48 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



in the scale, the nest understood colour in which it predominates is the semi-neutral 

 hue brown, a most efficient colour in all the low pai-ts of every warm-toned arrange- 

 ment. 



" In artificial lights pure yellow apparently loses much of its intensity, because it 

 camiot be easily distinguished from white. This occurs from all such lights being 

 less or more of a yellow tone, and consequently diffusing this colour over all objects 

 within their influence ; white thereby becoming yellow, and yellow remaining unal- 

 tered. 



" Orange is the nest colour in power ; it is a compound of yellow and red, in the 

 proportions of three of yellow to five of red. Between these two colours it appears 

 in the prismatic spectrum, rainbow, and other natural phenomena ; they may, there- 

 fore, be termed its melodising colours. Its contrasting colour is blue. Orange is 

 the extreme point of warmth in colouring, as blue is of coldness ; they, therefore, form 

 the most perfect contrast in this respect, as they do in their numerical proportional 

 power, being eight to eight. In its combination with green it produces the tertiary 

 citron, and with purple the tertiary russet. 



** Red is the third in the chromatic series, and second of the primaries. It is the most 

 positive of all colours, holding the middle station between yellow, which is most allied 

 to hght, and blue, which is most allied to shade ; it is, as Field expresses it, pre- 

 eminent among colours. The hues with which it melodises in series are, of course, 

 orange and purple, being its combinations with the other two primaries. Its contrast- 

 ing colom- is green, a compound of yellow and blue, in the proportion of three yel- 

 low to eight blue. Red is decidedly a warm colour, and, to a certain extent, com- 

 municates this quahty to every hue into which it enters, 



" This effect of warmth is most apparent in its combinations with yellow ; for in those 

 with blue it becomes more cool and retiring. From the medial situation of red, 

 and from its power in subduing the effect of such colours as enter, in minute propor- 

 tion, into combination with it, its name is very indiscriminately appUed. The first 

 decided hue produced, in its approach towai'ds yellow, is scarlet; and, in its approach 

 towards purple, it produces the most splendid of all hues of this description, crimson. 



*' The tertiary in which red predominates is russet, a medial hue between pm-ple and 

 orano'e, and consequently having a double occmrence of red in its composition ; there- 

 fore, it is the most positive and warm of the neutral colours. It is of great power 

 and value in all the deep parts of any warm-toned arrangement, as a contrasting colour 

 to the deep hues of green, necessarily brought in as relieving colours. The semi- 

 neutral marone is the next understood hue in its descent to black, 



*' Purple lies nest in series to red, of which colour and blue it is composed, in the 

 proportion of five of the former to eight of the latter. In this state of intensity it 

 forms the proper contrasting or neutralising colour to pure yellow. The two primaries 

 of which it is compounded are its melodising colours. Although red be one of its 

 component parts, it is rather a cool colour, and very retiring in effect : being also 

 the darkest of the secondary colours, it bears the nearest relation to black or shade, 

 as its contrasting colour, yellow, does to white or hght. From these qualities, purple 

 is a pleasing and agreeable colour to the eye ; in this respect it is second only to 

 o-reea. In its combination with green it produces that soft and useful tertiary colour, 

 oUve, and with orange, the most powerful of this class, russet. 



" Blue is the third of the primary colours, and fifth of the chromatic series. It is, 

 of the primaries, the nearest in relation to shade, as yellow is to light. It is the only 

 absolutely cool colom*, and communicates this quality to all hues into the combina- 

 tion of which it enters. 



"Green, although the last in the general series which I have adopted, is the medial 

 or second of the secondary colours, being a compound of yellow and blue, in the pro- 

 portion of three of the former to eight of the latter ; the one primary being most 

 allied to hght, and the other to shade. Its melodising colours are of com'se these two 

 primaries, and its contrasting colour the remaining primary, red. As red is the most 

 decided or pre-eminent of the primaries, so green is the most neutral and soft of the 

 secondaries, and the most pleasing and agreeable of all decided hues to the eye. It 

 is also unlike the other two secondaries in this respect — that, in its approximation to 

 either of its component pai'ts, it produces no other distinct denomination of colour ; 

 all its hues retaining the same name. Out of the union of green with orange arises 

 the lightest of the tertiary colours, citron ; and out of that with purple, the deepest 

 olive, to which it appears pai'ticularly alhed. 



