Chapter I: HAVE endeavored, in the preceding part of my work, to explain and (17)

The extremes of form and color are certainly separated, but without regard to the races, which can not be included in any of these classes, and which have been alternately termed Scythian and Allophyllic. Iranian is certainly a less objectionable term for the European nations than Caucasian; but it may be maintained generally that geographical denominations are very vague when used to express the points of departure of races, more especially where the country which has given its name to the race, as, for instance, Turan (Mawerannahr), has been inhabited at different periods* by Indo-Germanic and Finnish, and not by Mongolian tribes.

[footnote] *The late arrival of the Turkish and Mongolian tribes on the Oxus and on the Kirghis Steppes is opposed to the hypothesis of Niebuhr, according to which the Scythians of Herodotus and Hippocrates were Mongolians. It seems far more probable that the Scythians (Scoloti) should be referred to the Indo-Germanic Massagetae (Alani). The Mongolian, true Tartars (the latter term was afterward falsely given to purely Turkish tribes in Russia and Siberia), were settled, at that period, far in the eastern part of Asia. See my 'Asie Centrale', t. i., p. 239, 400; 'Examen Critique de l'Histoire de la Geogr.', th. ii., p. 320. A distinguished philologist, Professor Buschmann, calls attention to the circumstance that the poet Firdousi, in his half-mythical prefatory remarks in the 'Schahnameh', mentions "a fortress of the Alani" on the sea-shore, in which Selm took refuge, this prince being the eldest son of the King Feridun, who in all probability lived two hundred years before Cyrus. The Kirghis of the Scythian steppe were originally a Finnish tribe; their three hordes probably constitute in the present day the most numerous nomadic nation, and their tribe dwelt, in the sixteenth century, in the same steppe in which I have myself seen them. The Byzantine Menander (p. 380-382, ed. Nieb.) expressly states that the Chacan of the Turks (Thu-Khiu), in 569, made a present of a Kirghis slave to Zemarchus, the embassador of ustinish II.; he terms her a [Greek word]; and we find in Abulgasi ('Historia Mongolorum et Tatarorum') that the Kirghis are called Kirkiz. Similarity of manners, where the nature of the country determines the principal characteristics, is a very uncertain evidence of identity of race. The life of the steppes produces among the Turks (Ti Tukiu), the Baschkirs (Fins), the Kirghis, the Torgodi and Dsungari (Mongolians), the same habits of nomadic life, and the same use of felt tents, carried on wagons and pitched among herds of cattle.

p 357 Languages, as intellectual creations of man, and as closely interwoven with the development of mind, are, independently of the 'national' form which they exhibit, of the greatest importance in the recognition of similarities or differences in races. This importance is especially owing to the clew which a community of descent affords in treading that mysterious labyrinth in which the connection of physical powers and intellectual forces manifests itself in a thousand different forms. The brilliant progress made within the last half century, in Germany, in philosophical philology, has greatly facilitated our investigations into the 'national' character* of languages and the influence exercised by descent.

[footnote] *Wilhelm von Humboldt, 'Ueber die Verschiedenheit der menschlichen Sprachbaues', in his great work 'Ueber die Kawi-Sprache auf der Insel Java', bd. i., s. xxi., xlviii., and ccxiv.

But here, as in all domains of ideal speculation, the dangers of deception are closely linked to the rich and certain profit to be derived.

Positive ethnographical studies, based on a thorough knowledge of history, teach us that much caution should be applied in entering into these comparisons of nations, and of the languages employed by them at certain epochs. Subjection, long association, the influence of a foreign religion, the blending of races, even when only including a small number of the more influential and cultivated of the immigrating tribes, have produced, in both continents, similarly recurring phenomena; as, for instance, in introducing totally different families of languages among one and the same race, and idioms, having one common root, among nations of the most different origin. Great Asiatic conquerors have exercised the most powerful influence on phenomena of this kind.

But language is a part and parcel of the history of the development of mind; and however happily the human intellect, under the most dissimilar physical conditions, may unfettered pursue a self-chosen track, and strive to free itself from the dominion of terrestrial influences, this emancipation is never perfect. There ever remains, in the natural capacities of the mind, a trace of something that has been derived from the influences of race or of climate, whether they be associated with a land gladdened by cloudless azure skies, or with the vapory atmosphere of an insular region. As, therefore, richness and grace of language are unfolded from the most luxuriant p 358 depths of thought, we have been unwilling wholly to disregard the bond which so closely links together the physical world with the sphere of intellect and of the feelings by depriving this general picture of nature of those brighter lights and tints which may be borrowed from considerations, however slightly indicated, of the relations existing between races and languages.

While we maintain the unity of the human species, we at the same time repel the depressing assumption of superior and inferior races of men.*

[footnote] *The very cheerless, and, in recent times, too often discussed doctrine of the unequal rights of men to freedom, and of slavery as an institution in conformity with nature, is unhappily found most systematically developed in Aristotle's 'Politica', i., 3, 5, 6.

There are nations more susceptible of cultivation, more highly civilized, more enobled by mental cultivation than others, but none in themselves nobler than others. All are in like degree designed for freedom; a freedom which, in the ruder conditions of society, belongs only to the individual, but which, in social states enjoying political institutions, appertains as a right to the whole body of the community. "If we would indicate an idea which, throughout the whole course of history, has ever more and more widely extended its empire, or which, more than any other, testifies to the much-contested and still more decidedly misunderstood perfectibility of the whole human race, it is that of establishing our common humanity -- of striving to remove the barriers which prejudice and limited views of every kind have erected among men, and to treat all mankind, without reference to religion, nation, or color, as one fraternity, one great community, fitted for the attainment of one object, the unrestrained development of the physical powers. This is the ultimate and highest aim of society, identical with the direction implanted by nature in the mind of man toward the indefinite extension of his existence. He regards the earth in all its limits, and the heavens as far as his eye can scan their bright and starry depths, as inwardly his own, given to him as the objects of his contemplation, and as a field for the development of his energies. Even the child longs to pass the hills or the seas which inclose his narrow home; yet, when his eager steps have borne him beyond those limits, he pines, like the plant, for his native soil; and it is by this touching and beautiful attribute of man -- this longing for that which is unknown, and this fond remembrance of that which is lost -- that he is spared from an exclusive attachment to the present. p 359 Thus deeply rooted in the innermost nature of man, and even enjoined upon him by his highest tendencies, the recognition of the bond of humanity becomes one of the noblest leading principles in the history of mankind."*

[footnote] *Wilhelm von Humboldt, 'Ueber die Kawi-Sprache', bd. iii., s. 426. I subjoin the following extract from this work: "The impetuous conquests of Alexander, the more politic and premeditated extension of territory made by the Romans, the wild and cruel incursions of the Mexicans, and the despotic acquisitions of the incas, have in both hemispheres contributed to put an end to the separate existence of many tribes as independent nations, and tended at the same time to establish more extended international amalgamation. Men of great and strong minds, as well as whole nations, acted under the influence of one idea, the purity of which was, however, utterly unknown to them. It was Christianity which first promulgated the truth of its exalted charity, although the seed sown yielded but a slow and scanty harvest. Before the religion of Christ manifested its form, its existence was only revealed by a faint foreshadowing presentiment. In recent times, the idea of civilization has acquired additional intensity, and has given rise to a desire of extending more widely the relations of national intercourse and of intellectual cultivation; even selfishness begins to learn that by such a course its interests will be better served than by violent and forced isolation. Language more than any other attribute of mankind, binds together the whole human race. By its idiomatic properties it certainly seems to separate nations, but the reciprocal understanding of foreign languages connects men together on the other hand without injuring individual national characteristics."

