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"What are heat and cold?" asks a reader. "Is cold merely a lack of heat?" "Why do the philosophers say that fire Is cold?" To these questions Apollo replies that heat is a species
1 n of motion and cold a cessation of that motion; and that philo¬ sophers do not claim that fire is cold, but that heat and cold are not in the objects, but are sensations produced in us, the 17 one from motion, the other from rest.
"Why does snow melt faster upon stone than upon wood?" "Why is there snow on the Alps when it is so hot on the plains be¬ low?" These readers are told that snow melts faster on stone because the moisture of the air gathers more there since the 18 stone's pores are closer end smaller, and that the sun's beams are not reflected as they are in the valleys, by the sides of the surrounding hills. To the last answer Apollo adds that the greater rarefaction of the atmosphere on the Alps may be an- 19 other reason. Readers are told that they see their breath in winter rather than in summer because at the latter time it is rarlfied and imperceptible, at the earlier time it is more con- 20 densed. A razor in frosty weather cuts more easily if dipped in-
15 II, 559. This is a complete acceptance of Galileo's theory.
16II, 559; III, 810, This is an echo of Hooke's earlier rejection of cold as something positive. O 00 17x, • 18III,
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Asked why hot water freezes sooner than cold, Apollo re¬ plies that it actually doesn't, but that after having been first heated and then cooled, it may freeze sooner because of the 23 evaporation of the spirituous parts. ' Asked why gunpowder, com¬ posed as it is of fiery particles, should be as cold as ice when it is dissolved in water, Apollo answers:
Because upon its dissolution there becomes a separation of its contrary qualities, and its inflammable ones which were before predominant, flying from so opposite a body, as that of water, leaves the languid particles of the gunpowder without a mix¬ ture, and consequently occasions an entire rest, which is, what we vulgarly call, intense coldness.
Apollo says that mutton cools sooner than any other meat, be- cause its fat is of a harder consistence than the fat of any 25 •>* other meat, and that the substance that boils out of fire is
"a resinous liquor, not much differing in its nature from tur¬ pentine. "
22 21III, 1041. I, 236-237 24 23II, 618. II, 625.
25III, 1056. 26III, 705. i - -
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Another reader has been puzzled by seeing a bladder blown about half full, laid before a large fire, and swelling until it burst. Apollo explains this as being due to the rarefaction of the air by the heat of the fire, so that the lack of "corn- pressure of the ambient air" leads to the bursting of the 27 bladder. Other questioners ask how air can be blown from the body both hot and cold, why a greater fire extinguishes a lesser, and how it is possible for heat to be without fire. The replies give the information that if air is blown out short, it is hot, 28 but if forced out at length, it is cool; ‘ that a greater fire extracts so many sulphurous and nitrous particles from the air 29 that a lesser fire cannot burn; that heat differs from fire in two ways:
...either in the lesser motion of such particles as are capable of such a degree of motion, as is necessary to the production of fire, as in all combustible matter, when only hot; or in the motion of such particles as are incapable of any such degree of motion, as in ashes.30
There are several unusual questions in the group dealing more or less directly with light and color. The chief Interest
6eems to be in glass: how can it be solid and thick, yet trans¬ parent, a number of readers wish to know. Apollo1s answers to these similar questions are remarkably consistent, explaining that the glass has rectilinear pores, which admit the rays of
27III, 905. 28I, 138.
29I, 113. 128. • Si i-' 2 e- if Jc
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light to pass through In straight lines 31
Other readers Inquire what color la; why naturally red
saffron when boiled makes the liquor yellov/; why milk Is white
Instead of red, If made of blood; whether light Is a body or a quality. Apollo * e answers vary In technicality and In scien¬ tific value. Concerning color, Apollo refere to Newton's defi¬ nition: "that affection, or quality of light, whereby It Is 32 dispos'd to produce In us such a particular sensation." Saffron apparently "more naturally displays a golden colour, than a red 33 one," according to the oracle. Milk Is made of chyle, not of 34 blood; light is both a body and a quality (according to
Newton's definition: "an heterogeneoue mixture of rays dlf- 35 ferently refrangible").''
An early Apollo reader is worried over why the shadows of persons outside appear inverted when they are reflected on a wall through a keyhole, or some such passage. The reply given
Is that—
Since a shadow Is nothing else than a privation of light, since
31I, 192 and 292.
32I, 134. Newton's theory held that sunlight is not homo¬ geneous, but a composition of seven main colors. Hooke's Mlcrograohla, quoted in chapter III, Included elementary ob¬ servations in this field, and helped pave the way for Newton's subsequent observations. 33III, 885. 34I, 259. 35II 457. For further non-technlcal information concerning Newton's theories, see Joseph Mayer's The Seven Seals of Science, New York, 1937, ch. VI. VT?"; Stf d 'r HS&C 0 t
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It 1s necessary that a straight line toe capable of being drawn from the efficient cause of such privation to the body that is depriv'd of light, since the straight line drawn from the upper part of such as pass by the keyhole will necessarily terminate on the lower part of the wall, and another drawn from their lower part will, on the contrary, terminate on the upper part of the wall, and so proportionably throughout their whole body, it thence naturally follows,. that a shadow thus produc'd must be inverted in its posture.36
The other questions in this group on light and color, deal with apparent inconsistencies. Why does a straight stick look crooked in water? (Apollo reverts to the theory of Ptolemy that light is refracted out of its straight-line path in passing through various media, and explains that if you put the stick all the way in, it would appear straight.) Why does the whirling of a fire-stick create the illusion of a circle of fire, although the fire is in only one place at a time? (The disproportloned swiftness of motion "so eludes the optic 38 nerves, as that they are not able to represent the intervale.11)
Why are lighted coals red, and the flames of a different color?
