The American Journal of Science/Series 1, Volume 1

by conducted by Benjamin Silliman

ADVERTISEMENT

⥈

IN  the following plan of this Work, we trust it will be understood, that we do not pledge ourselves that all the subjects mentioned shall be touched upon in every Number.  This is plainly impossible, unless every article should be very short and imperfect. All that the Public are entitled to expect is, that in the progress of the Journal, the various subjects mentioned may occupy such an extent as our communications and resources shall permit.

We have been honoured by such a list of names of gentlemen who are willing to be considered as contributors to this Journal, that the publication of it would afford us no ordinary gratification, did we not feel that it is more decorous to allow their names to appear with their communications, without laying them under a previous pledge to the Public.

PLAN OF THE WORK.

⥈

THIS  Journal is intended to embrace the circle of the Physical Sciences, with their application to the Arts, and to every useful purpose.

It is designed as a deposit for original American communications; it will contain also occasional selections from Foreign Journals, and notices of the progress of Science in other countries.   Within its plan are embraced

Natural History, in its three great departments of Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoology.

Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, and their various branches: and Mathematics, pure and mixed.

It will be a leading object to illustrate American Natural History, and especially our Mineralogy and Geology.

The Applications of these sciences are obviously as numerous as physical arts and physical wants; for no one of these arts or wants can be named which is not connected with them.

While Science will be cherished for its own sake, and with a due respect for its own inherent dignity; it will also be employed as the handmaid to the Arts.   Its numerous applications to Agriculture, the earliest and most important of them; to Manufactures, both mechanical and chemical; and, to Domestic Economy, will be carefully sought out, and faithfully made.

It is within the design of this Journal to receive communications likewise on Music, Sculpture, Engraving, Painting, and generally on the fine and liberal, as well as useful arts;

On Military and Civil Engineering, and the art of Navigation;

Notices, Reviews, and Analyses of new scientific works; accounts of Inventions, and Specifications of Patents;

Biographical and Obituary Notices of scientific men; essays on Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, and generally on such other branches of medicine as depend on scientific principles;

Meteorological Registers, and Reports of Agricultural Experiments : and interesting Miscellaneous Articles, not perhaps exactly included under either of the above heads.

Communications are respectfully solicited from men of science, and from men versed in the practical arts.

Learned Societies are invited to make this Journal, occasionally, the vehicle of their communications to the Public.

The Editor will not hold himself responsible for the sentiments and opinions advanced by his correspondents : he will consider it as an allowed liberty to make slight verbal alterations, where errors may be presumed to have arisen from inadvertency.

CONTENTS

⤙ No. 1 ⤚

		Page
Introductory Remarks.		1
Art. I.	Essay on Musical Temperament, by Professor Alex. M. Fisher.	9
MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY.
Art. II.	Review of Cleaveland's Mineralogy.	35
Art. III.	New Locality of Fluor Spar, &.c.	52
Art. IV.	Carbonat of Magnesia, &c. discovered by J. Pierce, Esq.	54
Art. V.	Native Copper, near New-Haven.	55
Art. VI.	Petrified Wood from Antigua.	56
Art. VII.	American Porcelain Clays, &c.	57
Art. VIII.	Native Sulphur from Java.	58
Art. IX.	Productions of Wier's Cave, in Virginia.	59
Art. X.	Mineralogy and Geology of part of Virginia and Tennessee, by Mr. J. H. Kain.	60
Art. XI.	Notice of Professor Mitchill's edition of Cuvier's Geology.	68
Art. XII.	Notice of Eaton's Index to the Geology of the Northern States, &c.	69
Art. XIII.	Notice of M. Brongniart on Organized Remains.	71
BOTANY.
Art. XIV.	Observations on a species of Limosella, by Professor E. Ives.	74
Art. XV.	Notice of Professor Bigelow's Memoir on the Floral Calendar of the United States, &c.	76
Art. XVI.	Journal of the Progress of Vegetation, &c. by C. S. Rafinesque, Esq.	77
ZOOLOGY.
Art. XVII.	Description of a new Species of Marten, by C. S. Rafinesque, Esq.	82
Art. XVIII.	Natural History of the Copper-Head Snake, by the same.	84
PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY.
Art. XIX.	On a Method of augmenting the Force of Gunpowder, by Colonel G. Gibbs.	87
Art. XX.	On the connexion between Magnetism and Light, by the same.	89
Art. XXI.	On a new means of Producing Heat and Light, by J. L. Sullivan, Esq.	91
Art. XXII.	On the Effects of the Earthquakes of 1811, 1812, on the Wells in Columbia, South Carolina, by Professor Edward D. Smith.	93
Art. XXIII.	On the Respiration of Oxygen Gas in an Affection of the Thorax.	95
MISCELLANEOUS.
Art. XXIV.	On the Priority of Discovery of the Compound Blowpipe, and its Effects.	97
Art. XXV.	On the Northwest Passage, the North Pole, and the Greenland Ice.	101

