{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_64413/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_64413","id":"gutenberg_64413","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64413","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Curiosities and wonders","Magic","Miracles"],"text":"MAGIC,\n\n  PRETENDED MIRACLES,\n\n  AND\n\n  REMARKABLE\n\n  NATURAL PHENOMENA.\n\n\n  _PHILADELPHIA_:\n  AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION,\n  NO. 146 CHESTNUT STREET.\n\n  _LONDON_:\n  RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.\n\n\nNOTE.--The _American Sunday-school Union_ have made an arrangement\nwith the _London Religious Tract Society_, to publish, concurrently\nwith them, such of their valuable works as are best suited to our\ncirculation. In making the selection, reference will be had to the\ngeneral utility of the volumes, and their sound moral tendency. They\nwill occupy a distinct place on our catalogue, and will constitute a\nvaluable addition to our stock of books for family and general reading.\n\nAs they will be, substantially, reprints of the London edition, the\ncredit of their general character will belong to our English brethren\nand not to us; and we may add, that the republication of them, under\nour joint imprint, involves us in no responsibility beyond that of a\njudicious selection. We cheerfully avail ourselves of this arrangement\nfor giving wider influence and value to the labours of a sister\ninstitution so catholic in its character and so efficient in its\noperations as the _London Religious Tract Society_.\n\n\u261e The present volume is issued under the above arrangement.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n  CHAPTER I.\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n  The magi of the east--Magical power attributed to numbers,\n    plants, and minerals                                               5\n\n\n  CHAPTER II.\n\n  Feats of modern magicians--Their wonders explained--The\n    snake-charmers of India--A Chinese delusion--The magician of\n    Cairo                                                             10\n\n\n  CHAPTER III.\n\n  Machines considered magical in ancient times--Remarkable modern\n    automata--Minute engines--The calculating machine                 30\n\n\n  CHAPTER IV.\n\n  Terrestrial phenomena--Footmarks on rocks--The Logan\n    stone--Sounds in stones--The cave of St. Paul--Atmospherical\n    phenomena--Intermitting springs--Waters of magical power          41\n\n\n  CHAPTER V.\n\n  Chemical wonders--Ice obtained in a red-hot vessel--The\n    corpse candles of Wales--Luminous appearances after\n    death--Sadoomeh the magician--The laughing gas--Sulphuric\n    ether--Chloroform--Gunpowder compared with gun-cotton             62\n\n\n  CHAPTER VI.\n\n  Light and its phenomena--Magic pictures--The optical\n    paradox--Chinese metallic mirrors--Effect of an\n    optical instrument on a superstitious mind--Origin of\n    photography--The Talbotype--The Daguerreotype--Sunlight\n    pictures                                                          87\n\n\n  CHAPTER VII.\n\n  Heat, the cause of many wonders--Its universal diffusion\n    and application--Story of a burning-glass--The Augustine\n    friars and the Jesuits--Impostures as to the endurance\n    of heat--Burning mirrors--The blow-pipe--The Giants\u2019\n    Causeway--Application of currents of heated air--Travelling\n    by steam                                                         107\n\n\n  CHAPTER VIII.\n\n  The magic swan--Properties of the magnet--The mariners\u2019\n    compass--Process of magnetizing--The dip of the\n    needle--Magnetic properties in various substances                124\n\n\n  CHAPTER IX.\n\n  The electrical kite--Candles magically lighted--St. Elmo\u2019s\n    fire--The chronoscope--The electric clock--The electric\n    telegraph--Sub-marine telegraphs--The overruling providence\n    of God                                                           133\n\n\n  CHAPTER X.\n\n  Claims of the church of Rome to miraculous power--The\n    Franciscans and Dominicans--Tale of bishop Remi--The\n    effect of relics--Friars\u2019 pretended dispossession of evil\n    spirits--Tragical event--Appearance of the virgin Mary to\n    shepherds exposed--Pretended miracle of the Greek church         154\n\n\n  CHAPTER XI.\n\n  Real miracles--A miracle defined by archbishop Tillotson--The\n    miracles of Moses--The miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ--The\n    miracles of the apostles--Collision with those who pretended\n    to supernatural power--The magicians of Egypt--Magical arts\n    at Ephesus--The miraculous power of the Saviour inherent,\n    that of the prophets and apostles derived--Cessation of\n    miraculous gifts                                                 177\n\n\n\n\nMAGIC, PRETENDED MIRACLES,\n\nETC\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n  The magi of the east--Magical power attributed to numbers, plants,\n    and minerals.\n\n\nThe magi formed one of the six tribes into which the nation of the\nMedes was divided in ancient times. To them was entrusted the special\ncharge of religion; and, as priests, they were superior in education\nand training to the people in general. Among the Persians, \u201cthe lovers\nof wisdom and the servants of God\u201d were, according to Suidas, called\nmagi. It seems also, that they extended themselves into other lands,\nand that among the Chaldeans they were an organized body.\n\nWe read in the inspired book of Daniel, of \u201cthe magi,\u201d or \u201cwise men,\u201d\namong whom the prophet himself was classed; and others, we know,\ndirected by \u201cthe star in the east,\u201d went to the infant Saviour, when\nborn, at Bethlehem, \u201cas Christ the Lord,\u201d and presented to him their\nofferings, \u201cgold, and frankincense, and myrrh.\u201d Among the Greeks and\nRomans, the same class of persons was styled Chaldeans and magi.\n\nFor a time, the magi surpassed the rest of the world in knowledge,\nand were the friends, companions, and counsellors, of its mightiest\nsovereigns. But their science, from having no solid basis, sank, after\na while, into insignificance. On the ruins of its reputation other\npersons sought to build theirs. A man who knew, or could perform some\nthings, with which others had no acquaintance, or for which they\nhad no power, announced himself as a magician. Nor were the people\nindisposed to concede to him the credit he desired, especially if he\nclaimed alliance with spiritual beings; and, in not a few instances,\nthey attributed his marvels to such agency. Thus, then, the magician\nmay be traced to the _magus_, or magian; and magic, to the so-called\nphilosophy of the east.\n\nMagic squares are of great antiquity. A square of this kind is divided\ninto several other small equal squares, or cells, filled up with the\nterms of any progression of numbers, but generally an arithmetical one;\nso that those in each band, whether horizontal, vertical, or diagonal,\nshall always make the same sum. The ancients ascribed to them great\nvirtues; and the disposition of numbers formed the basis and principle\nof many of their talismans. Accordingly, a square of one cell, filled\nup with unity, was the symbol of the Deity, on account of the unity\nand immutability of God; for they remarked that this square was, by\nits nature, unique and immutable; the product of unity by itself being\nalways unity. The square of the root two, was the symbol of imperfect\nmatter, both on account of the four elements, and of its being supposed\nimpossible to arrange this square magically. A square of nine cells was\nassigned or consecrated to Saturn; that of sixteen to Jupiter; that of\ntwenty-five to Mars; that of thirty-six to the sun; that of forty-nine\nto Venus; that of sixty-four to Mercury; and that of eighty-one, or\nnine on each side, to the moon. Those who can find any relation between\ntwo planets, and such an arrangement of numbers, must have minds\nstrongly tinctured with superstition; yet so it was in the mysterious\nphilosophy of Iamblichus, Porphyry, and their disciples.\n\nPlants, as well as numbers, were long considered to be endowed with\nmagical properties. Pliny enumerates those which, according to\nPythagoras, were supposed to have the power of concealing waters. To\nothers were attributed extraordinary effects. The _asyrites_, as it was\ndenominated by the Egyptians, was used under the idea that it acted\nas a defence against witchcraft; and the _nepenthes_, which Helen\npresented, in a potion, to Menelaus, was believed, by the same people,\nto be powerful in banishing sadness, and in restoring the mind to\nits accustomed, or even to greater cheerfulness. Whatever may be the\nvirtues of such herbs, they were used rather from an idea of their\nmagical than of their medicinal qualities; every cure was cunningly\nascribed to some mysterious and occult power.\n\nFrom the same superstition, metals and stones were supposed to be\nendowed with singular virtues: the opal, to grow pale at the touch\nof poison; the emerald, to remove intoxication; and the carbuncle,\n\u201conly to be found in the head of the dragon, the hideous inhabitant\nof the island of Ceylon,\u201d to shine in the darkness. As the metal\ncalled gold always bore the highest value, it was concluded, from an\nabsurd analogy, that its power to preserve health and cure disease\nmust likewise surpass that of all other applications. Multitudes gave\nthemselves to busy idleness in attempting to render it potable, and\nto prevent it from again being converted into metal. Not only did\nthey labour in obscure situations, but in the splendid laboratories\nof nobles and sovereigns. Men of rank, impelled by one common frenzy,\nformed secret alliances; and even proceeded to such extravagance as to\nbring ruinous debts on themselves and their posterity. The object of\nwhich they were in pursuit was \u201can elixir of life.\u201d\n\nIn Italy, Germany, France, and other countries, the common people often\ndenied themselves the necessaries of life, to save as much as would\npurchase a few drops of the tincture of gold, which was superstitiously\nor fraudulently offered for sale. So fully did they confide in the\nefficacy of this imaginary power, that on it generally depended their\nonly hope of recovery. Positively was the desired boon promised, but\nonly to mock expectation. Our times are in the hands of God; and at his\nwill the dust returns to the dust from whence it was taken, and the\nspirit to him who gave it.\n\nHow fearful was the ignorance that prevailed in the bygone times to\nwhich a reference has been made! What gratitude should we feel for the\nadvantages we enjoy! Let us, then, constantly remember that as to us\nmuch has been given, so of us much will be required; and that one kind\nof knowledge surpasses all others: \u201cThis,\u201d said the adorable Redeemer,\n\u201cis life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and\nJesus Christ, whom thou hast sent,\u201d John xvii. 3.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n  Feats of modern magicians--Their wonders explained--The\n    snake-charmers of India--A Chinese delusion--The magician of\n    Cairo.\n\n\nWonder-workers have often appeared. Some of them have lately repeated\ntheir most remarkable feats in London and various places in England,\nvaried by others of inferior interest. Large and astonished assemblies\nhave witnessed their performance, and public journals have described\nthem as absolutely \u201cinexplicable.\u201d And yet, though the writer has no\npersonal acquaintance with any modern \u201cmagician,\u201d he has no doubt\nthat all their feats may be accounted for, from sleight-of-hand,\nconfederacy, ingenious contrivance, or the application of some natural\nlaw. A few illustrations shall now be given.\n\nMany delusions are entirely dependent on _sleight-of-hand_; a rapidity\nof manipulation being attained by long practice, as in the marvellous\nmovements of the fingers of a highly accomplished instrumental\nperformer; while the power may become so great as to defy the\nobservation of the acutest vision. The late Mr. Walker, minister at\nDemattar, in the Mears, told sir Walter Scott of a young country girl,\nwho threw turf, stones, and other missiles, with such dexterity, that\nit was, for a time, impossible to ascertain the agency employed in the\ndisturbances of which she was the sole cause.\n\nA friend of the writer has a remarkable nicety of touch, and, at\npleasure, a rapid movement of the hands, by which he can rival many\nmagical feats. Thus he conveys balls under cups, and appears to change\nthem into fruit, to the astonishment of lookers-on. He also takes two\nhorn cups of exactly the same size, and produces the impression that\nhe causes one to fall through the other, when this is impossible, and\nall that is done is effected by dexterous and rapid manipulation,\nillustrating the proverb, \u201cThe hand is quicker than the eye.\u201d\n\nMany astounding feats, which form a part of all popular magical\nexhibitions, are performed by this leger-de-main. Apparently, the\nperformer receives a lady\u2019s wedding-ring and breaks it in pieces; burns\na five-pound note handed to him by a spectator; reduces a hat to a\nhideous shape; or crushes a bonnet into fragments, and then restores\nthem uninjured to the respective parties, amidst the acclamations of\nthe multitude. But all that is done is with indescribable rapidity to\nsubstitute articles of his own to undergo the process of destruction,\nand, at the right moment, to exhibit those which have been presented\nby the spectators, and are preserved in safety.\n\nAnother cause of wonderment is _confederacy_. A modern performer has\nbeen accustomed to hand a box to one of his audience, requesting that\nin it might be placed any article that he had, and that it might be\npassed on from one to another for the same purpose. While this has been\ndone, he has proceeded to his table, and apparently waited the filling\nof the box. At length, while the box has been held up at a distance,\nhe has placed his rod to his eye and described the collection that has\nbeen made. He has said, perhaps, \u201cI can see in that box a piece of\nribbon, a lozenge, a few grains, part, I dare say, of a pinch of snuff,\nand a lady\u2019s card; I will try and read it--Miss--Clara--Henderson;\u201d\nand so he passes through the chief part of the series. And yet, as\nhis patrons look on with astonishment, they do not think of what is\nmost likely to be the fact, that a confederate, sitting as one of the\naudience, made a list of the articles as they were deposited in the\nbox, and despatched it in portions or altogether, so that their names\nmight reach the eye of the performer from some part of his table.\n\nA third means of wonder-working is that of _ingenious contrivance_. We\nwill illustrate this by two popular feats. A number of handkerchiefs\ntaken from the audience by more than one popular performer, were placed\nin a small washing-tub, into which water was poured, and they were\nwashed for a few minutes. They were then placed in a vessel like the\nfigure, below, and immediately afterwards the performer said to the\npersons in front: \u201cI will give you these;\u201d and taking off the top, when\nhe was expected to throw out the wet handkerchiefs, all that fell was\na number of flowers. He now brought out a box, which he opened, and\nshowed it to be empty; then shutting it, and uttering a few cabalistic\nwords, he opened it again, and there were the handkerchiefs, all dry,\nfolded, and scented, which he distributed to their respective claimants.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: A]\n\n[Illustration: B]\n\nAnother experiment of a popular performer was called \u201ccoffee for the\nmillion.\u201d Producing a vessel like the diagram A; the performer filled\nit with unground coffee, and placing it under a cover B, he said,\n\u201cThere, when you have done that, let it simmer for three-quarters-of-an\nhour; but, perhaps, you will not like to wait so long; here then it\nis;\u201d and on removing the cover, the vessel appeared full of hot liquid\ncoffee. In another vessel of the same kind he obtained lump-sugar from\nrape-seed; and in a third, warm milk from horse-beans; and pouring out\nthe coffee into cups, sent them round to regale his auditory, amidst\ntheir loud and approving shouts at so great a transformation.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs these feats are the result of considerable ingenuity, it is probable\nthat the devices employed would not readily occur to spectators in\ngeneral, while they would utterly escape those whose object is merely\namusement, and who, if they thought at all, would be likely to describe\nthe result as supernatural. We proceed, then, to the unravelling of\nthe mystery. Let it be observed, in reference to the first experiment,\nthat a number of handkerchiefs are collected in the early part of\nthe evening for various illusions, and that many of them appear for\na time on the performer\u2019s table. Provided with a collection of these\narticles, from the handsome silk handkerchief to one trimmed with\nlace, used by a fashionable lady, he could easily substitute his own\nof the same kind for those of his auditory, as the curtain falls,\naccording to the arrangements of the evening, between the collection of\nthe handkerchiefs and the subsequent process. His own handkerchiefs,\ntherefore, are washed and placed in the vase already described; and\nthe so-called change into flowers is nothing more than the retention of\nthe handkerchiefs in the lower part of the apparatus, which the figure\nillustrates, while the upper part holds the flowers till they are\nscattered among the spectators. Meanwhile, all that is required is done\nto their handkerchiefs. It is not absolutely necessary that they should\nbe washed; for folding, pressing, and a little eau-de-Cologne, would\ncomplete the preparation; but granting that they are washed, there is\nstill no difficulty, though this mystifies the spectators, who have the\nidea that drying is a long affair; for it may be effected in a minute\nor two by a machine that is readily obtained. The box brought out has\nthem deposited in it, but as it is double, one interior is first shown,\nwhich, of course, contains nothing, for the inner drawer holding the\nhandkerchiefs remains in the case; but when a few sounds are uttered\nand the professor touches a secret spring behind, which disengages\nthe inner box, he draws it out with the outer one; and presents the\nhandkerchiefs to the audience. In the diagram A, the box is shown\nas empty. At B, we have a representation of the box containing the\nhandkerchiefs. It is only necessary to add that the box is very nicely\nmade; the part within the other drawn out to the end, defies detection.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe preparation of coffee, milk, and sugar, may be easily explained;\nfor if the vessels containing respectively the unground coffee, the\nrape-seed, and the horse-beans, always placed under a cover, be put on\na part of the table having a circular trap-door--and for this there is\nfull provision in the cover of the table extending to the floor--a\nconfederate may readily substitute one for the other.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Rev. W. Arthur, in his work on the Mysore, directs us to results\nof a different kind:--\u201cWhilst walking in the verandah,\u201d he says, \u201csome\nsnake-charmers approached, and forthwith began to show us their skill.\nThey produced several bags and baskets, containing serpents of the most\npoisonous kind--the cobra di capello; then blew upon an instrument\nshaped like a cocoa-nut, with a short tube inserted, and producing\nmusic closely allied to that of the bag-pipe. The animals were brought\nforth, raised themselves to the music, spread out their head, showing\nthe spectacle mask fully distended, and waved about with considerable\ngrace, and little appearance of venom. The men coquetted with them, and\ncoiled them about their persons, without any sign of either dislike\nor fear. This power of dealing with creatures so deadly is ascribed\nby the natives to magic. Europeans generally account for it by saying\nthat the fangs are extracted. But the most reasonable explanation seems\nto be, that when the snake is first caught, by a dexterous movement\nof the charmer, the hand is slipped along the body, until it reaches\nthe neck, which he presses so firmly, as to compel an ejection of\nthe virus; thus destroying, for a time, all power to harm; and that\nthis operation is repeated as often as is necessary, to prevent the\ndangerous accumulation. If this be true--and I believe it is--nothing\nis necessary to the safe handling of these reptiles, but a knowledge\nof the laws which regulate the venomous secretion. The wonder seems to\nlie in the power they possess of attracting the snakes by their rude\nmusic, and seizing them in the first instance. But enough is known to\nmake it evident that, in what all natives and many Europeans regard\nas mysterious and magical, there is nothing but experience, tact, and\ncourage.\u201d\n\nA strange and repulsive feat is thus described by the Rev. G. Smith,\nin his recent work on \u201cChina.\u201d \u201cAquei conducted us into a room, where\nhe was sitting with his two wives, handsomely attired, looking from a\nwindow on the crowd assembled in the street to witness the performances\nof a native juggler. The latter, after haranguing the crowd with much\nanimation in the Nanking dialect, (as is usual with actors,) proceeded\nto one part of the crowd, and took thence a child, apparently five or\nsix years old, who, with struggling resistance, was led into the centre\nof the circle. The man then, with impassioned gesture, violently threw\nthe child on a wooden stool, and, placing him on his back, flourished\nover him a large knife; the child all the time sobbing and crying as\nif from fright. Two or three older men from the crowd approached,\nwith earnest remonstrances against the threatened deed of violence.\nFor a time, he desisted, but, soon after, returning to the child, who\nwas still uttering most pitiable cries, he placed him with his back\nupwards, and, notwithstanding the violent protests of the seniors,\nhe suddenly dashed the knife into the back of the child\u2019s neck, which\nit appeared to enter till it had almost divided it from the head;\nthe blood meanwhile flowing copiously from the wound, and streaming\nto the ground, and over the hands of the man. The struggle of the\nchild grew more and more feeble, and at last altogether ceased. The\nman then arose, leaving the knife firmly fixed in the child\u2019s neck.\nCopper cash was then thrown liberally into the ring, for the benefit\nof the principal actors. These were collected by assistants, all of\nthem viewing the influx of the coins with great delight, and bowing\ncontinually to the spectators, and reiterating the words, \u2018To seoz,\u2019\n\u2018Many thanks.\u2019 After a time, the man proceeded towards the corpse,\npronounced a few words, took away the knife, and called aloud to the\nchild. Soon there appeared the signs of returning animation. The\nstiffness of death gradually relaxed, and at last he stood up among the\neager crowd, who closed around him, and bountifully rewarded him with\ncash. The performance was evidently one which excited delight in the\nbystanders, who, by their continued shouts, showed their approbation of\nthe acting.\u201d\n\nIt is almost superfluous to add, that the deception consisted in the\nconstruction of the blade and the handle of the knife, so that, by\nmaking a sawing motion on the throat of the child, a stream of coloured\nliquid, resembling blood, is pumped out; a little acting on the part\nof the performer and the child is amply sufficient for all the rest.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWithin the last few years, we have had accounts of a magician in Egypt,\nfirst described in a valuable work on that country by Mr. Lane, which\nproduced an extraordinary impression. The magician, it was said, caused\na boy to see certain persons called for, in a little ink, placed in\nhis hand, in the centre of a double magic square, somewhat like the\nfigure. One of the most profound writers of the age even wrote: \u201cThere\nwill be no lack of confidence to pronounce; and the authority so\npronouncing will assume the name and tone of philosophy, that there\nwas nothing more in the whole matter than artful contrivance; that\nthere was no intervention of an intelligent agency extraneous to that\nof the immediate ostensible agent. But can this assumption be made\non any other ground than a prior general assumption that there is no\nsuch preternatural intervention in the system of the world? But how to\n_know_ that there is not? The negative decision pronounced in confident\nignorance, is a conceited impertinence, which ought to be rebuked by\nthat philosophy whose oracles it is affecting to utter. For what any\nman knows, or can know, there may be such intervention. That it is not\nincompatible with the constitution of the world, is an unquestionable\nfact with the unsophisticated believers in the sacred records. And not\na few occurrences in later history have totally defied every attempt at\nexplanation in any other way.\u201d[A]\n\nAnd yet sir Gardiner Wilkinson, who subsequently travelled in Egypt,\nand visited the magician, says:--\n\n\u201cOn going to see him, I was determined to examine the matter with\nminute attention, at the same time that I divested myself of every\nprevious bias, either for or against his pretended powers. A party\nhaving been made up to witness the exhibition, we met, according to\nprevious agreement, at Mr. Lewis\u2019s house on Wednesday evening, the\n8th of December. The magician was ushered in, and having taken his\nplace, we all sat down, some before him, others by his side. The party\nconsisted of colonel Barnet, our consul-general, Mr. Lewis, Dr. Abbott,\nMr. Samuel, Mr. Christian, M. Prisse, with another French gentleman,\nand myself, four of whom understood Arabic very well; so that we had no\nneed of any interpreter. The magician, after entering into conversation\nwith many of us on different subjects, and discussing two or three\npipes, prepared for the performance. He first of all requested that a\nbrazier of live charcoal should be brought him, and, in the mean while,\noccupied himself in writing upon a long slip of paper five sentences of\ntwo lines each, then two others, one of a single line, and the other\nof two, as an invocation to the spirits. Every sentence began with\n\u2018Tuyurshoon.\u2019 Each was separated from the one above and below it by\na line, to direct him in tearing them apart. A boy was then called,\nwho was ordered to sit down before the magician. He did so, and the\nmagician having asked for some ink from Mr. Lewis, traced with a pen on\nthe palm of his right hand a double square, containing the nine numbers\nin this order, or in English--making fifteen each way; the centre one\nbeing five--the evil number. This I remarked to the magician, but he\nmade no reply. A brazier was brought and placed between the magician\nand the boy, who was ordered to look stedfastly into the ink, and\nreport what he should see. I begged the magician to speak slowly enough\nto give me time to write down every word, which he promised to do,\nwithout being displeased at the request; nor had he objected, during\nthe preliminary part of the performance, to my attempt to sketch him\nas he sat. He now began an incantation, calling on the spirits by\nthe power of \u2018our lord Soolayman,\u2019 with the words \u2018tuyurshoon\u2019 and\n\u2018haderoo\u2019 (be present) frequently repeated.\n\n\u201cHe then muttered words to himself, and tearing apart the different\nsentences he had written, he put them, one after another, into the\nfire, together with some frankincense. This done, he asked the boy\nif any one had come. _Boy._ \u2018Yes, many.\u2019--_Magician._ \u2018Tell them to\nsweep.\u2019--_B._ \u2018Sweep.\u2019--_M._ \u2018Tell them to bring the flags.\u2019--_B._\n\u2018Bring the flags.\u2019--_M._ \u2018Have they brought any?\u2019--_B._ \u2018Yes.\u2019--_M._\n\u2018O, what colour?\u2019--_B._ \u2018Green.\u2019--_M._ \u2018Say, Bring another.\u2019--_B._\n\u2018Bring another.\u2019--_M._ \u2018Has it come?\u2019--_B._ \u2018Yes, a green one.\u2019--_M._\n\u2018Another.\u2019--_B._ \u2018Another.\u2019--_M._ \u2018Is it brought?\u2019--_B._ \u2018Yes, another\ngreen one--they are all green.\u2019 This boy was then sent away, and\nanother was brought, who had never before seen the magician, having\nbeen chosen with another, by Mr. Lewis, on purpose; but after many\nincantations, incense, and long delay, he could see nothing, and fell\nasleep over the ink. The other boy was then called in, but he, like\nthe other, could not be made to see anything; and a fourth was brought\nin, who had evidently acted his part before. He first saw a shadow,\nand was ordered to \u2018tell him to sleep;\u2019 and, after the flags and the\nsultan as usual, some one suggested that lord Fitzroy Somerset should\nbe called for. He was described in a white Frank dress, a long, high,\nwhite hat, _black stockings_, and white gloves, tall, and standing\nbefore him _with black boots_. I asked how he could see his stockings\nwith boots? The boy answered, \u2018Under his trowsers.\u2019 He continued, \u2018His\neyes are white, moustaches, no beard, but little whiskers, and yellow\nor light hair; he is thin, thin legs, thin arms; in his left hand he\nholds a stick, and in the other a pipe; he has a black handkerchief\nround his neck, his throat buttoned up, his trowsers are long, he wears\ngreen spectacles.\u2019 The magician, seeing some of the party smiling at\nthe description and its inaccuracies, said to the boy, \u2018Don\u2019t tell\nlies, boy.\u2019 To which he answered, \u2018I do not; why should I?\u2019--_M._\n\u2018Tell him to go.\u2019--_B._ \u2018Go.\u2019 Queen Victoria was next called for, who\nwas described as short, dressed in black trowsers, a white hat, black\nshoes, white gloves, red coat, with lining, and black waistcoat, with\nwhiskers, but no beard nor moustaches, and holding in his hand a glass\ntumbler. He was asked if the person were a man or a woman? He answered,\n\u2018A man.\u2019 We told the magician that it was our queen! He said, \u2018I do not\nknow why they should say what is false; I knew she was a woman, but the\nboys describe as they see.\u2019\n\n\u201cFrom the manner in which the questions were put, it is very evident\nthat, when a boy is persuaded to see anything, the appearances of\nthe sweeper, the flags, and the sultan, are the result of leading\nquestions. The boy pretends or imagines he sees a man or a shadow, and\nhe is told to order some one to sweep: he is therefore prepared with\nhis answer; and the same continues to the end, the magician always\ntelling him what he is to call for, and consequently what he is to see.\nThe descriptions of persons asked for are almost universally complete\nfailures.\u201d\n\nAfter these and other details, sir Gardiner says, \u201cI am decidedly of\nopinion that the whole of the first part is done solely by leading\nquestions, and that whenever the descriptions succeed in any point, the\nsuccess is owing to accident, or to unintentional prompting in the mode\nof questioning the boys.\u201d[B]\n\nA subsequent traveller, lord Nugent, places the state of the case in a\nnew light:--\n\n\u201cIt is enough to say, that not one person whom Abd-el-Kader described\nbore the smallest resemblance to the one named by us; and all those\ncalled for were of remarkable appearance. All the preparations, all\nthe ceremony, and all the attempts at description, bore evidences of\nsuch a coarse and stupid fraud, as would render any detail of the\nproceeding, or any argument tending to connect it with any marvellous\npower, ingenious art, or interesting inquiry, a mere childish waste of\ntime. How, then, does it happen, that respectable and sensitive minds\nhave been staggered by the exhibitions of this impostor? I think that\nthe solution which Mr. Lane himself suggested as probable is quite\ncomplete. When the exhibition was over, Mr. Lane had some conversation\nwith the magician, which he afterwards repeated to us. In reply to\nan observation of Mr. Lane\u2019s to him upon his entire failure, the\nmagician admitted that \u2018he had often failed since the death of Osman\nEffendi;\u2019--the same Osman Effendi that Mr. Lane mentions in his book as\nhaving been of the party on every occasion on which he had been witness\nof the magician\u2019s art, and whose testimony the _Quarterly Review_ cites\nin support of the marvel, which (searching much too deep for what\nlies very near, indeed, to the surface,) it endeavours to solve by\nsuggesting the probability of diverse complicated optical combinations.