Star.
London, England, 1831-06-24 00:00:00

LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.

I

.

~;

!i.

i

1,

,

ARCHERY MEETINGS.
Abrard from the Eivlishneasee Magazitar.
Talking about English archery, also brings to
mu recollection the well-knoWn tale, so fascinating
to our hoyl.ood, of the unequalled outlaw Robin
Hood, and •his merry men ; but those days are
;.one, and lit e only in ancient lays and legends.--
Sbernood's goodly trees have disappeared—and the
stout Earls of the North no longer " to drive the
(leer with hound and born," lead their "bowmen
bold" to the debateable coverts of Chevy Chace.
The Arche-y Meetings, or Bow Meetings as
they are variously called, at present established in
tl:is country, are, so far as our knowledge extends,
a national peculiarity. We have seen our horse-
racing imitated, however imperfectly, in Germany,
France., America, and even India, but they have,
tv yet, been exceeded no where.

It is not every one that can conveniently give
an Archery Meeting. Two things are indiFpen-
sable—a fortune able to hear the expense, and a
park, or other grounds favourable to the purpose :
and such members as are without these advan-
tages are not expected to give one. An uniform
is appointed, which is always (to our knowledge)
green, but may vary in minor points according to
the caprice of fashion or of taste ; and those mem-
bers who do not appear in it, are fined. It is this
costume that chiefly imparts the characteristic and
beautiful appearance of the scene, which it must be
allowed to possess, especially if laid in some
wild and romantic park. It is then and there that
the lover of antiquity might muse on ancestral
tunes, and fancy that they were again about to
return.

Prizes, proportionate to the funds of the so-
ciety, and as appropriate as the good taste of the
directing party can make them, are prepared for the
occasion ; there being different ones, of course, for
the male and female archers. Of themselves alone,
they are not of very great value, but by the glory
attached to them, they become, like the monarch's
glove. to Fluellin, doubly and trebly enhanced in
the estimation of those who obtain them.

The distance at which the gentlemen shoct is
one hundred yards—that of the ladies sixty ; and
the skill with which the latter frequently acquit
themselves, shows that Queen Bess was not the
only Englishwoman who could " draw a long bow."
Sometimes, during the pastime, the company are
enlivened by the music of an attending band. When
the sports are ended, the judges declare aloud the
names of the winners of the prizes, who receive
them on the field, according to the true principles
of chivalry. To prevent any mistake, the arrows
of every one should bear some particular mark or
motto, that they may be distinguished when in the
target; else it would be very difficult if not some-
times impossible, to declare the victors. The
evening is generally concluded by a ball, which
need only be mentioned as differing from other
balls, with respect to the costume of the assembled
party ; but that circumstance gives to it a very
unique and pleasing appearance.
Such are the leading features of a modern Bow
meeting. Of course, as in all such out-of-door
amusements, much depends upon the weather ;
but, when that is favourable, it may easily be con-
ceived to be a scene of much pleasure and anima-
tion..

The chief natural requisites for shooting well,
we should describe to be a quick and steady eye, 1
and a quick and steady hand. The proper pozition
in which the bow should be held and its string
drawn back, which cannot well be shown upon
raper, having been acquired, art and experience
hare to instruct the archer, first, to point the arrow
in a direct line, and, secondly, to elevate•it accord-
ing to the distance of the mark, and the strength
of the bow. One thing should be most particu-
larly attended to—that the strength of the bow be
well adapted to the strength of the arm that has to
bend it. The command of Richard to his army on
Bosworth field, " Draw archers, draw your arrows
to the head," was in the true language of an able
arrior. It is also essential that the arrow should
be drawn to itA head with a steady hand, which is
not likely to be the case if the bow.require more
strength than the arm can conveniently give; and
the consequence of which is, that the shaft is apt
to swerve frnin the direct line, and tly unsteadily.
On the other hand, it a bow of great power is not
beyond the strength of the archer, it is the most
effective, as the arrow may then be shot liccizon-
tally to a greater distance, and is, consequently,
likelier to hit the target than when it requires to,
be much elevated.

