Topped. A Part Of This Powder Is To Be Exposed For A Minute Or Two To The Sunbeams, And Then Brought Into A Dark Room. The Calcined Bolognian Stone Becomes A Calcareous Hepar Of Sulphur; But The Calcined Shells, As They Contain The Animal Acid, May Also Contain Some Of The Phosphorus Of Kunkel.] [In Memnon'S Fane. L. 183. See Additional Notes. No. Viii.] "You With Light Gas The Lamps Nocturnal Feed, 190 Which Dance And Glimmer O'Er The Marshy Mead; Shine Round Calendula At Twilight Hours, And Tip With Silver All Her Saffron Flowers; Warm On Her Mossy Couch The Radiant Worm, Guard From Cold Dews Her Love-Illumin'D Form, 195 From Leaf To Leaf Conduct The Virgin Light, Star Of The Earth, And Diamond Of The Night. You Bid In Air The Tropic Beetle Burn, And Fill With Golden Flame His Winged Urn; Or Gild The Surge With Insect-Sparks, That Swarm 200 Round The Bright Oar, The Kindling Prow Alarm; Or Arm In Waves, Electric In His Ire, The Dread Gymnotus With Ethereal Fire.-- Onward His Course With Waving Tail He Helms, And Mimic Lightenings Scare The Watery Realms, 205 So, When With Bristling Plumes The Bird Of Jove Vindictive Leaves The Argent Fields Above, Borne On Broad Wings The Guilty World He Awes, And Grasps The Lightening In His Shining Claws. [The Lamps Nocturnal. L. 189. The Ignis Fatuus Or Jack A Lantern, Frequently Alluded To By Poets, Is Supposed To Originate From The Inflammable Air, Or Hydrogene, Given Up From Morasses; Which Being Of A Heavier Kind From Its Impurity Than That Obtained From Iron And Water, Hovers Near The Surface Of The Earth, And Uniting With Common Air Gives Out Light By Its Slow Ignition. Perhaps Such Lights Have No Existence, And The Reflection Of A Star On Watery Ground May Have Deceived The Travellers, Who Have Been Said To Be Bewildered By Them? If The Fact Was Established It Would Much Contribute To Explain The Phenomena Of Northern Lights. I Have Travelled Much In The Night, In All Seasons Of The Year, And Over All Kinds Of Soil, But Never Saw One Of These Will O'Wisps.] [Shine Round Calendula. L. 191. See Note On Tropaeolum In Vol. Ii.] [The Radiant Worm. L. 193. See Additional Notes, No. Ix.] [The Dread Gymnotus. L. 202. The Gymnotus Electricus Is A Native Of The River Of Surinam In South America; Those Which Were Brought Over To England About Eight Years Ago Were About Three Or Four Feet Long, And Gave An Electric Shock (As I Experienced) By Putting One Finger On The Back Near Its Head, And Another Of The Opposite Hand Into The Water Near Its Tail. In Their Native Country They Are Said To Exceed Twenty Feet In Length, And Kill Any Man Who Approaches Them In An Hostile Manner. It Is Not Only To Escape Its Enemies That This Surprizing Power Of The Fish Is Used, But Also To Take Its Prey; Which It Does By Benumbing Them And Then Devouring Them Before They Have Time To Recover, Or By Perfectly Killing Them; For The Quantity Of The Power Seemed To Be Determined By The Will Or Anger Of The Animal; As It Sometimes Struck A Fish Twice Before It Was Sufficiently Benumbed To Be Easily Swallowed. The Organs Productive Of This Wonderful Accumulation Of Electric Matter Have Been Accurately Dissected And Described By Mr. J. Hunter. Philos. Trans. Vol. Lxv. And Are So Divided By Membranes As To Compose A Very Extensive Surface, And Are Supplied With Many Pairs Of Nerves Larger Than Any Other Nerves Of The Body; But How So Large A Quantity Is So Quickly Accumulated As To Produce Such Amazing Effects In A Fluid Ill Adapted For The Purpose Is Not Yet Satisfactorily Explained. The Torpedo Possesses A Similar Power In A Less Degree, As Was Shewn By Mr. Walch, And Another Fish Lately Described By Mr. Paterson. Philo. Trans. Vol. Lxxvi. In The Construction Of The Leyden-Phial, (As It Is Called) Which Is Coated On Both Sides, It Is Known, That Above One Hundred Times The Quantity Of Positive Electricity Can Be Condensed On Every Square Inch Of The Coating On One Side, Than Could Have Been Accumulated On The Same Surface If There Had Been No Opposite Coating Communicating With The Earth; Because The Negative