With these words, which draw their charm from the depths of feeling, let a brother be permitted to close this general description of the natural phenomena of the universe. From the remotest nebulae and from the revolving double stars, we have descended to the minutest organisms of animal creation, whether manifested in the depths of ocean or on the surface of our globe, and to the delicate vegetable germs which clothe the naked declivity of the ice-crowned mountain summit; and here we have been able to arrange these phenomena according to partially known laws; but other laws of a more mysterious nature rule the higher spheres of the organic world, in which is comprised the human species in all its varied conformation, its creative intellectual power, and the languages to which it has given existence. A physical delineation of nature terminates at the point where the sphere of intellect begins, and a new world of mind is opened to our view. It marks the limit, but does not pass it.

p 360 is blank

p 361

ADDITIONAL NOTES

TO THE PRESENT EDITION. MARCH, 1849.

__________

GIGANTIC BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. -- Vol. i., p. 287. An extensive and highly interesting collection of bones, referrible to several species of the 'Moa' (Dinornis of Owen), and to three or four other genera of birds, formed by Mr. Walter Mantell, of Wellington, New Zealand, has recently arrived in England, and is now deposited in the British Museum. This series consists of between 700 and 800 speciments, belonging to different parts of the skeletons of many individuals of various sizes and ages. Some of the largest vertebrae, tibiae, and femora equal in magnitude the most gigantic previously known, while others are not larger than the corresponding bones of the living apteryx. Among these relics are the 'skulls' and 'mandibles' of two genera, the 'Dinornis' and 'Palapteryx'; and of an extinct genus, 'Notornis', allied to the 'Rallidae'; and the mandibles of a species of 'Nestor', a genus of nocturnal owl-like parrots, of which only two living species are known.*

[footnote] *See Professor Owen's Memoir on these fossil remains, in 'Zoological Transactions', 1848.

These osseous remains are in a very different state of preservation from any previously received from New Zealand; they are light and porous, and of a light fawn-color; the most delicate processes are entire, and the articulating surfaces smooth and uninjured; 'fragments of egg-shells', and even the bony rings of the trachea and air tubes, are preserved'.

The bones were dug up by Mr. Walter Mantell from a bed of marly sand, containing magnetic iron, crystals of hornblende and augite, and the detritus of augitic rocks and earthy volcanic tuff. The sand had filled up all the cavities and cancelli, but was in no instance consolidated or aggregated together; it was, therefore, easily removed by a soft brush, and the bones perfectly cleared without injury.

The spot whence these precious relics of the colossal birds that once inhabited the islands of New Zealand were obtained, is a flat tract of land, near the embouchure of a river, named Waingongoro, not far from Wanganui, which has its rise in the volcanic regions of Mount Egmont. The natives affirm that this level tract was one of the places first dwelt upon by their remote ancestors; and this tradition is corroborated by the existence of numerous heaps and pits of ashes and charred bones indicating ancient fires, long burning on the same spot. In these fire-heaps Mr. Mantell found burned bones of 'men, moas', and 'dogs'.

The fragments of egg-shells, imbedded in the ossiferous deposits, had escaped the notice of all previous naturalists. They are, unfortunately, very small portions, the largest being only four inches long, but they afford a chord by which to estimate the size of the original. Mr. Mantell observes that the egg of the Moa must have been so large that a hat would form a good egg-cup for it. These relics evidently belong to two or more species, perhaps genera. In some examples the external p 362 surface is smooth; in others it is marked with short intercepted linear grooves, resembling the eggs of some of the Struthiouidae, but distinct from all known recent types. In this valuable collection only one bone of a mammal has been detected, namely, 'the femur of a dog'.

An interesting memoir on the probable geological position and age of the ornithic bone deposits of New Zealand, by Dr. Mantell, based on the observations of his enterprising son, it published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London (1848). It appears that in many instances the bones are imbedded in sand and clay, which lie beneath a thick deposit of volcanic detritus, and rest on an argillaceous stratum abounding in marine shells. The specimens found in the rivers and streams have been washed out of their banks by the currents which now flow through channels from ten to thirty feet deep, formed in the more ancient alluvial soil. Dr. Mantell concludes that the islands of New Zealand were densely peopled at a period geologically recent, though historically remote, by tribes of gigantic brevi-pennate birds allied to the ostrich tribe, all, or almost all, of species and genera now extinct; and that, subsequently to the formation of the most ancient ornithic deposit, the sea-coast has been elevated from fifty to one hundred feet above its original level; hence the terraces of shingle and loam which now skirt the maritime districts. The existing rivers and mountain torrents flow in deep gulleys which they have eroded in the course of centuries in these pleistocene strata, in like manner as the river courses of Auvergne, in Central France, are excavated in the mammiferous tertiary deposits of that country. The last of the gigantic birds were probably exterminated, like the dodo, by human agency: some small species allied to the apteryx may possibly be met with in the unexplored parts of the middle island.

THE DODO. -- A most valuable and highly interesting history of the dodo and its kindred* has recently appeared in which the history, affinities, and osteology of the 'Dodo, Solitaire', and other extinct birds of the islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon are admirably elucidated by H. G. Strickland (of Oxford), and Dr. G. A. Melville.

[footnote] *'The Dodo and its Kindred'. By Messrs. Strickland and Melville. 1 vol. 4to. with numerous plates. Reeves, London, 1848.

The historical part is by the former, the osteological and physiological portion by the latter eminent anatomist. We would earnestly recommend the reader interested in the most perfect history that has ever appeared, of the extinction of a race of large animals, of which thousands existed but three centuries ago, to refer to the original work. We have only space enough to state that the authors have proved, upon the most incontrovertible evidence, that the dodo was neither a vulture, ostrich, nor galline, as previously anatomists supposed, but a 'frugiverous pigeon'.

This section from pp 363-379 of:

COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 by Alexander von Humboldt

Translated by E C Otte

from the 1858 Harper & Brothers edition of Cosmos, volume 1 --------------------------------------------------

p 363 INDEX TO VOL. I. -------------------

ABICH, Hermana, structural relations of volcanic rocks, 234.

