TABULAR VIEW of the PROGRESSIVE INCREASE of the ROYAL NAVY. In 1789 the peace establishment of ships in commission was two second rates, fifteen thirdrates, one fourth-rate, five fifty-gun ships, six two-decked forty-fours, thirty-one frigates of thirty six to twenty guns, and one sloop, besides cutters. In the ordinary estimates of the navy are included the expenses of the Admiralty, Navy, and Victualling offices, the half-pay, superannuation, and pensions to naval officers, superannuation to civil officers, buildings, repairs and building of ships. In the estimate of the expenses of ships in commission are included wages, wear and tear of ships, victuals, and ordnance. 3. Light-houses being of the greatest utility, both to commercial and naval enterprise, the coasting trade in particular, have been multiplied on all the coasts of the British islands, and their construction successively improved, until nothing is left to wish for. At first they were coal, or wood fires, entirely exposed to the weather, and consequently very defective. Towers, with glass casements, were afterwards erected, but the smoke of the fuel soon dimmed the windows and rendered them almost useless. At length, in 1763, oil lamps and reflectors were introduced, which have been brought to the highest perfection. The light-houses and buoys on shoals are generally under the inspection of the Trinity-House of London, a corporation established in the reign of Henry VIII. by the title of The Master, Warden, and Jurats of the Guild, of the most glorious and undivided Trinity of St. Clement and of Deptford Strond. The Thames river pilots are also within the supervisorship of this corporation. The Dover and Deal pilots form two chartered corporations. The light houses on the coasts of the British islands are as follows: SOUTH COAST. Goodwin Sands, two (Pentland Skerries, two lights. floating lights hori- North Ronaldsay Island. zontal. WEST COAST. Ilfracomb. Gull Stream, floating. Fatholm Island, Severn Sunk floating light, en-South Stack, Holyhead. trance of the Thames. Skerries. Nore floating light. shows a face a minute. Anglesea. WEST COAST. EAST COAST. Lynn. nutes. Humber, two lights. Sunderland Pier. Pettycur Har bour. IRELAND. Old Head of Kinsale. Wicklow. Frith of Dublin, Pigeon House. Tay River, two lights. South Foreland, two Bell Rock. Kinnaird's Head Balligan. Howth Head. The following TABLE of GEOGRAPHICAL POSITIONS includes most of the LIGHTS round the coasts of GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND. 4. Of the geology of Great Britain.-Since we have sent to press the article GEOLOGY, Mr. Brande's Outlines' have fallen into our hands. He observes that no country furnishes a better selection of geological formations for the attention of the student than our own. 'A section of the south of England, from the coast of Cornwall, for instance,' he says, 'in the west, to London in the east, will furnish a good exhibition of the phenomena of stratification. It will begin at the Land's End with primitive rocks; massive and amorphous. Upon this rest several species of transition rocks, especially slates of different kinds, having various inclinations; and these are succeeded by secondary strata, deviating more and more from the vertical, and acquiring the horizontal position; and ultimately we attain the alluvial matter upon which the metropolis stands. It is principally clay, and has once perhaps formed the mud at the bottom of a salt water lake. Tracing this section from the metropolis to the Land's End,' he says, in explanation of his plate, the upper section commences with the blue clay of London, and proceeding westward through the counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Devonshire, terminates at the Land's End in Cornwall. The rocks presented in this line are chalk, sandstone, oolite or freestone, lias or argillaceous and magnesian limestone, red sandstone, mountain lime stone or secondary marble, slate, greenstone, serpentine, and granite. The latter frequently penetrates the slaty veins, and is itself pervaded by greenstone.' Proceeding from London northwards towards the Scotch border, the order of stratification is reversed, and, traversing a highly interesting series of secondary rocks, we arrive in Cumberland at some of the primitive series, This second section (in his plate) commences with the coal strata, and limestone resting upon slate and granite in Cumberland, and thence proceeds towards the metropolis by Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Leices tershire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. The passage is here exhibited, from the primary rocks of Cumberland, to the secondary hills of the southern counties. shows the grit and sandstone containing coal, which lies upon the mountain limestone of Derbyshire, which rock is singularly penetrated by toadstone. In Leicestershire slate and granite again occur, and are succeeded by red sandstone, lias, oolite, sandstone, and chalk, upon which the blue clay of Middlesex is deposited, and of which the valley of the Thames in that county, principally consists. The whole arrangement is such as to include the highest and oldest rocks upon the west side of England, forming a chain extending from the Land's End in Cornwall, to Cumberland, and thence to the northern extremity of Scotland. So that the length of Great Britain, and its general shape, appear in a considerable degree dependent upon this chain of mountainous land, and upon two lower ridges, which extend in one direction from Devonshire, through Dorsetshire, Hampshire, and Sussex, into Kent; and, in another, nearly from the same point, to the east of Yorkshire. several places by plains and rivers, giving rise to so many chasms in the great chain. On the subjec. of the secondary or flatz formations of Werner, Mr. Weaver, a pupil of this great geologist, thus exhibits the confirmation which his theory receives from the geology of Great Britain. 