Blackwood's Magazine/Volume 1/Issue 2/Encyclopaedia Britannica

ANALYTICAL NOTICES.

I.Encyclopædia Britannica— Supplement.Vol. II. Part I.

Among the many distinctions by which our northern metropolis is known in the literary world, it is not the least honourable, that the first Encyclopædia, in point of celebrity, if not of time, published in Britain, was projected and executed in Edinburgh. On the plan of the Encyclopædia Britannica, important improvements have no doubt been made in other similar works; but it was even from the first a most valuable repository of knowledge, and many of the leading articles in science and literature were executed with an ability which has never been surpassed. Science, however, is unceasing in her progress; and is found, in the course of a few years, to have left far behind, the fields in which her votaries had formerly accompanied her with all the delight of discovery. The records of her advancement given in Encyclopædias soon become defective; and the deficiency must be supplied either by new editions, or by supplemental articles. The proprietors of the Britannica, though they have repeatedly been called upon, by an extended sale, to renew the editions of their work, have generally chosen to give, in the form of supplements, the additional information which the progress of science required. The Supplement which is now-going on, has attracted much of the public attention by the pomp of its announcement, and has deserved it, so far as published, by the splendour of its execution.

Three Parts of it have already appeared: the first preceded by a dissertation exhibiting a general view of the progress of metaphysical, ethical, and political philosophy, by Professor Dugald Stewart; and the third, which begins the second volume, by a similar dissertation on the history of the mathematical and physical sciences, by Professor Playfair. These dissertations are extremely valuable; and did the Supplement contain nothing more, we should have considered it as a very precious donation to the literary world. In the short sketch which we propose to give of works of this nature, our plan and limits admit of no retrospect beyond the last published Number. Of Mr Stewart's dissertation, therefore, we shall only say, that we agree with some distinguished critics in considering it as the most splendid of his works, and as combining a number of qualities which place the author at the head of the elegant writers of philosophy in our language.

The order which Mr Playfair follows in his discourse, is very properly determined by a regard to the subserviency of one science to the progress of another, and the consequent priority of the former in the course of regular study. He first traces, therefore, the progress of the pure mathematics, one of the two principal instruments which have been applied to the advancement of natural science. As the other instrument is experience, the principles of the inductive method, or that branch of logic which teaches the application, of experiment and observation to the interpretation of nature, form, of course, the second object of his inquiry. He, next proceeds to treat of natural philosophy, under the divisions of mechanics, astronomy, and optics. Under the general denomination of mechanics he includes the theory of motion, as applied not only to, solids, but to fluids, both incompressible and elastic. Optics he places after astronomy, because the discoveries in mechanics, he observes, have much less affected the progress of the former of these sciences than of the latter. A sixth division succeeds, containing the laws of the three unknown substances, if, indeed, they may be called substances, heat, electricity, and magnetism. As we intend hereafter to give, in another part of our work, a pretty full analysis of this dissertation, written by a correspondent, we shall content ourselves at present with this general outline of Mr Playfair's plan. In the object which he modestly proposes to himself, to treat his subjects with clearness and precision, Mr Playfair has completely succeeded. No author, indeed, with whom we are acquainted, excels him in luminous arrangement, or in perspicuous expression. At all times perfectly master of his subject, he conveys his ideas to his readers with a clearness, an ease, and elegant simplicity, which render his works, in our opinion, models of philosophical composition.

