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1815.]

Mr. Sparshall on the first mistook for air-bubbles; but, finding them stick very thick round the sides of the vessel containing the water, I took some out, and, applying them to the microscope, found them to be roundish globules, very transparent, and encompassed with a thin skin, having a small indenture on one side, and an opacous spot in the middle, from whence proceeded a number of fine rays. I at first conjectured, from the transparency of these globules, that they might be the spawn or ova of the Urtica marina or seanettle; but, on a second and more accurate examination, I found the opaque spots in the globules to be the residence of a very minute worm, which is gene

Luminosity of the Sea.

109

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"If a glass of water be taken up from the harbour of a night when this phenomenon appears, and set in a dark place, no sparkling can be seen; but, on putting a stick or the feather-end of a quill therein, and shaking it about pretty briskly, a very great sparkling is seen on the surface of the water; and, on withdrawing the stick or feather, several of these minute luminous bodies are found adhering thereto, and afford a faint glimmering light, which quickly disappears on these bodies becoming dry on their surfaces.

"I shall not pretend to say in what manner these bodies afford this sparkling appearance; but may it not be caused by the gentle agitation of the water striking them against each other? having noticed this appearance is most frequent after gales of wind, when the sea comes to subside; but sometimes there are few or none of these globules to be found in the water, at which time there will be no sparkling; but, when they are found in the water, it will always sparkle, and more or less in proportion to the quantity there is of them. Yet I can hardly think it can be these animalcula which cause the sea to appear as if all on fire by the violent agitation of the water in a storm, so often seen by seamen." J. S.

nerally found with its tail sticking to some part of the opaque spot, and moving its head backward and forward, and in all directions, sometimes with drawing itself quite into its case; the worm itself is much smaller than the smallest eels found in vinegar, and far more transparent. What these are, or may become, when arrived at maturity, I cannot so much as conjecture. I have examined numbers of these globules at different times, and scarcely found one in ten without the worm.

"The worm and bladder are seen as represented in the annexed drawings, and as they appeared by the second magnifier of the double microscope:

"Remarks on the Phosphoric Phenome non in the Sea;" from vol. i. p. 48, of the Translation of Labillardiere's Account of a Voyage in search of La Perouse, in the Years 1791, 2, and 3. "I had preserved a few bottles of sea water, taken up the evening before, during its phosphorescence, to examine the little luminous bodies which are the cause of this phenomenon. This water, poured into a glass, was set in motion in the dark; I immediately saw some luminous globules, which differed in no respect from those which are commonly remarked when the sea is agitated. It appeared to me quite an easy matter to try to separate these bodies, in order to shew whether the water would still preserve its phosphoric quality. I strained it through a piece of white-brown paper; some molecules, very gelatinous and transparent, the size of which was almost a third of a millimeter, remained in the strainer, and from that time this sea water lost all its phosphorescence, which I restored to it at pleasure by throwing therein the little molecules. It was necessary not to leave these diminutive animals long exposed to the air, for they soon lost all their phosphoric properties. I have several times repeated the same experiment in seas very distant from each

other,

other, and I have constantly found the same animalcules, which I consider as the most ordinary cause of the phosphorescence of sea water. However, they alone have not the property of rendering the sea luminous-several species of crabs, some very large molecules, &c. often quit the bottom of the waters to come and illumine their surface. I have frequently seen these phosphoric molecules of the size of a double decimeter, but I have always found at the same time the little luniinous bodies which I have mentioned."

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

CAN any of your correspondents give

me a satisfactory reason why the water of the sea is of a dull green colour near the shore, and decidedly of a bright blue colour in the main ocean? I do not advert to the reflected colour from the surface, which of course varies with the changeable hues of the sky, I mean the colour of the water when looked down into, or when cut by the keel of a ship or boat. Even in the water taken up in the ship's buckets at open sea, I have observed this blue tinge; and in crossing the Atlantic, however gloomy or dark was the sky, the water, when looked down into from the ship's side, was a bright blue colour. This fact must be well known to every scaman of common observation; and every one who has ever been in a boat near the shore must have remarked the peculiar green colour of the water. To some of your readers this question may seem puerile; others may know that the most important conclu sions in science have often been drawn from the most trifling phenomena. Oct. 29, 1814. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

C.

SHOULD be glad to know if any I of vour numerous correspondents could point out to me any publication that would enable me to work, decimally, questions of the following kind:-"If

285714 of a yard cost 3,81. what will

963 of a yard cost?" Or, if any of your
mathematical contributors can work it
decimally, and produce the answer cor
rectly. The end I have in view is to
a certain whether any such method is
known or published, having myself, after
several years of study, accomplished it;
and, being about to publish a Treatise on
Arithmetic, in which this will be in-
cluded, I should very unwillingly intro-
duce it as a novelty if already published,
though I can safely say I never received
assistance from any publication what-
ever.