Acosta, Joseph de, Historia Natural de las Indias, 66, 193.

Adams, Mr., planet Neptune. See note by Translator, 90, 91.

Aegos Potamos, on the aerolite of, 117, 122.

Aelian on Mount Aetna, 227.

Aerolites (shooting stars, meteors, meteoric stones, fire-balls, etc), general description of, 111-137; physical character, 112-123; dates of remarkable falls, 114, 115; their planetary velocity, 116-120; ideas of the ancients on, 115, 116; November and August periodic falls of shooting stars, 118-120, 124-126; their direction from one point in the heavens, 120; altitude, 120; orbit, 127; Chinese notices of, 128; media of communication with other planetary bodies, 136; their essential difference from comets, 137; specific weights, 116, 117; large meteoric stones on record, 117; chemical elements, 117, 129-131; crust, 129, 130; deaths occasioned by, 135.

Aeschylus, "Prometheus Delivered," 115.

Aetna, Mount, its elevation, 28, 229; supposed extinction by the ancients, 227; its eruptions from lateral fissures, 229; similarity of its zones of vegetation to those of Ararat, 347.

Agassiz, Researches on Fossil Fishes, 46, 273-277.

Alexander, influence of his campaigns on physical science, 353.

Alps, the, elevation of, 28, 29.

Amber, researches on its vegetable origin, 284; Goppert on the amber-tree of the ancient world (Pinites succifer), 283.

Ampere, Andre Marie, 58, 193, 236.

Anaxagoras on aerolites, 122; on the surrounding ether, 134.

Andes, the, their altitude, etc. See Cordilleras.

Anghiera, Peter Martyr de, remarked that the palmeta and pineta were found associated together, 282, 283; first recognized (1510) that the limit of perpetual snow continues to ascend as we approach the equator, 329.

Animal life, its universality, 342-345; as viewed with microscopic powers of vision, 341-346; rapid propagation and tenacity of life in animalcules, 344-346; geography of, 341-346.

Anning, Miss Mary, discovery of the ink bag of the sepia, and of coprolites of fish, in the lias of Lyme Regis, 271, 272.

Austed's, D. R., "Ancient World." See notes by Translator, 271, 272, 274, 281, 287.

Aplan, Peter, on comets, 101.

Apollonius Myndius, described the paths of comets, 103.

Arago, his ocular micrometer, 39; chromatic polarization, 52; optical considerations, 85; on comets, 99-106; polarization experiments on the light of comets, 105; aerolites, 114; on the November fall of meteors, 124; zodiacal light, 143; motion of the solar system, 146, 147; on the increase of heat at increasing depths, 173, 174; magnetism of rotation, 179, 180; horary observations of declination at Paris compared with simultaneous perturbations at Kasan, 191; discovery of the influence of magnetic storms on the course of the needle, 194, 195; on south polar bands, 198; on terrestrial light, 202; phenomenon of supplementary rainbows, 220; observed the deepest Artesian wells to be the warmest, 223; explanation of the absence of a refrigeration of temperature in the lower strata of the Mediterranean, 303; observations on the mean annual quantity of rain in Paris, 333; his investigations on the evolution of lightning, 337.

Argelander on the comet of 1811, 109; on the motion of the solar system, 146, 149; on the light of the Aurora, 195, 196.

Aristarchus of Samos, the pioneer of the Copernican system, 65.

Aristotle, 65; his definition of Cosmos, 69; use of the term history, 75; on comets, 103, 104; on the Ligyan field of stones, 115; aerolites, 122; on the stone of Aegos Potamos, 135; aware that noises sometimes existed without earthquakes, 209; his account of the upheavals of islands of eruption, 241; "spontaneous motion," 341; noticed the redness assumed by long fallen snow, 344.

Artesian wells, temperature of, 174, 223.

Astronomy, results of, 38-40; phenomena of physical astronomy, 43, 44.

Atmosphere, the general description of, 311, 316; its composition and admixture, 312; variation of pressure, 313-317; climatic distribution of heat, 313, 317-328; distribution of humidity, 313, 328, 334; electric condition, 314, 335-338.

p 363 August, his psychometer, 332.

Augustine, St., his views on spontaneous generation, 345, 346.

Aurora Borealis, general description of 193-202; origin and course, 195, 196; altitude, 199; brilliancy coincident with the fall of shooting stars, 126, 127; whether attended with crackling sound, 199, 200; intensity of the light, 201.

Bacon, Lord, 53, 58; Novum Organon, 290.

Baer, Von, 337.

Barometer, the increase of its height attended by a depression of the level of the sea, 298; horary oscillations of, 314, 315

Batten, Mr., letter on the snow-line of the two sides of the Himalayas, 331, 332.

Beaufort, Capt., observed the emissions of inflammable gas on the Caramanian coast, as described by Pliny, 223. See also, note by Translator, 223.

Beaumont, Elie de, on the uplifting of mountain chains, 51, 300; influence of the rocks of melaphyre and serpentine, on pendulum experiments, 167; conjectures on the quartz strata of the Col de la Poissoniere, 266.

Baccaria, observation of steady luminous appearance in the clouds, 202; of lightning clouds, unaccompanied by thunder or indication of storm, 337.

Beechey, Capt., 97; observations on the temperature and density of the water of the ocean under different zones of longitude and latitude, 306.

Bembo, Cardinal, his observations on the eruptions of Mount Aetna, 229; theory of the necessity of the proximity of volcanoes to the sea, 243; vegetation on the declivity of Aetna, 347.

Berard, Capt., shooting stars, 119.

Berton, Count, his barometrical measurements of the Dead Sea, 296.

Berzelins on the chemical elements of aerolites, 130, 131.

Benzenberg on meteors and shooting stars, 119, 120; their periodic return in Autgust, 125.

Bessel's theory on the oscillations of the pendulum, 44; pendulum experiments, 64; on the parallax of 61 Cygni, 88; on Halley's comet, 102, 103, 104; on the ascent of shooting stars, 123; on their partial visibility, 128; velocity of the sun's translatory motion, 145; mass of the star 61 Cygni, 148; parallaxes and distances of fixed stars, 153; comparison of measurements of degrees, 165, 166.

Biot on the phenomenon of twilight, 118; on the zodical light, 141; pendulum experiments at Bordeaux, 170.

Biot, Edward, Chinese observations of comets, 101, 109; of aerolites, 128.

Bischof on the interior heat of the globe, 217, 219, 235, 244, 294.

Blumenbach, his classification of the races of men, 356.

Bockh, origin of the ancient myth of the Nemean lunar lion, 134, 135.

Boguslawski, falls of shooting stars, 119, 128.

Bonpland, M., and Humboldt, on the pelagic shells found on the ridge of the Andes, 45.

