LONDON DOCKS AND WAREHOUSES. 



3J5 



culty attending an assumption of 

 the spontaneous ignition of meteoric 

 stones at an elevation above the 

 earth where the density of the at- 

 mosphere is almost null. These 

 are his words : " It is difficult to 

 attribute, as is usually done, the 

 incandescence ot aerolites to fric- 

 tion against the molecules of the 

 atmosphere, at an elevation above 

 the earth where the density of the 

 air is almost null. May we not 

 suppose that the electric fluid, in a 

 neutral condition, forms a kind of 

 atmosphere, extending far beyond 

 the mass of our atmosphere, yet 

 subject to terrestrial attraction, 

 although physically imponderable, 

 and consequently following our 

 globe in its motion ? According 

 to this hypothesis, the bodies of 

 which we are speaking would, on 

 entering this imponderable atmo- 

 sphere, decompose the natural fluid 

 by their unequal action on the two 

 electricities, and they would then 

 be heated, and in a state of incan- 

 descence by becoming electrified. 

 (Humboldt's Cosmos.) 



LONDON DOCKS AND WAREHOUSES. 



It is nearly a century and a half 

 since Addison wrote "There is 

 no place in the town which I so 

 much love to frequent as the Royal 

 Exchange. It gives me a secret 

 satisfaction, and in some measure 

 gratifies my vanity, as I am an 

 Englishman, to see so rich an as- 



My of countrymen and for- 

 ers, consulting together upon the 

 private business of mankind, :uul 

 making this metropolis a kind of 

 emporium for the whole earth." 

 The Royal Exchange of London 

 still exhibits one of the most re- 

 markable asseniM.-i ;jv.; in i]\. world, 

 if the stranger visiting it is fortu- 

 nate enough to have the advantage 

 of a city merchant as his cicerone ; 

 otherwise there is little in its gene- 

 nil aspect dill'eriu* from what may 

 be seen daily at 'Change hour in 



Liverpool and Glasgow. But it 

 certainly interests the stranger, on 

 walking into the quadrangle be- 

 tween two and three o'clock, "when 

 merchants most do congregate," to 

 see the representatives of the differ- 

 ent nations of the earth, grouped 

 in their respective places under the 

 piazzas, and engaging in negotia- 

 tions which, more than the councils 

 of Cabinets, influence the policy of 

 States ; and to be told, for example, 

 that the thoughtful-looking man, 

 with strongly - marked Jewish 

 features, leaning carelessly against 

 a pillar, is able by a dash of his pen 

 to control the most powerful Go- 

 vernments in Europe. In this 

 quadrangle, too, resides the myste- 

 rious susceptibility to the variations 

 in the political and commercial 

 atmosphere, indicated upon the 

 scale of that most sensitive of all 

 barometers, the money market, with 

 its constantly fluctuating prices. 

 Still it is not in the quadrangle of 

 the Royal Exchange that we most 

 readily perceive evidences of the 

 variety and extent of our national 

 commerce, any more than we dis- 

 cover the nature of the operations 

 of a great London merchant by 

 stepping into his small and unpre- 

 tending office in Mincing Lane. 

 Had Addison lived in the present 

 day he would have resorted to the 

 London Docks and warehouses for 

 proofs of our commercial e; ; 

 and our national wealth and luxu- 

 riance. Nowhere else an wo so 

 .strikingly reminded of a d<>.;<Tipti< >n 

 which Las acquired vastly greater 

 force and significance by the in- 

 crease of our trnlHc since it \\a. 

 pe-incd by that graceful writ or: 

 " Our ships are laden with the 

 harvest of every climate. Our 

 tallies are stored with .-pices riuil 

 oils, and wines. Our morning's 

 draught comes to us from the re- 

 motest corners of the earth. We 

 repair our bodies by the drugs of 

 America, and repose ourselves 



