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are almost as certain as those deduced from human bones have been found. "Hence rational principles, especially if established it clearly appears that no argument for upon careful and repeated observation. the antiquity of the human race can be Hence, any one who observes merely the founded upon these fossil bones, or upon the print of a cloven hoof, may conclude that more or less considerable collections of it has been left by a ruminant animal, and regard the conclusion as equally certain with any other in physics or in morals. Consequently, this single foot-mark clearly indicates to the observer the forms of the teeth, of the jaws, of the vertebræ, of all the leg-bones, thighs, shoulders, and of the trunk of the body of the animal which left the mark. It is much surer than all the marks of Zadig. Observation alone, independent entirely of general principles of philosophy, is sufficient to show that there certainly are secret reasons for all these relations of which I have been speaking."

By a strict adherence to these rules Cuvier has ascertained and classified the fossil remains of 78 different quadrupeds, forty-nine of which are species heretofore entirely unknown to naturalists. They are not found among living animals, and consequently belong to extinct species. For proofs of these we must refer to Cuvier's great work on fossil organic remains, or to the second part of the publication before us wherein professor Jameson gives an account of Cuvier's geological discoveries. Among the representations of these extinct animals the present essay contains two entire skeletons, one of the megatherium (plate 3) dug out of alluvial soil near Buenos-Ayres, in South America, an animal apparently allied to the sloths, and the ornithocephalus, found near Aichstedt, in Germany,-a quadruped of the bat kind, with the head of a bird, If further proofs were wanting, the Ameri can mammoth, or great mastodon, may be added, the skeleton of which was disinter red in this state and is to be seen in the museum of Philadelphia.

The relation which the species of fossil bones bear to the strata in which they are found, is treated of in the 29th section, p. 111. Here it is stated, that shells alone are found in the oldest flatz, or secondary formations. The next in order are oviparous quadrupeds, as alligators, crocodiles, tortoises, &c. and among them no mammiferous land quadrupeds are to be found. In the basin, around Paris, a formation of chalk, without organic remains, lies above these. But land quadrupeds in abundance succeed in the strata above the chalk. In the upper strata, or alluvial deposites, are the remains of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and mastodon. The bones of existing animals are only found in the latest alluvial depositions. Among the great number and variety of organic remains hitherto discovered, no

rocks, or earthly materials by which they are covered." All these changes which have taken place on the surface of the globe, must have been anterior to the formation of human beings, and consequently the establishment of our existing societies could not have been very ancient, being less than five thousand years. For proofs of this our readers must consult the 32d section of our author, containing the traditionary accounts of a great catastrophe and subsequent renewal of human society.

"I am of opinion, then," says Cuvier in conclusion, "with M. Deluc and M. Dothoroughly established in geology, it is, that lomieu, That, if there is any circumstance the crust of our globe has been subjected to a great and sudden revolution, the epoch of which cannot be dated much farther back than five or six thousand years ago; that this revolution had buried all the countries which were before inhabited by men and by the other animals that are now best known; that the same revolution had laid dry the bed of the last ocean, which now forms all the countries at present inhabited; that the small number of individuals of men and other animals that escaped from the effects of that great revolution, have since propagated and spread over the lands then newly laid dry; and consequently, that the human race has only resumed a progressive state of improvement since that epoch, by forming established societies, raising monuments, collecting natural facts, and constructing systems of science and of learning.

"Yet farther, That the countries which by this last revolution, had been formerly are now inhabited, and which were laid dry inhabited at a more remote era, if not by man, at least by land animals; that, consequently, at least one previous revolution had submerged them under the waters; and that, judging from the different orders of animals of which we discover the remains in a fossil state, they had probably experienced two or three irruptions of the sea.

"These alternate revolutions form, in my important to be solved, or rather to be accuopinion, the problem in geology that is most rately defined and circumscribed; for, in order to solve it satisfactorily and entirely, it were requisite that we should discover the cause of these events, an enterprise involving difficulties of a very different nature."

