1829.] Wernerian and Huttonian Systems of Geology. 
325 
461. “ A water screw has been applied at the bow or stern of steam-boats, to 
propel them in canals, where there was no room for side wheels.” Side wheels are 
totally prohibited in canals, not for want of room, but on account of the destruction 
which they occasion to the banks. 
472. In the professedly musical section “ tone” is used for “ note” or “ musi- 
cal sound whereas the former word is now universally limited to the designation 
of a particular musical interval, or the quality of sound in any instrument. 
477. “ All sounds which have simple relations to each other are remarkably 
agreeable to the car," and vice versa. Now so far is this from being true, that the 
unison (() nnd octave (f) which have the simplest relations, are heard as only one 
note, or produce particular effect ; and the minor fourth (J), which has a simpler 
relation than the major sixth (f) and major third (jj), is interior to them, parti- 
cularly to the last, in sweetness. 
480. An unintelligible mechanical account of the reasons which have led all man- 
kind to adopt the same seven steps in ascending through the major key : the truth 
seems to be, that those notes which afford the greatest number of concords among 
themselves, and whose intervals place them at nearly equal distances from one 
another, have been selected. 
508. “ Deafness ensues when the custachian tube is obstructed, as by wax!” 
Read mucus, or swelling. 
570. “ A bath must propel the blood from all the external veins of the body to- 
wards the cavity of the chest, which the pressure cannot reach : it is this effect 
which, in part, causes the feeling of thoracic oppression, experienced by persons on 
first plunging into water, which feeling is usually attributed altogether to the cold.’ ’ 
Therefore, a warm bath, or a tight pair of breeches or boots, ought to eanse thoracic 
oppression. It is not pleasant to observe errors of this kind, in a work which was 
the first to refute Dr. Barry’s idea, that the circulation through the veins is earned 
on by the expansion of the chest. 
587. Dr. Arnott’s mistakes on the subject of speech, arc too numerous for cor- 
rection, excepting by the writing of another treatise on the subject : but he states, 
at p. 587, that the easily distinguishable elements of speech, are about 50 in number; 
and that no single language contains more than about half of them. A moderate 
acquaintance with the tone prononneiation of living languages, and some attention 
to the subject, will enable any one to discriminate, at least, 100 distinct sounds, in- 
cluding the usual rowels as separate from those not usually enunciated, and also 
long vowels, as separate from short vowels. Of these, the English language will be 
found to contain 53, (omitting provincialism), Persian- 55, Hindoostanee 61, and 
Gaelic no fewer than 71. 
587. H is physiological account of the formation of voice, is exceedingly superficial. 
637. The pneumatic tractor would be a dangerous instrument, were it not in- 
applicablc, 
August 11M, 1829. D. B. 
IV. — On the Wernerian and Huttonian Systems of Geology . 
To the Editor of Gleanings in Science. 
Dear Sir, — I have no wish, at this time of day, to revive the obsolete discussion 
relative to the Wernerian and Huttonian theories of the earth ; my attention, how- 
ever, has been directed to the subject of my present letter, by a sentence which ap- 
peared in No. 6, page 179. of the Gleanings. In reference to some interesting facts 
detailed in the said No. you remark, that in each case we are struck with “ the tri- 
umphant nature of the answer, which the knowledge of these facts would have 
enabled the eloquent defender of the Huttonian theory, to give to those who could 
so little weigh the value of the rival theories.” The facts alluded to are certainly 
most interesting, and far be it from me to detract from their importance. Neither 
do I feel at all inclined to detract from the merits of Dr. Hutton, — he was, indeed, 
a splendid and original genius : and well worthy of such a defender as Playfair. In 
a practical point of view, however, we are indebted to the followers of the H uttonian 
school, principally, for the great additional light which they have thrown on the 
origin of the Trap Rocks, and for the information which they have given us relative 
to granite veins, &c. I here, of course, only allude to the follow-crs of Hutton strict- 
