6. The next stupendous change was that the entire region, inhabited by these terrible lizards, perhaps a land now under the Atlantic, was itself swept away, and the delta continued to subside to a great depth, till it was covered by a deep sea which deposited all over it the sediments of the chalk formation.

Dr. THOMSON, in seconding the above resolution, said: Every one was aware of the merits of Mr. Watt. He himself had the honour of his acquaintance for twenty-five years. Never before or since that period had he seen or heard of any person that was better acquainted with every topic, and had such a general knowledge and understanding. Many attempts had been made to improve Mr. Watt's engine, but the one made by himself was the best extant. All the new engines that are now erecting in Cornwall are upon his plan. The learned professor concluded by saying, that the steam-engine was not only the greatest but the completest present ever made by science to the arts; and that the inventor had contributed more to the prosperity and aggrandisement of Great Britain than any man that ever existed.

Mr. HOULDSWORTH said: No individual present more appreciated the memory of that illustrious gentleman, Mr. Watt, than he did. Some gentlemen present, who have so great powers of oratory, could speak from morning to night of his

subject. Upon these grounds he would leave the case in abler hands. He concluded by moving the following resolution, which was seconded by Professor Jardine :

IV. "That the gentlemen which he named be appointed a committee for the purpose of procuring subscriptions, with power to form themselves into sub-committees, and to add to their number when they think proper."

Dr. URE, on being called on by the Lord Provost, spoke as follows:-Every citizen of Glasgow should feel grateful to the gentlemen at whose call this public meeting has been convened. The zeal and intelligence now displayed, will, I have no doubt, remove a cause of reproach from this city. London, Edinburgh, Greenock, besides several other towns of much less note than our own, have already paid their public tribute of admiration to the genius of Watt. But Glasgow alone, the scene of the greatest triumph ever achieved by mind over matter, because it was the place where that philosopher's mind was formed, and his inventive talents developed-Glasgow has remained silent, seeming to verify the wise saying, "A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country.' The merits of Mr. Watt have been recently celebrated by

field.

BIOGRAPH Y.-No. XIV. JAMES WATT, INVENTOR OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. (Continued from page 203.)

"It was contemplating such an object-looking to a monument for James Watt, not only as a memorial of the past, but an excitement to the future-not only as an expression of gratitude from the present generation, but as a stimulus to genius still unborn-that he anticipated the happiest effects, and that the passing spectator, when he cast his eye upon it, would exclaim, Glasgow expects every man to do his duty.

Mr. WILLIAM SMITH then rose, and said he had the honour of submitting a motion to the meeting, which could require no argument of his to recommend it to their notice, not only because it appeared to follow almost as the necessary consequence of the resolutions to which they had already agreed; but also because so much had already been said, and so well said, on the subject of the former resolutions, equally applicable to that he now held in his hand, and in which he most cordially concurred. There were undoubtedly classes in the community who, from having more directly benefited by the discoveries of Mr. Watt, were more particularly called upon this day than he was, and he was sure they would come nobly forward; but surely in such a city as this, much of its prosperity may be ascribed to the discoveries of that illustrious individual, and which has the honour of claiming him as a citizen; it was not too much to expect not only a liberal, but a general support to the measure now about to be adopted. He concluded by moving the following resolution:

III. "That, for the reasons stated in the second resolution, all ranks and classes in this city and neighbourhood are parti.