Of the other articles in this part of the Supplement, the first is Australasia. A vague idea had long prevailed among European geographers, that an immense continent existed beyond the limits of discovery in the south, and extended even to the pole. To this imaginary continent they gave the name of Terra Australis Incognita. Though later researches have proved that there is no such continent, or at least that it can only be of a moderate size, and enclosed by impenetrable barriers of ice, yet in the three great oceans in the south of the globe, there have been discovered almost innumerable islands, which demanded, of course, some systematic arrangement. With this view, the President de Brosses proposed that the lands and islands in the Austral world should be divided into three portions, those in the Indian ocean, and in the south of Asia, to be named Australasia; those in the two Pacifics, Polynesia, from the number of islands; and those in the Atlantic, to the south of Cape Horn, and the Cape of Good Hope, Megallanica. Under the name of Australasia, the writer of this article comprehends—1. Notasia, or new Holland—2. Van Diemen's Land—3. Papua, or New Guinea—4. New Britain, New Ireland, and neighbouring islands—5. Solomon's Islands—6. New Hebrides—7. New Caledonia—8. New Zealand, and isles to the southward—9. Kerguelen's Islands, or Islands of Desolation—10. St Paul and Amsterdam—11. Numerous reefs and islets of coral scattered over the Australasian sea.—After this enumeration, the three last particulars of which have seldom been classed by geographers under the name of Australasia, though they are so classed with evident propriety, the author proceeds to give a pretty full account of each of them, in the order in which they are named. One considerable advantage this article possesses, in consequence of its being so lately published. When the corresponding article in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia was written, it was known that Captain Flinders had ascertained Van Diemen's Land to be a large island separated from New Holland by a strait between one and two degrees in breadth that, in a subsequent voyage, he had circumnavigated New Holland and that, in a still later voyage, he had made many important discoveries. It was known that, after losing his ship, he had pet sail for England with his papers, plans, and charts of discovery, when he was most shamefully detained at the Isle of France; and that, in spite of an order for his liberation, procured in consequence of an application by the Royal Society of London to the National Institute of Paris, the governor refused to permit him to depart. When the article in the Supplement was written, it could be stated, that after a captivity of seven years, he had at length arrived in England in 1810, and published, in 1814, his discoveries in two volumes, accompanied with an atlas of charts, which may be held forth as models in maritime surveying. Captain Flinders has completed the survey in detail of the coasts of New Holland, with the exception of the west and northwest coasts, which he was prevented from exploring by the loss of his ship. It is to be hoped, that the local government of New South Wales will take an early opportunity of completing the survey in which Flinders was so unfortunately interrupted. In this article, too, are recorded the still more recent, and no less interesting, discoveries, made in the interior of this vast island by Mr Evans and Governor Macquarrie. The country, according to their accounts, was in all respects delightful, still improving as they penetrated westward, and holding out the most inviting prospects to future colonists. Little more is added, in this article, to the information which we already possessed respecting the islands of Australasia, excepting the discovery of a few islets to the south and south-west of Lord Auckland's group.

The next article in the Supplement is Austria, a new account of which was rendered indispensably necessary, by the recent events in which that empire bore so conspicuous a share. It begins with a very rapid sketch of the recent history of Austria, and to the account of the same events given in the corresponding article in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, it has to add this unexpected and wonderful circumstance, that in consequence of the downfall of Napoleon, Austria is now restored to more than her former splendour. At the commencement of the French revolution, the Austrian dominions contained a population of 25,000,000,—as confirmed by the Congress of Vienna, their population is 27,926,000.—This mighty empire includes, at present, Bohemia, Moravia, Austrian Silesia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg and Berchstolgaden; Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Friuli, and Trieste; Galicia, Buckowine, Hungary, Transylvania, Sclavonia, Croatia, Venetian States, Istria, Dalmatia, Tyrol, Lombardy, and other acquisitions in Italy. The power of this empire is less than we might expect from its extent of population, owing, as is judiciously observed, to the want of that consonance of national manners, and that congeniality of national feeling, which are essential to case in governing, and which have long formed the strength of France and Britain.

The next article of considerable length is Baking, leaving which to the consideration of bakers and physicians, we pass on to a very intelligent paper on the Balance of Power.—We regret that the author has not developed more fully the clear and enlightened views which he entertains on this important subject, particularly as it is a subject not generally treated of in works of a similar nature. The policy of balancing the power of one state against another, was never pursued but in modern Europe—nor was it till the commencement of the sixteenth century, that the European states began to be formed into one grand federal league, to be the guardians of each other's interests. The ultimate intention of this system of policy was, to secure every state in the full possession of all its rights, by checking the first encroachments of ambition, watching the movements of foreign powers, and uniting their respective force in support of the weak against the strong. It was no part of this system to equalize the powers of the states composing the grand community—which is as impracticable as to preserve an equality of property among the individual members of a nation. The question is not what amount of power above another any state possesses, provided that power is fairly acquired, but whether any state possesses its power in such circumstances, as to enable it to trespass at will on a weaker neighbour. The ancients had certainly some idea of such a political equipoise; but whether that idea was merely speculative, or whether it influenced their political conduct, is a question which has divided some of our ablest writers. Mr Hume maintains, that the authority of this system was scarcely less extensive in ancient than in modern Europe; while Mr Brougham affirms, that in this department of politics, the ancients displayed nothing beyond a speculative knowledge. The truth seems to lie between these assertions. The great principle of preserving a due balance of power, is to be traced in many of the transactions of the Grecian states; but that principle was never so regular in its operation, nor so authoritative in its influence, as it has become among the modern nations of Europe. It was in Italy, divided into a number of small states and commonwealths, that this principle first assumed the appearance of system. Early in the fifteenth century, we see the balance of power becoming an object of constant concern among these states—and about the close of that century, these ideas began to extend to other quarters, and to influence the operations of mightier kingdoms. The beneficial effects of such a system are sufficiently obvious. It checked the frequency of wars—it was a barrier against the strong, and a bulwark to the weak. We heartily concur with the author of this article, in reprobating and lamenting the fatal violation of this salutary principle in the partition of Poland—which presented the alarming example of a deliberate, unchecked conspiracy against the independent existence of an unoffending country. With regard to the interest of Great Britain in the balancing system, it is very justly remarked, that our commerce and our colonies render it absurd to talk of our being insulated as an empire, because Britain is an island; and that we could not always be as secure, and as free from uneasy apprehension, in a state of total insulation from foreign connexions, as with friends or confederates to employ or oppose a formidable enemy on his own confines. We accord, likewise, in the observation, that it is often proper to watch and to warn, to use the influence of our remonstrances and counsels, without having recourse, except in urgent cases, to the extremity of arms.