We have thus endeavoured to give an analysis of Cuvier's Theory of the Earth, but any further observation on this, or the remaining parts of the present publication must be deferred to our next number.

(To be continuer!.)

к.

ART. 6. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Supplement to DR. MITCHILL'S " Observations on the Geology of North-America," just published by Messrs. Kirk & Mercein, in the Description of a Fossil Elephant, discovered in Wythe County, southwest of the River Ihanhawa, in Virginia, written by Dr. John Stranger, to lieut. Wm. L. Brownlow, of the U. S. Marine Corps, stationed at N. York, dated Wythe County, March 10, 1818. DEAR SIR,

Your letter has been received some weeks ago, after my return from NorthCarolina, which should have been answered before this time, had I not been at a loss to know, what particular information Dr. Mitchill wishes with regard to the teeth and bones found on Mr. Kinsa's land. However, that you may not think your friendly application to me disregarded, I will now comply with your request, as well as I can. The place where the discovery was made, is a small marshy piece of ground, not more than 40 feet square, in a field which has been for more than 20 years in cultivation, and has previous to that time, as I am informed, been used as a lick by horses and cattle, a small spring of mineral taste oozes from the spot. The owner of the field observed repeatedly in the summer season, in dry weather, after a refreshing shower, that the place was covered with a white substance like salt. Under this impression he began to dig in search of salt water. The ground being opened a few feet in depth, he found a few uncommon teeth and small round bones, about 4 inches long and about 1 1-2 inches in diameter, solid and somewhat larger in circumference at each end, like joints of a tail, or toe. The news of this discovery induced several persons to visit the spot: I also went, and being desirous to make a farther search, I obtained permission to make á larger opening, say 12 feet square, and found a number of still larger teeth and bones, belonging, in my opinion, to two different species of animals, larger than any we now have within our states. The bones were so much decayed, that they would generally fall to pieces, when exposed to the air; the teeth I preserved, and some time afterwards put them in the possession of Dr. John Floyd, (a member from Virginia in the present congress) residing in Montgomery county, who probably, sent

them to some Museum. The soil was so strongly impregnated with the mineral, that it tasted like copperas itself. The

position in which the teeth and bones were found, was somewhat remarkable. The large teeth, two of which weighed 161b. each, and several more of less weight and size, were deposited in a manner by themselves, and deeper in the ground, according to their gravity: round about those, some little distance off, were the teeth and bones of the lesser animals, placed in a semicircle; of the latter I found several jawbones with their teeth sticking fast; and in one upper-jaw I found besides a tusk, about 20 inches long, shaped like a cow's horn, round, crooked, tapering off to a point, hollow at the base, and pointing forward towards the nose, also a couple of ribs and shoulder blades. The smaller animals I judged to have been of the carnivorous, from the shape of their teeth, which had a double row of high conic processes, three to each row, between 3 and 4 inches from the bottom of the root to the top of the tooth, and each was about 3 inches long. All the teeth of the large animal (I found no bones of this animal) were flat, and ribbed transversely. This remarkable position of the different bones and teeth, made me suppose, that the large animal bad died in a conflict with the smaller ones. Or why should I have found several sets of teeth and bones of the one kind, and all in that semicircle, and but one set of teeth of the large animal opposite to them. None of these teeth were deeper than about 6 feet in the ground, when a flat limestone rock commenced, which rock must have been once nearer to the surface, for I found pine-knots, and pieces of rotten wood within two feet above it. This, sir, is all the information I can think of, should Dr. Mitchill be desirous to know any other circumstance relative to this affair, I will cheerfully give it, if in my power.

I am, Sir, respectfully,
Your humble servant,
JOHN STRANGER.

To the Editors of the American Monthly Magazine.

