It is also interesting to note the long articles of geological description and others giving lists of mineral or botanical localities. Noteworthy, too, is the attempt to keep abreast of occurring phenomena as in the many notes on tornadoes and storms by Redfield, Loomis, etc.; on auroras at different localities; on shooting stars by Herrick, Olmstead and others.
The wide range of topics treated of is quite in accordance with the plan of the editor as given on an earlier page. Some notes, taken more or less at random, may serve to illustrate this point. An extended and quite technical discussion of “Musical Temperament” opens the first number (1, pp. 9–35) and is concluded in the same volume (pp. 176–199). An article on “Mystery” is given by Mark Hopkins, A.M., “late a tutor of Williams College” (13, 217, 1828). There is an essay on “Gypsies” by J. Griscom (from the Revue Encyclopédique) in volume 24 (pp. 342–345, 1833), while some notes on American gypsies are added in vol. 26 (p. 189, 1834). The “divining rod” is described at length in vol. 11 (pp. 201–212, 1826), but without giving any comfort to the credulous; on the contrary the last paragraph states that “the pretensions of diviners are worthless, etc.” A long article by J. Finch on the forts of Boston harbour appeared in 1824 (8, 338–348); the concluding paragraph seems worthy of quotation:
“Many centuries hence, if despotism without, or anarchy within, should cause the republican institutions of America to fade, then these fortresses ought to be destroyed, because they would be a constant reproach to the people; but until that period, they should be preserved as the noblest monuments of liberty.”
The promise to include the fine arts is kept by the publication of various papers, as of the Trumbull paintings (16, 163, 1829); also by a series of articles on “architecture in the United States” (17, 99, 1830; 18, 218, 220, 1830) and others. Quite in another line is the paper by J. W. Gibbs (33, 324, 1838) on “Arabic words in English.” A number of related linguistic papers by the same author are to be found in other volumes. Papers in pure mathematics are also not infrequent, though now not considered as falling within the field of the Journal.
Applied science takes a prominent place through all the volume of the First Series. An interesting paper is that on Eli Whitney, containing an account of the cotton gin; this is accompanied by an excellent portrait (21, 201–264, 1832). The steam engine and its application are repeatedly discussed and in the early volumes brief accounts are given of the early steamboats in use; for example, between Stockholm and St. Petersburg (2, 347, 1820); Trieste and Venice (4, 377, 1822); on the Swiss Lakes (6, 385, 1823). The voyage of the first Atlantic steamboat, the “Savannah,” which crossed from Savannah to Liverpool in 1819, is described (38, 155, 1840); mention is also made of the “first iron boat” (3, 371, 1821; 5, 396, 1822). A number of interesting letters on “Steam Navigation” are given in vol. 35, 160, 162, 332, 333, 336; some of the suggestions seem very quaint, viewed in the light of the experience of to-day.
A very early form of explosive engine is described at length by Samuel Morey (11, 104, 1826); this is an article that deserves mention in these days of gasolene motors. Even more interesting is the description by Charles Griswold (2, 94, 1820) of the first submarine invented by David Bushnell and used in the Revolutionary War in August, 1776. An account is also given of a dirigible balloon that may be fairly regarded as the original ancestor of the Zeppelin (see 11, 346, 1826). The whole subject of aërial navigation is treated at length by H. Strait (25, pp. 25, 26, 1834) and the expression of his hopes for the future deserve quotation:
“Conveyance by air can be easily rendered as safe as by water or land, and more cheap and speedy, while the universal and uniform diffusion of the air over every portion of the earth, will render aërial navigation preferable to any other. To carry it into effect, there needs only an immediate appeal on a sufficiently large scale, to experiment; reason has done her part, when experiment does hers, nature will not refuse to sanction the whole. Aërial navigation will present the works of nature in all their charms; to commerce and the diffusion of knowledge, it will bring the most efficient aid, and it can thus be rendered serviceable to the whole human family.”
A subject of quite another character is the first discussion of the properties of chloroform (chloric ether) and its use as an anæsthetic (Guthrie, 21, 64, 405, 1832; 22, 105, 1832; Levi Ives, 21, 406). Further interesting communications are given of the first analyses of the gastric juice and the part played by it in the process of digestion. Dr. William Beaumont of St. Louis took advantage of a patient who through a gun-shot wound was left with a permanent opening into his stomach through which the gastric juice could be drawn off. The results of Dr. Beaumont and of Professor Robley Dunglison, to whom samples were submitted, are given in full in the life of Beaumont by Jesse S. Myer (St. Louis, 1912). The interest of the matter, so far as the Journal is concerned, is chiefly because Dr. Beaumont selected Professor Silliman as a chemist to whom samples for examination were also submitted. An account of Silliman’s results is given in the Beaumont volume referred to (see also 26, 193, 1834). Desiring the support of a chemist of wider experience in organic analysis, he also sent a sample through the Swedish consul to Berzelius in Stockholm. After some months the sample was received and it is interesting to note in a perfectly fresh condition; it is to be regretted, however, that the Swedish chemist failed to add anything to the results already obtained in this country (27, 40b, 1835).
The above list, which might be greatly extended, seems to leave little ground for the implied criticism replied to by Silliman as follows (16, p. v, 1829):
A celebrated scholar, while himself an editor, advised me, in a letter, to introduce into this Journal as much “readable” matter as possible: and there was, pretty early, an earnest but respectful recommendation in a Philadelphia paper, that Literature, in imitation of the London Quarterly Journal of Science, &c. should be in form, inscribed among the titles of the work.