in the kingdom; but so transcendent are these merits, that no praise hitherto bestowed can be called panegyric. In him were conjoined qualities deemed hardly compatible, and rarely associated in the same individual. The most lively fancy, which could multiply at will mechanical combinations, or expatiate in the fields of romantic literature, was combined with the severest judgment, and an unwearied assiduity and unity of action in accomplishing his ends. The utmost ardour of friendship was blended with dispassionate considerations on the true interest of his friends. But the main scope of his mind, the great business of his life, was the investigation of the laws of nature, with the view of directing her powers to the uses of society. And in this respect justice has not been rendered to his fame, owing to an early and unintentional mistake of his friend, Professor Robison, which remained uncorrected in public, from the modesty of Mr. Watt. Professor Robison, in his writings, represents Mr. Watt as deriving his knowledge of the constitution of steam, and consequently of the first principles of his steam-engine, from the lessons of Dr. Black, whose lectures he is described as attending, at the period of making his steam-engine improvements. May I be allowed to avail myself of this public opportunity to rectify that misapprehension? In the course of several conversations which I had the honour of enjoying with Mr. Watt, on the nature and force of steam at different temperatures, he informed me, with his characteristic mildness, that his friend Professor Robison had fallen into a mistake with regard to his being a pupil of Dr. Black at the time of his improving the steamengine; for that he never was a student of that philosopher. "As to the latent heat of steam," said Mr. Watt to me, "it was a piece of knowledge essential to my inquiries, and I worked it out myself in the best way that I could; I used apothecaries' phials for my apparatus, and by means of them I got approximations sufficient for my purpose at the time With them I ascertained the two main facts about steam

Watt. 1t might, indeed, have been expected that a grateful country would have wreathed spontaneous honours round that living head, which had rendered it the most powerful among the nations, which had supplied it with the sinews of war, and had multiplied, in a degree scarcely calculable, the sources of its national wealth;

"But nations, slowly wise and meanly just,
To buried merit raise the tardy bust."

Let us rejoice, however, that this strange neglect of such surpassing excellence and usefulness no longer exists. From his Most Gracious Majesty to the working mechanic, every man 18 ready to recognise the merits of James Watt, and to contribute in his sphere towards their celebration.'

Thanks were then voted to the Lord Provost for his conduct in the chair, and to the gentlemen who signed the requisition for calling this meeting.

In the list of the gentlemen who were appointed as members of the committee on this occasion, viz. 24th Nov., 1824, we find our own name mentioned (a fact which we had entirely forgotten until we wrote this sentence) among the names of the Honourable the Lord Provost of Glasgow, the Provosts of Paisley and Dumbarton, the members of Parliament for these towns and the counties to which they belong, the principal and professors of the University of Glasgow, the chief men of the city of Glasgow, the great cotton and sugar lords of the western metropolis of Scotland, bankers, merchants, and lawyers, men worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, and whose names will long be held in remembrance in that city, which is one of the most intelligent and opulent cities of the British empire, and which is every day rising into greater importance by its wealth, population, and commerce.

In concluding this short memoir of Mr. Watt, we cannot but give an abstract of the eloquent lecture soon afterwards (20th Dec., 1824) delivered by Dr. Ure, the talented professor of chemistry, in the hall of the Andersonian University, in aid of the funds subscribed by the previous meeting, which amounted, at the close, to upwards of £1000. This lecture produced from the mechanics of Glasgow, who assembled in that room, and which held only about five hundred persons, the sum of £54. With these, and other sums afterwards collected, a very handsome bronze statue of James Watt was erected to his memory in Georges-square, Glasgow. The following is the abstract of the Doctor's lecture:

"The intellect of nations as well as of individuals has its periods of exertion and repose, of splendour and obscuration: thus the history of literature and of the fine arts is concentrated round two epochs in ancient Greece, one in ancient Rome, and two or at most three in modern Europe.

"The progress of science displays corresponding alternations of activity and quiescence; for illustrations of this truth we need hardly refer to the ancient world. Its poets, orators, historians, and artists, indeed, have created such models as modern genius vainly strives to rival or even to imitate: but its philosophers discover on most occasions so little skill in scientific research-so little tact in interrogating nature, that they can be regarded merely as rude cultivators of that garden of knowledge which was destined in after ages to furnish perennial stores of fruit to delight the senses of man, and invigorate the frame of society.

"Little more than two centuries has elapsed since the human mind began on right principles to examine the system of the universe; to investigate rationally our terraqueous globe; to determine, by well-devised experiments, the mutual actions of matter; and from a comparison of the whole phenomena, to deduce results capable of enlarging the empire of man over nature, and of qualifying him to accomplish the mandate of his Maker, to subdue the earth, in order to enjoy the admirable bounties of providence.

"Galileo then appeared-the noble Florentine. He constitutes the focus round which the first bright rays of practical science were converged, and from which they became diffused among the nations.