Electricity, Or That Part Of It Which Caused Its Expansion, Is Now Drawn Off Through The Glass. It Is Also Well Known, That The Thinner The Glass Is (Which Is Thus Coated On Both Sides So As To Make A Leyden-Phial, Or Plate) The More Electricity Can Be Condensed On One Of Its Surfaces, Till It Becomes So Thin As To Break, And Thence Discharge Itself. Now It Is Possible, That The Quantity Of Electricity Condensible On One Side Of A Coated Phial May Increase In Some High Ratio In Respect To The Thinness Of The Glass, Since The Power Of Attraction Is Known To Decrease As The Squares Of The Distances, To Which This Circumstance Of Electricity Seems To Bear Some Analogy. Hence If An Animal Membrane, As Thin As The Silk-Worm Spins Its Silk, Could Be So Situated As To Be Charged Like The Leyden Bottle, Without Bursting, (As Such Thin Glass Would Be Liable To Do,) It Would Be Difficult To Calculate The Immense Quantity Of Electric Fluid, Which Might Be Accumulated On Its Surface. No Land Animals Are Yet Discovered Which Possess This Power, Though The Air Would Have Been A Much Better Medium For Producing Its Effects; Perhaps The Size Of The Necessary Apparatus Would Have Been Inconvenient To Land Animals.] [In His Shining Claws. L. 208. Alluding To An Antique Gem In The Collection Of The Grand Duke Of Florence. Spence.] V. 1. "Nymphs! Your Soft Smiles Uncultur'D Man Subdued, 210 And Charm'D The Savage From His Native Wood; You, While Amazed His Hurrying Hords Retire From The Fell Havoc Of Devouring Fire, Taught, The First Art! With Piny Rods To Raise By Quick Attrition The Domestic Blaze, 215 Fan With Soft Breath, With Kindling Leaves Provide, And Lift The Dread Destroyer On His Side. So, With Bright Wreath Of Serpent-Tresses Crown'D, Severe In Beauty, Young Medusa Frown'D; Erewhile Subdued, Round Wisdom'S Aegis Roll'D 220 Hiss'D The Dread Snakes, And Flam'D In Burnish'D Gold; Flash'D On Her Brandish'D Arm The Immortal Shield, And Terror Lighten'D O'Er The Dazzled Field. [Of Devouring Fire. L. 212. The First And Most Important Discovery Of Mankind Seems To Have Been That Of Fire. For Many Ages It Is Probable Fire Was Esteemed A Dangerous Enemy, Known Only By Its Dreadful Devastations; And That Many Lives Must Have Been Lost, And Many Dangerous Burns And Wounds Must Have Afflicted Those Who First Dared To Subject It To The Uses Of Life. It Is Said That The Tall Monkies Of Borneo And Sumatra Lie Down With Pleasure Round Any Accidental Fire In Their Woods; And Are Arrived To That Degree Of Reason, That Knowledge Of Causation, That They Thrust Into The Remaining Fire The Half-Burnt Ends Of The Branches To Prevent Its Going Out. One Of The Nobles Of The Cultivated People Of Otaheita, When Captain Cook Treated Them With Tea, Catched The Boiling Water In His Hand From The Cock Of The Tea-Urn, And Bellowed With Pain, Not Conceiving That Water Could Become Hot, Like Red Fire. Tools Of Steel Constitute Another Important Discovery In Consequence Of Fire; And Contributed Perhaps Principally To Give The European Nations So Great Superiority Over The American World. By These Two Agents, Fire And Tools Of Steel, Mankind Became Able To Cope With The Vegetable Kingdom, And Conquer Provinces Of Forests, Which In Uncultivated Countries Almost Exclude The Growth Of Other Vegetables, And Of Those Animals Which Are Necessary To Our Existence. Add To This, That The Quantity Of Our Food Is Also Increased By The Use Of Fire, For Some Vegetables Become Salutary Food By Means Of The Heat Used In Cookery, Which Are Naturally Either Noxious Or Difficult Of Digestion; As Potatoes, Kidney-Beans, Onions, Cabbages. The Cassava When Made Into Bread, Is Perhaps Rendered Mild By The Heat It Undergoes, More Than By Expressing Its Superfluous Juice. The Roots Of White Bryony And Of Arum, I Am Informed Lose Much Of Their Acrimony By Boiling.] [Young Medusa Frowned. L. 218. The Egyptian Medusa Is Represented On Antient Gems With Wings On Her Head, Snaky Hair, And A Beautiful Countenance, Which Appears Intensely Thinking; And Was Supposed To Represent Divine Wisdom. The