(Apollo applies Newton's theory of color and reflection to ex- plain this apparent phenomenon.) How does it happen that
cattle on the Isle of Dogs may be seen at high tide, but not
at low?40 (The first time this question appears, Apollo gives
36I, 66. 37II, 482. 38III, 757. 39Ibid. 40The Isle of Dogs, a peninsula Jutting into the Thames, was in Elizabethan days the official Junk-heap of London. It received its name possibly from the dogs that ate the garbage there, or possibly from the fact that at one time the King's hounds were kept there. Apparently it was in 1708 suited to grazing, since two Apollo questions mention the cattle seen there. In later days it became a melee of docks, riverside works, and poor houses. o< lc . I'*-. • x Sr'.? ■■■ 't vt ajsoan uL ji ■: a .i. - a nc- ,'i < 1
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Because at that time the water is high enough to receive the light, reflected from the cattle, in such a manner, as that the same light entring a grosser medium, and therefore deflecting farther from a perpendicular, may by such a deflection elevate the objects to such an height, as to make them become visible to those at Greenwich.42
The Apollo questions dealing with sound are interesting
chiefly because they touch on the subject of sympathetic vi¬
bration, a topic of scientific interest from the time of
Galileo’s earlier experimentation with the vibrations of strings.
This sort of investigation was carried on at various times by members of the Royal Society, an account of several such ex- 43 periments appearing in the Transactions. They found that when
a certain pitch was attained another string on the same or on
a different instrument would vibrate, and that these strings would also answer to a note from a wind instrument. They probed
the reason Venetian glass could be cracked by the certain note
of a trumpet or cornet. They even investigated the results of
the difference in texture between metal strings and gut strings.
Apollo readers wish to know why a note played on one
stringed instrument makes the strings on others vibrate, to
which is answered: HThe cause is a sympathy of motion imparted
by the circumambient air.1,44 Another querist asks "in what
41II, 357. 42III, 756-757. 43Phll. Trans.. vol. XII, no. 134, p. 839.
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, . , . 128 manner (if one whispers against the wall, on one side in the cupola of St. Paul’s) the voice is retorted so very much louder to the other.51 To this Apollo replies that "sounds are communi¬ cated in arcuate lines, and therefore arcXuate fabrics (such as the wall you speak of) are more agreeable to their extensive 45 propagation. A third reader asks why a small rap on a bell will make more noise than beating with one’s fist upon a butter- tub. Since the query is in verse form, Apollo counters:
All harder bodies make a bigger Noise, ’cause with elastic vigour They strike the air, and with a force Superior cause a quick divorce.4®
The miscellaneous questions on subjects connected with chemistry and physics must not be overlooked, as they in sev¬ eral cases represent the beginning of important trends. An example of such are the two questions dealing with the possi¬ bility of perpetual motion. To both of these Apollo answers a decided no—adding that "how extensive soever art may be, 47 there would be a defect in matter." The second time, he says further that he "would not discourage the inquisition of the ingenious," although "there can be no perpetual motion affected by the now known principles of mechanism." Members of the
Royal Society had been equally emphatic on this point, papers in the Transact ions showing that various objections had been
45II, 674. 46II, 461-462.
47II, 208 . 48n, 269-270. • < • ' .. ' ..) .
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set forth. In 1685 Dr. Papin went on record as feeling certain 49 that perpetual motion could never succeed, and the following year a member of the French Academy, not satisfied with Dr.
Papin's objections, showed further the absolute impossibility 50 of perpetual motion." An Apollo question concerning suction merits an unusually long reply in which Apollo gives Newton’s definition: "A tendency of one body to another; which ten¬ dency...is in all bodies, but more intense in some bodies re¬ spectively to other particular bodies.” Apollo follows this by an explanation of the difference between suction and pres- 51 sure, and by divers examples of each."
Other Important questions in the miscellaneous group in¬
clude: Which element is most powerful? (Fire.)^2 Is matter
infinitely divisible? (Yes, says Apollo. adding proofs and refuting objections.Will glass decay? (Yes, although lm- 54 perceptibly.) Why does glass break, for no apparent reason?
(Probably new, and exposed to air and use before thoroughly
cooled and seasoned.Has amber, the loadstone, an attractive
virtue? (Apollo is doubtful of the use of the word ’’attraction,11
49Phll. Trans., vol. XV, no. 177, p. 1240.
500£. cit., vol. XVI, no. 182, p. 133.
51III, 947-948. 52I, 81*
53I, 78. 54II, 668.
55 II, 497. . 3 e a
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Concerning the cause of elasticity, Apollo replies—
When certain bodies are bent by external force the pores of the convex side are enlarged, and those of the concave stralghtned. When therefore the subtile matter, which with great velocity is ever running through the pores of bodies, enters the enlarged pores,...but cannot pass through in the same quantity and with the same freedom,...they strike the sides of the pores with so violent a force, as to reduce the bended body to its former state. We therefore ascribe elasticity to the peculiar con¬ texture of elastick bodies, and the vehement motion of ethereal matter.57
One Apollo reader wishes to know how it is possible for straw both to preserve ice and ripen apples. Apollo disagrees with the latter use, believing rather that the straw is used to preserve the apples by preventing their becoming bruised and rotten. Straw's use for roofing ice houses is explained briefly.58 This matter of the preservation of ice by the use of straw is described at some length in a communication to the
Royal Society in 1666, whose Transactions for that year contain an account of ice-nouses at Leghorn, Italy, which were thatched with straw, chaff being used around the ice as a further pre¬ servative measure. Both in Italy and elsewhere, this use of straw (and occasionally reed) seems to have been successfully 59 employed.
55I, 235. Erasmus Bartholinus in 1669 drew attention to the fact that Iceland spar had a similar power of attraction. Wolf, op. clt.. p. 368. The electrical properties and medi¬ cinal virtues of amber are discussed at length in Phil. Trans., vol. XXI, no. 248, p. 5.
57I, 54. 5SI, 293-294.
"9Phll. Trans.. vol. I, no. 8, p. 139. • o :i i ?•.. . 'in :-•*• :iv." 8 9 »• ?
