338 Dr. Thompson, &c.....Utility of Prebendaries, &c. San Lorenzo, derive their origin from the fame vapours, which at this time fupply these baths; and that their fubterraneous arches will be found in procefs of time laden with fimilar depofitions. This, as has been already noticed, has happened in the Zolfatara of Pozzuoli (1. 7.). (18.) The filiceous ftalactites above referred to of San Lorenzo, imbibed them felves (i. 5.) in pumice, and those only of Monticeto (1.9.) are adherent to a decompoled pumice rock; it may be added, that thofe greater ones of Montamiata are found alfo in a friable granite rich in fmall pumice ftones; or cryftals of Feldspar fwelled and cracked by fire, and hence become fluid, as far as the entire mafs of granite is capable of becoming; as has been already obferved before me by Count Dolomieu, and has been illuftrated by him in his Voyage to the Ifles of Ponza. Indeed, when I faw by means of the lens that this granite inclofes often in its fibrous vein, produced as already ftated, the minuteft filiceous and transparent stalactites, at first I hesitated to believe that they were owing ftrictly to the dry fufion of feldspar; but fince that I am become acquainted with vapours, humid and faline, already formed or growing from thin elements reciprocally in activity, intimately diffused through the mafs of ignited and running lava, and reflecting how much fo fpungy a granite is penetrable by fuch vapours, I quit my frit idea as fuperfluous, if not erroneous; expofing my own difficulty as a greater caution to him who wishes to follow with the neceffary accuracy this argument. It does not appear to me, that the faid ftalactites have actually their origin from pumice in preference to the other filiceous fubftances compofing fuch rock, but becaufe the pumice may have prefented to the folvent vapours a fuperficies the most multiplied, and, on that account, the most capable of being generally attacked. (19.) Befides this, it may be noted fo far as regards fulphur, that 5. Although the orifices of Monticeto, and of Ifchia, have not as yet afforded actual fulphur, there are, nevertheless, fufficiently plain indications of it, in the prefence of vitriolic acid exifting as well in the alum as in the chalk found there (f. 10.); and alfo in bitter falt, both that with a magnefian bafe, Epfom falt; or with a base of mineral alkali, glauber falt, or finally of vegetable alkali, which laft falt, vitriolated tartar, fo frequent upon the lavas which have destroyed the plain, is not unknown in the highest parts of Vefuvius, fince I have found it three years ago diftilling from the cone, itself, half way from its bafe, from fome mouths whence a fmall ftream of lava has proceeded, at no remote period. This falt afterwards became fo hard, forming opaque maffes, fimilar to marble, that it at firit gave little fufpicion of its true nature; and, in fact, I have seen it defcribed in collections, as ftones of Vesuvius. With regard to the bitter falt of Monticeto (f. 10.), its scarcity has not permitted us as yet to afcertain its precife nature. The preceding obfervations, therefore, fo nearly correfpond, as in effect to teach us, that wherever these filiceous ftalactites have hitherto been found, we likewife meet with humid, and warm vapours, with mineral alkali, often demonftrated (f. 11. 14. 15.), and whofe prefence is always to be fufpected, as the generative cause of these ftalactites, with the intervention alfo of fulphur, either in fubftance, or manifefted in its product, which is vitriolic acid, as foon as fulphur, in an aëriform state, comes in contact with the atmosphere, whence it attracts that dofe of pure air which it requires to enable it to affume its new properties. tenet Parthenope ftudiis florentem ignobilis otî. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, 1. Some warm fprings in the vicinity DOUBTS have been fometimes enter of Geyfer give us filiceous depofitions mixed with fulphur. 2. The little lakes of Saffo in Tufcany produce fulphur. 3. Vefuvius in activity gives fulphur. 4. The filiceous ftalactites of the Montamiata, those found by Abbate Breiflak in Ifchia, and, finally, thofe of the Zolfatara di Pozzuoli, are all mixed with fulphur.. tained by men who are in the habit of thinking for themfelves, concerning the utility of fome claffes of dignitaries in our church, particularly deans and prebendaries. The opinion of an archbishop, therefore, upon this fubject, muft have confiderable weight: and the following curious obfervations, on the advantages refulting from prebendaries to religion and learning, are contained in a let ter Sir R. Walpole and Lord Chesterfield. ter from Archbishop Cranmer to Lord Cromwell. "Having had experience, both in times pait, and alfo in our days, how the fect of prebendaries have not only spent their time in much idlenefs, and their substance in fuperfluous bellycheer, I think it not to be a convenient ftate or degree to be maintained and eftablifhed. Confidering, first, that commonly a prebendary is neither a learner, nor a teacher, but a good viander. Then, by the fame name, they look to be chief, and to bear all the whole rule and pre-eminence in the college where they be refident; by means whereof, the younger, of their own nature given more to pleafure, good cheer, and paftime, than to abftinence, ftudy, and learning, fhall eafily be brought from their books to follow the appetite and example of the fame prebendaries, being their heads and rulers. And the state of the prebendaries hath been fo exceffively abufed, that when learned men have been admitted unto fuch room, many times they have defifted from their good and godly ftudies, and all other virtuous exercife of preaching and teaching." A. B. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, 339 that he repented of his compliance, when he heard Lord Chesterfield hold forth one of the moft virulent Philippics against the character, both of the minifter and man, which had ever flowed from the lips of even that nobleman, fo diftinguished for refined malice, wit and ingenuity. The minifter, during this harangue, preferved the utmoft compofure, both in countenance and manner: upon his Lordship's quitting the houfe (on a temporary occafion), and fuddenly turning round as he paffed the bar, he fpied, with mingled fhame and difinay, the minifter perched in his fnug recefs. Sir Robert, upon obferving his Lordship's confufion, with great complacency and good-humour, yet mixed with a certain drollery in his tone and manner, addreffed his Lordship with a profound bow, and "begged leave to thank him for the pleasure he had received from his Lordship's eloquent fpeech; and, at the fame time, to congratulate him, on his having, upon this occafion, taken a flight beyond his ufual pitch of excellence." This address completed his Lordship's embarraffment; and though prefence of mind, and quicknefs in repartee, were his Lordship's peculiar qualifications, he flunk away from the minifter's prefence, vifibly confounded PERMIT an admirer of your valua- and chagrined. I am, Sir, your humble ble Miscellany, to furnish you with an anecdote, which, from its originality and authenticity, joined to the celebrity of the perfons to whom it relates, may claim the attention of readers. Havyour ing ftrolled one day into the House of Lords, I entered into converfation with the late well-known and much-esteemed yeoman-ufher of the black-rod, Mr., Quarme. Our difcourfe, among other topics, fell upon the character and peculiarities of the late celebrated Sir Robert Walpole. As a striking proof of the perfect command of temper and eafy pleafantry, with which that minifter frequently rebuffed his moft virulent opponents, Mr. Quarme mentioned the following occurrence; to which he was both an eye and ear-witness. On fome occafion, when it was expected that a violent debate would take place in the House of Lords, relative to Sir Robert Walpole's fuppofed mal-administration, that gentleman came early to the houfe, and requested Mr. Quarme to give up his little recefs in a corner behind the bar, where he might hear the debates, unfeen by the members within the body of the houfe. The yeoman-ufher readily complied. But, he good-naturedly confeffed, fervant, Manchefter, Feb. 20, 1797. S. A.B. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, HEN we reflect on the great pro grefs which has been made in natural hiftory, during the course of the prefent century, it will appear furprising that the wonderful account given of the Boban Upas, or poifon tree of Java, fhould be fo long credited. This account, which originated, I believe, from a Dutch surgeon who actually refided fome time in that ifland, has been published in various journals and periodical works, in different parts of Europe; but it is now known, from good authority, to be entirely void of foundation. This circumftance is mentioned by Sir GEORGE STAUNTON, in his Account of Lord MACARTNEY'S Embaffy to China; and the following extract from the letters of Mr. Von Wurb, who was fettled at Batavia, in the fervice of the Dutch East India company, and who died there at an early period of life, feems to place the matter beyond all doubt. This gentleman, who was a member of the fociety esta blifhed 340 Correction of Errors in Natural Hiftory. blished at Batavia, for promoting the arts and the sciences, fays, in a letter addreffed to his brother: The whole relation which you read, in a German journal, of the boban upas, or large poifon tree, faid to be in the island of Java, the poisonous evaporation of which produces fo dreadful effects, that no animal or plant can exift within a great diftance of it, you may with certainty confider as one of those fables with which ignorant or lying travellers have inundated the world. The relater of this wonderful hiftory, according to your account, fays, that this tree grows on the territories of one of the princes here, and that to obtain its poifon for the purpose of poifoning weapons, a numbers of malefactors are every year employed; that these wretches, mounted on horfeback, and having their mouths covered, proceed towards the tree, but only at times when the wind is in their backs, fo as to convey the evaporation from the tree to the quarter oppofite to that in which they are advancing; that even then, they haften towards it with the utmost speed, and having pricked it with their javelins, and received the poifon, retire from it with the like precipitation. That it frequently happens, by the wind speedily