Belgrave House, Pimlico; J. CARVER.
December 20, 1814.

For the Monthly Magazine. JOURNAL of a TOUR in ITALY in 1812 and 1813; by M. MILLIN, Member of the French Institute, &c.

I'

T requires another forced march to reach on one day Monteleone, the chief town of Calabria Ultra; and, although we kept along the high road, there were nevertheless no halting places or refreshments. This place was entirely destroyed by the earthquake of 1783. The houses are called barracks, because they are of wood. There are two magnificent palaces built of this material, but this is known by all the world. I spent three days at Monte. leone: I found some monuments and sonie inscriptions not yet generally

known.

I pursued the direct road from the ancient Vibona (Monteleone,) to Reggio; I made, during my residence, excursions to the Pizzo, and on the shores of the beautiful gulph of Santa Euphemia, where I copied two curious Latin inscriptions: after this I retrograded tofrightful traces of the earthquake of 1783. wards Tropaa. Mileto exhibited most its present state, and of the magnificent I have several drawings of the town in sarcophagus, in which was deposited the body of Roger, King of Sicily: near this spot, I caused workmen to dig, and found that of his wife, Adelasia. The monastery has been destroyed, and not a leaf of its archives remains.

Besides these crabs, &c. mentioned by Labillardiere, the Sepra or Cuttle-fish, the Medusa or Blubber, and some of the I afterwards visited in succession, are Tropea, Parelia, and Nicotera, which genus Scolopendra or Antipes, and perhaps delightfully situated, and their Greek some other species or even genus, as mentioned by Linneus, sparkle or shine during names add to the interest which they the night in the water; and Berkenhout, in inspire. Tropaa possesses some monuhis Outlines, p. 193, says, "the Nercis ments of the middle ages: before ar noctiluca, though scarce visible to the naked riving at it, we see the islands of Lipari eye, shines by night in the sea, so as to make and Nicotera, as if rising from the sea, the water seem on fire."- E. S. and a part of the coast of Sicily.

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1815.]

Journal of a Tour in Italy, by M. Millin.

I turned aside to Seminara, where the most astonishing phenomena which accompanied the earthquake are to be seen. The same evening I reached Palmi; next day, Bagnara; and, finally, Scylla; from which the Pharos of Messina is visible. All these towns have been destroyed by earthquakes. I made the tour of the rock of Scylla several times; its perpendicular elevation, and the rocks with which it is begirt, have well assisted the imaginations of the poets, who bave assigned' to it a half human form: here we may see a female figure, sur. rounded by dogs, barking, as visibly as we sometimes see giants in the clouds. I spent a whole day at Scylla. I witnessed all the operations attending the fishing for the spada; they are similar to those described by Strabo, but it is not true that the fishermen use Greek terms. I have a list, but none of them are Hellenisms.

I can scarcely describe the pleasure I received in viewing the grand straits which wind between Sicily and Calabria with so much grace and majesty. It is sufficient to know that I spent eleven days at Reggio, all the environs of which I visited, and where I made several observations. Here I found some bricks, with the name of the place in Greek characters, and several small monuments; every thing else has been destroyed by earthquakes. I visited more than once the Camp de Piale and San Giovane, from which the cocks in Sicily may be heard to crow.

111 I was able to follow all the sinuosities of the Straits. When we once enter the small bay of Scylla, the shore is so guarded, that there is no more danger than from Scylla to Bagnara; but, in spite of prudent remonstrances, I went in this way from Bagnara to Palmi, and I soon repented of my obstinacy. The shore is so abrupt and rugged, that the enemy's barks can easily conceal themselves under the cliffs, and the route is so tortuous, that flight is impossible. I arrived at Palmi, however, without meeting any disaster; the commandant of this place assured me, that he would on no account run a similar risk.

Next day I set out at day-break from Palmi, to traverse this point of Calabria, and to proceed to Gerace, on the shores of the Ionian sea; I slept at Casalnuovo; I passed next day, with a good escort, through the Passo de i Mercanti, and I arrived at Gerace by a route where we saw vegetation in all its luxuriance-forests of huge trees, and the greatest pomp, mixed with the most picturesque horrors of nature.

Gerace is situated on the point of a rock, here I found some interesting monuments; I visited the plain of Locres, where we still see the walls of the place, composed of square stones. Here I copied some Greck and Roman inscriptions; some very productive excavations have been made here. I have a draw➡ ing of a fine bronze belmet, adorned with a Greek inscription, in very anHere I also saw a pacient characters, and a fragment of a painted vase, of admirable beauty. I also procured drawings of some monuments of the middle age.

rade of the English troops, and heard their music distinctly, while Sicilian ⚫ women were seen going to mass.

