Chapter I: Front Matter

THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,

EXHIBITING A VIEW OF THE

PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS

IN THE

SCIENCES AND THE ARTS.

CONDUCTED BY

ROBERT JAMESON,

REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY, LECTURER ON MINERALOGY,
AND KEEPER OF THE MUSEUM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH;

Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh; Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy; of the Royal Society of Sciences of Denmark; of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin; of the Royal Academy of Naples; of the Geological Society of France; Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta; Fellow of the Royal Linnean, and of the Geological Societies of London; of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and of the Cambridge Philosophical Society; of the Antiquarian, Wernerian Natural History, Royal Medical, Royal Physical, and Horticultural Societies of Edinburgh; of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland; of the Antiquarian and Literary Society of Perth; of the Statistical Society of Glasgow; of the Royal Dublin Society; of the York, Bristol, Cambrian, Whitby, Northern, and Cork Institutions; of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle; of the Imperial Pharmaceutical Society of Petersburgh; of the Natural History Society of Wetterau; of the Mineralogical Society of Jena; of the Royal Mineralogical Society of Dresden; of the Natural History Society of Paris; of the Philomathic Society of Paris; of the Natural History Society of Calvados; of the Senkenberg Society of Natural History; of the Society of Natural Sciences and Medicine of Heidelberg; Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York; of the New York Historical Society; of the American Antiquarian Society; of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York; of the Natural History Society of Montreal; of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanical Arts; of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania; of the Boston Society of Natural History of the United States; of the South African Institution of the Cape of Good Hope; Honorary Member of the Statistical Society of France; Member of the Entomological Society of Stettin, &c. &c. &c.

APRIL 1850 ... OCTOBER 1850.

VOL. XLIX.

_TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY._

EDINBURGH:
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK.
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS, LONDON.

1850.

EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY, OLD FISHMARKET.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

ART. I. Geographical Distribution of Animals. By Professor
LOUIS AGASSIZ:--

Different Views on the Subject.--Results of
Geological Observations.--Facts and
Suppositions.--Natural Limits for
Animals.--Limitations and Adaptations.--Influence
of Heights and Depths.--Distribution of
Mammalia.--Creations on each Continent.--Zoological
Provinces.--General Conclusion, 1-25

Additional Illustrations of the Geographical
Distribution of Animals:--

1. Geographical Distribution of Sturgeons, 25

2. Fishes of Lake Superior compared with those of
the other great Canadian Lakes, 27

3. General Observations; all Fresh-water Fishes of
North America different from those of Europe--Lake
Superior and the Lakes north of it constitute a
distinct Zoological District--These Fishes have been
created where they now live--Deductions from this
fact, 30

II. On the Geography and Geology of the Peninsula of
Mount Sinai, and the adjacent Countries. By JOHN
HOGG, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S.; Honorary Secretary of
the Royal Geographical Society, &c. (With a
coloured Geological Map.) Communicated by the
Author. (Continued from Vol. xlviii., p. 219), 33

III. Synopsis of Meteorological Observations made at the
Observatory, Whitehaven, Cumberland, in the year
1849. By JOHN FLETCHER MILLER, Esq., F.R.S.,
F.R.A.S., &c. Communicated by the Author, 53

IV. The Completed Coral Island. By JAMES D. DANA,
Geologist to the American Exploratory Expedition,
&c., &c., 65

V. Biographical Notice of Leopold Pilla, the Geologist.
By H. COQUAND. Communicated by the Author, 68

VI. On the Chronological Exposition of the Periods of
Vegetation, and the different Floras which have
succeeded each other on the Earth's surface.
According to the views of M. BRONGNIART. (Concluded
from Vol. xlviii., p. 330):--

Fossil Plants of the Permian Period.--Vosgian
Period.--Jurassic Period.--Tertiary Period, 72-97

VII. Glacial Theory of the Erratics and Drift of the New
and Old Worlds. By Professor AGASSIZ:--

Glacialists and Antiglacialists.--Erratic basins
of Switzerland.--Similar phenomena observed in
other parts of Europe.--Points necessary to be
settled; first, the relation in time and
character between the Northern and the Alpine
erratics.--Traced in North America.---Not yet
settled whether any local centres of distribution
in America; but the general cause must have acted
in all parts simultaneously. This action ceased
at 35° north latitude; this incompatible with the
notion of currents.--In both hemispheres a direct
reference to the Polar Regions. Difficulty as to
so extensive formation of Ice, removed;
difficulties on the theory of Currents, the
effects contrary to experience of
Water-Action.--Erratic phenomena of Lake
Superior.--The Iceberg theory.--Description of
appearances at Lake Superior.--Drift: contains
mud, and is without fossils.--Example of
juxtaposition of stratified and unstratified
Drift, at Cambridge.--Date of these phenomena not
fully determined, but doubtless simultaneous all
over the Globe.--The various periods and kinds of
Drift distinguished.--Accompanied by change of
level in the Continent, 97-98

VIII. Description of the Marine Telescope. By JOHN ADIE,
F.R.S.E., F.R.S.S.A. Communicated by the Author, 117

IX. Experimental Investigations to Discover the Cause of
the Change which takes place in the Standard Points
of Thermometers. By JOHN ADIE, F.R.S.E., F.R.S.S.A.
Communicated by the Author, 122

X. Observations on the Discovery, by Professor Lepsius,
of Sculptured Marks on Rocks in the Nile Valley in
Nubia; indicating that, within the historical
period, the river had flowed at a higher level than
has been known in Modern Times. By LEONARD HORNER,
Esq., F.R.S.S. L. & E., F.G.S., &c. Communicated by
the Author. With a Plate, 126

XI. On the Salmon Tribe (Salmonidæ); their Classification,
Geographical Distribution, &c., 144

XII. Results of Observations made by the Rev. F. FALLOWS,
at the Cape of Good Hope, in the years 1849-30-31.
Produced under the superintendence of G. B. Airy,
Esq., Astronomer Royal, 148

XIII. Discovery of the Great Lake "Ngami" of South
Africa, 150