Boussingault, on the depth at which is found the mean annual temperature within the tropics, 175; on the volcanoes of New Granada, 217; on the temperature of the earth in the tropics, 220, 221; temperature of the thermal springs of Las Trincheras, 222; his investigations on the chemical analysis of the atmosphere, 311, 312; on the mean annual quantity of rain in different parts of South America, 333, 334.

Bouvard, M., 105; his observations on that portion of the horary oscillations of the pressure of the atmosphere, which depends on the attraction of the moon 313.

Bramidos y truenos of Guanaxuato, 209, 210.

Brandes, falls of shooting stars, 114, 116; height and velocity of shooting stars, 120; their periodic falls, 125, 126.

Bravais, on the Aurora, 201; on the daily oscillations of the barometer in 70 degrees north latitude, 314; distribution of the quantity of rain in Central Europe, 334; doubts on the greater dryness of mountain air, 334.

Brewster, Sir David, first detected the connection between the curvature of magnetic lines and my isothermal lines, 193.

Brongniart, Adolphe, luxuriance of the primitive vegetable world, 218; fossil flora contained in coal measures, 280.

Brongniart, Alexander, formation of ribbon jasper, 259; one of the founders of the archaeology of organic life, 273.

Brown, Robert, first discoverer of molecular motion, 341.

Buch's, Leopold von, theory on the elevation of continents and mountain chains, 45; on the craters and circular form of the island of Palma, 226; on volcanoes, 234, 238, 242, 243, 247; on metamorphic rocks, 249-252, 260, 263, 264; on the origin of various conglomerates and rocks of detritus, 269; classification of ammonites, 276, 277; physical causes of the elevation of continents, 295; on the changes in height of the Swedish coasts, 295.

Buckland, 272; on the fossil flora of the coal measures, 279.

Buffon, his views on the geographical distribution of animals, 348.

Burckhardt, on the volcano of Medina, 246; on the hornitos de Jerullo, see note by Translator, 230.

Burnes, Sir Alexander, on the purity of the atmosphere in Bokhara, 114; propagation of shocks of earthquakes, 212.

p 365 Caile, La, pendulum measurements at the Cape of Good Hope, 169.

Caldas, quantity of rain at Santa Fe de Bogota, 334.

Camargo's MS. 'Historia de Tiascala', 140.

Capocci, his observations on periodic falls of aerolites, 126.

Carlini, geodesic experiments in Lombardy, 168; Mount Cenis, 170.

Carrara marble, 262, 263.

Carus, his definition of "Nature," 41.

Caspian Sea, its periodic rise and fall, 297.

Cassini, Dominicus, on the zodiacal light, 139, 140; hypothesis on 141; his discovery of the spheroidal form of Jupiter, 164.

Cautley, Capt, and Dr. Falconer, discovery of gigantic fossils in the Himalayas.

Cavanilles, first entertained the idea of seeing grass grow, 149.

Cavendish, use of the torsion balance to determine the mean density of the Earth, 170.

Challis, Professor, on the Aurora, March 19 and Oct. 24th, 1847, see note by Translator, 195, 199.

Chardin, noticed in Persia the famous comet of 1608, called "nyzek" or "petite lance," 139.

Charpentier, M., belemnites found in the primitive limestone of the Col de la Seigne, 261; glaciers, 329.

Chemistry as distinguished from physics, 62; chemical affinity, 63.

Chevandier, calculations on the carbon contained in the trees of the forests of our temperate zones, 281.

Childrey first described the zodical light in his Britannia Baconica, 138.

Chinese accounts of comets, 99, 100, 101; shooting stars, 128: "fire springs," 158; knowledge of the magnetic needle, 180; electro-magnetism, 188, 189.

Chladni on meteoric stones, etc., 118, 135; on the selenic origin of aerolites, 121; on the supposed phenomenon of ascending shooting stars, 122; on the obscuration of the Sun's disk, 133; sound-figures, 135; pulsations in the tails of comets, 143.

Choiseul, his chart of Lemnos, 246.

Chromatic polarization. See Polarization.

Cirro-cumulus cloud. See Clouds.

Cirrous Strata. See Clouds.

Clark, his experiments on the variations of atmospheric electricity, 335, 336.

Clarke, J. G., of Maine, U.S., on the comet of 1843, 100.

Climatic distribution of heat, 313, 317-328; of humidity, 328, 333, 334.

Climatology, 317-329; climate, general sense of, 317, 318.

Clouds, their electric tension, color, and height, 236, 337; connection of cirrous strata with the Aurora Borealis, 196; cirro-cumulus cloud, phenomena of, 197; luminous, 202; Dove on their formation and appearance, 315, 316; often present on a bright summer sky the "projected image" of the soil below, 316; volcanic, 233.

Coal formations, ancient vegetable remains in, 280, 281.

Coal mines, depth of, 158-160.

Colebrooke on the snow-line of the two sides of the Himalayas, 31.

Colladon, electro-magnetic apparatus, 335.

Columbus, his remark that "the Earth is small and narrow," 164; found the compass showed no variation in the Azores, 181, 182; of lava streams, 245; noticed conifers and palms growing together in Cuba, 282; remarks in his journal on the equatorial currents, 307; of the Sargasso Sea, 308; his dream, 310, 311.

Comets, general description of, 99-112; Biela's 43, 86, 107, 108; Blaupain's 108; Clausen's 108; Encke's, 43, 64, 86, 107-108; Faye's 107, 108; Halley's, 43, 100, 102-109; Lexell's and Burchardt's 108, 110; Messier's 108; Olbera's, 109; Pons's 109; famous one of 1608, seen in Persia, called "nyzek," or "petit lance," 189; comet of 1843, 101; their nucleus and tail, 87, 100; small mass, 100; diversity of form, 100-103; light, 104-106; velocity, 109; comets of short period, 107-109; long period, 109-110; number, 99; Chinese observations on, 99-101; value of a knowledge of their orbits, 43; possibility of collision of Blela's and Encke's comets, 107, 108; hypothesis of a resisting medium conjectured from the diminishing period of the revolution of Encke's comet, 106; apprehensions of their collision with the Earth, 108, 110, 111; their popular supposed influence on the vintage, 111.

Compass, early use of by the Chinese, 180; permanency in the West Indies, 181.

Condamine, La, inscription on a marble tablet at the Jesuit's College, Quito on the use of the pendulum as a measure of seconds, 166, 167.

Conde, notice of a heavy shower of shooting stars, Oct., 902, 119.

Coraboeuf and Delcrois, geodetic operations, 304.

Cordilleras, scenery of, 26, 29, 33; vegetation, 34, 35; intensity of the zodiacal light, 137.

Cosmography, physical, its object and ultimate aims, 57-60; materials, 60.

