 50 or 60 miles in a second. Our own sun is no ex- 
 ception, for he is rapidly progressing in the direction 
 of Hercules, bearing our earth and the rest of his 
 planetory system with him. 
 
 Eclipses of the sun are rare in any one place, 
 as the moon's shadow being very narrow (only about 
 150 miles broad) it falls of course only on a very 
 limited portion of the earth ; there has not been a 
 total eclipse of the sun visible in London for more than 
 100 years. A solar eclipse is caused by the moon pass- 
 ing between us and the sun, it is one of the grandest 
 and most awe inspiring spectacles in nature, to quote 
 the words of Lockyer, "the sky assumes a dusky hue, 
 the sea appears of a lurid red and the dark shadow of 
 the moon is seen sweeping rapidly through the air 
 like the shadow of the angel of death." Not only 
 man but the whole animal creation seems to feel the 
 weird effect of the unnatural and awful darkness.
 
 256 
 
 No sooner is the sun's disc obliterated, than the 
 corona appears, this is a soft whitish glistening light 
 surrounding the borders of the dark moon like a 
 halo, the pearly white merging into faint tints of 
 pink and greenish light. This corona which sur- 
 rounds the eclipsed sun to a distance of over one 
 million of miles was supposed at first to he the solar 
 atmosphere, but this is denied by Proctor, who believes 
 it to consist of meteoric matter partly perhaps in a 
 gaseous, partly in an incandescent condition. He 
 considers it closely connected with the zodiacal light 
 and the aurora. At the base of the corona and 
 evidently springing from the globe of the eclipsed 
 sun, are seen those mysterious and deeply interesting 
 masses called "red flames," and "red prominences." 
 These are enormous vertical masses of a deep red 
 colour which assume the most extraordinary and 
 fantastic shapes, and which tower aloft to an enor- 
 mous height above the surface of the sun. Some of 
 them have been found to measure 80,000, and even 
 160,000 miles in height, that is equivalent to saying 
 that 20 worlds such as ours would have to be piled 
 one on the top of the other to reach the same eleva- 
 tion. These gigantic prominences are evidently the 
 products of eruptive forces of enormous intensity, 
 and the' spectroscope reveals the fact that they are 
 chiefly composed of flaming hydrogen gas. They 
 usually shoot up more or less directly, and then 
 having attained a certain height they appear to be 
 acted on by some current which gives them a hori- 
 zontal direction. Of the exact nature of these won- 
 derful phenomena and of the surrounding corona, or 
 of the cause, and precise constitution of sun spots,
 
 257 
 
 we can know nothing with absolute certainty. It is 
 even doubtful whether we can or ought to gua,ge and 
 judge them by what we know of the behaviour of 
 similar elements on our own earth. But little as we 
 know with certainty, it is yet a subject of congratu- 
 lation that we should have any knowledge at all about 
 what is going on in a body revolving at a distance 
 so enormous as 91 millions of miles from us, and 
 which, even when viewed through the most powerful 
 telescopes, can only be seen as it would be by the 
 naked eye at a distance of 180,000 miles ! (Lockyer). 
 I think I cannot better conclude this paper than by 
 quoting the eloquent words of Professor Tyndall, 
 " Presented rightly to the mind, the discoveries and 
 generalizations of modern science constitute a poem 
 more sublime than has ever yet been addressed to the 
 imagination. The natural philosopher of to-day may 
 dwell amid conceptions which beggar those of Milton. 
 So great and grand are they, that in the contempla- 
 tion of them a certain force of character is requisite 
 to preserve us from bewilderment. Look at the in- 
 tegrated energies of our -world the stored-up power 
 of our coalfields, our winds and rivers, our fleets, 
 armies and guns. What are they? They are all 
 generated by a portion of the sun's energy which 
 does not amount to the two hundredth millionth of 
 the whole. This is the entire fraction of the sun's 
 force intercepted by the earth, and we convert but a 
 small fraction of this fraction into mechanical energy. 
 Multiplying all our powers by millions, we do not 
 reach the sun's expenditure. And still, notwith- 
 standing this enormous drain, in the lapse of human 
 history, we are unable to detect a diminution of his 
 
 s
 
 258 
 
 store. Measured by our largest terrestrial standards, 
 such a reservoir of power is infinite ; but it is our 
 privilege to rise above these standards and to regard 
 the sun himself as a speck in infinite extension a 
 mere drop in the universal sea. We analyse the 
 space in which he is immersed and which is the 
 vehicle of his power. We pass to other systems, 
 and other suns, each pouring forth energy like our 
 own, but still without infringement of the law which 
 reveals immutability in the midst of change, which 
 recognises incessant transference or conversion, but 
 neither final gain nor loss. The law generalises the 
 aphorism of Solomon, that "there is nothing new 
 under the sun," by teaching us to detect everywhere, 
 under its infinite variety of appearances, the same 
 primeval force. To nature nothing can be added, 
 from nature nothing can be taken away ; the sum of 
 her energies is constant, and the utmost man can do 
 in the pursuit of physical truth, or in the application 
 of physical knowledge, is to shift the constituents of 
 the never varying total. The law of conservation 
 rigidly excludes both creation and annihilation. 
 Waves may change to ripples, and ripples to waves 
 magnitude may be substituted for number, and 
 number for magnitude asteroids may aggregate to 
 suns, suns may resolve themselves into flora? and 
 faunae, and florae and faunae melt in the air the flux 
 of power is eternally the same. It rolls in music 
 through the ages, and all terrestrial energy the 
 manifestations of life, as well as the display of 
 phenomena are but rnorlr.htions of its rhythm."
 