I wished to return by the shores of the Ionian Sea, but the route by Bova is difficult, and void of interest, over a barren sand; I therefore resolved to retrace my steps to Palmi, and, as I had come on horseback, I preferred the seaside, to enjoy the view of this fine coast, and to pass between Charybdis and Scylla. The two shores are so near, that cannon-balls reach across; but the French have no establishment on this coast, and, when their battery of Peuti. mele fires, the saud is seen to fly up around the houses in the Pharos, and there are always some of them destroyed, The facility of doing mischief is the cause of both combatants reciprocally allowing small vessels to creep along the store; but, in case of their quitting it, the Sicilian batteries fire over them, and, when they are French barks, the Penti mele battery fires at the Pharos. Thus

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I resumed my route along this coast: no isolated habitations are to be found between the towns, which are situated upon alm inaccessible heights. On the right ha is the sea, and we tread over a sandy clay, intersected every mi nute by small torrents, or rivulets of brackish water; on the left are the grayish and barren rocks of the chain of the Appennines. If we look at the map, we may easily perceive that all the towns marked on it are on the sea-coast. But from Reggio, we may go to Tarento, without entering a single town, unless we determine upon climbing up to it by the miserable road which leads to it. This road is always the bed of a torrent, for there is no other; and the feet of the horses are perpetually slipping among the round stones with which it is strew. ed. This bed is sometimes half a mile in breadth; the banks are high, and they

are

are hot as a furnace; all the stones are truly scorching. After having travelled four miles in this way, we arrived at the foot of the mountain on which the town is built, like the nest of an eagle: three or four miles of ascent still remain, and we must always descend again on foot, so difficult is the road. At such an immense height, a traveller is astonished to find himself in a town containing from two to five thousand inhabitants, and palaces of a magnificent appearance, the masters of which can have but little communication with their neighbours.

I have every reason to believe that these difficulties frightened Mr. Swinburne, and that he contented himself with viewing these towns from a dis. tance with his glass: he relates mere com mon places as to their history, and leads his readers astray the instant he attempts to describe them. For my part, I bave resided in most, if not all, of them. I have also visited Roccella, and the place which was supposed to be Cau. lonia. I have also been at Isca, and at Stelo, where I took drawings of a very singular Greek church, and a column with a Greek inscription: at the foot of the mountain, the whole sea-coast is visible from Zephyrium to Cotrona,

I have also visited Santa Catarina Stallati, from which travellers descend as into a gulph, to reach the point on which Squillace is situated; the road here is so bad, that it is passable only upon foot: the mules were every instant in danger of being precipitated, and my muleteers lost all temper at having em barked on the expedition: luckily, the escort succeeded in imposing silence. Those who travel in the Calabrias must always have an escort, not only for protection against robbers, but to overawe the muleteers, and force the peasants to serve as guides. No respect is paid to any travellers who are unarmed with muskets, or who have not men with them who are.

I arrived next day at Catanzaro, which is one of the largest and best civilized of Calabria Ultra. I found at Squillace some mteresting monuments. I have the plan of a magnificent edifice, which seems to have been a church built about the period when Christians were first permitted to celebrate their worship in public. Catanzaro presents little of interest, but I was forced to remain three days there to administer the bark to my draftsnian, and one of my servants, who had caught the fever of the country. I wished to have gone to Cotrona, where

the inhabitants have been much thinned by this disease, and are very far from possessing the strength of Milo; but my draftsman shewed the greatest abhorrence against this town, where it is impossible to sleep a night without imminent danger, and indeed it has nothing remarkable in it but its name. Baron Riedesel has accurately described the pretended school of Pythagoras, which is near it. I resolved, therefore, to leave out Cotrona, but to visit Taverna, which is in the interior, because it was the birth-place of Mattia Prete, sir-named the Calabrese, and where he has left many of his pictures.

In order to reach Taverna, we must alternately ascend some very rugged steeps, and plunge into immense hol lows. I turned aside once more to pass Tiriolo, where there are some remains of antiquity. Here I saw some large earthen conduits, or pipes, with Greek initials. The costume of the women of Tiriolo is charming. We then passed Genigliano; all these small towns seem to have been but yesterday a prey to the flames. They were occupied by the revolted Calabrese, and were the theatre of events which make humanity shudder to think of. At length we ar rived near the funnel, at the bottom of which Taverna seemed to be situated. There is no road traced out to it, and we must hold by the bushes, lest we should descend faster than we came up. This is the district of Calabria, which became so rich, which was loaded with so many honours, and which was the scene of so many singular adventures. There is nothing curious at Taverna, but its pictures; I made a copy of a striking likeness of the painter Prete, which he gives in one of his pictures.

