44 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



bourers in this field, Retzius of Stockholm is the most eminent ; though 

 Valentine and Raschkaw abroad, and Messrs Goodsir, Arnold, and Owen 

 at home, have likewise rendered good service. These gentlemen, along 

 ■with our author, by minute microscopic researches into the structure of 

 ivory enamel, and every part of the teeth, not in Man only, but in the whole 

 animal series, have opened up an entire new field of investigation, and 

 displayed wonders of which we had previously no conception. Sixty 

 pages of Mr N.'s volume are occupied with a summary of Retzius' Treatise, 

 and twenty with a translation from Dr Raschkaw's Thesis. It also con- 

 tains seven admirable plates ; the many figures in the three first, copied 

 from Retzius, and those of the others being original, and equally beautiful. 

 We have room but for a single extract, which, in the author's words, will 

 throw some light upon his plan. " Those who contemplate the teeth," 

 he remarks, " merely as ornaments, or consider them in no other light 

 than as the active agents at a feeding-trough, or as the formidable wea- 

 pons of the wild tenants of the forest, will, doubtless, regard the details 

 of Retzius as irksome and tedious ; but he who, with ardour and admira- 

 tion, tracks the steps of Nature through the regions of Zoology, will wel- 

 come with delight a full description of those new researches ; he will re- 

 cognise at once their importance, and cannot fail to be struck with the 

 unostentatious manner in which a great mind has opened to the world a 

 new field of exertion, foreseeing its value to the student of Geology as 

 well as of Natural History. But I have been still further induced to 

 publish the researches of Retzius, from having myself made numerous 

 observations and experiments on the same subjects, which I hope will be 

 found to illustrate some of them, and to carry out others to very interest- 

 ing and original conclusions. The importance of the study of Odonto- 

 logy in a Zoological or Geological point of view, has induced me to form 

 as complete a collection as possible of microscopic preparations of the 

 teeth of the various classes, both living and extinct, of the animal king- 

 dom. From these I intend, in the course of the present work, when 

 treating of the structure of the teeth, to make a selection calculated to 

 serve as an index of the type of any animal. This part of the work I 

 think will prove of much use to the Geologist, in enabling him to state to 

 ■what class of animals any tooth, or fragment of tooth, belongs." 



Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society for the Years 1831 — 37. 



8vo, pp. 520, with -J4 plates. Edinburgh, A. and C. Black, 1838. 

 Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society for the Years 1837 — 38. 



Part I. vol. viii. with five engravings, 8vo, pp. 163. Edinburgh, A. 



and C. Black. 

 Having been somewhat late in our notice of the former of these volumes, 

 we are glad to be urged to it by the appearance of the latter. The former 

 consists of only three communications ; the first two being Prize Essays 

 of the Society, and the third a History of the Society from December 

 1831 to April 1838. The Prize Essays are most creditable to their re- 

 spective and very rising authors : the former is on the Geology of the Lo- 

 thians, with 35 coloured sections, and a geological map of the district, by 

 Robert J. H. Cunningham, Esq. ; the latter on The Fishes of the District 

 of the Forth, with 67 illustrations in 28 plates, by Dr Parnell. Both are 

 likewise published separately, and contain much information of a general 

 as well as local nature. 



Part I. of vol. viii. contains the following communications : — 1. Obser- 

 vations on the Distinctions, History, and Hunting of Seals in the Shetland 



Islands. Bv L. Edmonstone, M.D 2. On the last Changes in the 



relative Levels of the Land and Sea in the British Islands. By James 

 Smith, Esq., of Jordanhill 3. On the Asteridce of the Irish Sea. By Ed- 

 ward Forbes, Esq. — 4. Meteorological Table for the Year 1838, kept in the 

 Parish of Abbey St Bathan's, Berwickshire. By the Rev. John Wallace. 

 And, 5. On the Geognosy of the Isle of Eigg. By R. J. H. Cunningham, 

 Esq. There is appended a list of the subjects proposed for honorary 

 premiums by the Wernerian Natural History Society. 



We have room only for a single remark on the first of these communi- 

 cations. Dr Edmonstone's paper is all that could be desired regarding 

 the history and hunting of the Shetland Seals ; his habits and opportuni- 

 ties affording him excellent occasions for investigation ; but to his ob- 

 servations on their " distinctions," the first and not least important part 

 of the Essay, we regret we cannot extend the same remark. He informs 

 us there are only two species indigenous in Shetland, — -the vitulina and 

 barbata ; but concerning the specific characters of the latter he is wholly 

 silent. This is the more to be regretted, as recent investigations have led 

 many to the conclusion, that the Great Seal occurring on the coasts of the 

 British Isles is not the Bearded, but the Grey Seal, — not the barbata of 

 Fabricius, but his gryphus. Dr E. speaks somewhat disparagingly of 

 Fabricius as an authority ; but that there is a distinction between these 

 two Seals, which Dr E. identifies, admits not of a doubt. Let us hope 

 that the intelligent author will supply this deficiency by personal exami- 

 nation, or by transmitting a few crania of the Haaf-Seal to our Museums, 

 where the problem will soon be solved. On a previous page we have 

 <nven a short extract as a specimen of this excellent Essay. 



