Various

“ Excepting here and there a tree, or a slight elevation of ground, it is otherwise a dead level, covered with tall weeds and coarse grass. The sluggish rivulets, of a reddish colour, scarcely move perceptibly, and their appearance is as uninviting to the eye, as their taste is disgusting to the palate. Such are the prairies and barrens of the west; but, in order to make ample amends for any deficiency, nature has made them exuberantly fertile. The farmer who settles upon them, by raising cattle, becomes rich with little labour. ”

“ The summit of the Look-Out mountain overlooks the whole country. And to those who can be delighted with the view of an interminable forest, penetrated by the windings of a bold river, interspersed with hundreds of verdant prairies, and broken by many ridges and mountains, furnishes in the month of May, a landscape, which yields to few others in extent, variety or beauty. ”

“ With a few exceptions, the geologist meets with none of those remarkable appearances which indicate the changes and convulsions which have been wrought by time, the great enemy of nature. Occasionally we are presented with a view of a sublime precipice, formed by a section which a river appears to have made for itself through an opposing mountain; and the large masses of ruins, which lie scattered around such a place, seem, to the imagination of the solitary traveller, the historical records of commotions, awful even in retrospect. ”

“ The rock is limestone. It is known that this rock wears away rapidly under the attrition of water; and the supposition does not appear improbable, that, in the lapse of ages, so large a creek as that which flows below the bridge, may have worn as deep a ravine as that which now strikes us with so much surprise, In short, may not a cave have been originally formed where the ravine is now, and the pending portion of it have fallen in at every place except that which now forms this celebrated natural curiosity? ”

“ In the United States, instances are not wanting of the successful operation of high steam; of which the engine at the mint is a conspicuous example. There can, indeed, be no good reason why this great power should not be employed to an extent within the limits of safety, if more economical and convenient. If boilers can bear (as they are usually made of iron) 500 pounds, there can be no danger in using them with fifty; and this gives an increase of power, with a condenser, fourfold, or makes a ten horse power forty. The economy, therefore, of high steam, hardly admits of a question. ”

“ Looking towards the east, in a pleasant morning, you behold a beautiful country of hill and dale spread out before you, divided into convenient and well-cultivated farms, intersected by glittering streams, meandering through them towards the Ohio. ”

“ There is near Lancaster, on the last-mentioned river in the State of Ohio, and near the great road, a gentle rise of ground in the prairie, which has every appearance of having been an island, and is so called by the people of the vicinity.
In fine, wherever prairies and barrens are found, there, for a long space of time, water once stood, but was gradually drained off. Else why alluvial soil to such a depth, in low situations, and growing thinner as we ascend on ground more elevated? Else why do we find rocks in more elevated tracts of country, and not in prairies or barrens? ”

“ The freezing of water, and its attendant expansion, are productive of multiplied and very diversified phenomena upon our globe, whether we contemplate them in the delicate spiculæ of hoarfrost, the six-rayed stars of snow, or in the stupendous glaciers of the Alps, and the awful icebergs of Greenland. ”

“ But in no instance did I meet with specimens of granite; nor west of the Blue Ridge with any prevailing rock but limestone. I know of no reason why the Blue Ridge should not be regarded as the first great dividing line between the granite and limestone countries. The change in the geological formation is so sudden and striking, that it would be difficult for the most careless traveller with his eyes open, not to observe it. The face of nature, he cannot but perceive, wears a different aspect; the air is more cool and lively ”

“ When we find the ruins of ancient cities buried under ground; when the plough uncovers the front of palaces and the summit of old temples, we are astonished: but we seldom reflect why they are hidden in the earth. A sort of imperceptible dust falls at all times from the atmosphere, and it has covered them during ages. ”

“ JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, &c.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. The age in which we live is not less distinguished by a vigorous and successful cultivation of physical science, than by its numerous and important applications to the practical arts, and to the common purposes of life.
In every enlightened country, men illustrious for talent, worth, and knowledge, are ardently engaged in enlarging the boundaries of natural science; and the history of their labours and discoveries is communicated to the world chiefly through the medium of Scientific Journals. ”

“ The country has every where the appearance of an origin comparatively recent. Not a rock on which you can stand, and no mountain to gladden the eye; you seem to have left the older parts of creation to witness the encroachments which the earth is continually making upon the empire of the sea; and on arriving at the mouth of the Mississippi, you find the grand instruments of nature in active operation, producing with slow, but certain gradations, the same results. ”

