Page images
PDF
EPUB

glen of our own land. Heat and moisture will increase the luxuriance of this tribe, but the minutely beautiful moss is destined as a covering to other soils, and has a work to do, even more important to man than the larger fern. The cold dreary regions of the north are the spots where mosses exhibit their greatest luxuriance, though they exist in the humid spots of all countries-growing in lands between the tropics, on the tops of high mountains or in the shadow of the rock, or around the trees of the forest. recede from the equator, we leave behind us the waving palm and its gigantic forest companions, and approaching the arctic circle, find only the hardy pine, dwindling at last into a stunted shrub, and dwarf birch and willow trees not more than a foot high, and mosses and lichens varied only by the succulent scurvy grass, and a species of sorrel, which captain Parry found flourishing under the snows at the extreme limits of vegetation.

As we

The plants of the moss tribe are often the last spots of verdure on which the eye can rest from the dazzling whiteness of the snow scene. So, too, the moss is the first verdant thing which gladdens the newly-formed soil. Dr. Lindley mentions that the earliest green crust upon the cinders of Ascension, was minute mosses; and adds, that they form more than a quarter of the whole Flora of Melville Island. This is the most northern station of America on which vegetation has been observed, and on the desolate regions of this most intensely cold country, the saxifrages, the grasses, a few cross-shaped flowers, as the scurvy grass or Alpine cress, and the moss and lichen, are all that can find a home. Not a tree or bush, except the small arctic willow, about six inches high, can rear its head above the mossy tract. Crabbe has beautifully described the process of vegetation, either on the island upheaved by central forces from the bosom of the ocean, or on a new soil formed by a ruin:

"Seeds, to the eye invisible, will find

On the rude rock, the bed that fits their kind :
There on the rugged rock they safely dwell.
Till showers and snows the subtle atoms swell
And spread the enduring foliage; then, we trace
The freckled flower upon the flinty base:
These all increase, till in unnoticed years
The stony tower, as gray with age, appears
With coats of vegetation thinly spread,
Coat above coat, the living on the dead:
These then dissolve to dust, and make a way
For bolder foliage, nursed by their decay.
The long-enduring ferns, in time, will all
Die and depose their dust upon the wall,

Where the wing'd seed may rest, till many a flower

Shows Flora's triumph o'er the falling tower."

This is the exact process of vegetation in the temperate zones; but on some lands bordering on the torrid zone, as well as between the tropics, a different order exists.

Humboldt has observed, that though some of the mosses of our soil are common to Lapland, the Peak of Teneriffe, and the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, that in the countries near the tropics, lichens and mosses are not always the earliest plants which are seen gradually forming the new soils. The mould is prepared for the mossy vegetation which in remote periods shall crown their lands, by the growth of succulent plants, which spring up out of the crevices of the rock. The leaves of these vegetables, provided with an infinite number of orifices and pores on their surface, draw through them the water held in solution by the ambient air, and endowed with the faculty of easily imbibing moisture, and evaporating it very slowly, they can flourish on rocks which afford little nutriment to the root, just as our moss, composed of masses of cells, can drink iu and retain the rain and dews which water it, and needs no

food from the surface on which it fixes. And so, by degrees, though very slow degrees, the succulent plants decay, and form a soil, though ages must roll away ere the seeds of the shrub or tree which the wild winds have flung on these soils shall find sufficient depth in which to strike its roots.

The mosses on the countries of the north often, by their luxuriance, render the spots which they clothe extremely beautiful. The mossy carpet is sometimes a foot thick; the rocks appear of an emerald green from their mossy clothing, and the fir-tree, covered with its mossy verdure, rises from among the snows like a column of green bronze. The Iceland wide tracts of land are thickly covered with mosses; and Finland, which the ancient writers termed Lapidosa-the stony has its hills and valleys formed of solid rock, often made beautiful by various plants of the moss tribe. St. Pierre, describing some of its hills, and the cryptogamus and other plants which grew on them, remarks-"The fir, the birch, and the service-tree vegetated wonderfully well on the sides of these hills, though in many places there was scarcely earth sufficient to cover their roots. The summits of most of these hills and rocks

were rounded in the form of a skull-cap, | and glittered with the water trickling down the long fissures by which they were furrowed. Many of these caps were perfectly bare, and so slippery that it was scarcely possible to walk over them. They were crowned all round the top with a broad ring of moss, of an emerald green, out of which sprung, here and there, an infinite multitude of mushrooms, of every variety of form and colour. Some were shaped like large cases of a scarlet colour, and studded with white spots; others were orange-coloured, and formed like a parasol; others were as yellow as saffron, and elongated like eggs: some were of most exquisite white, so white that you might take them for ivory draughtsmen. These mosses and mushrooms stretched along the fillets of water which ran from the summits of these hills of rocks, extended in long stripes across the woods with which their sides were covered, and skirted their extremities, where they were confounded with a multitude of strawberry and raspberryplants."

[ocr errors]

But we need not travel to the north to see the emerald-green of mosses. In our own woods, they "creep quietly around the fallen trees," or protect the living ones from the cold of winter and the drought of summer; or forming soft cushions on mossy trunks, and elastic carpets at our feet, well deserve their name. The Normans brought with them a new name for our mosses, which were once called reets. Moss is derived from the French mousse, which is itself derived from mou, soft or loose, like the foam of the sea or the bubbles of soap, and is similar to our word "must," which was formerly given to liquors in a state of fermentation.

In many parts of our land, we find tracts covered with mosses; and Ireland, "the paradise of mosses," alone is considered to have an extent of 2,800,000 English acres of bog land, covered with plants of this tribe. The tract of peat moss in Lancashire, called the Chat-moss, is an example, on a large scale, of similar spots on English soil. Of little service as any individual moss may be for economic purposes, yet the bog mosses are so valuable in the economy of nature, that few tribes of plants can be said to ultimately contribute more to the good of man. By the growth of mosses, moist, useless lands have been, in the course of years, rendered fit for draining, and thus

serviceable for culture; while the bogs, even in their uncultivable condition, furnish, by their solid vegetable matter, an immense store of fuel, as well as a manure for improving lands under agriculture. The large bogs of Ireland, as well as those in other parts of our country, are probably rendered moist by the natural springs of water, or the drainings of a considerable area confined beneath the surface of the land. This is favourable to the growth of a variety of aquatic plants, which quickly accumulate on such soils. Around the roots of these the mud gathers continually, and a plashy soil is formed, on which some of the moss tribe rise and flourish. The soft green moss plant creeps on and on, making rapid progress by its quick growth, becoming a thick cushion above and an endless mat-work below, and, absorbing the moisture, continues to grow and decay till a somewhat firmer land is formed by its living and dead mass of interlacing fibres.

Το

The Irish, when they gather from their bogs the fibrous substance in this condition, call it "the old wives' tow." the bog-trotter, accustomed from childhood to bound on light foot on such soils, they are firm enough for safety; but when the inexperienced traveller ventures on them, he is often lost. These bogs were sometimes to the Irish, during the time of the rebellion, what the fastnesses of his eternal hills are to the mountaineer. Thither the pursuer could not chase him, or if he did, danger and death beset him; while the Irishman could lightly skim the surface, and escape the pursuer. The upper surface of these soils are covered with the verdant mosses, green enough to give its name to the Emerald Isle; and these are the sods which have covered the bodies of some of our countrymen, which were found long after, still decomposed, owing to the preserving astringent principle which vegetable fibre decayed in water, always possesses. about the depth of ten feet, these soils are found to be composed of the fibres of the mosses and similar plants in a state of decay; but this light mass is not usually hardened into the substance well fitted for fuel; and it is the light blackishbrown turf, containing the less distinctly marked traces of mossy fibre, which serves for burning.

To

Nor is this so valuable as the more compact black bituminous mass below, which is hardened into a kind of coal,

and which may be highly polished, and is, as well as the higher substance, of vegetable origin. The tiny moss which rises beneath our footsteps, hardly perhaps attracts the eye. Some species cannot be seen without the aid of a microscope. The greater number need artificial aid to convey to us any idea of their structure, and yet how great a blessing are they to man and animals. Pleasing and picturesque, too, are their green masses, and among their sprays lie sheltered thousands of the insect tribe, no less beautiful, no less wondrous than themselves, rejoicing in the air and sunshine, which are theirs as well as ours.

The genus of the moss tribe which forms most of our bog lands, is the spagnum or bog-moss. It has leaves of a somewhat whitish green, and is found on most moist lands. Some writers consider that the different kinds of spagnum form four or more distinct species; others consider that they are all one, but that different circumstances of soil somewhat alter the character of the moss. We may gather it from the marsh or moory land at any season of the year, and it is said to be a plant which is, almost more than any other, indigenous to all parts of the world. On all the lands of Europe it composes that watery turfy surface on which we so often fear to tread, and whose bright herbage has often tempted the luckless animal to wander and perish there. Among its decaying roots some of our prettiest wild flowers rise up in beauty, and the sundew glitters with its honeyed drops, and the cranberry ripens its acid fruits, and the beautiful rosecoloured heather hangs its waxen bells. The bird gathers it from our lands for his nest. In other lands it is used for some domestic purposes. Linnæus describes the mossy bed of the Laplander, which, being made of the long stems of moss gathered from the land, makes a light and soft couch.

Dr. Richardson, who accompanied sir John Franklin to the shores of the Polar Sea, thus describes the cradle of that tribe of North American Indians, called the Crees. "The infant," he says, "is placed in a bag, having its lower extremities wrapt up in soft bog-moss, and may be hung up in the tent, or to the branch of a tree, without the least danger of tumbling out; or in a journey, suspended on the mother's back by a band which crosses the forehead, so as to leave her hands perfectly free. It is one of the

neatest articles of furniture which they possess, being generally ornamented with beads and bits of scarlet cloth; but it bears a strong resemblance to a mummycase. The spagnum in which the child is laid, forms a soft, elastic bed, which absorbs the moisture very readily, and affords such a protection from the cold of a rigorous winter, that its place would be ill-supplied by cloth. The mothers are careful to collect a sufficient quantity in autumn for winter use; but when, through accident, their stock fails, they have recourse to the soft down of the Typha or reed-mace, the dust of rotten wood, or even feathers, although none of these articles are so cleanly or so easily changed as the spagnum." Sir John Franklin speaks of the beauty of the variegated tints of_the mosses and lichens which covered some of the cliffs of these dreary regions, which trasted with the dark deep green of the pines that grew on their summits.

con

Some of the floating stems of the bogmoss are four feet long, and its leaves of the length of three-quarters of an inch. These mosses are frequently packed around the roots of trees, destined to be removed to a distance, and being nonconductors of heat, they are used as under-clothing by the people of cold countries. The large boots which the driver of the rein-deer is obliged to wear, are rendered comfortable by being lined either with a species of sedge, or with some of the mosses, When made into beds, as they often are, and when become hard by pressure, the housewife has but to take them up and plunge them into water, and when again dried, they are green and elastic as before. This property of reviving, which is found in the moss tribe, is owing to their cellular structure; and we may easily see it by plunging a handful of long dried moss into fluid, when it will become verdant, and its bowed foliage will resume the hue and form of life. The thick mosses which overspread the soil of Lapland, serve the poor Laplanders also as litter for cattle and wicks for their lamps. The Hungarian hunters light their fires on the mountains continually, by letting the spark fall on a portion of its withered foliage; and they make a shelter for themselves from howling winds, by gathering masses of it around, as they lie awaiting their prey. Some mosses have been, at various times, used both in Great Britain and other countries, as

DISCOVERIES IN ELECTRICITY.-THE NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.

medicines; but their slightly astringent properties render them of little worth as remedial agents.

Every one who has noticed the common mosses of our woods or on our walls, during the season of fructification, must have remarked the slender, thread-like stalks which arise from among their foliage, and which are tipped with green oblong, base-like substances. These are the capsules in which the seeds of mosses are contained, and which in some cases lie closely hidden among the stems and leaves. The vase-like capsule, small as it is, is exquisitely finished, being provided with a lid, and often separated into valves, and beautifully arranged to meet the purposes for which the great Creator has intended it. The leaves of mosses are always close upon the stem of the plant, and never grow on leaf stalks, neither are they ever cut into fissures or lobed, though they are sometimes notched with minute serratures, like the edge of a saw, with perfect regularity. They are thin and pellucid, and the stem of some of our largest and handsomest mosses has sometimes the appearance of a tree, and would remind one of the palm of the East, or of one of the branched and forest trees which in our own land echo the whispers of the summer winds. Some mosses, again, are so small, that the unassisted eye cannot discern them, and all but the botanist would regard them as a thin, green powder, scattered on the spots where they grow, and enabled to adhere to the surface by being moistened into something like compactness by rains and dews. The general height of the mosses of our land is from one to three inches, but the common bog-moss, as well as the common hair-moss, are often a foot and a half, or even more, in length, on soils which are peculiarly favourable to their luxuriance. Dr. Drummond observes, that in cold coun tries the mosses and others of these flowerless plants grow chiefly on the northern side of the trunks and branches of trees, and that this growth of moss forms one of the marks by which the Canadian Indian tracks his way through pathless A. P.

forests.

DISCOVERIES IN ELECTRICITY.

THE electric light with which M. Archreau some years since illuminated the streets of Paris, and Mr. Staite is dazzling

111

| the eyes of the Londoners, is certainly a most brilliant result. Up to the present time this has been produced only by the use of troublesome and costly apparatus; but Mr. Staite assures the public that he has succeeded in completing an arrangement of materials by which the electrical power can be supplied at a cost far beneath any other known method—that his battery will be simple in charging and discharging, and capable of furnishing a current uniform both in quantity and intensity for any required period. As the specification of the patentee is to be made on the 14th of this month, we shall soon have an opportunity of testing the correctness of this assertion. Some interesting researches of M. Maas, of Namur, on the mechanical transference of ponderable matter from the positive to the negative pole when the electric current is established in a vacuum, appear to point out other difficulties in the mechanical adjustments which are not, we think, met by the ingenious arrangements of Messrs. Staite and Petrie.

Since the discovery by Ersted of the magnetic power imparted to bars of iron by an electric current traversing copper wire coiled around them, numerous attempts have been made, with various degrees of success, to move machinery by the enormous force which we have thus at our command. The most remarkable experiments are those of Prof. Jacobi, who in 1838 and 1839 succeeded in propelling a boat upon the Neva at the rate of four miles an hour. At this time an engine is in process of construction in London, under the direction of Mr. Hjorth, a countryman of the great discoverer of electro-magnetism, which the patentee supposes will give a power equal to five horses. We have seen the model, which certainly embraces many new features that promise to render the application of the power more effective than it has been hitherto. One of the electro-magnets made for the large engine, in a recent trial, supported nearly 5,000 lb., and its attractive force at one-eighth of an inch was equal to nearly 1,500 lb. As this force can be multiplied without limits, the question is reduced entirely to one of economy and convenience.-Athenæum.

THE NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.
No. III.

HAVING already briefly considered the history and present condition of the

North-Western Railway, the attention of the reader may be directed to some of the arrangements which are carried out in the details of this vast and complicated establishment.

It is interesting not only to study human nature on a railway platform, but to observe the movements both of the materiel and personnel of a train, about to speed its flight to some far-distant region; and few better opportunities are afforded than those presented on the "down" platform of the Euston-square

station.

The carriages, which formed the last "up-train," with some slight modifications to suit peculiar circumstances, may perhaps be employed in the conveyance of the next cargo of passengers. Such being the case, the carriages are either drawn forward by a pilot-engine, and then by means of the " points" backed into their own locality, or they are transferred, by the assistance of the turntables and the labour of a few of the Company's porters. The train is at length duly formed, preceded and followed by the appointed luggage-van or horse-box intended for the protection of the passengers in the event of collision, and soon all parties are busily engaged. Porters bustle about with luggage of all kinds and shapes, passengers of every class and age and occupation, hurry hither and thither, beneath that covered space, lighted as it is by 8,797 square yards, or upwards of an acre and threequarters of plate-glass, by day, and 232 gas-lamps by night. Piles of baggage are collected, or perhaps conveyed to their appointed places in wicker-work trucks, having the appearance of something between a clothes-basket and a badly-constructed cradle. One man has a pair of pointers, which are pulling vigorously in different directions, while he is dragging them in a third; another endangers the heads of the public generally by the clumsy manner in which he conveys a huge box towards the luggage-van; while a third is carrying over his right shoulder a matted parcel, twelve or fifteen feet long, of young trees, which the owner, who has just purchased them for his garden, is following with almost paternal solicitude.

The train is now gradually filling; the luggage is deposited in, on, or under the carriage in which the passenger travels, or else is removed to the luggage-van. The "five-minutes' bell" rings; places

are occupied; friends prepare to take leave; the last few passengers and packages are hastily deposited in the train; the bell rings, the whistle shrieks, and the whole is in motion. The last signs of separating friends are hastily exchanged; the loud "chay-chay" of the steam, which is at first heard at perceptible intervals, soon follow one another in increasingly-rapid succession; and as the train rolls onward, policemen are seen, with red, green, and white signalflags, till passing the Camden station (which has been already described,) the meditations of the traveller are disturbed by the roar which is heard as he enters Primrose-tunnel.

As he emerges, wondering spectators watch the train at the bridges to see

"The mighty engines rushing o'er the land
Swifter than flight,"

or linger at their work to notice,

"First the shrill whistle, then the distant roar, The ascending cloud of steam, the gleaming brass,

The mighty moving arm; and on amain The mass comes thundering like an avalanche o'er

The quaking earth; thousand faces pass

A moment, and are gone like whirlwind sprites,
Scarce seen; so much the roaring speed benights
All sense and recognition for awhile;
A little space, a minute, and a mile.
Then look again, how soft it journeys on-
Away, away, along the horizon,
Like drifted cloud, to its determin'd place;
Power, speed, and distance melting into space."

On-on it rushes, apparently climbing eminences and descending declivities, winding along gradients of all kinds and lengths, while the roar of the train, as it passes under the bridge, the passing of quarter-mile stones, and electric-telegraph poles, which seem running to the rear, do not cease until the fiery and steamy monster rushes into a station-yard, perhaps to recruit, with coke and water, his apparently-expended energies..

But though the reader may think our notions little less eccentric than those of a comet, we must ask him to step into a train which is now arriving from the midland counties, at the northern entrance of Primrose-hill tunnel, that he may observe some other arrangements, equally interesting and important. The policeman stationed here immediately signals his coadjutor at the southern end, and apprizes him of a train being in the tunnel. The latter crosses the line, and places the signal, which is delineated in the engraving of Primrose-hill tunnel,*

* See Visitor for February, 1849.

« PreviousContinue »