changing, that thefe men, being overtaken by the vapour of the tree, are fuffocated; and that as their bodies remain on the fpot, the ground around the tree is covered with skeletons. He pretends alfo to have witneffed the fudden and violent effects of the poifon, at the court of the prince, on a woman condemned to death, and whofe fentence was executed by means of a flight wound made with an arrow that had been dipped in it.' That the Indians, in general, are well acquainted with the dreadful art of poifoning their weapons, is a fact fully eftablifhed; but for this purpose there is no need of fuch a wonderful tree, as in all hot countries, there are abundance of herbs, plants, and fhrubs, the poifon of which, when conveyed into a wound, becomes mortal. If the relater was really prefent at fuch an execution, the Javanefe muft, undoubtedly, have fabricated the whole ftory of the poifon tree, in order to impofe on his credulity. The Indians are not only highly credulous and fuperAitious themselves, but they find a malicious pleasure in telling the Europeans the moft fingular and romantic tales; partly in order that they may affume the more confequence; and partly, perhaps, to retaliate for the many wondrous things which the Europeans wish to make them believe refpecting their part of the world, In Another point in natural history, perhaps equally fabulous as the relation of the bahan upas, is that refpecting the exiftence of the unicorn. Such an animal, indeed, is mentioned in Scripture; and it has been defcribed by Strabo*, Plinyt, liant, Phile, and other ancient au thors. Some have afferted, that the animal alluded to by the ancients, was the one horned rhinoceros; while others have controverted this opinion, and maintained that the rhinoceros is an animal totally different. Amongit the latter, may be reckoned Julius Cæfar Scaliger, who, in his "Exerciations against Cardan," cites the teftimony of one of his friends, who faw an unicorn. That a belief of the exiftence of this animal ftill prevails, is well known; and, as it may afford fatisfaction to thofe curious in natural history, to be informed upon what grounds it is founded, I fhall fubjoin the following extracts. The Baron de Vollzogen, an officer in a German regiment, lent by the Duke of Wirtemberg to the Dutch Eaft India company, in one of his letters from the Cape of Good Hope, fpeaking of the royal antelope, antilope pygmæa, fays: p. p. *Manoceros. Strabo Geograph." Lib. xv. +Plin. Hift. Nat." Lib. viii. cap. 21. "Phile de Animal. propriet." Ed. Paw. Traject, ad Rhen. 1730. p. 161. Errors in Natural Hiftory. et I was told of fuch a delicate animal, faid to be shaped like the wild buffalo, and to have small horns; but notwithftanding all my endeavours, I have not been able to fee it, nor to procure an accurate defcription of it. The cafe is the fame with the unicorn, faid to have been lately discovered in the interior parts of Africa. A planter, we are informed, faw there an animal fhaped like a horfe, which had one horn only in its forehead. It was of a grey colour, and had cloven feet; but his obfervations extend no farther. This account is, in a certain meafure, confirmed by fome Hottentots, who gave a fomewhat more accurate, though very imperfect, defcription of an animal of the like kind. People here, in general, believe in the existence of fuch an animal." Zimmermann, profeffor of mathematics and natural history, in the Caroline College at Brunswick*, fpeaking on the same fubject, fays: "Take away from the accounts given of this animal by the ancients what is evidently fabulous, and alfo what belongs to the rhinoceros, and the following will remain as the defcription of the unicorn. It is an animal, which, in bulk and fhape, refembles a well built, middle-fized horfe, and which bears on its forehead an untwisted, smooth, fharp-pointed horn, two ells in length. Moft authors give it also a mane and a fhort tail, like that of a fwine. It inhabits the unfrequented interior parts of India, or of Africa. Pliny, Elian, and other ancient authors, make India proper to be the place of its refidence. Bartholin† fays, that he heard, from a prince in Guinea, that in the defart of Cano, there were unicorns known there by the name of Tirebina, and that this African had feen fome of them dead. On account of their swiftnefs they could never be caught alive. The horn was only three fpans in length. Bertoman, who is indeed often fabulous, places the unicorn in Ethiopia; and Garcias ab Horto ‡ makes its native country to be Africa also, viz. that part which extends from Cape Corrientes to the Cape of Good Hope.' "It may be asked," continues Mr. Zimmermann," how I thought of introducing an animal which has been confidered by almost all zoologifts as fabu 341 lous. For this," adds he, "I have more than one reason, though my intention is rather to exprefs a doubt refpecting the non-existence of the unicorn, than to affirm that there is really fuch an animal in nature. In the firft place, the accounts given of it by the ancients are not abfolutely incongruous; they do not fpeak of it as of the fphynx, the griffin, and other monfters; but as of an animal which appears to differ fcarcely fo much from the most common, as the rhinoceros, or the giraffe; fo that