Cosmos, the author's object, 38, 78; primitive signification and precise definition of the word, 69; how employed by Greek and Roman writers, 69, 60; derivation, 70.

Craters. See Volcanoes.

Curtius, Professor, his notes on the temperature of various springs in Greece, 222, 223.

Cuvier, one of the founders of the archaeology of organic life, 273; discovery of fossil crocodiles in the tertiary formations, 274. Dainachos on the phenomena attending the fall of the stone of Aegos Potamos, 133, 134.

Dalman on the existence of Chionaea araneoides in polar snow, 344.

Dalton, observed the southern lights in England, 198.

Dante, quotation from, 322.

Darwin, Charles, fossil vegetation in the travertine of Van Diemen's Land, 224; central volcanoes regarded as volcanic chains of small extent on parallel fissures, 238; instructive materials in the temperate zones of the southern hemisphere for the study of the present and past geography of plants, 282, 283; on the fiord formation at the southeast end of America, 293; on the elevation and depression of the bottom of the South Sea, 297; rich luxuriance of animal life in the ocean, 309, 310; on the volcano of Aconcagua, 330.

Daubeney on volcanos. See Translator's notes, 161, 203, 204, 210, 218, 224, 228, 230, 233, 234, 235, 236, 244, 245.

Daussy, his barometric expriments, 208; observations on the velocity of the equatorial current, 307.

Davy, Sir Humphrey, hypothesis on active volcanic phenomena, 235; on the low temperature of water on shoals, 309.

Dead Sea, its depression below the level of the Mediterranean, 296, 297.

Dechen, Von, on the depth of the coal-basin of Liege, 160.

Delcrois. See Coraboeuf.

Descartes, his fragments of a contemplated work, entitled "Monde," 68; on comets, 139.

Deshayes and Lyell, their investigations on the numerical relations of extinct and existing organic life, 275.

Dicaearchus, his "parallel of the diaphragm," 289.

Diogenes Laertius, on the aerolite of Aegos Potamos, 116, 122, 134.

D'Orbigny, fossil remains from the Himalaya and the Indian plains of Cutch, 277.

Dove on the similar action of the declination needle to the atmospheric electrometer, 194; "law of rotation," 315; on the formation and appearance of clouds, 316; on the difference between the true temperature of the surface of the ground and the indications of a thermometer suspended in the shade, 325; hygrometric windrose, 333.

Doyere, his beautiful experiments on the tenacity of life in animalcules, 345.

Drake, shaking of the earth for successive days in the United States (1811-12), 211.

Dufrenoy et Elie de Beaumont, Geologie de la France, 253, 258, 259, 260, 262, 266.

Dumas, results of his chemical analysis of the atmosphere, 311.

Dunlop on the comet of 1825, 103.

Duperrey on the configuration of the magnetic equator, 183; pendulum oscillations, 166.

Duprez, influence of trees on the intensity of electricity in the atmosphere, 335.

Eandi, Vassalli, electric perturbation during the protracted earthquake of Pignorol, 206.

Earth, survey of its crust, 72; relative magnitude, etc., in the solar system, 95-97; general description of terrestrial phenomena, 154-360; geographical distribution, 161, 162; its mean density, 169-172; internal heat and temperature, 172-176; electro-magnetic activity, 177-193; conjectures on its early high temperature, 172; interior increase of heat with increasing depth, 161; greatest depths reached by human labor, 157-159; methods employed to investigate the curvature of its surface, 165-168; reaction of the interior on the external crust, 161, 202-247; general delineation of its reaction, 204-206; fantastic views on its interior, 171.

Earthquakes, general account of, 204-218; their manifestations, 204-206; of Riobamba, 204, 206, 208, 212, 214; Lisbon, 210, 211, 213, 214; Calabria, 206; their propagation, 204, 212, 213; waves of commotion, 205, 206, 212; action on gaseous and aqueous springs, 210, 222, 224; salses and mud volcanoes, 224-228; erroneous popular belief on, 206-208; noise accompanying earthquakes, 208-210; their vast destruction of life, 210, 211; volcanic force, 214, 215; deep and peculiar impression produced on men and animals, 215, 216.

Ehrenberg, his discovery of infusoria in the polishing slate of Bilin, 150; infusorial deposits, 255, 262; brilliant discovery of microscopic life in the ocean and in the ice of the polar regions, 342; rapid propogation of animalcules and their tenacity of life, 343-345; transformation of chalk, 262.

Electricity, magnetic, 188-202; conjectured electric currents, 189, 190; electric storms, 194; atmospheric 335, 337.

Elevations, comparative, of mountains in the two hemispheres, 28, 29.

Encke, 106; his computation that the showers of meteors, in 1833, proceeded from the same point of space in the direction in which the earth was moving at the time, 119, 120.

Ennius, 71.

Epicharmus, writings of, 71.

Equator, advantages of the countries bordering on, 33, 34; their organic richness and fertility, 34, 35; magnetic equator, 183-185.

Erman, Adolph, on the three cold days of May (11th-13th), 133; lines of declination in Northern Asia, 182; in the southern parts of the Atlantic, 187; observations during the earthquake of Irkutsk, on the non-disturbance of the horary changes of the magnetic needle, 207.

Eruptions and exhalations (volcanic), lava, gaseous and liquid fluids, hot mud, mud mofettes, etc., 161, [other page numbers obscured in paper copy]

p 367 Ethnographical studies, their importance and teaching, 357, 358.

Euripides, his Phaeton, 122.

Falconer, Dr., fossil researches in the Himalayas, 278.

Faraday, radiating heat, electro-magnetism etc., 49, 179, 188; brilliant discovery of the evolution of light by magnetic forces, 193.

Farquharson on the connection of cirrous clouds with the Aurora, 197; its altitude, 199.

Federow, his pendulum experiments, 168.

Feldt on the ascent of shooting stars, 123.

Ferdinandes, igneous island of, 242.

Floras, geographical distribution of, 350.

Forbes, Professor E., reference to his Travels in Lycia, 223; account of the island of Santorino, 241, 242.

Forbes, Professor J., his improved selsmometer, 205; on the correspondence existing between the distribution of existing floras in the British Islands, 348, 349; on the origin and diffusion of the British flora, 353, 354.

Forster, George, remarked the climatic difference of temperature of the eastern and western coasts of both continents, 321.

Forster, Dr. Thomas, monkish notice of "Meteorodes," 123.

Fossil remains of tropical plants and animals found in northern regions, 46, 270-284; of extinct vegetation in the travertine of Van Diemen's Land, 224; fossil human remains, 250.

Foster, Reinhold, pyramidal configuration of the southern extremities of continents, 290, 291.

Fourier, temperature of our planetary system, 155, 172, 176.

Fracastoro on the direction of the tails of comets from the sun, 101.

Fraehn, fall of stars, 119.

Franklin, Benjamin, existence of sandbanks indicated by the coldness of the water over them, 308.