Of the Baltic a very full, and, we are inclined to believe, a very correct account is given, under the different heads of general description, extent, depth, level, of its waters with those of the ocean, tides, superior and inferior currents, saltness, temperature, winds, fisheries, coasts, canals, and commerce. The plan of the article is faulty, in embracing too much information, and, of course, occupying a space out of all due proportion with the rest of the work. Under the head of coasts, in particular, the author enters into a detailed account of towns which he should have merely enumerated, leaving a fuller description of them to be given either under their respective names, or under the names of the countries in which they are situated. The same observation will apply to his account of the rivers which fall into the Baltic, and the canals which communicate with it. With these exceptions, we think the article very satisfactory.

The next article which claims our attention is Banking. After explaining, in a very satisfactory manner, the purpose for which banks were originally established, and their general utility, the author proceeds to notice some of the recent transactions of the Bank of England, and to describe the effects produced by so powerful an engine on the circulation and commerce of the country. Most of our readers, perhaps, know, that this bank, the most important in the world, whether we consider its wealth, or the amazing extent of its transactions, was established, by a charter of William and Mary, in July 1694. It was projected by William Paterson, a native of Dumfriesshire, who is said to have taken the bank of St George, in Genoa, for his model; and who was assisted in arranging his plan by Michael Godfrey, a gentleman of great consideration in London. The charter was granted for the term of twelve years; and the corporation was determinable on a year's notice. The original capital, lodged by the proprietors in the Exchequer, was £1,200,000, for which they received 8 per cent. interest, and were allowed, by government, £4000 additional in name of house expenses. The detail of the transactions of the bank, to the year 1810, are given with more precision in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia; but the author of this article has the advantage of having written six years later, and can therefore state, that the loan of £3,000,000, with which, in consideration of the renewal of its charter, the bank agreed to accommodate government for six years without interest, and which was afterwards continued during the war at an interest of 3 per cent., was discharged in the year 1814; that the additional £3,000,000, which, in 1808, the directors, in consideration of the immense profit accruing from the use of the public money, agreed to lend to government without interest, until six months after the conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace, was continued to the public till the 5th of April 1816; that, according to an arrangement then made, the bank was allowed to add to its capital £2,910,600; and, in return, the loan of £3,000,000 was continued, at an interest of 3 per cent. In 1746, the advances to government, which form the undivided capital of the bank, amounted to £11,686,800; they now amount to £20,686,800. The increase of its circulation has been amazingly rapid. By the report laid before Parliament lately, it appears, that in 1718 the total amount of Bank of England notes in circulation was £1,829,930; in April 1816 it was £26,594,360. Never at any former period have the affairs of this bank been in so flourishing a state as at present. A principal cause of that prosperity is the immense amount of the national debt £830,000,000; for the management of which the bank receives £340 per million for the first £600,000,000, and £300 per million on the excess above £600,000,000. It has likewise an allowance of £800 per million on the whole amount of every loan of which it receives the payment; on every lottery contract it is allowed £1000; and it has the use of all the public money committed to its charge, besides several other allowances of less importance. But for the other sources of its wealth, and the general detail of its business, we must refer our readers to the article itself, which will be found equally clear in its statements and accurate in its information. The topics which it embraces, besides those to which we have already adverted, are the "advantages resulting from the use of paper in place of specie; country banks in Britain; system of banking in Britain; mode of settling the daily transactions of the banks in London; disadvantages incident to a currency of paper; policy to be adopted by the Bank of England in a disordered state of the circulation; dangers to which banks of circulation are exposed; interruption of credit in 1793 and 1797; suspension of cash payments by the Bank of England, and reasons for continuing that suspension; chartered banks of Scotland;^[1] Bank of Ireland; and Bank of France.

