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Leader (1850-1860), 24th September 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1086, Untitled Article

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      1086 THE LEADER . [ No . 496 , Sept . 24 , I 850

      Untitled Article

      has- been so long deact—might now ; be buried also *; and the mental health of our modern youth ¦ would be much benefited by such disposal of the carcass . The faet that a language , spread by conquest to such an unprecedented extent , should so' soon have died , and died so hopelessly , in spite of popes , and priests , and pedants , is a proof of its inherent unfitness for human speech- The sweet and vigorous Italian , and the gorgeous Spanish , which have risen from its ashes , are as much superior to the dead parent as modern social institutions are to those of ancient Rome . " * Mark , too-, how our traveller expla i ns the mystery of the great sea serpent .

      " At about eight in the evening , as we approached the Satten fiord , lat . 67 , I observed a curiouslyshaped ship , and tried to define it with the telescope . Presently it diminished to half its former size , then rose again , hut was then seemingly undermined by a sort of notch , or open angle , formed by one portion of it with the surface of the horizon . Further examination showed that it could not be aship , and many opinions were expressed concerning it ; but at last I discovered its real nature . It was the head of the veritable " Kraken , " the great Scandinavian sea-serpent : the angle being the monster ' s mouth his upper jaw only heing above water . The folds of his enormously long body were seen stretching along the horizon now rising , now sinking , all in continuous motion . At the most moderate , calculation / its length must have been three , or fourmiles , from the

      uplifted head to the last visible folds ; and how far the point of its tail might be from that I will venture to conjecture . It continued moving , and sometimes the greater part of it disappeared all at once : at one moment the head disappeared almost entirely , at another time only the head and the extreme folds were visible , then more than half of the tail end had gone . Why , then , have neither geologists nor fishermen found any fossil or recent remains of this creature ?• ¦ ,.. Simply because th 6 y have not properly sought for them : the petrifactions exist abundantly . They may be- found hereabouts—in the form of low rocky ridges , stretching in long lines with spaces , of sea between them , like the Hestmann ' s . messengers Some start abruptly out of the water , and rise to fifty , a hundred , or more feet in height ; these are the heads , the low ridges are the coils of the body , of the Kraken .

      " Towards the end of a long , clear , glaring summer ' s day , af ter the sun ' s rays ( which here are powerful to a degree incredible to those who have not felt them ) have been for eighteen or twenty hours continually pouring upon these rocks , which from the nature of their surface are excellent absorbers of heat , they become considerably hotter than the surrounding sea , and are covered with a layer of rarefied air , continually ascending and waving about , and refracting the light very differently from the denser air over the intermediate sea . ZTotv let us suppose a line of these low rocks just visible above the horizon , and between them and the spectator ' s eye a number of other low rocks , which

      he , raised on a ship ' s deck , looks over . It is evident that as he moves along he will see a particular point on the horizon sometimes over an unbroken line of sea , or sometimes over one or more of these low , warm rocks , with a rarefied atmosphere above them , Any one who is acquainted with the rudimentary principles of optics will perceive that , under these circumstances , ah apparent undulating motion would be given to objects on the horizon ; they would appear to rise or fall , according as he viewed them through a denser or a rarer atmosphere ; and thus the waving of the coils of the serpent's body is accounted for . This may be illustrated by holding a hot poker between the eye and a distant object 1

      which is seen just over the poker . " But how about the undermining of the head-rock forming the serpent's uplifted jaws ? This is as easily accounted for , though the principles upon which it depends are not so popularly understood . One of the most beautiful illustrations of the mathematical consistency—so to speak—of nature ' s laws is a curious consequence of the law , that in a given body the sine of the angle of ordinary refraction bears a fixed ratio to that of the angle of incidence . I will not enter into the mathematics of this , but merely state the fact ; which is , that light cannot pass at all from a dense into a rare medium at angles

      exceeding a certain degree of obliquity , as the law of refraction could not , under such circumstances , be fulfilled ; thus all the light is turned back , for if it cannot go through in its own way it won't go through at all . Hence under circumstances the thinnest film of air is absolutely opaque : more opaque than a dense metal , for gold leaf allows some light to pass through it . Snoh a film of air admitting the passage of no light whatever , but reflecting all that falls upon it , Bhinea like the brightest polished silver . "By taking advantage of the remarkable power which cwbonoba some of its forma possesses , of clinging tenaciously to a film of air , t have dovised a

