direct distance through which the bottle had paffed was about 125 leagues. But if the tides run towards the north, along the coaft of Europe, it is probable that the bottle went more than 20 leagues towards the fouth, as it must have been carried in that direction by the current of the Atlantic Ocean, and afterwards driven back to wards the north by the tides, which, according to this fyftem, are only counter-currents which run towards the fouth in our fummer. In whatever manner, however, it was carried to the fouth, it is certain that it did not experience any obstacles from that pretended general current of the ocean which, according to the Aftronomical Syftem, runs continually from the equator to the poles in confequence of the attraction of the moon. If this experiment be compared with that which was alfo made with a bottle, thrown into the Bay of Cadiz, on the 17th of Auguft 1786, and which was found on the coaft of Normandy on the 9th of May 1787, it will appear that the general current of the Atlantic Ocean runs towards the south in summer, and north in winter, The oppofite direction taken by thefe two bottles is by fome afcribed to the influence of the wind-by others to that of the moon. It is poffible the wind may have in fome degree affected their movement-but was it retarded or accelerated by it? Not knowing what winds blew at thofe two periods of the year off the coafts of France and Spain -though it is obvious that it would be to the advantage of this theory to fuppofe that the current of the atmosphere without the torrid zone is that which aftronomers describe it to be. According to Dr. Halley, the west wind blows almost all the year without the tropics: he imagines this wind to be a kind of re-action of the trade wind, which has a contrary direction in the torrid zone. This, certainly, must be a mistake-or, at leaft, had the wind influenced the bottle which was thrown into the fea at the mouth of the Bay of Cadiz, it must have entered that bay. On the contrary, it was carried to the north, being found on the coast of Normandy, Ought it not, then, to have been more obftructed than favoured by the weft wind? Was there a current which carried it towards the north, notwithstanding the refiftance of this wind? The wind which blows against the mouth of a river does not change its course, though it retards its motion. But the current which carried the bottle to the coaft of Normandy will be faid to be that of the tides, which, according to the Aftronomical System, flow always towards the north. If, however, this current exist, how did it happen that the bottle which came afhore at Cape Prior had been carried about twenty leagues towards the fouth? Did it at once overcome the tide and the western wind? All that can be faid is, that a general current from the north must have carried it a confiderable way towards the fouth and that afterwards, the less rapid tides brought it back again towards the north, along the coafts which they wash. ; As to those who think that the attraction of the moon is the caufe of the motion of the ocean, and confequently of the direction of those bottles, their opinion feems to be founded in error. The currents of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, which change twice. a year at the equinoxes, do not owe their motion to the permanent course of the moon, which is invariably from east to west, but to the inclination of the earth's axis after the equinoxes, in confequence of which fome ice at each pole is alternately melted. If the moon influences the motion of the ocean, to what is it owing that the fpring tides do not happen on our coafts until a day and a half and two days after the full and change? Ought they not to take place the moment that it comes upon our meridian? How can this planet attract the waters towards the zenith of a meridian when it is in the nadir, and elevate the Atlantic Ocean when it is oppofite the South, Sea? Does its influence operate above us while it is in our antipodes? How happens it that it attracts the whole ocean twice a day, and yet leaves the Mediterranean and the lakes over which it paffes without any flux or reflux! Why does it not attract the atmosphere that aerial ocean, which is more extenfive, more light, and more fufceptible of motion than water? Were air attracted by it, the atmosphere would have tides like thofe of the ocean, which would happen alfo at the fame periods, and the barometer would indi cate them twice a day; but this does not take place. The moon, then, makes no impreffion on on the ocean, but by reflecting the fun's rays on the polar ice, and accele. rating its fufion by additional heat; and on account of the diftance of our coafts from the pole, this fufion produces no apparent increase with us in the mafs of water until a day and a half or two days after it has taken place at the pole. Thus a ftream of water falling into a bafon produces two different motions-the one, that of the whole mafs, which it agitates almoft at the fame moment; the other, that which affects the furface only, and occafions an inceffant fucceffion of circles. The first motion takes place at the equinox, when the fun, beginning to act on the ice of that pole to which he is then approaching, gives rife to torrents which fuddenly augment the bulk of the ocean, and make it retrograde towards the oppofite pole with an impulfion of the whole mafs clearly perceptible for the fpace of two or three weeks in the Indian feas. The fame effect occurs when the polar fufions, fuperabounding from the influence of the new and full moon, appears a day and a half after the fpring tides of our coafts. They reach us in the fummer as well as in the vernal equinox, much fooner than they do on the fhores of India, because we are fituated much nearer the pole, whence they issue. With regard to the motion of fluctua tion, it gives us the daily tides, which fucceeds each other in the fame manner as the undulation ofa bafon receiving a Stream of water, and which are particularly visible on the coats from the conftant action of the polar half-yearly currents, of which they are generally nothing more than the lateral counter currents. The ocean may be confidered as a vaft river, whofe fources are the poles. It circulates round the globe with a motion at the fame time direct and lateral, and with two oppofite motions, like the fap in vegetables and blood in animals. It is certain that the currents of the ocean may be rendered as useful to mankind as thofe of rivers. By means of the currents of the North Pole, we may bring, every fummer, towards our coafts, and into our harbours, thofe prodigious quantities of wood which are feen drifting on the northern coafts