Franklin, Capt., on the Aurora, 197, 199, 200, 201; rarity of electric explosions in high northern regions, 337.

Freycinet, pendulum oscillations, 166.

Fusinieri on meteoric masses, 123.

Galileo, 104, 167.

Galle, Dr., 91.

Galvant, Aloysio, accidental discovery of galvanism, 52.

Gaseous emanations, fluids, mud, and molten earth, 217, 220.

Gasparin, distribution of the quantity of rain in Central Europe, 333.

Gauss, Friedrich, on terrestrial magnetism, 179; his erection. in 1832, of a magnetic observatory on a new principle, 191, 192.

Gay-Lussac, 204, 233, 234, 266, 267, 311, 312, 334, 336.

Geognostic or geological description of the earth's surface, 202-286.

Geognosy (the study of the textures and position of the earth's surface), its progress, 203.

Geography, physical, 288-311; of animal life, 341-346; of plants, 346-351.

Geographics, Ritter's (Carl), "Geography in relation to Nature and the History of Man," 48, 67; Varenius (Bernhard), General and Comparative Geography, 66, 67.

Gerard, Capts. A. G. and J. G., on the snow-line and vegetation of the Himalayas, 31, 32, 331, 332.

German scientific works, their defects, 47.

Geyser, intermittent fountains of, 222.

Gieseke on the Aurora, 200.

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, Gulf Stream, 307.

Gilbert, William, of Colchester, terrestrial magnetism, 158, 159, 177, 179, 182.

Gillies, Dr., on the snow-line of South America, 330, 331.

Gioja, crater of, 98.

Girard, composition and texture of basalt, 253.

Glaisher, James, on the Aurora Borealis of Oct. 24, 1847. See Translator's notes, 194, 200.

Goldfuss, Professor, examination of fossil specimens of the flying saurians, 274.

Goppert on the conversion of a fragment of amber-tree into black coal, 281; eyeadeae, 283; on the amber-tree of the Baltic, 283, 284.

Gothe, 41, 47, 53.

Greek philosophers, their use of the term Cosmos, 69, 70; hypotheses on aerolites, 122, 123, 134.

Grimm, Jacob, graceful symbolism attached to falling stars in the Lithuanian mythology, 112, 113.

Gulf Stream, its origin and course, 307.

Gumprecht, pyroxenic nepheline, 253.

Guanaxuato, striking subterranean noise at, 209.

Hall, Sir James, his experiments on mineral fusion, 262.

Halley, comet, 43, 100, 102-109; on the meteor of 1686, 118, 133; on the light of stars, 152; hypothesis of the earth being a hollow sphere, 171; his bold conjecture that the Aurora Borealis was a magnetic phenomenon, 193.

Hansteen on magnetic lines of declination in Northern Asia, 182.

Hausen on the material contents of the moon, 96.

Hedenstrom on the so-called "Wood Hills" of New Siberia, 281.

Hegel, quotation from his "Philosophy of History," 76.

Heine, discovery of crystals of feldspar in scoriae, 268.

Hemmer, falling stars, 119.

Hencke, planets discovered by. See note by Translator, 90, 91.

Henfrey, A., extract from his Outlines of Structural and Physiological Botany. See notes by Translator, 341, 342, 351.

p 368 Hensius on the variations of form in the comet of 1744, 102.

Herodotus, described Scythia as free from earthquakes, 204; Scythian saga of the sacred gold, which fell burning from heaven, 115.

Herschel, Sir William, map of the world, 66; inscription on his monument at Upton, 87; satellites of Saturn, 96; diameters of comets, 101; on the comet of 1811, 103; star guagings, 150; starless space, 150, 152; time required for light to pass to the earth from the remotest luminous vapor, 154.

Herschel, Sir John, letter on Magellanic clouds, 85; satellites of Saturn, 98; diameter of nebulous stars, 141; stellar Milky Way, 150, 151; light of isolated starry clusters, 151; observed at the Cape, the star pi in Argo increase in splendor, 153; invariability of the magnetic declination in the West Indes, 181.

Hesiod, dimensions of the universe, 154.

Hevellus on the comet of 1618, 106.

Hibbert, Dr., on the Lake of Laach. See note by Translator, 218.

Himalayas, the, their altitude, 28; scenery and vegetation, 29, 30; temperature, 30, 31; variations of the snow-line on their northern and southern declivities, 30-33, 331.

Hind, Mr., planets discovered by. See Translator's note, 90, 91.

Hindoo civilization, its primitive seat, 35, 36.

Hippalos, or monsoons, 316.

Hippocrates, his erroneous supposition that the land of Scythia is an elevated table-land, 346.

Hoff, numerical inquiries on the distribution of earthquakes throughout the year, 207.

Hoffman, Friedrich, observations on earthquakes, 206-207; on eruption fissures in the Lipari Islands, 238.

Holberg, his Satire, "Travels of Nic. Klimius, in the world under ground." See Translator's note, 171, 172.

Hood on the Aurora, 200, 201.

Hooke, Robert, pulsations in the tails of comets, 143; his anticipation of the application of botannical and zoological evidence to determine the relative age of rocks, 270-272.

Ho-tsings, Chinese fire-springs, their depth, 158; chemical composition, 217.

Howard on the climate of London, 125; mean annual quantity of rain in London, 333.

Hugel, Carl von, on the elevation of the valley of Kashmir, 32, 33; on the snow-line of the Himalayas, 331.

Humboldt, Alexander von, works by referred to in various notes:
Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 31, 305.
Annales des Science Naturelles, 28.
Ansichten der Natur, 342, 344, 347.
Asie Centrale, 28, 31, 33, 115, 158, 159, 160, 204, 217, 219, 225, 245,
251, 252, 260, 289, 290, 291, 292, 296, 300, 301, 303-306, 320, 323, 324,
330, 331, 334, 350, 356.
Atlas Geographique et Physique du Nouveau Continent, 33, 249.
De distributione Geographica Plantrum, secundum coeli temperiem, et
altitudinem Montium, 33, 291, 324.
Examen Critique de l'Histoire de la Geographie, 58, 180, 181, 227, 289,
292, 307, 308, 310, 316, 356.
Essai Geognostique sur le Gisement des Roches, 230, 252, 266, 300.
Essai Politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne, 129, 240.
Essai sur la Geographie des Plantes, 33, 230, 315.
Flora Friburgensis Subterranea, 340, 346.
Journal de Physique, 178, 292.
Lettre au Duc de Sussex, sur les Moyens propres a perfectionner la
connaissance du Magnetisme Terrestre, 178, 192.
Monumens des Peuples Indigenes de l'Amerique, 140.
Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 307.
Recueil d'Observations Astronomiques, 28, 167, 218, 327.
Recueil d'Observations de Zoologi et d'Anatomie Comparee, 232.
Relation Historique du Voyage aux Regions Equinoxiales, 113, 119, 123,
127, 130, 186, 206, 207, 220, 221, 225, 252, 292, 299, 300, 302, 305-307,
314, 315, 327, 329, 334, 336.
Tableau Physique des Regions Equinoxiales, 33, 230.
Vues des Cordilleres, 225, 230.