\n\n\u201cAnd, be it again observed, optical combinations cannot throw one\nray of light upon the main difficulty, the means of procuring the\nresemblance required of the absent person. I now give Mr. Lane\u2019s\nsolution of the whole mystery, in his own words, my note of which I\nsubmitted to him, and obtained his ready permission to make public in\nany way I might see fit. This Osman Effendi, Mr. Lane told me, was\na Scotchman, formerly serving in a British regiment, who was taken\nprisoner by the Egyptian army during our unfortunate expedition to\nAlexandria, in 1807; that he was sold as a slave, and persuaded to\nabjure Christianity, and profess the Mussulman faith; that, applying\nhis talents to his necessities, he made himself useful by dint\nof some little medical knowledge he had picked up on duty in the\nregimental hospital; that he obtained his liberty at the instance of\nthe Sheik Ibraim, (M. Burckhardt,) through the means of Mr. Salt;\nthat, in process of time, he became second interpreter of the British\nconsulate; that Osman was, very probably, acquainted, by portraits\nor otherwise, with the general appearance of most Englishmen of\ncelebrity, and certainly could describe the peculiar dresses of\nEnglish professions, such as army, navy, church, and the ordinary\nhabits of persons of different professions in England; that, on all\noccasions when Mr. Lane was witness of the magician\u2019s success, Osman\nhad been present at the previous occasions, had heard who should be\ncalled to appear, and so had, probably, obtained a description of the\nfigure, when it was to be the apparition of some private friend of\npersons present; that, on these occasions, he very probably had some\npre-arranged code of words, by which he could communicate secretly\nwith the magician. To this it must be added, that his avowed theory of\nmorals was, on all occasions, that \u2018we did our whole duty if we did\nwhat we thought best for our fellow-creatures and most agreeable to\nthem.\u2019 Osman was present when Mr. Lane was so astonished at hearing\nthe boy describe very accurately, the person of M. Burckhardt, with\nwhom the magician was unacquainted, but who had been Osman\u2019s patron,\nand who, also, knew well the other gentleman whom Mr. Lane states in\nhis book that the boy described as appearing ill and lying on a sofa,\nand Mr. Lane added that he had, _probably_, been asked by Osman about\nthat gentleman\u2019s health, whom Mr. Lane then knew to be suffering under\nan attack of rheumatism. He concluded, therefore, by avowing that\nthere was no doubt in his mind, connecting all these circumstances\nwith the declaration the magician had just made, that Osman had been\nthe confederate. Thus I have given in Mr. Lane\u2019s words, not only with\nhis consent, but at his ready offer, what he has no doubt is the\nexplanation of the whole of the subject which he now feels to require\nno deeper inquiry; and which has been adopted by many as a marvel\nupon an exaggerated view of the testimony that he offered in his book\nbefore he had been convinced, as he now is, of the imposture. I gladly\nstate this, on the authority of an enlightened and honourable man, to\ndisabuse minds that have wandered into serious speculation on a matter\nwhich I cannot but feel to be quite undeserving of it.\u201d[C]--So true is\nit, that, while many effects, which appear mysterious to the multitude,\nmay be explained by those of greater knowledge, others, which, for a\ntime, defy penetration, are, at length, clearly exhibited in their true\nlight. It becomes us, therefore, carefully to examine testimony, to\nreceive that only which will bear scrutiny, and to suspend our judgment\nwhenever we are unacquainted with the _whole_ case. The best of men are\nprone to err; and well is it, if, ceasing from them, we have been led\nby Divine grace to trust implicitly in the God of truth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n  Machines considered magical in ancient times--Remarkable modern\n    automata--Minute engines--The calculating machine.\n\n\nThe light of modern science has revealed to us many important secrets.\nIn the dark ages there were but few books; it was then the fashion to\nwrite them in Latin; and as, from their costliness, they could only\nbe obtained by men of wealth, so they could be understood alone by\nsuch as had enjoyed the advantages of education. Science is now easily\naccessible, but, though it is not necessary for us all to become\nphilosophers, there is no good reason why people generally should\nnot be acquainted with some of the most remarkable phenomena of the\nnatural world. The inspired psalmist has said, \u201cThe works of the Lord\nare great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein;\u201d and it\nbecomes all, according to their means and opportunities, to lay this\ntruth to heart. We proceed now to consider some effects regarded as\nmagical, which are satisfactorily explained on natural principles,\nbeginning with mechanics.\n\nAn ability to construct wonderful or magical machines was manifest\namong the ancients. Archytas, a native of Tarentum, in Italy, who\nlived four hundred years before the birth of our Lord and Saviour, is\nsaid to have made a wooden dove, which flew and sustained itself for\nsome time in the air. Other clever contrivances are also mentioned. \u201cA\nmagician,\u201d says D\u2019Israeli, \u201cwas annoyed, as philosophers still are, by\npassengers in the street; and he, particularly so, by having horses led\nto drink under his window. He made a magical horse of wood, according\nto one of the books of Hermes, which perfectly answered his purpose, by\nfrightening away the horses, or, rather, the grooms! The wooden horse,\nno doubt, gave some palpable kick.\u201d\n\nIt is worthy of remark, that tales of ancient times must be received\nwith caution. We find it necessary, even at a much later period. The\ntricks which now amuse or astonish the populace at a country fair,\nwould be greatly exaggerated in a credulous age, and often assume\neven the most portentous colouring. Nor is it difficult to guess, and\nsometimes to discover, the stages of similar and great mystifications.\nThe following instance is rather remarkable. On Charles V. entering\nNuremberg, a celebrated German astronomer, whose real name was Johann\nM\u00fcller, but who styled himself Regiomontanus, exhibited some automata\nwhich he had constructed. These were an eagle of wood, which, placed\non the gate of the city, rose up and flapped its wings, while the\nemperor was passing below; and a fly, made of steel, which walked round\na table. Now all this is sufficiently credible. But what is the record\nof the chroniclers only a few years after? That the wooden eagle sprang\nfrom the tower and soared in the air; and that the steel fly flew three\ntimes round the emperor, and then alighted buzzing on his hand!\n\nIn many instances, the mechanism of modern times is surprisingly\nminute. A watchmaker in London presented his majesty George III.\nwith a repeating watch he had constructed, set in a ring. Its\nsize was something less than a silver two-pence; it contained one\nhundred-and-twenty-five different parts, and weighed, altogether, no\nmore than five pennyweights and seven grains!\n\nIn an exhibition of Maillardet, which the writer has seen, the lid of a\nbox suddenly flew open, and a small bird of beautiful plumage started\nforth from its nest. The wings fluttered, and the bill opening with\nthe tremulous motion peculiar to singing birds, it began to warble.\nAfter a succession of notes, whose sound well filled a large apartment,\nit retired to its nest, and the lid closed. Its performances occupied\nabout four minutes. In the same exhibition were an automatic spider,\na caterpillar, a mouse, and a serpent; all of which exhibited the\npeculiar movements of the living creatures. The spider was made of\nsteel: it ran on the surface of a table for three minutes, and its\ncourse tended towards the middle of the table. The serpent crawled\nabout in every direction, opened its mouth, hissed, and darted forth\nits tongue.\n\nSeveral years ago, a watchmaker, residing in a town in which the\nwriter lived, made a working model of a steam-engine, the packing-case\nof which was a walnut-shell. On showing it one day to a gentleman,\nthe machine was suddenly stopped, the mechanic remarking, \u201cThere is\nsomething wrong in one of the safety-valves.\u201d \u201cSafety-valve!\u201d exclaimed\nthe observer; \u201cI have not yet been able to detect the fly-wheel!\u201d\n\nThe most curious specimen of minute workmanship, however, with which\nwe are acquainted, is a high-pressure engine, the work of a watchmaker\nhaving a stand at the Polytechnic Institution, and first exhibited in\n1845. Each part was made according to scale, it worked by atmospheric\npressure, in lieu of steam, with the greatest activity, yet it was so\nsmall, that it stood on a fourpenny-piece, with ground to spare, and,\nwith the exception of the fly-wheel, it might be covered with a thimble.\n\nD\u2019Alembert describes a flute-player, constructed by Vaucanson, which\nhe saw exhibited at Paris in 1738. The writer has also seen one, in\nwhich a figure appeared seated, and then rose and played a tune, the\nmotions of the fingers seeming to accord with the notes. He cannot\nanswer for the music having been produced by the movements of the hands\nof the automaton. D\u2019Alembert affirms, however, that the automaton of\nVaucanson really projected the air with its lips against the embouchure\nof the instrument, producing the different octaves by expanding and\ncontracting their openings, giving more or less air, and regulating the\ntones by its fingers, in the manner of living performers. The height\nof the figure, with the pedestal, containing some of the machinery,\nwas nearly six feet; it commanded three octaves, several notes of\nwhich musicians find it difficult to produce. Some years ago, two\nautomaton flute-players were exhibited in this country, of the size of\nlife, which performed ten or twelve duets. That they actually played\nthe flute might be proved, by placing the finger on any hole that was\nunstopped for a moment by the automata.\n\nM. Vaucanson produced a flageolet-player, who beat a tambourine with\none hand. The flageolet had only three holes, and some notes were made\nby half-stopping these. The lowest note was produced by a force of\nwind equal to an ounce, the highest by one of fifty-six French pounds.\nA duck was, however, considered to be his chef-d\u2019\u0153uvre; it dabbled in\nthe mire, swam, drank, quacked, raised and moved its wings, and dressed\nits feathers with its bill; it even extended its neck, took barley\nfrom the hand and swallowed it, during which process the muscles of\nthe neck were seen in motion, and it also digested the food by means\nof materials provided for its solution in the stomach. The inventor\nmade no secret of the machinery, which excited, at the time, great\nadmiration.\n\nMaelzel, the inventor of the metronome, or time-measurer, frequently\nused to aid pupils in music, exhibited in Vienna in 1809, another\nautomaton of singular power; which appeared in the uniform of a\ntrumpeter in the Austrian dragoon regiment Albert, with his instrument\nplaced to his mouth. When the figure was pressed on the left shoulder,\nit played not only the Austrian cavalry march, and all the signals of\nthat army, but also a march and allegro by Weigl, which was accompanied\nby the whole orchestra. The dress of the figure was then changed into\nthat of a French trumpeter of the guards, when it began to play a\nFrench cavalry march, all the signals, the march of Dussek, and an\nallegro of Pleyel, accompanied again by the full orchestra. Maelzel\npublicly wound up his instrument only twice on the left hip. The sound\nof the trumpet was pure and peculiarly agreeable.\n\nAbout thirty years ago, Maillardet exhibited, in Spring Gardens, a\nvariety of automata, which the writer had an opportunity of seeing\nat a later period. One was the figure of a boy, who wrote sentences,\nand drew certain objects with remarkable promptitude and correctness.\nAnother was a pianiste, seated at a piano-forte, on which she played\neighteen tunes. All her movements were graceful. Before beginning a\ntune, she made a gentle inclination of the head to her auditors; her\nbosom heaved, and her eyes followed the motion of her fingers over the\nfinger-board. When the automaton was once wound up, it would continue\nplaying for an hour; and the principal part of the machinery employed\nwas freely exposed to public view. It has been doubted whether the\nmusic was actually produced by the automaton: since the time now\nreferred to, the writer has examined another, in which the keys of the\ninstrument were certainly acted upon by the touch.\n\nHe has also seen, at various times, several very curiously constructed\nautomata: the figure of a lady, who could walk along a level surface,\nthrowing out the limbs, and moving the head from side to side; a\ntippler, who could pour out wine from a decanter into a glass, open\nhis mouth, and swallow the fluid, and thus proceed till the bottle was\ndrained; and a performer on the slack rope, whose exceedingly rapid\nmovements of the body, the arms, and the head, all consistent and\ngraceful, were truly amazing.\n\nA very beautiful automaton was exhibited, a few years ago, in Paris,\nand subsequently in London. It appeared in a court suit, sitting at\na table, in the attitude of writing. Several questions, inscribed on\ntablets, were placed on the table on which the whole apparatus stood,\nand visitors might select any one or more at pleasure. The tablet,\ncontaining a question, on being handed to the attendant, was placed\nin a drawer, and, as soon as it was closed, the figure traced on\npaper an appropriate reply. On the question being given, \u201cWho may be\nvolatile without a crime?\u201d the answer was, \u201cA butterfly.\u201d And as the\nfigure could draw a response as well as write it, when the question was\nput, \u201cWhat is the symbol of fidelity?\u201d it drew, in outline, the form\nof a greyhound. In the same way it proceeded throughout the series of\nquestions.\n\nIn some instances, the effect of automata is increased by the\nexhibiter proposing certain questions, and receiving responses from\nthe figure--as shaking the head, to denote a negative; or nodding, to\nindicate assent. It is evident that here the inquiries or remarks are\nthrown in to accord with the motions that the figure is contrived to\nmake. When, however, a performer, as one has recently done, puts a\nwhistle in the mouth of an automaton, and then, sitting down by its\nside, plays a tune on a guitar, desiring the figure to accompany him;\nthe hasty sounds with which the figure seems inclined to begin, the\nirregularity with which it proceeds, and the long and loud closing\nnote, may all be easily supplied by some confederate. Surprising\nas are the effects produced by many automata, it would be wrong to\ninfer that their only results are the wonder of the multitude, or\ngain or applause to their inventors. \u201cThey gave rise,\u201d as sir David\nBrewster has remarked, \u201cto the most ingenious mechanical devices, and\nintroduced, among the higher order of artists, habits of nice and\naccurate execution in the formation of the most delicate pieces of\nmachinery.\u201d Those combinations of wheels and pinions, which almost\neluded observation, \u201creappeared in the stupendous mechanism of our\nspinning-machines and our steam-engines. The elements of the tumbling\npuppet were revived in the chronometer, which now conducts our navy\nthrough the ocean; and the shapeless wheel which directed the hand\nof the drawing automaton (of Maillardet,) has served, in the present\nage, to guide the movements of the tambouring-engine. Those mechanical\nwonders, which in one century enriched only the conjurer who used\nthem, contributed in another to augment the wealth of the nation; and\nthose automatic toys which once amused the vulgar, are now employed in\nextending the power, and promoting the civilisation of our species. In\nwhatever way, indeed, the power of genius may invent or combine, and to\nwhatever bad or even ludicrous purposes that invention or combination\nmay be originally applied, society receives a gift which it can never\nlose; and though the value of the seed may not at once be recognised,\nthough it may lie long unproductive in the ungenial soil of human\nknowledge, it will; some time or other, evolve its germ, and yield to\nmankind its natural and abundant harvest.\u201d[D]\n\nA singular fact is connected with the early history of the Astronomical\nSociety of London. A valuable set of tables, for reducing the observed\nto the true places of stars, was in course of preparation, at the\nexpense of the society, including above three thousand stars, and\ncomprehending all known to those of the fifth magnitude, inclusive,\nand all the most useful of the sixth and seventh. An incident which\nnow occurred, gave rise to one of the most extraordinary of modern\ninventions. To insure accuracy in the calculation of certain tables,\nseparate computers had been employed; and two members of the society\nhaving been chosen to compare the results, detected so many errors, as\nto induce one of them to express his regret that the work could not be\nexecuted by a machine. For this, the other member, Mr. Babbage, at once\nreplied, that \u201cthis was possible;\u201d and, persevering in the inquiry\nwhich had thus suggested itself, he produced a machine for calculating\ntables with surprising accuracy.\n\nThe calculating part of the machinery occupies a space of about ten\nfeet broad, ten feet high, and five feet deep. It consists of seven\nsteel axes, erected over one another, each of them carrying eighteen\nwheels, five inches in diameter, having on them small barrels, and\ninscribed with the symbols 0, 1, to 9. The machine calculates to\neighteen decimal places, true to the last figure; but, by subsidiary\ncontrivances, it is possible to calculate to thirty decimal places.\nMr. Babbage has since contrived a machine, much more simple in its\nconstruction, and far more extensive in its application.\n\nIn thus enumerating various displays of mechanical genius, we are\nreminded that the prophet Isaiah, after describing the diverse labours\nof the husbandman, adds, \u201cThis also cometh forth from the Lord of\nhosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.\u201d In all\nthe evidence we have of human talent, then, let us acknowledge that\n\u201cevery good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down\nfrom the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow\nof turning,\u201d Jas. i. 17. Would that the gifts of God were always used\nfor the Divine glory!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n  Terrestrial phenomena--Footmarks on rocks--The Logan\n    stone--Sounds in stones--The cave of St. Paul--Atmospherical\n    phenomena--Intermitting springs--Waters of magical power.\n\n\nIn proceeding to illustrate the operation of natural laws, we may look\nnow at some of the phenomena connected with the globe we inhabit, of\nwhich, where little knowledge is possessed, erroneous and frequently\nsuperstitious opinions are still entertained.\n\nMarvellous tales are often told of rocks. There is, for example, a\ntradition of a nobleman being engaged in the chase, or pursued by his\nenemies, without being hurt; whose horse left the prints of his feet\non a mass of stone, over which he passed. But, unhappily for the tale,\nother impressions have been observed besides those of the horse\u2019s feet;\nand it is affirmed by various naturalists, deserving of credit, that\nthey must have been made by very different animals, at a remote period,\nbefore the stone had completely hardened. Other instances of the same\nkind might easily be given. In the British Museum, there is a slab\nhaving similar impressions, obviously produced by the same means. It\nwas dug from a great depth; a mass of stone, many feet in thickness,\nhaving been formed above the layer which received, in a soft state, the\nimpression from the feet of several animals.\n\nOther impressions, of which we read or hear, are nothing more than\ntricks of art. Such, most probably, is the impression of the foot\nof Budda upon the Peak of Adam, at Ceylon; the print of the foot of\nthe idol Gaudama, in the Burmese empire, which has been three times\nreproduced; and most certainly this is the case with the so-called\nimpressions of the feet of our blessed Lord and Saviour, shown to the\npresent day, on Mount Olivet.\n\nThe cave of St. Paul, at Civita Vecchia, the former capital of the\nisland of Malta, is an excavation, about nineteen feet in height, and\nfifty in circumference; in a soft, white, limestone rock, more friable\nthan chalk. A belief that the stone was endowed with miraculous medical\nvirtues, led people to carry away large quantities of it during the\nsway of the knights. In 1770, when visited by Brydone, the cave was\nin the highest celebrity; not only every house in the island had a\nmedical chest of it, but large quantities were sent to different\ncountries in Europe, and even to the East Indies. It was supposed to\nhave a miraculous power which preserved it from diminution; which may\nbe accounted for by a natural law--the calcareous process of formation\nstill going on--while its healing power is to be attributed to its\nhaving some of the properties of magnesia; which leads, according\nto Dr. Walsh, to its still being given as a purgative-sudorific in\neruptive or fever complaints.\n\nOne instance of gross superstition, as connected with rocks, is too\nimportant to be omitted. The trial by ordeal appears to have been very\nearly practised among the Celtic tribes of Europe, who were always\nunder the influence of an artful and domineering priesthood. Thus, it\nis said that in cases of doubtful accusation the Druids made use of the\nrocking-stones which were common in Britain, and that the culprit was\nacquitted or condemned according as he succeeded or failed in shaking\nthem. Mason alludes to this trial in the following lines:--\n\n                    \u201cBehold yon huge\n    And unknown sphere of living adamant,\n    Which, poised by magic, rests its central weight\n    On yonder pointed rock; firm as it seems,\n    Such is its strange and virtuous property,\n    It moves obsequious to the gentlest touch\n    Of him whose heart is pure; but to a traitor,\n    Though e\u2019en a giant\u2019s prowess nerved his arm,\n    It stands as fixed as Snowdon.\u201d\n\nA little knowledge would have disabused the mind of this delusion. The\ncelebrated Logan or Logging-stone, near the Land\u2019s End in Cornwall, is\nan immense block, weighing about sixty tons. The surface in contact\nwith the under rock is, however, of very small extent; and the whole\nmass is so nicely balanced, that, notwithstanding its magnitude, the\nstrength of a single man is sufficient to make it oscillate, when\napplied to the under edge. It is the nature of granite to disintegrate\nor decompose by the action of the air and moisture; a huge mass is thus\nsplit into several blocks, and at length, by the continued operation of\nthe elements, one is suspended on the rest.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSounds emitted from rocks have often been regarded as portentous. Mr.\nG. Bennett, when at Macao, had his attention directed to a mass of\ngranite rocks, appearing as if separated by some convulsion of nature,\nmany of which were found, when trodden on, to be movable. The first,\nand by far the most sonorous, was partially excavated underneath;\nand, by striking it upon the upper part, a deep sound, \u201clike that of\na church bell,\u201d was produced. \u201cThe battered appearance of the stone\nabove,\u201d it is said, \u201cbore several proofs of how many visitors had made\nthis lion roar.\u201d Many of the other rocks were also sonorous, but not so\nloud as the first, and, from their situations, \u201cthey were movable when\ntrodden on; but it could not be seen, whether, like the preceding, they\nwere excavated, and, in consequence of being so, sonorous.\u201d\n\nIn the chain of El-Heman, and not far from the Red Sea, is the Jebal\nNarkous, or \u201cMountain of the Bell.\u201d It forms one of a ridge of low\ncalcareous hills, which are connected by a sandy plain, extending,\nwith a gentle rise, to their base. It is composed of a light-coloured\nfriable sandstone, about the same as the rest of the chain; but an\ninclined plane of almost impalpable sand rises at an angle of about\nforty degrees with the horizon, and is bounded by a semi-circle of\nrocks, presenting broken, abrupt, and pinnacled forms, and extending to\nthe base of this remarkable hill. Its height is about four hundred feet.\n\nLieutenant Wellsted observed, that the shape and arrangement of the\nrocks resembled, in some respects, a whispering-gallery; but he\nascertained, by experiment, that their irregular surface rendered\nthem but ill-adapted for the production of an echo. Seated on a rock\nat the base of the sloping eminence, he directed a Bedouin to ascend;\nand it was not till he had reached some distance that the lieutenant\nperceived the sand in motion, rolling down the hill to the depth of a\nfoot. It did not, however, descend in one continued stream, but, as\nthe Arab scrambled upwards, it spread out laterally and above, until a\nconsiderable portion of the surface was in motion. As the sand began\nto fall, the sounds produced might be compared to the faint strains\nof an Eolian harp when its strings first catch the breeze. When the\nsounds became more violently agitated by the increased velocity\nof the descent, the noise more nearly resembled that produced by\ndrawing the moistened fingers over glass. As it reached the base,\nthe reverberations attained the loudness of distant thunder, causing\nthe rock on which lieutenant Wellsted was seated to vibrate; and the\ncamels, animals not easily frightened, became so alarmed, that their\ndrivers could only retain them with difficulty. The noise, it was\nremarked, did not issue from every part of the hill alike, the loudest\nbeing produced by disturbing the sand on the northern side, about\ntwenty feet from the base, and about ten from the rocks that bound it\nin that direction. The tradition is, that the bells of a convent were\nburied here; the Bedouins trace the sounds to several wild and fanciful\ncauses; but, in the experiment now described, it was evident that the\nsounds sometimes fell quicker on the ear, and at other times were more\nprolonged, according to the Arab\u2019s increasing or retarding the velocity\nof his descent.\n\nDr. Chladni made many curious experiments on the figures assumed by\nsand and similar substances, when strewed over vibrating sonorous\nbodies. The reader may easily try an experiment of this kind. Let a\nsquare piece of glass be taken, such as that used for windows, not less\nthan four or five inches over, the edges of which are to be smoothed\nby grinding. Spread over the plate, as evenly as possible, a little\nsand, and, holding it between the thumb and fore-finger, in the middle,\npass the bow of a violin against one of its edges, drawing it either\nupwards or downwards, in a direction perpendicular to its surface. A\ntremulous motion will be immediately observed, and the sand will assume\nsome particular and fixed figure. If the bow be passed over the middle\nof one of the sides, the sand will arrange itself in the direction of\nthe two diagonals, dividing the square into four isosceles triangles.\nIf the bow be applied at any point which is one-fourth the length of\nthe square from any angle, the arrangement of the sand will represent\nthe two diameters of the square, dividing it into four equal figures\nof the same form. If the square be held at the two extremities of\neither diameter, and the bow be applied to the extremities of the other\ndiameter, the sand will take the figure of an oval, having its major\naxis in the same direction as one of the diameters.\n\nOther experiments of the same kind have since been made by M. Voigt,\nand also by the celebrated Oersted. The latter covered a plate of\nmetal or glass with the lycopodium seed, or the seed of the club-moss,\ninstead of sand; he then tried to produce a sound in the manner of\nChladni, and instantly he saw the dust distribute itself into a number\nof little regular tumuli, which put themselves in motion at their\nextremities, or formed the figures discovered by this naturalist. They\nalways ranged themselves in the form of a curve, the convexity of which\nwas in proportion to the point touched by the violin bow, or towards\nthe point which has an analogous situation; the nearer that each of\nthese little heaps was to these points, the greater was its height,\na circumstance which gave remarkable regularity to the figure. The\ninterior of the small elevations thus obtained, were in constant motion\nduring the continuance of the sound, and the duration of the vibrations\nmight be observed on a plate from four to six inches in diameter. At\none moment the height increased, at another it diminished, and the dust\nhad the appearance of arranging itself in small globules, which rolled\none above another.\n\nWe may now return from these very interesting facts, to others on a\nfar larger scale. Near the Kom-el-Hett\u2019an, or the mound of sandstone,\nwhich makes the site of one of the palaces and temples of Amunoph III.,\nare two sitting colossi, which seem to assert the grandeur of ancient\nThebes. The easternmost of the two is doubtless the statue reported\nby ancient authors to utter a sound at the rising of the sun. It was\nsaid to resemble the breaking of a metallic ring, or harp-string. The\nsuperstition of its Roman visitors ascribed the colossus to Memnon, and\na multitude of inscriptions attributed to him miraculous powers. The\nmemory of its daily performance is still retained in the traditional\nappellation of Salamat, \u201csalutations,\u201d by the modern inhabitants\nof Thebes. It is said to have \u201csaluted\u201d the emperor Adrian and his\nqueen Sabina twice; but some persons, of course of humble rank, were\ndisappointed on their first visit, and obliged to return another\nmorning to satisfy their curiosity.\n\nAnd yet there is ample reason to believe that the whole was an artifice\nof the priests. In the lap of the statue is a stone; and as sir\nGardiner Wilkinson discovered, on examining the inscriptions, that\none Ballilla had compared the sound the stone emitted, when struck,\nto the striking of brass, he determined to put the matter to the\ntest. Accordingly, posting some peasants below, and ascending to the\nlap of the statue, he struck the sonorous block with a small hammer,\nand inquiring what was heard by the peasants, they answered, \u201cYou\nare striking brass.\u201d \u201cThis,\u201d says sir Gardiner, \u201cconvinced me that\nthe sound was the sound that deceived the Romans, and led Strabo to\nobserve that it appeared to him as the effect of a slight blow.\u201d \u201cThe\nTheban priests,\u201d he adds, \u201cmust have been considerable gainers by the\ncredulity of those who visited their _lion_.\u201d\n\nThe reader who may have taken the delightful walk from Tunbridge Wells\nto the High Rocks, and examined particularly those huge masses, will\nnot fail to remember the one called \u201cthe Bell Rock.\u201d On entering the\nspace between this one and the next, it may be struck with a stick,\nwhen a sound will be heard like that produced, on a large metallic body\nbeing smitten.\n\nIn the road cut by Napoleon between Savoy and France, and about two\nmiles from Les Echelles, there is a gallery twenty-seven feet high and\nbroad, and nine hundred and sixty feet in length, formed in the solid\nrock. When this road was nearly complete, and the excavations commenced\nat each end almost met, the partition was broken through by a pick-axe,\nand a loud and deep sound was heard. We are indebted to Mr. Bakewell\nfor the following solution of this phenomenon. The mountain rises full\none thousand feet above the passage, and fifteen hundred above the\nvalley. The air, on the eastern side of the mountain, is sheltered both\non the south and west from the sun\u2019s rays; and consequently must be\nmuch colder than on the western side. The mountain, therefore, formed\na partition between the hot air of the valley, and the cold air of the\nravines on the eastern side. When the opening was made, the cold, and\ntherefore denser air, rushed into that rarefied by heat, and a loud\nreport was produced, in the same manner as when a bladder, placed over\nan exhausted air-pump receiver, is burst.\n\nBaron Humboldt informs us, on credible authority, that subterranean\nsounds, resembling the tones of an organ, are heard on the banks of the\nOroonoko. He supposes that they arise from a difference of temperature\nbetween the external atmosphere and the air confined in the crevices\nof the adjacent granitic rocks. He concludes that, as the temperature\nof the confined air is greatly increased during the day from the\nconduction of heat by the rocks; and as the difference of temperature\nbetween it and the atmosphere will reach its maximum about sunrise, the\nsounds are produced by the escaping current.\n\nThe following illustrative experiment is not a little curious:--If a\ntube formed of some elastic and sonorous substance be taken, and a jet\nof inflamed hydrogen be introduced, a musical sound will be heard. This\nwill take place in a tube closed at one end, if it be large enough\nto admit a sufficient quantity of atmospheric air to support the\ncombustion of the gas; but if the tube be open at both extremities,\nthe musical sound will be clear and full. Various conclusions have\nbeen arrived at in reference to this phenomenon; but they have been\nset aside by the experiments of Mr. Faraday, who attributes the sounds\nproduced by flames in tubes to a continual series of detonations or\nexplosions.