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Two Apollo questions ask why cheese will sink but butter float, when put into water. To the first of these queries (a rhymed one), Apollo answers:
What occupies most room will swim, Qr) What less, will sink beneath the brim.
The next appearance of the question (obviously by the same reader) is worded thus:
Butter and cheese of a bigness I’ll trim, Yet cheese it will sink, and butter will swim; Which occupies most room, Mr. BRITISH APOLLO, The butter or cheese, let your answer now follow?
Replies Apollo:
'Which either does sink, we find all our pains In vain to make sense sink into your brains; To trim both, is only a subject for laughter, Since 'tls more or less in respect to the water.
The five remaining miscellaneous questions are of varying interest: Why does the beating of a drum turn ale sour? (Com¬ motion in the air causes fermentation in the liquor, an exalt¬ ation of its tartarous parts, and a depression or dissipation of the spirituous. ) When a piece of bread is laid in water, why does the water rise in the bread higher than the surface of the surrounding wrater? (Air pressure is greater on surrounding water than that on which the bread is laid, thus forcing the
61 153. I, 209.
62III, 785. f v
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water to rise in the bread.) How do the parts of matter co¬
here? (Apollo despairs of giving a satisfactory answer, since
the most able philosophers have failed, but lists the various
theories in considerable detail.) Why does a candle smell
after the flame has been put out, but not before? (When candle
is put out, sulphureous particles are separated and retarded, 65 making us more sensible of the unpleasant smell.) Why is an
egg so hard to break lengthwise? (The two ends are so globular,
that the pressure declines towards the cohesion of its parts,
which is the reason an arch will bear more weight than a gg flat.) Why do sparks fly from a flannel gown? (Apollo finds
it difficult to assign a satisfactory explanation to this phenomenon, but believes '’that flannel being apt to receive,
and keep within itself some nitro-sulphureous particles, which
may exhale out of the bodies of some people at certain times,
there may be, at least, a sufficient quantity of them, to give
some sort of light or flame, when they come to be put in a due
motion for it.")67
Thus the Apollo functions in the role of chemist and
physicist for the early eighteenth-century layman. A number
of the answers are necessarily mere guesswork; many of them are
obviously incorrect; a few ©re basically sound Insofar as the
scientific knowledge of the period permitted.
63II, 381-382. o4III, 709-710. 65III, 763-764. d6I, 215.
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- ' J Chapter V
THE INTEREST IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
As used in this chapter, Mphysical geography" is a blanket term indicating that branch of natural science dealing with the earth itself, as well as the subterranean and atmospheric forces that affect it. For the sake of coherence, the con¬ sideration of these factors is divided into the three classi¬ fications of hydrology (the waters of the earth), meteorology
(atmospheric phenomena), and mineralogy (subterranean form¬ ations).
The early eighteenth-century interest in hydrology sent to The British Apollo an assortment of questions surprisingly naive and free from technicalities. These queries fall into three main groups: those dealing with the ocean, with rivers, and with springs.
The first question, of obvious interest to people in general, asks (metrically) what keeps the ocean within its r3 I _‘.:T
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The ocean tumify'd appears, But as a globular form It bears, Which form It strictly comprehends, Whilst to the central point It tends: But why such wonders nature shows Why earth and sea one globe compose, The great Creator only knows.
The second question, nearly as elementary, inquires whence comes the saltness of the sea, a condition Apollo ascribes to the salt p rocks and mines in the earth under the sea. ~ Another reader asks how the Thames can be fresh if the sea is salt, to which Apollo responds that Hthe Thames is salt, till mingled with so great a quantity of fresh water, as to make so proportlonably a quan- 3 tity of salt to be imperceptible.H
A subject of enough interest to provoke four Apollo ques¬ tions is tides. The oracle states that the sun and moon cause 4 tides, which have their origin in the middle of the ocean.
This matter of tides had been of constant Interest to members of the Royal Society ever since that groups organization. Sir
Robert Moray in 1665 wrote for the Society an account of some most unusual tides he had observed in the Western Isles of 5 Scotland." The 1666 Transactions contain several treatises on the subject: one a long dissertation on the flux and reflux
2 1I, 61. II, 420.
3III, 725. 4II, 407; I, 156. 5 Phil. Trans.. vol. I, no. 4, p. 53. : j t a
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7 age. A particularly interesting question on tides, from an
Apollo reader, asks the reason people are likely to die either at high or at low tide, and is turned aside humorously by g Apollo without further consideration. Several years prior to this time, however, there had been interesting speculations in the Transactions concerning this matter. Even the most eminent scientists had given it their attention when one of their con¬ freres, Paschal, had made some rather detailed observations in this field. In order to determine the extent to which tides exerted their influence upon human births and deaths he di¬ vided the natural day into four periods of hours corresponding to the ebb and flow of tides. He then recorded the times of births and deaths in human beings and in animals, finding that none were bom or died a natural death in the first or second tides, but every one either in the first or second ebbs. He next noted those afflicted with disease, finding that the malady appeared worst during the period of tides, and relaxed during the ebbs. From these observations he concluded that motion, vigor, action, and strength are most apparent during the period of tides; that rest, relaxation, decay and
0 Op. cit. , vol. I, no. 16, p. 263.
7Op. cit. . vol. I, no. 17, p. 298.
8II, 545. C5 ;
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One Apollo reader submits a question on the reason for the sea*s swelling several days before a recent hurricane. This the oracle attributes to "subterraneous winds, making their way where they met less opposition."1^ The two remaining questions dealing with the sea have to do with waterspouts, which Apollo claims are due to vapours which arise from the heat and fire within the earth, and force themselves through the sea, carrying the water before them.11 Another reader, admittedly disagreeing with this solution, sends in his account of waterspouts ob¬ served in the Mediterranean the preceding fall, a phenomenon which came close to causing a shipwreck. The reader feels that if the Impetus had come from under the sea, the disturb¬ ance would have remained In one place, whereas the waterspout he saw had appeared to move swiftly past the ship, without bene¬ fit of wind or current. Apollo replying, feels that the case cited merely strengthens his original statement concerning the source of these spouts, "that it was something from within which determined their motion this way or that way, and which we may very well suppose to be some subterranean heat or fire not fixed in one particular place, but at different times kindled in different places and concavities of the earth, and
g Phil. Trans.. vol. XVII, no. 202, p. 815.
