pentine formation; and what are the imbedded and venigenous fossils it contains? 4. What are the characters of the different metalliferous venigenous formations in Cornwall; are any of them identical with those described by Werner*, Mohst, Friesleben ‡, Jameson§, and others? 5. Do the inclined slaty strata, in the vicinity of Plymouth, belong to the transition class of rocks? 6. Does the upper part of the mountain of Cader-Idris in Wales belong to the newest floetz-trap formation? 7. Are not the mountains in Cumberland principally composed of transition rocks, partially covered with the newest floetz-trap formation? 8. Is not the porphyry of Cumberland a variety of clinkstone-porphyry? 9. Does the gypsum of Cumberland belong to the first or second floetz-gypsum formation? phry of East Lothian, the same as in other countries? 6. What are the geognostic relations of the claystone, compact felspar, and striped jasper of the Pentland hills? 7. Are the upper parts of the Lomonds in Fifeshire, of Tinto in Lanarkshire, and of the Eilden hills in Roxburghshire, composed of rocks belonging to the newest floetz-trap for mations? 8. What is the extent and mode of distribution of the sienite of Galloway? 9. Does the Craig of Ailsa, in the Frith of Clyde, and the Bass rock in the Frith of Forth, belong to the new, est floetz-trap formation? 10. Does the pitchstone of Ardnamurchan belong to the newest floetztrap formation? 11. Is the granular quartz in the islands of Jura and Isla subordinate to mica slate; or does it constitute a distinct formation? 12. Are the Cullin mountains in the island of Skye composed of rocks belonging to the newest floetz-trap and second porphyry formations? 13. What are the geognostic characters and relations of the Scure Eigg, in the isle of Egg, one of the Hebrides? 14. Of what rock is the isle of Staffa composed, and what are its geognostic characters and relations? 15. Is the porphyry of the isle of Rasay porphyry-slate? tions of the tremolite of Glen-Elg in 16. What are the geognostic relaInverness-shire? 17. Does the upper part of Ben Nevis belong to the second porphyry formation; and if this be the case, on what does the porphyry rest? 18, Does the porphyry of the Brauer, near Blair in Athol, belong to the second porphyry formation? 19. Does the granitic rock in the vicinity of Aberdeen, belong to the granite or sienite formations? 20. Does the sandstone of the Shetland islands belong to the independent coal formations, or to any of the formations described by Werner? 21. In what species of mineral repository are the ores of Sandlodge in Shetland contained; and what are the oryctognostic and geognostic cha racters and relations of these ores? 22. Does the claystone of Papa Stour, one of the Shetlands, belong to the new floetz-trap or coal formations? 23. Does the serpentine of the islands of Unst and Fetlar belong to the first or second serpentine forina tions? of opinion. It has almost uniformly The above hypothesis, if well found- Character of WILL WIMBLE in the and Pax the Latin for Peace. Stio, THE SPECTATOR. To the Editor. SIR, 'HE following note which I found on the margin of a book purchased at an auction, contains a piece of information which may be interesting to many of your readers: No. 108. WILL WIMBLE.-Thomas Morecraft, a baronet's younger son, the person mentioned by the Spectator in the character of Will Wimble, died at Dublin July 2d 1741*. THERE is hardly any Antiquity in Scotland which has been so much noticed as Dunipace, or respecting the origin and etymon of which there has been a greater co-incidence Mr Chalmers, in his edition of the British Essayists, mentions the name of this gentleman, but does not state the place or time of his death. Ed. That the Caledonians were at that But when the contexture of the word, and the Genius of the two languages are minutely considered, this theory will appear in a still more unfavourable point of view. Dun has uniformly been Latinized Dunum, not Dunus, and therefore must have Duña, not Duni, in the nominative plural.The Romans were strangers to the soft sound of C, and always pronounced it as we do K. Dunipace, even admitting it to signify the Hills of Peace, would not have been written or pronounced Duni Pacis, or Dunipace, but Duna Pakis, or Dunapake. There are two Tumuli at Dunipace, the eastmost of which bears the most unequivocal characteristics of art, and the other not the least. This plurality of Tumuli added to the resemblance which Pace bears to the Latin Pax, or the the English Peace, seems to have set the invention of the monks a-work, and to have induced, them to render it Duni pacis; and certainly nothing can better illustrate the hard shift they were put. to, as well as their complete ignorance of the matter, than their not being able to discover the Etymon of this word either in the language of the one nation or the other, but in an incongruous combination of both. It is only since the discovery of Ossian's Poems by M'Pherson, that the Gaelic language has begun to excite any