and the Dlstribuion of Heat over the Globe, ^81 
too cold for the cultivation of plants useful to man. M. De 
Candolle, indeed, to whom the geography of vegetables owes so 
many valuable observations, has seen the vine cultivated in the 
south of France at 800 metres Qi624i feet) of absolute height, 
when, under the same meridian, this same cultivation went on 
with difficulty at 4° of latitude farther north ; so that if we con- 
sider only the ratios in France, an elevation of 100 metres, (328 
feet), appears to correspond, not to 1°, but to half a degree of la- 
titude 
( To be concluded in next Number.) 
Art. VII. — Description of a Machine for Raising Sto7hes. 
By David Low, Esq. *j- 
J- HE curious machine to be now described, has been employ- 
ed in some places for the purpose of cl earing uncultivated ground 
of such large masses of granite or whinstone, as could not be mo-^ 
ved but by the aid of gunpowder. It is, I believe, very little 
known ; and yet, as an useful instrument, it well deserves at- 
tention. As it affords, besides, the means of making a very 
singular philosophical experiment, I trust that a page or two of 
the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal may be well employed in 
disseminating a knowledge of its properties and construction. 
With this view, I shall endeavour to describe a convenient form 
in which it can be made for practical uses, and the purposes of 
experiment. 
In Plate VI. Fig 1. A, B and C represent three strong 
wooden posts, about 14 feet in length, through the ends of which 
* See my Prolegomena de Distribiitiene Plantarum, p. 151. 163. The small 
differences between the num bers given in the Prolegomena and in this Memoir, 
written subsequently, should be ascribed to the constant desire which I have had 
to perfect the mean results. 
•j* This machine was invented by Mr Richardson of Keswick, who was re- 
warded for the invention by the Society of Arts. We have not heard of its hav- 
ing been used to any extent in England, but in Scotland it has met with high ap- 
probation whei'ever it has been employed, though We believe it is but little known 
among that class to whom it is likely to be of the greatest utility.— D. B. 
