152 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



GEOLOGY. 



Submarine Volcano. — On the 25th of last November, the captain and passengers 

 of the brig Cresar, from Havre, on passing the bank of Bahama, saw an enormous fire, 

 which increased till it had tinged the whole of the sky and part of the horizon. It 

 was kept in sight for four hours, and could only be accounted for as proceeding from 

 a submarine volcano. On the 3d of January, the captain of the Sylphide, also from 

 Havre, being on the same spot, found the sea disturbed, and whitish in colour, which 

 he attributed to the same cause. 



Natural Soda Fountain'. — An American Missionary, Mr Spalding, gives an 

 account of a natural soda fountain which he and his party passed, on their route 

 across the Rocky Mountains, at the distance of three days' jom-ney from Fort Hall. 

 One of the three openings of this fountain " is about fifteen feet in diameter, with no 

 discovered bottom. About twelve feet below the surface are two large globes, on 

 either side of this opening, from which the effervescence seems to rise. However, 

 a stone cast in, after a few minutes throws the whole fountain into violent agitation. 

 Another of the openings, about four inches in diameter, is through an elevated rock, 

 from which the watar spouts at intervals of about forty seconds. The water, in all its 

 properties, is equal to any artificial fountain, and is constantly foaming and sparkling. 

 Those who visit this fountain drink large quantities of the water with good effect to 

 health. 



CHEMISTRY. 



Gold.. — The medical properties of gold have lately occupied the attention of 

 M, Legrand ; and he is of opinion that this metal, reduced to an impalpable powder, 

 its metaUic oxides, and the perchloruret of gold and sodium, possess in a very high 

 degree the property of restoring vital strength, and of increasing the activity of the 

 organs of digestion and nutrition. 



Lead. — Chemists have long turned their attention towards the different combina- 

 tions of water and acetic acid, with oxide of lead, and which are so valuable to me- 

 dicine, the arts, and analysis. M. Payer has discovered a new acetate, and an equally 

 new combination of water and protoxide of lead. In the course of his researches, he 

 has been able to explain several phenomena hitherto unknown, and which are highly 

 interesting in the matter of analysis. 



REVIEWS. 



YarrelVs History of British Birds. London : Van Voorst. 



It ha^ been alleged, that, in the recent numbers of this work, a great falling off in 

 the execution of the engravings has been observed; but, on carefully reviewing the 

 whole, and comparing the figures with each other, we are unable to perceive either 

 deficiency or improvement in those that have lately appeared. As a series, we can- 

 not but consider them as extremely beautiful, although, as in all other productions of 

 art, deficiencies may be pointed out. In form, and especially with regard to the bill, 

 they are, in our opinion, generally superior even to Mr Gould's much larger figures ; 

 and there is scarcely any of them that a person moderately acquainted with the species 

 could fail to recognize. The heads of some, however, as of the Black Redstart, and 

 especially the Grasshopper Warbler, are obviously much too small. The information 

 afforded in the descriptive part continues to be of that condensed and carefully elabor- 

 ated character which it has all along presented. 



Essays on Natural History ^ chiefly Ornithology. By Charles Waterton, Esq.. 

 Author of " Wanderings in South America." With an Autobiography of the 

 Author. London : Longman. 



This is merely a reprint of various articles that have appeared in Mr Loudon's Ma- 

 gazine of Natural History, some of which, however, are highly interesting, as afford- 

 ing accurate information respecting the habits of our native birds, written in a very 

 pleasing, although diffuse and discursive style, of which the following, painful as the 

 subject is, may be taken as a good example : — '* Sad and mournful is the fate which 

 awaits this harmless songster (the Chaffinch) in Belgium, and in Holland, and in 

 other kingdoms of the continent. In your visit to the towns in these countries, you 

 see it outside the window, a lonely prisoner in a wooden cage, which is scarcely large 

 enough to allow it to turn round upon its perch. It no longer enjoys the light of day. 