Of course, the point of an arrow formed merely
for amusement, is very differently constructed
from such ns were used in warfare, but the effect
even of the former, when well shot, is such as few
unacquainted with it would be likely to imagine.
We remember to have seen one, that, having
missed the target, and struck against a strong tin
Over lying near, drove its point right through.
Due precautions against accident are therefore
needful, but the arrangements are generally so
good, that we never heard of the slightest unplea-
sant circumstance of the kind. Those who are
sceptical about the force of an arrow, and we have
heard some wtio are, might soon be undeceived by
witnessing it.

GEORGIA AEROLITE.—The following is a very
circumstantial account of the descent of the stone
which fell in May, 1829, at Forsyth, in Georgia :
—Between three and four o'clock on the Bth of
May, on that day a small black cloud appeared
south from Forsyth, from which two distinct ex-
plosions were heard, following in immediate sue-
session, succeeded by a tremendous rumbling or
whizzing noise passing through the air, which
lasted, from the best account, from two to four
minutes. This extraordinary noise was on the
same evening accounted for by Mr. Sparks and
Captain Postian, who happened to be near some
negrces working in a field one mile south of this
place, who discovered a large stone descending
through the air, weieling, as was afterwards ns-
certained, thirty-six pounds. The stone was, in
the course of the evetgeg or very early the next
morning, recovered Rpm the spot where it fell. It
had penetrated the earth two feet and a half. The
outside wore the appearance as if it had been in a
furnace ; it was covered, about the thicknesa of a
L,nife-blade, with a black substance some-
lava that had been melted. On breaking
it had a strong sulphureous smell, and
a. metallic substance resembling silver.
e, however, when broken, had a whits ap-,
on the inside, with veins. By the ap-
of steel it would, produce fire. The facts.

as related, can be supported by many individuals
who beard the explosion and rumbling noise, and
saw the stone. No one can tell from what direc-
tion the meteor came. The first thing noticed was
the report like that of a large piece of ordnance;
some say the principal explosion was succeeded by
a number of lesser ones in quick succession, similar
to the explosions of a cracker; one has told me the
secondary noise was only a reverberation. Very soon
after the explosions some black people heard a whiz-
zing noise, and on looking, saw a faint "smoke"
descend to the ground, at which time they heard the
noise produced by the fall of the stone : they ran
to the spot, for they saw where it fell, and disco-
vered the hole it had made in the ground, being
more than two feet in n hard clay soil : the ne-
groes, and others who went early to the spot, say
they perceived a sulphureous smell. The stone
weighed thirty-six pounds ; it fell at a small angle
with the horizon. The colour of the interior of
the stone is of ti light ash-grey, and very uniform,
except that it is sprinkled throughout with thou-
sands of brilliant spots of metallic iron, having very
nearly the colour and lustre of polished silver. The
iron is rarely in points larger than a small pin's head,
but the points are so numerous that nearly the whole'
of the powder of the atone is taken up by the mag-
net, even when it is in fine dust, and by a magnifier
the little points of iron can even then be seen
standing out from the magnet. It greatly resem-
bles the Tenessee meteorite. It has the usual
black crust on certain parts, and this, although re-1
sembling a semi-fused substance, exhibits bright
metallic spots when a file is drawn across it. A
similar black crust is seen pervading the stone in
some places through its interior, and forming,
where it is seen in a cross fracture, black lines or
veins. The stone is full of semi fused black
points and ridges similar to the crust, and its en-
tire mass seems half vitrified in points, so as to
resemble an imperfect glass. The specific gravity
is 3.37.