THE salivating qualities which our pastures seem to possess for these last ten or fifteen years, so distressing to horses and neat-cattle, I have long wished to see philosophically investigated and publicly announced. The farmer, however, is still left to his own vague conjectures, and there is not a species of grass or herb which will grow in pasture land, but has

been accused of producing this deleterious effect. Now, permit me to suggest, (which I can do with much confidence,) that it ought not to be attributed to any vegetable whatever, but to that species of spider which, weaving a thick horizontal web near the surface of the ground, covers, in some pastures, one-tenth of the surface during the greater part of the

GENTLEMEN,

summer months. Should this suggestion induce the curious to an investigation of the properties and rapid progress of this insect, and a plain publication of the same, with the best method of counteracting its baneful effects, its object will have been attained, and the suggestor highly gratified. D. D.

Marcellus, April 2, 1818.

The following is taken from a Glasgow paper of the 20th of January last; if you deem it worth a place in your useful magazine, you can give it one.

P. H.

"SI-Allow me to submit to you, a reference to the curious coincidence of the figures 1818, which denote the present year, viz. that the two first are 18, the two last 18, and the sum of all

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just portion. And, when we speak in general terms of any individual people, or "regions of the globe;" when we presume to make estimates of individual and national character, let that which is exceptionable and commendable, equally claim our consideration. As to "achievements in literature, science, and the arts," England, though eminent, is by no means transcendent. Some of the most beneficial inventions and discoveries were introduced into England from other countries. Many indisputable facts might be advanced to prove this assertion. However, for the present, the following may suffice as a reply to the erroneous statements set forth in the review.

"In the year 1769, kine-pox was described (in a weekly paper: Allgemaine Unterhaltungen, published at Göttingen,) as a well known disease here in this country' (Germany) which infects persons who attend the dairies and prevents the infection of small-pox." Dr. Jenner, (an Englishman with a German name) first published his "Inquiry into the causes and effects of Variola Vaccina," &c. in 1798, twenty-nine years later.

Some have attributed "the invention of Logarithms" to lord John Napier, a Scotchman. But "there is greater reason to believe that a German clergyman, Michael Stiefel was the inventor of Logarithms, in 1599."

"In 1793, Walther, a citizen of Nürnberg, first observed astronomical refrac

tion."

"In 1604, John Kepler, a German, established a theory of refraction."

"In 1609, the same predecessor and pioneer of the immortal Newton, discovered that the courses of the planets are eliptic, &c. &c. He made some calculations of the proportionate motions of the celestial bodies; suspected a power of gravitation and attraction universally and mutually operative among the planets.'

"On the 29th of December in the same year, Simeon Marius (Meyer,) at Ansbach, first observed the satellites of Jupiter; and in 1618, Kepler made some further discoveries relative to the revolution of the planets."

"The first account of a Steam-Engine is given by Matthesius, a clergyman in Joachimsthal, Bohemia, in the year 1562," a long time before the Marquis of Worcester was born.

Every person acquainted with literature in general, knows very well that on the European continent, there is as bright a constellation of "men of letters, and in the sphere of divinity" as ever shed a

lustre on England. And it would be an easy matter to quote names and works to prove the fallacy of the assertion: "compared with the strain of the British muses, the poetical productions of their continental rivals lose almost the whole of their attraction." K.

Though we do not intend to open the door of discussion, in regard to the correctness of opinions stated in the reviews which appear in this miscellany, yet we have no hesitation in giving place to corrections in regard to statements of facts. The review of Ellis's book is from the pen of a gentleman of talents and learning, whose contributions frequently enrich our pages. Having a just confidence in his abilities, and not imagining that he could make the subject, of which he professed to treat, an occasion of offence, we permitted his sheets to be sent to the press without our inspection. There were many assertions, in that article, besides those complained of by our correspondent, which, had we had an opportunity to revise it, we should have expunged. extravagant eulogium on British genius was entirely misplaced in an American publication; and some of the literary opinions advanced by the author of that review are opposed to those_previously expressed by ourselves. EDITORS.

