384 Intelligence and Miscellanies. 



lion, and I can well believe it, for it is an immense pile, con- 

 structed of hewn stone, and situate on a mountain three thou- 

 sand feet above the sea. It was the end of May or begin- 

 ning of June when I was at the convent, but tht snow still 

 lay in one of the courts. The road up the mountain was 

 one of the most romantic thai I had ever seen, and the situa- 

 tion of the convent itself, surrounded as it is with forests and 

 snow-crowned Alps, is wild and appalling. Here the monks 

 wear out their days in prayer and fasting. Meat they must 

 never touch, even to save life, and in the use of other food 

 they are much restricted. I passed the night at the convent, 

 but was compelled to quit it without breakfast in the morn- 

 ing, for no eating was allowed within the walls before noon. 

 Silence and quiet are studiously preserved within this holy 

 retreat. 



I hope in a few weeks to embark for my native land. I 

 have had much gratification in my long pilgrimage, and I 

 quit the old world without regret, though my time has pass- 

 ed happily here, and I expect never to see these shores again. 

 What I have seen abroad has confirmed me in the opinion 

 that we are the most favored people on the face of the earth. 

 I love our free institutions, and rejoice that our countrymen 

 are sufficiently enlightened and moral to bear them. Here 

 it must be otherwise for a long time to come. Even in this 

 nation, so exalted in many respects above most others on 

 this side of the ocean, there are turbulent elements, which 

 need to be kept down by the strong hand of power." 



18. Remarks on the theory of a central heat in the earthy and 



on other geological theories; in letters addressed to the 



Editor^ by William Maclure, P. A. G. S. 



I have perused the essay* on volcanos, in the American 



Journal. It is a regularly constructed theory, but founded 



on the supposition of the stale of fluidity by heat, towards 



the earth's centre, which, in my opinion, is contrary to all 



our experience of the diminution of heat in proportion to 



the depth under the surface, as well as the freezing of the 



earth at all depths towards the poles, which being nearer the 



centre than at the equator, ought to be more influenced by 



the central heat. All these speculations are out of the reach 



of our senses, and can be counted only as amusement, until 



* By U. Poulett Scrope, Esq. 