10I, 93. UIII, 800-801. - 0
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One such observation was made by the Reverend Mr. Abraham De la Pryme, on August 15, 1687, when the season was dry, the weather hot, and the wind strong. He saw what he believed to be a waterspout appearing in the air, destroying everything with which it came in contact. From the fact that the observer concluded that it proceeded from a peculiar cloud formation, caused by contrary winds meeting in a point, and resembled a long, black tube, we may conclude that what he saw was a tor¬ nado cloud, which is even today often confused with a water- 13 spout. Another such appearance was noticed by the Reverend
Mr. Patrick Gordon in 1701, with the wind blowing a cold gale.
This was apparently a true waterspout, lasting about twenty minutes, and followed by hail, wind, and increasing cold. The observer mentioned having seen several previously in the
Mediterranean, during calm, hot weather, but never before in 14 such a northerly climate in a windy March. A report from
Mr. Alexander Stuart of a series of waterspouts observed in the Mediterranean early in the morning of August 27, 1701, described the phenomenon as being preceded by thunder and
12III, 1044-1045. 13 Phil. Trans., vol. XXIII, no. 281, p. 1248.
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Questions sent to The British Apollo on the subject of
rivers deal not with the subject in general, but with four
specific rivers: a stream near Bristol, the Thames, the
Banjarmasseen in Borneo, and the Nile. The first question asks whether the river near Bristol is caused by nature or by art, since it flows between two huge cliffs of stone. Apollo
settles this by replying: MDoubtless, it was principally the 16 work of nature, though art might perfect what nature began."
To the reader concerned over the fact that water from the
Thames is at first foul, but later becomes sweet when kept for a length of time, Apollo answers that the apparent inconsis¬ tence may be caused by a greater quantity of sulphur and salt 17 in that than in other water.
Another question asks why the Banjarmasseen, in Borneo,
is in places unfit to drink during two months of the year.
Apollo attributes this condition to "some noxious and poisonous vapours arising at that time from the earth, under that place 18 of the river." In reply to a rhymed request for information
concerning the overflow of the Nile, Apollo offers these
150£. cit., vol. XXIII, no. 277, p. 1077.
16II, 600. 17III, 723.
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When the warm sun from Aethoplan lands Remits the fervour, and bids winter reign, Successive show'rs o'er distant mountains smoke, And falling thence. In rapid torrents roll. Tearing, as thro* the delug'd lands they fly, The muddy bottom of up-rooted earth, And thlck'nlng with fat soli their growing streams: Hence 'tis, that cov'ring with rich slime a ground, Which the hot sun had burnt to sand before, Aegyptian plenty does with Nllus flow, And by his fall soon feels a sure decrease.^
This matter of the inundation of the Nile is treated at great length by Sir Thomas Browne in his Pseudodoxla. where he cites all sorts of possible explanations, supporting each by appro- 20 priate references from antiquity.
The last British Apollo questions in the hydrology group deal with springs, and are decidedly similar in content. The matter of how springs are able to rise to such a level that they can flow from high hills, Apollo attributes to sub¬ terraneous heat which makes water rise in vapors and condense 21 into fountains. These springs are colder in winter, the oracle believes, because the earth's heat retires then, and 22 returns in the summer.
Several questions concern the health-giving waters at
Bath: what makes the waters hot, and what makes them turn
19 20 „ II, 490. Browne, 0£. clt.. II, 356-362. 22 21II, 368-369. 211. :
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Apollo does not take up the waters' potency in matters per¬ taining to health, although the Royal Society's Transact ions are full of observations concerning their efficacy in cases of palsy, epilepsy, convulsions, leprosy, itch, scabs, spleen, liver, mesentery, women's diseases, scurvy, stone, and barren- 25 ness.
By such simple questions is the Apollo readers' interest in hydrology manifested. There is nothing subtle, nothing abstruse, nothing technical. Apollo's answers are in the main straightforward, occasionally amusing. The resulting im¬ pression is a pleasant change from some of the far-fetched questions and glaringly inconsistent answers to be found in some of the other categories.
Early eighteenth-century interest in meteorology apparently centered around such commonplace occurrences as rainbows, snow, thunder, and lightning, if one may Judge from the questions submitted to The British Apollo:
Atmosphere 3 Echoes 3
ot. 24 ^1, 321. Ill, 898.
25Phil. Trans., vol. IV, no. 49, p. 977; vol. XV, no. 169, p. 944. Hf r , "‘C3 r'l • : : ns: • : •' •• ^Ha i * '■ '6 "il .. t -31 ric 1
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Rain, snow, hall 8 Sky colors 6 Thunder and lightning 4 Winds 4 Miscellaneous 3
The first group includes: whether the air itself is per¬ fectly full and without pores, why a mist precedes a hot day, and how huge trees can be spilt by the cold. Apollo explains that there Is no imaginable way of knowing whether the most
2' subtile matter existent in the world be with or without pores, and points out that Min a morning preceding a hot day, the at¬ mosphere is so dispos’d as to receive from the sun such a pro¬ portionable degree of heat, as is sufficient to exhale such a 27 quantity of moisture as is enough to compose a mist.*1 The question of the huge trees near Bologne split by the cold is disposed of by Apollo as follows:
The extreme coldness of the air seems to be owing to some very sharp and piercing nitrous salts dispersed in it, which in¬ sinuating themselves in great quantities into the wood of some trees, like so many small wedges, may be able to split the biggest of ’em, and especially those whose pores are so con¬ figurated as to admit them, but not to give them a free and easy passage. °
A case similar to this, observed in the winter of 1683, was re¬ corded in the Philosophical Transactions by Mr. Jacob Bobart.
