THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

NOVEMBER, 1829.

ART. I. Some Account of the Progress of Natural History, during the Year 1828, as reported to the Academy of Sciences at Paris by the Baron Cuvier. By Mrs. BOWDICH.

Sir,

In compliance with your request, I send you some account of the yearly report made to the Academy of Sciences by Baron Cuvier, in his quality of perpetual secretary to that body, and entitled Analyse des Travaux de l'Académie Royale des Sciences pendant l'année 1828. In doing this I have purposely avoided those subjects which might not be interesting to the readers of natural history; and even in those which are noticed, I have been obliged to curtail much from the original work. Baron Cuvier is most elaborate in his explanations, and carries his readers back to the discoveries of former years to elucidate those of the present moment, and I much regret that the limits of your Magazine will not allow of a closer translation. I have, however, done the best I could in so small a space, and should be very glad to see the example of this great man followed by some one of his learned cotemporaries in this country.

The Partie Physique commences with Meteorology, and contains some particulars, communicated by M. Moreau de Jonnès, of the earthquake which took place in the West Indies, on the 29th of March, 1828. Twelve shocks had been felt in the space of eight months, but the most violent was at the above period. The movement was from east to west, and it extended across the Atlantic and American continent in the space of twenty-three hours, when it caused great destruction at Lima, and where the shock was violent, and lasted from thirty-five to forty-five seconds.

Under the head of Chemistry and Chemical Sciences, are two or three discoveries which may be generally interesting. The first is that of the son of the M. Raymond who substiVOL. II. No. 10.

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tuted Prussian blue for indigo in dying silk, thread, and cotton. M. Raymond the younger has improved on his father's process by imparting the same colour to woollen materials. The dye thus given is brighter than that from indigo, remains uninjured by water, fresh air, and light, but changes immediately when it comes in contact with boiling soap-suds and alkaline liquids.

M. Chevreul, so long known for his experiments on greasy substances, has been enabled to extract the greasy matter contained in wool, by the action of alcohol and ether. In this state wool is more difficult to dye, but if dipped into subcarbonate of soda, it regains its power of absorbing colouring

matters.

MM. Chevalier and Lenglumé have been of essential service to the art of lithography, by the composition of two substances: the one for preparing the stone to receive the drawing, and printing from it when drawn upon, and the other for effacing the drawing. The first is an acid, which renders the surface of the stone more capable of imbibing the water which resists the printing-ink, and abstracts every thing like alkali from the material used for drawing. The receipt is as follows:- 3lbs. of hydro-chloric acid mixed with white marble. Filter the solution, and add 3 lbs. of water. Then melt 12 oz. of gum arabic in this mixture; and lastly add 3 oz. more of hydro-chloric acid, which can be increased if more strength be required. This liquid spreads itself more equally over the stone, and preserves humidity longer than any other yet in use. The second substance spoken of above, is potash, rendered caustic by lime, and dissolved in sixteen parts of water. The stone is washed, and then left in this liquid for four hours, which operation is repeated, as often as necessary, upon the whole or part of the stone. This, by entirely taking out the drawing, supersedes the use of pumice, sandstone, &c., which in time wear away the stone.

M. Beudant, who has long devoted himself to the relative weights and proportions of minerals, has ascertained that the specific gravity of these bodies is not as uniform as hitherto supposed. Carbonated lime, for instance, varies between 2-7 and 2.5; arragonite between 2.9 and 2.7. The state of crystallisation has a sensible influence over these variations. The specific gravity of small crystals is the greatest, and it probably diminishes in larger crystals from their internal vacuities being greater than in a more homogeneous mass. The varieties of lamellar, or fibrous structure, are also the lightest, and decrease still further in weight as the fibres increase in size. The spe

cific gravity is also less in those varieties which are produced by decomposition. The great proof, that the specific gravity depends on the quantity of vacant space in minerals, is, that when all the varieties are reduced to powder they weigh alike.

Among the notices on Geology are the following:are the following:- M.Roset has been continuing the researches of Dr. Fitton, in the Bas Boulonnais, and confirms the English geologist's theory, that the strata of this district are exactly similar to those of the opposite county in England, both in composition and position. To these researches M. Roset has added many new details and maps. — A bed of manganese, situated at Romanèche, near Mâcon, has attracted the attention of geologists, and some (among whom is the celebrated Dolomieu) have thought it to be a vein, and others have supposed it to be a heap or mass placed upon the granite. According to the recent observations of M. Bonnard, it appears to accord with each opinion. At Romanèche, where it is worked, it certainly lies in a heap above the granite; but to the south of this village, and in the same direction, it forms a true vein, which traverses the granite, and in every respect resembles the heap in substance: a circumstance which M. Bonnard looks on as likely to substantiate the theory, that certain formations are caused by subterranean overflowings. The same author conjectured that the deposits of manganese at Dordogne were similarly situated; a supposition which has been confirmed by M. Dufresnoy, who, with his companion M. Elie de Beaumont, is preparing a geological map of France.

