len gives correct views of the structure and distribution of the peritoneum and omentum, and distinguishes accurately the several divisions of the alimentary canal, and the internal structure of its component tissues. In the liver, which he allows to receive an envelope from the peritoneum, he admits, in imitation of Erasistratus, a proper substance or parenchyma, interposed between the vessels, and capable of removal by suitable dissection.

His description of the organs of generation is rather brief, and is, like most of his anatomical sketches, too much blended with physiological dogmas.

This short sketch may communicate some idea of the condition of anatomical knowledge in the days of Galen, who indeed is justly entitled to the character of rectifying and digesting, if not of creating, the science of anatomy among the ancients. Though evidently confined, perhaps entirely, by the circumstances of the times, to the dissection of brute animals, so inde fatigable and judicious was he in the mode of acquiring know. ledge, that many of his names and distinctions are still retained with advantage in the writings of the moderns. Galen was a practical anatomist, and not only describes the organs of the animal body from actual dissection, but gives ample instructions for the proper mode of exposition. His language is in general clear, his style as correct as in most of the authors of the same period, and his manner is animated. He appears to have been the first anatomist who can be said, on authentic grounds, to have attempted to discover the uses of organs by vivisection and experiments on living animals. In this manner, he determined the position, and demonstrated the action, of the heart; and he mentions two instances in which, in consequence of disease or injury, he had an opportunity of observing the motions of this or gan in the human body. In short, without eulogizing an ancient author at the expense of critical justice, or commending his anatomical descriptions as superior to those of the moderns, it must be admitted that the anatomical writings of the physician of Pergamus form a remarkable era in the history of the science; and that, by diligence in dissection, and accuracy in description, he gave it a degree of stability and precision which it has retained through the lapse of many centuries.

(To be continued.)

On the occurrence of Chalk-flints in Banffshire. By JAMES CHRISTIE, Esq. Secretary to the Banff Institution. Communicated by the Author *.

SOME time ago I took the liberty of submitting for your inspection specimens of a quantity of flints found scattered and mixed with the water-worn stones and shingle along the shore of Boyndie Bay †, to the westward of Banff, and to state, that flints of a similar description are occasionally found to the eastward as far as Peterhead. I had not seen any organic remains in the flints of this part of Scotland, to enable me to form an opinion as to their being of the chalk-formation ‡. Since that time, I have met with abundance of flints on the hill or rising ground between Turiff and Delgaty Castle. The surface of the ground there is irregular, rising occasionally into hillocks, and sinking into hollows, filled with bogs and swamps. These hillocks are composed of a conglomerate or pebbly mass, having a base or ground of white or grey colour, and apparently composed of decayed felspar, and very minute scales of mica or talc, or both, in which are imbedded rounded pebbles of greyish-white translucent quartz-rock. The quartz-pebbles are from the size of a pea to that of a hen's egg. This conglomerated mass is here and there alternated with or traversed by a white quartzy sand, with scales of mica. The whole conglomerated mass is mixed up with flints, of various sizes and forms. The flints are yellow,

* At p. 381. of last volume of this Journal, we noticed Mr Christie's discovery of flints on the shore near Banff.-EDIT.

+ The flints sent me from Boyndie Bay, are of the same description with those found near Delgaty. They contain traces of zoophytic organic remains. EDIT.

Some years ago, while examining the geognosy of the vicinity of Peterhead, our attention was directed to the chalk-flints found in that neigh bourhood, by previous information. We traced them extending over several miles of country, and frequently imbedded in a reddish clay, resting on the granite of the district. These flints contain sponges, alcyonía, echini, and other fossils of the chalk-flint, thus proving them to belong to the chalk formation, which itself will probably be found in some of the hollows in this part of Scotland.-EDIT.

L 3

brown, and grey, more or less translucent, often enveloped in a white siliceous opaque crust, and containing organic remains principally of sponges or alcyonia. In some flints the centre is hollow, and the walls of the cavity lined with calcedony. One of the hillocks has been opened to the depth of about fifteen or eighteen feet. The quartz-pebbles become more translucent the deeper the pit is opened; and the flints, which, at the surface of the ground, are generally of a brown colour, exhibit other tints in the interior of the bed. The hollows between the hillocks are destitute of pebbles and gravel, and have a clayey bottom. The direction of the hollows appears in general to run east and west. These hollows may perhaps have been scooped out, and the beds containing flints and pebbles of quartz carried off by some of those mighty inundations which have more than once swept over the face of nature.

As to the extent of the deposite, I can say but little: in one direction, I have traced it for nearly a mile, occasionally interrupted by the hollows. The point where the specimens were taken up, is about half a mile distant from another patch, through which the ditch I formerly mentioned has been cast. At that point, also, the flints and quartz-pebbles, and other deposites, are the same as those already mentioned. The spot where these deposites are found is in the interior of the country, about ten miles from the sea, and is the highest ground in the neighbourhood. I have not been able to ascertain the depth of the bed, as the pit filled with water on digging down, and the water became thick with the clayey or chalky matter. The workmen, however, told me, that farther down the hill they had met with a bed of white clay, and they believed the deposite of pebbles, flints, &c. rested on it.

