Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

of the weight and dimensions of the most celebrated. In this he displays great industry and extensive reading. He also mentions some of the protestants, who have exposed the superstition, and in many cases idolatrous usage of bells, and the popish writers who have defended them.

The author now comes to the purport of his title; describes the two bells of the Vatican, and the effect that the ringing, on certain days, of the largest one has on the whole façade of this stupendous church; treats of the ancient bells of the capitol, enumerates the great occasions on which they were wrung; and speaks of the erection, under Gregory XIII. 1579, of the steeple or belfry which contains them. So far this is matter of history, highly gratifying, no doubt, to persons troubled with inane curiosity. But Signor Cancellieri goes yet farther to complete his work; he gives a long narrative of the "solemn benediction," of the two great bells of the capitol by his holiness Pius VII. and, in notes, explains the mysterious signification of the ceremonies!! Perhaps, indeed, this solemn nonsensé is pardonable in an Italian, as even Englishmen of the same faith,* can write the most childish absurdities about the mystical import of idolatrous ceremonies. The author, however, does not venture to say that every time these bells are rung one or more souls will be taken out of purgatory, although we should presume that this was a primary object for baptizing them.

The next topic which Signor Cancellieri enters on, is one for which, it may be almost concluded, à priori, he is very ill qualified; namely, to investigate the nature and merits of the different instruments which have been employed to measure time. He can, indeed, relate the removal of the clock from the church of St. Mary of Arauli, to the steeple of the capitol; but his account of the invention of clocks, in general, is very little interesting. Industry, however, is manifested in the account of sun-dials, the phenomenon of the passion flower, water-clocks, or clepshydres, sand-glasses, pendulums, and wheel-clocks. He describes the principal church clocks on the continent, as that at Strasburgh, Louvain, Antwerp, Ma

The good bishop of Castobala has addressed a letter to the Society of Antiquaries, (where he is known only by the more humble name of the Reverend John Milner,) describing a mitre and crosier, which belonged to the Bishop of Limerick, in 1487. Among other most important information, in this account, which the author learned during his excursion in Ireland, last year, and in which he does not fail to enumerate a plentiful hord of saints, not forgetting the reality of St. Patrick M'Alpin, he seriously tells the grave Antiquaries, that the bishop of Limerick," walked with the hook of the erosier towards the people, to signify his jurisdiction over them, but that the

lines, Brussels, Courtray, Ostend, Mons, Tournay, Namur, Ghent, Bruges, Liege, Milan, Vicenza, Padua, Pavia, Reggio, Venice, Geneva, Bologna, Ferrara, and Florence. The author afterwards compares the French and Italian systems of dividing the days, but his reasons for prefering that of his own country will most probably not convince a Frenchman. Here again we must admire the author's industry, for he does not omit to treat of watches for the pocket, walking-canes, rings, and coat-buttons; the premiums offered for discovering the longitude, the construction of chronometers; and the authors who have written on clock-making; and concludes with verses, enigmas, and devices, relative to clocks.

Among the miscellaneous pieces, which form the appendix, we find a letter to the author from father James Pouyard, a carmelite friar, on Steeples and Belfries. Signor Cancellieri has accompanied it with several interesting notes. When the first christians, after the protection of Constantine had given them security and influence, began to build spacious churches, they imitated the form of the Basilic; but for their bell-towers or steeples they had no model. They at first raised high square towers, composed of several orders of architecture, and often ornamented by divers sorts of marble. Friar Pouyard describes a great number of bell-towers, and pursues their progress till the time that Rome was no longer considered as a model for such buildings, and when gothic towers had become almost general in the churches of Europe. Brunelleschi and Marjoro Pintelli, surmounted the bell-towers with obtuse pyramids, inimitation of those of Cestius. In the sixteenth century, Raphael, Sangallo Peruzi, Bramante, Michael Angelo, Vignola, and Palladio, made such great improvements in architecture as occasioned. considerable alterations in the construction and ornaments of bell-towers. Friar Pouyard describes many of an improved construction; but, although we have seen nearly all those which he treats of, we are far from concluding that any thing. like perfection, or even tolerable correctness, has yet been attained in this department of architecture. If towers or spires are raised merely as ornaments to ecclesiastical architecture, then, perhaps, many of these may answer this object; but if they are also designed to propagate the sound of the bells, then very few, if any of them, are properly. constructed for such a purpose. Few churches, indeed, are

[ocr errors]

abbot walked with the hook next to himself, indicating that he had only authority over himself!!!" This occasioned a most heretical smile throughout the whole society, and brought to recollection Erskine's "Think of this and smoke tobacco!"

able to bear the sound of large bells; and, although the French have raised towers totally distinct, and even detached from the body of the church, which admits of the largest bells being used, yet their isolated situation renders them incapable of propagating sound with effect. The use of large bells, however, is declining in every country, while that of smaller ones is greatly increasing, so much so, that in England we have now a distinct class of persons, regularly educated, in the language of the day, to the "profession of bell-ringing." In concluding, we cannot withhold our thanks from Signor Cancellieri for the curious and widely-scattered information which he has collected into this volume, whatever we may think of the Popish superstition of "baptizing bells."

Memoirs of the Class of Mathematical and Physical Sciences in the National Institute of France. (Continued from vol. 31.)