Several caverns, which were supposed to be destitute of fossils, have, since Dr. Buckland's instructions on the manner of finding them, produced a number of very interesting remains. M. Delanoue has just found a new instance of their constant occurrence in subterranean caves, in the grotto of Miremont, in the Dordogne department. This grotto appears to have been hollowed out in an intermediate formation, between chalk and Jura limestone. The galleries are 2000 paces long, and end in a multitude of low, narrow ramifications, where the bones are deposited. They are enveloped in red clay, and are principally those of bears. Some pits, dug from two to four hundred paces from the mouth, exposed different layers of marl, which appeared to be more recent than the red clay. In these were found some broken pieces of pottery, similar to those contained in the ruins and alluvial earth of the neighbourhood, and which are supposed to be prior to the introduction of Roman arts into France.

Since the discoveries of M. Delanoue, M. Tournal, a chemist of Narbonne, has made other researches at Bize, in the Aude department. The cave is in the Jura concretion. Part of the bones are enveloped in a stony concretion, and, ac cording to him, belong to those extinct species usually found in caves. Others are in black mud, and wholly different to the former. Besides these, not only in the black mud, but among the calcareous concretions, are human bones and pieces of pottery. M. Destrem, who has examined the same cave, only found some remains of ruminating animals, principally of the deer kind, and several bones of rabbits and birds. He does not consider the human bones worthy of attention, as they are neither impregnated with clay, nor covered with the ferruginous crust, which both distinguish true fossils. M. Destrem supposes them to have been recently lodged in these caves, as they have several times been the resort of malefac

tors.

MM. Marcel, Deserre, Dubrueil, and Jean Jean, professors at Montpelier, have begun publishing their description of the caves of Lunel Vieil, long celebrated for the abundance and variety of their fossil remains. There are three of them in the same garden, and penetrating into the same hill, which is formed of tertiary marine limestone, and which is more recent than the coarse limestone of Paris. The remains are found in a mud, which is full of rolled flints, and all mingled together, without any regard even to the skeleton to which they belonged. These have not been rolled, but broken by some violent shock, and have numerous fissures on their surface, which have induced the belief that they have been a long time without flesh. There are fourteen species of Carnívora, seven of Ruminantia, seven of Pachydérmata, and five of Rodéntia. In the first order are three species of hyænas, similar to those found in England, and mingled with excrements and other bones, which bear the marks of the teeth of these animals. Notwithstanding this, the above gentlemen believe them to have been brought thither by an inundation, which has swept with it the bones of the whole neighbouring soil: a belief which explains some extraordinary contradictions; for it is well known that hyænas could not live in the same cave with tigers, nor dogs with hyænas; and yet, in the lapse of years, these animals may probably have inhabited the same spot at different periods. Another place, abounding in these remains, exists in Auvergne, in a mountain near Issoire, which has been explored with much zeal and labour by MM. Devèze de Chabriol and Bouillet, and M M. l'Abbé Croiset and Jobert. The first two have already published their observ

ations, but the last two have not yet terminated this part of their labours. The structure of the mountain is of freshwater limestone, resting upon granite, with strata of sand alternating with layers of volcanic remains, and crowned by enormous masses of these same remains. Notwithstanding the volcanic productions all round, the formation of this mountain must be referred to that named diluvium, as the bones found are the same as those which characterise this formation, and it is so rich, and contains so many species, that it must always be one of the most remarkable monuments of a former world. But in this same country are still older formations, made by fresh water, and containing layers of sand, which present us with different genera. Among these are found many remains of birds (in which Auvergne is generally abundant), and even some of their eggs, in beautiful preservation. In these places there are no marine beds, the bones are scattered, not rolled, and are often mingled with fresh-water shells.

M. Adolphe Brongniart, who has devoted himself with such extraordinary zeal and perseverance to fossil botany, has been obliged to create a new method of ascertaining the nature of vegetable deposits, and has formed it from the surface and composition of the stems, the nerves of the leaves, &c. &c. He has commenced publishing a new work, where he describes more than 500 fossil species, with their positions. By help of these species, he establishes a certain number of successive formations, in which vegetables succeed each other with few changes, and in almost equal numbers of genera; and other formations, where genera and families undergo the most sudden changes and bear no affinity to each other. By means of these rapid changes, he has fixed certain vegetable geological periods, which he has reduced to four; during each of which vegetation has presented but few remarkable changes, but the passages of which from one to another have been strongly marked. The first comprehends transition earths and coal, the second speckled sandstone, the third extends from the upper part of shelly limestone to the under chalk, and the fourth corresponds with the tertiary formations. These are separated by strata, which contain few or no vegetable remains; as the red sandstone and the alpine limestone, which intervene between the first and the second; the secondary limestone, between the second and third; and chalk between the third and fourth. In the first period the ferns and the larger vegetables predominate; in the second is an equal number of ferns, monocotyledons, and Coníferæ, but of a smaller size than in the first; in the third the Cycàdeæ are most