 METAMOEPHOSIS. 
 
 :o: 
 
 A popular impression exists that the human frame 
 alters every seven years, and that every portion of 
 our bodies is completely changed in that period. 
 This, like many other current beliefs, has a certain 
 basis of truth, but is not wholly true. The fact is, 
 every particle, every atom of our organism, our 
 b^ood, muscles, brain and nerves, are each and all 
 being constantly renewed. Every movement of our 
 limbs, every thought or exertion of the brain, is 
 attended with a certain loss of substance, an oxydis- 
 ation or real burning up of our tissues, and it is the 
 province of our food to repair this constant wasting, 
 and build up fresh structures ; one part of the food 
 is oxydised, or burnt in our bodies, thus producing 
 animal heat, another part is absorbed and serves to 
 repair the worn out tissues. In youth the supply is, 
 or ought to be, in excess to the loss, so as to provide 
 for the growth of the young animal ; hence the 
 voracious apfpetites of children ; in middle life comes 
 a period when waste and repair are pretty equally 
 balanced, and the body remains stationary ; while in 
 old age the destruction is in excess of the reparative 
 powers, and the animal loses weight and strength. 
 All living structures, whether animal or vegetable, 
 are constantly undergoing development and trans- 
 formation, for all have their commencement in the 
 same way from one small germ or cell (so small as to be 
 scarcely visible), which is gradually elaborated and 
 developed into more complex structures, and thus 
 all living things are constantly undergoing Meta-
 
 2GO 
 
 raorpkosis, which means literally, change of form. 
 
 If you consider the striking difference between the 
 egg and the mature bird, the seed and the tree, you 
 will at once perceive how complete this Metamor- 
 phosis must be. Man himself is no exception to 
 this universal law of change ; the only marvel is that 
 as molecule by molecule, atom by atom, are destroyed 
 and removed, they should be replaced by exactly 
 similar particles, performing the same identical 
 functions. So far from asserting the " Child is 
 Father to the Man," we should rather suppose that 
 as time went on, and every particle of our frame was 
 worn out and renewed, our whole moral and physical 
 nature would alter, and that in the course of years 
 we should become literally different beings. Possibly 
 in some instances this does occur ; most of us who 
 have arrived at my time of life must be able to 
 recall instances of young people who have falsified 
 the promises of early life, and turned out something 
 very different to the expectations of their friends : 
 stupid boys who have developed into geniuses Sir 
 Walter Scott for example ; plain girls who have become 
 beauties, amiable children who have grown up with 
 a very decided temper, and clever precocious boys 
 who have developed into very common-place men, 
 and so forth. The only wonder is, when we reflect 
 on the constant changes occurring in our organism, 
 that these alterations should be the exception rather 
 than the rule, and that our dispositions and external 
 appearance should differ as little as they do with 
 advancing years. But I do not now propose to enter 
 into the very extensive but interesting subject of 
 Metamorphosis scientifically considered, but rather to
 
 261 
 
 limit myself to a brief description of some of those 
 external changes in certain creatures in whom the 
 the form is strikingly and visibly altered, and the 
 organs so extensively modified as to admit, in some 
 cases, of their inhabiting a different medium, and 
 which correspond to the popular idea of Metamor- 
 phosis. The common tadpole of our ponds and 
 ditches is well adapted for observing these remark- 
 able changes. It begins life with all the attributes 
 of a true fish, unable to exist out of the water, and 
 develops into a Batrachiau, breathing only atmos- 
 pheric air. I strongly advise you to place a few of 
 these interesting little creatures in a bell glass, and 
 watch their transformations for yourselves. The 
 spawn or eggs of the frog are familiar objects in every 
 ditch, where they appear as globular translucent 
 bodies, glued together by a tenacious mucilaginous 
 substance. The infant tadpole (to quote Quatrefages) 
 when it first enters the water, is in a very embryonic 
 condition, and is scarcely more than an egg endowed 
 with powers of locomotion ; indeed, the greater por- 
 tion of its body consists of a bag of yolk from which 
 it derives its iiourishnieut, and which is covered by a 
 thin skin ; it has neither eyes, lungs, nor ears, and 
 it propels itself through the water by means of its 
 long flattened tail exactly after the manner of a true 
 fish, which it resembles in all essential respects. 
 After a few days a pair of opercula, with rudimentary 
 gills, spring from the side of the head, which is now 
 as large as the whole body, and the eyes, nostrils, 
 and auditory apparatus make their appearance ; the 
 mouth is now. provided with a pair of soft lips, which 
 shortly harden into a sort of horny beak, with which
 