Of the article on Banks for Savings we forbear to say any thing at present, as the merits of that article have already been adverted to in our former Number, and we believe the subject will soon be resumed.

In the account of the Barbary States, which our limits allow us merely to mention, there is some recent and curious information, particularly with regard to the condition of Christian slaves.

To the article Barometer our attention must be more particularly directed. The able writer of this article, beginning with a concise and elegant summary of the opinions of the ancients concerning the system of the material world, and shewing how the mutual opposition of the academicians and peripatetics discouraged the application of mathematical reasoning in physical research, then proceeds to trace the progress of experimental science from the wild but beneficial projects of the alchemists, through the more sober and regular steps which have raised her to her present commanding elevation. In this enlightened survey, he is led to mention some of the most curious and instructive facts in the history of knowledge and of the human mind.—It is well known how much, after the restoration of letters, a reverence for antiquity, and particularly for the tenets of Aristotle, repressed the ardour of philosophical adventure. It was a maxim of ancient philosophy, that nature abhors a vacuum; and to this abhorrence were ascribed all the effects which result from atmospherical pressure. An incident, apparently trivial, first led to the refutation of that absurd opinion. Some artisans in the service of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, having been employed to construct a sucking pump for a very deep well, were surprised to find, that in spite of all their care in constructing the pump, they could not raise the water higher than 32 feet. For an explanation of this perplexing fact they applied to Galileo, whose ingenuity had already prepared a complete revolution in science. Galileo had, by some interesting experiments, obtained a tolerably correct notion of the weight of air; but the horror of a vacuum was an established principle, which he had not the boldness to question; and he endeavoured to explain this seeming anomaly, by supposing the influence of the horror to be confined within certain limits, not exceeding the pressure of a column of water 32 feet in height. He was dissatisfied with his own explanation; instituted an experiment which brought him almost within sight of the truth; and communicating his doubts and his conjectures to his disciple Toricelli, led him into the tract of more successful experiment.

The celebrated experiment of Toricelli, and the still more decisive experiments of Pascal, one of the finest and most original geniuses that France ever produced, at length exploded, though not without a violent struggle, the long received maxim of the abhorrence of a vacuum; and proved, with the evidence of demonstration, the pressure of the atmosphere.—"On the whole," says the author of a well-written article on the same subject, in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, "the history of this research affords a signal instance of the slow and gradual progress of human knowledge. Galileo proved that the air was possessed of weight; Toricelli conjectured that this fluid caused the ascent of water in pumps, as well as the suspension of mercury in the tube, which bears his name; and Pascal converted this conjecture into a demonstration." We have been led so far beyond our limits, by the interesting nature of these facts, that we can barely mention the other subjects which this article embraces. An account is given of the invention of the air pump, by Güricke of Magdeburg, about the middle of the seventeenth century,—of his statical balance and anemoscope: the introduction of experimental science into England, and the institution of the Royal Society, are next related; this naturally leads to the mention of some of its most celebrated members, as Boyle and Hook, the latter of whom greatly improved the form of the air pump; next come the experiments of Huygens, who, from the suspension of mercury in a glass tube exhausted of air, was led to infer the existence of a more subtile fluid, which he called æther: the cistern barometer is then described; after which are detailed the various contrivances for enlarging the scale of the variations of the barometer;—first in order is the barometer of Descartes; then the double barometer of Huygens, the advantages and disadvantages of which are pointed out; next, the more accurate double barometer, and the wheel barometer of Dr Hook; the inclined barometer, ascribed to Sir Samuel Moreland; the square barometer of Cassini and Bernoulli; the conical barometer of Amontons; the sectoral barometer proposed by Magellan; the adaptation of the differential scale for measuring minute divisions, first proposed by Vernier, early in the seventeenth century, but long afterwards strangely neglected;—the article next proceeds to mention the circumstances which influence the variations of the barometer, viz. the effect of moisture within the barometric tube,—the effect of the width of the tube—the uniform convexity of the surface of pure mercury in properly constructed barometers,—the quantity of depression in different tubes, the application of a leather bag to the syphon barometer,—the effect of heat on the barometer, which leads to an account of the successive improvements of the thermometer; marine barometers are next described, the most approved kind of which, manufactured by Mr Cary of London, is illustrated by a figure, in a well executed plate—the difficulty of explaining the variations of the barometer are adverted to, and some hints are thrown out relative to these causes. On the whole, we think this a very able article, though, perhaps, a little too discursive.

