16 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



METEOROLOGY. 



Temperature.- — Mr Warden mavie observations on the remarkable fall of the 

 thermometer during the winter 1834-5, in the United States. It proved to be the 

 most rigorous season known there for the last fifty years. — M. Gaymard, surgeon and 

 vaturalist to the disc every- ship sent by the French government to the coasts of Ice- 

 land and Greenland, has made daily meteorological observations, and has ascertained that 

 a period of unusually cold weather occurred in Iceland at the time that the United 

 States suffered from a remarkably low temperature. 



On the night of midsummer- day 1835, several sheep perished of the cold, on Welland 

 and Little Malvern Common. 



Rain. — M. Flem-au de Belle-Vue has addressed a letter to the Academy of 

 Sciences, Paris, giving his opinion that the diminution of the springs of Poitou, for ten 

 years past, has arisen from the decrease of the annual quantity of rain during that 

 period. This fact was doubted by various members of the Academy, but M. Arago 

 assured them that this has been the case, not only in Poitou, but in several other 

 parts of France, where regularly-recorded observations have been made. This is very 

 remarkable in the spring at Arcueil, which now yields very little water, and from the 

 same cause. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



SuBsiARiKE Vessel.- — According to the Paris papers, some curious experiments 

 have lately been made at St Ouen, near Paris, with a submarine vessel, the invention 

 of M. Villerni, the engineer. The vessel is of iron, and of the same shape as an ani- 

 mal of the cetaceous or whale tribe. Its movements and evolutions are performed by 

 three or four men who are inside, and who have no communication with the surface 

 of the water or the external air. With this machine navigation can bo eifected in 

 spite of currents, any operations may be carried on under water, and it may be brought 

 to the surface at will, and navigated like an ordinary vessel. It was with a machine 

 similar to this that the project was formed, in 1821, for getting away Napoleon from, 

 St Helena. The Societe Generale des iV'aufrages (Protector, the King of France) 

 appointed Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, Count Godde de Liancowt, the Baron de St 

 Denis, and Dr Daniel St Antoine, to report on the experiments. These took place 

 at St Ouen; when the vessel was repeatedly sunk to the depth of 10 or 12 feet, and 

 reappeared on the surface at different points. M. Godde de Liancourt got into it, and 

 remained there a quarter of an hour, without experiencing the sBghtest inconvenience, 

 or any difficulty of respiration, during his voyage under water. 



Divers, and their Powers of Suspending Respiration. — Surprising state- 

 ments have been made by travellers — a privileged race — respecting the powers of 

 pearl-fishers and others, in voluntarily suspending their respiration under water at 

 considerable depths : some have mentioned half-hours, and some even longer periods, 

 as within the bounds of possibility. Dr Lefevre of Rochefort, who was lately sta- 

 tioned at Navarino, had ample opportunities of putting the prowess of the best divers 

 to the test. He vi-itnessed the performance of those who were employed to fish up 

 the relics of the Turkish fleet sunk in Navarino harbour. The depth to which they 

 had to plunge was 100 feet; but though the Greek divers arc, and always may have 

 been, famous for their prowess, none of them could sustain submersion for two whole 

 minutes together. Seventy-six seconds was the average period in fourteen instances, 

 accurately noted; and frequently, after reaching the surface, blood issued from the 

 mouth, eyes, and ears of the swimmer. But, in general, these people can repeat their 

 task three or four times in an hour. — Medical Gazette. 



Longevity. A woman, 1 10 years old, died lately at Fayence, in the department 



of the Var (France). She was born at Digue, in 1725, and had lived in service in 

 one house since 1745. 



Zoological Gardens. — Such is the interest felt by all classes of the community 

 in Britain, that the number of persons who visited the Zoological Gardens, London, 

 amounted in July 1835, to 44,446, and the income derived therefrom L. 1672, 9s., 

 and in the month of August, 26,334, yielding an income of L.992, 16s. 



Statue of Cuvier.. — The inauguration of the statue of this eminent naturalist 

 took place with great ceremony, at his native town of MontbeUiard, on the 23d August 

 1835, being the day of his birth. Deputations from several learned bodies were pre- 

 sent, and various orations were delivered in honour of the occasion. The house in 

 which Cuvier first saw the light was very tastefully decorated, and the following in- 

 scription was placed on it : — Tci naquit G. Cuvier, le 23, Aout 1769. The cere- 

 mony was succeeded by a banquet, a grand concert, and a ball. 