The

To the Editors of the American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review. GENTLEMEN,

One of your correspondents, in the Magazine for last month, communicated remarks on the method I proposed for finding the latitude by altitudes of the sun taken at a distance from the Meridian. For my communication entitled, Hints on the Methods of determining the Latitude and Longitude of places on the Land, your readers are referred to the Magazine for December last. Your correspondent from New-Bedford, is entitled to my thanks for the kind remarks he has made upon it, and the friendly manner in which he undertakes to convince me of my supposed error. On a review of the same, it is frankly acknowledged, that the example or case alluded to, was stated, inadverteatly, in such a manner as to give a wrong impression of the use I made of it. The altitudes taken Aug. 6, 1817, were intended for the correction of a patent lever watch, not well regulated, and for obtaining the apparent time a nearly as possible for other observations. The mean of these gave the time per watch, 8 h,

8 m. 38.8 sec. the mean altitude corrected 32° 24′ 3.5′′, and in this instance, the polar distance was reduced to the time per watch. It may not be improper to remark, that having taken the latitude of my school-room and observatory, at No. 331 Broadway, in Sept. 1816, it was found to be 40° 42′ 58′′ N. In August and September, 1817, great pains were taken to verify or disprove its correctness. To effect this, altitudes were taken near the meridian, and when possible, the meridian altitude. And after I had found to my satis faction, that all the best observations tended nearly to the same point; several sets of altitudes which had appeared to be very correct, and first taken for obtaining the true time, were now selected to verify the latitude by the method your correspondent alludes to. In the foregoing example, the watch being 7 m. 35 sec. slow, the polar distance was now reduced to the apparent time, and from these elements the latitude came out essentially the same as before. In three or four experiments of the same kind, the variations from 40° 43′ was not more than two or three seconds; hence it was concluded, that the latitude, times, and altitudes, were all very nearly correct. This method, it is believed, will prove an assumed, or supposed latitude, to be true when it is actually so; and if I am not much deceived, will discover whether it is materially incorrect. And, although it is admitted, that the problem as it stands in my former communication, can be of no great value in discovering the true latis tude, I cannot agree with your correspondent that it will prove fallacious.

Let us suppose the true latitude, for an example, to be 40° 43′ N. and the longitude 74" W. the altitudes truly taken at the time aforesaid, would correspond to this only. And if the observer had supposed it to be 40° 40′, the apparent time deduced from this would differ from the former about 44 seconds, and instead of reproducing the latter, would bring out 40° 38'. Now perceiving that 40' is too far to the southward, let him try 41', 42′

and lastly 43′, he will discover the last to be true, because all the elements, or data, are in harmony with each other. It is confessed, that at the time, I was reasoning in a circle of my own formning, and seemingly had a right thus to reason, having found the centre. But this being done, it ought to have been my care to go out of it, and give the problem its proper limitations. Hoping it is not too late, in some measure to atone for this omission, it is thus stated: The longitude of a place on the land, and the true time being known, to determine the latitude of the same, by altitude of the sun, taken two or three hours before or after noon, with a sextant and artificial horizon, when the meridian altitude is too great to be measured by those instruments. Your cor respondent will doubtless admit the possibility of obtaining the true time independent of the latitude; and may be informed that there is no necessity of taking the altitudes so near the horizon, as to be very sensibly affected by the difference between the true and mean refraction; and also, that the errors arising from this source, may be so diminished, as to become almost insensible, by the use of the Barometer and Thermometer. It will be seen, from what has already been stated, that I still differ in opinion from your correspondent in several particulars; and I cannot agree with him where he says, "A small error in the altitude, taken at a distance from the meridian, will cause a considerable error in the latitude." I think he will be convinced by a little reflection, that an error of the meridian altitude, will cause an error of the same amount in the latitude; whereas the absolute error in the other case will be less than the small error of the altitude. In matters of science, truth, and not strife, should be the object of its votaries. Under the impression of a similarity of feeling, between him and myself, in this respect, I remaiu, Gentlemen,

Your most obedient servant,
M. NASH.

New-York, April 10, 1818

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