Grecian Medusa, On Minerva'S Shield, As Appears On Other Gems, Has A Countenance Distorted With Rage Or Pain, And Is Supposed To Represent Divine Vengeance. This Medusa Was One Of The Gorgons, At First Very Beautiful And Terrible To Her Enemies; Minerva Turned Her Hair Into Snakes, And Perseus Having Cut Off Her Head Fixed It On The Shield Of That Goddess; The Sight Of Which Then Petrified The Beholders. Dannet Dict.] 2. Nymphs! You Disjoin, Unite, Condense, Expand, And Give New Wonders To The Chemist'S Hand; 225 On Tepid Clouds Of Rising Steam Aspire, Or Fix In Sulphur All It'S Solid Fire; With Boundless Spring Elastic Airs Unfold, Or Fill The Fine Vacuities Of Gold; With Sudden Flash Vitrescent Sparks Reveal, 230 By Fierce Collision From The Flint And Steel; Or Mark With Shining Letter Kunkel'S Name In The Pale Phosphor'S Self-Consuming Flame. So The Chaste Heart Of Some Enchanted Maid Shines With Insidious Light, By Love Betray'D; 235 Round Her Pale Bosom Plays The Young Desire, And Slow She Wastes By Self-Consuming Fire. [Or Fix In Sulphur. L. 226. The Phenomena Of Chemical Explosions Cannot Be Accounted For Without The Supposition, That Some Of The Bodies Employed Contain Concentrated Or Solid Heat Combined With Them, To Which The French Chemists Have Given The Name Of Calorique. When Air Is Expanded In The Air-Pump, Or Water Evaporated Into Steam, They Drink Up Or Absorb A Great Quantity Of Heat; From This Analogy, When Gunpowder Is Exploded It Ought To Absorb Much Heat, That Is, In Popular Language, It Ought To Produce A Great Quantity Of Cold. When Vital Air Is United With Phlogistic Matter In Respiration, Which Seems To Be A Slow Combustion, Its Volume Is Lessened; The Carbonic Acid, And Perhaps Phosphoric Acid Are Produced; And Heat Is Given Out; Which According To The Experiments Of Dr. Crawford Would Seem To Be Deposited From The Vital Air. But As The Vital Air In Nitrous Acid Is Condensed From A Light Elastic Gas To That Of A Heavy Fluid, It Must Possess Less Heat Than Before. And Hence A Great Part Of The Heat, Which Is Given Out In Firing Gunpowder, I Should Suppose, Must Reside In The Sulphur Or Charcoal. Mr. Lavoisier Has Shewn, That Vital Air, Or Oxygene, Looses Less Of Its Heat When It Becomes One Of The Component Parts Of Nitrous Acid, Than In Any Other Of Its Combinations; And Is Hence Capable Of Giving Out A Great Quantity Of Heat In The Explosion Of Gunpowder; But As There Seems To Be Great Analogy Between The Matter Of Heat, Or Calorique, And The Electric Matter; And As The Worst Conductors Of Electricity Are Believed To Contain The Greatest Quantity Of That Fluid; There Is Reason To Suspect That The Worst Conductors Of Heat May Contain The Most Of That Fluid; As Sulphur, Wax, Silk, Air, Glass. See Note On L. 174 Of This Canto.] [Vitrescent Sparks. L. 229. When Flints Are Struck Against Other Flints They Have The Property Of Giving Sparks Of Light; But It Seems To Be An Internal Light, Perhaps Of Electric Origin, Very Different From The Ignited Sparks Which Are Struck From Flint And Steel. The Sparks Produced By The Collision Of Steel With Flint Appear To Be Globular Particles Of Iron, Which Have Been Fused, And Imperfectly Scorified Or Vitrified. They Are Kindled By The Heat Produced By The Collision; But Their Vivid Light, And Their Fusion And Vitrification Are The Effects Of A Combustion Continued In These Particles During Their Passage Through The Air. This Opinion Is Confirmed By An Experiment Of Mr. Hawksbee, Who Found That These Sparks Could Not Be Produced In The Exhausted Receiver. See Keir'S Chemical Dict. Art. Iron, And Art. Earth Vitrifiable.] [The Pale Phosphor. L. 232. See Additionable Notes, No. X.] 3. "You Taught Mysterious Bacon To Explore Metallic Veins, And Part The Dross From Ore; With Sylvan Coal In Whirling Mills Combine 240 The Crystal'D Nitre, And The Sulphurous Mine; Through Wiry Nets The Black Diffusion Strain, And Close An Airy Ocean In A Grain.