Euphrates Expedition. — Captain Chesney, with the expeditions imder his com- 

 mand, had reached Bir, without encountering any obstacles, on the 11th August last. 

 Sensitive Hair. — In the hospital of the royal guards at Pains was a private sol- 

 dier who had received a violent kick on the back of the head from a horse. The 

 excitement of the hair produced was extreme, and could only be kept under by almost 

 innumerable bleedings, both local and general. Amongst a series of phenomena pro- 

 duced by this state of preternatural excitation, the sensibility acquired by the hairs 

 of the head was not the least remai'kable. The slightest touch was felt instantly, and 

 cutting them gave exquisite pain, so that the patient would seldom allow any one to 

 come near his head. Baron Larrey, on one occasion, to put him to the test, gave a 

 hint to an assistant who was standing behind the patient, to clip one of his hairs with- 

 out his perceiving it. This was done with great dexterity, but the soldier broke out 

 into a sally of oaths, succeeded by complaints, and it was sometime before he could 

 be appeased. — Oracle of Health. 



Capture of the last Native Inhabitants of Vak Diemen's Land. — The 

 following is a highly interesting extract of a letter from Launceston, Van Diemen's 

 Land, dated the 31st of January 1835 : — ** I am just returned from seeing a very in- 

 teresting but melancholy sight — the last of the unfortunate native inliabitants of this 

 island, the remainder of those- few unhappy savages, who so long kept us in terror! 

 They were taken a few days since to the westward, and consist of three women, one 

 man, and some little children, called piccaninies. One of the party, an old woman, 

 spoke pretty good English, having probably learned it some years ago among the stock- 

 keepers. They inform us that they are the last of their tribe, once 500 strong, which 



was long dreaded under the name of the Big-river tribe. They say that, by innu- 

 merable afirays with the white men, they were at last reduced to three men, exclu- 

 sive of women and piccaninies, and that, a few months since, they were surprised, and 

 two of the men wore killed; that they wandered all over the island for the purpose of 

 joining some other tribe, feeling themselves too weak to exist, and under constant dread 

 that the remaining man would be killed, and the rest, who it appears could not get 

 food themselves, starved. They wandered over the island in every direction, but found 

 no traces of black men ; they began to despond, and led a miserable existence, feeling 

 themselves to be the last natives in the whole island, and that the white men had root- 

 ed them out. It makes my heart bleed to thnik of it, but they acknowledge having 

 killed a great many white men, and said they were very glad when they were taken. 

 This was effected by means of some Sydney natives. On a shot being fired they all 

 fell on their faces, and did not attempt to escape. They are now merry and happy, 

 and pointed to the vessel which was to take them off the island with great glee. They 

 are there taught gardening, agriculture, and the arts of civihzed life. We had long 

 beheved the natives were nearly, if not quite, extinct, and have not the shghtest doubt 

 of the truth of their simple story. To look on that fine, tall, and somewhat solemn- 

 looking savage, the last of his tribe, filled me with emotions which it would be in vain 

 to attempt to describe. Sic vos non vohis. ' 



Short's Popular Observatory. — We congratulate our countrymen on the 

 opening of this patriotic establishment, on the Calton Hill, Edinburgh, where every 

 man who has a shilling in his pocket can behoUl the wonders of the solar system, 

 through glasses of the first order. Among the many attractions are, *' Short's large 

 Gregorian Equatorial Reflecting Telescope ; a Superb Achromatic Telescope, ten 

 feet focal length, six inches aperture (the largest in the kingdom), by Tullcy; an 

 improved grand Solar Microscope of prodigious power, by Dollond ; an improved 

 gi'and Compound IMicroscope, with Achromatic Object Glasses (an exquisitely fine 

 instrument), by Dollond; an elegant Orrery, with Planetai'ian, Tellurian, and Lu- 

 narian apparatus, by Dollond ; a Camera Obscura, Camera Lucida, Phantasmago- 

 ria Lantern, Diagonal Blirror, kc. &c. 



LEARNED SOCIETIES. 