He claimed to have seen elms, oaks, ash, and walnuts split by the extreme cold with a sharp sound resembling the report of
26 27 I, 40-41 III, 740-741 28 III, 918 , , 6 'R'trl :..o ■■•■i ' - :\r • ; f • .. i. . •:. i. t»
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- 142 a gun. It was his conclusion that the trees were imperfect, possibly full of inbred diseases and cavities.
Two Apollo questions ask what an echo is; the third, why an echo moves in an arcuate, and not in a straight line. Apollo defines an echo as
...the reverberation of a voice from hills, rocks, walls, banks, woods, wells, etc. and is caused by any of the above-mentioned repercussing bodies, stopping and reflecting the original sound, thro* arcuate lines in the air; of these are two sorts, the concurrent and the itlnerant echo, distinguished by the quick¬ ness or slowness of their return; the first is, when we are near the repercussing body; the second, when at a distance from it.30
An echo moves in an arcuate line, says Apollo, because that sort is most agreeable to that circular motion of the air, 31 which solves the phenomena of sounds.
Readers* questions on rain ask where it comes from, and why the sky is so dismal Just before a rain. Apollo answers that rain "proceeds from the vapours attracted from the earth and waters, which meeting together condense into clouds and becoming at length too ponderous to be suspended in the air, 32 break, and shower down again upon the earth and waters." The sky is dismal just before, he says, because of the condensation of vapours into clouds which foretell the impending showers."* * 3^
29 Phil. Trans., vol. XIV, no. 165, p. 766.
3°I, 45. See also III, 925.
31II, 420. I, 200
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The nature of hall Interests two readers, to one of whom
Apollo explains that Mhall Is the thicker clouds congeal'd In 34 the higher regions of the atmosphere.” Apollo points out that the second reader, who wishes to know why it often hails in warm weather hut always snows In cold, Mtho' hall be a more compact congelation than snow,” is basing his argument on two false suppositions since water when congealed Is really more rarified than when dissolved, and secondly, snow Is engendered 35 from thin vapours, and hall from drops of rain. Therefore the query proves itself false. It is easy to see how people would consider hail a heavier, more condensed matter, since in its congealed state it is so very destructive. The late spring of 1686 had seen a particularly vivid demonstration of this when in Flanders hall stones weighing over a quarter of a pound fell, leaving not a whole pane of glass in windows on the windward side of buildings. Trees were broken and in many cases beaten flat; small animals were killed; many persons were
Injured. Such evidence of the weight of hail as compared with rain or snow, the average layman found difficult to reconcile with known scientific experiments.
Questions on snow ask: what snow is, whether snow freezes in the air, and whether it can snow and freeze at the same time.
Apollo answers that snow is “vapours congealed by the cold in
34 35 III, 832. I, 7. 36 Phil. Trans.. vol. XVII, no. 203, p. 858. e»o o *" ( . . o. • . o' t ? y;: * Jit. to .. til1;:
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C >-• < 144 the upper regions of the air. Hence therefore Is the reason, why snow Is of so loose a contexture, namely, because It pro- 37 ceeds from thin and rarlfied vapours." On the second point, the two other readers are assured that:
Snow being nothing but water or vapours congealed, we may con¬ fidently affirm, that it freezes in that place from which it comes. Besides, since when it snows it is always very cold here below, and since experience, as well as reason teaches, that it is still colder in the middle region of the air, where the meteors are formed, we may very reasonably conclude, that in snowy weather it is cold enough there to freeze.3®
Probably the most unusual phenomenon concerning snow, current at that time and recorded in the Transactions, was the story imported from Italy of a red snow that had been seen in Genoa.
According to reports, white snow had fallen first, then red snow, which latter, when squeezed, had yielded water of the 39 same red color. The Royal Society apparently offered no so¬ lution to this phenomenon, although the matter was the subject of widespread discussion.
A number of questions on sky colors occurred to Apollo readers, who inquire: Why does a red sky in the evening in¬ dicate a fair day? (This condition "proceeds from the dryness of the air intercepting the clouds, which else would dissolve into showers of rain, which are nothing else but...fruitful
37III, 824.
38m, 929-930. See also III, 831.
39Phll . Trans., vol. XII, no. 139, p < , ■ ir' i v ialYi'ia*! tiia fitdS moil aJfeeeo
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What accounts for the different colors in the clouds?
(The different dispositions of the air Imprint divers colours 41 in the clouds.)
What terminates our sight? Why is the sky blue? (Apollo takes care of these queries in some verses which can be appre¬ ciated best through the medium of direct quotation:
The great Creator of this earthy ball, Whose boundless pow'r and goodness fram'd us all, Gave CHAOS form, chang'd DARKNESS into light, And plac'd, 'twixt HEAVEN and us, a skreen to bound our sight. A gloomy darkness stops our eager eyes, And INTERPOSING light adorns the skies; Thence mingled BLACK and WHITE familiar grew, And knit in close embraces, form'd a BLUE. But when dark fogs their heavy pinions ply, And draw their misty curtains o'er the sky. That lovely BLUE strait leaves its azure bed, And 'till the sun's MERIDIAN beams are spread, Thick VAPOURS interpose, and form a gloomy RED.)42
Two Apollo questions concern rainbows: one by day; the other, by moonlight. The answers explain, briefly, that the various colors are caused by differently refracted light upon the 43 falling drops of rain, and that even though the sun was not present at the time the other rainbow was seen by moonlight, nevertheless, if the cloud were near enough to the horizon, it 44 might even then receive the influence of the sun's rays. A
40I, 119. 41Ibid. 42I, 74-75. 43I, 224.
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Chartres on August 10, 1665. These appeared at six-thirty in the evening, at right angles to each other, and occasioned con- 45 siderable comment.