THUNDER-STOTIMS IN Fa.% xc e.—The Count
de Triston has made observations on the direction
of the thunder-storms which have devastated the
department of the Lorich for the last sixteen
years. The following general inferences have
been made by him, respecting the progress and in-1
tensity of thunder-storms in plain countries, inter-
sected by shallow valleys. Thunder-storms fall on
forests. When one arrives at a forest, if it be ob-
liquely, it glides along it; if directly, or if the fo-
rest be narrow, it is turned from its direction ; if'
the forest be broad, the tempest may be totally
arrested. Whenever a forest, being in the path
of :a thunder-storm, tends to turn it aside, the
velocity of the storm seems retarded, and its in-
tensity is augmented. A thunder-cloud, which is
arrested by a forest, exhausts itself along it, or, if
it pass over, is greatly weakened. When a large
river or valley is nearly parallel to the course of a
thunder-storm. tho latter follows its direction; but
the approach of a wood, or the somewhat abrupt
turn of the river or valley, makes it pass off. A
thunder-cloud affects another which is at no great
distance, and causes it to deviate from its course,
and the action is reciprocal. When there is an
affluent cloud, which was committing ravages,
it sometimes suspends them on approach-
ing the principal mass, which is perhaps a conse-
quence of the acceleratioon of its course ; but after
the union the evil generally increases. Twenty-
one thunder storms, whose course has been dis-
tinctly traced, have extended from N.N.W. to
S.S.W. No destructive thunder-storm has come
from any other points of the horizon.
POPULATION OF ROME. —The Diario di Roma
has published the following statement of the popu-
lation of Rome, during the twelve months which
elapsed between Easter 18'29 and Easter 1830:

listieh churches, 64; families' 34,806; bishops, 30;
rims, 1,455 ; monks and friars, 1,986 ; nuns, 1,386 ; se-
minarists and collegians, 500; heretics, Turks and infidels,
exclusively of Jews, 20,6; males, 77,475 ; females, 69,810;
total population, 147.385.
A NEw M ETA E.—Mr. Dulong read, on the 7th
of February last, to the French Institute, a letter
from Derzelius, which announces the discovery of
a new simple substance by Mr. Sestrom, director
of the mines of Fahlun in Dalecarlia.
trout being engaged in examining an iron remark-
able for its softness, discovered in it a substance,
which appeared to him to be new, but in such
small quantity, that he could not determine with
accuracy all its properties. Afterwards, however,
he found it more abundantly in the ecorim of the
iron, and was thus enabled to prove that the sub-
stance in question was a new metal, to which he
gives the mime Vanadium, after an ancient Scan-
dinavian deity. We have had communicated to us
the following additional notice. Humboldt pre-
sented to the Institute specimens of Vanadium,
the new metal recently discovered in the iron of
Esterholm by Mr. Sestrom, and which also exists
in Mexico in a brown ore of lead of Zimapan. M.
del Rio. Professor in the School of Mines of
Mexico, had extracted from that ore a substance,
which, to his apprehension, resembled a new me-
tal, to which he gave the name of Erythrunium.
But since the discovery of Sestrom was known to
Voller, he, struck with the resemblances which
exist between the properties of Vanadium and that
which the Mexican chemist attributes to his ery-
thronium, has repeated the analysis of the brown
ore of lead of Zimapan, and from which he has ob-
tained a simple body perfectly identical with that
of the iron ore of d'Eaterholm.

STEAM ENGINES.-It has been ascertained
with some degree of certainty, that there now in
this country not less than 15,000 steam engines at
work, some of almost incredible power; in Corn-
wall there is one of 1000 horse power. Taking it
for granted, that on an average these engines are
each of 25 horse power, this would be equal to
37.5,000 horses. According to Mr. Watt's calcu-
lation, .5i men are equal to the power of a horse;
we have thus, therefore, a power, through the me-
dium of steam engines, equal to near two millions
of men. Each horse for his keep per year re-
quires the produce of two acres of land, and thus
750,000 acres are at the disposal of the inhabi-
tants of Great Britain, more than if the same
work, which is now dune by steam, had to be per-
formed by horses.

DIEPPE.—It is considered likely that the ex-
Emperor and Empress of Brazil may shortly pay
us a visit, as the Emperor's sister, the Marchioness
of Louie, who was here about three years ago, was
delighted with the place. Lady Granville, with
her family and suite, arrived on Friday, as did also
Lord Monson. They have since taken a house for
the bathing-season. The Duke of Devonshire is
expected next week, to pus a short time with his
relative, Lady Granville.

.r
, •
, ,
I'
1!
i
. 11
1
I
I
it
I,'
, I 1
I
/
' 1 I
. 1 i
' ' I
I i

common kn
what like h
the atone it
exhibited a
The stone,
pearatice ot
plication of