Humboldt, Wilhelm von, on the primitive seat of Hindoo civilization, 36; sonnet, extract from, 154; on the gradual recognition by the human race of the bond of humanity, 358, 359.

Humidity, 313, 332-335.

Hutton, Capt. Thomas, his paper on the snow-line of the Himalayas, 331, 332.

Huygens, polarization of light, 52; nebulous spots, 138.

Hygrometry, 332, 333; hygrometric wind-rose, 333.

Imagination, abuse of, by half-civilized nations, 37.

Imbert, his account of Chinese "fire-springs," 158.

Ionian school of natural philosophy, 65, 77, 84, 134.

Isogenic, isoclinical, isodynamic, etc. See Lines.

Jacquemont, Victor, his barometrical observations on the snow-line of the Himalayas, 32, 231.

Jasper, its formation, 259-261.

Jessen on the gradual rise of the coast of Sweden, 295.

Jorullo, hornitos de, 230.

p 369 Justinian, conjectures on the physical causes of volcanic eruptions, 243.

Kamtz, isobarometric lines, 315; doubts on the greater dryness of mountain air, 334.

Kant, Emmanuel, "on the theory and structure of the heavens," 50, 65; earthquake at Lisbon, 210.

Kelihau on the ancient sea-line of the coast of Spitzbergen, 296.

Kepler on the distances of stars, 88; on the density of the planets, 93; law of progression, 95; on the number of comets, 99; shooting stars, 113; on the obscuration of the sun's disk, 132; on the radiations of heat from the fixed stars, 136; on a solar atmosphere, 139.

Kloden, shooting stars, 119, 124.

Knowledge, superficial, evils of, 43.

Krug of Nidda, temperature of the Geyser and the Strokr intermittent fountains, 222.

Krusenstern, Admiral, on the train of a fire-ball, 114.

Kuopho, a Chinese physicist on the attraction of the magnet, and of amber, 168.

Kupffer, magnetic stations in Northern Asia, 191.

Lamanon, 187.

Lambert, suggestion that the direction of the wind be compared with the height of the barometer, alterations of temperature, humidity, etc., 315.

Lamont, mass of Uranus, 93; satellites of Saturn, 96.

Language and thought, their mutual alliance, 56; author's praise of his native language, 56.

Languages, importance of their study, 357, 359.

Laplace, his "Systeme du Monde," 48, 62, 92, 141; mass of the comet of 1770, 107; on the required velocity of masses projected from the Moon, 121, 122; on the altitude of the boundaries of the atmosphere of cosmical bodies, 141; zodiacal light, 141; lunar inequalities, 166; the Earth's form and size inferred from lunar inequalities, 168, 169; his estimate of the mean height of mountains, 301; density of the ocean required to be less than the earth's for the stability of its equilibrium, 305; results of his perfect theory of tides, 306.

Latin writers, their use of the term "Mundus," 70, 71.

Latitudes, Northern, obstacles they present to a discovery of the laws of Nature, 36; earliest acquaintance with the governing forces of the physical world, there displayed, 36; spread from thence of the germs of civilization, 36.

Latitudes, tropical, their advantages for the contemplation of nature, 33; powerful impressions, from their organic richness and fertility, 34; facilities they present for a knowledge of the laws of nature, 35; brilliant display of shooting stars, 113.

Laugier, his calculations to prove Halley's comet identical with the comet of 1378, described in Chinese tables, 109.

Lava, its mineral composition, 234.

Lavoisier, 62.

Lawrence (St.), fiery tears, 124; meteoric stream, 125.

Leibnitz, his conjecture that the planets increase in volume in proportion to their increase of distance from the Sun, 93.

Lenz, observations on the mean level of the Caspian Sea, 297; maxims of density of the oceanic temperature, 304; temperature and density of the ocean under different zones of latitude and longitude, 306.

Leonhard, Karl von, assumption on formations of granular limestone, 263.

Leverrier, planet Neptune. See Translator's note, 90, 91.

Lewy, observations on the varying quantity of oxygen in the atmosphere, according to local conditions, or the seasons, 311, 312.

Lichtenberg, on meteoric stones, 118.

Liebig on traces of ammonical vapors in the atmosphere, 311.

Light, chromatic polarization of, 52; transmission, 88; of comets, 104-106; of fixed stars, 105; extraordinary lightness, instances of, 142-144; propagation of 153; speed of transit, 153, 154. See Aurora, Zodiacal Light, etc.

Lignites or beds of brown coal, 283, 284.

Lines, isogonic (magnetic equal deviation), 177, 181-185; isoclinal (magnetis equal inclination), 178, 179, 181-185; isodynamic (or magnetic equal force), 181, 185-194; isogeothermal (chthonisothermal), 219; isobarometric, 315; isothermal, isotheral, and isochimenal, 317, 327, 328, 358.

Line of no variation of horary declination, 183; lower limit of perpetual snow, 329-332; phosphorescent, 113.

Lisbon, earthquake of, 210, 211, 213, 214.

Lord on the limits of the snow-line on the Himalayas, 32.

Lottin, his observations of the Aurora, with Bravais and Siljerstrom, on the coast of Lapland, 195, 200, 201.

Lowenorn, recognized the coruscation of the polar light in bright sunshine, 196.

Lyell, Charles, investigations on the numerical relations of extinct and organic life, 274, 275; nether-formed or hypogene rocks, 249; uniformity of the production of erupted rocks, 257. See notes by Translator, 203, 244, 257.

Mackenzie, description of a remarkable eruption in Iceland, 236.

Maclear on a Centauri, 88; parallaxes and distances of fixed stars, 153; increase in brightness of 'pi' Argo, 153.

Madler, planetary compression of Uranus, 96; distance of the innermost satellite of Saturn from the centre of that planet, 97; material contents of the Moon, 96; its libration, 98; mean depression of temperature on the three cold days of May (11th-13th), 133; conjecture that the average mass of the larger number of binary stars exceeds the mass of the Sun, 149.

Magellanic clouds, 85.

Magnetic attraction, 188; declination, 181-183; horary motion, 177-180; horary variations 183, 190; magnetic storms, 177, 179, 195, 199; their intimate connection with the Aurora, 193-201; represented by three systems of lines, see Lines; movement of oval systems, 182; magnetic equator, 183-185; magnetic poles, 183, 184; observatories, 190-192; magnetic stations, 190, 191, 317.

Magnetism, terrestrial, 177-193, 201; electro, 177-191.

Magnussen, Soemund, description of remarkable eruption in Iceland, 236.