Apollo readers appear to have been interested in the ef¬ fects, rather than the causes, of thunder and lightning: Why does thunder sour beer and ale? ("by the violent agitation and new fermentation it causeth in those liquors, by which their spirituous parts are in a great measure dissipated or depress'd, and their tartarous parts exhaled.”) Why does thunder damage oak trees only? (The oak by its inflexibility and resistance to the concussion is more liable to damage than other trees, yet the latter may be harmed by a more violent degree of motion.) What causes thunder and lightning? Why do they not appear in cold weather? ("Lightning is caus'd by the sul¬ phureous and nitrous exhalations set on fire in the air. And the suddenness of their accension disjects the air in so vio¬ lent a manner as to produce the sound we call thunder.... Those exhalations cannot be suppos'd to be set on fire in a cold air.") Why does blue lightning do most damage? ("The sulphur is predominant, which is of a quality more inflaming than
45 Phil. Trans.. vol. I, no. 13, p. 219. The phenomenon of rainbows In general is treated in Phil. Trans.. vol. X, no. 117, p. 386, a translation from the Latin of M. Fr. Linus.
46II, 532-533. See Phil. Trans.. vol. VIII, no. 96, p. 6092, for an account of the effect of thunder and lightning upon wheat and rye in granaries. 47II, 566-567. ^II, 361. _ - r tuoQQ ot n <
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Apollo readers submitting questions on wind seem inter¬ ested in what the wind is, why the north wind is colder than the south, what causes the changing winds, and why the trade- wind in the West Indies always blows within one quarter of the compass. "Wind," explains Apollo. "is a more than ordinary commotion of the air, and of the vapours which it carries with 50 it.” The north wind is colder because we are north of the sun, and consequently north wind proceeds from regions at a 51 greater distance from the sun." The changing of winds is caused by "the motion of vapours and exhalations, the dispo¬ sition of the earth, and the asperity and Inequality of the superficies thereof, as mountains, valleys, woods, etc. where- 52 by their courses are retarded and turned." Apollo answers the last question, concerning trade winds in the West Ind„les, in great detail, explaining all the various possible causes of such winds before concluding that—
...the best and indeed true solution is taken from the sun. For as the course of the sun is westward, and as the air is most rarifled under the sun’s meridian, so it follows from the necessary laws of statics, that the air which is more con¬ densed, readily flows to that which is more rarifled, in order to preserve an equal balance. Whence the air which is not at a greater distance than is mentioned above, from a vertical
49II, 458. 5n III, 890. See Phil. Trans.. vol. XV, no. 175, p. 1148, for a discussion of the cause of winds, by Dr. Garden of Aberdeen. 51 52 III, 1047 II, 382. Dii w ? ***-!%• a. UC
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This answer of Apolloys is noticeably parallel to Halley's account of trade winds and monsoons in the Transactions of 1686.
Halley's explanation, though far greater in length, seems much more lucid than Apollo* s. probably because the latter is forced to compress a great deal of information into a small space.
Halley divides the waters of the world into three parts: the
Atlantic and Ethlopic Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the great
South Sea or Pacific Ocean. He considers each of these indi¬ vidually, explaining from personal observation the wind vari- 54 ations in each section. Apollo would have done well to refer readers to this treatise, which would have been readily ac¬ cessible to anyone interested in looking into the matter further.
The last questions on meteorology, of a miscellaneous nature, ask about meteors, dew, and fairy rings. Apollo re¬ plies that the meteor described by that particular reader was sustained by the "flux of the air,H that it did not fall from a star, and that the heat of the air may have been sufficient
53III, 762-763. 84 Phil. Trans.. vol. XVI, no. 183, p. 153. ... * -• ■/ r.r'. < I c , *• ' . •• ' . ?. • ■' „ .7 ; , - ; • . • ■ , :. • •'? .. i .'vV
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.. rt- ,1’ . ' , . ... . 149 to give It light, ”by giving the sulphureous particles so rapid a motion as to enable It to deject the circumambient air, and move only In the materia subtlllsslma. whence the original of fire." Concerning the source of dew, Apollo informs the In¬ terested reader that “the sun In the day exhales the moisture of the earth, which, after sun-set, falls upon the g£>und under the name of dew.18 Fairy-rings, those brownish, circular patches apparent in many pastures, Apollo identifies as being
“occasioned by lightning, striking the part in that form, which leaving sulphureous particles behind tinges the grass with that 57 deep colour. M It is interesting to note that In 1675 Mr.
Jessop had described for the Royal Society two different types of these Mfairy-circles” which he had observed personally. One was bare, seven or eight yards in diameter, making a round patch somewhat more than a foot wide, with green grass in the middle. The others were similar, but of several sizes, and were encompassed by a circumference of grass, about the same breadth, much fresher and greener than that in the middle.
Another scientifically minded layman had observed at close quarters such a phenomenon after a great storm of thunder and lightning. This circle was four or five yards in diameter, and had not been there before the storm. After the remaining grass was mowed, it came up more fresh and green in the place burnt
55 II, 353. See Phil. Trans.. vol. XXVII, no. 331, p. 322.
56 II, 489 57 I, 198 ' .'&fl
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than In the middle, and at the next mowing time was much taller
and ranker. These gentlemen, as well as other observers, seem
to have been unanimous in ascribing these fairy-rings to light- . 58 nlng.
Thus we find Apollo readers as much interested in the in¬ visible, less tangible forces of the atmosphere as in the con¬
crete, more definite things of earth. There remain to be considered only the objects and forces pertaining to the unseen realm underground.
The term "mineralogy" is misleading unless it is made clear that the science Includes not only a treatment of min¬ erals as such, arranged into genera and species, but a con¬ sideration of the way they are deposited in the earth, the order in which they lie, and their connection with each other, as well as the extracting from the earth of such of them as can be applied to valuable purposes. When it is .noted that readers of The British Apollo appear to have been most in¬ terested in mountains, earthquakes, volcanoes, coal, a few other minerals, and petrifaction, it will be seen that their questions touched on all three of these phases: mineralogy proper, geology to a certain extent, and mining.