-- Pent In Dark Chambers Of Cylindric Brass Slumbers In Grim Repose The Sooty Mass; 245 Lit By The Brilliant Spark, From Grain To Grain Runs The Quick Fire Along The Kindling Train; On The Pain'D Ear-Drum Bursts The Sudden Crash, Starts The Red Flame, And Death Pursues The Flash.-- Fear'S Feeble Hand Directs The Fiery Darts, 250 And Strength And Courage Yield To Chemic Arts; Guilt With Pale Brow The Mimic Thunder Owns, And Tyrants Tremble On Their Blood-Stain'D Thrones. [And Close An Airy Ocean. L. 242. Gunpowder Is Plainly Described In The Works Of Roger Bacon Before The Year 1267. He Describes It In A Curious Manner, Mentioning The Sulphur And Nitre, But Conceals The Charcoal In An Anagram. The Words Are, Sed Tamen Salis Petrae Lure Mope Can Ubre, Et Sulphuris; Et Sic Facies Tonitrum, Et Corruscationem, Si Scias, Artificium. The Words Lure Mope Can Ubre Are An Anagram Of Carbonum Pulvere. Biograph. Britan. Vol. I. Bacon De Secretis Operibus, Cap. Xi. He Adds, That He Thinks By An Artifice Of This Kind Gideon Defeated The Midianites With Only Three Hundred Men. Judges, Chap. Vii. Chamb. Dict. Art. Gunpowder. As Bacon Does Not Claim This As His Own Invention, It Is Thought By Many To Have Been Of Much More Antient Discovery. The Permanently Elastic Fluid Generated In The Firing Of Gunpowder Is Calculated By Mr. Robins To Be About 244 If The Bulk Of The Powder Be 1. And That The Heat Generated At The Time Of The Explosion Occasions The Rarefied Air Thus Produced To Occupy About 1000 Times The Space Of The Gunpowder. This Pressure May Therefore Be Called Equal To 1000 Atmospheres Or Six Tons Upon A Square Inch. As The Suddenness Of This Explosion Must Contribute Much To Its Power, It Would Seem That The Chamber Of Powder, To Produce Its Greatest Effect, Should Be Lighted In The Centre Of It; Which I Believe Is Not Attended To In The Manufacture Of Muskets Or Pistols. From The Cheapness With Which A Very Powerful Gunpowder Is Likely Soon To Be Manufactured From Aerated Marine Acid, Or From A New Method Of Forming Nitrous Acid By Means Of Mangonese Or Other Calciform Ores, It May Probably In Time Be Applied To Move Machinery, And Supersede The Use Of Steam. There Is A Bitter Invective In Don Quixot Against The Inventors Of Gun- Powder, As It Levels The Strong With The Weak, The Knight Cased In Steel With The Naked Shepherd, Those Who Have Been Trained To The Sword, With Those Who Are Totally Unskilful In The Use Of It; And Throws Down All The Splendid Distinctions Of Mankind. These Very Reasons Ought To Have Been Urged To Shew That The Discovery Of Gunpowder Has Been Of Public Utility By Weakening The Tyranny Of The Few Over The Many.] Vi. Nymphs! You Erewhile On Simmering Cauldrons Play'D, And Call'D Delighted Savery To Your Aid; 255 Bade Round The Youth Explosive Steam Aspire In Gathering Clouds, And Wing'D The Wave With Fire; Bade With Cold Streams The Quick Expansion Stop, And Sunk The Immense Of Vapour To A Drop.-- Press'D By The Ponderous Air The Piston Falls 260 Resistless, Sliding Through It'S Iron Walls; Quick Moves The Balanced Beam, Of Giant-Birth, Wields His Large Limbs, And Nodding Shakes The Earth. [Delighted Savery. L. 254. The Invention Of The Steam-Engine For Raising Water By The Pressure Of The Air In Consequence Of The Condensation Of Steam, Is Properly Ascribed To Capt. Savery; A Plate And Description Of This Machine Is Given In Harris'S Lexicon Technicum, Art. Engine. Though The Marquis Of Worcester In His Century Of Inventions Printed In The Year 1663 Had Described An Engine For Raising Water By The Explosive Power Of Steam Long Before Savery'S. Mr. Desegulier Affirms, That Savery Bought Up All He Could Procure Of The Books Of The Marquis Of Worcester, And Destroyed Them, Professing Himself Then To Have Discovered The Power Of Steam By Accident, Which Seems To Have Been An Unfounded Slander. Savery Applied It To The Raising Of Water To Supply Houses And Gardens, But Could Not Accomplish The Draining Of Mines By It. Which Was Afterwards Done By Mr. Newcomen And Mr. John Cowley At Dartmouth, In The Year 1712, Who Added The Piston. A Few Years Ago Mr. Watt Of Glasgow Much Improved This Machine, And With Mr. Boulton Of Birmingham