" Green is the natural clothing of the vegetable world, and, in a certain degree of 

 purity, predominates in the same ratio of quantity that red is held subordinate. It is 

 in its greatest intensity and depth when the sun's rays are most powerfully directed 

 to the earth, thereby counteracting the intensity of their reflection, and refreshing 

 the eye by its soft and soothing influence, in that infinite wisdom so conspicuous in 

 all the laws which govern the universe. Green, however, like every other hue in 

 Nature's colouring, seldom appears in vegetation in its primitive purity. Hence the 

 beautiful accordance between the gi'een of the landscape and the blue of the sky, so 

 evidently assisted in both harmony and melody by the intervention of the warm and 

 neutral gray, which prevails intermedially in the distance of the one and the horizon 

 of the other. In its various hues, green, as may naturally be supposed, is a favourite 

 colour in decoration, and would be much more so, were it not that in ai'tificial hght its 

 effect is much deteriorated, becoming in most cases dull and heavy. 



" Black, as already noticed, is produced by the absorption of the three primaries, 

 and its natm*al contrast is white. It can only be used in large quantities in ai-range- 

 ments of a cool and sombre character, and ought always to be pure and transparent. 

 " In the decorative painting, however, of Pompeii and Herculaneum, it was used in 

 much profusion ; and in combination with the intense and brilliant colours which accom- 

 panied it, produced the most splendid effect." 



about 76" of longitude, it was necessary to warp the ship through some ice, which, 'I 

 may mention, is done by fixing or striking grapnels, or, as they are called, ice-anchors, 

 into the ice, to which warps are attached, and the ship is then hoven through by the 

 capstan on board the vessel. One of the seamen, in striking the grapnel into the ice 

 for this purpose, a vivid flash of light was emitted at each stroke. I shall, not attempt 

 to assign any reason for this singular circumstance, but I may add, that the sea at the 

 same time was beautifully phosphorescent, a phenomenon I frequently observed in those 

 regions; and during the congelation of the ocean and in newly formed ice, even when 

 it has attained the thicknesss of three or four inches, I have observed phosphorescent 

 flashes, evidently produced on the surface, in the substance and below the ice ; the 

 temperature at the time being from IS** to 20° of Fahrenheit's scale. 



Sea water ice is perfectly fresh until it attains the thickness of a quarter or half 

 an inch, but after that it is quite salt. 



To Captain Thomas Brown, (Signed) Nicholas Oliver. 



Public LinaARiES. — " There are at least nine which greatly exceed the British 

 Museum Library in estent, those of Berlin, Gottingen, Dresden, Naples, Vienna, 

 Copenhagen, St Petersburgh, Munich, and Paris ; and several others of about equal 

 estent, as those of Wolfenbuttel (190,000), Stattgard (197,000), Madrid (200,000) 

 The estent of the first nine, as nearly as I am able to ascertain it, is as follows: — 

 Printed Books. MSS, Population. 



Berlin, . . 250,000 vols. 5,000 vols. 248,816 



Gottingen, . . 300,000 ... 6,000 ... 9,594 



Dresden, . . 300,000 ... 2,700 ... 69,000 



Naples, . , 300,000 ... 6,000 ... 354,000 



Vienna, . . 350,000 ... 16,000 ... 320,000 



Copenhagen, . . 400,000 ... 20,000 ... 109,000 



St Petersburgh, . 400,000 ... 16,000 ... 320,000 



Munich, . 500,000 ... 16,000 ... 95,713 



Paris, . . 700,000 ... 80,000 ... 890,431 



London (Brit. Museum) 220,000 ... 22,000 ... 1,528,301." 