In replying to a reader's question concerning the final cause of mountains, Apollo takes for granted that the querist
58'Phil . Trans.. vol. X, no. 117, p. 391 , . - " .s'r'u
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* * l * c * i i 151 refers to their uses, and consequently mentions the production of springs and rivers, generation of metals and minerals, de¬ fense for the valleys against inclement weather, production of plants, and shelter for animals, concluding with his well-worn exclamation, "As manifold are thy works, 0 Lord, so in wisdom 59 hast thou made them all!M It is very possible that this par¬ ticular reader was seeking information concerning the origin of mountains, various theories regarding which Apollo would have had no difficulty in locating as far back as Agricola, who in the early sixteenth century advanced the opinion that hills and mountains are produced by two forces, the power of water and the strength of wind. Still more recent was Thomas
Burnet's theory,in the late seventeenth century, that the earth resembled a gigantic egg, the shell of which was crushed by the great flood, causing the internal waters to burst out and frag¬ ments of the shell to form the mountains. Apparently the Apollo reader was satisfied with the answer given to his question con¬ cerning the "source of mountains," as no request for further information on that subject appears.
Apollo attributes the cause of earthquakes to winds which have long been imprisoned in the earth, and seek to force their 60 way out. Various other theories were extant at that time: electricity, perhaps a sudden vacuum formed in the atmosphere.
The ideas advanced by Browne in the Pseudodoxla seem to have
59 60 I, 220-221 II, 385. 5 ' ' . "
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fallen out of favor during these early years of the eighteenth
century, but to have been revived over a hundred years after
their incipience. Browne held earthquakes to be caused by
•'sulphureous and nitreous veins being fired, [which] upon rare- 61 faction do force their way through bodies that resist."
Apollo takes the safe path in claiming these earthquakes to be
due to "winds," without saying what forces cause or free the
latter.
The cause of volcanic flame is assigned by Apollo to sul¬ phurous mines within the volcano, whose fiery parts are kindled 62 by constant motion there. Similar theories had been advanced by Agricola, who held volcanoes to be explosions of subterranean
airs, vapors, and exhalations, and by Athanasius Kircher in
1665, who maintained that the earth contained various centers 63 of conflagration which were connected with volcanoes.
Another Apollo reader writes for further information con¬
cerning an island recently sprung up from a subterranean vol¬
cano. The oracle apparently avoids the issue, making no mention of the island referred to, but merely arguing that a 64 volcano could not possibly be completely subterranean. That
such an island really did appear on May 23, 1707, seems indis¬ putable in view of the evidence in the Transactions of the
61 Browne, op. clt.. I, 273.
62I, 116.
o3Wolf, A History of Science. Technology. etc., p. 351.
64I, 293. 1 • .
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Royal Society. This is an account by Monsieur Bourgignon of
a new island which had become visible between the two Burnt
Islands, commonly called Little and Great Cameny. According
to the testimony of various observers, there had been an earth¬ quake in the vicinity two days prior to the appearance of the island, which from the time it first became visible until June thirteenth or fourteenth, had been increasing in extent and apparently moving under foot. Smoke and underground murmurings were reported on July eighteenth, accompanied by flashes of fire. At the time of writing, late in November, the smoke con¬ tinued thicker and more abundant, with an equally noticeable increase in the amount of fire and subterranean noise.
One Apollo reader wishes to know whether coal grows, to which question the oracle replies that neither reason nor ex- 66 perience would indicate that it does. This question reflects the old alchemists' notion that minerals grow, Just as plants and animals do. Another reader mentions the caution necessary to prevent air from entering coal veins, lest it Irritate the remaining coal dust and cause an explosion. Apollo believes that this is not the real reason for air being harmful in coal pits, but that "•tis rather to be feared lest the nitrous par¬ ticles, with which the air abounds, mixing with the loose sul¬ phureous matter of the coal mine, should make a compound not unlike to gunpowder, and apt to be fired accidentally several
65phll. Trans.. vol. XXVI, no. 317, p. 200. 66 III, 935. .■ . ' i.: . ' : . . > V O
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c<3 * < - c • . - So 154 ways, as by lighting a candle, a pipe, or the striking of some flint-stone but not by the air alone.M This matter of the accidental firing of coal mines had been of constant appre¬ hension to the people of those districts. The Transactions are full of references to such calamities, notably the case of a coal mine at Benwell which in 1648 had been kindled by a candle, and according to a later account had been burning for thirty years. Another such fire had been reported in 1675, apparently started by the motion of a sled used to draw the 68 coal, and a third near Newcastle in 1676, obviously the one 69 referred to in the Apollo question.
Miscellaneous questions regarding minerals, submitted by
Apollo readers, are six in number: (1) The difference between salt-peter and peter-salt (MThe salt-peter consists of vola¬ tile parts, and shoots out into long crystals, which are pure nitre: the peter-salt is that which is crystallize last, is flx*d as sea-salt, appears not much unlike it, and very little exceeds lt.M) (2) The source and qualities of borax (Imported from Armenia, Macedonia, and Cyprus; may be either native, as in silver, brass, and copper mines, or factitious, a composition 71 of saline bodies, diuretic and healing.) (3) The composition
67 III, 737.
68Phll. Trans.. vol. X, no. 119, p. 450. 69 Op. clt.. vol. XI, no. 130, p. 762. 70 71 II, 683. 'AIII, 870. . • fi
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, '■ „ 155 of lime (Made of quarry-stones, by violent calcination in a 72 close kiln or furnace for many days.) (4)The growth and de¬ cay of stones,(Apollo explains their formation, but avoids the issue of their decay.) (5) The sweating of marble before rainy weather, (In such weather the air is thicker find cannot penetrate the porous marble until it [the air] rids itself of some of its grosser particles, which it leaves upon the 74 marble.) (6) The paleness of a '"cornelian” under certain conditions (Moist air sullies the stone in the manner of glass that is breathed upon, but the stone soon returns to its 75 natural color.)
The two remaining questions in the section on mineralogy deal with petrifaction. This term is technically applied to the conversion of animal and vegetable substances into stone, but in its more general use includes also the minor alterations in such substances, as well as the mere impressions (fossil imprints) of them.