As a sequel to the article Barometer, we have, from the same pen, a paper on Barometrical Measurements. The decisive experiment by which Pascal ascertained that the pressure of the atmosphere diminished according to its elevation, naturally suggested to him the possibility of measuring by the barometer the relative heights of distant places on the surface of the globe. The first attempts, however, were rude, as they proceeded on the inaccurate supposition that the lower mass of air is a fluid of uniform density. We regret that our limits prevent us from accompanying Mr Leslie in tracing the successive steps by which the instruments and the rules employed in barometrical measurement have attained their present state of perfection. One interesting discovery, however, lately made by this mode of distant levelling, we must, in justice to our readers, mention. Two Prussian travellers, Engalhorde and Parrot, who proceeded, on the 13th July 1814, from the mouth of the Kuban, on the Black Sea, to the mouth of the Terek, on the Caspian, ascertained, by a series of fifty-one accurate observations, that the Caspian is 334 English feet below the level of the ocean; and that, at the distance of 189 miles from the Caspian, the country is depressed to the level of the ocean—thus leaving an immense basin, from which the waters are supposed to have retired by a subterraneous percolation.

In the article Bathing, the medical and physical effects of the various kinds of baths, in various circumstances, as determined by the observations of Wright, Currie, Seguin, Parr, Haygarth, Fourcroy, Marcard, and other able physicians, are minutely and accurately detailed.

The article Beauty we opened with peculiar interest; and though we are very far from agreeing to the theory proposed, and the reasoning by which that theory is supported, we are ready to do full homage to the abilities displayed in the discussion. We cannot say, however, that we greatly admire the style in which the article is composed. It is distinguished, indeed, by great vigour of conception, and by a command of language almost peculiar to its celebrated author; but the vehemence of its tone, and the dogmatical confidence of its assertions, remind us more of the manner of a pleader at the bar, anxious at all events to make good his cause, than of the calm and dispassionate style of a philosophical inquirer—of which Mr Alison and Mr Stewart, in their treatises on the same subject, had given so pleasing specimens. We shall not at present attempt any analysis of the contents of this article, as we hope soon to have a communication on the subject from a correspondent.

Under the article Bee, the many curious and interesting facts relative to the physiology and economy of these remarkable insects, which have been discovered by the researches of Swammerdam, Maraldi, Reaumur, Schirach, and Huber, are detailed in a clear and systematic manner: but as these facts are now so generally known, we think it unnecessary to give any analysis of the article.

Beggar is the next subject that claims our attention. The information contained in this article is chiefly drawn from the report of a committee of the House of Commons, appointed, in 1815, to inquire into the state of mendicity in the metropolis. Beggars are classed into those who beg from necessity, and those who beg from choice. With regard to the relative numbers of these classes, the information of the committee was quite contradictory. Two of the witnesses examined, whose experience was equal or superior to that of all the rest taken together, asserted, that a proportion as large as one half were beggars from necessity, and some of them extremely worthy objects of compassion; while others asserted, that all beggars, with hardly any exception, were beggars from choice. One fact, extremely honourable to the working part of the community, seems to be well ascertained. Of the journeymen in the metropolis, no one is ever known to beg, though thousands of them, in the fluctuations of trade, have been reduced to the most cruel privations; and not a few of them actually starve unpitied and unknown! The number of beggars in the metropolis the committee have been unable to ascertain; but it appears to be certain that it is gradually diminishing. Of the deceptions practised by beggars very erroneous notions have been entertained. In the number and variety of their contrivances they are supposed to exercise wonderful ingenuity; whereas their expedients are few, obvious, and coarse. Of the methods proposed for suppressing begging, there seems to be none so deserving of approbation as the scheme of the society at Edinburgh for that laudable purpose. Nothing can be more judicious than the principles on which the society proceeds; and their exertions have met with the success to which they are so well entitled. It is objected to their plan, by the writer of this article, that it is not calculated for permanent or general use. Let their example be generally followed, and there can be little doubt that it will be found generally beneficial.

The article on Benefit Societies proceeds from the same pen, and is marked by the same prepossessions as the article on Banks for Savings. It is unnecessary, therefore, to say any thing of it at present, as another opportunity will offer of examining the doctrines and the principles which it contains.

Besides the articles to which we have already adverted, this part of the Encyclopædia contains some good biographical sketches of Joel Barlow, Barry, Barthez, Basedow, Beattie, Beaumarchais, Beccaria, Beckmann, and Beddoes.

1. There are at present in our metropolis three banks incorporated by charter; namely, the Bank of Scotland, established by act of Parliament in 1695; the Royal Bank of Scotland, established by royal charter in 1727; and the British Linen Company, originally incorporated in 1746, with a capital of £100,000, for the encouragement of the linen manufacture.