 262 
 
 the tadpole, at this period of its existence strictly 
 vegetarian, can bite its food. Quatrafages continues : 
 " At tin's period one of those alterations occurs which 
 are so intimately associated with the ideas we are 
 endeavouring to convey, that we must not pass them 
 by in silence. The larva first breathed by its skin 
 alone, and afterwards by a pair of little branching 
 gills attached to the opercula. About the 7th or 8th 
 day, however, the opercula are gradually soldered to 
 the abdomen, and the gills fade away and disappear. 
 At the same time a set of new and complex branchiae 
 are developed in chambers situated on either side of 
 the neck. The new gills are arranged in tufts 
 attached to a solid framework of four cartilaginous 
 arches, and are about 112 in number for each side of 
 the body. Here we see a rapid substitution of one 
 organ for another, though both discharge their func- 
 tions in the same manner, inasmuch as the respira- 
 tion is just as aquatic in character after the alterations 
 as it was before. But the modifications of the 
 respiratory apparatus do not cease here. Before the 
 tadpole can teconie a frog it must do away with these 
 second gills, and replace them by lungs, and at the 
 necessary time a set of changes takes place analogous 
 to those we have already described. The vascular 
 tufts become atrophied or wasted away, and the lungs, 
 which till now were solid and rudimentary, open up 
 and increase in size. The circulatory organs are 
 correspondingly modified. Later on the solid parts 
 of the branchial or gill apparatus disappear also, 
 the bones and cartilages being gradually re-absorbed. 
 Eventually the alteration is fully accomplished, 
 and there remains not the slightest trace of the
 
 263 
 
 former gill apparatus. In this instance not only has 
 there been transformation and substitution, but an 
 actual Metamorphosis has occurred, for the respira- 
 tion which was aquatic before, has become atmos- 
 pheric, and strictly speaking the animal, from having 
 been a fish, has been converted into a Batrachian. 
 We shall find that as the herbivorous habits give 
 place to carnivorous ones the digestive apparatus 
 undergoes a change adapting it to the new form of 
 diet. The mouth increases in size and gape, the 
 little beak organs or horny lips are replaced by teeth 
 which are attached to the palatine arch, and not to 
 the jaw." The Metamorphosis is now complete, and 
 the tadpole from a fish has become an animal, in- 
 habiting not only a different medium, but subsisting 
 on essentially different food. As these changes ap- 
 proach completion the limbs begin to appear as slight 
 prominences under the skin, the hind legs are 
 developed some time before the fore limbs appear. 
 In proportion as the legs grow the tail begins to 
 vanish ; it does not drop off, but is " gradually 
 absorbed, atom by atom," until it ceases to exist, 
 and the animal enters an entirely new phase of ex- 
 istence. These changes appear more wonderful to 
 us because they take place under our very eyes, but 
 almost analogous changes occur at one period or 
 other in the life history of every animal, and to a 
 certain extent of every plant, being however, con- 
 cealed by the shell of the egg, or the covering of 
 earth, they do not come within our ken. That the 
 organs of an animal should be so entirely altered as 
 to unfit it to live in the water in which it was born, 
 and to necessitate another mode of existence and a
 
 264 
 
 supply of atmospheric air, is really no more wonder- 
 ful than that the living but immature animal within 
 the egg should be able to exist seemingly without 
 respiration at all, but in reality only from the oxygen 
 absorbed through the egg shell and through its own 
 skin. Until the chick leaves the egg, the lungs, 
 though existing, are quiescent and unused; when 
 once the shell is chipped a new phase of existence is 
 entered. Oxygen is absolutely essential to all living 
 things, whether animal or vegetable. If a seed be 
 sown too deeply in the earth, so that oxygen cannot 
 penetrate to it, germination will not take place. 
 This accounts for the familiar fact that when -a deep 
 cutting is made in the earth, as in forming a raihvay, 
 or digging out a foundation, the newly exposed sur- 
 face is quickly covered with vegetation, often from 
 seeds which have remained buried for numberless 
 years, but having been deprived of oxygen, have 
 been unable to germinate until sufficiently near the 
 surface to receive a supply of this essential gas. 
 There is not so much difference as would, at first 
 sight, appear between the respiration of fishes and 
 of mammals ; to both is oxygen essential ; the former 
 derive it from the water (which is one part of oxygen 
 to two of hydrogen) they pump through then- gills, 
 these organs perform for them the functions of our 
 lungs ; the latter obtain it from the atmospheric air 
 (one of oxygen to four of nitrogen) in its passage 
 through the lungs. Metamorphosis, then occurs, 
 from the fact that certain animals are not retained 
 within the egg a sufficiently long time for their 
 several organs to have become perfect enough to 
 enable them to support life. The young creature is
 