Has Applied It To Variety Of Purposes, Such As Raising Water From Mines, Blowing Bellows To Fuse The Ore, Supplying Towns With Water, Grinding Corn And Many Other Purposes. There Is Reason To Believe It May In Time Be Applied To The Rowing Of Barges, And The Moving Of Carriages Along The Road. As The Specific Levity Of Air Is Too Great For The Support Of Great Burthens By Balloons, There Seems No Probable Method Of Flying Conveniently But By The Power Of Steam, Or Some Other Explosive Material; Which Another Half Century May Probable Discover. See Additional Notes, No. Xi.] "The Giant-Power From Earth'S Remotest Caves Lifts With Strong Arm Her Dark Reluctant Waves; 265 Each Cavern'D Rock, And Hidden Den Explores, Drags Her Dark Coals, And Digs Her Shining Ores.-- Next, In Close Cells Of Ribbed Oak Confined, Gale After Gale, He Crowds The Struggling Wind; The Imprison'D Storms Through Brazen Nostrils Roar, 270 Fan The White Flame, And Fuse The Sparkling Ore. Here High In Air The Rising Stream He Pours To Clay-Built Cisterns, Or To Lead-Lined Towers; Fresh Through A Thousand Pipes The Wave Distils, And Thirsty Cities Drink The Exuberant Rills.-- 275 There The Vast Mill-Stone With Inebriate Whirl On Trembling Floors His Forceful Fingers Twirl. Whose Flinty Teeth The Golden Harvests Grind, Feast Without Blood! And Nourish Human-Kind. [Feast Without Blood! L. 278. The Benevolence Of The Great Author Of All Things Is Greatly Manifest In The Sum Of His Works, As Dr. Balguy Has Well Evinced In His Pamphlet On Divine Benevolence Asserted, Printed For Davis, 1781. Yet If We May Compare The Parts Of Nature With Each Other, There Are Some Circumstances Of Her Economy Which Seem To Contribute More To The General Scale Of Happiness Than Others. Thus The Nourishment Of Animal Bodies Is Derived From Three Sources: 1. The Milk Given From The Mother To The Offspring; In This Excellent Contrivance The Mother Has Pleasure In Affording The Sustenance To The Child, And The Child Has Pleasure In Receiving It. 2. Another Source Of The Food Of Animals Includes Seeds Or Eggs; In These The Embryon Is In A Torpid Or Insensible State, And There Is Along With It Laid Up For Its Early Nourishment A Store Of Provision, As The Fruit Belonging To Some Seeds, And The Oil And Starch Belonging To Others; When These Are Consumed By Animals The Unfeeling Seed Or Egg Receives No Pain, But The Animal Receives Pleasure Which Consumes It. Under This Article May Be Included The Bodies Of Animals Which Die Naturally. 3. But The Last Method Of Supporting Animal Bodies By The Destruction Of Other Living Animals, As Lions Preying Upon Lambs, These Upon Living Vegetables, And Mankind Upon Them All, Would Appear To Be A Less Perfect Part Of The Economy Of Nature Than Those Before Mentioned, As Contributing Less To The Sum Of General Happiness.] "Now His Hard Hands On Mona'S Rifted Crest, 280 Bosom'D In Rock, Her Azure Ores Arrest; With Iron Lips His Rapid Rollers Seize The Lengthening Bars, In Thin Expansion Squeeze; Descending Screws With Ponderous Fly-Wheels Wound The Tawny Plates, The New Medallions Round; 285 Hard Dyes Of Steel The Cupreous Circles Cramp, And With Quick Fall His Massy Hammers Stamp. The Harp, The Lily And The Lion Join, And George And Britain Guard The Sterling Coin. [Mona'S Rifted Crest. L. 279. Alluding To The Very Valuable Copper- Mines In The Isle Of Anglesey, The Property Of The Earl Of Uxbridge.] [With Iron-Lips. L. 281. Mr. Boulton Has Lately Constructed At Soho Near Birmingham, A Most Magnificent Apparatus For Coining, Which Has Cost Him Some Thousand Pounds; The Whole Machinery Is Moved By An Improved Steam-Engine, Which Rolls The Copper For Half-Pence Finer Than Copper Has Before Been Rolled For The Purpose Of Making Money; It Works The Coupoirs Or Screw-Presses For Cutting Out The Circular Pieces Of Copper; And Coins Both The Faces And Edges Of The Money At The Same Time, With Such Superior Excellence And Cheapness Of Workmanship, As Well As With Marks Of Such Powerful Machinery As Must Totally Prevent Clandestine Imitation, And In