PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS OF THE LATE DR. DALTON. / 



previous disappointments ; for, besides obtaining insertion of 

 his answers to all the philosophical queries, and to three^ out 

 of eleven solutions sent to the questions in the mathematical 

 department, he was awarded the " prize of six Diaries," for 

 his answers to the queries, rebusses, &c., proposed in the 

 Diary for 1788. In the^r^^ query he discusses the reasons 

 " why sound is more distinct at night than in the day time." 

 "The air," he observes, "is calm, and nature is composed. 

 * * * * Add to this, that probably the mind may be 

 more attentive than ordinary to ideas of sound at that time, 

 when the faculty of vision is in a great measure suspended for 

 want of light." The answer to the second query accounts 

 for the " singing of the tea kettle," on the ground that the 

 metal containing the water varies in temperature. " That part 

 of the kettle which is in contact with the water being much 

 cooler than the remaining portion, and the steam rising 

 against it, will be continually dissipated with a hissing sound 

 like that made by immerging hot iron in water." In the an- 

 swer to the third query he considers the law of divorces, and is 

 of opinion " that the marriage state would not be rendered 

 happier were divorces much more easily obtained. * * The 

 condition of the female sex in general would evidently be 

 greatly depressed by such facility. * * * * And 

 anything that has a tendency to lessen the dignity of the fair 

 sex, in [his] opinion, is unlikely to increase the happiness of 

 the marriage state." The^Mr^A query relates to the subject 

 of living toads having been found in solid rocks. Mr. Dalton 

 considers "that a just and satisfactory account of these 

 astonishing phenomena can hardly be expected in the present 

 state of philosophy ;" but after referring to the Philosophical 

 Transactions and the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences 

 for similar facts, he conjectures that the animals had entered 

 the rocks when these were yet "in a soft state, * • ♦ • 

 [and] petrifaction going on, have been so firmly imbedded as 