"Such was the dawn of that practical philosophy which now in rich effulgence illuminates the arts of Britain. "What honours and rewards were bestowed on the man who first shed these rays of awakening light on a world lying in darkness? For demonstrating the true constitution of our solar system-the daily rotation of the earth on its axis, and its annual revolution round the central sun-the rugged mountainous structure of our moon and the satellites of Jupiter, besides many other equally important truths which your time will not permit me to recount, Galileo was vilified as an imposter and a heretic, hunted from one Italian principality to another, finally apprehended as a culprit, compelled to kneel before a conclave of ignorant cardinals, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment. Such was the fate of the greatest philosopher, the most elegant writer and accomplished gentleman, which his country has produced.

"In 1642, the year in which death relieved Galileo from his priestly persecutors, Providence called another mind into being, which was ordained to confirm beyond dispute, and to extend to universal nature, the primary deductions of the Florentine. This was Isaac Newton; a man, by the consent of all nations, placed at the head of his species-the noblest representative of human reason. In his presence, Satraps and Sultans, Emperors and Autocrats, hide their diminished heads. As Galileo had been the source of emulation among his contemporaries, so Newton became the philosophic sun, round which a hundred scientific satellites in the various kingdoms of Europe revolved, and from which they borrowed their illumination. The conclusion of the seventeenth century constitutes therefore the second splendid era of true science, as its commencement had been the first. But dazzled by the blaze of Newton's discoveries, mankind seemed to lose for a season the faculty of making spontaneous researches into the different regions of nature. Accordingly, a period of quiescence, nearly equal to the former, now intervenes, during which science is seen to repose on her laurels.

"But too mighty and general an impulsion had been given to human reason, for it to subside into apathy and inaction. And soon a third and most magnificent era commenced; for a new world, abounding with productions, powers, and privileges, incalculably extensive and beneficial, began to be explored and conquered by science. This was the invisible and intangible world of elastic fluids; but not on that account either a shadowy or unsubstantial realm. Now the wild spirits of the alchemists were tamed; the incoercible vapours were taught docility and restraint. Here actual scenes burst upon our view, more marvellous than any pictured in the pages of oriental romance. The first Arabian alchemists believed that the elements were under the dominion of intelligent spirits, who might be brought into subjection to human power; and the fantastic tales of fairies and genii, narrated with such a luxuriance of fancy in the Thousand and One Nights, formed the creed of those mystical adepts. But modern science disdains to cherish such chimeras. It perceives, and solemnly acknowledges, one creative and superintending mind, which has formed every part of the material system in truth, harmony, and beneficence; and which has conferred on man the glorious privilege of searching out the principles of elemental change, so as to direct them at his will, and with a surer aim than superstition ever could dare to suppose her supernatural phantoms possessed.

"Aladdin's fabled lamp, which enabled its bearer to explore the hidden treasures of the earth, to wander unhurt amid malignant demons, and to return to the surface laden with spoil, is more than realised by Sir H. Davy's wondrous invention. The winged horse is but a feeble representative of the aerostatic machine, by whose buoyancy man may rise to elevations above the eagle's flight; and the enchanted boat, which glided against the current, and the breeze, is far surpassed by our actual steam-ship, the modern leviathan, which, instinct with fire, marches over the mountain wave, and bids defiance

to the storm.

FIVE HOURS.

pute.

"Milton's boldfiction of chariots moving by vital impulse is realised in the locomotive engine

Chariots winged, harness'd at hand,
Celestial equipage-and now came forth
Spontaneous, for within the spirit lived.'

The time is not far distant when chariots winged with fire shall be seen flying over metallic pavements through all the populous districts of the empire, transporting travellers and merchandize with amazing smoothness and velocity..