M. Candolle's "Memoir on the Nutrition of Vegetables" is a most interesting subject, but very inadequately treated. The National Institute has long endeavoured to glean somę information on this head, by proposing questions, and offering premiums for their solutions. Several years ago, it inquired, "How and in what proportion do the different surrounding elements contribute to the nutrition of vegetables?" This inquiry not being answered, another was proposed, to discover the sources of the carbon of vegetables, which shared a similar fate. Humboldt, Sennebier, and Theodore Saussure, in their chemical and physiological researches into vegetables; Mirbel in his anatomy, and Candolle in both, have furnished some data for this inquiry; but much is still wanting to enable us to ascertain with any precision the nature, powers, and operation of the assimilative process in vegetation. On this point there exists not one experiment which deserves the least confidence. Whoever, therefore, would turn their attention to this most important and politically-interesting research, should commence with a new series of experiments on the consumption and emission of the gases, the agency of water and heat, and above all, with an accurate instrument for measuring the uniform, or varying, quantity of light each day. The action of direct and reflected rays should also be noticed; and particularly the difference between the effect of solar and artificial light. All these subjects must be investigated with equal accuracy and acuteness, before any trust-worthy data can be fixed, even for drawing conclusions from analogy, and the general

process of chemical action, especially when modified by a vital principle. We shall, however, translate the view which the reporters, MM. Chaptal, Labillardière, and Cuvier, take of the subject.

"Before entering into the opinions," say they," of M. Candolle, it is necessary first to establish the facts which lead to the solution of the grand question of vegetable nutrition. These may be divided into seven, three of which are chemical, three anatomical, and one physiological. The three chemical are:

"1. What are the elementary materials which compose the vegetable body? 2. What are the foreign materials from which the vegetable draws those which compose it? and 3d. What changes ought these foreign materials to undergo, to assume the proportion in which they should constitute the vegetable?

"The solution of the last question results from 'that of the preceding two, as it is sufficient to indicate the difference between the constituent and foreign materials. The first question is already solved by chemical analysis, which has shewn, that vegetables are composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, a little nitrogen, some earths and salts. We have, therefore, only to examine what aliments vegetables require, compare the composition of those aliments with that of vegetables, and see if their difference does not consist in what they exhale.

"In desert countries, where wood rots, undisturbed by men or animals, it forms a thick stratum of earth, which still consists almost entirely of carbon. The same takes place where no carbon previously existed, and earth is formed on naked rocks, and among pure sand, wherever vegetation is allowed to establish itself. The general and definitive effort, therefore, of vegetation must be to develope carbon, and consequently to decompose the carbonic acid in exhaling its oxygen. This is directly the reverse of animalization; animals are nourished either mediately or immediately on vegetable carbon. But, as their composition requires less carbon and more nitrogen, it is necessary that the superabundant carbon should be continually carried off by respiration. By this process they form carbonic acid, whereas vegetables decompose it. Perhaps the hydrogen has some influence."

The above is a very conjectural reply to these three chemical questions, and amount to no more than saying what the answer should be. The old conceit of the alternate emission of oxygen and carbon by plants is here repeated without any correct knowledge of the subject. The three anatomical questions are not less difficult than the preceding; vegetable anatomy is yet very imperfectly understood.

"1. By what route do the aliments enter the vegetable, and apply themselves to the organs in which they have to undergo trans

[ocr errors]

formation? 2. What are the organs in which this transformation takes place? 3d. and finally, when transformed, what course do the aliments pursue, in order to become subservient to the parts which they ought to nourish? It is important to know the part at which the transformation takes place. Perhaps it may be asked, if the aliments of vegetables are transformed, that is, if they change their proportion before nourishing the plant, or before that they are incorporated in its fibre? Or, if the aliments do not wait to change their proportion, may they not in some measure constitute a part of the vegetable fibre?

"Too much has been attributed to analogy with animals. Zoophytes have evidently no intermediate transformation; when the excrements are separated from the chyle, the latter immediately nourishes the parts, and if any more changes in the proportion are necessary, they must be effected by a sort of cutaneous transpiration. This simplicity in the economy of zoophytes should excite doubts as to the existence of multiplied transformations in vegetables. As zoophytes have no respiration, properly so called, may not vegetables also want digestion? May not the gross excrements be excluded from entering by the absorbent pores? And may not all the changes of proportion take place at their surface, and in the matter already inserted in their fibre? M. Candolle considers the sap of the vegetable as the undigested food of the animal; the aqueous transpirations as the gross excrements; and the gaseous emanations, and absorptions in the green parts, as the respiration.

"The sap, in some cases, takes a contrary direction to its usual progress, and even retrogrades when the atmosphere is humid. We shall ask, therefore, is it necessary to have a juice prepared different from the sap to nourish and develope the parts? or is it the sap which directly nourishes and developes them? The former proposition is adopted by M. Candolle, who founds his proofs on the growth of dicotyledon plants. Such plants grow above ligatures, because the descending sap cannot descend. But if it were proved that the true sap always ascends, and never retrogrades, or descends, it would also be proved that it could not be the nourishing sap of the wood. It is not surprising, then, that wood has a particular mode of growing; it forms in plants, like the teeth, shells, and stony bodies of madrepores, except that its successive layers pre-exist and increase by intussception, while the others, perhaps, are simply deposited, without being first in embryo; or that the liber of the preceding year hardens, while the bodies above alluded to are transuded. M. C. contends' that the sap elaborates the buds, these again the leaves, and the leaves the calyres. The proper juice he considers the descending, as the nourishing juice ought to be: it is more abundant at the top of the plant, which induces the belief that it has deposited a part of its substance in descending. The vessels containing this proper juice are in the parts where the bark, sap, and wood, are developed. Such a juice must have an important use."

« ZurückWeiter »