From Taverna to San Giovane di Fiore, the distance is fifty-four miles, and yet I met only with a shepherd, a capuchin, and a man fishing in a marsh. We traversed Sila, that ancient forest which Virgil describes so poetically; it is now desolated.

San Giovane di Fiore contains nothing curious: next day I took a journey of nearly the same extent, to visit Rossano, a town bike the rest in this country, placed on a very high ridge, five miles from the banks of the river. I arrived here drenched with rain, there having been a dreadful thunder-storm, and I preferred experiencing it in the open air to taking shelter under the trees.

I rested three days at Rossano; one day

1815.]

Abuses of a Commission of Lunacy.

day was taken up in visiting the ancient monastery of the Basilidians, called La Madona del Patire. This very interesting monastery, which contains some ancient sculptures, Greek manuscripts, and diplomas, has been so pillaged and sacked, that there is scarcely a stone which does not bear the marks of the mischievous spirit of mankind. I have taken a drawing of the church, which is of a very remarkable Norman architec ture, and of the Mosaic pavement, in the Arabic style; besides an immense marble vase, with a modern Greek inscription. Rossano furnished some curious monuments besides.

I proceeded to Corigliano, where we took a drawing of a noble aqueduct. I next day visited the plain on which Sybaris stood, not a stone of its walls remains; and this plain, formerly so fertile in roses, is now covered with thistles, so strong and thick, that a regiment of dragoons might pass through it more securely than in a wood, without being discovered. I was next day at Cassano.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

A

SIR,

a

HEAVY calamity with which friend of mine has recently been afflicted, has been the means of introducing me to an abuse, perhaps the most scandalous of any that disgrace the administration of the laws. The unhappy man had become deranged; and, to prevent the waste of his property which bis incapacity to take care of it was likely to occasion, a commission of lunacy was applied for by his distressed family. A part of the proceedings on this occasion consisted of an inspection of the lunatic, and the examination of witnesses, by commissioners appointed by the Lord Chancellor, assisted by a jury; and I happened to be one of the witnesses by whose testimony the insanity of my unfortunate friend was established. When the investigation was over, and the jury had pronounced him to be a lunatic, the abuse to which I allude occurred. The investigation took place at a tavern, and the moment it was over, the commissi oners and the jurymen, the lawyers and the witnesses, all repaired to an adjoining room, and there sat down to a most elegant and expensive dinner, at which were an abundance of delicacies, and a profusion of costly wines; and, after dinner, a multitude of toasts were drank in bumpers, with an hilarity better suited to the triumphant rejoicing of an election MONTHLY MAG, No. 260.

113

dinner, than to an occasion so melancholy and pitiable as that on which we were assembled. It was impossible not to associate with the mummery of these toasts, the recollection of the Scottish compact, "You scratch me, I scratch you:" for the commissioners, (who had received their commissions from the chancellor, and three guineas each for their attendance,) first proposed the health of the Lord Chancellor, and then the healths of the two lawyers; the lawyers proposed the healths of the commissioners; the mad-doctor, (who had also received his fee, and whose wellcoloured nose indicated at once his fondness for these entertainments and their lamentable frequency,) proposed the healths of the jury; and the jury (who had been paid a guinea a-piece for their attendance,) proposed the health of the mad-doctor. A variety of other toasts were then drank. As to my poor friend and his calamity, they seemed to be utterly forgotten. last, however, one of the commissioners recollected him, and (the mad doctor having stept out of the room,) he proposed that we should drink" Better

At

health to the unfortunate lunatic."

I had the curiosity to count the number of persons who sat down to dinner, there were no less than thirty-three; they consisted of the three commissioners, the lawyer for the commission and his clerk, the adverse lawyer (for the commission was opposed,) and his clerk, and sixteen jurymen and ten witnesses; and I am confident the entertainment could not have cost less than from fifty to sixty pounds.

Struck with the total want of feeling displayed towards my unfortunate friend, and the brutal festivity with which these cannibals were feasting upon his dread ful calamity; and astonished at the singular protection the laws thus gave to his property, I enquired of the person who sat next to me, whether the property of lunatics was invariably preyed upon in this shameful manner. This gentleman happened to be the clerk to one of the lawyers, and, though I found him very reserved at first, yet, after a few toasts had been drank, he began to expand, and, as the toasts increased, he grew more and more communicative. From him I learned that these festivities invariably attend commissions of lunacy; and that these occasions, the most melancholy of any that call for the labours of a jury, are the only ones in which the judges, jury, lawyers, and wit

nesses,

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