      simple experiment which illustrates-this in a striking manner . Take a piece of sheet metal , as copper , brass , iron , or any other , and hold it ovfer the flame of a candle or lamp until its surface is uniformly blackened ; : then let it cool , taking care not to touch the blackened surface with / the fingers . Now plunge this in a tumbler , or other convenient vessel of water , and look at it obliquely through the water : the dull black carbon surface disappears , and a bright , glistening , silvery mirror takes its place . Then take the plate out of the water , and ( if the experiment has been carefully conducted ) the blackened surface will be quite dry : the- water has riot touched the carbon , for it carried down a thin adhering film of

      air ; and it was that which shone like silver , and by its opacity concealed so completely the black surface beneath . It is because you looked through a dense medium , the water , very obliquely nport the surface of a rare one , the film of air , that this effect was produced . If you take-a tumbler of water , and look up obliquely through the water to its surface , the surface appears mirror-like , and reflects objects that are in the water ; but your finger , held just above the surface of the water , is invisible , on account of the perfect opacity of the air under these conditions . Many water-beetles and water-spiders have the power of carrying under water a film of air adhering to their bodies , which appears like a

      coat of polished mail . If the blackened plate be laid horizontally at the bottom of a glass vessel—such as an aquarium tank—and viewed through the sides , an explanation of the mirage of the desert is at once exhibited : the black surface disappears , and a mirror takes its place ; such a mirror as the thirsty traveller sees upon the distant sands , and mistakes for a sheet of water . The hot sand rarefies the film of air in contact with it ; the spectator ' s head is immersed in a denser stratum of air , and looking from that , very obliquely to the rarer film upon the sand ,

      he sees the mirror just as you may see it on the airfilm of the blackened plate ; but he sees it only afar off ) near the horizon , and not at his feet : and as he advances , the bright illusion advances also ; the reason of this being , that the difference is so small between the density of the film upon the sands arid the stratum enveloping his head , that a very great obliquity is necessary for this total reflection to take place . Many other explanations of the mirage have been given , but this T believe to be the true one , The common explanation that it is reflection from vapour will not bear examination . .

      ( e The reader , however , may still be at a loss to see how this bears upon our sea-serpent and his uplifted jaw . It is thus : let us suppose one of these island rocks to have a sloping shore , or that there is a reef of low rocks close to it ; these , being heated , will be covered with a film of rarefied air clinging to them for a while before ascending . Such rocks , or sloping coast , when near the horizon , will be seen at an obliquity sufficient to produce a mirage ; this , the necessary obliquity , will be maintained up to a certain height of the slope , and , so far , the dark rock will be invisible , and its place occupied by a bright reflecting surface . The light , thus reflected , will be scarcely distinguishable from the transmitted light of the horizon , and hence it appears ( unless carefully observed ) that the bright part of the rock or shore is transparent , or that the rock is cut off from below : hence the gaping jaw . "

      Full of incident , interest and character is this same book of travels in Norway ; minute and precise as might be expected from a pedestrian traveller , and demonstrating the advantages of such a mode of travel . Grand arid desolate scenery is described with an artist ' s feeling ; and well presented also in coloured engravings , with which the book is handsomely illustrated ,

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      A GALLOP TO THE ANTIPODES , returning Overland through ; iudia . By . Dr . John Sluiw . —J . IP . Hope . The author , having made more than one visit to Australia , speaks with more of authority than if his book had been merely the result of hasty impressions . His visit was made in 1857 , as a passenger in a ship for female emigrants , His experiences abroad were ^ somewhat curious . On arriving at Melbourne , wo are taught to regard it as " the wonder of the modern world ; " but we find afterwards but it ranks as the " second wonder j"Victoria with her capital being justly to be considered the first . There arc men both in Victoria nnd

      JNew South wales worth their £ 50 , 000 a yoai \ whoso manners , education , and parentage are of the lowest . Buildings that wore of wood at the diggings in 1851 were in 1857 converted into absolute towns , with their publio buildings , and many of the conveniences of civilised lite ; and soon ilhey would be amply provided with a complete network of railroad . We are told there ave