considerable degree of general interest or attention. During the Monkish ages, the general predilection was in favour of the languages of Greece and Rome. The aboriginal inhabitants, as well as the aboriginal language of the country, appear to have been equally undervalued and overlooked. The celebrated Buchanan was totally unacquainted with the Gaelic. As a proof of this, any of your literary correspondents may peruse his Etymology of Montrose, Inverness, Dunkeld, &c. It was therefore customary during the Monkish ages to derive every thing from the Latin, and there is every reason to conclude that Duni Pacis, i. e. the Hills of Peace-Pene Pontus, i. e. Penpont-Deidonum, i. e. Dundee Mons rosarum, i. e. Montrose-Cruor Danorum, i. e. Cruden, with several others which I have already had occasion to mention, owe their origin to Monkish pedantry and ignorance. Having spent some time in proving what Duni-pace is not; you and your readers will naturally expect me to point out what it is, and this task I shall the more readily undertake, because I flatter myself I can place the matter in so satisfactory a point of wiew, that it will be equally matter of regret and wonder, how so obvious an antiquity could ever have been mistaken. Dunipace, i. e. Dun-na-Pais, i. e. the Grave Hills, or sepulchral tumuli, is a national monument of some victory obtained by our hardy ancestors. The river Carron for many centuries rolled its streams amidst the din of clashing arms: no stream has oftener heard the confused cry of the warrior, or seen garments rolled in blood: here we are taught to look for the scene of a memorable battle betwixt the Romans and Caledonians. The translator of Ossian points this out as the spot where Fingal encountered Caracul, supposed to be the Roman Caracalla. The Wall of Antoninus for several miles ran parallel to the course of the Carron, and the adjacent district must have been the scene of many a bloody contest, now for ever bu ried in oblivion. The last circumstance I shall mention on this head, as making more directly for my purpose, is, that Ossian mentions a green vale, with a Tomb or Tumulus standing on it, where Oscar engaged the heroes of Caros, supposed to be the Tumulus in question. It might be difficult to point out a Dunum pacis, or Hill of peace, within the ancient Roman or Celtic territories; but the Dun-na-Pais, or Gravehills, are every where to be met with within the Celtic districts. Our ancestors stuck at no labour or expence in their sepulchral monuments. Haco's Tumulus, who fell at the battle of Largs, is literally a hill; and it is not unworthy of remark, that the battle did not take its name from Largs, but on the contrary, Largs took its name from the battle, for Largs literally means the Tumuli, or graves. Amidst the vast variety of sepulchral monuments still remaining, I shall only mention Sweno's superb pillar in Murrayshire; Camus stone near Barry, and the standing stanes at Aberlemno, where we have also a Grave hill, or Dun-na-Pais. Dunipace, when considered as meaning a Hill of Peace, has, as far as I know, no parallel to support the hy pothesis. But when considered as a Grave hill, the parallel and collateral instances are not only numerous, but almost infinite. The literal import of the name, the situation, the shape of Dunipace, and the exact resemblance it bears to other Tumuli well known to be sepulchral monuments, leave hardly a shadow of doubt, that it was also of the same kind, and, like Haco's monument, erected not only to cover the valiant dead, but to perpetuate the memory of some signal victory obtained by our warlike ancestors. It would be foolish, as well as absurd, to hazard even a conjecture as to the particular battle which Dunipace was intended to commemorate. It is impossible to penetrate the dark abyss of oblivion, and the mind feels itself o'ercast with a melancholy gloom when it reflects, that so many noble monuments, and heroic atchievements of our ancestors, are veiled in impenetrable obscurity, and have for ever perished. 23d April 1808. 17th April. Large flocks of Fieldfares still frequent the neighbourhood. of the city. 18th April. A heavy fall of snow took place on the afternoon of this day, so that in the evening it lay on the ground several inches deep. 22d April. Last night a still more heavy fall of snow had taken place, so that this morning it lay more than half a foot deep in most places around Edinburgh. It is not a little remarkable that snow-storms have thus occasionally recurred, during the past season, for the long period of six months, the first fall having happened early in November last.. P. S.-It may be expected that some notice should be taken of a paper inserted in last Magazine, intituled "Discovery of, and Query concerning, a species of River Shell-fish." The author of this paper picked up some Fresh-water Muscles in the bed MILO. of the Water of Leith, after the subsiding of the great flood of the river in the beginning of September last. This is the whole observation; and it is certainly most unhappily styled a discovery; for the same kind of river shell-fish might be found in the allu Monthly Memoranda in Natural History. 