\n\nThe first philosopher who exhibited the longitudinal vibration of\nsolids was Dr. Chladni. According to him, the best method of producing\nthese vibrations in rods, is by rubbing them, in the direction of their\nlength, with some soft substance, covered with powdered resin, or by\nthe finger. When glass tubes are employed, they should be rubbed with a\npiece of rag spread over with fine sand, the tube being held by one of\nthe ends.\n\n\u201cIn all longitudinal vibrations,\u201d says the same writer, \u201cthe tones\ndepend merely on the length of the sonorous body, and on the quality\nof the substance, the thickness and form being of no consideration;\nyet the tones are not varied by the specific gravity of the vibrating\nsubstance; for fir-wood, glass, and iron, give almost the same tone\nas brass, oak, and the shanks of tobacco-pipes.\u201d He also mentions\nseveral kinds of longitudinal vibration; in one, to use his own words,\n\u201cthere is a certain point in the middle at which the vibration of\neach half-stops; in the next there are two, each at the distance of a\nfourth part from the end; and, in the following, there are three, or\nmore. The tones correspond with the natural series of the numbers 1,\n2, 3, 4, etc. If a rod be fastened at one end, during the first kind\nof longitudinal vibration, the alternate expansion and contraction of\nthe whole rod will take place in such a manner, that they stop at the\nfixed end; in the next tone there is a resting-point at the distance of\none-third from the free end; and in the following there are two. The\ntones correspond with the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and the first of these\ntones is an octave lower than the first tone of the same rod when\nperfectly free.\u201d\n\nWhen examining the nature of sonorous bodies, Dr. Chladni imagined\nthe possibility of producing musical sounds by rubbing glass tubes\nlongitudinally. It, however, became a difficult question to determine\nin what way an instrument of this kind should be constructed. After\nmuch and long-continued unsuccessful thought, he returned home one\nevening exhausted with walking, and he had scarcely closed his eyes\nto fall asleep in his chair, when the arrangement he had so long been\nseeking, occurred to his mind. He soon after completed an instrument,\nwhich in every respect answered his expectations.\n\nThe euphone, signifying an instrument having a pleasant sound,\nconsists of forty-one fixed and parallel cylinders of glass, equal in\nlength and thickness. In its external appearance it resembles a small\nwriting-desk, which, when opened, presents a series of glass tubes\nabout sixteen inches long, and the thickness of a quill. They are fixed\nin a perpendicular sounding-board, at the back of the instrument. When\nused, the tubes are wetted with a sponge, and stroked in the direction\nof their length with wet fingers; the intensity of the tone being\nvaried by greater or less pressure.\n\nThe singular phenomenon of sound occasioned by the vibration of soft\niron, produced by a galvanic current, was recently discovered by Mr.\nSage, and has been since verified by the observations of a French\nphilosopher, M. Marian. The experiments were made on a bar of iron,\nwhich was fixed at the middle, in a horizontal position, each half\nbeing inclosed in a large glass tube. By appropriate arrangements,\nthe galvanic circle was completed; and the longitudinal sound could\nbe distinguished, although it was feeble. The origin of the sound has\ntherefore been ascribed to a vibration in the interior of the iron bar;\nand to the same cause are probably attributable many phenomena.\n\nWe now pass on to the violent agitation of the air, which is often\nproductive of surprising results. A quantity of feathers, for example,\nwas scattered one day over the market-place of Yarmouth, to the great\nastonishment of a large number of persons assembled there. But what\nwas the cause? The timid considered that the phenomenon predicted some\ngreat calamity; the inquisitive indulged in a thousand conjectures;\nand the curious in natural history sagely accounted for it by a gale\nof wind in the north, blowing wild-fowl feathers from the island of\nSt. Paul\u2019s! Yet, not one of them was right. No guess would explain the\ncause, and yet it arose from the prank of a frolicsome boy. Astley,\nafterwards well known as sir Astley Cooper, had taken two of his\nmother\u2019s pillows to the top of the church, and when he had climbed as\nfar as he could up the steeple, he ripped them open, and scattered\ntheir contents to the wind.\n\nThe _Philosophical Magazine_ contains an account of a singular snow\nphenomenon that occurred in Orkney. The paper was contributed by Mr.\nClouston, of Stromness. \u201cOne night a heavy fall of snow took place,\nwhich covered the plain to a depth of several inches. \u2018Upon this pure\ncarpet,\u2019 says the writer, \u2018there rested next morning thousands of large\nmasses of snow, which contrasted strangely with its smooth surface.\u2019\nThese occurred generally in patches, from one acre to a hundred in\nextent, while clusters were often half-a-mile asunder. The fields so\ncovered looked as if they had been scattered over with cart-loads of\nmanure, and the latter covered with snow; but, on examination, the\nmasses were all found to be cylindrical, like hollow fluted rollers, or\nladies\u2019 swan-down muffs, bearing a strong resemblance to the latter.\nThe largest measured 3\u00bd feet long, and 7 feet in circumference. The\ncentres were nearly but not quite hollow; and by placing the head\nwithin when the sun was bright, the concentric structure of the\ncylinder was apparent. They did not occur in any of the adjoining\nparishes, and were limited to a space of about five miles. The first\nidea, as to the origin of these bodies, was, that they had fallen from\nthe clouds, and portended some direful calamity. But, had they fallen\nfrom the atmosphere, their symmetry and loose texture must have been\ndestroyed. The writer having examined them, was soon convinced that\nthey had been formed by the wind rolling up the snow as boys form\nsnow-balls. Their round form, concentric structure, fluted surface, and\nposition with respect to the weather side of eminences, proved this;\nand it was also evident, from the fact of their lying lengthways, with\ntheir sides to the wind; and sometimes their tracks were visible in the\nsnow for twenty or thirty yards in the windward direction, whence they\nhad evidently gathered up their concentric layers.\u201d\n\nA correspondent of the _Athen\u00e6um_, in a letter, dated Naples,\nJanuary 3rd, 1847, mentions another very striking phenomenon. He was\nstanding on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean, accompanied by an\nItalian friend. The air was perfectly tranquil, and yet in a moment\nhe felt himself grasped and encircled, as it were, by an unseen and\nirresistible power, and, in spite of his struggles, he felt himself\nsailing through the air at a balloon speed. After a few moments of\nhis a\u00ebrial travelling, he was pitched halfway down the cliff into the\ncentre of an empty lime-kiln, not far from the sea. Nor was he alone;\nthere was another heavy fall; for his friend stood opposite him.\nAs they were encircled by a force, equal at all points, though the\nshock was violent, they fell on their feet, but sank directly to the\nground, and there sat gazing at one another, unable either to move or\nspeak. Happily, no bones were broken; but so severe were the internal\ninjuries experienced, as to confine them to their beds for some time,\nand they expect the internal effects of their involuntary and dangerous\nvoyage to remain for a considerable time.\n\nAs the population of the coasts of the Mediterranean are exceedingly\nignorant and superstitious, it is not surprising that the people in\nthe neighbourhood said that the Shal\u2019ombre, the evil spirits, in the\nlime-kiln, must have drawn the travellers in; and attributed their\ndeliverance to the intercession of the souls in purgatory for the acts\nof charity they had performed!\n\nTo avoid any calamities, which the mariners of Naples generally\nattribute to demoniacal influence, they resort to the practice of\nwitchcraft. Few are the barks that venture to the coral fishery, or the\ncoasting-trade, without having a magician on board. Persons of this\nclass, however, who practise the art supposed to be required at sea,\nor who even reveal it to others, cannot receive absolution from an\nordinary confessor. It is comprehended under the head of \u201cmalaficia,\u201d\none of the reserved sins to be found in the printed list of directions\nappended to every confessional in Italy.\n\nAnd yet, were witchcraft available in any case, it could not be in\nconnexion with the natural operation, which the mariners call \u201ctrombe\ndi mare.\u201d The travellers suffered, in fact, from a strong wind,\nconnected with the phenomenon of a water spout, observed, for the most\npart, at sea, but sometimes also on shore. Its usual appearance is\nthat of a dense cloud, like a conical pillar, which seems to consist\nof condensed vapour, and is seen to descend with the apex downwards.\nWhen over the sea, there are generally two cones, one projecting from\nthe cloud, the other from the water below it. They sometimes unite,\nand then a flash of lightning is observed; on other occasions, they\ndisperse before any junction takes place. The effect appears to be,\nat least partly, electrical; the cones being in opposite states, the\npositive and negative attraction ensue; and, when union takes place,\nwhich is indicated by the flash, the bodies are restored to their\nequilibrium.\n\nThe magicians on the coast practise what they call the art of \u201ccutting\u201d\nthe \u201ctrombe.\u201d As soon as it is seen approaching in the direction of a\nboat, the wizard goes forward, sends all the crew aft, that they may\nnot be eye-witnesses of what he does; and using certain signs or words,\nand making a movement with his arms as if in the act of cutting, the\nenemy falls in two, and disappears.\n\nWe are reminded by these circumstances of \u201cthe news from the country,\u201d\nwhich the _Spectator_ describes as brought to him by sir Roger de\nCoverley. One part of it was, that Moll White was dead, and that about\na month after one of the baronet\u2019s barns fell down, which led to the\nshrewd remark: \u201cI do not think the old woman had anything to do with\nit.\u201d Nor do we think that the wizard of the Mediterranean has anything\nto do with \u201ccutting the wind.\u201d The probability is, that he seizes on\nthe time for his movements, which, from experience, he knows to precede\nthe dispersion of the cloud, and thus acquires credit to which he has\nnot the slightest claim.\n\nThis chapter may appropriately be concluded by a reference to the\nwaters of the earth, which are often represented as endued with a\nsupernatural power. The Ilissus, rising on Mount Hymettus, to the east\nof Athens, and overflowing its banks, furnishes a supply of excellent\nwater to the monastery of Sergiani. On one side, are three small\ncaverns in the rock, with double entrances; apparently the work of\nnature, but probably aided by art. They are still supposed, as they\nhave been during past ages, to have a mystic virtue; and \u201cno remedy,\u201d\nsays Dodwell, is considered so efficacious for a sick child as \u201cto drag\nit two or three times from one cave to another; by which it is either\nkilled or cured. Several ancient wells are observed in the rock on each\nside of the river. Near these, the foundation of a wall crosses the bed\nof the Ilissus.\u201d\n\nSprings, in various parts of this and other countries, alternately\nebbing and flowing, have been, and are still, in some cases, supposed\nto be under the ban of witchcraft. And yet the phenomena are easily\nexplained by natural laws. If the shorter end of a bent tube, A, whose\nbranches are of an unequal length, be placed in a basin of water, and\nthe air is drawn from it, we have a syphon, which will decant the\nwater into any vessel. Now such tubes as these are naturally formed\nin the earth, and if the water be drained into a cavity, B, having a\nsyphon-like channel, C, it is evident that it will flow as long as the\nsyphon can act, and it will then cease.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSeneca describes a spring near to Tempe, in Thessaly, the waters of\nwhich are fatal to animals, and penetrate iron and copper. Yet, it is\nprobable, as Dr. Thomson states, that \u201cthis spring contained either\nfree sulphuric acid, or a highly acidulous salt of that acid. This\nacid has been detected in a free state, as well as hydrochloric acid,\nin the water of the Rio Vindagre, which descends from the volcano\nof Parai\u00e8, in Columbia, South America. Sulphuric acid is also found\nin the waters of other volcanic regions. The sour springs of Byron,\nin the Genessee country, about sixty miles south of the Erie canal,\ncontain sulphuric acid. Such waters would rapidly corrode both iron\nand copper, converting the former into green, the latter into blue\nvitriol--sulphates of both metals.\u201d[E]\n\nIt would be easy to extend these instances, in connexion with\nthe phenomena of the globe, but the present will suffice to show\nthat a little knowledge of natural science is an antidote to many\nsuperstitions. We proceed now to illustrations of agencies in active\noperation of a different character.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n  Chemical wonders--Ice obtained in a red-hot vessel--The\n    corpse candles of Wales--Luminous appearances after\n    death--Sadoomeh the magician--The laughing gas--Sulphuric\n    ether--Chloroform--Gunpowder compared with gun-cotton.\n\n\nThe word chemistry is, probably, derived from a Coptic root, signifying\nobscure or secret; and the German word _geheim_ is traced to the same\norigin. The objects of this department of science are, to investigate\nthe nature and properties of the elements of matter and their mutual\nactions and combinations; to ascertain the proportions in which they\nunite and the modes of separating them when united; and to inquire into\nthe laws which affect and rule these agencies. A few of the wonders\nconnected with this science may, therefore, appropriately follow the\nterrestrial phenomena which have just been considered.\n\nThe Romish church has rendered chemistry available in connexion\nwith one of its prodigies, the so-called blood of St. Januarius. A\nsubstance is shown to the deluded worshippers in a phial, appearing\nin a congealed state; but, as masses are performed by the priests,\nit becomes fluid. The illusion practised in this case may, however,\nbe easily effected by reddening sulphuric ether with orchanet, the\n_onosma_ of Linn\u00e6us, and then saturating the tincture with spermaceti.\nThis preparation is solid at ten degrees above the freezing point, and\nmelts and boils at twenty degrees. Let the phial which contains it when\ncoagulated, be held in the hand for a few minutes, and the temperature\nof the substance rises, and it becomes fluid. Even the warmth of a\npublic assembly is sufficient for this purpose.\n\nMarcus, the chief of one of the sects in the second century, who wished\nto amalgamate with Christianity the doctrines and rules of pagan rites,\nfilled with white wine three cups of transparent glass; and, while\nhe was praying, the liquid in one of the cups became like blood; in\nanother, of a purple colour; and in the third, sky-blue. But these\neffects might easily be produced by chemical action. Professor Beyruss,\nat the court of the duke of Brunswick, promised that his white dress\nshould become red during a repast; and the change took place, to the\nastonishment of the prince and his guests. M. Vogel, who relates this\nfact, does not reveal the means employed; but observes that, by pouring\nlime-water on the juice of beet-root, a colourless liquid is obtained,\nthat a piece of cloth dipped in it and quickly dried becomes red in a\nfew hours by the contact of the air alone; and that this effect may be\naccelerated in a room where champagne and other beverages charged with\ncarbonic acid gas are abundantly used. Still more rapidly might the\nchance be effected in some temple, in the midst of rising incense and\nburning torches; and the veil which covered things deemed sacred, might\nthus have been seen to change from white to the colour of blood--a\npresage of fearful disasters.\n\nA series of remarkable experiments was performed by professor Boutigny,\nat the British Association at Cambridge, in 1845. He commenced by\nshowing, that when cold water is poured on a hot metallic surface, the\nheat is not communicated to it; and that the water assumes a spheroidal\nform, and continues to roll about, upheld at a minute distance from\nthe heated surface, without boiling. The water was poured into a hot\nplatinum cup kept in rapid motion, and resembled a small globe of\nglass dancing about. There was no hissing noise nor appearance of\nsteam, though the globule of water must, nevertheless, have evaporated\nrapidly; for, after gradually diminishing in size, in the course of\nabout two minutes it disappeared. The same result takes place when any\nsubstance capable of assuming a globular form is placed on a heated\nsurface. In proof of this, the professor placed in the heated cup of\nplatinum, iodine, ammonia, and some inflammable substances; each of\nwhich became globular, and danced about like the globule of water, but\nwithout emitting smell or vapour, or being inflamed, until the platinum\ncup was cooled.\n\nAnother experiment was yet more curious. Professor Boutigny heated a\nsilver weight, of the same shape as the weight of a clock, until it\nwas red-hot, and then lowered it by a wire into a glass of cold water,\nwithout there being any more indication of action in the water than if\nthe weight had been quite cold. Professor Boutigny advanced no theory\nto account for these peculiar actions, further than that a film of\nvapour intervenes between the heated body and the substance, which\nprevents the communication of heat. The facts, however, he thought\nwere of importance in a practical point of view, both as regards\nthe tempering of metals, and in the explanation of the causes of\nsteam-boiler explosions. It would seem, from experiments in tempering\nmetals, that, if the metal be too much heated, the effect of plunging\nit into water will be diminished. In steam-boilers, also, if the\nheated water be introduced into a heated surface, the heat may not\nbe communicated to the water, and the boiler may become red-hot, and\nwithout any great emission of steam; until, at length, when the boiler\ncools, a vast quantity of steam would become suddenly generated and the\nboiler burst.\n\nThe last and most curious experiment performed by professor Boutigny,\nwas the freezing of water in a red-hot vessel. Having heated a platinum\ncup red-hot, he poured into it a small quantity of water, which was\nkept in a globular form, as in the other experiments. He then poured\ninto the cup some liquid sulphurous acid; when a sudden evaporation\nensued, and, on quickly inverting the cup, there came out a small mass\nof ice. The principle of this experiment, which called forth loud\nand continued applause, is this:--sulphurous acid has the property\nof boiling water when it is at a temperature below the freezing\npoint; and, when poured into the heated vessel, the suddenness of the\nevaporation occasions a degree of cold sufficient to freeze water.\n\nLiquid carbonic acid takes a high position for its freezing qualities.\nMr. Adams, of Kensington, manufactures this curious liquid as an\narticle of commerce, and has, occasionally, as much as nine gallons of\nit in store. In drawing it from its powerful reservoirs, it evaporates\nso rapidly as to freeze, and it is then a light porous mass, like snow.\nIf a small quantity of this is drenched with ether, the degree of cold\nproduced is even more intolerable to the touch than boiling water; a\ndrop or two of the mixture producing blisters, just as if the skin had\nbeen burned! Mr. Adams states that, in eight minutes he has frozen a\nmass of mercury weighing ten pounds.\n\nIn one department of knowledge--that of vapours and gases--on which\nchemistry casts so much light, we discover many remarkable phenomena.\nFew persons have resided, for example, in the fenny and swampy\ndistricts of our island, without seeing, at least occasionally, the\nignis fatuus, Will-o\u2019-the-wisp, or Jack-o\u2019-lantern, hovering a few\nfeet above the surface of stagnant water.\n\n    \u201cWild fires dancing o\u2019er the heath,\u201d\n\nmay be observed, indeed, at almost all times of the year, but it is\nchiefly in autumn, and particularly in November, that they flit in mazy\ncircles and irregular evolutions; sometimes at the edge of a morass,\nover the tops of withered sedges, reeds, and brushwood; and, at others,\nover palings and hedgerows, or the still surface of the oozy bog.\n\nIt has been argued by some, that they are effects produced by luminous\ninsects, as the glow-worm, the gnat, and the mole-cricket. But this\ntheory is very unsatisfactory, and the cause which is now generally\nacknowledged to be the real one, is far more natural. There is a\nsubstance readily obtained, but of very offensive odour, called\nphosphoret of lime; and, if a piece of this be taken and dropped into a\npool of water, little flames will be seen on its surface. These arise\nfrom the power of the substance to decompose water, in consequence of\nwhich, the hydrogen ascends to the surface, and ignites on coming in\ncontact with the air.\n\nDr. Weissenborn has given the following interesting statements:--\u201cIn\nthe year 1818, I was fortunate enough to get a fine view of the ignes\nfatui operating on an extensive scale. I was then at Schnepfenthal,\nin the duchy of Gotha; and in a clear November night, between eleven\nand twelve o\u2019clock, when I had just undressed, the bright moonshine\nallured me to the window, to survey the expanse of boggy meadows, which\nspread two or three English miles in length, a quarter-of-a-mile from\nthe foot of the hillock on which the house in which I then was, is\nstanding. Through the first third of the meadows there was a winding\nrivulet, of the breadth of seven or eight feet, which then turns off\ninto an artificial bed, whilst the old bed continues in the direction\nof the meadows, which are bounded on one side by a range of brushwood,\nand on the other by cultivated grounds, with marshy dells here and\nthere. My intimate acquaintance with the locality, together with\nthe bright moonshine, enabled me to discover every object round the\nmeadow-ground, sufficiently well to judge of the position and direction\nof the luminous phenomena, the display of which I saw as soon as I had\nposted myself at the window. I perceived a number of reddish yellow\nflames on different parts of the expanse of almost level ground. I\ndescried, perhaps, no more than six at a time, but dying away and\nappearing in other places so rapidly, that it was impossible to count\nthem; but I should say, on a rough calculation, there were about twenty\nor twenty-five within a second. Some were small and burned dimly;\nothers flashed with a bright flame, in a direction almost parallel\nwith the ground, and coinciding with that of the wind, which was\nrather brisk. After having for some time looked with amazement at the\nbrilliant scene, as a whole, I tried to study its details, and soon\nfound that the flames which were nearest originated in a quagmire, the\nposition of which I knew exactly, by a solitary cluster of willows;\nand I could trace a succession of flashes from that spot to a certain\npoint of the margin of the wood across the rivulet and meadow. The\ndistance of the two points from each other was more than half-a-mile,\nand the flames travelled over it, perhaps, in less than a second. The\nfirst flash was not always observed in the immediate neighbourhood\nof the quagmire; but the succession of flames lay always in the same\nstraight line, and in the direction of the wind; whilst other sets were\nobserved, though not with the same distinctness, in the more distant\nparts of the meadow-ground.\n\n\u201cAfter about an hour, a bank of mist began to overspread the meadows,\nbut I saw the light still glimmering through it, whilst I dressed\nmyself, in order to examine the phenomenon in its laboratory. However,\nwhen I reached the meadows, the atmospheric conditions which gave rise\nto the ignes fatui had ceased to exist.\u201d Weissenborn then expresses his\nbelief that the phosphoric hydrogen gas, exhaled by certain swamps,\nis kindled into flame by coming in contact with the atmospheric air;\nbut, as the hydrogen is not saturated with phosphorus, (the greater\nportion of the latter being precipitated in passing through the water\nas red oxide of phosphorus,) there is a certain electric condition\nof the atmosphere necessary to cause the combustion. Thus, under\ncommon circumstances, the gas is evolved and dissipated without being\nobserved; but when the state of the atmosphere is competent to effect\nits combustion, the proper degree of electrical tension is lost at\nthe place where the explosion is effected; and, until it is restored,\nor the gas comes in contact with that layer of the atmosphere which\npossesses the requisite degree of electrical tension, a considerable\nbody of bog gas may collect, and be carried in the direction of the\nwind, so as to give rise to a sort of quick fire, with occasional\nflashes; in those places of the stream of gas where there happens to be\na considerable volume of it. The lights, which still frequently excite\napprehensions in Wales, and are popularly termed \u201ccorpse candles,\u201d have\nthe same origin as the \u201cignes fatui.\u201d\n\nAt the village of Wigmore, in Herefordshire, there are fields which\nmay be, and two houses which really are, illuminated with a natural\ngas. This vapour, with which the subjacent strata seem to be charged,\nis obtained in the following manner:--a hole is made in the cellar of\nthe house, or other locality, with an iron rod; a hollow tube is then\nplaced therein, fitted with a burner similar to those used for ordinary\ngas-lights, and immediately on applying a flame to the jet, a soft and\nbrilliant light is obtained, which may be kept burning at pleasure. The\ngas is very pure, quite free from any offensive smell, and does not\nstain the ceilings, as is generally the case with the manufactured\narticle. Besides lighting rooms, etc., it has been used for cooking;\nand, indeed, seems capable of the same applications as prepared\ncarburetted hydrogen. There are several fields in which the phenomenon\nexists, and children are seen boring holes and setting the gas on fire\nfor amusement. It is now several months since the discovery was made;\nand a great many of the curious have visited, and still continue to\nvisit, the spot.\n\nIf the Chinese are not manufacturers, they are, nevertheless, gas\nconsumers and employers on a large scale; and have evidently been so,\nages before the knowledge of its application was acquired by Europeans.\nBeds of coal are frequently pierced by the borers of salt water; and\nthe inflammable gas is forced up in jets twenty or thirty feet in\nheight. From these fountains, the vapour has been conveyed to the\nsalt-works in pipes, and there used for the boiling and evaporation of\nthe salt; other tubes convey the gas intended for lighting the streets,\nand the larger apartments and kitchens. As there is still more gas\nthan is required, the excess is conducted beyond the limits of the\nsalt-works, and forms separate chimneys or columns of flame.\n\nA singular counterpart to this employment of natural gas, is witnessed\nin the valley of the Kanawha, in Virginia. The origin, the means of\nsupply, the application to all the processes of manufacturing salt, and\nof the appropriation of the surplus for the purposes of illumination,\nare remarkably alike at such distant points as China and the United\nStates.\n\nIt has sometimes been stated of a departed person, that a luminous\nappearance was observed to rest upon, and occasionally to surround, a\ncorpse. Such an effect has been described as supernatural--a Divine\nattestation to extraordinary excellence; and, doubtless, Roman\nCatholics have made the most of such circumstances in reference to\nthose whom they have denominated saints, and to whom a place has been\nassigned in their calendar. And yet there was no departure in any such\ninstance from the ordinary laws of nature. Sir H. Marsh, in an essay on\n\u201cThe Evolution of Light from the Human Subject,\u201d states, that electric\nsparks have been known to issue from the skin of some individuals\nwhen rubbed lightly and quickly with a linen cloth. Not only has this\nphysician heard of such cases, but two had actually come under his\nobservation.\n\nHe was led to consider the subject by the following statement made to\nhim. \u201cAbout an hour and-a-half before my sister\u2019s death, we were struck\nby appearances proceeding from her head, in a diagonal direction. She\nwas, at the time, in a half-recumbent position, and perfectly tranquil.\nThe light was pale as the moon, but quite evident to mamma, myself,\nand sisters, who were watching over her at the time. One of us, at\nfirst, thought that it was lightning; till, shortly after, we fancied\nwe perceived a sort of tremulous glimmer playing round the head of the\nbed; and then, recollecting that we had read something of a similar\nnature having been observed previous to dissolution, we had candles\nbrought into the room, fearing our dear sister would perceive it, and\nthat it might disturb the tranquillity of her last moments.\u201d\n\nA similar appearance around the person, and in the room, of a man who\nfell a sacrifice to lingering disease in a remote district of the\nsouth-west of Ireland, is recorded. All the witnesses agree in having\nseen the light; many, however, came to the conclusion that it was\ncaused by supernatural agency, and a proof of miraculous interposition,\nand even evidence of Divine favour. Considerable excitement was\noccasioned in the south of Ireland by the following case, related by\nDr. D. Donavan, in the _Dublin Medical Press_, Jan. 15, 1840:--\u201cI was\nsent for,\u201d the Doctor says, \u201cin December, 1828, to see Harrington.\nHe had been under the care of my predecessor, and had been entered\nin the dispensary book as a phthisical patient; and, on reference to\nmy note-book, I find that the stethoscopic and other indications of\nphthisis were indubitable. He was under my care for about five years;\nduring which time, strange to say, the symptoms continued stationary;\nand I had discontinued my attendance for about two years, when the\nreport became general, that mysterious lights were every night seen in\nhis cabin. The subject attracted a great deal of attention; and, like\neverything else in Ireland, at once assumed a sectarian complexion;\nsome attributing the light to the miraculous interference of Heaven;\nothers, to the practice of the black art. Not regarding these views as\naffording an explanation of the mystery, I determined to subject the\nmatter to the ordeal of my own senses; and, for this purpose, visited\nthe cabin for fourteen nights; and on three nights, only, did I witness\nanything unusual. Once I perceived a luminous fog, resembling the\naurora borealis, and twice I saw the scintillations, like the sparkling\nphosphorescence sometimes exhibited by the sea infusoria. From the\nclose scrutiny I made, I can, with certainty, say, that no imposition\nwas either employed or attempted. How are these appearances to be\naccounted for? In answering this question, I would observe, that they\nare never seen but in cases of extensive disease, and when considerable\nalteration of structure has taken place. Processes analogous to\ndecomposition are witnessed in the human subject while the living\nprinciple remains.\u201d\n\nOn these, and similar facts, Dr. Marsh remarks: \u201cDisease is but a\nstep toward dissolution, in which the vital powers are impaired; and,\nunless the malady be checked, by the use of proper means, a period\nwill quickly approach when the chemical action will entirely prevail\nover the whole frame. Phosphorescent matter may be generated in\norganic bodies at a period of incipient decomposition; and when we\nconsider that phosphuretted hydrogen undergoes spontaneous combustion,\nwhen brought in contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere, and that\nthe component parts of which this gas is formed exist in the body\nin great abundance, an easy solution is at hand, accounting for the\nluminous appearances which have been witnessed in dissecting-rooms, in\nburial-grounds, and in marine substances, as well as on the approach of\ndissolution.