 Its eyes have been seared with a red-hot iron, in order to increase its powers of song, 

 which, unfortunately for the cause of humanity, are supposed to be heightened and 

 prolonged far beyond their ordinary duration by this barbarous process. Poor Chaf- 

 finches, poor choristers, poor little sufferers ! my heart aches as I pass along the streets, 

 and Hsten to your plaintive notes. At all hours of the day we may hear these hapless 

 captives singing (as far as we can judge) in apparent ecstacy. I would fain hope that 

 these pretty prisoners, so woe-begone and so steeped in sorrow to the eye of him who 

 knows their sad story, may have no recollection of those days when they poured forth 

 their wild notes in the woods, free as air, ' the happiest of the happy.' Did they re- 

 member the hour when the hand of man so cruelly deprived them both of liberty and 

 ©yesight, we should say that they would pine in anguish, and sink down at last, a cer- 

 tain prey to grief and melancholy. At Aix-la-Chapelle may be seen a dozen or four- 

 teen of these blind songsters, hung out in cages at a public-house, not far from the 

 cathedral. They sing incessantly, for months after those in liberty have ceased to 

 warble ; and they seem to vie with each other which can carol in the loudest strain. 

 There is something in song so closely connected with the overflowings of a joyous 

 heart, that when we hear it, we immediately fancy we can see both mirth and plea- 

 sure joining in the party. Would, indeed, that both these were the constant attend- 

 ants on this much to be pitied group of captive choristers 1 How the song of birds 

 is involved in mystery ! mjstery probably never to be explained. Whilst sauntering up 

 and down the Continent in the blooming month of May, we hear the frequent warbling 

 of the Chaffinch ; and then we fancy that he is singing solely to beguile the incubation 

 of his female, sitting on her nest on a bush close at hand. But on returning* to the 

 town, we notice another little Chaffinch, often in some wretched alley, a prisoner with 

 the loss of both its eyes, and singing, nevertheless, as if its Uttle throat would burst. 



Does this blind captive pour forth its melody in order to soothe its sorrows ? Has 

 Omnipotence kindly endowed the Chaffinch with vocal faculties, which at one time 

 may be employed to support it in distress, and at another time to add to its social 

 enjoyments ? What answer shall we make ? We know not what to say. But be it 

 as it will, I would not put out the eyes of the poor Chaffinch, though by doing so I 

 might render its melody ten times sweeter than that of the sweet Nightingale itself. 

 O that the potentate, in whose dominions this little bird is doomed to such a cruel 

 fate, would pass an edict to forbid the perpetration of the barbarous deed! Then 

 would I exclaim, O king of men, thy act is worthy of a royal heart. ' That kind 

 Being, who is a friend to the friendless, will recompense thee for this.' " Truly, 

 Mr Waterton, thou art a kind-hearted man ; but how, seeing thou abhorrest the 

 cruelty of burning the eyes of birds, hast thou aimed so many red- hot shafts at a 

 brother ornithologist ? Let the reader compare the above with some criticisms con- 

 tained in the Essays, and he will be led at least to suppose that " birds of a feather" 

 are not always apt to be friendly. The autobiography is not the least interesting 

 part of the work. 



A Geographical and Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and North America. 



By Charles Lucien Buonaparte, Prince of Musignano. 

 This Pamphlet of 67 pages, containing merely a list of the names of the birds of two 

 portions of the two great continents, the booksellers value at five shillings. The species 

 found in Europe are 503, those in North America 471. As to the genera, it is useless 

 to speak of them, as these imaginary groups, formed on no principle whatever, have ex- 

 istence merely in the realm of fancy. Wilson and Audubon, the principal discoverers 

 of American species, have scarcely a single name of all that they imposed left to them. 

 A great man in science erects an edifice, beautifully proportioned, as he thinks, and 

 the next giant in science who comes to the building ground, just quietly sweeps it 

 away to make room for a new pagoda ; picking up, however, most of the stones, on 

 which, when aptly disposed, ha inscribes such magic characters as Linn, 111. Vieill. 