CONTENTS

⤙ No. 2 ⤚

	MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY.	Page
Art. I.	Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy of a section of Massachusetts, on Connecticut river, with a part of New-Hampshire and Vermont, by Edward Hitchcock, A.M. Principal of Deerfield Academy.	106
Art. II.	On the Prairies and Barrens of the West, by Caleb Atwater, Esq.	116
Art. III.	Account of the Coal Mines in the vicinity of Richmond, Virginia, by Mr. John Grammer, Jun.	125
Art. IV.	Sketch of the Geology and Mineralogy of a part of the State of Indiana, by Mr. W. B. Stilson.	131
Art. V.	New localities of Agate, Chalcedony, Chahasie, Stilbite, Analcime, Titanium, Prehnite, &c.	134
Art. VI.	Account of the Strata perforated by, and of the Minerals found in, the great adit to the Southampton Lead Mine, by Mr. Amos Eaton, Lecturer on Geology, Botany, &c.	136
Art. VII.	On the Peat of Dutchess County, by the Rev. F. C. Schaeffer.	139
Art. VIII.	Notices of Geology in the West-Indies, by Dr. Nugent.	140
Art. IX.	Discovery of Native Crystallized Carbonate of Magnesia on Staten-Island, with a Notice of its Geology, by James Pierce, Esq.	142
Art. X.	On a curious substance found with the native Nitre of Kentucky and of Africa, by Samuel Brown, M.D.	146
BOTANY.
Art. XI.	Description of species of Sponges observed on the shores of Long-Island, by C. S. Rafinesque, Esq.	149
Art. XII.	Memoir on the Xanthium maculatum, by the same.	151
ZOOLOGY.
Art. XIII.	Description of the Phalaena Devastator — the Insect that produces the Cut-worm, by Mr. John P. Brace	155
Art. XIV.	Description of the Exoglossum, a new genus of Fresh-water Fish, by C. S. Rafinesque, Esq.	149
PHYSICS, MECHANICS, AND CHEMISTRY.
Art. XV.	On the Revolving Steam-Engine of Mr. Samuel Morey, communicated by John L. Sullivan, Esq.	157
Art. XVI.	Cautions regarding Fulminating Powders.	168
USEFUL ARTS.
Art. XVII.	Account of a Parisian method of obtaining Gelatine from bones, by Mr. Isaac Doolittle.	170
Art. XVIII.	On the use of Distilled Seawater for domestic purposes — from the Annales de Chimie, &c.	172
FINE ARTS.
Art. XIX.	Essay on Musical Temperament, by Professor Fisher.	176
Art. XX.	Notice of Col. Trumbull's Picture of the Declaration of Independence	200
INTELLIGENCE.
Art. XXI.	An Address to the People of the Western Country.	203
Art. XXII.	Extract of a letter from Col. Gibbs, on the effect of light on the Magnetical power.	207
Art. XXIII.	On a new Lamp, without flame — from the Annals of Philosophy.	ibid.

CONTENTS

⤙ No. 3 ⤚

GEOLOGY, MINERALOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, &c.

Page

Art. I.

Hints on some of the Outlines of Geological Arrangement, with particular Reference to the System of Werner, in a letter to the Editor, from William Maclure, Esq. dated Paris, 22d August, 1818

209

Art. II.

On the Geology, Mineralogy, Scenery, and Curiosities of Parts of Virginia, Tennessee, and the Alabama and Mississippi Territories, &c. with Miscellaneous Remarks, in a letter to the Editor.By the Rev. Elias Cornelius.