\u201d\n\nThe Arabs are well known as believers in wonders; and of one of their\nmagicians, named Sadoomeh, the following story is told. \u201cIn order to\ngive one of his friends a treat, he took him to the distance of about\nhalf-an-hour\u2019s walk into the desert, on the north of Cairo, where\nthey both sat down upon the pebbly and sandy plain; and the magician\nhaving uttered a spell, they suddenly found themselves in the midst of\na garden, like one of the gardens of Paradise, abounding with flowers\nand fruit-trees of every kind, springing up from a soil covered with\nverdure brilliant as the emerald, and irrigated by numerous streamlets\nof the purest water. A repast of the most delicious viands and fruit\nwas spread before them by invisible hands; and they both ate and drank\nto satiety, taking copious draughts of the various wines. At length\nthe magician\u2019s guest sank into a deep sleep, and when he awoke he\nfound himself again in the pebbly and sandy plain, with Sadoomeh still\nby his side.\u201d \u201cThe reader will probably attribute this vision,\u201d says\nMr. Lane, who relates the tale, \u201cto a dose of opium or some similar\ndrug; and such I suppose to have been the means employed; for I cannot\ndoubt the integrity of the narrator, though he would not admit such\nan explanation; regarding the whole as an affair of magic, \u2018jinn,\u2019 or\ngenii.\u201d\n\nA story of Gassendi, one of the most distinguished of naturalists,\nmathematicians, and philosophers of France, in the sixteenth century,\nwill place this solution in a still clearer light. As he was taking\na morning walk near Deigne, in Provence, his ears were assailed by\nrepeated exclamations of \u201cA sorcerer! a sorcerer!\u201d On glancing behind\nhim, he beheld a mean and simple-looking man, with his hands tied,\nwhom a mob of the country-people were hurrying to prison. Gassendi\u2019s\ncharacter and learning had given him great authority with them, and he\ndesired to be left alone with the man. They immediately surrendered\nhim, and Gassendi said to him, in private, \u201cMy friend, you must tell\nme sincerely, whether you have made a compact with the devil or not:\nif you confess it, I will give you your liberty immediately; but, if\nyou refuse to tell me, I will give you immediately into the hands of a\nmagistrate.\u201d The man answered, \u201cSir, I will own that I go to a meeting\nof wizards every day. One of my friends has given me a drug, which I\ntake to effect this, and I have been received as a sorcerer these three\nyears.\u201d He then described the proceedings of these meetings, and spoke\nof the different devils, as if he had been all his life acquainted\nwith them. \u201cShow me,\u201d said Gassendi, \u201cthe drug which you take to attend\nthis infernal meeting, for I intend to go there with you to-night.\u201d\nThe man replied, \u201cAs you please, Sir; I will take you at midnight, as\nsoon as the clock strikes twelve.\u201d Accordingly, he met Gassendi at the\nappointed hour, and, showing him two boluses, each of the size of a\nwalnut, he desired him to swallow one, as soon as Gassendi had seen him\nswallow the other, and then they lay down together on a goat-skin. The\nman soon fell asleep, but Gassendi remained awake and watched him, and\nperceived that he was greatly disturbed in his slumbers, and writhed\nand twisted his body about, as if he had been troubled by bad dreams.\nAt the expiration of five or six hours he awoke, and said to Gassendi,\n\u201cI am sure, Sir, you ought to be satisfied with the manner in which\nthe great goat received you; he conferred on you a high honour when\nhe permitted you to kiss his tail the first time he ever saw you.\u201d It\nwas thus apparent that the deleterious opiate had operated upon his\nimagination. Gassendi, compassionating his weakness and credulity,\ntook pains to convince him of his self-delusion; and, showing him\nthe bolus, he gave it to a dog, who soon fell asleep, and suffered\ngreat convulsions. The poor fellow was set at liberty to undeceive\nhis brethren, who had, like him, been lulled by the noxious drug into\nimagining themselves sorcerers.\n\nIn India there is a native plant, which, after it has flowered, is\ndried and sold in the bazaars of Calcutta, for smoking. The Hindoos\ncall it \u201cganpah,\u201d and they give the name of \u201cbang\u201d or \u201csubjee\u201d to\nthe large leaves and capsules which they use for the same purpose.\nThe plant is a species of hemp; the smoking of which is considered\nso delightful, according to Dr. Thomson, as to have been denominated\nby such epithets as \u201cAssuager of sorrow,\u201d \u201cIncreaser of pleasure,\u201d\n\u201cCementer of friendship,\u201d \u201cLaughter-mover,\u201d and others of the same kind.\n\nOn the same authority it is stated, that in Nepaul, the resin only\nis used; in some places it is collected by native coolies, walking\nthrough the fields of hemp at the time the plants give forth the resin,\nwhich, adhering to the skin, is scraped off from it, and kneaded into\nballs. It is taken in doses, from a grain to two grains, and causes\na delightful delirium. When repeated, however, it is followed by\ncatalepsy, or that state of insensibility which allows the body to be\nmoulded into any form like a Dutch-jointed doll, the limbs remaining in\nthe position in which they were placed, though contrary to the law of\ngravity, and continuing so for many hours.\n\nWe are well acquainted with various means of acting in an extraordinary\nmanner on the human frame. The writer, in common with multitudes, has\nwitnessed, for example, the operation of nitrous oxide, often called\n\u201cthe laughing-gas.\u201d It acts, however, very differently on different\npersons; some laugh immoderately, others become depressed, others\nassume the airs of vanity and importance which accord with their most\ncherished dispositions; and some can only be forcibly restrained from\ndeeds of great violence. It is certainly a most singular sight to see\na person laughing most boisterously, or strutting with all the hauteur\nof a newly-made potentate, suddenly subside as the action of the gas\nceases, into a very unobtrusive individual.\n\nWe may now briefly allude to one of the most extraordinary applications\nof the present times. The late sir Humphry Davy made many experiments\non the effects of various gases on the human lungs. He found, in his\nown person, that the inhalation of nitrous oxide removed head-ache,\nand greatly assuaged the pain of cutting a wisdom-tooth. In his works,\nedited by Dr. John Davy, is the following passage:--\n\n\u201cAs nitrous oxide, in its extensive operation, appears capable of\ndestroying physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage during\nsurgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place.\u201d\nHere is the germ of the recent application of ether.\n\n\u201cThe effects of this inhalation, as indicated by the patient\u2019s own\nrecollection,\u201d says a writer in the _North British Review_, \u201care very\nvarious. In general they are somewhat as follows:--A pleasing sense\nof soothing succeeds the first irksomeness of the pungent vapour--a\nsoothing of both mind and body. Ringing in the ears takes place, with\nsome confusion of sight and intellectual perception. The limbs are\nfelt cold and powerless; the hands and feet first, then the knees;\nand the feeling is as if these parts had ceased to be peculiar\nproperty, and dropped away. This sensation may gradually creep over\nthe whole frame; the patient becoming, in more senses than one, truly\netherealized; reduced to the condition of no body and all soul. The\nobjects around are either lost sight of or strangely perverted; fancied\nshadows flit before the eyes, and then a dream sets in--sometimes calm\nand placid, sometimes active and bustling, sometimes very pleasurable,\nsometimes frightful, as a nightmare. Emerging, the figures and scenes\nshift rapidly, and grow fainter and fainter; present objects are\ncaught by the eye once more, the ringing of the ears is heard again,\nconsciousness and self-control return, a tendency to excited talking is\nvery manifest, movement is unsteady, and, both in mind and body, a kind\nof intoxication is declared. It is, however, of a light and airy kind;\nvery pure, very pleasant, and very passing, and, when gone, leaving\nvery little trace behind.\n\n\u201cExperience has fully shown that the brain may be acted on so as to\nannihilate, for the time, what may be termed the faculty of feeling\npain; the organ of general sense may be lulled into profound sleep,\nwhile the organ of special sense, and the organ of intellectual\nfunction remain wide awake, active, and busily employed. The patient\nmay feel no pain under very cruel cutting, and yet he may see,\nhear, taste, and smell, as well as ever, to all appearance; and he\nmay also be perfectly conscious of everything within reach of his\nobservation--able to reason on such events most lucidly, and able to\nretain both the events and the reasoning in his memory afterwards.\nWe have seen a patient following the operator with her eyes most\nintelligently and watchfully, as he shifted his place near her, lifted\nhis knife, and proceeded to use it; wincing not at all during its use;\nanswering questions by gesture, very readily and plainly; and, after\nthe operation was over, narrating every event as it occurred; declaring\nthat she knew and saw all; stating that she knew and felt that she was\nbeing cut, and yet that she felt no pain whatever. Patients have said,\nquietly, \u2018You are sawing now,\u2019 during the use of the saw in amputation;\nand afterwards they have declared most solemnly, that though quite\nconscious of that part of the operation, yet they felt no pain. We\nhave seen a patient enduring amputation of a limb without any sign\nof suffering, opening her eyes during the performance, at its most\npainful part, descrying a country practitioner at some distance--under\nwhose care she had formerly been, and whom she had not seen for some\nconsiderable time--addressing him by name, and requesting that he might\nnot leave town without seeing her.\u201d\n\nSince the period to which the writer just quoted refers, Dr.\nSimpson, of Edinburgh, has discovered a substitute for sulphuric\nether--chloroform, or the perchloride of formyle. It is stated to\npossess over sulphuric ether the following advantages:--1. A greatly\nless quantity of chloroform than of ether is requisite to produce the\ndesired effect. 2. Its action is much more rapid and complete, and\ngenerally more enduring. 3. The inhalation and influence of chloroform\nare far more agreeable and pleasant than those of ether. 4. The use\nof chloroform is less expensive than that of ether. 5. Its odour is\nnot unpleasant; nor does it exhale in a disagreeable form from the\nlungs of the patient, as so generally happens with sulphuric ether.\n6. Being required in much less quantity, it is much more portable and\ntransmissible than sulphuric ether. 7. No special kind of inhaler\nor instrument is necessary for its exhibition. A little of the\nliquid diffused upon the interior of a hollow-shaped sponge, or on a\npocket-handkerchief, or a piece of linen or paper, or held over the\nmouth and nostrils, so as to be fully inhaled, generally suffices, in\nabout a minute or two, to produce the effect. This agent, however,\nrequires to be used to annul pain under the direction of a judicious\nmedical practitioner; it may otherwise be productive of serious\nconsequences.\n\nA prodigious force often arises from chemical affinity. Of this,\ngunpowder presents a familiar instance. It is formed of nitre,\nsulphur, and charcoal, which, in the ordinary state, are only combined\nmechanically; but no sooner is this compound ignited, than these\nsubstances are brought, by chemical action, into such close contact,\nas to evolve a mighty and destructive power. It seemed likely to be\nthrown into the shade by the discovery of gun-cotton as an explosive\nagent, which excited extraordinary interest throughout Europe. On\nprojectile experiments being made, a gun, charged with thirty grains\nof prepared cotton, propelled an equal charge of shot, with greater\nforce and precision, at a distance of forty yards, than were gained\nby the same gun loaded with a hundred-and-twenty grains of gunpowder.\nA rifle, charged with fifty-four and-a-half grains of gunpowder,\nsent a ball through seven boards, half-an-inch in thickness, at a\ndistance of forty yards; the same rifle, charged with forty grains of\ngun-cotton, caused the ball to enter the eighth board. Another rifle,\nwhich had been used for elephant-shooting, and consequently carried a\nmuch larger ball, charged with forty grains of gun-cotton, forced the\nball through eight boards, at a distance of ninety yards. In no case\nwas the discharge accompanied by a greater recoil than usual; and the\nreports were not louder than those accompanying the discharge of guns\nand rifles loaded with gunpowder. According to the specification of the\npatentee, M. Sch\u00f6nbein, cotton is preferred for this purpose, freed\nfrom extraneous matters; and it is considered desirable to operate on\nthe clean fibres of the cotton in a dry state, by means of nitric and\nsulphuric acids. These are mixed together in the proportion of one\nmeasure of nitric acid to three measures of sulphuric acid, in any\nsuitable or convenient vessel not liable to be affected by the acids.\nA great degree of heat being generated by the mixture, it is left to\ncool until its temperature falls to sixty or fifty degrees Fahrenheit.\nThe cotton is then immersed in it; and, in order that it may become\nthoroughly saturated with the acids, it is stirred with a rod of glass,\nor other material, not affected by the acids. The cotton should be\nintroduced in as open a state as practicable. The acids are then poured\nor drawn off, and the cotton gently pressed by a presser of glazed\nearthenware, to take out the acids, after which it is covered up in\nthe vessel, and allowed to stand for about an hour. It is subsequently\nwashed in a continuous flow of water, until the presence of the acids\nis not indicated by the ordinary test of litmus paper. To remove any\nuncombined portions of the acids which may remain after the cleansing\nprocess, the patentee dips the cotton in a weak solution of carbonate\nof potash, composed of one ounce of carbonate of potash to one gallon\nof water, and partially dries it by pressing, as before. The cotton is\nthen highly explosive, and may be used in that state; but, to increase\nits explosive power, it is dipped in a weak solution of nitrate of\npotash, and, lastly, dried in a room heated by hot air, or steam, to\nabout one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit.\n\nThe advantages and disadvantages of this substance have thus been\nstated by professor Brande:--\u201cThe disadvantages are, that the effects\nare less regular than those of gunpowder; that it is more dangerous,\nbecause inflaming at a lower temperature; that it does not take\nfire when compressed in tubes; that it burns slowly in all kinds of\ncartridges; that guns and pistols must be altered to admit of its\nuse; that it is not adapted for the use of the army; that the barrel\nof the gun is moistened by the water produced during combustion. The\nadvantages, on the other hand, may be stated as follows:--Its extreme\ncleanliness, leaving no residue after combustion; its freedom from\nall bad smell; the facility and the safety of its preparation; the\npossessing treble the force of gunpowder; its explosion producing\nno smoke, and less noise than that of gunpowder; its filamentary\nnature admitting of its being used over head in mining operations;\nits not being liable (as a granulated substance is) to the accidents\nof leakage; its occasioning very little recoil.\u201d--Every benevolent\nmind must wish to hear no more of \u201cthe confused noise of battle and\nof garments rolled in blood;\u201d and that the time may soon arrive when\nmen shall \u201cbeat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears\ninto pruning-hooks;\u201d when \u201cthey shall learn war no more,\u201d but yield\nthemselves heartily and devotedly to the benignant sway of the Prince\nof peace. There seems, however, no reason to conclude that gun-cotton\nwill be employed for any hostile purpose, the Board of Ordnance having\ndefinitely decided against its adoption in the military and naval\nservices. The principal objection to it is, the very low temperature at\nwhich it explodes. The mere heating of a gun, from a number of charges\nsuccessively fired, has been proved sufficient to cause an instant\nexplosion of gun-cotton.\n\nIn mining, it is likely to be of great use. In the slate-quarries at\nPenrhyns it has been found far superior to gunpowder. A huge mass of\nsixty tons\u2019 weight, for instance, was gently pushed from its firmly\ncompacted bed by the explosion of only eight ounces of cotton, while\nthe slate was not splintered. In other great works it will also be of\nservice. In a cutting on the Syston and Peterborough railway, not far\nfrom Stamford, experiments showed the average powers of the gun-cotton\nto be in the proportion of one to six of gunpowder; so that, in a hard\nfreestone foundation, about five feet thick, and with an entire depth\nof twenty-eight feet, where six holes were necessary for gunpowder,\nonly one was required for gun-cotton. In all blasting operations,\nwhether in open cuttings, tunnels, or deep mines, a great saving of\ntime, labour, and cost, is thus likely to be effected.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n  Light and its phenomena--Magic pictures--The optical\n    paradox--Chinese metallic mirrors--Effect of an optical\n    instrument on a superstitious mind--Origin of photography--The\n    Talbotype--The Daguerreotype--Sunlight pictures.\n\n\nThe cause of those sensations which we refer to the eyes, or that which\nproduces the sense of seeing, is light. The phenomena of vision have\nalways been regarded as among the most interesting branches of natural\nscience. The knowledge of the laws which regulate the phenomena of\nlight, constitutes the science of optics, which explains the cause of\nmany most striking illusions.\n\nMagic pictures have been produced, which, when seen in a certain point\nthrough a glass, exhibit an object different from that be held by the\nnaked eye. Niceron tells us that he executed at Paris, and deposited in\nthe library of the Minimes of the Place Royale, a picture of this kind;\nwhen seen by the naked eye, it represented fifteen portraits of Turkish\nsultans, but, when viewed through the glass, it was a portrait of Louis\nXIII.\n\nThe writer has often seen a singular transformation effected by an\ningenious device, called the optical paradox: thus an eagle may be\nchanged into a lion, and a dog into a cat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFor this purpose, a wooden three-sided box must be prepared, and\nthrough the open part may slide the various drawings to be used, as B.\nConnected with this, there must be a pillar, C, and a horizontal bar\nholding a tube, D, having in it a glass placed exactly over the centre.\nThe change is partly dependent on the glass, the sides of which are\nflat and diverge from its hexagonal base upwards, to a point in the\naxis of the glass, like a pyramid, E, forming an isosceles triangle.\nAll that is now necessary to the completion of the change, is in the\nborder of the drawing, in which the various parts required for the new\nfigure are cleverly introduced; so that when the distance of the glass\nfrom the eye is rightly adjusted, each angular side will take up its\nportion from the border, and present to the eye the various parts in an\nentire figure. The shape of the glass prevents the appearance of any\nparticular figure in the centre, as the eagle, for instance; while the\nlion, arranged in portions and drawn on the circle of refraction at six\ndifferent parts of the border, yet artfully disguised by blending with\nit, the transformation will be completely produced.\n\nA paper has lately been read to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, by M.\nStanislaus Julien, on the metallic mirrors made in China, and to which\nthe name of \u201cmagic mirrors\u201d has been given. Hitherto all attempts by\nEuropeans to obtain information as to the process, in the localities\nwhere they are manufactured, have proved failures, some of the persons\napplied to being unwilling to reveal the secret, and others being\nignorant of the process. These mirrors are called magical, because,\nif they receive the rays of the sun on their polished surface, the\ncharacters, or flowers _in relief_, which exist on the other side, are\nfaithfully reproduced. The following information has been obtained\nby M. Julien, from the writings of an author named Ou-tseu-hing, who\nlived between 1260 and 1341:--\u201cThe cause of this phenomenon is the\ndistinct use of fine copper and rough copper. If, on the under side,\nthere be produced, by casting in a mould, the figure of a dragon in\na circle, there is then engraved deeply on the disc a dragon exactly\nsimilar. Then, the parts which have been cut are filled with rather\nrough copper; and this is, by the action of fire, incorporated with\nthe other metal, which is of a finer nature. The face of the mirror\nis next prepared, and a slight coating of tin is spread over it. If\nthe polished disc of a mirror so prepared be turned towards the sun,\nand the image be reflected on a wall, it presents distinctly the clear\nportion and the dark portion, the one of the fine, and the other of the\nrough copper.\u201d Ou-tseu-hing states, that he had ascertained this by a\ncareful inspection of the fragments of a broken mirror.\n\nIt is easy for an ignorant and superstitious mind to confound a very\nharmless and simple instrument with one of magical power. We have an\nexample of this in Dodwell\u2019s description of his residence at Athens.\nOn his first admission within the venerable walls of the Acropolis,\nit was necessary to offer a small present to the disdar, or Turkish\ngovernor, and an additional sum to make drawings and observations\nwithout being molested by the servants of the garrison. The disdar\nproved to be a man of bad faith and insatiable rapacity, and, after\nexperiencing numerous vexations from the mercenary Turk, Dodwell was\nat length released from his importunities by a singular circumstance.\nAs he was one day engaged in drawing the Parthenon, with the aid of\nhis camera obscura, the disdar, whose surprise was excited by the\nnovelty of the sight, asked, with a sort of fretful inquietude, what\nnew conjuration he was performing with that extraordinary machine.\nDodwell endeavoured to explain it, by putting in a clean sheet of\npaper, and making him look at the instrument; but he no sooner saw the\nTemple of Minerva reflected on the paper in all its lines and colours,\nthan he imagined the effect was produced by some magical process; his\nastonishment appeared mingled with alarm, and, stroking his long black\nbeard, he repeated several times the words Allah, Masch-Allah--a term\nof admiration with the Turks, signifying that which is made by God.\n\nAgain he looked into the camera obscura, with a kind of cautious\ndiffidence, and, at that moment, some of his soldiers happening to\npass before the reflecting-glass, were beheld by the astonished disdar\nwalking upon the paper. He now became outrageous; he assailed Dodwell\nwith various opprobrious epithets, one of which was Bonaparte--the\nappellation being at the time synonymous to that of magician, or of\nany one supposed to be endowed with supernatural talents--and declared\nthat, if Dodwell chose, he might take away all the stones in the\ntemple, but that he would not permit his soldiers to be conjured into\na box. \u201cWhen I found,\u201d says Dodwell, \u201cthat it was no use to reason\nwith his ignorance, I changed my tone, and told him that, if he did\nnot leave me unmolested, I would put him into my box; and that he\nshould find it a very difficult matter to get out again. His alarm was\nnow visible; he immediately retired, and ever after stared at me with\na mixture of apprehension and amazement. When he saw me come to the\nAcropolis, he carefully avoided my approach; and never afterwards gave\nme any further molestation.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe portable camera obscura, represented by the diagram, has often\nyielded much pleasure in the domestic circle, while the larger ones,\nwhich are publicly exhibited, are highly interesting. No person,\nperhaps, has witnessed the neatness of outline, the precision of\nform, the truth of colouring, and the sweet gradations of tint, thus\napparent, without regretting that an imagery so exquisite and faithful\nto nature could not be made to fix itself permanently on the tablet of\nthe machine. Yet, in the estimation of all, such a wish seemed destined\nto take its place among other dreams of beautiful things; the splendid\nbut impracticable conceptions in which men of science and ardent\ntemperament have sometimes indulged. Such a dream, however, has been\nrealized of late.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMr. Thomas Wedgewood, the celebrated porcelain manufacturer, so early\nas 1802, published, in the journals of the Royal Institution, a\nmethod of copying paintings upon glass, and of making profiles by the\nagency of light upon nitrate of silver. The experiments he made were\nrepeated by sir Humphry Davy; but several years after, MM. Niepc\u00e9\nand Daguerre, and Mr. Fox Talbot, laid the foundation of the present\nstate of photographic drawing. The former engaged in a long series of\nexperiments to render metallic surfaces peculiarly sensitive; the aim\nof the latter was to produce this effect on paper. The camera obscura\nused for this purpose is a rectangular box, with a double convex lens,\nA, at one end, and a glass reflector, B, which is generally a piece\nof looking-glass, at the other. Now, supposing the rays of light to\nproceed from an extensive landscape, and pass through this small convex\nlens, as we well know they may do, what will be the effect produced?\nThe scene will, in the first place, be thrown on the reflector, which\nis fixed at an angle of forty-five degrees to the horizon. Now it\nfollows, from a law well known to opticians, that these rays will\nbe reflected to the top of the box, immediately over the mirror; so\nthat if a ground glass, or any other medium capable of receiving the\nreflected image, be placed there, a representation of the landscape\nmay be observed. As then, it is proved, by innumerable experiments,\nthat reflected light has, in proportion to its power, as much influence\non prepared or photographic paper, as the direct rays of the sun; it\nfollows that, if a piece of it be placed in the same situation as the\nground glass, the reflected image, be it a landscape, a figure, or\nan artificial object, will be formed on it. All that is, therefore,\nrequired to be done, in using the camera obscura for photographic\ndrawing, is to place upon the opening at the top of the box the\nprepared paper, and immediately to cover it with the lid, C, so that\nit may not be acted upon by any other light than that reflected from\nthe mirror. The time required for producing the necessary effect will\ndepend on several circumstances, such as the preparation of the paper\nand the intensity of the light when the experiment is made; the latter,\nhowever, is by far the more important. On a bright sun-shining day,\nthe drawing will be produced in one-half the time, and with far more\nsharpness of outline, than on a dull wintry day, when the sun struggles\nwith the mists by which its radiant beams are encumbered. \u201cThe Pencil\nof Nature,\u201d is the expressive title of a collection of photographic\ndrawings, produced by Mr. Talbot. Upon the third part of this work, we\nfind the following acute criticism in the _Athen\u00e6um_, No. 920.\n\n\u201cThe subjects are \u2018The Entrance Gateway of Queen\u2019s College, Oxford;\u2019\n\u2018The Ladder,\u2019 in which we have three figures from the life; and \u2018A\nView of the Author\u2019s Residence, Lacock Abbey, in Wiltshire.\u2019 In the\nfirst of these, the truth-telling character of photographic pictures\nis pleasingly shown. It appears, by the turret clock, that the view\nwas taken a little after two, when the sun was shining obliquely upon\nthe building. The story of every stone is told, and the crumbling of\nits surface under the action of atmospheric influences is distinctly\nmarked. The figures in \u2018The Ladder\u2019 are prettily arranged, but the face\nof the boy is distorted, from the circumstance of its being so very\nnear the edge of the field of view embraced by the lens of the camera\nobscura. In looking at this photograph, we are led at once to reflect\non the truth to nature observed by Rembrandt, in the disposition of\nhis lights and shadows. We have no violent contrasts; even the highest\nlights and the deepest shadows seem to melt into each other, and the\nmiddle tints are but the harmonizing gradations. Without the aid of\ncolour, with simple brown and white, so charming a result is produced,\nthat, looking at the picture from a little distance, we are almost\nled to fancy that the introduction of colour would add nothing to its\ncharm.\u201d\n\nThe following is the patent process for obtaining a negative\npicture:--Take a sheet of paper, with a smooth surface, and a close\nand even texture, and without the water-mark, and wash one side of\nit, by means of a soft camel\u2019s-hair brush, with a solution composed of\none hundred grains of crystallized nitrate of silver dissolved in six\nounces of distilled water, having previously marked with a cross the\nside which is to be washed. When the paper has been dried cautiously at\nthe fire, or spontaneously in the dark, immerse it for a few minutes\n(two minutes, at a temperature of sixty-five degrees,) in a solution\nof iodide of potassium, consisting of five hundred grains to one pint\nof distilled water. The paper is then to be dipped in water, and\nthen dried, by applying blotting-paper to it lightly, and afterwards\nexposing it to the heat of a fire, or allowing it to dry spontaneously.\nThe paper thus prepared is called iodized paper, and may be kept for\nany length of time in a portfolio not exposed to light. When a sheet of\npaper is required for use, wash it with the following solution, which\nwe shall call No. 1; take one hundred grains of nitrate of silver,\ndissolved in two ounces of distilled water, and add to this one-third\nof its volume of strong acetic acid. Make another solution, No. 2, by\ndissolving crystallized gallic acid in cold distilled water, and then\nmix the two solutions together in equal proportions, and in no greater\nquantity than is required for immediate use, as it will not keep long\nwithout spoiling. This mixture, called gallo-nitrate of silver, by the\npatentee, is then to be spread, by a soft camel\u2019s-hair brush, on the\nmarked side of the iodized paper; and, after allowing the paper to\nremain half-a-minute to absorb the solution, it should be dipped in\ndistilled water and dried lightly; first with blotting-paper, and then\nby holding the paper at a considerable distance from the fire. When\ndry, the paper is ready, and it is advisable to use it within a few\nhours.\n\nThe paper, which is highly sensitive to light, must now be placed\nin the camera obscura, in order to receive on its marked surface a\ndistinct image of the landscape or person whose picture is required.\nAfter remaining in the camera from ten seconds to several minutes,\naccording to the intensity of the light, it is taken out of the\ncamera in a dark room. If the object has been strongly illuminated,\nor if the paper has been long in the camera, a sensible picture will\nbe seen on the paper; but, if the time of exposure has been short,\nor the illumination feeble, the paper will \u201cappear entirely blank.\u201d\nAn invisible image, however, is impressed on the paper, and may\nbe rendered apparent by the following process:--Take some of the\ngallo-nitrate of silver, and, with a soft camel\u2019s-hair brush, wash the\npaper all over with this liquid, then hold it before a gentle fire,\nand, in a short time, the image will begin to appear; and those parts\nupon which the light has acted most strongly will become brown or\nblack, while the others remain white. The image continues to grow more\nand more distinct for some time, and, when it becomes sufficiently so,\nthe operation must be terminated, and the picture fixed. In order to\neffect this, the paper must be dipped first into water, then partly\ndried by blotting-paper, and afterwards washed with a solution of\nbromide of potassium, consisting of one hundred grains of the salt,\ndissolved in eight or ten ounces of water. The picture is then finally\nwashed in water and dried as before. In place of bromide of potassium,\na strong solution of common salt may be used.\n\nBy this process we get a negative picture--having the lights dark\nand the shades light--and from it positive pictures may be obtained\nas follows:--Dip a sheet of good paper in a solution of common salt,\nconsisting of one part of a saturated solution, to eight parts of\nwater, and dry it first with blotting-paper, and then spontaneously.\nMark one of its sides, and wash that side with a solution of nitrate\nof silver, which we shall call No. 3, consisting of eighty grains of\nsalt, to one ounce of distilled water. When this paper is dry, place it\nwith its marked side uppermost on a flat board or surface of any kind,\nand above it put the negative picture, which should be pressed against\nthe nitrated or positive paper by means of a glass plate and screws.