Consequence Save Many Lives From The Hand Of The Executioner; A Circumstance Worthy The Attention Of A Great Minister. If A Civic Crown Was Given In Rome For Preserving The Life Of One Citizen, Mr. Boulton Should Be Covered With Garlands Of Oak! By This Machinery Four Boys Of Ten Or Twelve Years Old Are Capable Of Striking Thirty Thousand Guineas In An Hour, And The Machine Itself Keeps An Unerring Account Of The Pieces Struck.] "Soon Shall Thy Arm, Unconquer'D Steam! Afar 290 Drag The Slow Barge, Or Drive The Rapid Car; Or On Wide-Waving Wings Expanded Bear The Flying-Chariot Through The Fields Of Air. --Fair Crews Triumphant, Leaning From Above, Shall Wave Their Fluttering Kerchiefs As They Move; 295 Or Warrior-Bands Alarm The Gaping Crowd, And Armies Shrink Beneath The Shadowy Cloud. "So Mighty Hercules O'Er Many A Clime Waved His Vast Mace In Virtue'S Cause Sublime, Unmeasured Strength With Early Art Combined, 300 Awed, Served, Protected, And Amazed Mankind.-- First Two Dread Snakes At Juno'S Vengeful Nod Climb'D Round The Cradle Of The Sleeping God; Waked By The Shrilling Hiss, And Rustling Sound, And Shrieks Of Fair Attendants Trembling Round, 305 Their Gasping Throats With Clenching Hands He Holds; And Death Untwists Their Convoluted Folds. Next In Red Torrents From Her Sevenfold Heads Fell Hydra'S Blood On Lerna'S Lake He Sheds; Grasps Achelous With Resistless Force, 310 And Drags The Roaring River To His Course; Binds With Loud Bellowing And With Hideous Yell The Monster Bull, And Threefold Dog Of Hell. [So Mighty Hercules. L. 297. The Story Of Hercules Seems Of Great Antiquity, As Appears From The Simplicity Of His Dress And Armour, A Lion'S Skin And A Club; And From The Nature Of Many Of His Exploits, The Destruction Of Wild Beasts And Robbers. This Part Of The History Of Hercules Seems To Have Related To Times Before The Invention Of The Bow And Arrow, Or Of Spinning Flax. Other Stories Of Hercules Are Perhaps Of Later Date, And Appear To Be Allegorical, As His Conquering The River- God Achilous, And Bringing Cerberus Up To Day Light; The Former Might Refer To His Turning The Course Of A River, And Draining A Morass, And The Latter To His Exposing A Part Of The Superstition Of The Times. The Strangling The Lion And Tearing His Jaws Asunder, Are Described From A Statue In The Museum Florentinum, And From An Antique Gem; And The Grasping Anteus To Death In His Arms As He Lifts Him From The Earth, Is Described From Another Antient Cameo. The Famous Pillars Of Hercules Have Been Variously Explained. Pliny Asserts That The Natives Of Spain And Of Africa Believed That The Mountains Of Abyla And Calp? On Each Side Of The Straits Of Gibraltar Were The Pillars Of Hercules; And That They Were Reared By The Hands Of That God, And The Sea Admitted Between Them. Plin. Hist. Nat. P. 46. Edit. Manut. Venet. 1609. If The Passage Between The Two Continents Was Opened By An Earthquake In Antient Times, As This Allegorical Story Would Seem To Countenance, There Must Have Been An Immense Current Of Water At First Run Into The Mediterranean From The Atlantic; Since There Is At Present A Strong Stream Sets Always From Thence Into The Mediterranean. Whatever May Be The Cause, Which Now Constantly Operates, So As To Make The Surface Of The Mediterranean Lower Than That Of The Atlantic, It Must Have Kept It Very Much Lower Before A Passage For The Water Through The Streights Was Opened. It Is Probable Before Such An Event Took Place, The Coasts And Islands Of The Mediterranean Extended Much Further Into That Sea, And Were Then For A Great Extent Of Country, Destroyed By The Floods Occasioned By The New Rise Of Water, And Have Since Remained Beneath The Sea. Might Not This Give Rise To The Flood Of Deucalion? See Note Cassia, V. Ii. Of This Work.] "Then, Where Nemea'S Howling Forests Wave, He Drives The Lion To His Dusky Cave; 315 Seized By The Throat The Growling Fiend Disarms, And Tears His Gaping Jaws With Sinewy Arms; Lifts Proud Anteus From His Mother-Plains, And With Strong Grasp The Struggling Giant Strains; Back Falls His Fainting Head, And Clammy Hair, 320 Writhe His Weak Limbs, And Flits His Life In Air;-- By Steps Reverted O'Er The Blood-Dropp'D Fen He Tracks Huge Cacus To His Murderous Den; Where Breathing Flames Through Brazen Lips He Fled, And Shakes The Rock-Roof'D Cavern O'Er His Head. 325 "Last With Wide Arms The Solid Earth He Tears, Piles Rock On Rock, On Mountain Mountain Rears; Heaves Up Huge Abyla On Afric'S Sand, Crowns With High Calp? Europe'S Saliant Strand, Crests With Opposing Towers The Splendid Scene, 330 And Pours From Urns Immense The Sea Between.