 265 
 
 now called a Larva (which means a mask), and as its 
 conditions of life and surroundings are different 
 from those of its mature state, it becomes necessary 
 ior the growth and development of its structures that 
 its organs should be so modified as to allow of its 
 obtaining food in its larval condition. In the frog 
 these changes are, as we have seen, gradual ; 'in 
 insects they are apparently, much more abrupt ; 
 this is because the skin of insects serves, like our 
 bones, as a support to their muscles, and is there- 
 fore necessarily hard, which prevents any gradual 
 alteration of form. (Lubbock). In the common 
 ephemeral day fly (Ephemera Albipenuis) the final 
 change is very sudden, though the previous stages 
 have been slowly going on unseen. The Larva? are 
 little six legged creatures, which burrow in the earth 
 below water-level, "the head has two large com- 
 pound eyes, a pair of mandibles which are used in 
 burrowing, and jaws adapted to grind the slimy mud 
 on which the creatures seem to subsist. The thorax 
 is quite distinct, and the abdomen ends in three long 
 hairy filaments, and is covered with large fringed 
 lamina?, which the creature moves with great rapidity. 
 These lamina? are actual gills, that is to say they are 
 organs of aquatic respiration, large tracheal trunks 
 (like our bronchial tubes) ramify through them and 
 extract the air from the surrounding water." 
 (Quatrefages). This state of things lasts two years, 
 during which time the creature has grown larger and 
 become possessed of rudimentary wings attached to 
 the iipper part of the thorax. At the end of this 
 time the skin suddenly bursts, and the beautiful 
 little creature with its slender body and iridescent
 
 266 
 
 delicately reticulated wings, flies away, "leaving its 
 gills, which have been replaced by stigmata, and its 
 chewmg apparatus whichitnolougerrequires, attached 
 to its cast off skin. (Quatrefages). After existing 
 in the Larval form for no less than two years they 
 live their perfect sunny life for only one brief horn*, 
 though who shall say hoAV much of enjoyment may 
 not be compressed into that short span of life ; and 
 then after depositing from 700 to 800 eggs they 
 cease to exist. The larva of the common gnat 
 (Culex Pipiens) may be easily found in almost any 
 stagnant pond or water-butt during the early spring, 
 and forms a very interesting object for the study of 
 Metamorphosis. It is a very lively little creature, 
 and moves rapidly through the water, head down- 
 wards, with a curious bounding movement ; the 
 extremity of the tail is provided with a long tube-like 
 projection, to the end of which is attached a star-like 
 arrangement of bristles, which it keeps at the surface 
 of the water, and through which it breathes ; the 
 mouth is surrounded with little wattle-like appen- 
 dages, furnished with small hairs, by means of which 
 it creates currents in the water, and draws within 
 its grasp any microscopic insects or other food which 
 may be near. In a fortnight the larva passes into 
 its second stage of Pupa (Doll) ; it now breathes 
 through two horn-like tubes connected with the 
 thorax, which project above the water. When 
 the insect is about to undergo its final metamor- 
 phosis it rises to the surface of the water and 
 straightens the hind part of its body ; the skin 
 between the two breathing tubes then splits and the 
 body of the perfect insect begins to emerge from the
 
 267 
 
 old skin ; and now conies a most critical time for 
 the little creature, and one which many of them, 
 fortunately for thin skinned people, do not survive. 
 As the body emerges from the little boat formed by 
 the old pupal skin, it necessarily goes straight up 
 into the air, for if its tender new body were now to 
 touch the water, which had been its former dwelling, 
 the consequences would be fatal, so that the up- 
 reared body forms a large and topheavy mast to the 
 frail boat of skin. The wings and legs are all this 
 time fastened to the sides of the body, which has to 
 be very cautiously disengaged. As the body is 
 gradually drawn out, the legs are brought carefully 
 forward and placed lightly on the surface of the 
 water ; the little creature is now comparatively safe, 
 an instant suffices to dry the out-spread wings, and 
 the insect flies away on its brief, but sanguinary career. 
 The larvae of the small green crab, so familiar to 
 boys, were long supposed to be perfect animals of 
 another species, and were classed under the head of Zoe, 
 until Thompson described then- remarkable metamor- 
 phoses. In the larval state the " head is indistinct 
 from the thorax, both being covered with a sort of 
 globular carapace, or hard covering, from which long 
 processes project anteriorly, posteriorly, and laterally; 
 its mouth is of the simplest form, its limbs, which in 
 the adult are complex and are partly employed in 
 mastication, are represented by four long double 
 oarlike filaments, and its true feet are entirely rudi- 
 mentary " (Quatrefages). It has enormous flat eyes 
 and a long articulated tail, by means of which it 
 turns summersaults in the water, and in fact it is as 
 unlike its parent as it can well be. Still more curious
 
 268 
 
 are the transformations of the Medusae, Jelly or 
 Stinging Fish. The Aurelia is a beautiful bell, or 
 rather umbrella shaped jelly fish ; it moves gracefully 
 through the water by means of the rhythmical contrac- 
 tions of its mushroom-like body, which serves both 
 as an organ of locomotion, aud contains the digestive 
 and circulatory apparatus. The border of the body 
 is surrounded by cirrhi, long prehensile appendages 
 which serve to collect the food and convey it to the 
 creature's mouth, which is situated in the centre of 
 the concave surface of its body, or just where the 
 handle of the umbrella would be. After leaving the 
 egg, the Iarva3 of the Aurelia are active little creatures, 
 exactly like Infusorians, and swim briskly about in 
 the water ; after a few days they become fixed and 
 change into immoveable Polyplike bodies, resembling 
 Anemones ; little projections or tubercles afterwards 
 appear on their surface, which in process of tune 
 become developed into separate individual Polyps ; 
 these again alter their shape several times, and at 
 last separate and float away like quite another species 
 of jelly fish, the Ephyra, but their transformations 
 are not yet complete, for after ah 1 these changes, they 
 finally become metamorphosed into the exact form 
 of the original parent medusa. To merely enumerate 
 the different creatures which undergo metamorphosis 
 would require far more time than we have at our 
 disposal to-night ; with insects it is the almost in- 
 variable rule, and in its larger scientific sense it may 
 be said to be the universal law. 
 