“ The soil consists of a soft clay, or light sand, on which you seldom meet with a stone of any kind. The surface of the earth is undulating and hilly, but not mountainous. The water-courses do not move rapidly and tumultuously, as in the limestone country; but form in the soft earth, deep trenches, through which they glide smoothly and silently along. The smallest rivulet often has a trench ten feet deep; and the earth over which it passes, is continually yielding to its gentle attrition.
The only minerals which I observed, are sandstone, common and ferruginous ”

“ It is my object to establish facts, rather than any favourite theory. The difference of latitude between the Ohio river at the mouth of the Scioto, and lake Erie at the mouth of the Maume or Sandusky, is nearly three degrees, and the difference of elevation above the sea is trifling, if any. From the mouth of the Scioto to Columbus, about 90 miles in a direct line, the water, where there is what is commonly called a ripple, runs briskly, and these ripples happen, perhaps, one to a mile; but they are in a sandstone region, and the fall of course is trifling. ”

“ Along the Ohio, a wide intervale of the richest alluvion is found, which produces as luxuriant a growth of vegetation as any in the world. On the banks of the creeks which pass through this country the alluvial soil is not so wide as that on the river, but equally rich and productive. On the hills (and there are many of them) there are two kinds of soil, the silicious and the argillaceous, the first is formed from the decomposition of the rocks which once covered the surface, the latter from the slate which lay under them. ”

“ To the traveller, who for several days traverses these prairies and barrens, their appearance is quite uninviting, and even disagreeable. He may travel from morning until night, and make good speed, but on looking around him, he fancies himself at the very spot whence he started. No pleasant variety of hill and dale, no rapidly running brook delights the eye, and no sound of woodland music strikes the ear ”

“ To concentrate American efforts in science and the arts, by furnishing a Journal to record their proceedings, will, in our view, not only have a direct influence in promoting the honour and prosperity of the nation as connected with its physical interests, but will also tend in no small degree to nourish an enlarged patriotism, by winning the public mind from the odious asperities of party. ”

“ Among the cabinets, the splendid collection of Colonel Gibbs, now in Yale College, (a munificent DEPOSIT for the benefit of his country,) stands pre-eminent: it would be considered as a very noble cabinet in any part of Europe: and its introduction into the United States, and its gratuitous dedication to the promotion of science, are equally advantageous to the community, and honourable to its patriotic and enlightened proprietor. Mineralogy is most intimately connected with our arts, and especially with our agriculture. ”

“ But when it is asserted by practical musicians, that the octave will bear less tempering than the Vth, the Vth less than the IIId, &c., they doubtless intend to estimate the temperament by the rate of beating, and to imply, that when different consonances to the same base are made to beat equally fast, the simpler are more offensive than the more complex consonances. This is entirely consistent with the proposition; for when equally tempered, the more complex consonances will beat more rapidly than the more simple; if on the same base, very nearly in the ratio of their major terms. ”

“ To this I reply, that the doctrine of heat is not yet so thoroughly understood, as to acquaint us with all its habitudes with natural bodies, but we infer from analogy, that the more refractory a body is in [274] the fire, the greater in a due ratio is the absolute quantity of heat required to reduce it to, and retain it in, the state of gas, and the greater, in a corresponding degree, will be the dilatation of its particles and decrease of its specific gravity. ”

“ If an open navigation should be discovered across the polar basin, the passage over the pole or close to it, will be one of the most interesting events to science that has ever occurred. It will be the first time that the problem was practically solved with which the learners of geography are sometimes puzzled—that of going the shortest way between two places lying east and west, by taking a direction of north and south. ”

“ Some of the Abbé Haüy's names are, however, very happily chosen, especially where new discriminations were to be established, or errors corrected, or even a redundant crop of synonymes to be superseded by a better name. Epidote is an instance of the latter, and the new divisions of the old zeolite family into four species, mesotype, stilbite, analcime, and chabasie, afford a happy instance of the former. It were much to be wished, that by the common consent of mineralogists, one nomenclature should be universally adopted: for its uniformity is of much more importance than its nature. ”