 Briss. Dum. Brehm. Sav. Cuv. Vig. Bechst. Boie. Tem. Lath., with a profusion of 

 Nob, Nobs. In this catalogue the genera are reduced to the minimum size ; and the 

 ornitholot^y of Europe and America is thus " brought up to the present level of the 

 science." The species which were generally understood to be common to both continents, 

 such as Fak;o Peregrinus, Corvus Corax, Corvus Pica, are greatly reduced in number, 

 the American Peregrine being named Falco Anatum, the Raven Corvus Catatotl, the 

 Mao-pie Pica Hudsonica ; but as distinctive characters are not given, we are unable to im- 

 ao-ine the grounds on which some of these distinctions are made. The author professes 

 to adopt always the specific name used by LinnEeus, and then presently converts Falco 

 Buteo into Buteo vidgaris, Falco Milvus into Milvus regalis, Strix Otus into Otus 

 vulgaris^ &c. However, he certainly does retain a large proportion of the Linnaean 

 specific names, for which he merits the thanks of the ornithologists. The figures of 

 the works of Audubon and Gould are " quoted as types of the species under considera- 

 tion;" but while the latter is characterized as " the most beautiful work on ornitho- 

 lot'Y that has ever appeared in this or any other country, of the former it is stated 

 merely that the merit of M. Audubon's work yields only to the size of his book." 

 What this phrase is intended to signify, we cannot comprehend ; but we will maintain 

 against prince or peasant, that Mr Audubon's drawings of birds, being taken generally 

 from entire individuals, and executed in a peculiar manner, cannot be with truth 

 placed on a level with those of filr Gould, of which the forms are very frequently de- 

 fective, and the parts disproportioned. At the same time, Mr Gould's work is truly 

 beautiful ; but Mr Audubon's is magnificent, not merely in size, but in character. Both 

 works, however, are less useful to the world than a good octavo volume of plain letter- 

 press would be, for they are beyond the reach of ordinary students. To those who 

 already know the birds of Europe and America, the prince's List will be useful, but 

 to the student it is a sealed book. A comparative Catalogue, having ordinal, generic, 

 and specific characters, is a desideratum. 



The Naturalist's Library, Vol. X. Flycatchers. By William Swainson, Esq., 



with a Memoir of Baron Haller. 

 The Memoir is certainly the best written and not the least interesting part of the 

 book. The MuscicapidK, sectioned as usual into fives, and analogised into Raptorial, 

 Rasorial, Grallatorial, Natatorial, and Insessorial, will be found by those who 

 have adopted this fanciful system to be treated in a very interesting manner. Even 

 they who have other views will find it advantageous to give this essay a careful perusal, 

 as the elucidation of affinities of any kind must be useful. But the work is obviously 

 intended, not for the student, so much as for the adept. The thirty-two plates il- 

 lustrative of the text are remarkably well executed, the drawing, engraving, and col- 

 ourin-^, being all of a superior character, and the resemblance of the figures to their 

 originals being found by us perfectly satisfactory, although, it is true, we have only 

 prepared skins of some of the species to compare with them, and we suppose the au- 

 thor can have had nothing better. The decorations are also much to our taste, the 

 scenery introduced being beautiful and appropriate. The illustrations of this volume, 

 in short, are among the best of the series ; and as pleasing pictures, are worth the 

 price even to those who can understand little of the descriptions. The conductor and 

 publisher certainly deserve praise for their exertions in rendering the series of essays 

 not merely amusing, but more or less instructive, by employing individuals of acknow- 

 ledt^ed talent, such as the author of the present volume, of whose extensive knowledge 

 and in<renuity, however much we may differ from him as to the most useful method of 

 examinino- birds, we have, without presuming to pass judgment upon a master in 

 science, a very high opinion. 



Edinburgh: Published for the Proprietor, at the Office, No. 13, Hill Street. 

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

 Scotland: John Smith and Son; and John Maclkod. Dublin: Georgh 

 YooNG. Paris : J. B. Balliere, Rue de I'Ecole de Medecme, No. 13 bis. 



THB BDINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY. 