214

Art. III.

Notice of the Scenery, Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, &c. of Belmont County, Ohio, by Caleb Atwater, Esq. of Circleville.

226

Art. IV.

Remarks on the Structure of the Calton Hill, near Edinburgh, Scotland; and on the Aqueous Origin of Wacke; by J. W. Webster, M.D. of Boston

230

Art. V.

Localities of Minerals.

236

BOTANY.

Art. VI.

A List of Plants found in the neighbourhood of Connasarga River, (Cherokee Country) where Springplace is situated; made by Mrs. Gambold, at the request of the Rev. Elias Cornelius.

245

Art. VII.

Description of a new species of Asclepias.By Dr. Eli Ives, Professor, &c. in the Medical Institution of Yale College.

252

Art. VIII.

Description of a New Genus of American Grass.Diplocea Barbata, by C. S. Rafinesque, Esq.

ibid.

Art. IX.

Floral Calendar, &c

254

ZOOLOGY.

Art. X.

Notes on Herpetology, by Thomas Say, of Philadelphia

256

PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY.

Art. XI.

Outline of a Theory of Meteors.By Wm. G. Reynolds, M.D. Middletown Point, New-Jersey.

266

Art. XII.

Observations upon the prevailing Currents of Air in the State of Ohio and the Regions of the West, by Caleb Atwater, Esq. of Circleville, Ohio; in Letters addressed to His Excellency De Witt Clinton, LL.D. Governor of the State of New-York, and President of the Literary and Philosophical Society.

276

Art. XIII.

On a singular Disruption of the Ground, apparently by Frost, in Letters from Edward Hitchcock, A. M. late Principal of Deerfield Academy.

286

Art. XIV.

On a New Form of the Electrical Battery, by J. F. Dana, M. D. Chemical Assistant in Harvard University, and Lecturer on Chemistry and Pharmacy in Dartmouth College.

292

Art. XV.

Chemical Examination of the Berries of the Myrica Cerifera, or Wax Myrtle, by J. F. Dana, M. D. Chemical Assistant in Harvard University, and Lecturer on Chemistry and Pharmacy in Dartmouth College.

294

Art. XVI.

Analysis of Wacke, by Dr. J. W. Webster, of Boston.

296

AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMICS.

Art. XVII.

On the Comparative Quantity of Nutritious Matter which may be obtained from an Acre of Land when cultivated with Potatoes or Wheat, by Dr. Eli Ives, Professor of Materia Medica and Botany in Yale College.

297

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. XVIII.

Biographical Notice of the late Archibald Bruce, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica and Mineralogy in the Medical Institution of the State of New-York, and Queen's College, New-Jersey; and Member of various Learned Societies in America and Europe,

299

INTELLIGENCE.

Art. XIX.

1.	Dr. J. W. Webster's Lectures	304
2.	Dr. Webster's Cabinet.	305
3.	Supposed identity of Copal and Amber.	306
4.	The Necronile.—(A supposed new mineral.)	ibid.
5.	Preservation of dead Bodies.	307
6.	Matches kindling without fire.	308
7.	Cleaveland's Mineralogy.	ibid.
8.	A new Alkali.	309
9.	Ignited Platinum Wire.	ibid.
10.	Red Rain.	ibid.
11.	Gnephalium.	310
12.	Augite.	ibid.
13.	A New Vegetable Alkali.	ibid.
14.	New Minerals	ibid.
15.	New Metal	ibid.
16.	Pure Alumine	ibid.
17.	Collections of American Minerals	ibid.
18.	C. S. Rafinesque, Esq.	311
19.	Medical College of Ohio.	ibid.
20.	Notes on Ohio.	ibid.
21.	Discovery of American Tungsten and Tellurium.	312
22.	Mr. Sheldon's application of Chesnut Wood to the arts of Tanning and dying.	ibid.
23.	Additional note concerning the Tungsten Tellurium.	316

CONTENTS

⤙ No. 4 ⤚

GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, AND MINERALOGY.

Page

Art. I.