\nIn the course of ten or fifteen minutes of a bright sunshine, or of\nseveral hours of common daylight, a fine positive picture will be found\non the paper beneath the negative picture. When this picture has been\nwell washed or soaked in water, it is washed over with the solution\nof bromide of potassium, already mentioned, or plunged in a strong\nsolution of common salt.[F]\n\nA singular result of the application of this invention occurred to an\naccomplished traveller, who ascended Mount Etna, in order to obtain\nrepresentations of that remarkable volcano. No sooner was the camera\nfixed on the edge of the crater, and the sensitive paper introduced,\nthan a partial irruption took place, and the traveller had to fly for\nhis life. On the cessation of the irruption, he returned; doubtless,\nwith the expectation of merely collecting the fragments of his valuable\ninstrument; when, to his great astonishment and delight, he discovered\nnot only that his camera was absolutely uninjured, but that it\ncontained an admirable representation of the crater and the irruption.\n\nA brief account of the process of the Daguerreotype may now be given. A\nplate of silvered copper, about as thick as a shilling, is well cleaned\nand polished by rubbing it with cotton, fine pumice powder, and dilute\nnitric acid, and afterwards exposed to the heat of a spirit-lamp,\nplaced below it, till a strong white coating is formed on the polished\nsurface. On the plate being cooled suddenly by means of a cold slab of\nstone or of metal, the white coating is removed by repeatedly polishing\nit with dry pumice and cotton, and then three times more with the\ndilute nitric acid and pumice powder.\n\nA careful cleaning being thus given to the plate, it is placed in a box\ncontaining iodine, till it becomes visibly covered with a golden film\nof that substance, which must neither be pale nor purple. It is then\nplaced in the camera till a distinct picture of whatever appears before\nit is formed upon the surface; it remains there for a period depending\non the intensity of the light, and is then removed to a metallic box,\nhaving in it a cup containing at least three ounces of mercury. Placed\nbelow the cup is a spirit-lamp, which throws off the mercurial vapour;\nand, in exact proportion as this vapour deposits itself on the parts\nof the plate which have been acted upon by the light, is the picture\ndeveloped on the surface of the plate, by the adhesion of the white\nmercurial vapour to the different parts which had been impressed by\nthe light. As soon as the picture appears complete, the plate is\nplaced in a trough of sheet-copper, containing either a saturated\nsolution of common salt, or a weak solution of hyposulphite of soda.\nThus, the coating of iodine will be dissolved, the yellow colour quite\ndisappearing; hot, but not boiling, distilled water is then poured over\nthe plate, and any drops which remain are removed by blowing upon them.\n\nThe picture being now finished, is preserved from dust by placing it\nin a frame, and covering it with glass. In every successful operation,\nthe picture is almost as perfect in its details as that of the camera\nobscura itself; but, as the light of the sun is only white, there can\nbe, of course, none of the varied tints of nature. The shades are\nsupplied by the black polish of the metallic surface which, when it\nreflects a luminous object, the white vapour of the mercury appears\nin shade, and thus gives us either a positive or a negative picture,\naccording to the light in which it is viewed.\n\nVarious improvements have gradually been made in the processes of the\nDaguerreotype and the Talbotype, which our limited space forbids us to\ndescribe. Mr. Beard has added colour to his Daguerreotype portraits,\nwhich is uniform and so transparent as not to affect the likeness\nin any degree, while the life-like effect is greatly heightened. M.\nClaudet has found that, when the sun is rendered red by the vapours of\nthe atmosphere, it not only produces no effect upon the Daguerreotype\nplate, but that it destroys the effect previously produced by the\nwhite light. If the image of the red sun be taken in the camera\nobscura, it produces upon the Daguerreotype plate a black image. By\ncovering a Daguerreotype plate previously affected by light with a\nred, orange, or yellow glass, the radiation through these coloured\nmedia has also the property of destroying the action produced by white\nlight. The most interesting part of M. Claudet\u2019s statement refers to\nthe fact that, after the destroying action of the red, orange, and\nyellow radiations, the plate is restored to its former sensitiveness;\nso that, after having been affected by white light, and restored by\nthe destructive action of the red, orange, and yellow radiations, it\nis possible to produce a photographic effect, as upon a plate just\nprepared with iodine and bromine. This alternate acting and destroying\naction may be repeated _ad infinitum_, without altering the final\nstate of the plate. This curious fact proves, evidently, that, in the\nDaguerreotype process, light does not alter the chemical compound on\nthe plate, and that the affinity for mercury is the result of some new\nproperty imparted by the action of the rays of light. M. Claudet\u2019s\nexperiments prove, also, that the red and yellow rays are endowed\nwith a photographic action of their own, which, as well as that of\nthe blue and violet rays, gives an affinity for mercurial vapour. The\nphotographic action of the red ray is destroyed by the yellow, that\nof the yellow by the red; the red and yellow destroy the photographic\naction of the blue, and the blue destroys the action of the others.\nThe photographic, or the destroying action of any particular ray\ncannot be continued by any other. It appears, therefore, that each\nradiation changes the state of the plate, and each change produces the\nsensitiveness to mercurial vapour when it does not exist, and destroys\nthis sensitiveness when it does exist.[G]\n\nM. Regnault has laid before the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, some\nphotographic specimens on paper, obtained by M. Blanquart-Evrard, by\na modification of the usual process. In the preparations hitherto\ndescribed, one part of the process presented serious difficulties,\nnamely, that of the use of gallic acid in order to produce the\nimpression. It happened frequently, that a proof taken in too mild a\nlight, or of too large dimensions, could not receive the necessary\nforce before disappearing, as it may be said, under the uniform colour\nproduced by the mixture of the gallic acid with the aceto-azotate of\nsilver, with which the paper is imbued. After having ascertained that\nthe gallic acid produces this uniform colour on the impression, only\nbecause it is combined in small quantity with the aceto-azotate of\nsilver, M. Blanquart-Evrard removes all the difficulty. After taking\nthe proof from the camera obscura, he plunges it into a vessel of\nlarge dimensions, covered with a layer of one centim\u00e8tre of gallic\nacid of cold saturation. The bath is agitated during the immersion;\nand the action may be thus prolonged until the impression has obtained\nthe necessary force to secure a good result. The proof is then\nwashed, and the gallic acid is replaced by a solution of bromure of\npotassium, or chloruret of sodium, in which it is left for about a\nquarter-of-an-hour.[H]\n\nThe chromatype, discovered by Mr. Hunt, consists in washing good\nletter-paper with the following solution:--\n\n        Bi-chromate of potash    10 grains\n        Sulphate of copper       20 grains\n        Distilled water           1 ounce\n\nPapers prepared with this are of a pale yellow colour; they may be\nkept for any length of time without injury, and are always ready for\nuse. For copying botanical specimens or engravings, nothing can be\nmore beautiful. After the paper has been exposed to the influence of\nsunshine, with the objects to be copied superposed, it is washed over\nin the dark with a solution of nitrate of silver of moderate strength.\nAs soon as this is done, a very vivid positive picture makes its\nappearance; and all the fixing these photographic pictures require is,\nwell washing in pure water.\n\nM. Niepc\u00e9 de St. Victor finds that, if a sheet of paper on which there\nis writing, printed characters, or a drawing, be exposed for a few\nminutes to the vapour of iodine, and there be applied immediately\nafterwards a coating of starch, moistened by slightly acidulated\nwater, a faithful tracing of the writing, printing, or drawing, will\nbe obtained. M. Niepc\u00e9 has also discovered that a great number of\nsubstances, such as nitric acid, chlorurets of lime and mercury, act\nin a similar manner; and that various vapours, particularly those of\nammonia, have the effect of vivifying the images which are obtained by\nphotography.\n\nIn the words of a writer in the _North British Review_:--\u201cWhile\nthe artist is thus supplied with every material for his creative\ngenius, the public will derive a new and immediate advantage from the\nproductions of the solar pencil. The home-faring man--whom fate or\nduty chains to his birth-place, or imprisons in his fatherland--will,\nwithout the fatigues and dangers of travel, scan the beauties and\nwonders of the globe; not in the fantastic or deceitful images of a\nhurried pencil, but, in the very picture which would have been painted\non his own retina, were he magically transported to the scene. The\ngigantic outline of the Himalaya and the Andes will stand self-depicted\nupon his borrowed retina--the Niagara will pour out before him, in\npanoramic grandeur, her mighty cataract of waters, while the flaming\nvolcano will toss into the air her clouds of dust and her blazing\nfragments. The scene will change, and there will rise before him\nEgypt\u2019s colossal pyramids, the temples of Greece and Rome, and the\ngilded mosques and towering minarets of eastern magnificence. But\nwith not less wonder, and with a more eager and affectionate gaze,\nwill he survey those hallowed scenes which faith has consecrated and\nlove endeared. Painted in its cheerless tints, Mount Zion will stand\nbefore him, \u2018as a field that is ploughed;\u2019 Tyre, as a rock on which\nthe fishermen dry their nets; Gaza, in her prophetic \u2018baldness;\u2019\nLebanon, with her cedars prostrate among \u2018the howling firs;\u2019 Nineveh\nmade as a grave, \u2018and seen only in the turf that covers it;\u2019 and\nBabylon the great, the golden city, with its impregnable walls, its\nhundred gates of brass, now \u2018sitting in the dust, cast up as an heap,\u2019\ncovered with \u2018pools of water,\u2019 and without even the \u2018Arab\u2019s tent,\u2019 or\nthe \u2018shepherd\u2019s fold.\u2019 But though it is only Palestine in desolation\nthat a modern sun can delineate, yet the seas which bore on their\nbreast the Divine Redeemer, and the everlasting hills which bounded\nhis view, stand unchanged by time and the elements, and, delineated\non the faithful tablet, still appeal to us with an immortal interest.\nBut the scenes which are thus presented to us by the photographer have\nnot merely the interest of being truthful representations: they form,\nas it were, a record of every visible event that takes place while the\npicture is delineating. The dial-plate of the clock tells the hour and\nminute when it was drawn, and with the day of the month, which we know,\nand the sun\u2019s altitude, which the shadows on the picture often supply,\nwe may find the very latitude of the place which is represented. All\nstationary life stands self-delineated on the photograph:--the wind, if\nit blows, will exhibit its disturbing influence; the rain, if it falls,\nwill glisten on the house-top; the still clouds will exhibit their\never-changing forms; and even the lightning\u2019s flash will imprint its\nfire-streak on the sensitive tablet.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n  Heat, the cause of many wonders--Its universal diffusion and\n    application--Story of a burning-glass--The Augustine friars and\n    the Jesuits--Impostures as to the endurance of heat--Burning\n    mirrors--The blow-pipe--The Giants\u2019 Causeway--Application of\n    currents of heated air--Travelling by steam.\n\n\nHeat is everywhere present: every body that exists contains it in\nquantity to which we can assign no limits. The endless variety of forms\nwhich are spread over and beautify the surface of the globe, are to be\ntraced to its influence. Without it, the land and the water would fall\ninto one formless and impenetrable mass, and the air now essential to\nlife, prove absolutely poisonous. We shall find in connexion with it,\ntherefore, many extraordinary phenomena.\n\nWhen Labat the Jesuit visited the Peruvians, he took the naked arm of\none of them, and, concentrating on it the rays of the sun by means of a\npowerful lens, soon made him cry out with pain, while the others looked\non with wonder, not unmixed with indignation. How could this effect be\nproduced? was instantly the question; and, as promptly, the cause was\ndeclared to be infernal. In vain did Labat assert that it was merely\nnatural. The Peruvians made many attempts to obtain possession of the\nlens in order to destroy it, and deliver themselves from the power of\nthat which they regarded as able to bring upon them the vengeance of\nthe gods.\n\nMuch surprise has sometimes been awakened by an apparent insensibility\nto intense heat. An instance of this occurred when a rivalry existed\nbetween the Augustine friars and the Jesuits. The father-general of\nthe Augustine friars was dining with the Jesuits; and, when the table\nwas removed, he entered into a formal discourse of the superiority of\nthe monastic order, and charged the Jesuits with assuming the title of\n\u201c_fratres_,\u201d while they held not the three vows which other monks were\nobliged to consider sacred and binding. The general of the Augustine\nfriars was very eloquent and very authoritative--and the superior of\nthe Jesuits was very unlearned.\n\nThe Jesuit avoided entering the lists of controversy with the Augustine\nfriar, but arrested his triumph by asking him if he would see one of\nhis friars, who pretended to be nothing more than a Jesuit, and one of\nthe Augustine friars who religiously performed the three vows, show\ninstantly which of them would be readier to obey his superior?\n\nThe Augustine friar consented. The Jesuit then turning to one of his\nbrothers, the friar Mark, who was waiting upon them, said, \u201cBrother\nMark, our companions are cold; I command you, in virtue of the holy\nobedience you have sworn to me, to bring here, instantly, out of the\nkitchen-fire, and in your hands, some burning coals, that they may\nwarm themselves over your hands.\u201d Father Mark instantly obeyed; and,\nto the astonishment of the Augustine friar, brought in his hands a\nsupply of red burning coals, and held them to whoever chose to warm\nhimself; and, at the command of his superior, returned them to the\nkitchen hearth. The general of the Augustine friars, with the rest of\nhis brotherhood, stood amazed; he looked wistfully on one of his monks,\nas if he wished to command him to do the like. But the Augustine monk,\nwho perfectly understood him, and saw this was not a time to hesitate,\nobserved, \u201cReverend father, forbear, and do not command me to tempt\nGod: I am ready to fetch you fire in a chaffing-dish, but not in my\nbare hands.\u201d The triumph of the Jesuits was complete, and it is not\nnecessary to add, that \u201cthe _miracle_\u201d was noised about, and that the\nAugustine friars could never account for it, notwithstanding their\nstrict performance of the three vows! And yet here was no mystery.\nAccording to sir James Mackintosh, \u201cIn the _Mercure de France_, there\nis a very curious account of experiments made at Naples to discover the\nmeans by which jugglers have appeared to be incombustible. They seem to\nbe completely discovered, and chiefly to consist in, first, gradually\nhabituating the skin, the mouth, throat, and stomach, to great degrees\nof heat; second, in rubbing the skin with hard soap, and in covering\nthe tongue with hard soap, and over that with a layer of powdered\nsugar. By these means, the professor at Naples is enabled to walk over\nburning coals, to take into his mouth boiling oil, and to wash his\nhands in melted lead. The miracles of several saints, the numerous\nescapes from the fiery ordeal, and tricks now played by the Hindoo\njugglers, are thus perfectly explained; and all these prodigies may be\nperformed in a fortnight by any apothecary\u2019s apprentice.\u201d\n\nOther instances of endurance are merely pretended. In country places,\na conjurer sometimes appears in the streets, professing that he is\nable to eat fire; and yet he only rolls together a ball of flax or\nhemp, lights it, rolls round it some more of the same material, slips\nit cunningly into his mouth, and breathes through it to revive the\nflame; and so long as he inspires the air through the nostrils, and not\nthrough the mouth, he suffers no injury. A performer, named Richardson,\nin the seventeenth century, pretended to pour melted lead upon his\ntongue; but it is probable that he used the fusible metal formed of\nbismuth, tin, and lead, which melts at a low temperature, and which the\nwriter has seen fused on a card, and poured into the hand with impunity\nby a person accustomed to handle hot substances.\n\nNot many years ago, a man named Chaubert professed to be incombustible;\nbut it has been proved that the human body is capable of bearing a very\nhigh degree of heat. Men of unquestionable integrity have surpassed\nall his wonders. Sir Charles Blagden exposed himself in a heated room\nwhere the heat was one or two degrees above 260\u00b0, and remained eight\nminutes in this situation. Eggs and a beef-steak were placed on a tin\nframe, near the thermometer, and in the space of twenty minutes the\neggs were roasted quite hard, and in forty-seven minutes the steak was\nnot only dressed, but almost dry. Another beef-steak, similarly placed,\nwas rather over-done in thirty-three minutes. Chantrey, the celebrated\nsculptor, accompanied by five or six friends, also entered a furnace,\nand, after remaining two minutes, brought out a thermometer which stood\nat 320\u00b0. Some pain was experienced in this experiment, but it placed\nbeyond all doubt that the human body has a remarkable power of enduring\nheat. Chaubert excited much wonder by taking phosphorus into his mouth;\nbut, as that substance, when deprived of air, will not burn, he always\nclosed his lips, and retired to eject the phosphorus immediately\nafterwards.\n\nWe turn now from the resistance of heat by chemical means, to some\nstriking examples of its power.\n\nThe name of the Giants\u2019 Causeway arose, probably, from an idea of the\nsupernatural power, entertained in times of ignorance and superstition.\nAnd yet it is demonstrated that vast masses of rock are to be traced\nto causes strictly natural. Basalt is of very frequent occurrence\non the surface of the globe, and is frequently detected in a variety\nof volcanoes, both extinct and active. The greatest mass of basalt\nhitherto observed is that in the Deccan, which constitutes the\nsurface of many thousand square miles of that part of India. In other\ninstances, it occurs in horizontal tabular masses, and is columnar.\nSometimes, the basaltic columns are curved, and of this there is\na beautiful example in the island of Staffa. Now basalt is not a\ncrystalline substance, for as it is not capable, as all crystals are,\nof cleavage in the line of its planes, or at some angle with them, it\nis concretional. Its structure resembles an onion, or any bulbous root,\nfor, in the centre, is a solid mass, about which are others just like\nthe parts of the vegetable products already mentioned. These portions\nof basalt are at first of an oval form, and then they gradually\nbecome rudely hexagonal. Some non-columnar basalts show no trace of\nany particular arrangement of parts, while others have a globular\nstructure, so that when the rock becomes much decomposed, it has the\nappearance of numerous bomb-shells and cannon-balls cemented together.\n\nHere, then, we have an extraordinary effect of heat. Mr. Gregory Watt\ntook seven hundred weight of the substance named rowley rag, kept it in\nfusion more than six hours, and cooled it so gradually, that eight days\nelapsed before it was taken from the furnace. The shape of the mass was\nuneven and while the thinner portion was, in consequence of more rapid\ncooling, vitreous, the thicker was stony; the one state passing into\nthe other. Numerous spheroids were also formed, some being two inches\nin diameter. They were radiated with distinct fibres, the latter also\nforming concentric coats, when circumstances were favourable to such\nan arrangement. When the temperature had been sufficiently continued,\nthe centres of the spheroids became compacted before they had attained\nthe diameter of half-an-inch. When two spheroids came into contact, no\npenetration ensued; but the two bodies became mutually compressed and\nseparated by a plane, well defined, and invested with a rusty colour.\nWhen several met, they formed prisms. In reasoning on these facts, Mr.\nG. Watt observes: \u201cIn a stratum composed of an indefinite number in\nsuperficial extent, but only one in height, of impenetrable spheroids,\nif their peripheries should come in contact in the same plane, it seems\nobvious that their mutual action would form them into hexagons; and if\nthese were resisted below, and there was no opposing cause above them,\nit seems equally clear that they would extend their dimensions upwards,\nand thus form hexagonal prisms, whose length might be indefinitely\ngreater than their diameters.\u201d\n\nThat the great power in operation in the formation of basaltic columns\nis heat, appears to be indisputable. There is, for example, a bed of\nsandstone in furnaces for smelting metals, and, in the course of time,\nit requires to be repaired. Portions, taken out, on such occasions,\nhave been found to have a columnar appearance: the heat of the furnace\nhaving changed the form of the substance, not by any fusion of its\nparts, but by a peculiar arrangement of them, thus giving them the\nspecified figure.\n\nAnother astonishing result of this natural power is seen in the\neruption of a volcano. The eye of a traveller, perhaps, as it is turned\ntowards Vesuvius, discerns a dark red spot on the mountain\u2019s side,\nissuing from an orifice near to the crater. But soon, that deep burning\nlight apparently spreads out, or flows on into a long wide stream,\ndescends the entire length of the great cone, and reaches to the plain\nbelow. But, as the first light was seen through and behind the mists\nwhich follow the departure of the sun, so now its extended influence is\nonly rendered visible by the increasing gloom. But, as the eye is still\nattracted towards this remarkable eminence, a pillar of fire is seen\nrising up from the crater high into the air; while innumerable lights\nappear, like so many natural fire-works rushing upwards, and falling in\na glowing shower, on the outer sides of the crater, which soon present\nthe aspect of a heap of fire. Large and red-hot stones are flung forth\nfrom time to time, from the same troubled source, to fall, roll down\nthe sides of the crater, and lose their brightness.\n\nMountains that are liable to volcanic action, before an eruption takes\nplace, are generally the most fertile, and the most attractive of all\neminences. Illustrations of this remark are found upon a magnificent\nscale in Mexico; and, among the rest, that of Jorullo, in the extensive\nintendency of Valladolid, lying on the west coast of America, between\nthe intendencies of Mexico and Guadalaxara, (pronounced Quadalah\u00e0ra.)\nMechoacan, a part of it, is an expanse of table-land which enjoys a\nfine and temperate climate, and is intersected with hills and charming\nvalleys, presenting an appearance unusual in the torrid zone, of\nextensive and well-watered meadows. On the twenty-ninth of September,\n1759, from the centre of a thousand burning cones was thrown up the\nvolcano of Jorullo; a mountain of scori\u00e6 and ashes, seventeen hundred\nfeet high, in an extensive plain, and covered with most luxuriant\nvegetation. When plains, hills, and valleys, are thus spoken of, the\nreader should remember, that all of them are reared upon the lofty\nchain of the Andes, for volcanic eruptions only, so far as we know,\ntake place in mountainous regions.\n\nBut some of the most remarkable examples are to be met with in the\nSpice Islands, or Moluccas. The pointed and conical mountains, which\ncharacterize this group of islands, exhibit great fertility. Nothing\ncan surpass the richness of vegetation with which their sides are\ncovered, nor the balmy healthfulness of the breezes that encircle\nround them, to temper the heats of the sultry zone. But the nature of\nthese mountains is closely connected with volcanic action; so that,\nin fearful apprehension, we might look at each one of these beautiful\npeaks, as if it were destined one day to be torn from its station and\nthrown into the sea.\n\n\u201cI will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the\nrocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain,\u201d was one of the Divine\ndenunciations against Babylon, Jer. li. 25. Judgment has not thus\nfallen on Ternate, one of the most lovely of the cluster just adverted\nto; but the top of the highest rock has been torn off, and hurled from\na height of five or six thousand feet, into the sea. A huge gap was\nleft behind, which seemed to a traveller when standing on the edge,\nlike a deep valley, or ravine, betwixt two mountains. As the portion\nrent away in this tremendous struggle was split into fragments of\nvarious sizes, there is, besides, a vast pile at the water\u2019s edge,\na road, or causeway, strewed with half-vitrified pieces of rock and\ncinders, from the margin of the rift to the declivity of the mountain;\nso that the island, so lovely under other aspects, presents on this\nside a fearful scene of desolation. What a striking comment on the\nwords, \u201cI will make thee a burnt mountain;\u201d--I will tear off thy\nsummit, shiver it into ten thousand pieces, and therewith overwhelm and\ndestroy the natural verdure of thy sides, which once looked so goodly\nand so fair! Some time in March, 1839, another eruption took place\nat Ternate; so that, long before these ejected matters could yield\nto the decomposing action of the atmosphere, and afford a soil for\nvegetable growth, another layer, of equally forlorn and broken kind,\nwas scattered over them.\n\nIn connexion with these astounding phenomena, it may be remarked that\nan apparatus has recently been contrived called the fire-annihilator,\nthe origin of which is not a little curious. It is said that the\ninventor observed that the smoke hovering over a burning mountain\ndiminished its fury, and that, on analysing it and combining similar\nelements, he discovered the means of extinguishing fires, and thus\nof arresting at the outset what might otherwise prove a tremendous\ncalamity.\n\nMany processes of art, like the operations of nature, are dependent\non heat. By this agent, the most obdurate masses soften like wax, and\nyield to the forms which are demanded by our wants and our tastes; and\ncompounds, knit together by stubborn affinities, are resolved by it\ninto their original elements. The baron Von Tchivanhausen constructed\na burning mirror in 1687, five feet three inches in breadth, and\nreflecting the solar rays with extraordinary power. When exposed to\nits force, wood took fire, and continued to burn, notwithstanding\na most violent wind; and water, contained in an earthen vessel,\nquickly boiled, so that eggs were cooked, and the liquid soon after\nevaporated. Copper and silver were fused in a few minutes, and slate\nwas transformed into a kind of black glass, which, when held by a pair\nof pincers, could be drawn out into filaments. This mirror afterwards\ncame into the possession of the king of France, and was kept in the\nJardins du Roi. Other mirrors have been formed of different substances.\nAt the Polytechnic Institution, some years ago, there were two metallic\ndiscs placed at the extreme ends of the great hall, and when a vessel\nof burning coals was held in the focus of one, and a piece of meat in\nthe focus of the other, the latter was cooked with marvellous rapidity\nby a simple and apparently an unimportant instrument.\n\nThe blow-pipe has immense power. Two volumes of hydrogen, and one\nof oxygen gas, when pure, form a mixture which produces in this\ninstrument intense heat, and most substances may be fused by the flame.\nIn the experiments of Dr. E. Clarke, lime, strontion, and alumine,\nyielded to its powers. The alkalis were fused and volatilized almost\nthe instant they came into contact with the flame: and rock crystal\nbecame a transparent glass full of bubbles. Opal changed into a pearly\nwhite enamel, and flint into one that was frothy. Blue sapphire was\nmelted; and Peruvian enamel changed into a transparent and colourless\nglass. Lapis lazuli fused into transparent glass, with a slight tinge\nof green. Iceland spar, next in difficulty, as to fusion, to its\nnative magnesia, melted at last into a limpid glass, giving out an\namethyst-coloured flame. Diamond first became opaque, and was then\ngradually volatilized. Gold, mixed with borax as a flux, was fused;\nplatina wire melted the instant it was brought into contact with the\nflame, and ran down in drops; brass wire burned with a green flame; and\niron wire with brilliant sparks.\n\nAt a recent meeting of the British Association, Dr. Faraday exhibited\nsome diamonds, which he had received from M. Dumas, which had, by the\naction of intense heat, been converted into coke. In one case, the\nheat of the flame of oxide of carbon and oxygen had been used; in\nanother, the oxyhydrogen flame; and, in the third, the galvanic arc of\nflame from a Bunsen battery of one hundred pairs. In the last case,\nthe diamond was perfectly converted into a piece of coke; and, in the\nothers, the fusion and carbonaceous formation were evident. Specimens\nin which the character of graphite was taken by the diamond were also\nshown. The electrical characters of these diamonds were stated also\nto have been changed, the diamond being an insulator, while coke is a\nconductor.\n\nA rope, nearly three miles long, was recently lying on the verge of\nthe borough of Gateshead, which was shortly before a stone in the\nbowels of the earth. Smelted, the stone yielded iron. The iron was\nconverted into wire. The wire was brought to the wire-rope manufactory\nof Messrs. R. S. Newall and Co., at the Teams, near Gateshead, and\nthere twisted into a line 4,660 yards long. It was supposed to be the\nstoutest rope of the kind that was ever made. It weighs twenty tons,\nfive hundredweights, and cost the purchasers upwards of \u00a31,134. It was\nintended for the incline on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, near the\nlatter city. A rope of hemp of equal strength would weigh thirty-three\ntons and-a-half, and cost about three hundred pounds more. It would\nalso entail greater expense while in operation, (owing to its greater\nweight,) and would sooner wear out.\n\n\u201cThe process,\u201d says the _Pharmaceutical Journal_, \u201cfor purifying and\nagglomerating caoutchouc, preparatory to its being cut into sheets,\nand also for effecting the latter operation, are due to the ingenuity\nof M. Sievier. The general principle is this:--Pieces of caoutchouc,\nmixed, as they are in their native state, with various impurities,\nare put into a strong metallic drum, through which passes an axle,\nstudded with chisel-shaped teeth. The interior of the drum is supplied\nwith similar ones, but stationary. Therefore, when the axle is made to\nrevolve, the caoutchouc becomes subjected to a most powerful rending\nand kneading motion, in the course of which sufficient heat is evolved,\nnotwithstanding a current of cold water continually passes through the\ndrum, to agglutinate the material into a compact mass. This mass is\nnow subjected to the pressure of a powerful screw apparatus, and made\nto assume the form of a cuboid, from which sheets of caoutchouc may be\neventually cut by the rapid vibratory action of a knife, kept moistened\nwith water. As solvents for caoutchouc, equal parts of coal naptha and\nturpentine are commonly used; and, of late, the bisulphuret of carbon\nhas been much employed.\u201d\n\nMr. J. Wishaw has lately shown the advantages arising from the\napplication of currents of heated air to the following purposes:\nseasoning timber, generally; preserving timber, purifying feathers,\nblankets, clothing, etc.; drying coffee, roasting coffee, japanning\nleather for table-covers, and other purposes; drying silks, drying\nyarn, drying distillers\u2019 tuns, drying papier-m\u00e1ch\u00e9, and drying\nvulcanized india-rubber. The process has also been successfully tested\nfor drying loaf-sugar, drying printing-paper, or setting the ink, to\nenable books to be bound more quickly than usual; drying starch, and\nconverting it into dextine, or British gum; and preserving meat. It has\nbeen also stated, that sixty suits of clothes, which had belonged to\npersons who had died of the plague in Syria, had been subject to the\nprocess of purification, at a temperature of about 240\u00b0, and afterwards\nworn by sixty persons; not one of whom ever gave the slightest symptom\nof being affected by the malady. In describing these processes, the\nwriter referred to the mode adopted by the North American Indians for\npreserving the meat of the buffalo--that of drying it in the sun;\nand stated that heated currents had been applied successfully. The\ndiscovery seems highly important for shipping; as, instead of sailors\nconsuming salted provisions from one month\u2019s end to another, they might\nthus have an occasional supply of fresh meat. Meat treated in this way\noccupies much less space, too, and is much lighter in weight. It is\nbelieved that the juices of the meat contain about seven-eighths of\nwatery moisture: this, the current of heated air removes, leaving the\nalbumen and all the flavour and nutrition behind.