 Vide Quatrefages, " Metamorphoses of Man aud the Lower 
 
 Animals." 
 
 Lubbock, " Origin and Metamorphoses of lusects." St. 
 George Mivart, " ihe Common Frog," &c.
 
 ANNUAL ADDRESS, 1879. 
 
 If wo could conceive some superior intelligence, 
 with a rnind constituted like our own, to have 
 watched the progress of intellectual development on 
 our earth, as we might watch the metamorphosis of 
 a May-fly or a newt, how deeply interesting and 
 wonderful would the spectacle have heen. First 
 savage man, low-browed and large of limb, delving 
 in the earth after roots with his strong nails, chasing 
 the smaller animals and devouring their flesh raw, 
 or taking refuge in some tall tree from the huge 
 cave bear and hyaena, a degree of agility rendered 
 easy by reason of his long powerful arms and pre- 
 hensile feet ; no thought, no aspiration, beyond that 
 of satisfying his animal wants. Gradually he begins 
 to lord it over the other animals by means of his 
 superior cunning ; he makes pitfalls for their unwary 
 feet, he arms himself with boughs torn from the 
 trees, he runs skillfully and allows his enemy to 
 exhaust his strength by useless exertion ; his mind 
 is beginning to develope. The building of huts, how- 
 ever rude, must have been a great advance towards 
 civilisation ; cabins built of boughs and up-torn 
 saplings and plastered with clay, would gradually 
 supersede the caves and hollow trees in which man, 
 in common with other animals, previously sheltered 
 himself. Huts could be erected in warm, safe, or 
 convenient situations, and could be made to accom- 
 modate a whole family, rendering possible the first 
 faint beginning of what we understand by " domestic
 
 270 
 
 life." The discovery of fire was a grand era in man's 
 intellectual progress. Not only could the bitter 
 cold and the dreary darkness of the winter time be 
 mitigated, but food could now be cooked, flesh roasted 
 or boiled, and thus given to the sick, the feeble or 
 the wounded. Man became then, and has remained 
 ever since, the only " cooking animal." Kude 
 culinary utensils would begin to appear, the first 
 germs of the Sevres and porcelain of our own times. 
 At the commencement these would be made simply 
 of clay hardened in the Sun ; then, as the cook ob- 
 served the effect of fire in making them durable, they 
 would be baked in some primitive earthen oven. 
 Drinking vessels and pottery of various kinds must 
 of necessity soon follow, and thus another great 
 advance would be made. The clever savage who 
 first chipped a flint into some rude semblance of a 
 weapon or tool was indeed a benefactor to his race 
 By placing an axe- shaped stone in a cleft stick and 
 securing it with willow or other pliant twigs, an 
 effective weapon or tool was made, with which the 
 larger animals might be resisted or slain, trees cut 
 down, and rude carpenter's work done. A flint 
 knife was used to skin the animals killed in the chase, 
 and thus was not only food but clothing provided, 
 and man became still further elevated in the scale of 
 creation. Another prodigious forward stride was 
 effected when it was discovered that grain and useful 
 plants could be re-produced from seed, and food by 
 this means secured and stored for periods of scarcity 
 or famine, while other herbs were found to possess 
 valuable medicinal properties. Man's intelligence 
 is rapidly developing, and making the conditions of
 
 271 
 
 life far more endurable than before. Who was the 
 artistic savage who first scratched the rude outline of 
 a horse or stag on some slab of soft rock and was 
 thus the progenitor, not only of all subsequent 
 pictorial art, but also of writing and printing ? 
 Modern savages to this day employ hieroglyphic 
 writing, rude outlines of animals and men, and 
 without doubt pre-historic man used similar signs to 
 record events. 
 
 A tremendous revolution must have been effected 
 by the discovery of metals. Bronze, an amalgam 
 of copper and tin, was the earliest in use, and with 
 it serviceable weapons, ornaments, and tools were 
 made. It may, at first sight, seem strange that a com- 
 pound metal such as bronze should have been com- 
 monly employed before iron, but tliis may be accounted 
 for by the fact that tin and copper are both found in a 
 native condition ; they are both soft, and easily beaten 
 into shape, and are moreover readily fused, differing 
 in all these respects from iron, which is only found 
 as ore and is much more difficult to manipulate. 
 When, long afterwards, the art of smelting iron was 
 discovered, man was enabled to manufacture much 
 sharper, stronger, and more serviceable weapons and 
 tools. By the aid of these all the conditions of war, 
 agriculture, and commerce, must have been entirely 
 altered, though we have abundant evidence to prove 
 that there were even then conservative savages who 
 stolidly adhered to their " good old-fashioned " stone 
 axes and arrows long after the introduction of metals. 
 