      40 , 000 Chinese in Australia ; their presence srives rise to much controversy : — " The real fact of the matter is , " says Dr Shaw " that the European miner begrudges even his leav ' ings to a Chinaman . He would rather the gold should remain among the dirt than be raised by a CelestiaL He is put to shame by the steady plodding industry that extracts a competency from the old pillars of ground which he declares he left be * cause it would not even grub him . He hates to have a practical lesson in perseverance , economy and sobriety , constantly taught him by ' a yellow-skin His ol his

      envy competitors soon begets hatred . which is speedily conjoined with malice . He is ready to believe and circulate anything to their disadvantage , no matter how calumnious : and if he does not himself commit overt acts of violence he gives his moral support to any movement for their detriment , applauding its execution by others the more highly , according as lie may dread the personal consequences of a similar deed . That which , when practised wholesale by a European , is looked upon as merely an every-day occurrence , when perpetrated by a Chinaman becomes a serious crime , arid calls for direct retribution . "

      It will be impossible to follow our author from Melbourne to New Zealand , Queen Charlotte ' s Sound , to Cloudy Bay and tort Underwood , or to the Nelson diggings . The latter half of his book shows him wandering from Wellington to Sydney , from Sydney to Calcutta , and presents us with remarks on India , and journeyings in the Orient , Spain , and Portugal . In these , however , there is not sufficient originality to authorise comment . But the book , on the whole , contains much information .

      Untitled Article

      LETTERS FROM ALABAMA ( U . S . ) , CHIEFLY KELAT 1 NG TO NATURAL .-HISTORY . By Philip Henry Gosse , F . R . S . —Morgan and Chase . The author is an American entomologist , and , particularly as regards insects , has much information to bestow on Tils readers . This he gives in an epistolary shape , which has many advantages , and enables the writer to treat his subject in an agreeable manner . One anecdote is told at the beginning of this : book which amply illustrates the difference between the Scientific and

      unfurnished mind . At Philadelphia the author met with an old man who knew Wilson , the ornithologist , who nevertheless had not many personal anecdotes to tell of his friend ; but ,. said he , " Wilson and I were always disputing about the sparrows ; he would have it that the sparrows here were different from those Of the old country ; I knew well enough they were just the same , but I could not persuade Mm of it . " "It is scarcely necessary to say , ' adds Mr . ( 3-osse , " that the American sparrows ore quite distinct from the European species . " Yet the old man in question , confident in his own blindness , could not see the difference , and would not allow it to Wilson ' s experience .

      It requires scientific insight to make the most ordinary distinctions 5 and" to those who have it not , the latter appears very absurd . The old man evidently triumphed , in his supposed superiority , over the ornithologist , nnd pitied the weakness , that could 90 delude itself in seeing what to him had ho existence . Wilson had a sense more than the old man , and thus to him was but as a ghost seer , whom he might reasonably reckon mad for having a speoial vision denied to men in general . Here is , in fact , tho stumbling-block which makes the world so difficult to the savan and the sage . They who have not " tho open vision" must confide in those who have , or pensu

      in their ignorance . . . . . Our author ' s scientific sight was vital ftnd vigilant . To him land and ocean aro alike prolific w tho manifestations of life . On tho latter , as wo find him , in his introductory letter , ho . contemplates the great variety of brilliant forms 'jnu animal existences with astonishment , as ho iooks over the vessel ' s side into the waters : — " That splendid creature , tho cory phono , or dolphin of mariners , was a froauont visitant to our mw craftj tho spotted rudder-fish , ant tho purpj b V > nr » rWl r » 51 n * . woro oftGil SGG 11 boueatll t » 0 »•**}! .

      that strange flffi , tho remoru would ocojrtgjjg fasten Itself by the curious mechanism of » B A ° P ^ m e shield to the vessel ' s quarter , or to th ?/ ° ° * 3 X lurking shark , thus taking a rido , Uko those «» honest boys who jump up behind a "owing coftog Without expense . Bhoals of play ful porpoises woujo gambol round us , and presently troop on" In nwjj as suddenly as they came , and tho dlroiui aiw »

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 24, 1859, page 1086, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2313/page/18/