On the Geology, Mineralogy, Scenery, and Curiosities of Parts of Virginia, Tennessee, and of the Alabama and Mississippi Territories, &c. with Miscellaneous Remarks, &c.In a Letter to the Editor.By the Rev. Elias Cornelius.

317

Art. II.

On the Origin of Prairies.By Mr. R. W. Wells.

331

Art. III.

Sketch of the Mineralogy and Geology of the Vicinity of Williams' College, Williamstown, Mass. By Professor Dewey, of Williams' College, in a letter to the Editor.

337

Art. IV.

On the Tourmalines and other Minerals found at Chesterfield and Goshen, Massachusetts, by Col. George Gibbs.

346

Art. V.

Observations on the Minerals connected with the Gneiss range of Litchfield county, by Mr. John P. Brace, of Litchfield, Conn.

351

BOTANY.

Art. VI.

An Account of two North American Species of Rottböllia, discovered on the Sea-coast in the State of Georgia, by Dr. William Baldwin, of Philadelphia

355

Art. VII.

Floral Calendar kept at Deerfield, Massachusetts, with Miscellaneous Remarks, by Dr. Stephen W. Williams, of Deerfield.

359

Art. VIII.

Description and Natural Classification of the Genus Floerkea, by C. S. Rafinesque, Professor of Botany and Natural History in the Transylvania University, Lexington, Ken.

373

Art. IX.

Descriptions of Three New Genera of Plants, from the State of New-York.Cylactis, Nemopanthus, and Polanisia, by C. S. Rafinesque

377

Art. X.

Notice on the Myosurus Shortii, by the same.

379

Art. XI.

Description of a New Species of Gnaphalium, by Professor E. Ives.

380

FOSSIL ZOOLOGY, &c.

Art. XII.

Observations on some Species of Zoophytes, Shells, &c. principally Fossil, by Thomas Say

381

PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, &c.

Art. XIII.

Observations on Salt Storms, and the Influence of Salt and Saline Air upon Animal and Vegetable Life.Read before the Lyceum of Natural History of New-York, March 7, 1819, by John B. Beck, M. D.

388

Art. XIV.

Thoughts on Atmospheric Dust. By Professor C. S. Rafinesque.

397

Art. XV.

On the Effect of Vapour on Flame.By J. F. Dana, Chemical Assistant in Harvard University, and Lecturer on Chemistry and Pharmacy in Dartmouth College.

401

Art. XVI.

Analysis of the Harrodsburg Salts, by Edward D. Smith, M. D. Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in the South-Carolina College.

403

Art. XVII.

Additional Notice of the Tungsten and Tellurium, mentioned in our last Number.

405

Art. XVIII.

A Substitute for Woulfe's or Nooth's Apparatus, by Robert Hare, M. D. Professor of Chemistry in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, and Member of various Learned and Scientific Societies.

410

Art. XIX.

A New Theory of Galvanism, supported by some Experiments and Observations made by means of the Calorimotor, a new Galvanic Instrument.Read before the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, by Robert Hare, M. D. Professor of Chemistry in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, and Member of various Learned Societies.

413

MATHEMATICS.

Art. XX.

An improved Method of obtaining the Formulae for the Sines and Cosines of the Sum and Difference of two Arcs, by Professor Strong, of Hamilton College, &c.

424

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. XXI.

An Account of several Ancient Mounds, and of two Caves, in East Tennessee, by Mr. John Henry Kain, of Knoxville

428

Art. XXII.

Facts illustrative of the Powers and Operations of the Human Mind in a Diseased State.

431

INTELLIGENCE.

Art. XXIII.

1.	Discovery of American Cinnabar and Native Lead.	433
2.	Theoretical Views of Professor Hare of Philadelphia.	434
3.	New Work on Chemistry.	ibid.
4.	Botanical.	435
5.	Staurotide.	ibid.
6.	Supplement to the “Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy of a Section of Massachusetts, on Connecticut River, &c.” contained in No. 2, Art. I, of this Journal, by E. Hitchcock, A. M.	436
7.	New Process for Tanning.	439
8.	Connexion between Chemistry and Medicine.	ibid.
9.	Brucite.	ibid.
10.	Lithography.	ibid.
Conclusion.		440
Postscript. — American Geological Society		442
Index.		443