\n\nThat in the production of steam heat is of incalculable value, there\nneeds no proof. We derive special advantage from it, in the results\nof that machinery which astonish us by their magnitude, as well as by\ntheir elegance. Steam wafts us, in a few hours, from one extremity of\nthe land to the other, and renders America, once called the New World,\naccessible in a few days.\n\nAnother instance of its application, often overlooked, is thus\nstated in the _Quarterly Review_:--\u201cThat extraordinary line of steam\ncommunication between England and her eastern possessions, (somewhat\noddly called the _overland_ journey,) of which Australia and New\nZealand will hereafter form the extreme branches. The creation of the\nlast twelve years, this communication has already acquired a sort of\nmaturity of speed and exactness, notwithstanding the enormous distances\ntraversed, and the changes necessary in transit from sea to sea. The\nAnglo-Indian mail in its two sections, and including passengers and\ncorrespondence, possesses a sort of individuality as the greatest\nand most singular line of intercourse on the globe. Two of the first\nnations of Europe, France and Austria, struggle for the privilege of\ncarrying this mail across their territories. Traversing the length\nof the Mediterranean, it is received on the waters of the ancient\nNile--Cairo and the Pyramids are passed in its onward course--the\ndesert is traversed with a speed which mocks the old cavalcades of\ncamels and loitering Arabs--it is re-embarked on the Red Sea, near a\nspot sacred in scriptural history--the promontory projecting from the\nheights of Mount Sinai, the shores of Mecca and Medina are passed in\nits rapid course down this great gulf--it emerges through the straits\nof Babelmandel into the Indian seas--to be distributed thence by\ndifferent lines to all the great centres of Indian government and\ncommerce, as well as to our more remote dependencies in the straits of\nMalacca and the Chinese seas. There is a certain majesty in the simple\noutline of a route like this, traversing the most ancient seats of\nempire, and what we are taught to regard as among the earliest abodes\nof man--and now ministering to the connexion of England with that great\nsovereignty she has conquered, or created, in the east; more wonderful,\nwith one exception, than any of the empires of antiquity; and,\nperchance, also, more important to the general destinies of mankind.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n  The magic swan--Properties of the magnet--The mariners\u2019\n    compass--The process of magnetizing--The dip of the\n    needle--Magnetic properties in various substances.\n\n\nA magician of former days had a figure of a swan, which floated on a\nvessel of water, round the rim of which were placed the twenty-four\nletters of the alphabet. Addressing the spectators, he was accustomed\nto ask for a name to be given him, and it was correctly spelt by the\nswan, as it moved from one letter to another till it had indicated\nthe whole. A little philosophy, in this instance, produced repeatedly\ngreat astonishment. A magnetic bar was placed in the swan, and the\nperformer had a powerful magnet concealed in his own dress, and the\nswan, of course, followed his motions. Thus, if he wanted the swan to\nspell \u201cSelina,\u201d he moved first to S, then to E, and so on, through\nthe successive letters of that name, till the word was spelt. On one\noccasion, however, the performer was not a little disconcerted--the\nswan stopped in its course and refused to move. Again and again the\neffort was made, but it was utterly in vain; the magician could only\nacknowledge that some person was in the room aware of his secret, and\ncounteracting his movements. Sir Francis Blake Delaval avowed himself\nto be the person: he produced a magnet which he had used on facing the\nperformer as he stood at the table; the swan was, therefore, placed\nbetween two attractive instruments, and, of course, remained immovable.\n\nA magnet may be described as a piece of iron, which possesses the\nproperty of turning towards the poles of the earth. This extraordinary\nquality does not necessarily belong to all specimens of iron in its\nnative state, but only to one kind or variety called the oxide, on\naccount of its union with oxygen in a particular condition. The\npossession of a special quality in this ore of iron was not discovered\nfrom its polarity, or power of turning to the poles of the earth, but\nfrom its property of attracting small pieces of iron, which are not\nmagnetic; and hence it was called the loadstone.\n\nThere are many uses to which the magnet has been applied, and there\nis a probability of its being much more extensively employed; but its\nmost important application is in the construction of the mariners\u2019\ncompass, which renders it possible freely to traverse the ocean. There\nhas been some controversy as to the discovery of the directive power\nof the magnet, and the invention of the compass. It was once supposed\nto have been unknown until about the thirteenth century, but it is\nnow generally acknowledged that the Chinese were acquainted with the\ncompass at least eleven hundred and fourteen years before the birth\nof Christ. At the commencement of the thirteenth century, it was\ncertainly in use in Europe; for cardinal de Vitty mentions it with some\nparticularity, in a work entitled \u201cThe History of the East,\u201d where he\nsays, \u201cThe iron needle, after contact with the loadstone, constantly\nturns to the north star, which, as the axis of the firmament, remains\nimmovable, while the others revolve; and hence it is essentially\nnecessary to those navigating on the ocean.\u201d This shows that the\ncompass was not invented in Europe, as commonly believed, by Gioia,\na pilot, and a native of Pasitano, a small village, situated near\nAmalfi, who lived about the end of the thirteenth century, but, by\nhim, it appears to have been made fully available for the purposes of\nnavigation.\n\nAs used by sailors in the Mediterranean at that period, it was a very\nuncertain guide; for the compass then consisted of a magnetic needle\nattached to two straws on a piece of cork, floating on water in a\nbasin, or glass vase. Gioia, therefore, placed the magnetic needle\nupon a pivot, so that it was free to move in any direction, and thus\nprevented that inconvenience and inaccuracy of observation which must\nhave resulted from the motion of the needle floating on water, agitated\nby the tossing of the vessel. The magnetic needle was afterwards\nattached to a card divided into thirty-two points, called the _rose\ndes vents_, so that the direction in which a vessel was sailing\ncould be minutely determined, and the means of ascertaining it was no\nlonger dependent on the accuracy of the eye in measuring distances.\nThe mariners\u2019 compass is still constructed in the same manner, but\nis inclosed in a box with a glass cover, and is thus preserved from\nthe influence of the wind. Another improvement has been made in so\nsuspending the box that, however the vessel may be pitched by the\nwaves, and rolled from side to side, the needle remains in a horizontal\nposition, and gives accurate indications of the direction in which the\nvessel is sailing.\n\nIn addition to the properties already mentioned, the loadstone has the\npower of communicating its virtues to any piece of hard iron or steel,\nand that, without diminution of strength; so that, if but one piece\nhad been discovered, it would have been sufficient for the production\nof all the magnets that have ever been formed by man. Other means may\nbe adopted of accomplishing this purpose. Take a bar of iron, and,\nstriking it several times with a hammer, it will become magnetic. This\nexperiment may be performed with a common poker. The magnetism thus\ncommunicated to a steel bar will be much increased in power, if it be\nsupported on another bar during the process of hammering.\n\nGay Lussac, a French chemist of great celebrity, discovered a method\nof making magnets by a process so simple, that it may, in all cases,\nbe applied successfully. Take a piece of thin iron wire and suspend\nit in a vertical position. The earth itself being a magnet, induces a\nmagnetic power in the wire. To render this permanent, twist the wire\ntill it breaks, and a magnet will be obtained.\n\nMrs. Somerville, well known for her excellent philosophical works,\nmade some experiments on the effect of solar light in the production\nof permanent magnetism. If half of a small sewing needle be covered\nwith paper, and the exposed part be placed in the violet or indigo ray,\nmagnetism will be induced, and the same effect will be produced in a\nsmaller degree by the blue and green.\n\nTo describe but one more mode; magnets are readily made by what is\ncalled the single touch, and this is perhaps the most simple and most\neffective way of proceeding. Place the steel bar to be magnetized on\na table, or any other convenient place, and, as nearly as possible,\nnorth and south, which position is called by philosophers, the magnetic\nmeridian. This being done, draw over it perpendicularly a strong\nmagnet. In this operation, it is necessary to begin at one end of the\nbar, and draw the magnet over its entire length, and then again in the\nsame direction. It must not be drawn backward and forward, for the\npower communicated in one direction, would be destroyed by an opposite\nmotion.\n\nThe following experiments are very instructive:--Suspend a magnetic\nneedle by a silk cord, so that it will hang in a horizontal position.\nThen bring it over the centre of a large magnet lying upon a table,\nand it will still retain its position; but, as it is brought near to\neither end, it will be bent downwards, and, at the extremities, will\nbe vertical. This experiment illustrates what is called the dip of\nthe magnet. On the equator of the earth, the needle is horizontal,\nor nearly so, but as it is brought near the poles it dips, and over\neither magnetic pole would be vertical. The reason of this is evident\nfrom the former experiment: at the equator, each pole of the needle is\nattracted in an equal degree by the north and south poles of the earth;\nbut, if we proceed northward, the north pole of the magnet will be more\nattracted than the south, and point towards it until at last it becomes\nvertical. The poles of the earth\u2019s rotation, that is, the points which\nwould form the terminations of its axis, did it revolve on one, are\nnot the magnetic poles; nor is the equator of the earth the magnetic\nequator. They do not, however, greatly vary.\n\nTake, also, a bar magnet, and, placing it upon a table, cover it with a\nsheet of writing-paper. Then sprinkle upon it some fine iron filings,\nand they will arrange themselves in very beautiful curves round the\nmagnet, showing, as it is supposed, the circulation of the magnetic\nfluid. From this experiment, we learn that the magnetic power is\ngreatest at the poles; and this is true in reference to the magnetism\nof the earth, which increases in power from the magnetic equator to\nthe magnetic poles of the earth, as determined by a great variety\nof interesting and delicate experiments. Sir Graves C. Haughton has\ncommunicated a paper to the June number of Brewster\u2019s _Philosophical\nMagazine_, entitled \u201cExperiments proving the common nature of\nMagnetism, Cohesion, Adhesion, and Viscosity.\u201d\n\nThis paper contains two separate sets of experiments, the first of\nwhich relates to the attraction the magnetic needle has for various\nmineral, vegetable, and animal substances: and it is not a little\nremarkable that antimony and bismuth, as well as copper, tin, and\ncadmium, are, in these experiments, shown to have attractive powers\nfor the magnetic needle; though, in those made by Dr. Faraday, he has\nranged them amongst the class of dia-magnetics, that is, of those that\nexhibited repulsion. Arsenic, too, which he found so intractable,\nwas made, in the present experiments, to assume the real magnetic\ncharacter, that is to say, the power of attracting and repelling, by\nbeing kept for a short time in contact with a bar magnet. Iodine,\nlikewise, was found, on bringing it near the needle, to be able to\nattract it.\n\nIn most of these experiments, the needle was made to attach itself to\nthe substances by being forced towards them by a magnet, which was\ngently withdrawn after contact was so effected. In this way, and by a\nreference to the degrees of the compass traversed by the needle, a hair\nof the head, or a spark of diamond, can be accurately measured. The\nstrength of the needle in its movement on a pivot was ascertained by\nazimuths, of which a detailed account is given.\n\nThe remainder of the memoir, which is contained in a supplementary\nnumber of the Magazine, is devoted to a detail of about five hundred\nexperiments, in which non-ferruginous needles were made, by a\nmodification of the magnetic needle, of which they formed a portion,\nto attach themselves to the same substances as in the preceding\nexperiments. Thus, for instance, needles of most of the remarkable\nmetals, as well as of glass, were found to have a strong affinity\nfor nearly every kind of substance, whether mineral, vegetable, or\nanimal, if its density was greater than that of cork or charcoal.\nBrass surpassed all the metals in its power of attraction, and, what\nis most remarkable, the magnetic needle was the lowest of all in the\nscale, showing not much more than one-third of the attractive energy\nof soft iron. Every substance of a crystalline or vitreous character\nexhibited remarkable magnetic properties, and this could not be\nmistaken, as it might be heightened at pleasure by contact with either\npole of a powerful magnet. Towards the close of the experiments, the\ncurious discovery was made, that needles of ivory, mother-of-pearl,\ntortoise-shell, horn, etc., were singularly magnetic, and this is\ntraced to the albumen and gelatine they contained; and the inference\nis drawn, from this and other facts, that the cohesive, adhesive, and\nviscous properties of bodies are owing to real magnetic qualities,\nand that, by drying, albuminous, gelatinous, and glutinous fluids\nconstitute various kinds of glass, which view is supported by what\ntakes place with the gelatinous hydrate of silicium.\n\n\u201cThe preceding experiments,\u201d says the writer, \u201cinclude a vast variety\nof substances in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, that\nexhibit such strong attractive affinities for one another, that,\nhowever much they may differ in their external appearances, and in\ntheir very natures, they are bound together by common bonds that\nconnect them all into a single family; for we find the metal attaching\nitself to crystalline, animal, and vegetable substances; and, again,\nthe crystal, whether we call it by the name of diamond, salt, or\nsugar-candy, connecting itself readily to metallic, animal, and\nvegetable bodies. In a similar way, animal bodies attach themselves to\nthose that are mineral and vegetable; and, to complete the circle, the\nvegetable kingdom, by its woods, its gums, its lac, and its resins, is\nconnected with them all.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n  The electrical kite--Candles magically lighted--St. Elmo\u2019s\n    fire--The chronoscope--The electric clock--The electric\n    telegraph--Sub-marine telegraphs--The overruling providence of\n    God.\n\n\nIn the auto-biographical memoirs of sir John Barrow, lately published,\nhe says, when describing some of the employments of his youth: \u201cI had\nfallen in with an account of Benjamin Franklin\u2019s electrical kite, and a\nkite being a very common object with school-boys, and a string steeped\nin salt-water with a glass-handle to it not difficult to be had, I\nspeedily flew my kite, and obtained abundance of sparks (like those\nobtained from an electrical machine). An old woman, curious to see\nwhat I was about, was too tempting an opportunity to not to give her a\nshock, which so frightened her, that she spread abroad in the village\nthat I was no better than I should be, for that I was drawing down fire\nfrom heaven. The alarm ran through the village, and my poor mother\nentreated me to lay aside my kite.\u201d\n\nIt was recently announced by a professor of magic, that several hundred\ncandles would be lighted by one pistol shot. Accordingly, the stage\nappeared in partial darkness, but, through the gloom, ranges of candles\nmight be indistinctly perceived at different heights from the floor;\nand, in a minute or two, the performer was seen to enter and discharge\na pistol, when all the candles were instantly ignited, and the array\nof magical instruments appeared strongly illuminated, ready to be\nemployed in the subsequent exploits--an effect always followed by\nenthusiastic acclamations. And yet there is no difficulty in explaining\nthis prodigy. Candles, carefully prepared to ignite readily, might have\nabove them an arrangement of wires, with the point of a wire just over\neach wick, and the whole being connected with an electrical battery,\nthey could be ignited instantly, at a moment\u2019s notice. The instant of\nthe performer\u2019s entering, might be the signal for the discharge of the\nbattery by others, and the report of the pistol would prevent any sound\nbeing heard on the removal of the wires, which the previous darkness\nhad effectually concealed.\n\nLord Napier says, that when he was in the Mediterranean, some years\nago, and during an awful thunderstorm, he was retiring to rest, when\nhe heard suddenly a cry, from those aloft, of \u201cSt. Elmo and St. Anne!\u201d\nwhich induced him again to go on deck. On observing the appearance of\nthe masts, the maintop-gallant-mast-head was completely enveloped in\na blaze of pale phosphoric light; the other mast-heads presented a\nsimilar appearance; the flame preserving its intensity for eight or\nten minutes, and then gradually becoming fainter. Yet this appearance,\nwhich superstition declared to be miraculous, was only electrical; for,\nwhile the solar heat is converting into vapour the water and moisture\nof the earth, electricity is freely disengaged. \u201cThe clouds which\nthis power forms are in different electrical conditions, though the\nelectricity of the atmosphere, when serene, is invariably the same.\nHence the descent of clouds towards the earth, their mutual approach,\nthe force of atmospherical currents, and the ever-varying agencies of\nheat and cold convert the a\u00ebrial envelope of the globe into a complete\nelectrical apparatus; spontaneously exhibiting, in a variety of forms,\nthe play of the conflict of its antagonist powers. At the close of\na sultry day, and above level plains, the opposite electricities of\nthe earth and the air effect their re-union in noiseless flashes of\nlightning, illuminating, as it were, in far-spread sheets, the whole\ncircuit of the horizon, and the entire canopy of the clouds. At other\ntimes, the same elements light up the arctic constellations with their\nrestless wildfires--now diffusing their phosphoric flame, and flitting\naround in fitful gleams, and now shooting up their auroral columns,\nadvancing, retreating, and contending, as if in mimicry of mortal\nstrife.\u201d[I]\n\nThat electricity and magnetism are identical, is evident from many\nexperiments. If a sewing-needle be placed in a wire, twisted in that\nform called a helix, and a shock of electricity be then passed through\nit, from a Leyden jar, the needle will be magnetized. The form of the\nwire, and the manner of placing the needle, are shown in the figure.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAgain, if M be a piece of soft iron, of a horse-shoe shape, and\nsurrounded with copper-wire covered with a non-conducting substance, it\nwill become powerfully magnetic on connecting the ends of the wire with\na galvanic battery. If this be only of a moderate size, and a keeper,\nI, be attached to M, it will suspend W, representing a very heavy\nweight.\n\nMr. Barlow has so arranged a globe, as to identify the dip of the\nneedle with electricity, a current of which appears to be always\npassing round the earth. At G, in the opposite diagram, is a globe\nhaving a wire covered with silk, coiled entirely over it, from one\npole, round and round to the other. The ends of this wire dip into two\ncups, P and N, connected with the poles of a galvanic battery. When the\ncurrent passes from this, the small and delicately balanced magnets,\n_m_, will show polarity, and dip, just the same as in the earth itself.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMr. Bain\u2019s electric clock is a remarkable contrivance. Nothing can be\nmore satisfactory or complete. Allowing for wear and tear of materials\nfrom friction, and the oxidating influence of the atmosphere, the\nperpetual motion appears to be realized. As long as the electricity\nof the earth continues, or, in other words, as long as the laws of\nnature last, so long will Mr. Bain\u2019s clock continue its oscillations,\nand register the transit of time. The pendulum conducts, and is the\ntreasury of that power, and two simple wheels and their attachments,\nwith the dead escapement, complete the machine. By an ingenious\nprovision, Mr. Bain\u2019s electric clock at the manufactory extinguishes\nthe gas-light which illuminates its dial, at half-past twelve precisely.\n\nMr. Bain has invented and patented another kind of electric clock,\nthe clock being in Glasgow, and the pendulum in Edinburgh. By means\nof the electric telegraph along the railway, constructed by Mr. Bain,\nhe intimated his wish that the pendulum at the other end of the line\nshould be put in motion. The clock was placed in the station-house\nin Glasgow, the pendulum belonging to it in the station-house at\nEdinburgh, the two being forty-six miles apart. They were joined by\nmeans of the wire of the telegraph, in such a manner as that, by a\ncurrent of electricity, the machinery of the clock in Glasgow was\nmade to move correctly, according to the vibrations of the electrical\npendulum in Edinburgh. Thus, in like manner, were England and Scotland\nunited in one great chronometrical alliance, a single electrical\npendulum of this description, placed in the Observatory at Greenwich,\nwould give the astronomical time correctly throughout the country.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe electric telegraph may be said to have originated in a trivial\nincident. It occurred to professor Oersted, of Copenhagen, to try the\neffect of a galvanic current on the needle of the compass. He found it,\non making the experiment, deflected, that is, turned aside from its\nusual bearing of due north and south. Professor Wheatstone applied this\nresult very ingeniously. He arranged a series of needles, mounted like\nthat of the compass, and found that he could turn any of these aside by\ngalvanic currents, while the others remained at rest. It was evident,\ntherefore, that if each needle were supposed to denote a letter, any\nletters might thus be indicated; and, consequently, if an arrangement\nof needles standing for so many letters, respectively, were placed\nat the distance of fifty or a hundred miles, and any of them were\nacted on by means of wires traversing the distance, a message could be\ndespatched at one end of the line, and read off at the other from the\ndeflected needles, by any person duly acquainted with the arrangement.\nA similar set of needles at the opposite end, would enable him, as\ncertainly, to transmit a reply.\n\nThe engraving represents the front of the telegraph, exhibiting the\nindex, as it is denominated. The wires, which are suspended through\nthe length of the line, are attached at either end to the telegraphic\ninstruments, a branch wire being fastened to a large metallic surface,\nimbedded in the earth for completing the electric current. When at\nrest, the handles are down, and the pointers remain in their vertical\nposition. The signals are given by two magnetic needles, or pointers,\neach suspended vertically on an axis passing through the dial, and,\nbehind, another pointer is fixed on each corresponding axis. A portion\nof the conducting wire, many yards in length, is coiled round the\ngalvanometer frame, in which the magnet moves, so as to subject the\nmagnet to the multiplied deflecting force of the electric current.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe battery is the motive power of the machine, occupying the same\nrelative position to it, as the boiler does to the locomotive; for,\nthough it does not produce any immediate result on the works, yet the\npart it performs in the undertaking is essential. While travelling,\nMr. Cooke found great inconvenience to result from the spilling of the\nacid solution used in Smee\u2019s batteries; and, from this, he was led to\nconsider if the substitution of fine white Shanklin sand, saturated\nwith the diluted acid, would not avoid this difficulty. Experiments\nhaving confirmed the truth of his conjecture, the change was\npermanently arranged, and it was subsequently found so advantageous,\nthat the same method was tried in the permanent batteries, and, in like\nmanner, the result has proved satisfactory. At present, the generator\nresembles, in its principal features, the one known as Wollaston\u2019s\ntrough; and it is so arranged, that the series of plates of copper and\namalgamated zinc, arranged for the evolution of the electric fluid,\nadmit of being placed in a corresponding series of cells, filled with\nwell-washed and dry sand. The _United Service Gazette_ states, that\nall that is necessary in order to use the instrument is, slightly to\nmoisten the sand with diluted sulphuric acid.\n\nThe conducting wires are, at their ends, of less diameter, and are so\narranged as to form the coiled magnets. Those in the diagram are seen\nin connexion with the works; the electric current, taking the course\nindicated by the arrows, occasions the deflection of the needle.\n\nThe following engraving represents the interior of the machine, and\nshows the means by which the magnet is connected with the electric\ncurrent. The parts lettered _a_ are the key-shafts, which, on being\nturned to the right or left by a handle, pushes one of the springs,\n_c_, from its point of contact, _d_, and, by changing the course of the\nelectric current, produces a corresponding change in the position of\nthe needle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn making a communication to the person stationed at the point where\nhe wishes the information to be received, the operator, by turning\nthe handle to the right or left, breaks the electric current; then,\npressing the wire against pins connected with the battery-poles,\nthe coils of wire receive their full deflective force, and attract\nthe magnetic needles to either side, according to the course of the\ncurrent. Thus, if the stream of electricity passes into the coil on\nthe right, the upper part of the needle will be attracted towards it;\nif the stream passes into the coil on the left, then the needle will,\nin like manner, be attracted to it; thus, giving the whole motion\nnecessary to the pointers. The time which elapses between the moving\nof the handles and the effect on the pointers, is imperceptible,\nthough we must believe that it really follows it. The dial is divided\ninto five circles, each containing a number of letters, or signs. The\nleft-hand needle moving to the left twice, gives _a_; three times, _b_;\nonce to the right and once to the left, _c_; once to the left and once\nto the right, _d_; once to the right, _e_; twice, _f_; three times,\n_g_. The order is then taken up by the right-hand needle moving once\nto the left for _h_; twice for _i_; three times for _k_; once to the\nright and once to the left for _l_; once to the left, and once to the\nright, for _m_; once to the right for _n_; twice for _o_; and three\ntimes for _p_. The remaining signs are made by two needles working\nconjointly, so that the simultaneous movement of the _two_, once to the\nleft, indicates _r_; twice for _s_; three times for _t_; once to the\nright, and once to the left, for _u_; once to the right for _w_; twice\nfor _x_; and three times for _y_. At the end of every word given, the\nleft-hand needle, moving once to the right, to the cross, indicates\nthat the word is completed. If the receiver understands the word, he\nsignifies it by moving the same pointer twice to the left, and twice to\nthe right, which means _yes_; if the communication is not understood,\nthen the needle points twice to the right, and twice to the left,\nwhich indicates _no_. The original word is then repeated; if figures\nare wanted, the motions for each letter are doubled. Previously to\ngiving a signal, the attention of the operator is called by the ringing\nof a bell, which is accomplished by an apparatus as simple as it is\ningenious.[J]\n\nThat communications by this means may often be of great importance,\nis evident, from many newspaper paragraphs. The following appeared\nin the early part of 1847: \u201cOn Friday evening the following message\nwas received at the Chesterfield station: \u2018Tell Derby, a Mr. H. has\nescaped from the York Asylum, and is supposed to have fire-arms about\nhis person. Search all the trains from York. He is tall, has a crooked\nnose, and has a green coat with pockets at the side. Tell the police to\nlook out.\u2019 To this message another succeeded from Leeds: \u2018He is caught\nat Leeds; they have him quite secure.\u2019\u201d\n\nAn establishment has lately been opened near the Bank of England, in\nwhich telegraphic intelligence may be despatched, or received, in all\nthe principal towns of our country. The difficulties which have existed\nin reference to sub-marine telegraphs appear to have been overcome;\nfor the time occupied from the commencement of carrying the telegraph\nacross Portsmouth harbour, and transmitting signals, does not occupy\na quarter-of-an-hour. The telegraph, which has the appearance of an\nordinary rope, is coiled into one of the dockyard boats, one end of\nit being made fast on shore; and, as the boat is pulled across, the\ntelegraphic rope is gradually paid out over the stern, its superior\ngravity causing it to sink to the bottom immediately. The telegraph\nconsists of but this line; and, unlike those along the various\nrailways, requires no return wires to perfect the circuit. The electric\nfluid is transmitted from the batteries in the dockyard, through the\nsubmersed insulated wire to the opposite shore; the fluid returning to\nthe negative pole through the water without the aid of any metallic\nconductor, except a short piece of wire thrown over the dockyard\nparapet into the water, and connecting it with the batteries. The\nfact of the water acting as a ready return conductor, is established\nbeyond question. In 1842, Mr. Snow Harris, when proving the efficiency\nof his lightning-conductors in his experiments from this dockyard\nto the Orestes, exemplified that water would serve to complete the\nelectric circuit. On that occasion, the distance traversed by the\nreturn current through the water was but trifling compared with the\nspace accomplished in the present instance. The batteries used are\nSmee\u2019s; and a very delicate and accurate galvanic detector, invented by\nMr. Hay, the chemical lecturer of the dockyard, has also been brought\ninto requisition. Independent of the simplicity of this sub-marine\ntelegraph, it has an advantage which even the telegraphs on land do not\npossess--in the event of accident, it can be replaced in ten minutes.\n\nAt the last meeting of the British Association, the chairman, sir R.\nH. Inglis, thus adverted to the progress of the electric telegraph,\nfrom a report presented to the Legislative Council and Assembly of New\nBrunswick, relative to a project for constructing a railway, and with\nit a line of electro-magnetic telegraph, from Halifax to Quebec:--\n\n\u201cThe system is daily extending. It was, however, in the United States\nof America that it was first adopted on a great scale, by professor\nMorse, in 1844; and it is there that it is now already developed most\nextensively. Lines for above thirteen hundred miles are in action, and\nconnect those states with Her Majesty\u2019s Canadian provinces; and it is\nin a course of development so rapid that, in the words of the report\nof Mr. Wilkinson to my distinguished friend, his excellency sir W. E.