 Man has now emerged from barbarism : he is 
 housed, clothed, armed, and a manufacturer. Soon 
 lie becomes n foreign trader, for from the trunk of a
 
 272 
 
 tree hollowed out by means of fire into a canoe, be 
 has advanced to building ships, in which he trans- 
 ports his merchandize, and visits other shores. The 
 intercourse thus established between different races, 
 the formation of mankind into societies under fixed 
 laws, the growth of language and literature, all tend 
 to quicken the progress of civilisation, which is 
 now rapid but intermittent, for there are long periods 
 of intellectual inactivity. 
 
 Painting, sculpture, and architecture are cultivated; 
 alchemy and astrology, the parents of modern 
 chemistry and astronomy, are studied; the mariner's 
 compass, printing, Aveaving, and numerous other 
 inventions, bring intellectual progress up to modern 
 times, to culminate in steam machinery, railways, 
 electric telegraphs, telephones, phonographs, micro- 
 phones, and electric lighting ! The past year has 
 been remarkable rather for the elaboration and per- 
 fection of previous discoveries than for any strictly 
 original inventions, indeed, the numerous " scientific 
 surprises " with which the last 18 months have been 
 crowded are all rather novel applications of well- 
 known scientific principles, than actual inventions. 
 Never, perhaps, were men of science working harder 
 than at present ; never certainly did their labours 
 meet with more immediate recognition and substan- 
 tial reward It is only two years ago that I remarked 
 we had arrived at one of the pauses or resting-places 
 of intellectual progress which occasionally occur, 
 and now, we are almost bewildered by the flood of 
 new inventions. Great improvements have been 
 made and are still making in the telephone. The 
 carbon telephone of the indefatigable Mr. Edison
 
 273 
 
 may be specially mentioned ; it is much used in 
 America, and adds greatly to the practical utility of 
 the instrument. It is, however, even now far from 
 realising all the expectations which were formed on 
 its first introduction, as to its use at long distances. 
 That truly wonderful instrument, the phonograph, 
 from which we also hoped and expected so much, will 
 have to be still further improved before it becomes of 
 practical value, though it has already rendered good 
 service in investigating the wave forms of articulate 
 speech, the essential differences of vowel and con- 
 sonant tones, and other researches on sound and 
 the constitution of the human voice. The micro- 
 phone, though it really belongs to the inventions of 
 the previous year, has been enlisting much popular 
 as well as scientific interest ; its construction is so 
 simple, and the principles of its action are so well 
 known, that it is somewhat remarkable its properties 
 were not discovered earlier. It consists simply of a 
 stand formed of two pieces of thin wood fastened at 
 right angles to one another, to the upright portion 
 of which are fixed two small pieces of coke, each 
 having a cup-like depression, and supporting between 
 them a vertical pencil of fine coke or carbon. To 
 each is attached a wire, leading in the one case to a 
 voltaic battery, and in the other to a telephone, from 
 which another wire is conducted to the opposite 
 pole of the battery, and the electric circuit is thus 
 completed. Any sonorous vibrations in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the microphone are at once taken up by 
 it and augmented, and can be heard at the distant 
 telephone. The ticking of a watch is distinguishable 
 at practically any distance, and even the sound made
 
 274 
 
 by a hair drawn over the coke pencil is audible. The 
 tramping of a fly in a common wooden matchbox 
 was heard by Mr. Crossley, of Halifax, at a distance 
 of 20 miles. The same gentleman placed a micro- 
 phone in the church he attends, and conducted the 
 wires to his own house, a distance of over a mile, 
 and was thus enabled to hear the whole service with 
 the exception of a few words, the interruption being 
 caused by the clergyman accidentally shaldng the 
 microphone, the presence of which was unknown to 
 him. So extremely sensitive indeed is this instru- 
 ment that its practical usefulness is in a measure 
 diminished by the fact that it takes up and repeats 
 not only the one principal sound we wish to hear, 
 but also the multitude of other simultaneous tones, 
 and transmits them altogether in one confusing 
 jumble of sound. The microphone has been already 
 utilised by surgeons for detecting the presence of 
 small metallic substances, such as bullets, within the 
 human body, and for other similar purposes. It is 
 quite probable that at some not far distant period, 
 a doctor may be able to hold a consultation, and 
 conduct a medical examination, with a patient 
 hundreds of miles away ; or a musical amateur 
 might have his own private microphone at the opera, 
 with wires conducted to his house, and enjoy the 
 performance without leaving his couch. 
 
 Perhaps the event which has excited the greatest 
 scientific interest, and has given rise to most dis- 
 cussion during the past year, is the announcement 
 by Mr. Norman Lockyer of his hypothesis that there 
 is but one truly elementary body ; that what have 
 hitherto been considered " elementary substances "
 
 275 
 
 are not really so, but are capable of subdivision, and 
 may all in fact be reduced to one single primary 
 element, hydrogen. 
 
