[110] "Salmonia, or Days of Fly-fishing; in a series of Conversations; with some account of the habits of Fishes belonging to the genus Salmo. By an Angler. Second edition.—London, John Murray, 1829."
[111] Vol. i. page 40.
[112] Davy might also have adduced an equally striking superstition, in illustration of his subject, from the Cornish mines. The miners not unfrequently hear the echo of their own pickaxes, which they attribute to little fairies at work, and consider it as a happy omen. They say upon such occasions, that there will be good luck, as the Piskeys are at work. It is well known that the echo depends upon some cavity in the vicinity of the workmen,—and a cavity, or vogue, is always an indication of subterranean wealth.
[113] A pretended Mermaid was exhibited some time since in London, said to have been caught in the Chinese seas. It was soon discovered to have been manufactured by joining together the head and bust of two different apes to the lower part of a kipper salmon, which had the fleshy fin, and all the distinct characters of the Salmo Salar.
[114] See a Report of the President's speech, at the sixth anniversary of the Mechanics' Institute, as reported in all the journals of the day, December 5, 1829.
[115] "Vesuvius is a mountain admirably fitted, from its form and situation, for experiments on the effect of its attraction on the pendulum: and it would be easy in this way to determine the problem of its cavities. On Etna the problem might be solved on a larger scale."
[116] This is a question which Gibbon has very eloquently discussed ("General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West," vol. vi.) "Cannon and fortifications now form an impregnable barrier against the Tartar horse; and Europe is secure from any future irruption of barbarians; since, before they can conquer, they must cease to be barbarous." What an extraordinary illustration does this principle find in the history of our possessions in India, where, to speak in round numbers, thirty thousand Europeans keep no less than one hundred million of natives in subjection!
[117] Under the article 'Sensation,' in the Philosophical Dictionary, we find Voltaire indulging in a similar speculation. "It may be, that in other globes the inhabitants possess sensations of which we can form no idea. It is possible that the number of our senses augments from globe to globe, and that an existence with innumerable and perfect senses will be the final attainment of all being."
[118] See page 287, vol. i. for an account of this event.
[119] See vol. i. page 70.