 RoTAL Asiatic Society. — A general meeting of this association was held on the 

 4th July 1835, the Right Honourable Sir Alexander Johnston in the chair; when 

 the first part of a paper, by George Earl, Esq. was read, giving an account of a 

 ■ voyage he made in the year 1834, from Singapore to the western coast of the island 

 of Borneo, accompanied by two interpreters, who were masters of the Tartar and 

 Malay languages. The purpose of this voyage was to establish, if possible, a com- 

 mercial intercourse with the Chinese colonies, who are in possession of rich gold and 

 diamond mines on that island. Mr Earl sailed from Singapore on the 1st March; 

 and on his arrival at Sinkawan, the principal seaport of the Chinese settlers, he pro- 

 ceeded to the court-house, the residence of the Chinese magistrates; but they declined 

 giving Mr Earl permission to trade, lest it might give offence to the Dutch, who 

 have two small settlements on the coast, and who are masters of the sea, and had 

 prohibited all traffic but through the medium of their own ports. Under these cir- 

 cumstances, it became necessary for Mr Earl to sail for one of those ports, called Sam- 

 bas, in latitude 1° 25' north, situated on a small river, about fourteen miles inland. 

 Here he found the habitations httle better than huts, all built of wood, and for the 

 most part erected on floats, and moored to large posts in the river. There is a fort 

 here; and before the Dutch became masters of the place, the inhabitants lived entirely 

 by piracy. This town is now inhabited by Chinese and Malays, the former beino- the 

 most numerous. The latter are ruled by a kind of Rajah, who, however, is controlled 

 by the Dutch resident. The Rajah derives his revenue principally from a monopoly 

 in the sale of opium, which is here smoked to the greatest excess by all classes. The 

 Dutch monopolize the sale of salt. The principal food of the inhabitants is rice, which 

 they import from Java, in exchange for gold dust. The aboriginal inhabitants are 

 called Dyakft : they are a ferocious people, divided into tribes, many of which retain 

 their old-estabhshed customs. One of these is, that before a young man can be per- 

 mitted to enter the marriage state, he must present the female of his choice with the 

 head of a man which he has severed with his own handl It was observed by Mr 

 Earl that the natives of New Holland had had a similar mode of limiting population. 

 On the death of a male of a tribe, they kill a male belonging to a neighbouring tribe, 

 for the purpose of maintaining a balance of power. 



NEW WORKS ON NATURAL HISTORY, AND THE PHYSICAL 

 SCIENCES. 



Reynolds' Voyages Round the World, 8vo, 22s. — The Sea-side Companion, or 

 Marine Natural History, by Mary Roberts, 12mo, 6s. 6d. — Natui-alist's Library, 

 vol. 9, Pigeons, 6s. ; vol. 10, British Diurnal Butterflies, 6s. — Cuvier's Work on 



Fishes, vol. 10 Popular Illustrations of Natural History, &c., fcp., 6s. 6d. ; 



the Language of Flowers. 3d edition. — Observations on certain curious Indentations 

 in the old Red Sandstone, by Jabez Allies, Esq., 8vo, plates, 3s. 6d. — Barrow's 

 Excursions in the North of Europe, 2d edition, 9 engravings, 8vo, 12s. — Lyell's 

 Principles of Geology, 4th edition, 4 vols. 12mo, 24s. — Gleanings in Natural His- 

 tory, 3d Series, by Edward Jesse, post 8vo, 10s. 6d. — Zoological Joui-nal, Part 20, 

 10s. 6d. coloured, 7s. 6d. plain; Part 5, the Supplementary Plates to ditto, 14s. ; 

 Parts 84 and 85, Conchological Illustrations; No. 42, Genera of Shells, by G. B. 

 Sowerby.— The Shrubbery, 32mo, 3s. 6d. — The Earth, by R. Mudie, fcp. 5s. — An 

 Account of New Zealand, by the Rev, W. Yates, royal 12mo, 10s. 6d. 



Edinburgh: Published for the Proprietors, at their Office, No. 16, Hanover Street, 

 London: Charles Tilt, Fleet Street. DubUn: W. F. Wakeman, 9, D'OHer 

 Street. Glasgow and the West of Scotland: John Smith and Son, 70, St 

 Vincent Street. 



THE EDINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY, 