"From these marvellous effects shall we remount to causes ? shall we trace the early development of this master-mind, this true philosopher, this tutelary genius of Britain, who has done for the earth what Newton did for the Heavens--teaching us to explore its regions of land, water, and air, and to apply their productions to the uses of life." Here Dr. Ure gave an account of Mr. Watt's early education, which was by no means neglected either on his own part or that of his very respectable parents. At twenty-one years of age, he commenced business as a mathematical instrument maker in Glasgow, where he found congenial minds and zealous patrons in the celebrated men who then adorned our university. At that time, mathematics, the foundation of all the exact sciences, flourished here, for Robert Simpson was the teacher, a name which Then Adam Smith, awakens many mingled emotions. previously trained to habits of accurate thinking by the study of geometry and astronomy, shed the kindred glories of literature and science around him; and Black was ardently opening his auspicious career. of discovery. When will such a triumvirate again appear to cherish the nascent genius of another Watt! The Professor, after detailing minutely the various improvements of Mr. Watt upon the steam-engine, and the experiments he made in their prosecution, read some extracts from Mr. Watt's patent, which clearly showed that all the later varieties of the steam-engine were anticipated and des

nearly as follows:

"He has enabled us to descend to prodigious depths in the earth, formerly inaccessible; and has created there provinces of subterranean wealth, infinitely more important and valuable than all our colonies in East and Western Ind; provinces which the chances of war can never wrest from us, and which require no mighty military array to secure. And all this has been done with a little fuel, which he himself supplies, a little water, a cylinder, a piston, and a few levers. How truly did Bacon declare, "knowledge is power!" The knowledge of the laws of nature, arms our feeble hands with her most gigantic forces! How many populous and flourishing cities and towns have been created by the genius of Watt! What were Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds, Preston, Glasgow, and many others, before his engine gave them vitality? and what would become of them were it to disappear? What, in this case, would feed our multiplied population, what would pay the interest of our national debt, where would be the preeminence of Britain? Deprived of the boundless resources furnished by Watt, no Nelson could have been sent forth to sweep the ocean, for the meteor flag of England would, but for his vestal fire, long ere now have ceased to burn; and the three hundred millions expended in the Peninsular war was the produce of the alchemy of Watt.

But what new phenomenon do we behold! Mark that mighty vessel issuing from the port! She bears her gallant prow through the opposing billows. She braves alike "the battle and the breeze." In vain does the rage of man try to stem her triumphant course; in vain do the elements resist her career. See, she marshals the English fleet; she plants the mighty war ships in their station, while their sails are furled in the calm. She manoeuvres them so as to baffle and surround the foes. They are conquered, but flight is no longer possible. The genius of Watt arrests them, as if by an irresistible spell. Then wars shall cease, because resistance shall be hopeless,

--The hostile fraud shall fail,
And white-rob'd justice lift her golden scale.'

"Nothing could be happier than the moral constitution of Mr. Watt's mind. Ardent in research, yet patient of disappointment; bold in his general views, gentle but firm in carrying them into effect, bland in the intercourse of social life, yet not without the raciness of genius, which gave an original zest to all he said, and rendered every casual companion his friend and admirer. There was but one thing which his soul seemed to loathe, and which called forth its latent artillery of sarcasm, and that was illiterate presumption.

"In the summer of 1805, I had the honour of spending two days with him at his villa of Heathfield, near Soho, on my return from a scientific tour through England. Many doubts and difficulties had occurred to me, some of which I ventured to state to Mr. Watt. Then the spring of knowledge flowed forth in a most refreshing stream, and wherever it turned flowers and fruits came up spontaneously. To every topic he gave singular interest, by the originality and justness of his views. His intellectual alembic had sublimed from every subject its purer essence, and left the grosser parts behind, Hence his memory, though vastly capacious and retentive, never betrayed the recollection of any thing dull or commonplace. Its compartments were all distinctly defined, and each was replenished with its peculiar store of intellectual wealth. Intense study is apt to engender grave and even recluse habits, as is seen in the biography of Newton, and many other illustrious philosophers. It may be doubted, therefore, if ever there existed so happily framed a mind as that of James Watt; which, deep and powerful like the ocean, could, in society, assume the sparkling vivacity and innocent playfulness of the crystal rill. This is the perfection of philosophy. Thus knowledge becomes truly amiable; and pursued in the spirit of Watt, it is calculated to render us dear to our friends, valuable to our country, and humble in the sight of God. Mr. Watt's piety was rational, steady, and unobtrusive. His benevolence discovered itself in every circumstance of his life, for he sought to do good to the extent of his power, being a perfect stranger to envy and every malignant feeling. And after a life so eminently useful, he surrendered his soul, in the utmost tranquillity, to that Supreme Intelligence which had, for eighty-four years, made him its peculiar care."

