The Edinburgh Journal of Science, Volume 9Thomas Clark, 1828 - Science Contains analysis of scientific books and memoirs, proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, etc. |
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Page 316 - ... by the side of the fall. Thousands died, but their bodies remaining moist, served as the ladder for others to make their way ; and I saw some ascending even perpendicular stones, making their road through wet moss, or adhering to some eels that had died in the attempt. Such is the energy of these little animals, that they continue to find their way, in immense numbers, to Loch Erne. The same thing...
Page 317 - Trans, tit. xiv. p. 70) says the little eels, according to his observation, are produced within reach of the tide, and climb round falls to reach fresh water from the sea. I have sometimes seen them, in spring, swimming in immense shoals in the Atlantic, in Mount Bay, making their way to the mouths of small brooks and rivers. When the cold water from the autumnal...
Page 318 - If viviparous, and the fringes contain the ova, one mother must produce tens of thousands, the ova being remarkably small; but it appears more probable, that they are oviparous,* and that they deposit their ova in parts of the sea near deep basins, which remain warm in winter. This might be ascertained by experiment, particularly on the coasts of the Mediterranean. I cannot find, that they haunt the Arctic ocean, which is probably of too low a temperature to suit their feelings or habits ; and the...
Page 317 - ... become as thick as a man's arm, or even leg; and all those of a considerable size attempt to return to the sea in October or November, probably when they experience the cold of the first autumnal rains. Those that are not of the largest size, as I said before, pass the winter in the deepest parts of the mud of rivers and lakes, and do not seem to eat much, and remain, I believe, almost torpid.
Page 315 - I think probably on vegetable matter, and perhaps, partially, on two elementary principles, iodine and brome, which it certainly contains, though these are possibly the results of decayed marine vegetables. These give a yellow tint when dissolved in minute portions in water, and this mixed with the blue of pure water would occasion sea green.
Page 236 - A man that hath practised to speak by drawing in of his breath (which kind of men in ancient time were called ventriloqui) and so make the weakness of his voice seem to proceed, not from the weak impulsion of the organs of speech, but from distance of place, is able to make very many men believe it is a voice from Heaven, whatsoever he please to tell them.
Page 329 - ... and igneous origin, as travertine, stalactites, lava, obsidian, pumice, volcanic ashes, and meteorites from various localities. Of metals I may mention manganese, nickel, plumbago, bismuth, antimony, and arsenic. In a word, in every mineral which I could reduce to a powder, sufficiently fine to be temporarily suspended in water, I found these molecules more or less copiously...
Page 317 - Lewenhoeck. — (Phil. Trans, vol. iv.) Eels migrate from the salt water of different sizes, but I believe never when they are above a foot long — and the great mass of them are only from two and a half to four inches. They feed, grow, and fatten in fresh water. In small rivers they...
Page 323 - ... that this effect was independent of the conducting power of the rod, whether good or bad. The amount of inflection or repulsion was directly as the mass, and inversely as the distance from the flame. It was not diminished by increasing the temperature of the rod, even to such a degree as to render it scarcely possible for it to abstract any of the caloric. In fact, when two flames are made to approach each other, there is a mutual repulsion, although their proximity increases the temperature...
Page 317 - Soc.) gives a distinct account of small eels rising up the floodgates and posts of the waterworks of the city of Norwich ; and they made their way to the water above, though the boards were smooth planed, and five or six feet perpendicular. He says, when they first rose out of the water, upon the dry board', they rested a little, which seemed to be till their slime was thrown out, and sufficiently glutinous, and then they rose up the perpendicular ascent as if they had been moving on a plain surface.