-- --Loud O'Er Her Whirling Flood Charybdis Roars, Affrighted Scylla Bellows Round His Shores, Vesuvio Groans Through All His Echoing Caves, And Etna Thunders O'Er The Insurgent Waves. 335 Vii. 1. Nymphs! Your Fine Hands Ethereal Floods Amass From The Warm Cushion, And The Whirling Glass; Beard The Bright Cylinder With Golden Wire, And Circumfuse The Gravitating Fire. Cold From Each Point Cerulean Lustres Gleam, 340 Or Shoot In Air The Scintillating Stream. So, Borne On Brazen Talons, Watch'D Of Old The Sleepless Dragon O'Er His Fruits Of Gold; Bright Beam'D His Scales, His Eye-Balls Blazed With Ire, And His Wide Nostrils Breath'D Inchanted Fire. [Ethereal Floods Amass. L. 335. The Theory Of The Accumulation Of The Electric Fluid By Means Of The Glass-Globe And Cushion Is Difficult To Comprehend. Dr. Franklin'S Idea Of The Pores Of The Glass Being Opened By The Friction, And Thence Rendered Capable Of Attracting More Electric Fluid, Which It Again Parts With, As The Pores Contract Again, Seems Analogous In Some Measure To The Heat Produced By The Vibration, Or Condensation Of Bodies, As When A Nail Is Hammered Or Filed Till It Becomes Hot, As Mentioned In Additional Notes, No. Vii. Some Philosophers Have Endeavoured To Account For This Phenomenon By Supposing The Existence Of Two Electric Fluids Which May Be Called The Vitreous And Resinous Ones, Instead Of The Plus And Minus Of The Same Ether. But Its Accumulation On The Rubbed Glass Bears Great Analogy To Its Accumulation On The Surface Of The Leyden Bottle, And Can Not Perhaps Be Explained From Any Known Mechanical Or Chemical Principle. See Note On Gymnotus. L. 202, Of This Canto.] [Cold From Each Point. L. 339. See Additional Note, No. Xiii.] 345 "You Bid Gold-Leaves, In Crystal Lantherns Held, Approach Attracted, And Recede Repel'D; While Paper-Nymphs Instinct With Motion Rife, And Dancing Fauns The Admiring Sage Surprize. Or, If On Wax Some Fearless Beauty Stand, 350 And Touch The Sparkling Rod With Graceful Hand; Through Her Fine Limbs The Mimic Lightnings Dart, And Flames Innocuous Eddy Round Her Heart; O'Er Her Fair Brow The Kindling Lustres Glare, Blue Rays Diverging From Her Bristling Hair; 355 While Some Fond Youth The Kiss Ethereal Sips. And Soft Fires Issue From Their Meeting Lips. So Round The Virgin Saint In Silver Streams The Holy Halo Shoots It'S Arrowy Beams. [You Bid Gold Leaves. L. 345. Alluding To The Very Sensible Electrometer Improved By Mr. Bennett, It Consists Of Two Slips Of Gold- Leaf Suspended From A Tin Cap In A Glass Cylinder, Which Has A Partial Coating Without, Communicating With The Wooden Pedestal. If A Stick Of Sealing Wax Be Rubbed For A Moment On A Dry Cloth, And Then Held In The Air At The Distance Of Two Or Three Feet From The Cap Of This Instrument, The Gold Leaves Seperate, Such Is Its Astonishing Sensibility To Electric Influence! (See Bennet On Electricity, Johnson, Lond.) The Nerves Of Sense Of Animal Bodies Do Not Seem To Be Affected By Less Quantities Of Light Or Heat!] [The Holy Halo. L. 358. I Believe It Is Not Known With Certainty At What Time The Painters First Introduced The Luminous Circle Round The Head To Import A Saint Or Holy Person. It Is Now Become A Part Of The Symbolic Language Of Painting, And It Is Much To Be Wished That This Kind Of Hieroglyphic Character Was More Frequent In That Art; As It Is Much Wanted To Render Historic Pictures Both More Intelligible, And More Sublime; And Why Should Not Painting As Well As Poetry Express Itself In Metaphor, Or In Indistinct