\nColebrook, the governor of New Brunswick, \u2018no schedule of telegraphic\nlines can now be relied upon for a month in succession, as hundreds\nof miles may be added in that space of time. So easy an attainment\ndoes such a result appear to be, and so lively is the interest felt\nin its accomplishment, that it is scarcely doubtful that the whole\nof the populous parts of the United States will, within two or three\nyears, be covered with a net-work, like a spider\u2019s web, suspending its\nprincipal threads upon important points, along the sea-board of the\nAtlantic on one side, and upon similar points along the lake frontier\non the other.\u2019 I am indebted to the same report for another fact,\nwhich I think the association will regard with equal interest:--\u2018The\nconfidence in the efficiency of telegraphic communication has now\nbecome so established, that the most important commercial transactions\ndaily transpire, by its means, between correspondents several\nhundred miles apart. Ocular evidence of this was afforded me by a\ncommunication a few minutes old between a merchant in Toronto, and his\ncorrespondent in New York, distant about six hundred and thirty-two\nmiles.\u2019 I am anxious to call your attention to the advantages which\nother classes also may experience from this mode of communication,\nas I find it in the same report:--\u2018When the Hibernia steamer arrived\nin Boston, in January, 1847, with the news of the scarcity in Great\nBritain, Ireland, and other parts of Europe, and with heavy orders for\nagricultural produce, the farmers in the interior of the states of New\nYork, informed of the state of things by the magnetic telegraph, were\nthronging the streets of Albany with innumerable team-loads of grain,\nalmost as quickly after the arrival of the steamer at Boston, as the\nnews of that arrival could ordinarily have reached them. I may add\nthat, irrespectively of all its advantages to the general community,\nthe system appears to give already a fair return of interest to the\nindividuals or companies who have invested their capital in its\napplication.\u2019\u201d\n\nProfessor Morse states, as the result of improvements in this\ntelegraph, the president\u2019s message, entire, on the subject of the war\nwith Mexico, was transmitted with perfect accuracy at the rate of\nninety-nine letters per minute. His skilful operators in Washington\nand Baltimore printed these characters at the rate of ninety-eight,\none hundred-and-one, one hundred-and-eleven, and one of them actually\nprinted one hundred-and-seventeen per minute. He must be an expert\npenman who can write legibly more than one hundred letters per minute;\nconsequently, this mode of communication equals, or nearly equals, the\nmost expeditious mode of recording thought!\n\nHere, then, we close our series of illustrations of what is popularly\ntermed \u201cNatural Magic,\u201d but, strictly speaking, of natural laws; having\nglanced at the arrangements of mechanical skill, terrestrial phenomena,\nchemical wonders, and the effects of light, heat, and electricity.\n\nIn doing so, we are reminded of the words of the psalmist:--\u201cThy\nfaithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth,\nand it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances:\nfor all are thy servants,\u201d Psa. cxix. 90, 91.\n\nThe constancy of nature, thus so clearly indicated, is illustrated by\nordinary experience. The child who flies his kite in the air, or places\nhis little ship on the surface of the stream, or gathers together the\ndry leaves to make a blaze, yea, even by the food that he eats, and\nby his movements in his daily walks, proves that nature has laws, and\nthat in them there is continuance. In after-life, the fact is still\nmore obvious. Every day and every night bear their explicit testimony\nto it. Water finds its way to the ocean by a thousand channels; it is\nraised to the higher regions of the atmosphere to be dispersed in light\nand fleecy clouds over the four quarters of the globe; and, at length,\naccomplishes its circuit, by falling in showers on the dry and thirsty\nground.\n\n\u201cIt needs, however,\u201d says Chalmers, \u201cthe aid of philosophy to learn\nhow unvarying nature is in all her processes--how even her seeming\nanomalies can be traced to a law that is inflexible--for what might\nappear at first to be the caprices of her waywardness, are, in fact,\nthe evolutions of a mechanism that never changes--and that, the more\nthoroughly she is sifted and put to the test by the interrogations of\nthe curious, the more certainly will they find that she walks by a rule\nwhich knows no abatement; and perseveres with obedient foot-step in\nthat even course, from which the eye of strictest scrutiny has never\nyet detected one hair\u2019s-breadth of deviation. It is no longer doubted\nby men of science, that every remaining semblance of irregularity\nin the universe is due, not to the fickleness of nature, but to the\nignorance of man--that her most hidden movements are conducted with\na uniformity as rigorous as fate--that even the fitful agitations of\nthe weather have their law and principle--that the intensity of every\nbreeze, and the number of drops in every shower, and the formation of\nevery cloud, and all the occurring alternations of storm and sunshine,\nand the endless shiftings of temperature, and those tremulous varieties\nof the air which our instruments have enabled us to discover, but have\nnot enabled us to explain--that still, they follow each other by a\nmethod of succession, which, though greatly more intricate, is yet as\nabsolute in itself as the order of the seasons, or the mathematical\ncourses of astronomy. This is the impression of every philosophical\nmind with regard to nature, and it is strengthened by each new\naccession that is made to science. The more we are acquainted with her,\nthe more are we led to recognise her constancy, and to view her as a\nmighty, though complicated machine, all whose results are sure, and all\nwhose workings are invariable!\u201d\n\nWho is not filled with amazement in contemplating the power of the\nAlmighty? Only let it be his will to set one of his agents loose, and\nthe earth and all that it contains shall be burned up. Well may we\ntremble at the thought of that \u201cwrath which is revealed from heaven\nagainst all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men!\u201d On those who\nbelieve not, the curse of Jehovah abides. Would that men considered\nhow fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God!\nConvinced by the Holy Spirit of their guilt and danger, they would then\nfly to the only hope set before them in the gospel.\n\n   \u201cIn vain we seek for peace with God\n      By methods of our own:\n    Jesus, there\u2019s nothing but thy blood\n      Can bring us near the throne.\n\n    The threatening of thy broken law\n      Impress our souls with dread;\n    If God his sword of vengeance draw,\n      It strikes our spirits dead.\n\n    But thine illustrious Sacrifice\n      Hath answered these demands;\n    And peace, and pardon, from the skies,\n      Came down by Jesus\u2019 hands.\u201d\n\nIt has been well remarked by Bacon, that \u201cit is heaven on earth to\nlive in charity, to turn upon the poles of truth, and to rest in\nProvidence.\u201d The tenderness and minuteness of the Divine care are\ntaught us by our Lord himself: \u201cFear not them which kill the body,\nbut are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able\nto destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for\na farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your\nFather. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not\ntherefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows,\u201d Matt. x. 28\u201331.\n\nLet, then, all who are reconciled to God through the death of his Son,\nbe comforted by this truth. God is not far from every one of us; the\nvast and the minute are alike under his control; and he has graciously\npromised that all things shall \u201cwork together for good to them that\nlove God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.\u201d\n\nIn the ignorance and superstition of the human mind, applications are\nsometimes made to those who are supposed to be endowed with magical\npowers. Such practices are condemned in the Scriptures as vain and\nwicked. Hence, says the prophet Isaiah, \u201cWhen they shall say unto\nyou, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that\npeep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the\nliving to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not\naccording to this word, it is because there is no light in them,\u201d Isa.\nviii. 19, 20.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n  Claims of the church of Rome to miraculous power--The\n    Franciscans and Dominicans--Tale of bishop Remi--The effect of\n    relics--Friars\u2019 pretended dispossession of evil spirits--Tragical\n    event--Appearance of the virgin Mary to shepherds\n    exposed--Pretended miracle of the Greek church.\n\n\nThe Romish church, in all ages, has affirmed that to it has been\ngranted the power of working miracles. Its \u201cLives of the Saints,\u201d a\nseries extended avowedly through many centuries, abound with relations\nof what are described as supernatural appearances, but which we can\nonly trace to a very different cause.\n\nThe two following facts are given by Luther:--\u201cIn the monastery of\nIsenach stands an image, which I have seen. When a wealthy person came\nthither to pray to it, (it was Mary with her child,) the child turned\naway its face from the sinner to the mother, as if it refused to give\near to his praying, and was therefore to seek mediation and help from\nMary the mother. But, if the sinner gave liberally to that monastery,\nthen the child turned to him again; and if he promised to give more,\nthen the child showed itself very friendly and loving, and stretched\nout his arms over him, in the form of a cross. But this image was\nmade hollow within, and prepared with locks, lines, and screws; and\nbehind it stood a knave to move them; and so were the people mocked and\ndeceived, taking it to be a miracle wrought by Divine Providence!\u201d\n\n\u201cA Dutchman, making his confession to a mass-priest at Rome, promised,\nby an oath, to keep secret whatever the priest would impart to him,\ntill he came into Germany, upon which the priest pretended to give him\na leg of the ass on which Christ rode into Jerusalem, very neatly bound\nup in a silken cloth, and said, \u2018This is the holy relic on which the\nLord Christ did corporeally sit, and with his sacred legs touched this\nass\u2019s leg!\u2019 The Dutchman was wonderfully pleased, and carried the holy\nrelic with him into Germany, and when he came upon the borders, boasted\nof his holy possession in the presence of four others of his comrades,\nat the same time showing it to them; but each of the four having also\nreceived a leg from the priest, and promised the same secrecy, he\ninquired with astonishment, \u2018Whether that ass had five legs!\u2019\u201d\n\nThe frauds practised by the professed ministers of religion, during\nthe almost universal prevalence of popery, most affectingly display\nthe depravity of the human heart, and the impious tendency of false\nreligion. Never, perhaps, was a stratagem acted more infamous than\none in Berne, in the year 1509, the following account of which drawn\nfrom Ruchet\u2019s \u201cHistoire de la R\u00e9formation en Suisse,\u201d and H\u00f6ttinger\u2019s\n\u201cHist. Eccles. Helvet.,\u201d is given in Mosheim\u2019s \u201cEccles. Hist.\u201d A\nsimilar account may be found in bishop Burnet\u2019s Travels through\nFrance, Italy, etc. The stratagem in question was the consequence of a\nrivalship between the Franciscans and Dominicans, and more especially\nof their controversy concerning the immaculate conception of the virgin\nMary. The former maintained, that she was born without the blemish of\noriginal sin; the latter asserted the contrary. The doctrine of the\nFranciscans, in an age of darkness and superstition, could not but be\npopular; and hence, the Dominicans lost ground from day to day. To\nsupport the credit of their order, they resolved, at a chapter held at\nVimpsen in the year 1504, to have recourse to fictitious visions and\ndreams, in which the people at that time had an easy faith; and they\ndetermined to make Berne the scene of their operations. A person named\nJetzer, who was extremely simple, and much inclined to austerities,\nand who had taken their habit as a lay-brother, was chosen as the\ninstrument of the delusions they were contriving. One of the four\nDominicans, who had undertaken the management of this plot, conveyed\nhimself secretly into Jetzer\u2019s cell; and, about midnight, appeared to\nhim in a horrid figure, surrounded with howling dogs, and seemed to\nblow fire from his nostrils, by the means of a box of combustibles\nwhich he held near his mouth. In this frightful form, he approached\nJetzer\u2019s bed, told him that he was the ghost of a Dominican, who had\nbeen killed at Paris, as a judgment from heaven for laying aside his\nmonastic habit; that he was condemned to purgatory for this crime;\nadding, that, by his means, he might be rescued from his misery, which\nwas beyond expression. This story, accompanied with horrible cries and\nhowlings, frightened poor Jetzer out of the little wits he had, and\nengaged him to promise to do all in his power to deliver the Dominican\nfrom his torment. Upon this, the impostor told him, that nothing but\nthe most extraordinary mortifications, such as the discipline of\nthe whip, performed during eight days by the whole monastery, and\nJetzer\u2019s lying prostrate, in the form of one crucified, in the chapel,\nduring mass, could contribute to his deliverance. He added, that the\nperformance of these mortifications would draw down upon Jetzer the\npeculiar protection of the blessed virgin; and concluded by saying that\nhe should appear to him again, accompanied with two other spirits.\n\nMorning was no sooner come, than Jetzer gave an account of this\napparition to the rest of the convent, who all unanimously advised him\nto undergo the discipline that was enjoined; and every one consented\nto endure his share of the task imposed. The deluded simpleton obeyed,\nand was admired as a saint by the multitude that crowded about the\nconvent, while the four friars, that managed the imposture, magnified,\nin the most pompous manner, the miracle of this apparition, in their\nsermons, and in their discourse. The night after, the apparition was\nrenewed, with the addition of two impostors, dressed like devils;\nand Jetzer\u2019s faith was augmented by hearing from the spectre all the\nsecrets of his life and thoughts, which the impostors had learned\nfrom his confessor. In this, and some subsequent scenes, (the detail\nof whose enormities we shall here omit,) the impostor talked much\nto Jetzer of the Dominican order, which he said was peculiarly dear\nto the blessed virgin; he added, that the virgin knew herself to be\nconceived in original sin; that the doctors who taught the contrary\nwere in purgatory; that the blessed virgin abhorred the Franciscans\nfor making her equal with her Son; and that the town of Berne would be\ndestroyed for harbouring such plagues within her walls. In one of these\napparitions, Jetzer imagined that the voice of the spectre resembled\nthat of the prior of the convent, and he was not mistaken; but, not\nsuspecting a fraud, he gave little attention to this. The prior\nappeared in various forms, sometimes in that of St. Barbara, at others,\nin that of St. Bernard; at length, he assumed that of the virgin Mary;\nand, for that purpose clothed himself in the habits that were employed\nto adorn the statue of the virgin in the great festivals; the little\nimages, that on these days are placed on the altars, were made use of\nfor angels, which, being tied to a cord that passed through a pulley\nover Jetzer\u2019s head, rose up and down, and danced about the pretended\nvirgin to increase the delusion. The virgin thus equipped, addressed\na long discourse to Jetzer, in which, among other things, she told\nhim that she was conceived in original sin, though she had remained\nbut a short time under that blemish. She gave him, as a miraculous\nproof of her presence, a host, or consecrated wafer, which turned from\nwhite to red in a moment: and, after various visits, in which the\ngreatest enormities were transacted, the virgin-prior told Jetzer,\nthat she would give him the most affecting and undoubted marks of her\nSon\u2019s love, by imprinting on him the five wounds that pierced Jesus\non the cross, as she had done before to St. Lucia and St. Catharine.\nAccordingly, she took his hand by force, and struck a large nail\nthrough it, which threw the poor dupe into the greatest torment.\n\nThe next night, this masculine virgin brought, as he pretended, some\nof the linen in which Christ had been buried, to soften the wound,\nand gave Jetzer a soporific draught, which had in it the blood of\nan unbaptized child, some grains of incense, and of consecrated\nsalt, some quicksilver, and the hairs of the eye-brows of a child,\nall of which, with some stupifying and poisonous ingredients, were\nmingled together by the prior with magic ceremonies, and a solemn\ndedication of himself to the devil in the hope of his succour. This\ndraught threw the poor wretch into a sort of lethargy, during which\nthe monks imprinted on his body the other four wounds of Christ, in\nsuch a manner that he felt no pain. When he awoke, he found, to his\nunspeakable joy, these impressions on his body, and came at last to\nfancy himself a representative of Christ in the various parts of his\npassion. He was, in this state, exposed to the admiring multitude on\nthe principal altar of the convent, to the great mortification of the\nFranciscans. The Dominicans gave him some other draughts, that threw\nhim into convulsions, which were followed by a voice conveyed through\na pipe into the mouths of two images, one of Mary, and another of the\nchild Jesus; the former of which had tears painted upon its cheeks\nin a lively manner. The little Jesus asked his mother, by means of\nthis voice, (which was that of the prior,) why she wept? and she\nanswered, that her tears were owing to the impious manner in which the\nFranciscans attributed to her the honour that was due to him, in saying\nthat she was conceived and born without sin.\n\nThe apparitions, false prodigies, and abominable stratagems of these\nDominicans were repeated every night; and the matter was at length so\ngrossly over-acted, that, simple as Jetzer was, he at last discovered\nit, and had almost killed the prior, who appeared to him one night\nin the form of the virgin, with a crown on her head. The Dominicans,\nfearing, by this discovery, to lose the fruits of their imposture,\nthought the best method would be to own the whole matter to Jetzer,\nand to engage him, by the most seducing promises of opulence and\nglory, to carry on the cheat. Jetzer was persuaded, or at least he\nappeared to be so. The Dominicans, however, suspecting that he was not\nentirely gained over, resolved to poison him; but his constitution was\nso vigorous that, though they gave him poison five several times, he\nwas not destroyed by it. One day, they sent him a loaf prepared with\nsome spices, which, growing green in a day or two, he threw a piece of\nit to a wolf\u2019s whelps, that were in the monastery, and it killed them\nimmediately. At another time, they poisoned the host, or consecrated\nwafer, but he escaped once more. In short, there were no means of\nsecuring him, which the most detestable impiety and barbarity could\ninvent, that they did not put in practice; till, finding at last an\nopportunity of getting out of the convent, he threw himself into the\nhands of the magistrates, to whom he made a full discovery of this\ninfernal plot. The affair being brought to Rome, commissaries were sent\nfrom thence to examine the matter; and the whole cheat being fully\nproved, the four friars were solemnly degraded from their priesthood,\nand were burned alive, on the last day of May, 1509. Jetzer died some\ntime after at Constance, having poisoned himself, as was believed by\nsome. Had his life been taken away before he had found an opportunity\nof making the discovery already mentioned, this execrable and horrid\nplot, which, in many of its circumstances, was conducted with art,\nwould probably have been handed down to posterity as a stupendous\nmiracle.\n\nWhen the Reformation was spread in Lithuania, prince Radzviil was so\naffected by it, that he went in person to pay the pope all possible\nhonours. His holiness, on this occasion, presented him with a precious\nbox of relics. The prince having returned home, some monks intreated\npermission to try the effect of these relics on a demoniac, who had\nhitherto resisted every kind of exorcism. They were brought into the\nchurch with solemn pomp, and deposited on the altar, accompanied\nby an innumerable crowd. After the usual conjurations, which were\nunsuccessful, they applied the relics. The demoniac instantly\nrecovered. The people called out, \u201cA miracle!\u201d and the prince, lifting\nhis hands and eyes to heaven, felt, it is said, his faith confirmed.\nIn this transport of joy, he observed that a young gentleman, who was\nkeeper of this treasure of relics, smiled, and by his motions ridiculed\nthe miracle. The prince indignantly took the young keeper of the relics\nto task; who, on the promise of pardon, gave the following secret\nintelligence concerning them. In travelling from Rome he had lost the\nbox of relics, and, not daring to mention it, he obtained a similar\none, which he had filled with small bones of dogs and cats, and other\ntrifles similar to what were lost. He hoped he might be forgiven for\nsmiling, when he found such a collection of rubbish was idolized with\nsuch pomp, and had even the virtue of expelling demons! It was by the\nassistance of this box that the prince discovered the gross impositions\nof the monks and demoniacs, and Radzviil afterwards became a zealous\nLutheran.[K]\n\nTo take another case, for which we are indebted to Scott\u2019s \u201cHistory of\nthe Lives of Protestant Reformers in Scotland.\u201d At the east end of the\nvillage of Musselburgh there was a chapel dedicated to the virgin Mary;\nits proper name being Loretta, though it was vulgarly called Alareit,\nor Lawreit. There was also a chapel of the same name in Perth, and\nmany credulous people of both these places, as well as the people of\nLoretta, in Italy, believed that their chapel contained within it the\nidentical small brick-built house in which Mary had dwelt at Nazareth,\nand that it had been conveyed miraculously from its original seat.\nAt the time now referred to, it was announced in Edinburgh, and the\nneighbouring places, that a miracle would be performed on a certain\nday, and a great number of persons consequently assembled. A stage was\nerected on the outside of the chapel, and, at length, a young man,\napparently blind, was led forward. Many of those who were present\nknew this person, and had, perhaps, often pitied his circumstances.\nAfter various prayers and ceremonies, his eyes, to the satisfaction\nof the people, appeared to be perfectly restored. Returning thanks\nto the priests and friars, he now left the stage, and received the\ncongratulations of the people, some of whom gave him money.\n\nThe true character of the treatment of his case will appear from\nthe following narrative. He had been a poor friendless boy, who had\nattended the sheep belonging to the ruins of Scienna, or Sciennes,\nabout a quarter of a mile from Edinburgh. It was one of his amusements\nto turn up the whites of his eyes; and, so effectually did he do this,\nas to appear, at pleasure, perfectly blind. The nuns spoke of him to\nsome priests and friars, and they laid the plan which was afterwards\ncarried out. The child was secreted for some years from public view,\nand, when it was supposed he was so altered as not to be recognised, he\nwas sent forth a blind mendicant, accompanied by a person who believed\nhe was born so, and had previously been supported by the nuns. Bound by\na solemn but rash vow to affect blindness, he travelled the country for\na considerable time, till at length the trick of his restoration was\nplayed as has already been stated.\n\nAmong the numerous publications of M. Guizot, is an edition of the\n\u201cChronicles of Frodvard,\u201d which, in addition to much historical matter,\nascribes many miracles to the bishops of Rheims. One of them, bishop\nRemi, it is said, \u201cwas in the house of a wealthy female relative,\nconversing with her on religious topics, when her butler announced\nthat there was no more wine in the cellars. The bishop, seeing her\nembarrassment, having previously entered some of the lower apartments\nhimself, proposed to accompany her to the cellar. When they entered\nit, he inquired whether there was not a little wine remaining in a\nparticular cask. The butler replied, that there was only enough to\npreserve it from decay. The bishop then desired him to shut the door,\nand not to stir from his position, and passing to the other end to\nthe cask, which was pretty large, he made the sign of the cross and\nprayed. Soon the wine rose up out of the cask, and flooded over the\ncellar-floor!\u201d Now, the fact of the bishop\u2019s visit to the cellar first;\nof a butler, it might be, not very acute in vision, being desired,\nafter locking the door, to exclude all witnesses, and to stand at a\ndistance; and, of a relation of the bishop, who might easily be made a\nconfederate, being engaged; is surely more than sufficient to set aside\nthe whole tale. Moreover, the lady gave, as the result of the prodigy,\nwhich many a conjuror has easily surpassed, a portion of her estate in\nperpetuity to the bishop and his church! Prodigies of the Romish church\nin abundance have had precisely the same issue.\n\nIn an official and authorized Roman Catholic publication, printed in\n1831, we are told that not less than twenty-six pictures of the virgin\nMary opened and shut their eyes at Rome during the years 1796 and 1797,\nwhich was supposed to be an indication of her peculiar favour to the\ninhabitants of that city for the opposition which they presented to the\nFrench. Among the subscribers to this work are the four archbishops and\neleven bishops of Ireland.\n\n\u201cAn officer in the British army described to me,\u201d says Mr. Hughes, \u201can\nextraordinary scene which he witnessed in Messina, in 1811, occasioned\nby a picture of the virgin, in a church much venerated by the populace.\nAn inhabitant going in, according to custom, to offer up his adoration\nto the Madonna, suddenly ran out again, exclaiming, that \u2018_the virgin\nwas weeping_ for calamity impending over the city.\u2019 The people rushed\nin crowds to the church; when, lo! to their astonishment and dismay,\nthe tears were, as reported, trickling over the cheeks of their beloved\npatroness; upon which, the whole multitude began to weep, and howl, and\nbeat their breasts, expecting nothing less than an earthquake, or a\nFrench invasion. At length one, more acute than the rest, observed that\nsome water was passing through the roof of the church, and dripping\nupon the canvas, pointed out the circumstance; but he nearly fell a\nvictim to his want of judgment, for the people were determined to have\na miracle; nor could they be persuaded to disperse till the archbishop,\na venerable old man, mounted a ladder, and wiped the lady\u2019s eyes with\na napkin; after this, he drew the picture into a more perpendicular\nsituation, telling his audience, that, as the cause was luckily\nremoved, _their patroness_ had promised to weep no more.\u201d[L]\n\nThe author of \u201cRome in the Nineteenth Century\u201d says: \u201cPrivate miracles\naffecting individuals go on quite commonly every day without exciting\nthe smallest attention. These generally consist in procuring prizes\nin the lottery, curing diseases, and casting out devils. The mode of\neffecting this last description of miracle was communicated to me the\nother day by an abate here, and, as I think it extremely curious, I\nshall narrate it to you.\n\n\u201cIt seems that a certain friar had preached a sermon during Lent, upon\nthe state of the woman mentioned in Scripture possessed with seven\ndevils, with so much eloquence and unction, that a simple countryman\nwho heard him went home, and became persuaded that seven devils had\ngot possession of him. The idea haunted his mind, and subjected him\nto the most dreadful terrors; till, unable to bear his sufferings,\nhe unbosomed himself to his ghostly father, and asked his counsel.\nThe father, who had some smattering of science, bethought himself,\nat last, of a way to rid the honest man of his devils and his money\ntogether. He told him it would be necessary to combat with the devils\nsingly, and, on the day appointed, when the poor man came with a sum of\nmoney--without which the good father told him the devil never could be\ndislodged--he bound the chain connected with an electrical machine in\nan adjoining chamber round his body--lest, as he said, the devil should\nfly away with him--and, having warned him that the shock would be\nterrible when the devil went out of him, he left him praying devoutly\nbefore an image of the Madonna; and after some time, gave him a pretty\nsmart shock, at which the poor wretch fell insensible on the floor from\nterror. As soon as he recovered, however, he protested that he had seen\nthe devil fly away out of his mouth, breathing blue flames and sulphur,\nand that he felt himself greatly relieved. Seven electrical shocks at\ndue intervals having extracted seven sums of money from him, together\nwith the seven devils, the man was cured, and a great miracle performed!\n\n\u201cTo us this transaction seemed a notable piece of credulous\nsuperstition on the one hand, and fraudulent knavery on the other; but\nto our friend the abate, it only seemed an ingenious device to cure of\nhis fears a simpleton, over whose mind reason could have no power--as\nthe physician cured a lady who fancied she had a nest of live earwigs\nin her stomach, not by arguing with her on the absurdity of such a\nnotion, but by showing her that an earwig was killed by a single drop\nof oil, and making her swallow a quantity of it.\n\n\u201cBut with respect to the man and his devils, I would ask, why inspire\nsuperstitious terrors to conquer them by deceit, and why make him pay\nso much money? Yet this is nothing to other things that are of daily\noccurrence.\u201d\n\nIn some of the provinces of France, miracles are stated continually\nto be performed, and the peasants blindly adopt all the extravagances\npresented to their acceptance. In the little town of F\u00e9camp there is\na fountain, the water of which is said to do wonders; and thousands\nof pilgrims annually resort to it from the neighbouring country. The\ncur\u00e9 distributes to each a bottle of this water, accompanying it with\nsome Latin words, receiving two sous for his trouble. This amounts to\na considerable sum. In another town, Andelys, there is also a fountain\nwhich, it is said, possesses, once a year, the sovereign virtue of\ncuring rheumatism, palsy, and nervous affections. The pilgrims either\nplunge the diseased member into the water, or throw themselves in\nentirely, and, afterwards, follow the procession in their wet clothes.\n\nIn the month of June, 1824, in a small village, called Artes,\nnear Hostalrich, about twelve leagues from Barcelona, there was a\nconstitutionalist, and therefore one opposed to the ruling power,\nwith which the priesthood was fully identified. This man being at the\npoint of death, his brother called on the curate, and requested him\nto come and administer the sacraments. The curate refused; affirming\nthat the brother, as a constitutionalist, was a villain, an impious\nwretch, an enemy to God and man; he was lost, without mercy, and that,\ntherefore, it was useless to confess him. The brother asked whence\nthis information was derived; the reply was, that God himself told\nthe curate this during the sacrifice of the mass. In vain the brother\nreiterated his intreaties; the curate was inexorable. A few days after,\nthe constitutionalist expired, and the brother demanded for the body\nthe rites of sepulture. The curate refused, alleging that the soul\nof the departed was lost, and that it was in vain to inter the body;\nadding, \u201cFor during the night, the devils will come and carry it away;\nand in forty days, you yourself will meet the same fate.\u201d\n\nThe Spaniard not treating this declaration with implicit faith, but,\nwith his suspicions awakened, watched during the night, with his\npistols loaded, beside the body of his brother. Between twelve and\none o\u2019clock, a knock was heard at the door, and a voice exclaimed, \u201cI\ncommand you to open the door, in the name of the living God! Open!\nif not, your instant ruin is at hand.\u201d The Spaniard refused; and\nshortly after he saw enter, by the window, three figures, covered\nwith the skins of wild beasts, provided with horns, claws, and tails;\nand, as they were about carrying off the coffin containing the body,\nthe Spaniard fired, and shot one of them dead; the others took to\nflight; he fired after them, and wounded both. One of them died in a\nfew minutes, the other escaped. In the morning, a discovery was made:\nthe people went to church, but there was no curate to officiate: it\nwas found shortly after, on examining those who had been shot, that\none was the curate, the other the vicar; the person wounded was the\nsacristan, who confessed the whole plot. The case was brought before\nthe tribune of Barcelona.