LESSONS IN GREEK.-No. XXXIV.

By JOHN R. BEARD, D.D.

PERMUTATION OF CONSONANTS.

THE variations in letters which have come under our notice are not arbitrary, but these, with others, depend chiefly on euphonic laws, or laws which regard to easy and pleasing sound imposes. These laws are in a measure common to all cultivated languages, but were specially observed by the Greeks, whose sense of hearing, as well as the other senses, was acute and refined. Of such laws or observances we have already spoken, in giving the uncontracted. and contracted vowel equivalents. The consonants also, in coming together, undergo changes according to determinate rules; and, as we are on the point of handling the verbs whose characteristic is a consonant, we will here say a few words respecting the permutation of consonants-meaning, by that term, the changes to which consonants are liable in their varying relations one to another.

Here I must draw your attention to what has been said respecting the consonants. You know that they are divided into liquids, namely, λ, μ, ν, ρ; and mutes, namely, π, κ, τ; β, γ, δ, φ, χ, θ; and that by the union of σ with these the double consonants ψ, 5, and ζ, are produced : thus

You know, also, that the nine mutes are divided in three ways, namely, 1. the organ chiefly employed in pronouncing them, as, 1. palatals (pronounced by the palate), κ, γ, χ ; 2. linguals (pronounced by the tongue), τ, δ, θ, called also dentals ; and, 3. labials (pronounced by the lips), π, β, φ. Α second classification arises from considering what may be termed the predominant sound; thus, in κ, γ, χ, you have a k sound ; in τ, δ, θ, a t sound ; and in π, β, φ, a p sound. Compare in each of the sets the three consonants together, and you will observe differences which have been made the basis of a third division into tenues (or slender), E, 7, 7; media (or middle), γ, δ, β ; and aspirate (or aspirate), χ, θ, Φ.

The following, then, are the facts which regard the use and interchange of the consonants:

Ap sound (π, β, φ) or a k sound (x, y, x) before a t sound (τ, δ, θ) must be of the same kind with the t sound: that is, before a tenuis, as r, you can place only a tenuis, as m orr ; before a media, as d, you can place only a media, as ẞ or y; before an aspirata, as 0, you can place only an aspirata, asp or x: thus, you have rr and er; βδ and γδ; φθ οι χθ: with this compare the Latin scriptum, written, from scribo, I write; rectum, ruled, from rego, I rule; coctum, cooked, from coquo, I cool. Thus,

before becomes

|

Nevertheless the Greeks say ουδεις. (είς, one), hot ουθεις; and λεγ' έτεραν, not λεχ' έτεραν, also τριβ' οὕτως, not τριφ' ούτως. These changes take place also in crasis, that is, where two vowels are mixed into one, as θάτερα from τα έτερα. If the tenues πτ οι κr precede, both must be converted into aspirates, as έφθημερος instead of έπτημερος (from έπτα, seven, and ήμερα, day).

A t sound (τ, δ, θ) before another t sound passes into a (so in the Latin claustrum, an inclosure, prison, from claudo, 1 shut), but in the Perfect and Pluperfect active is dropped before ; as

επειθ-θην from πείθω, I persuade, becomes επεισθην
πειθ-τεος 19

.

ερειδω, I prop,

πεπειθίκα » πείθω, I persuade,

πείστεις ηρεισθην

πεπεικα.

The same is seen in the Latin illino (in and lino), immineo (in and maneo).

An exception is found in the preposition Ev before p, as ενριπτω, I throw in ; yet in Latin irruo, not inruo.

p sound (π, β, φ) before a passes into
k sound (x and x)
t sound (τ, δ, θ)

1. p sound, τετριβ-μαι from τριβω, Ινα,
λελειπομαι
λείπω, I leave,
γεγραφ-μαι,

2. k sound, πεπλες-μαι

μ

y, but

remains un[changed

τετριμμαι λελειμμαι