The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, Volume 6

Front Cover
Sir David Brewster, Robert Jameson
Archibald Constable, 1822 - Science
Contains the proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Wernerian Natural History Society (Edinburgh), etc.
 

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Page 140 - Young thinks it much more simple to suppose the absence or paralysis of those fibres of the retina which are calculated to perceive red ; while Dr.
Page 38 - ... prickles, are united by the burning sun, through the medium of the cementing calcareous sand, which has arisen from the pulverization of the above-mentioned shells into one whole or solid stone, which, strengthened by the continual throwing up of new materials, gradually increases in thickness, till it at last becomes so high, that it is covered only during some seasons of the year by the high tides.
Page 31 - The next production is the nitrate of lime, or saltpetre earth. There are vast quantities of this earth, and equal in strength to any that I have ever seen.
Page 398 - Radicle superior, within the edge of the cotyledons. Obs. — This species has considerable affinity to L. cupularia. The fruit has a strong balsamic smell, and yields an oil, which is considered useful in rheumatic affections, and has the same balsamic odour as the fruit itself. An infusion of the root is drank in the same manner as sassafras, which it appears to resemble in its qualities.
Page 249 - But the most sublime scene is where a mural pile of porphyry, escaping the process of disintegration that is devastating the coast, appears to have been left as a sort of rampart against the inroads of the ocean ; — the Atlantic, when provoked by wintry gales, batters against it with all the force of real artillery, — the waves having in their repeated assaultii) forced for themselves an entrance.
Page 339 - On the south side of Pilatus, a considerable mountain near Lucerne, are great forests of spruce-fir, consisting of the finest timber, but in a situation which the height, the steepness, and the ruggedness of the ground, seemed to render inaccessible. They had rarely been visited but by the chamois...
Page 343 - In viewing the descent of the trees, my nephew and I stood quite close to the edge of the trough, not being more interested about any thing than to experience the impression which the near view of so singular an object must make on a spectator. The noise, the rapidity of the motion, the magnitude of the moving body^ and the force with which it seemed to shake the trough as it passed, were altogether very formidable, and conveyed an idea of danger much greater than the reality. Our guide refused to...
Page 38 - ... and shells of marine animals between and upon the foundation stones. After this, the calcareous sand lies undisturbed, and offers to the seeds of trees and plants, cast upon it by the waves, a soil upon which they rapidly grow, to overshadow its dazzling white surface. Entire trunks of trees, which are carried by the rivers from other countries and islands, find here, at length, a restingplace after their long wanderings ; with these come some small animals, such as lizards and insects, as the...
Page 249 - A mass of rock, the average dimensions of which may perhaps be rated at twelve or thirteen feet square, and four and a half or five in thickness, was first moved from its bed, about fifty years ago, to a distance of thirty feet, and has since been twice turned over. But the most sublime scene is where a mural pile of porphyry, escaping the process of disintegration that is devastating the coast, appears to have been left as a sort...

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