Volume I Part 35 (1/2)

Its figures do not allude to private history; they represent a part of the Elusinian mysteries; marriage of Cupid and Psyche; procession of torches; the figures in one compartment represent MORTAL LIFE in the act of expiring, and HUMANKIND attending to her with concern; Adam and Eve hyeroglyphic figures; Abel and Cain other hyeroglyphic figures; on the other compartment is represented IMMORTAL LIFE, the Manes or Ghost descending into Elisium is led on by DIVINE LOVE, and received by IMMORTAL LIFE, and conducted to Pluto; Tree of Life and Knowledge are emblematical; the figure at the bottom is of Atis, the first great Hierophant, or teacher of mysteries.

NOTE XXIII ... COAL.

1. A fountain of fossile tar in Shrops.h.i.+re; has been distilled from the coal-beds beneath, and condensed in the cavities of a sand-rock; the coal beneath is deprived of its bitumen in part; bitumen sublimed at Matlock into cavities lined with spar. 2. Coal has been exposed to heat; woody fibres and vegetable seeds in coal at Bovey and Polesworth; upper part of coal-beds more bituminous at Beaudesert; thin stratum of asphaltum near Caulk; upper part of coal-bed worse at Alfreton; upper stratum of no value at Widdrington; alum at West-Hallum; at Bilston. 3.

Coal at Coalbrooke-Dale has been immersed in the sea, shewn by sea- sh.e.l.ls; marks of violence in the colliery at Mendip and at Ticknal; Lead-ore and spar in coal-beds; gravel over coal near Lichfield; Coal produced from mora.s.ses shewn by fern-leaves, and bog-sh.e.l.ls, and muscle- sh.e.l.ls; by some parts of coal being still woody; from Lock Neagh and Bovey, and the Temple of the devil; fixed alcali; oil.

NOTE XXIV ... GRANITE.

Granite the lowest stratum of the earth yet known; porphory, trap, Moor- stone, Whin-stone, slate, basaltes, all volcanic productions dissolved in red-hot water; volcanos in granite strata; differ from the heat of mora.s.ses from fermentation; the nucleus of the earth ejected from the sun? was the sun originally a planet? supposed section of the globe.

NOTE XXV ... EVAPORATION.

I. Solution of water in air; in the matter of heat; pulse-gla.s.s. 2. Heat is the princ.i.p.al cause of evaporation; thermometer cooled by evaporation of ether; heat given from steam to the worm-tub; warmth accompanying rain. 3. Steam condensed on the eduction of heat; moisture on cold walls; south-west and north-east winds. 4. Solution of salt and of blue vitriol in the matter of heat. II. Other vapours may precipitate steam and form rain. 1. Cold the princ.i.p.al cause of devaporation; hence the steam dissolved in heat is precipitated, but that dissolved in air remains even in frosts; south-west wind. 2. North-east winds mixing with south-west winds produce rain; because the cold particles of air of the north-east acquire some of the matter of heat from the south-west winds.

3. Devaporation from mechanical expansion of air, as in the receiver of an air-pump; summer-clouds appear and vanish; when the barometers sink without change of wind the weather becomes colder. 4. Solution of water in electric fluid dubious. 5. Barometer sinks from the lessened gravity of the air, and from the rain having less pressure as it falls; a mixture of a solution of water in calorique with an aerial solution of water is lighter than dry air; breath of animals in cold weather why condensed into visible vapour and dissolved again.

NOTE XXVI ... SPRINGS.

Lowest strata of the earth appear on the highest hills; springs from dews sliding between them; mountains are colder than plains; 1. from their being insulated in the air; 2. from their enlarged surface; 3.

from the rarety of the air it becomes a better conductor of heat; 4. by the air on mountains being mechanically rarefied as it ascends; 5.

gravitation of the matter of heat; 6. the das.h.i.+ng of clouds against hills; of fogs against trees; springs stronger in hot days with cold nights; streams from subterranean caverns; from beneath the snow on the Alps.

NOTE XXVII ... Sh.e.l.l-FISH.

The armour of the Echinus moveable; holds itself in storms to stones by 1200 or 2000 strings: Nautilus rows and sails; renders its sh.e.l.l buoyant: Pinna and Cancer; Byssus of the antients was the beard of the Pinna; as fine as the silk is spun by the silk-worm; gloves made of it; the beard of muscles produces sickness; Indian weed; tendons of rats tails.

NOTE XXVIII ... STURGEON.

Sturgeon's mouth like a purse; without teeth; tendrils like worms hang before his lips, which entice small fish and sea-insects mistaking them for worms; his skin used for covering carriages; isingla.s.s made from it; cavear from the sp.a.w.n.

NOTE XXIX ... OIL ON WATER.

Oil and water do not touch; a second drop of oil will not diffuse itself on the preceeding one; hence it stills the waves; divers for pearl carry oil in their mouths; oil on water produces prismatic colours; oiled cork circulates on water; a phial of oil and water made to oscillate.

NOTE x.x.x ... s.h.i.+P-WORM.

The Teredo has calcareous jaws; a new enemy; they perish when they meet together in their ligneous ca.n.a.ls; United Provinces alarmed for the piles of the banks of Zeland; were destroyed by a severe winter.

NOTE x.x.xI ... MAELSTROM.

A whirlpool on the coast of Norway; pa.s.ses through a subterraneous cavity; less violent when the tide is up; eddies become hollow in the middle; heavy bodies are thrown out by eddies; light ones retained; oil and water whirled in a phial; hurricanes explained.

NOTE x.x.xII ... GLACIERS.

Snow in contact with the earth is in a state of thaw; ice-houses; rivers from beneath the snow; rime in spring vanishes by its contact with the earth; and snow by its evaporation and contact with the earth; moss vegetates beneath the snow; and Alpine plants perish at Upsal for want of show.