of Europe and America, by uniting them into large rafts, and towing them with boats. They would be carried fouthward with much greater facility than the mountains of ice which iffue every fpring from the bottom of Baffin's and Hudfon's Bays, and drive on the fhoals of Newfoundland. Some years ago, after a mild winter at London, when the ice-houses were almost empty in the fummer, a merchant entered into the fpeculation of bringing a fupply from the great bank of Newfoundland. He imported a cargo of ice, which he fold very dear. He might, on this plan, have towed an entire rock of it into the mouth of the Thames. In the fame manner might be floated the forefts of the north into our ports. The theory of maritime currents may open a thousand ufeful communication's among mankind; their caufes being known, it will not be difficult to determine their effects by fimple, eafy, and cheap experiments. A bottle may thus become more interefting in the fea than an aeroftatic globe in the air. The latter expofes men to the most terrible dangers the former may be the means of their fafety. It is clear, that had a veffel been wrecked on a defert island, in the fituation where this bottle was thrown out, the crew would be able to fend an account of the misfortune to the coast of Spain in less than three weeks. This theory certainly deferves the attention of practical experiment, as it is the only probable chance the unfortunate furvivors of a wreck have, after being driven on an unexplored ifland, of ever communicating their diftrefs to thofe likely to afford them any affiftance. Indeed, as it would be a general caufe of humanity, individuals of every nation would have a common intereft in promoting it.-The favage and uncultivated Indians have taken advantage of a fimilar obfervation, the leaves and fruits of trees, floating in the current of the ocean, direct them to the discovery of iflands which they have no other opportunity of ever finding out. Bottles, ends of planks, cocoa-nut thells, &c. might be occafionally employed in fuch cafes; but bottles fhould have the preference, their folidity and immerfion rendering them lefs liable to be influenced by the variation of the winds, they are alfo better calculated to refift the antipathy of watery bodies. ΤΟ SIR, TO THE EDITOR OF THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE. THE extraordinary and almost un precedented rapid growth of grain of all defcriptions, during the late wet harvest, rendered a very large portion of it totally unfit for the merchant, and apparently adapted to no other ufe than for pigs, horfes, poultry, &c. The proportion, however, of grown corn was too great to permit the whole of it to be applied to the above ufes, and experiments proved that after kiln-drying it would make very good beer, allowing rather a larger portion of this damaged corn than of the best inalt to the fame quantity of water. It was generally understood here, that a Committee of the House of Commons approved the idea of converting grown corn to the ufe of man, and that the House, at their recommendation, paffed an Act empowering his Majefty's fubjects to make beer of fuch corn, free of all duty Will any of your readers then inform us, what authority the Officers of the Excife are armed with to interrupt this practice, and even to threaten us with the horrors of profecution unless we defift. It is to be obferved, that the maltfters, though their interests were concerned, were by no means unwilling to kiln-dry the grain, till thefe rapacious harpies of the excife gave out that the practice was illegal, and must be put a stop to. The prefent high price of every article in housekeeping renders all cheaper fuccedaneums not only acceptable, but extremely neceffary. Perhaps fome of your readers may not be aware, that treacle is an excellent fubftitute for malt, in the proportion of one pound to a bufhel, i. e. If two bufhels are ufually brewed, diminish the quantity by half a bushel, and by adding half a pound of treacle to the wort when it is run off and boiling in the copper, as much beer may be made, and of the fame quality, from this bufhel and half, as was before generally brewed from two bufhels. A clear faving at prefent of ten fhillings in a coomb of malt. The beer is of good flavour, and keeps well. Bread, again, has been the fubject of various experiments, with rice, turneps, potatoes, &c. &c. Some of these I have tried, but after all, I believe the most nutritious, whole fome, and I will add the cheapest bread, is made of the whole VOL. XXXIX, MARCH 1801. of the wheat, as it comes from the mill, if the miller has been honeft. The coarse bran is to fome very difagreeable; let this, therefore, be taken out with a fieve, boiled half-an-hour, and the bread be made up with the liquor trained off (which becomes of the cons filtency of very thin pafte); by which means no part of the wheat is loft, and the bread, I think, improved. A Correfpondent in your laft, page 76, regrets that agricultural studies and purfuits form no part of our educa tion, and are fo little attended to. It is furprising that fuch an obfervation fhould efcape him at this day, părticularly when there abfolutely exifts a farming mania. Every Gentleman is a farmer (experimental I mean); and even thofe who do not occupy an inch of ground beside the flower-pots at their Itreet-windows, even these write on farming, and grow luxuriant crops of hay and corn on paper fields. The late invented drill and horfe-hoe are gaining ground every day, and faving to the community an immenfe quantity of feed yearly. Dibbling is much practifed on the ftiffer foils to which the drill is not fo well adapted; and the advantages attending thefe methods of burying the corn are fufficiently evinced by the abundant crops they produce. Experiments on manure are daily mak ing, and chemistry called in to aid the refearch, while earth, fea, and air are ranfacked to difcover new fources of fertilization. I much question if either a University education on the plan laid down by your Correfpondent, or the lectures of a village Pedagogue (what an employment for a Sunday !!), would improve our breed of farmers; but am inclined to think, that one practical leffon from a good ploughman at work in our Norfolk fields would communicate more useful information in an hour than farming in theory could in a twelvemonth. I cannot forbear fmiling at the idea, that the ftudy of Virgil's Bucolics and Georgics fhould be feriously recom. mended by your Correfpondent as likely to improve the modern modes of breeding cattle, or growing corn and turneps. If Greek and Latin Authors can communicate any useful improvements, furely the Clergy, whom A a we |