I have never seen the chalk formation, but, as I understand it, this deposite has many features of its upper strata. The flints are abundant throughout the whole, and I found them on the surface at a mile distant from the hillock where the specimens were taken from

* We trust Mr Christie, and other members of the Banff Institution, will continue their researches in regard to these flints, for possibly the chalkformation itself may be found in situ in this part of Scotland.-EDIT.

Aerial Shadows seen from the Cairngorm Mountains.

By

JOHN MACPHERSON GRANT, Esq. jun. of Ballindalloch.
In a Letter to the Editor.

As you expressed a wish to have some account, in writing, of the atmospheric appearance seen by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder and myself, in our late ramble among the Cairngorms, I have transcribed the following passage from my note-book, and attempted to give, by the accompanying diagram, some idea of the beautiful phenomenon which we witnessed *.

"On the 10th October 1830, at 3 P. M. we reached the summit of Ben-mac-dhuie. A thick mist enveloped the mountain, like a curtain, concealing from view the whole of the surrounding range of the Cairngorms, with the exception of the giant hill on which we stood, and the scarce less elevated tops of Cairentoul and Bræriach. The upper bounding line of the mist was so perfectly horizontal, and the apparent undulations on its surface resembled so closely the waves of the sea, that it was extremely difficult to divest one's-self of the idea that we stood on some desert rock in a vast ocean, with two others of similar character in sight. The day was fine; and the sun, though fast declining to the west, shone so bright and powerfully on the huge masses of granite around us, that we sat down for more than half an hour to rest from our fatigues, and to prolong, as far as might be, the satisfaction of being on the highest ground in Britain.

"On descending from the top, at about half past three P. M., an interesting optical appearance presented itself to our view. We had turned towards the east, and the sun shone on our backs, when we saw a very bright rainbow described on the mist before us. The bow, of beautifully distinct prismatic colours, formed about two-thirds of a circle, the extremities of which appeared to rest on the lower portion of the mountain. In the centre of this incomplete circle, there was described a luminous disc, surrounded by the prismatic colours displayed in concentric rings. On the disc itself, each of the party (three in number), as they stood at about fifty yards apart, saw his own figure most distinctly delineated, although those of the other two

* The diagram will be given in next Number of Journal, having been received too late for the present.

were invisible to him. The representation appeared of the natural size, and the outline of the whole person of the spectator was most correctly pourtrayed. To prove that the shadow seen by each individual was that of himself, we resorted to various gestures, such as waving our hats, flapping our plaids, &c. all which motions were exactly followed by the airy figure. We then collected together, and stood as close to one another as possible, when each could see three shadows on the disc; his own, as distinctly as before, while those of his two companions were but faintly discernible.

"As the autumnal day was fast declining, and we had a long walk before us to Braemar, we were forced to hurry down the rugged sides of Loch Etichan; and, being consequently soon enveloped in the mist, we lost sight of the atmospheric phenomenon, but not until it had been distinctly visible to us for about a quarter of an hour.”

EDINBURGH, 4th Dec. 1830.

Description of several New or Rare Plants which have lately flowered in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and chiefly in the Royal Botanic Garden. By Dr GRAHAM, Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh.

Banksia speciosa.

10th Dec. 1830.

B. speciosa; foliis linearibus, pinnatifidis, lobis triangulari-semiovatis mucronatis, subtus niveis, obsolete nervosis; calycis laminis lanatis; stylo pubescente; folliculis tomentosis.-Brown.

Banksia speciosa, Br. Trans. Linn. Soc. 10. 210.

DESCRIPTION.-Trunk erect, branched; branches spreading, towards their extremities densely covered with snowy tomentum. Leaves (1) foot long, 14 inches broad) scattered, linear, attenuated at the base, and very slightly at the apex, truncated, pinnatifid, nerved and reticulated, covered on both sides, when young, with short dense white tomentum, which is beautifully snowy below, when old naked bright green and shining above; segments alternate, triangular, ovate along their upper edge, mucronate, the mucro projecting forwards, Spike (44 inches long, 34 broad to the extremities of the styles) terminal. Flowers in pairs along the rachis, forming double lines, which are much crowded together, expanding from below upwards, every where yellow, except the stigma, which is red. Calyx (1 inch long) 4-parted, woolly on the outside, the woolliness increasing upwards. Anthers subsessile, in the oblong hollow extremities of the calyx, linear-lanceolate. Style longer than the calyx, curved upwards, pubescent, filiform, tumid near the extremity, tipped with the red subacute somewhat angled Stigma.

This very handsome species produced a fine head of flowers in the greenhouse of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden in October 1830, the plant be. ing about five feet high.