Mahlmann, Wilhelm, south west direction of the aërial current in the middle latitudes of the temperate zone, 317.

Mairan on the zodiacal light, 138, 139, 142; his opinion that the Sun is a nebulous star, 141.

Malapert, annular mountain, 98.

Malle, Dureau de la, 223.

Man, general view of, 351-359; proofs of the flexibility of his nature, 27; results of his intellectual progress, 53, 54; geographical distribution of races, 351-356; on the assumption of superior and inferior races, 351-358; his gradual recognition of the bond of humanity, 358, 359.

Mantell, Dr., his "Wonders of Geology," see notes by Translator, 45, 64, 203, 274, 278, 281, 283, 284, 287; "Medals of Creation," 46, 271, 283, 287.

Margarita Philosophica by Gregory Reisch, 58.

Marius, Simon, first described the nebulous spots in Andromeda and Orion, 138.

Martins, observations on polar bands, 198; found that air collected at Faulhorn contained as much oxygen as the air of Paris, 312; on the distribution of the quantity of rain in Central Europe, 333; doubts on the greater dryness of mountain air, 334.

Matthessen, letter to Arago on the zodiacal light, 142.

Mathieu on the augmented intensity of the attraction of gravitation in volcanic islands, 167.

Mayer, Tobias, on the motion of the solar system, 146, 148.

Mean numerical values, their necessity in modern physical science, 81.

Melloni, his discoveries on radiating heat and electro-magnetism, 49.

Menzel, unedited work by, on the flora of Japan, 347.

Messier, comet, 108; nebulous spot resembling our starry stratum, 151.

Metamorphic Rocks. See Rocks.

Meteorology, 311-339.

Meteors, see Aërolites; meteoric infusoria, 345, 346.

Methone, Hill of, 240.

Meyen on forming a thermal scale of cultivation, 324; on the reproductive organs of liverworts and algae, 341.

Meyer, Hermann von, on the organization of flying saurians, 274.

Milky Way, its figure, 89; views of Aristotle on, 103; vast telescopic breadth, 150; Milky Way of nebulous spots at right angles with that of the stars, 151.

Minerals, artificially formed, 268, 269.

Mines, greatest depth of, 157, 159; temperature, 158.

Mist, phosphorescent, 142.

Mitchell, protracted earthquake shocks in North America, 211.

Mitscherlich on the chemical origin of iron glance in volcanic masses, 234; chemical combinations, a means of throwing a clear light on geognosy, 256; on gypsum, as a uniaxal crystal, 259; experiments on the simultaneously opposite actions of heat on crystalline bodies, 259; formation of crystals of mica, 260; on artificial mineral products, 268, 271.

Mofettes (exhalations of carbonic acid gas), 215-219.

Monsoons (Indian), 316, 317.

Monticelli on the current of hydrochloric acid from the crater of Vesuvius, 235; crystals of mica found in the lava of Vesuvius, 260.

Moon, the, its relative magnitude, 96; density, 96; distance from the earth, 97; its libration, 98, 163; its light compared with that of the Aurora, 201, 202; volcanic action in, 228.

Moons or satellites, their diameter, distances, rotation, etc., 95-99.

Morgan, John H. "on the Aurora Borealis of Oct. 24, 1847." See Translator's notes, 194, 199.

Morton, Samuel George, his magnificent work on the American Races, 362.

Moser's images, 202.

Mountains, in Asia, America, and Europe, their altitude, scenery, and vegetation, 27-30, 238, 347; their influence on climate, natural productions, and on the human race, its trade, civilization, and social condition, 291, 292, 299, 300, 327; zones of vegetation on the declivities of 29, 30, 327-329; snow-line of, 30-33, 330, 331.

Mud volcanoes. See Salses and Volcanoes.

Muller, Johannes, on the modifications of plants and aniimals within certain limitations, 353.

Muncke on the appearance of Auroras in certain districts, 198.

Murchison, Sir R., account of a large fissure through which melaphyre had been ejected, 258; classification of fossiliferous strata, 277; on the age of the Palaeosaurus and Thecodontosaurus of Bristol, 274.

Muschenbroek on the frequency of meteors in August, 125.

Myndius, Apollonius, on the Pythagorean doctrine of comets, 103, 104.

Nature, result of a rational inquiry into, 25; emotions excited by her contemplation, 25; striking scenes, 26; their sources of enjoyment, 26, 27; magnificence of the tropical scenery, 33, 34, 35, 344; religious impulses from a communion with nature, 37; obstacles to an active spirit of inquiry, 37; mischief of inaccurate observations, 38; higher enjoyments of her study, 38; narrow-minded views of nature, 38; lofty impressions produced on the minds of laborious observers, 40; nature defined, 41; her studies inexhaustible, 41; general observations, their great advantages, 42; how to be correctly comprehended, 72; her most vivid impressions earthly, 82.

Nature, philosophy of, 24, 37; physical description of, 66, 67, 73.

Nebulae, 84-86; nebulous Milky Way at right angles with that of the stars, 150-153; nebulous spots, conjectures on, 83-86; nebulous stars and planetary nebulae, 85, 151, 152; nebulous vapor, 83-86, 87, 152; their supposed condensation in conformity with the laws of attraction, 84.

Neilson, gradual depression of the southern part of Sweden, 295.

Nericat, Andrea de, popular belief in Syria on the fall of aerolites, 123.

Newton, discussed the question on the difference between the attraction of masses and molecular attraction, 63; Newtonian axiom confirmed by Bessel, 64; his edition of the Geography of Varenius, 66; Principia Mathematica, 67; considered the planets to be composed of the same matter with the Earth, 132; compression of the Earth, 165.

Nicholl, J. P., note from his account of the planet Neptune, 90, 91.

Nicholson, observations of lighting clouds, unaccompanied by thunder or indications of storm, 337.

Nobile, Antonio, experiments of the height of the barometer, and its influence on the level of the sea, 298.

Noggerath counted 792 annual rings in the trunk of a tree at Bonn, 283.

Nordmann on the existence of animalcules in the fluids of the eyes of fishes, 345.

Norman, Robert, invented the inclinatorium, 179.

Observations, scientific, mischief of inaccurate, 38; tendency of unconnected, 40.

Ocean, general view of, 292-311; its extent as compared with the dry land, 288, 289; its depth, 160, 302; tides, 304, 305; decreasing temperature at increased depths, 302; uniformity and constancy of temperature in the same spaces, 303; its currents and their various causes, 306-309; its phosphorescence in the torrid zone, 202; its action on climate, 303, 319-320; influence on the mental and social condition of the human race, 162, 291, 292, 294, 310; richness of its organic life, 300, 310; oceanic microscopic forms, 342, 343; sentiments excited by its contemplation, 310.

Oersted, electro-magnetic discoveries, 188, 191.