Allegory? A Truly Great Modern Painter Lately Endeavoured To Enlarge The Sphere Of Pictorial Language, By Putting A Demon Behind The Pillow Of A Wicked Man On His Death Bed. Which Unfortunately For The Scientific Part Of Painting, The Cold Criticism Of The Present Day Has Depreciated; And Thus Barred Perhaps The Only Road To The Further Improvement In This Science.] "You Crowd In Coated Jars The Denser Fire, 360 Pierce The Thin Glass, And Fuse The Blazing Wire; Or Dart The Red Flash Through The Circling Band Of Youths And Timorous Damsels, Hand In Hand. --Starts The Quick Ether Through The Fibre-Trains Of Dancing Arteries, And Of Tingling Veins, 365 Goads Each Fine Nerve, With New Sensation Thrill'D, Bends The Reluctant Limbs With Power Unwill'D; Palsy'S Cold Hands The Fierce Concussion Own, And Life Clings Trembling On Her Tottering Throne.-- So From Dark Clouds The Playful Lightning Springs, 370 Rives The Firm Oak, Or Prints The Fairy-Rings. [With New Sensation Thrill'D. L. 365. There Is Probably A System Of Nerves In Animal Bodies For The Purpose Of Perceiving Heat; Since The Degree Of This Fluid Is So Necessary To Health That We Become Presently Injured Either By Its Access Or Defect; And Because Almost Every Part Of Our Bodies Is Supplied With Branches From Different Pairs Of Nerves, Which Would Not Seem Necessary For Their Motion Alone: It Is Therefore Probable, That Our Sensation Of Electricity Is Only Of Its Violence In Passing Through Our System By Its Suddenly Distending The Muscles, Like Any Other Mechanical Violence; And That It Is General Pain Alone That We Feel, And Not Any Sensation Analogous To The Specific Quality Of The Object. Nature May Seem To Have Been Niggardly To Mankind In Bestowing Upon Them So Few Senses; Since A Sense To Have Perceived Electricity, And Another To Have Perceived Magnetism Might Have Been Of Great Service To Them, Many Ages Before These Fluids Were Discovered By Accidental Experiment, But It Is Possible An Increased Number Of Senses Might Have Incommoded Us By Adding To The Size Of Our Bodies.] [Palsy'S Cold Hands. L. 367. Paralytic Limbs Are In General Only Incapable Of Being Stimulated Into Action By The Power Of The Will; Since The Pulse Continues To Beat And The Fluids To Be Absorbed In Them; And It Commonly Happens, When Paralytic People Yawn And Stretch Themselves, (Which Is Not A Voluntary Motion,) That The Affected Limb Moves At The Same Time. The Temporary Motion Of A Paralytic Limb Is Likewise Caused By Passing The Electric Shock Through It; Which Would Seem To Indicate Some Analogy Between The Electric Fluid, And The Nervous Fluid, Which Is Seperated From The Blood By The Brain, And Thence Diffused Along The Nerves For The Purposes Of Motion And Sensation. It Probably Destroys Life By Its Sudden Expansion Of The Nerves Or Fibres Of The Brain; In The Same Manner As It Fuses Metals And Splinters Wood Or Stone, And Removes The Atmosphere, When It Passes From One Object To Another In A Dense State.] [Prints The Fairy Rings. L. 370. See Additional Note No. Xiii.] 2. Nymphs! On That Day Ye Shed From Lucid Eyes. Celestial Tears, And Breathed Ethereal Sighs! When Richman Rear'D, By Fearless Haste Betrayed, The Wiry Rod In Nieva'S Fatal Shade;-- 375 Clouds O'Er The Sage, With Fringed Skirts Succeed, Flash Follows Flash, The Warning Corks Recede; Near And More Near He Ey'D With Fond Amaze The Silver Streams, And Watch'D The Saphire Blaze; Then Burst The Steel, The Dart Electric Sped, 380 And The Bold Sage Lay Number'D With The Dead!-- Nymphs! On That Day Ye Shed From Lucid Eyes Celestial Tears, And Breathed Ethereal Sighs! [When Richman Reared. L. 373. Dr. Richman Professor Of Natural Philosophy At Petersburgh About The Year 1763, Elevated An Insulated Metallic Rod To Collect The Aerial Electricity, As Dr. Franklin Had Previously Done At Philadelphia; And As He Was Observing The Repulsion Of The Balls Of His Electrometer Approached Too Near The Conductor, And Receiving The Lightening In His Head With A Loud Explosion, Was Struck Dead Amidst His Family.] 3. "You Led Your Fran