The two Apollo readers who inquire about petrifaction wish to know:: first, the reason for black oak trees being found underground in Northamptonshire, in a locality where there were no living trees within miles; second, the reason a certain lake in the north of Ireland will petrify a holly stick in a few years, yet have no effect upon any other wood.
72I, 47. 73n 74 III, 906. 75i, • ' ■Tijr-'. K: *d: d"} iG
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Apollo believes that the oak trees mentioned must have been
uprooted by the great flood or by some more recent one, have been carried here and there by the force of the waters, and 76 eventually burled under loose earth or mud. The petrifaction
of the holly Apollo attributes to the '"peculiar configuration
of Its pores, by which It Is more apt to receive the petri¬
fying particles of the water...whereas the same particles only
slide upon other woods, or have a free passage quite through 77 them, and so can cause no alteration." The Transactions of
the Royal Society are full of accounts of the marvelous powers
of petrifaction possessed by this same Irish lake, as well as by certain localities In England. An account by Dr. Plott in
1665 describes a spot in Oxfordshire where wood was turned into
stone apparently without the presence of any water. This sub¬
stance, when scraped, was reported to have a peculiar odor, 78 similar to burnt bone. Another account, this time by Dr.
Richard Richardson, refers to a spot about twelve miles below
York, where in 1697 were observed subterranean trees so black
that, when polished, the wood seemed but little inferior to
ebony. This locality was topographically entirely different
from that described by Dr. Plott, in that the former lay along
76 III, 754. See also Phil. Trans.. vol. I, no. 18, p. 323; and vol. I, no. 19, p. 329.
77II, 640-641. 78 Phil. Trans.. vol. I, no. 6, p. 101. This was un¬ doubtedly Dr. Robert Plot, famous natural scientist and antiquarian. e»a :o:v■;/) — • j •• v'J C 7 v: *3i'i ^ VO j59 Jccl(|y
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the Humber, which had often been known to break its banks and 79 inundate the surrounding country*
It will be noted that comparatively little of the Apollo
readers* Interest in mineralogy has to do with pure geology.
Apparently the early eighteenth-century layman was unaware of
the experiments being carried on in France and England, in
connection with the earth’s strata and their Importance to a knowledge of the physical world. Or perhaps the subject failed to catch the fancy of the average man in the street. At any rate, the desire for information seems to have Included only
the less technical phases of mineralogy.
Such, then, was the interest in natural philosophy shown by readers of The British Apollo. The querists were interested primarily in everything affecting their own lives; secondarily,
in the external appearances of the world about them. New
scientific discoveries were making them question tenets that had for centuries been taken for granted; current events such as a particularly destructive epidemic, the arrival of the
Hungarian twins, or the appearance of a new island were claiming their intelligent consideration and prompting their questions.
Yet to an even greater extent readers of The British Apollo were interested in the trivial, everyday matters of life, as
a cure for the tooth-ache, the name of a certain weed, the
790p. cit., vol. XIX, no. 128, p. 526. - . •'
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souring of milk during a thunderstorm. There Is a decided preponderance of such questions.
In view of the decidedly technical terms used In certain
scientific questions, it seems incredible that the lay mind
could have conceived and submitted some of them. This could, of course, indicate that the same person prepared both ques¬ tion and answer, for the sake of '’padding” the pages of the
Apollo. It would be no great wonder, however, if such scien¬ tific wording proved merely that certain amateur or even pro¬ fessional scientists saw fit to take advantage of such an excellent opportunity for presenting new ideas, clearing away old superstitions, or bringing certain aspects of their changing world to the attention of the public.
For answers to this avalanche of questions, it has been noted that the editors of The British Apollo depended to a
considerable extent upon Sir Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxla
Epldemlca. that they were familiar with the theories advanced earlier by such authorities as Galileo and Vesallus, and that they were in touch, undoubtedly through the Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society, with the scientific ad¬ vances of the day. What closer touch the Apollo editors had with the Royal Society is chiefly a matter of conjecture, since of the several men possibly connected with The British Apollo, only Dr. John Arbuthnot can be definitely designated as a member of that group of scientists.
It is equally impossible to determine to which of the
Apollo writers should be attributed the answers to certain c~ i b it e-v .C r „-.j ■' ‘
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•; " • . ... 159 questions. It would seem more than likely that Dr. Mauclerc and possibly Dr. Arbuthnot were responsible for much of the medical Information given out, the former by reason of his mem¬ bership In the College of Physicians, the latter by virtue of his own scientific research and his connect Ion with the Royal
Society. Certainly Aaron Hill and John Gay would have been otherwise employed, Marshall Smith was scarcely of a calibre to deal with such technical matters, and William Coward’s theories on the subject of human anatomy and nutrition were among the wildest and least admissible of the period. In fact, it appears extremely doubtful v/hether Dr. Coward did any great amount of work on the Apollo, as he is thought to have been away from London much of the time from 1706 on.
It is not difficult to feel certain from the questions and answers set forth in The Britlsh Apollo that the new scien¬ tific discoveries of the seventeenth century were being assimi¬ lated very slowly in those early years of the eighteenth century.
Obviously the scientific revolution represented by Newton,
Leuwenhoek, and their associates by no means effected a com¬ plete overthrow of the p6eudo-science and superstition of earlier centuries. Many misconceptions and echoes of medieval scientific lore are apparent in the pages of the Apollo, par¬ ticularly in the realm of human anatomy and physiology. On the whole, however, The British Apollo played a decidedly valuable part in the dissemination of sound scientific knowledge.
Occasionally the old, outmoded theories are combined with glimpses of scientific truth in a really ludicrous manner. ,8J!
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More rarely, there Is a flash of inspired light that makes one wonder how, with such a lead, the world was forced to wait until the nineteenth or even the twentieth century for a so¬ lution so obviously presaged in the pages of The British
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_ _ i ' BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CITED
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