“ Our botany, it is true, has been extensively and successfully investigated; but this field is still rich, and rewards every new [6] research with some interesting discovery. Our mineralogy, however, is a treasure but just opened. That both science and art may expect much advantage from this source, is sufficiently evinced by the success which has crowned the active efforts of a few ardent cultivators of this science: several new species of minerals have been added to it in this country ”

“ The science of mathematics, both pure and mixed, can never cease to be interesting and important to man, as long as the relations of quantity shall exist, as long as ships shall traverse the ocean, as long as man shall measure the surface or heights of the earth on which he lives, or calculate the distances and examine the relations of the planets and stars ”

“ It is well known to those who have attended to the subject of musical ratios, that a fixed scale of eight degrees to the octave, which shall render all its concords perfect, is impossible. It has been demonstrated by Dr. Smith, from an investigation of all the positions which the major, the minor, and the half-tone can assume, that the most perfect scales possible, of which there are two equally so, differing only in the position of the major and the minor tone above the key note, must have one Vth and one 3d too flat, and consequently the supplementary 4th and VIth too sharp, by a comma. ”

“ The blue limestone appears frequently enough to satisfy us that it is the groundwork of the whole; but it is almost every where covered with incrustations of the hard carbonates. These hang from the arched vault above in clusters, and often reach the ground, forming massive columns. Stalagmites again rise from the floor like so many statues; the irregular sides of the ledges of rocks are often incrusted over with white crystals of the carbonate of lime, and have the appearance of banks of salt: at times we seem to walk on diamond pavements ”

“ The regions watered by the Missouri are inhabited by many animals, as yet unknown to the zoologists, although many have been noticed by travellers. A species of marten has lately been presented to the Lyceum of Natural History in New-York, which was brought from that country, and appears to belong to a peculiar species, very different from the common martens of Europe, Asia, and America, although it has, in common with it, the character of the yellow throat; but the head, feet, and tail, afford so many peculiar characters, that no doubt can be entertained of its diversity. ”

“ I am led finally to suppose, that the contact of dissimilar metals, when subjected to the action of solvents, causes a movement in caloric as well as in the electric fluid, and that the phenomena of Galvanism, the unlimited evolution of heat by friction, the extrication of gaseous matter without the production of cold, might all be explained by supposing a combination between the fluids of heat and electricity. We find scarcely any two kinds of ponderable matter which do not exercise more or less affinity towards each other. ”

“ The exterior strata of the earth, and especially the more exposed parts thereof, envelope in their compounds, elements of an identity of character with those composing meteoric stones.
The atmosphere is the great recipient of all volatilized bodies; it possesses but feebly the powers of a solvent, unaided by heat or moisture, but when these are adjuvants, no body in nature can totally resist their action for a long time.
Now if the above principles are admitted, we have in their application a reasonable solution of most meteoric phenomena. ”

“ If we may be allowed to express a wish relative to the nature of future communications, it would be, that those of a scientific nature should not be diminished, while those relating to the arts, to agriculture, and to domestic economy, should be increased; we particularly solicit the communications of practical men, versed in the useful and ornamental arts, and they will be acceptable should they not even be clothed in a scientific dress. ”

“ I trust the public will soon read, in the pages of your Journal, a detail more perfect and more interesting. And allow me to suggest, whether, under the auspices of our learned societies, some men of science might not be employed and supported in exploring the country, with the prospect of greatly enlarging the science of our country, and of enriching our Journals and Cabinets of Natural History. Tours of discovery have often been made for other objects, and with success. ”

“ The name of Werner will always be venerated as long as geological science shall be cultivated, for geology owes more to him than to any other man; but his pupils should not now demand that implicit and unqualified adoption of ALL his opinions, which will allow no other question to be raised, than what Werner taught or believed. ”

“ From these sources our country reaps, and will long continue to reap, an abundant harvest of information: and if the light of science, as well as of day, springs from the east, we will welcome the rays of both; nor should national pride induce us to reject so rich an offering. ”

“ It is a most curious phenomenon, and we believe entirely without a parallel. Another river, called the White River, unites with this some miles below its origin: this river, which is so called from the turbidness of its waters, its salutary to men and animals; fishes live in it, and vegetation is nourished by its waters; but after the junction it becomes clear; the acid dissolving the earthy particles which discoloured it, and it now becomes fatal to living beings: kills the fish, destroys the vegetation, and corrodes the stones in its channel. ”