 An elementary body is one which cannot be 
 further divided or split up into its component parts, 
 thus hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, gold, silver, 
 platinum, and some 60 more have been hitherto 
 considered elementary bodies, while, water, chalk, 
 atmospheric air, &c., &c. are not elementary, because 
 they can be reduced to their original constituents, 
 hydrogen and oxygen carbon and oxygen and 
 nitrogen and oxygen, &c. If this theory (which has 
 been vehemently disputed) should prove to be 
 correct, it will effect a complete revolution in 
 chemistry, and we should be reduced to even less 
 than the four original elements of the ancients, fire, 
 air, earth, and water (all composite bodies) and be 
 forced to believe that every substance, all the 
 material universe, is some form of hydrogen. Diffi- 
 cult as it is, at first sight, to accept this theory, it is 
 nevertheless the fact that all modern chemical 
 research and experiments, such as the liquefaction of 
 the elementary gases, spectrum analysis, &c., point 
 in the same direction. Nearly 30 years ago Faraday 
 predicted the reduction of the so-called elementary 
 bodies, but as he was without the means of demon- 
 strating the truth of his hypothesis, it remained 
 merely a philosophical speculation. 
 
 The electric light has been engrossing the largest 
 share of .public attention during the last year, but as 
 no new principles or novel discoveries are involved, 
 it is not so much a matter of scientific interest as of 
 commercial importance, and mechanical ingenuity.
 
 276 
 
 The principle of the electric light is briefly this : 
 When an electric cm-rent, generated either by a 
 battery or a magneto-electric machine, is traversing 
 a good conductor, such as a large copper wire, it 
 gives no visible indication of its passage. But if the 
 current, which must be in a high state of tension, 
 meet with an obstacle to its progress for example, 
 if it be made to traverse a very thin wire, or a pencil 
 of carbon, the electric motion is abruptly checked, 
 and its force becomes converted into heat and light. 
 In the same way we may see a broad river placidly 
 flowing between smooth wide banks ; let the channel 
 become suddenly narrow and obstructed, and it 
 rushes onwards, a roaring impetuous torrent. When 
 flint strikes steel, the force of the blow is converted 
 into caloric, and a particle of the iron .becomes 
 incandescent. Again, when a cannon ball hits an 
 iron target, the same thing occurs, and a flash is 
 seen ; or when the hammer of a gun strikes the cap, 
 the force of its motion is suddenly arrested and 
 converted into heat, which explodes the powder. If 
 then the two wires connected with the opposite poles 
 of a battery be united by a thin wire or two pencils 
 of carbon in close apposition, the electric cm-rent is 
 suddenly checked, its force is converted into heat, 
 which raises the temperature of the wire or carbon 
 to such an intense degree that incandescence ensues, 
 and a brilliant white light is the result. One 
 practical difficulty of electric lighting has been 
 that if any thin wire except platinum, or the new 
 metal, iridium (both very expensive) are employed, 
 they are instantly fused by the intense heat, and 
 the light goes out. When hard carbon points
 
 277 
 
 are used, it is necessary that at first they should 
 touch one another, and then when the light, 
 technically called the electric arc, is established, they 
 must be kept at a certain fixed distance apart ; if 
 this becomes too great the current fails to pass, and 
 the light is extinguished. Now as the carbons are 
 gradually consumed, and as, moreover, the carbon 
 connected with the positive pole burns away much 
 more rapidly than the negative, it follows that very 
 complicated machinery is required to keep the points 
 at exactly the same distance apart. This difficulty 
 is surmounted by other means in the Jablockhoff 
 candle, which consists of two long thin parallel 
 pencils of hard carbon, separated and insulated 
 throughout their length by a strip of plaster 
 of Paris, which keeps them at exactly the proper 
 distance apart, and burns away with them. When 
 the carbons are first lighted, it is necessary to con- 
 nect the two points by a strip or bridge of carbon to 
 enable the electric current to pass. When the 
 plaster is once fused, it acts as a conductor between 
 the pencils. To prevent the two carbons burning 
 unequally, as they otherwise would, the current is 
 made to alternate rapidly from one pole to the other, 
 so that each pencil being in turn positive and 
 negative, they are consumed at the same rate. The 
 light results partly from the electric arc, but 
 principally from the incandescence of the carbons. 
 The problem at present taxing the brains of inventors 
 is, how to subdivide this intense light so as to make 
 it applicable to the illumination of small spaces such 
 as dwelling rooms. Whether this can be done 
 remains still doubtful, though Mr. Edison's admirers
 
 278 
 
 assert positively, not only that he has clone so, but 
 that by employing burners made of an amalgam of 
 platinum and indium, lie has rendered the light as 
 manageable as gas. The usual method of generating 
 electricity for lighting purposes is not from batteries, 
 but from what are called dynamo-electric machines, 
 such as Grammes, or Siemens, the principle of which 
 is, that if a properly insulated wire coil be rapidly 
 rotated in front of a fixed permanent magnet, 
 currents of electricity are induced. These machines 
 are usually driven by steam, and it is this necessity 
 lor employing a steam engine which constitutes the 
 chief expense of electric lighting. Even should the 
 electric light be eventually used for domestic purposes 
 (and I have no doubt it will be the light of the future), 
 I think holders of gas shares need be under no 
 apprehension. Gas will still be used as extensively 
 as ever, especially for cooking purposes, and possibly 
 to drive the engines of its more brilliant rival. 
 What Gas Companies should turn their attention to 
 is, the diminishing the cost of gas, and improving its 
 quality. It has been lately found in London and 
 elsewhere, that the light of ordinary gas can be 
 tripled and rendered far whiter, by combining with it 
 the vapour of some hydro-carbon. 
 