The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Oct. 1839. 

 This number of the Philosophical Journal is peculiarly interesting. Its- 

 chief articles are a Bibliographical Memoir of James Watt by M. Arago, 

 with Remarks on Machinery in relation to the Prosperity of the Workin" 

 Classes, characterized by the distinguished Editor as the most important 

 Eloge that Arago ever wrote ; to this are added many Notes, and an 

 Historical Account of the Discovery of the Composition of Water, by 

 Lord Brougham ;— the History of the Sternoptix Family of Osseous 

 Fishes, — their Anatomical Peculiarities, and a Description of the S. Ce- 

 lebes, a new species, by Dr Handyside, an admirably drawn paper; 

 — an interesting Communication on the Geographical Distribution of 

 Plants ; — Two Papers by M. Flourens, the former on the Natural His- 

 tory of Man, the latter on Mucous Membranes ; — an Article, by Dr New- 

 bigging, on Certain Circumstances affecting the Colour of the Blood du- 

 ring Coagulation ; — On the Form of the Globules of the Blood in some 

 Mammals ; — a Curious Account of Violent Whirlwinds, resulting from 

 the action of Large Circular Fires, by W. C. Redfield, Esq. ;_on the 

 Reproduction of the Virgularia mirabilis, by Sir J. Dalyell ; — on Glaciers, 

 by M. Agassiz ; — Account of the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy ; a De- 

 tailed Account of the Proceedings of that excellent Institution, the So- 

 ciety for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts for Scotland; Notice of 



New Publications, &c. &c. It cannot be perused without equal plea- 

 sure and profit. 



Historical Statement of Duty performed by the Steam-Engines of Cornwall. 



By Thomas Lean and Brother. London, 1839. 

 This Treatise has been put forth at the request of the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, and has been drawn up by Mr 

 Lean and his brother, gentlemen admirably fitted to do justice to the sub- 

 ject. The vast difference between the common system of working steam- 

 engines and the Cornish system may be learned from the following state- 

 ment : — That five times as much work has been done by a Cornish steam- 

 engine as by an excellent Boulton and Watt's engine on the common sys- 

 tem ; or that the same amount of work is done with one-fifth part of the 

 expense of fuel ; — a statement almost incredible, yet perfectly true. 



The amount of work done by a steam-engine is called by engineers its 

 " ditty," — a term first introduced by Mr Watt, in ascertaining the compara- 

 tive merit of steam-engines, when he assumed one pound raised one foot high 

 for the dynamic unit ! Now, by this criterion, it has been found, that where- 

 as one bushel of coals, in one of Boulton and Watt's engines, wrought in the 

 common way, raised 20,000,000 of pounds one foot high, an engine on 

 the Cornish system now raised with each bushel of coals 125,000,000 of 

 pounds to the same height. The results of such improvements may be 

 easily conceived. The saving of coal alone amounts, in the County of 

 Cornwall, to L. 80,000 per annum. 



The means by which all this has been accomplished in Cornwall, and 

 may be accomplished elsewhere, are the following :— By working the steam 

 expansively to a degree unheard of elsewhere. This system was first in- 

 troduced, in its fullest extent, in 1814, by Woolf, and the duty immedi- 

 ately rose from 20,000,000 to 50,000,000 of pounds. 2. By the intro- 

 duction of the system of the conservation of heat; in 1827, from this 

 cause, the duty rose to 67,000,000 of pounds ; in 1828, the enormous 

 duty of 87,000,000 of pounds was obtained ; in 1832, so much as 

 91,000,000 of pounds of water were raised one foot high by a bushel of 

 coals ; and, in 1835, the careful application of the conservation of heat, 

 and the expansion of the steam, raised the duty of Austin's engine to 

 125,000,000. Such results may prove an example to all practical en- 

 gineers. Of the advantages to be derived from such a system, every one 

 may be convinced who will take the trouble to examine this unpretending 

 collection of valuable facts Aihcnamm. 



MISCELLANIES. 

 Who would conceive that Saw-dust is susceptible of conversion into a 

 substance bearing no remote analogy to bread : and, though certainly less 

 palatable than that of flour, yet no way disagreeable, and both wholesome 

 and digestible, as well as highly nutritive ? This discovery, which ren- 

 ders famine next to impossible, deserves a higher degree of celebrity than 



it has obtained Sir J. F. W. Herschel's Disc, on the Study of Nat. Phil. 



Death of Allan Cunningham, Esq Many of our readers will regret 



with us the death of the above named botanist and traveller, who died at 

 Sydney, New South Wales, on the 27th of June, in the 48th year of his 

 age, after a lengthened illness, contracted in New Zealand in 1838, during 

 a botanical excursion, previous to his intended return to England with 

 the results of many years' journeyings. 



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 Macleod. Dublin : George 

 Young. Paris : J. B. Balliere, Rue de l'Ecole de Medecine, No. 13, bis. 



THE EDINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY. 