[M]\n\nAnd yet, despite of the frequent exposure of its wicked pretences, the\nRomish church contends at this hour as earnestly for the possession of\nmiraculous endowments as it ever did. As it claims to be unchangeable,\nthis is manifestly its only course. Accordingly, it has been affirmed\nof the last persons added to the Romish calendar, only a few years ago,\nthat they wrought miracles. The time of canonization is sagaciously\ndeferred till two centuries after the decease of the parties; but\nthere is no difficulty in seeing that all the avowed deviations from\nthe laws of nature attributed to the canonized, are impious pretences.\nDr. Harsnett, afterwards archbishop of York, said, long since, \u201cNone\nbut the pope and his scholars can cogge a miracle kindlie, and he and\nhis priests can despatch a miracle as easily as a squirrel can cracke\na nutte. A miracle in the bread, a miracle in the wine, a miracle in\nthe holy water, a miracle in holy oyle, a miracle in lamps, candles,\nbeades, bones, stones; nothing done in religion without a miracle and a\nvice.\u201d And even Petrarch thus wrote:--\n\n   \u201cFountain of grief, abode of anger,\n    School of errors, and temple of heresy;\n    Formerly Rome, now Babylon false and guilty;\n    Through whom there are so many tears and sighs;\n    O mistress of deceit; O prison of anger,\n    Where the good perish, and the bad are cherished and engendered,\n    Hell of the living! It will be a great miracle\n    If Christ is not angry with thee at last.\u201d\n\nSo recently as the beginning of the year 1847, the virgin Mary was\nsaid to have appeared to two shepherds, in the district of Grenoble.\nThe so-called miracle was blazed forth far and wide, and an engraved\nrepresentation of the appearance was widely distributed. Nor was this\nall: it was said that the virgin sat on a stone during the interview,\nand that, on this being broken, after she was gone, there was found in\nthe interior an image of our Lord! But what are the facts that have\nbeen discovered since? That the priests employed a lady to personate\nthe virgin; and that the figure in the stone was traced by a French\nofficer, who, with a companion, placed it on that spot for a joke; as,\nin Italy, objects of modern manufacture are buried, and then dug up,\nto be passed off on the unwary as really antique! In such instances,\nhowever, money is frequently made; while the French officers had no\nmercenary intentions.\n\nWe close these exposures with a pretended miracle of the Greek church.\nAt the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, there is annually\na ceremony to which multitudes are attracted. It is pretended by the\nGreek priests, that, on a particular day, a sacred fire proceeds from\nthe sepulchre: the pilgrims, therefore, congregated at Jerusalem,\nattend there to light theirs; these are then extinguished, and\ncarefully preserved, to be added to the garment dipped in the Jordan\nwhen they are buried. All, however, await the arrival of the Turkish\ngovernor; for, \u201ctill he arrives, the miracle is not certainly to take\nplace.\u201d\n\nTo quote from some travellers who were present at the ceremony, during\nthe year 1846, we are informed that \u201cit was a very remarkable scene.\nThe large area of the church was densely crowded; but, around the\nsepulchre, a space of about four feet wide was kept clear by a double\nline of Turkish soldiers. At short intervals of time, a number of\ninfatuated and highly-excited men and boys entered in, and, rushed\nround and round with desperate energy, screaming and hallooing like\nso many maniacs. Some stood upright on a friend\u2019s shoulders, who ran\nwith the rest till an unlucky stumble threw both to the ground. One old\nman was particularly conspicuous; he generally headed the rest, and\nseemed to be fitter for a strait-waistcoat than to be the leader of a\nreligious procession. He danced, shouted, and threw himself into all\nsorts of postures. At last he mounted on another frantic devotee, and\nurged him to his utmost speed: they continued their mad course till he\nwas thrown down violently against two of the soldiers; they seized him\nby the hair of his head, and hauled him out of the church. In a few\nminutes, however, he returned and was more outrageous than before.\nThus, for two hours, the church was a scene of noise, confusion, and\nfrantic excitement. At two o\u2019clock the governor arrived, and quietly\ntook his seat. The racing pilgrims were driven off the course, and,\nshortly after, a procession of priests, headed by the patriarch, and\nfollowed by a motley group of ragged fellows, bearing shabby banners,\nwalked slowly round three times, chanting some prayers. The patriarch\nwas a grey-headed old man, with a cunning expression of countenance;\nhis very look seemed to say, \u2018I am about to act a lie--what fools\nare you to believe it!\u2019 There is a circular hole in the side of the\nlittle chapel built over the sepulchre; close to it a man was posted,\nprotected by the soldiers. He was a rich pilgrim, probably an Armenian,\nwho had paid handsomely for the privilege of being the first to light\nhis tapers by the holy fire. The old patriarch, having divested himself\nof most of his fine trappings, entered alone into the sanctuary. In a\nminute after, he pushed through the hole a quantity of flaming cotton,\ndipped in spirits of wine; the favoured pilgrim eagerly lighted a bunch\nof tapers by it, and, escorted by the soldiers, hurried out of the\nchurch. The excitement was now at its height; a scene followed which\nbaffles description. There was a tremendous rush towards the flame,\nstill held out by the patriarch, and each strove who should light his\ntaper the earliest. Those who could not get up to head-quarters were\nobliged to procure a light from the more fortunate, and in three\nminutes the church and adjoining chapels were in a blaze. Thousands\nof wax-candles and flambeaux were glittering over the space; some had\nforty or fifty long thin tapers bound together, which were intended\nas valuable presents for friends at home. It was, for the time, like\nBedlam let loose: some were kneeling in ecstatic adoration, others\nscreaming, dancing, and jumping; the more zealous put the flame into\ntheir mouths, or applied it to their faces or naked breasts. It is\nasserted that the holy fire does not burn or hurt any one, but Mr.\nDalton noticed that few kept it long enough near to give it a fair\ntrial. In ten minutes every taper was extinguished, and the pilgrims\ndispersed, carrying away the precious relics.\u201d[N]\n\nIn former parts of this volume, it has been shown that surprising\neffects are frequently produced for the amusement of others, or\nfrom the love of gain and celebrity, so common to fallen man. And,\ndoubtless, wherever true piety does not operate--the piety which is\ndisplayed in supreme love to God, and pure and expansive benevolence\nto man--there will be some manifestation of the \u201cspirit\u201d that worketh\nin \u201cthe children of disobedience.\u201d While \u201che that doeth righteousness\nis righteous, he that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil\nsinneth from the beginning,\u201d 1 John iii. 7, 8.\n\nTo transgressors of every age our Lord still says, \u201cYe are of your\nfather the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do,\u201d John viii.\n44. And bondage to the \u201cgod of this world\u201d brings on his captives,\nwhether old or young, rich or poor, instructed or untaught, not only\nguilt but misery; while \u201cthe end of these things is death,\u201d Rom. vi. 21.\n\nBut when we see impious pretences employed in order to hold the minds\nof men in the most degrading vassalage, we have a fearful display of\nenormous guilt, accumulated by a wilful subjection to \u201cthe father\nof lies.\u201d Satan was \u201ca liar from the beginning.\u201d To accomplish his\npurposes, he can \u201ctransform himself into an angel of light;\u201d and\nstill he leads multitudes \u201ccaptive at his will.\u201d Marvellous is the\nforbearance of the Supreme Governor of the universe, who does not at\nonce ease him of his adversaries, but still richly and freely offers\nthe blessings of salvation to a world which lieth in the wicked one.\nWho will not desire that the goodness of God may lead the greatest\ntransgressors to repentance? And, as one act of submission to the\nprince of the power of the air is a fearful step towards an absolute\nand eternal thraldom, it becomes each of us to imitate those who could\nsay, \u201cWe are not ignorant of his devices;\u201d constantly to present at\nthe throne of grace the petition, \u201cLead us not into temptation, but\ndeliver us from evil;\u201d and to trust implicitly in Him who, on the cross\nhaving \u201cspoiled principalities and powers, made a show of them openly,\ntriumphing over them in it,\u201d 2 Cor. ii. 11; Matt. vi. 13; Col. ii. 15.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n  Real Miracles--A miracle defined by archbishop Tillotson--The\n    miracles of Moses--The miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ--The\n    miracles of the apostles--Collision with those who pretended\n    to supernatural power--The magicians of Egypt--Magical arts at\n    Ephesus--The miraculous power of the Saviour inherent, that of\n    the prophets and apostles derived--Cessation of miraculous gifts.\n\n\nWe now enter on a brief consideration of unquestionable miracles. As\nthe grant of Divine revelation was made to some persons who were to\nproclaim it to the whole human race, so, while holy men of God spake as\nthey were moved by the Holy Ghost, the broad seal of Heaven was placed\nby miracles on their testimony. As a man\u2019s signature gives validity\nto his bond, or the credentials of an ambassador demonstrate his\nright to transact the business of his sovereign; so the supernatural\nworks performed by the prophets, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by\nhis apostles, prove as fully to those who witnessed them, that the\nwords they heard proceeded from God, as if they had listened to him\npronouncing them with an audible voice from the excellent glory; while\nall to whom their testimony has been faithfully transmitted, may\ncherish an equal confidence.\n\nIt has been well remarked by archbishop Tillotson, that \u201cthere are two\nthings necessary in a miracle: that there should be a supernatural\neffect, and that this effect should be evident to sense.\u201d He adds,\n\u201cNeither in Scripture, nor in profane authors, nor in common use, is\nanything called a miracle but what falls under the cognizance of the\nsenses; a miracle being nothing else but a supernatural effect evident\nto sense, the great end and design whereof is to be the sensible proof\nand conviction of something that we do not see.\u201d The church of Rome\naffirms that, in the celebration of the mass, the bread and wine are\nchanged into the very body and blood, soul and Divinity, of our Lord\nJesus Christ; though they retain exactly the same appearance that\nthey had before the change is said to have occurred. Hence, the same\nwriter argues, \u201cFor want of a supernatural effect evident to sense,\ntransubstantiation is no miracle; a sign or a miracle is always a thing\nsensible, otherwise it could be no sign. Now, that such a change in\ntransubstantiation should really be wrought, and yet that there should\nbe no sign of it, is a thing very wonderful; but not to sense, for\nour senses perceive no change. And that a thing should remain to all\nappearance just as it was, hath nothing at all wonderful in it. We\nwonder, indeed, when we see a strange thing done, but no man wonders\nwhen he sees nothing done.\u201d\n\nNumberless were the miracles wrought by Jehovah in ancient times, in\nbehalf of his chosen people. In vain does infidelity object that the\ncontents of the books of Moses _may_ not be true; since, had they been\nfalse, it was absolutely impossible that they could have obtained any\ncredit. The number of the people must have amounted to three millions,\nand every adult person was a competent judge whether the things related\nto have taken place within his own memory had really happened.\n\nThe Israelites would not have believed that the Red Sea was divided\nto give them a passage--that, during their pilgrimage of forty years\nin the wilderness, a miraculous cloud had guided them by day, and\nbecome at night a fire casting round its radiance--that they had been\nsupplied with manna from heaven, falling on six successive days around\ntheir camp, and on the last of them a double quantity, to prevent\nits being gathered on the sabbath--that God had published his law on\nthe mount that might not be touched, amidst thunders, and lightning,\nand tempest--and that he had punished its violation by terrible\nplagues--for them to believe these things would have been absolutely\nimpossible, had the whole narrative been a fiction. A romance would\nhave excited their ridicule, and the yoke which, on the ground of the\ninvention, was to be placed about their necks, would have been rejected\nwith the utmost indignation. It is also morally impossible that the\nbooks of Moses could have been received in the age immediately after\nhis death, if their contents had been false; and highly improbable\nthat, though true, they would have been considered his writings, if\nthey had been set forth by some other person in his name, and had not\nappeared till he was lying in his grave.\n\nIt would be easy to show that the wondrous acts recorded are traced\nexplicitly to Divine operation. In illustration of this, the following\npassages may be taken: \u201cI am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator\nof Israel, your King.\u201d \u201cThus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in\nthe sea and a path in the mighty waters;\u201d alluding, most probably,\nto the passage of Israel through the Red Sea, and, afterwards, to\ntheir crossing the Jordan, both of which events were unquestionably\nmiraculous.\n\nThat one great object kept in view by the Redeemer in performing\nmiracles was, to furnish convincing proofs of his Divine mission, is\nevident from the uniform tenor of the inspired narratives. Nicodemus\nreasoned justly when he said, \u201cRabbi, we know that thou art a teacher\ncome from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except\nGod be with him,\u201d John iii. 2. The same conviction was possessed by the\nchief priests and the Pharisees, for they said, after the resurrection\nof Lazarus, \u201cThis man doeth many miracles: if we let him thus alone all\nmen will believe on him,\u201d John xi. 47, 48. Our Lord himself appeals\nto his miracles: \u201cI have greater witness than that of John, for the\nworks which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I\ndo bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me,\u201d John v. 36. It\nis impossible, therefore, that any statement could be more plain and\ndecisive. Our Lord rests his claim to be believed on the wonders he\nwrought. Again, he says, \u201cIf I had not done among them the works which\nnone other man did, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak\nfor their sin.\u201d Thus, we see the wonders which Christ wrought were\nunparalleled. He healed the sick, he penetrated the minds of men by his\nown infinite power. And hence, the unbelief of those who witnessed his\nmighty deeds appeared in all its aggravated and naked enormity; \u201ctheir\nsin remained.\u201d But, in direct opposition to this, there would have\nbeen a plea for unbelief had pretended miracles been true. Had it been\na fact, instead of a fable, that \u00c6sculapius had cured disease at his\noracle, or that the god of the oracle of Claros had known the thoughts\nof men\u2019s hearts, then, and then only, there would have been a cover for\ntheir iniquity.\n\nWere we to select one miracle as demonstrative that Jesus was sent by\nthe Father, and of the acceptance of his work; and, still further,\nof the futility of every objection that can be raised against it; it\nshould be that of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. \u201cSee,\u201d\nsays Saurin, \u201chow many extravagant suppositions must be advanced if\nthe resurrection of our Saviour be denied. It must be supposed that\nguards, who had been particularly cautioned by their officers, sat down\nto sleep; and that, nevertheless, they deserved credit when the body\nof Jesus was stolen. It must be supposed that men who had been imposed\non in the most odious and cruel manner in the world, hazarded their\ndearest enjoyments for the glory of an impostor. It must be supposed\nthat ignorant and illiterate men, who had neither reputation, fortune,\nnor eloquence, possessed the art of fascinating the eyes of all the\nchurch. It must be supposed either that five hundred persons were all\ndeprived of their senses at a time, or that they were all deceived\nin the plainest matters of fact; or, that this multitude of false\nwitnesses had found out the secret of never contradicting themselves or\none another, and of being always uniform in their testimony. It must be\nsupposed that the most expert courts of judicature could not find out a\nshadow of a contradiction in a palpable imposture. It must be supposed\nthat the apostles, sensible men in other cases, chose precisely those\nplaces and those times which were most unfavourable to their views. It\nmust be supposed that millions madly suffered imprisonments, tortures,\nand crucifixion, to spread an illusion. It must be supposed that ten\nthousand miracles were wrought in favour of falsehoods, or all these\nfacts must be denied. And then, it must be supposed that the apostles\nwere idiots, that the enemies of Christianity were idiots, and that all\nthe primitive Christians were idiots.\u201d\n\nThe apostles of our Lord were invested with miraculous powers: \u201cGod\nalso bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with\ndivers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own\nwill,\u201d Heb. ii. 4. As the apostles asserted a direct and unequivocal\nclaim to miraculous powers, and as these are declared in the New\nTestament to have been exerted by them, falsehood, if proved, would\ndestroy the veracity of their writings, and the validity of all the\ndoctrines and precepts they contained. But, let the case be duly\nweighed, and it will be seen, that, to support their pretensions by\nartifice and chicanery, was absolutely impossible. A few might be\ndeceived, an empire could not be; and great must be the infatuation of\nsupposing that a few obscure men could blind the eyes of the people\namong whom they lived. In the face of the utmost hostility, in the\nmidst of the greatest perils, in defiance of cruel persecutions, and\nwith the crucifixion of their Lord before their eyes, they could not\nhave claimed the exercise of miraculous powers if they had not been\nactually possessed. Had they resembled the Romanists, to whom we have\nreferred, would it have been possible to escape detection?\n\nIt is worthy of special remark, that more than one account is given\nus in sacred history of the messengers of God entering into collision\nwith those who pretended to supernatural power. Thus a memorable\ncontest took place between Moses and the magicians of Pharaoh\u2019s court.\nDifferent opinions are entertained as to the means by which the latter\nperformed their feats, some contending that they were mere tricks, and\nothers that evil spirits were in active operation. On this controverted\nquestion we do not enter; it is sufficient for the present purpose to\nremark, that the superiority of the servants of Jehovah was placed\nbeyond all dispute. The rod of Aaron swallowed up the rods of the\nmagicians; at the plague of flies and the murrain on the cattle, they\nwere compelled to say, \u201cThis is the finger of God;\u201d and at length they\n\u201ccould not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were\nupon the magicians and all the Egyptians,\u201d Exod. ix. 11.\n\nAnother instance of a later date is equally conclusive. The gospel\nwas proclaimed at Ephesus, where the arts which pretended to lay open\nthe secrets of nature, and to arm the hand of man with supernatural\npowers, were especially apparent. Indeed, in the age of our Lord and\nhis apostles, pretended adepts in the occult sciences were numerous;\nthey travelled from country to country, and were found in great numbers\nin Asia, deceiving the credulous multitude, and profiting by their\nexpectations. They were sometimes Jews, who referred their skill, and\neven their forms of proceeding, to Solomon, who is still regarded in\nthe east as the head or prince of magicians. In Asia Minor, Ephesus had\na high reputation for magical arts. Here, then, \u201cGod wrought special\nmiracles by the hands of Paul.\u201d The appeal to the wonder-workers of a\ncountry which contained so magnificent a temple to Diana, that it was\nreckoned among the wonders of the world, was singularly striking.\nAccustomed as the Ephesians were to produce strange results by some\nspecies of magic, they would naturally ascribe miracles to a similar\nagency. It was necessary, therefore, that the miracles which were to\nserve as the credentials of Christianity, should be especially marked,\nand placed beyond the reach of all their enchantments and incantations.\nAnd it seems an instance not the less remarkable, because easily\noverlooked, of the adaptation of means to an end, that in Ephesus,\nin which, of all others, magic was resorted to, the powers granted\nto the first heralds of redeeming mercy sufficed to place them at an\nimmeasurable distance above the most consummate magicians.\n\nAnother fact is equally entitled to attention. Certain Jews travelling\nin that country, and professing to cast out the evil spirits which\nfrequently possessed the bodies of men, took upon them, as avowed\nexorcists, to employ the name of the Lord Jesus, from the success with\nwhich it was used by the apostle Paul. Amongst these were the seven\nsons of Sceva, a Jew, who addressed an evil spirit in the name of\nChrist, thinking, perhaps, that their number would give special force\nto their adjuration. The spirit, however, answered, \u201cJesus I know,\nand Paul I know, but who are ye?\u201d nor was he content with refusing to\nbe thus ejected; for, causing the man in whom he dwelt to put forth\nsupernatural strength, \u201che leaped upon the young men and overcame them,\nand forced them to flee out of the house naked and wounded.\u201d These\nfacts soon became notorious; fear fell alike on the Jews and Greeks\nresiding at Ephesus; the most potent appeal had been made to those\naccustomed to use charms and incantations; and numbers were led at once\nto renounce their arts of magic.\n\nVery celebrated were the \u201cEphesian letters,\u201d which appear to have been\na sort of magical formula written on paper or parchment, designed to\nbe fixed as amulets on different parts of the body, such as the hands\nand the head. Erasmus says, that they were certain signs or marks\nwhich rendered their possessor victorious in everything. Eustatius\nmentions an opinion that Cr\u0153sus, when on his funeral pile, was very\nmuch benefited by the use of them; and that when a Milesian and an\nEphesian were wrestling in the Olympic games, the former could gain no\nadvantage, as the latter had Ephesian letters bound round his heel;\nbut these being removed he lost his superiority, and was thrown thirty\ntimes. Many of these were, probably, among the books of which we read,\nActs xix. 19; while others were most likely occupied by descriptions\nof the prevailing modes of practising \u201cenchantments.\u201d But all were\npromptly and cheerfully consigned to the flames. Thus the sincerity\nof the converts was evident by no trifling sacrifice, for, when they\ncounted the price of these books, they \u201cfound it fifty thousand pieces\nof silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.\u201d\n\nThat there was a difference between the operations of the apostles and\nthe agency of our Lord, should be clearly perceived. The power of the\nSaviour was inherent--that of the apostles was derived. How manifest is\nthe miraculous agency of Christ shown in the cure of the leper! \u201cLord,\nif thou wilt,\u201d said he to the Saviour, \u201cthou canst make me clean.\u201d\nJesus answered, \u201cI will--be thou clean,\u201d and immediately he was made\nwhole. Our Lord made no appeal to any other power. At the grave of\nLazarus, indeed, he \u201clifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee\nthat thou hast heard me.\u201d But this prayer appears to have been offered\nnot on his own account, but for the sake of those who surrounded him,\nand who needed such a seal to his mission to establish their faith.\nTherefore, he added, \u201cAnd I know that thou hearest me always: but\nbecause of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe\nthat thou hast sent me.\u201d And as on other occasions, he said, \u201cThy sins\nare forgiven thee\u201d--\u201cArise, take up thy bed and walk\u201d--\u201cI command thee\nto come out of her,\u201d so now he cried with a loud voice, \u201cLazarus,\ncome forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with\ngrave-clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith\nunto them, Loose him, and let him go,\u201d John xi. 42\u201344.\n\nOur Lord had previously said, \u201cTherefore, doth my Father love me,\nbecause I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh\nit from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down,\nand I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of\nmy Father,\u201d John x. 17, 18. In like manner, Jesus said to Martha, \u201cI am\nthe resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were\ndead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall\nnever die,\u201d John xi. 25, 26. How strikingly contrasted was the language\nof the apostles! In the case of the lame man laid at the beautiful gate\nof the temple, Peter said, \u201cSilver and gold have I none; but such as\nI have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up\nand walk.\u201d These words, uttered on the first miracle of the apostles,\nexpressed the great principle on which they performed every other, and\nthe spirit in which they wrought all their wondrous deeds.\n\nThe apostle, like the prophet, laid down his authority, and resigned\nhis commission with his life; but our Lord Jesus Christ not only\nexercised his power amidst his last sufferings and death, but extended\nhis authority beyond the grave. \u201cI lay down my life of myself; no man\ntaketh it from me; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to\ntake it again.\u201d And though he said, \u201cThis commandment have I received\nof my Father,\u201d he also added, \u201cI and my Father are one\u201d--\u201cthereby,\u201d as\nthe Jews distinctly perceived, \u201cmaking himself equal with God.\u201d\n\nEven the diversity of gifts distributed among primitive saints,\nproved the infinite resources of Him by whom they were granted. Though\nbestowed by the Holy Spirit, they were purchased by the blood and\nsupplied by the grace of the Son of God. Speaking of the outpouring of\nthe Spirit, and its results, Jesus said, \u201cHe shall receive of mine, and\nshall show it unto you.\u201d Most emphatically does he lay claim to all the\nfulness of the Godhead, when he adds, \u201cAll things that the Father hath\nare mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and show it\nunto you.\u201d Thus, the gift of tongues, of miracles, of prophecy, and of\ninterpretation, proved the infinite power of the Giver, on whose will\nthe extent and diversity of the operation alike depended. Some had one\npower and some another: but all these wrought that one and the selfsame\nSpirit, dividing to every man severally as he would. 1 Cor. xii. 11.\n\nThe miraculous endowments of early times were, however, transient.\nCertain facts appear to be conclusive on this point. No gift was more\nhighly estimated, or considered more necessary for the propagation\nof the gospel, than the gift of tongues. And yet, this was,\nunquestionably, of short duration. The only reference made to it in\nall the documents of antiquity, is in the work of Iren\u00e6us against the\nheretics. He says, \u201cWe hear of many in the church imbued with prophetic\ngifts, speaking with all kinds of tongues.\u201d But though he must have\nrequired the gift as much as any--for he was called to labour for\nthe diffusion of the gospel among the pagan Celts--yet he expressly\ndeclares, \u201cIt was not the least part of his trouble, that he was forced\nto learn the language of the country, a rude and barbarous dialect,\nbefore he could effect any good among them.\u201d Augustine, it is evident,\nknew nothing of supernatural power like that which some had possessed\nat a former period. \u201cIn the primitive times,\u201d he says, \u201cthe Holy Spirit\nfell upon believers, and they spoke in tongues which they had not\nlearned, as the Spirit gave them utterance. These were signs suitable\nfor the time. It was right that the Holy Spirit should thus be borne\nwitness of in all tongues, throughout the world. That testimony being\ngiven, it passed away.\u201d With equal explicitness Chrysostom affirms, \u201cOf\nmiraculous powers not so much as a single vestige or trace remains.\u201d\n\nIn vain do Romanists contend for the continuance of miracles. Never\nhave they been able to produce a solitary instance in which the gift\nof tongues has been exercised. And yet, if any member of their church\nmight have been expected to be so endowed, it certainly would have\nbeen Francis Xavier, who has been called \u201cthe apostle of the Indies.\u201d\nBut even he confesses that, ignorant of the language of the people to\nwhom he went, he was incapable of doing any service to the Christian\ncause, and was little more than a mute statue among them, till he could\nacquire some competent knowledge of their tongues.\n\nMiracles have passed away; but we still possess the glorious gospel of\nthe blessed God. A power, however, more than human is needed to apply\nit to the heart. To open the blind eyes, to unstop the deaf ears, to\ngive spiritual discernment to the mind, to break down prejudice, to\nhumble pride, to \u201ccast down imaginations and every high thing that\nexalteth itself against the knowledge of God,\u201d is the work of the Holy\nSpirit. Paul, as he cast around him \u201cthe good seed of the kingdom,\u201d\nmight have given up all in despair, but for interposing Omnipotence. \u201cI\nhave planted,\u201d he said, \u201cApollos watered; but God gave the increase. So\nthen neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth;\nbut God that giveth the increase.\u201d\n\nThere is, however, a great diversity in the operations of the same\nDivine Spirit. Some are brought at once \u201cfrom the power of Satan unto\nGod;\u201d and ever will the time and circumstances of their conversion\nbe held in remembrance. Others are led by a slow and gradual\nprocess--perhaps scarcely perceptible, and affording few points of\nprominent recollection, out of darkness into \u201cmarvellous light.\u201d Still\nthe result is the same. All are brought to Jesus, and believe on him as\nhaving died for their sins, and risen again for their justification;\nall by virtue of union with him, under the sanctifying influence of the\nHoly Spirit, are become new creatures, enjoying the blessings of his\ngreat salvation, holding communion with him, increasing in resemblance\nto him, and yielding to him practical obedience and devotion. To him,\nthen, let us constantly look, to apply the truth to our own consciences\nand hearts, to sanctify us wholly, body, soul, and spirit, and to\nprosper every effort we make in behalf of others.\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[A] Foster\u2019s Contributions to the Eclectic Review, vol. i. p. 545.\n\n[B] Wilkinson\u2019s Modern Egypt, vol. i. pp. 218\u2013223.\n\n[C] Lord Nugent\u2019s \u201cLands Classical and Sacred.\u201d\n\n[D] Natural Magic, p. 286.\n\n[E] Philosophy of Magic.\n\n[F] North British Review.\n\n[G] Literary Gazette.\n\n[H] Athen\u00e6um.\n\n[I] Edinburgh Review.\n\n[J] For a fuller account of the electric telegraph, see \u201cThe Visitor,\u201d\nfor January, February, and March, 1848; from which many facts, now\ngiven, have been taken.\n\n[K] D\u2019Israeli\u2019s \u201cCuriosities,\u201d p. 87.\n\n[L] Hughes\u2019s Travels, Vol. I. p. 125.\n\n[M] Foreign Quarterly Review.\n\n[N] \u201cThe Boat and the Caravan.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\nPunctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a\npredominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they\nwere not changed.\n\nSimple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation\nmarks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left\nunbalanced.\n\nIllustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs and\noutside quotations. Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of pages, have\nbeen collected, resequenced, and placed at the end of the text.","title":"Magic, Pretended Miracles, and Remarkable Natural Phenomena","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":44335}