 A most ingenious and practical application of gas 
 has been lately devised for the lighting of buoys at 
 sea, by supplying them with gas from the shore. 
 The difficulty and danger of reaching them in boats 
 during stormy weather is thus obviated, and the gas, 
 being supplied at a very high pressure, cannot be ex- 
 tinguished by the wind, while the size of the flame can 
 be regulated with the greatest precision from the shore.
 
 279 
 
 Many valuable solar observations have been made 
 during the past year by earnest workers, and it has 
 been found possible by means of Janssen's photo- 
 heliograph, to obtain excellently defined photographs 
 of the sun. The region surrounding the sun can 
 now be observed, thanks to the invention of an in- 
 genious American, Professor Davidson, without the 
 occurrence of an eclipse, so that the vexed question 
 of the real nature of the corona, that wonderful light 
 seen surrounding the sun during an eclipse, may 
 probably soon be settled. 
 
 The spots on the sun's disc continue to receive 
 much attention, and there can be no doubt that, from 
 their enormous dimensions, they must seriously mo- 
 dify his temperature. Moreover, it has been clearly 
 shown that the maximum and minimum period of 
 their number and size corresponds with the maximum 
 and minimum rainfall on our earth. Several very 
 plausible theories have been advanced as to their 
 connection with terrestial phenomena, and thus with 
 their influence in producing famines, commercial 
 crises, &c. At first sight these theories may appear 
 far-fetched, but if we admit the relation of sun spots 
 to atmospheric disturbances, such as cyclones, floods, 
 rains and droughts, it is easy to perceive how these 
 may effect crops, and produce famines, or periods of 
 commercial depression. 
 
 Meteorology has made great progress towards 
 precision during the last year, and has now obtained 
 the dignity of a new, but not quite full-grown, science. 
 America is still in advance of all other nations in the 
 accuracy of her weather forecasts or prophecies, and 
 is still farther extending her meteorological observa-
 
 280 
 
 tories over lier vast extent of territory, and bringing 
 them into telegraphic communication with each other. 
 France, Prussia, and Sweden are also following her 
 good example and instituting meteorological observa- 
 tories distinct and apart from those devoted to 
 astronomy, with which they were formerly associated. 
 Meteorological notices are now sent to every depart- 
 ment in France as a warning to agriculturists, and 
 as stations are being rapidly multiplied over the 
 whole world, it is to be hoped that we may ere long 
 be enabled to frame a series of meteorological laws, 
 and give to our present " forecasts " the precision of 
 scientific certainty. 
 
 The very close analogy which exists between animal 
 and vegetable life was early in the year demonstrated 
 by Mr. F. Darwin. The similiarity of the germinal 
 cell from which both originate, the close resemblance 
 of the whole physiology of the two kingdoms, have 
 suggested the idea, that not only do plants live in a 
 sense far wider than we are disposed to admit, but 
 that both the animal and vegetable cell may prove 
 to have a community of descent. Much honest work 
 has been done in connection with the germ theory of 
 disease, and there can be no doubt that the air we 
 ordinarily breathe is loaded with the spores, germs, 
 or seeds of various diseases, or of parasitic life, 
 which only require a suitable soil in which to develop 
 into their parent forms, and that infection is thus 
 spread in a manner formerly incomprehensible. As 
 an instance of the power of discovering the infinitely 
 small, I may mention that the Eev. W. H. Dallinger 
 has succeeded in measuring and figuring those 
 minute forms of animal life called Bacteria, tiny
 
 281 
 
 cylindrical bodies which occur in solutions of organic 
 matter, and has practically proved that the human 
 eye can perceive a semi-transparent structure the 
 200,000th part of an inch in diameter. Great pro- 
 gress has lately been made in improving telegraphic 
 communication, especially as regards rapidity of 
 transit, and it is now a common thing to send four 
 separate messages along the same single telegraphic 
 wire, two messages travelling simultaneously in one 
 direction, and two others in the opposite one. 
 Perhaps the most ingenious as well as practical 
 invention is the electric pen. We have reached the 
 point when we can no longer be surprised at anything, 
 but it is, nevertheless, a great triumph of scientific 
 ingenuity to be able to transmit one's own actual 
 handwriting by telegraph. With Mr. Cowper's beau- 
 tiful apparatus a person can write his own despatch 
 or directions, and his actual autograph will be repro- 
 duced in ink on paper, at the receiving station 
 hundreds of miles distant. It is easy to see how 
 valuable this process would be where it is necessary 
 to send authoritative instructions in a manner which 
 could not be disputed. To simply recapitulate all 
 the inventions and scientific work of the past year 
 would occupy far more time than we have at our 
 disposal to-night, suffice it to say that probably there 
 never was a period in the world's history in which 
 intellectual progress was more rapid, and scientific 
 discovery more energetic and productive of practical 
 results than at tin's present time. 
 
 Vide "Eesum6 of Scientific Progress " in Times, Graphic, 
 Illustrated News, d r c.
 
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