'It follows, from the whole of these premises, that the flatz formations of Werner strictly commence with the old red sand-stone of England: and not, as has been stated, with the new or calcareous conglomerate. It follows, also, that the charge of confusion in the views of that naturalist is obviated, and that so far from the flatz formations which came under his consideration having been few in number, they comprehended th whole series, from the old red sandstone up to the chalk, and above the chalk, gravel, sand, clay, wood-coal, and the newest fleetz trap formation. His arrangement of formations in Germany is, when duly construed, quite in accordance with their succession in the British Isles. There is no hiatus. We travel from the primary to the transition, and thence through the whole series of the flatz: in which last, let it be observed, that, though the carboniferous series be less fully displayed, yet other formations are in much greater force in Germany, and afford a greater variety of character than is to be found in the British Isles; and here we may perceive the compensating power of nature. 'I have, therefore, yet to learn that more modern enquiries have at all invalidated the ge neral positions of Werner. His grand outlines of the structure of the globe remain unshaken, from the fundamental granite up to the newest flatz trap. The labors of his followers, and of other geologists pursuing a similar path, have tended more and more to fill up those outlines. The Comparative View of flatz formations, which I submitted to the public in the Annals of Philosophy, October 1821, is consistent with the main positions of Werner, though, from the mode of considering them, there may seem to be some difference: this however is rather apparent than real. It arises from the following circumIt stances:-1. In the carboniferous series, producing the limestone and the coal as distinct formations, while Werner considered them only as members of his first flætz sandstone, or rothe todtliegende formation: 2. In like manner, in the gypseous and saliferous series, producing the weissliegende or calcareous conglomerate as a distinct formation; while, by Friesleben and others, it is included in the magnesian limestone formation: 3. As a consequence of the foregoing, in considering the magnesian limestone as be longing to the second flatz series: and, 4. From distributing the floetz formations into four principal series, founded, as I conceive, on natural distinctions; namely, on their relative position in the order of succession, their mineralogical characters, the organic remains which they respectively contain, and the mutual affinities of the formations which constitute each series or group. In this view there is no real incongruity; for, in fact, had the carboniferous limestone appeared in force in the north of Germany, it certainly would have been designated by Werner as the The western ridge is broken in upon in first flætz limestone; and this according to the established method of that naturalist, who, in arranging the mineral masses of the globe, was led to distribute the predominant into principal formations, and the incidental into subordinate. Bearing this in mind, the carboniferous limestone would have been his first flatz limestone formation; and, as a necessary consequence, the magnesian limestone would have become his second flatz limestone. The whole difference, therefore, is a mere question of enumeration. In conclusion, I must observe, that, in awarding the meed of praise due to the services of Werner, French writers appear in general to have been more just than the English. Not a few of the latter seem to forget, or not to consider, that, though others might before his time have hit upon the general division of rocks into primary and secondary, yet geology, as a science, had no existence. To Werner belongs, in the first place, the merit of introducing a nicer discrimination in the examination of simple minerals, and of inventing an appropriate language by which they might be described and distinguished, previous to which mineralogical science was quite in its infancy. And, in the second place, to him also belongs the chief merit, not merely of distinguishing and giving names to rocks, but of accurately marking out both the grand distinctions of primary, transition, and flatz classes, and the various principal formations of which those classes consist. If, then, it be the glory of the Saxon to have laid the broad foundations of the edifice, let that of the Briton and Frank be to complete the structure.' It has been long doubted whether a genuine crocodile was ever found among the fossil animals of this country. In 1823, however, this question seems to have been set at rest by a specimen discovered in the alum shale near Whitby. We can only copy the following description from pen of the Rev. George Young, in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal of 1825, and refer the reader to the work for further particulars accompanied by a drawing. the The length of the animal, following the curvature of the spine, is fourteen feet six inches; but in its entire state it must have been about eighteen feet long as the snout is considerably mutilated, and a small portion of the tail also was left in the cliff, owing to the difficulty of extracting the vertebræ. The mutilated state of the snout has been occasioned by its exposure to the atmosphere; in consequence of which successive portions of the muzzle must have been detached, and have dropped down on the beach. Fortunately, another specimen of the head of this animal, having the muzzle complete, is also in the Whitby museum; and it is figured in the drawing, to show the entire length and form of the head. The dimensions of the latter, compared with what we have of the new discovered specimen, show that it has belonged to a specimen only half its size; and hence, to make it correspond with the other, it is drawn on a scale twice as large. The entire head measures two feet three inches; and the imperfect one must, therefore, have been about four feet six inches long; so that, as it now measures only nineteen inches, it must have lost about a yard of its length. The cranium, towards the upper part, is a foot broad in the larger specimen, and halt a foot in the smaller. The orbits of the eyes approach near to each other, and look upwards, as in the recent crocodile. They are much smaller than those of the ichthyosaurus. Behind them are two very deep fossæ, of an oblong form, separated only by a thin septum. