The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, Volume 2Archibald Constable, 1820 Contains the proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Wernerian Natural History Society (Edinburgh), etc. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acid amygdaloid angle appear Arbury Hill atmometer Ayrshire rose bank basalt beds bituminization cent clay-slate colour columns considerable contains course crystals degree denticles depth described direction distance Dr Brewster east Edin Edinburgh epidotic epidotic sienite examined feet felspar fish fishery formation gneiss granite Greenland Sea greenstone heat hills hornblende hot-springs Iceland inches island kind lakes lava length less light limestone marble mass matter mica-slate miles mountain Mranmas nature nearly number of days observed obtained occur opaque Papa Stour paper peat pitchstone plants plate polarised poppy porphyry portion produced proportional logarithm quantity quartz rays refraction remarkable result rocks Rosa arvensis seen Shetland species specific gravity specimens strata substance surface Syssel tabasheer temperature tion transparent trap tube Unst variety vegetable veins vessel volcanic whole wood
Popular passages
Page 231 - They are driven back bv the Indians into the middle of the water. ; but a small number succeed in eluding the active vigilance of the fishermen. These regain the shore, stumbling at every step, and stretch themselves on the sand, exhausted with fatigue, and their limbs benumbed by the electric shocks of the gymnoti.
Page 233 - I do not remember having ever received from the discharge of a large Leyden jar, a more dreadful shock, than that which I experienced by imprudently placing both my feet on a gymnotus just taken out of the water. I was affected the rest of the day with a violent pain in the knees, and in almost every joint.
Page 103 - The direction of the slide is sometimes straight, and sometimes zig-zag, with an inclination of from 10° to 18°. It is often carried along the sides of hills and the flanks of precipitous rocks, and sometimes passes over their summits. Occasionally it goes under ground, and at other times it is conducted over the deep gorges by scaffoldings 120 feet in height.
Page 207 - As we rowed towards it with a view of proceeding close to its base, I observed a few little pieces fall from the top, and while my eye was fixed upon the place, an immense column, probably fifty feet square, and one hundred and fifty feet high, began to leave the parent ice at the top, and leaning majestically forward with an accelerated velocity, fell with an awful crash into the sea. The water into which it plunged was converted into an appearance of vapour or smoke, like that from a furious cannonading....
Page 103 - They penetrated by their thickest extremities no less than from eighteen to twenty-four feet into the earth ; and one of the trees having by accident struck against the other, it instantly cleft it through its whole length, as if it had been struck by lightning. " After the trees had descended the slide, they were collected into rafts upon the lake, and conducted to Lucerne. From thence they descended the...
Page 231 - During a long time they seem to prove victorious. Several horses sink beneath the violence of the invisible strokes, which they receive from all sides in organs the most essential to life; and stunned by the force and frequency of the shocks, disappear under the water.; Others, panting; with mane erect, and haggard eyes, expressing anguish, raise themselves, and endeavour to flee froui the storm by which they are overtaken.
Page 5 - NEWCOMEN'S engine, with a wooden cylinder six inches diameter, and twelve inches long in the stroke. 6th, I had measured the quantity of cold water required in every stroke to condense the steam in that cylinder, so as to give it a working power of about 7 Ib.
Page 231 - The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs, makes the fish issue from the mud, and excites them to combat. These yellowish and livid eels, resembling large aquatic serpents, swim on the surface of the water, and crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. A contest between animals of so different an organization, furnishes a very striking spectacle.
Page 103 - The boldness which characterizes this work, the sagacity displayed in all its arrangements, and the skill of the engineer, have excited the wonder of every person who has seen it. Before any step could be taken in...
Page 231 - We found it difficult to form an idea of this extraordinary manner of fishing ; but we soon saw our guides return from the Savannah, which they had been scouring for wild horses and mules. They brought about thirty with them, which they forced to enter the pool. ' ' The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs makes the fish issue from the mud, and excites them to combat.