the correfponding teftimony of almost all the ancient naturalifts feems to deferve fome attention. Secondly, I find in its favour the teftimony of fome modern authors, one of whom afferts that he faw two unicorns alive. Lewis Barthema, or Bertoman*, in his travels, which, indeed, in fome places, appear to contain falfhood, fays, that he faw, near the temple of Mecca, two live unicorns, which even there were confidered as a wonderful animal. They were shaped like an horse; were of a yellowish brown, or weafel colour; had a head and legs like a ftag, with a ftraight horn three ells long, and a mane, feet cloven, like thofe of goats; and the fore part of their hind legs thickly covered with hair. One of them, he fays, was younger and fmaller than the other. They both feemed to be very spirited, though not untractable; and they had been fent from Ethiopia, as a great rarity, in order to be presented to the fultan of Mecca." "I have not," continues he, "made thefe obfervations through fondness for paradox, but to fhew that we ought not to be too precipitate in rejecting the fo called fables of the ancients, and to render future travellers more attentive. It was not till lately that we obtained, by means of Dr. Sparrmann, a proper knowledge of the two-horned rhinoceros, which was well known to the ancients. Figures of the unicorn, which have been copied by Le Bruynt, are not only to be feen on the ruins of Perfepolis, but among the moderns. Ruyfch, in his edition of "Johnfton's Natural Hiftory," has collected feveral of them." It appears, therefore, that Profeffor Zimmermann does not entirely reject as fabulous, the accounts given of the uni *Travels of Lewis Barthema, or Vertomann in Purchas Pilgr." vol. ii. p. 1189. +Cornel. de Bruyn's Reizen." Amft. 1711. fol. tab. 126. p. 129. "Ruysch Theatrum Univers. om. Animal." Amftel. 1718, t. ii. p. 21, tab. 10, 11, 12. corn 342 German Establishment for Inoculation. corn by the ancients; and that there are London, Oct. 2, 1797. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. IN your Magazine for laft December, Hamburgh, Jan. 18, 1798. PHILANTHROPOS. The number of perfons who annually fall victims to the ravages of the small * In old books of travels and old maps, many wonderful things occur refpecting the interior parts of Africa; fuch, for example, as nations who employed lions in war: people with teeth like thofe of tygers, and others with long white, or yellow hair; amazons and dwarfs; people with monftrous lips, who have no language, or cannot fpeak; and men who feed upon locufts and elephants. A very interefting and learned treatife on the "Extirpation of the Small Pox," has been lately published by the celebrated Dr. SAEDERI, of Naples. pox, in Germany, is computed, on an average, at 70,000. Since the year 1721, general attempts have been made to check the fatal progrefs of this disorder, by introducing the practice of inoculation: but our bills of mortality furnifh but too evident a proof, that the fucce's has hitherto by no means answered the expectation. Several enlightened phyficians have, therefore, fuggefted the propriety and neceffity of employing the fame means of precaution in arrefting the deftructive march of this cruel difease, as are adopted in the cafe of the plague. For this purpofe, they advise the interference of the police of the country, by causing hofpitals to be erected, to which, all perfons infected with the dif order thould be compelled to repair f. In the month of August 1796, the College of Physicians, in the Pruflian states, made a report to the king, ftrongly recommending the adoption of fuch a regulation, the neceffity of which was ftill more forcibly evinced by the bills of mortality for the principality of Halberstadt, which exhibited a mournful lift of 781 perfons, who had fallen victims to this diforder within the year. It was refolved riment of the project, by establishing a accordingly, to make a practical expeSmall Pox Hofpital, in the city of Halberftadt, the capital of the principality. This benevolent inftitution, it is but juftice to remark, is in great meature owing to the active zeal and public spirit of the Rector of Halberstadt. In the erection of this hofpital, the views of the founders extend farther than to the mere cure of the feveral patients. Their aim is to afcertain the poffibility of totally eradicating this distemper; which, however vifionary and chimerical the attempt may appear, to those who regard the fmall-pox as an inevitable malady, is fupported by ftrong arguments of probability, and, indeed, has in part been realifed by the fuccefs attendant on a fimilar inftitution in the province of Similar regulations have been adopted in various parts of England, particularly in Oxfordshire. Whether this regulation obtains, at prefent, I am not competent to determine, but fome years fince no patients labouring under the fmall pox were fuffered to remain in their houfes, and communicate the diforder to fociety at large. They were taken immediately to an hofpital established for this purpofe; and their nearest relatives were not permitted to vifit them, till all danger of communicating the contagion was paft. See further, Dr. HAYGARTH's excellent "Treatife on the Prevention of the caual Small Pox." |