1808. March 26. A Large Conger-Eel (Muræna Conger,) taken this morning off Fisher-row, was to-day brought to market. It measured nearly four feet in length. Although ten hours out of the sea, it was alive and vigorous when laid on the stall in the market. Congers are not very common in the Frith of Forth. April 5. At Foxhall, eight miles west from Edinburgh, daffodils are now in full flower; the tendrils of peas sown in the open border in November last, have appeared; and peach, Rectarine, and pear blossoms are expanding. The season, however, is, upon the whole, very backward. 12th April. The Elm-trees in Hope Park are now in flower. vion of almost any river in Great Britain, after a flood, or whether there had been a flood or no. The freedom of these remarks will be excused, when it is stated that the author might not only have had his doubts resolved by consulting any of the popular works on natural history, but even by referring to Mr Stark's Picture of Edinburgh, where the fresh water Mytili are mentioned in a chapter treating of objects of natural history found in the neighbourhood of the city. In answer to the queries it may be observed, that the different species of fresh-water shell-fish, if the minute sorts be included, are far too numerous to be detailed in this Miscellany. Reference may be had to the works of Montagu and of Donovan on Bri tish testacea, to the 4th volume of Pennant's British Zoology, and to Dr Maton's full and accurate list of native shells in the 8th volume of the Linnean Transactions. Very little, I am persuaded, is known of the habits of the river muscle, and if the writer of the queries would undertake actual observations on this subject, and communicate them, he would be well entitled to the thanks of natura. lists.It may here be remarked, that it is pretty well known that fresh water shell-fish form a part of the food of the otter it is a fact indeed noticed in almost every history of that animal. N. Edinburgh, 26th April 1808. Memoirs of the Progress of MANUFACTURES, CHEMISTRY, SCIENCE, and the FINE ARTS. MR DONOVAN has announced some particulars of an extraordinary nature respecting one of the mountains of Wales, which he endeavours to demonstrate to have been at some remote period a volcano of immense magnitude. This is Cader Idris in Merionethshire, which in size is not exceeded by any mountain in the Principality, except Snowdou. The general aspect of the crater is exactly that of Mount Vesuvius, only one of its sides is broken down, so that the abyss of this funnel-shaped mountain is more completely disclosed than in the latter. It is this side of Cader Idris that affords the most illustrative examples of porous stones, which form immense beds on the declivities, only a few inches in many instances below the surface of the earth. Many of these porous stones exhibit evident inarks of strong ignition and vitrification; some are reduced to the state of slags, while others have all the cellular appearance and lightness of pumice. The summit of the mountain is cover ed with an immense wreck of stones, supposed to have been ejected from the crater at the time of the explosion. Myriads of these stones have borne a regular crystallized form; their usual length is, from three to six and ten feet; some measure even fifteen or twenty; and one, in particular, which Mr Donovan observed, was twentytwo feet three inches long. The substance of these crysals is of the basalt kind, being the porphyry slate, or clinkstone porphyry of Jamieson. The art of polantography, or multiplying designs by means of stone, though yet in its infancy, is already practised in three different ways, in all of which, blocks of a fine-grained calcareous stone are employed instead of copper. The first manner is by tracing on the stone with an ink prepared for the purpose, and with a steel pen, whatever is to be printed, whether writing, music, or figures. This manner is expeditious, but serves only for outlines, or mere sketches. But it is capable of increased utility, if a writing on paper, with the ink composed for this purpose, be transferred from the paper to the stone, from which a number of impressions may be taken off. This transfer supersedes the necessity of reverse writing on the stone, and multiplies at pleasure the most correct fac-simile. As the printing may be begun as soon as the ink is dry, this is a rapid way of obtain ing impressions. The second way of operating originated with Professor Mitterer, of Munich; he discovered that the materials of which the ink was composed, might be made into crayons, which being traced on the stone, the drawings thus made might be multiplied greatly. They are indeed much softer than ordinary chalk, they require time and patience in using; but they may be made to produce pleasing designs. The third mode may with propriety be called the art of engraving on stone, being executed by means of the graver. Po |