Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1817-01-14
VARIE,FiES

VARIETIES,
Lifcrdry INIT Philosophical.
SIR z. HOME has discovered that many ami
mails have from one TO three suckers on each
foot, which, making vacuum, enable the AMI
mai TO proceed secure ~ along ceiling with
its back towards the earth Some species of
insects, partic ularly grasshopperS, have their
feet supplied with another apparatus, that is
round elastic halls, which WELD nn pressure,
aud serve TO break Tie violence of their fall
from long leaps.
Tue transport which carried Mainr Peddie
and his companion Captain Campbell TO Atfi-
ca, has arrived after 4 tedious passage at Co
rec; bat the death Of the surgeon who was 10
have accompanied chem, aud the troops which
were 40 have arrived from Sierra Leone in
December.not joining till too late, the depar-
ture Of the expedition from the coast Is defer
red till next season. This delay has enabled
Captain Campbell 10 make great number Of
observations Ofdistances OF the sun and moon,
and moon and stars, from which he found the
Longitude otSenegai different from what is ri
ven in the tables, and the latitude he fixes at
iUo 2 30' \.
On the interesting subject fLunatic Assv-
lumS, Or. John Reid, in his elegantly written
essays on Insanity and Nervous Affections
justly remarks tlat 4" Many Of the dep6tS of The
captivity OF intellectual iuvaiids may he regard
ed only as nurseries TOr and manufactures OF
madness; magazines or reservoirs of lunacY.
from which is issued, from time to time, suf-
iicient supply for perpetuatinS and extending
inns formidable disease-a disease which is not
To be rsmedied by stripes or streight waist
coats, BY imprisonment, or improve rishmcnt
but by an unwearied tenderness, and BY an ul-
ceasing and anxious superintendent"
In series OF interesting experiments and
reasoning on the Anatomy of Plants, printed
By Mrs. ibbetSOlI, i'll the Philosophical Ma
gizine, she draws the following general in
fererceS -
l. That there is no Precipitation in plants
?. That there is no circulation of sap.
t,.,Ne t,s IL. L
:. That the leave. are the lungs of the
plant.
5. Thatthe different divisions Of the leaves
are formed Ofthe elongations of the bark and
inner bark vessels.
u. That the hairs and instruments of that
Kind are the means which nature takes to
form the different juices according TO their
various atilnities. That these figures were
taken tor perspiration, bat are in reality IL
guilds received from the atmosphere aud flow
ing into the plant, not JUICE running from
il.
z. That the root is the laboratory OF all
plants.
s. That the heart of the seeds is formed in
the exireInities OF the side-roots
9. That the flower IS also formed iii the
middle root, and the pollen in the tap
root.
TO- That the caral!a of flower is formed
by bubbles of water placed in rows. and owes
Gll its heeuty and the li@htuess of its tint, TO
tie rSiracuon and reflection of the sun on
I'll drops of water which forms its pabu-
lum.
y That the roots and leaves of plant
0Siu il 81 exactly mark not only what is the
soil ~ 'gh'ch they originally grew, but the si-
tuation from which they came, whether wa
ter plant, or a dry plant, rock, or valley
L. That the water, and semi-water, and
rock plants alone can be said 10 have direct
;ir-vessels. though have found them in para
SHE and carly spring piauts, such as the crocus
and byacinth.
Several works of importance have recently
appeared from the French press. The magn-
tccDt volumes Of the IoInbs of Canosa; and
two vols. of Travels, by NJ. Millen; the Natu-
Treatise of Chemistry, by NJ. Tncnarl aud
one, not the least curions, initiated, Essqi
slr FHistorie dc Ia Nature; an essay on the HIS
tory of Nature, by hIessicnrs GagOry and Ton
iouSan three thick volumes IN vO. These
gentlemen commence by rejecting every known
and designation of the elements
Of Nature, and acknowledge bnt two primitive
principles, an absolute solid and al absolute
laid: aud, from the different COmbina lions of
these two bodies the whole of the three king
doms of Nature are derived. The creative
force, the moment il bTOu sht these two pTimd-
~ elements iHiO contact, so perfectly united
them, That the power OF man has never been
a BE to separate them, nor ou9ht he TO be able
because ifhc had arrived at that point of per
feet sOlitlify iluilty, lie would have destroy
ed the principle OF all aggregation. aud become
master of the iirstl aw Of nature. the smallest
portion of solid matter always contains p0T-
ion of uid, aud every ilHpnudeTab!e gases hold
IA extreme tcnuity, PARTICLES which may repass
10 the solid state From this binary combna-
son Of The solid and .lud, under their various
notifications, is formed the class, order, or
iystem, OF inorganic bodies but these inorea-
nc bodies are found ~ .lie compost On of or
,lnic bodies, and are as il were, the bases Of
hem they could not evidently pass to a state
Reorganization, il required a power foreign 20
helr nature to effect it this power is conceal
al from our senses, hot I is impossible not TO
cCOgnize il. Its the essentially active and vi
al element different from tie ttgO others, but
'apHblc Of uniting with Them arl making them
Undergo an intlucnccin prOporiionto the degree
faction IL cXerts Button bad an imperfect j.
lea Of the reduction of all matter INTO these two
nplc and natural elements, OF a perfect solid
md perfect fluid, but IL seems to have been
)nly al idea, crude and inform. Re placed
he two extremes in gold and air than which
,yen IN his time nothing could be more unphi-
OsOphcal OF known bodies nc seems to have
elected gold on the same ground a. tie aichy-
nists and gas was but an III defined and imper-
ect part Of physics ia his time. The work OF
dessrs. Gatoty and Toalouean dispiay5 great
earning aud profound csearch.LOH. II. alag.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT.
The vast capabilii Of our country are
gradually and extensively unioldingt