The above is extracted from *' A Letter to B. Hawes, Esq., M.P., being Stric- 

 tures on the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on the British 

 IMuseum," by Edward Edwards, Esq., London, 1836. In reference to our own 

 immediate subject, we can readily bear testimony to the absolute deficiency of the 

 pubhc libraries of Britain in works on all branches of Natural History ; and were it 

 not for the monthly draughts of information which we derive from the Continent, 

 answered by drafts of another kind on the Proprietors, the extensive undertaking in 

 which we are engaged would find a speedy termination. 



REVIEWS. 



The Tower Menagerie^ comprisinff the Natural History of the Animals contained 

 in that establishment. 8vo. Jennings, London. 1829. 



The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society Delineated. 2 vols. 8vo, 

 Tegg, Louden. 1830. 



It may be wondered at by our rcadsrs, why we notice at this period two works which 

 have been so long before the public. Our simple reasons are, that they do not seem 

 to be well known and appreciated, and that wa consider it a duty to the proprietors 

 and our readers to point out their excellencies. 



These two works were of cotemporary projection, and intended to illustrate, from 

 living specimens, the two Slenageries whose names they bear. They are, in all re- 

 spects, twin sisters of exceeding beauty. Both are edited by E. T. Bennet, Esq., 

 the accomplished Vice- Secretary of the Zoological Society; the drawings for both 

 were from the pencil of Mr William Harvey, at the head of his profession as an animal 

 painter, and the engravings for both were executed by Messrs Branstone and Wright, 

 who have brought the art of Wood Engraving to its present high state of excellence. 

 Both are from the justly-celebrated press of Mr Charles Whittingham. 



We cannot speak too highly in praise of the graphic and truly scientific manner in 

 which the animals in these three volumes are described. The natural-historical de- 

 tails of the various objects are full of interest, and exhibit proofs of much discrimina- 

 tion and research. They are worthy of the Society under whose auspices they have 

 appeared. 



The illustrations are faithful dfilmeations of the different objects, exhibiting a fresh- 

 ness and vigour which at once carry with them a conviction of the accuracy of the 

 character and expression of the animals. They are not merely representations of the 

 animals, but each cut has a pictorial effect, the objects being surrounded with a pic- 

 turesque and appropriate landscape, giving relief to the figure, and leading the mind 

 to such scenes as are likely to be the accustomed haunts of the beings represented. 



Will it be believed, after the high but just character which we have given of these 

 works, they met with such a poor reception, that, within twelve months after their 

 publication, they fell to nearly half their original price? — a libel on British taste. 

 But we are happy to understaad they have again risen in value, and we foresee that 

 the day is not far distant when they will bring double their original cost. 



Edinburgh, Februai*y 16, 1836. 



SiK, — This last season, I sailed as surgeon in the Sisters, whale ship, and should 

 you deem the following singular phenomenon, which I do not recollect ever having 

 noticed in any work on the Arctic Regions, w'orthy of insertion in your excellent 

 Journal, you are at liberty to use my name in any manner you think fit. 



About midnight, on tha 19th September last, \tem^ then in latitude 71'* N., and 







ERRATA. 





Animal Kingdoji, 



page 17, 



col. 2, line 53, 



for always read usually. 





... 32, 



... 2, ... 74, 



... require ... requires. 





... 36, 



... 1, ... 26, 



... vower • ... vomer. 





... 39, 



... 2, ... 12, 



... Fhascogala ... Phaseogale. 





... 40, 



... 1, ... 42, 



... Jackalts ... Jackals. 





... , 



... 2, ... 78, 



... Aniilopn ... Antilope. 



Edinburgh: Published for the Proprietoks, at their Office, 16, HanoTer Street. 

 London: S.mith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill. Glasgow and the West of 

 Scotland: John Smith and Son, 70, St Vincent Street; and John M'Leod, 

 20, Argjle Street. Dublin: W. F. WAKEiiAN, 9, D'Olier Street. 



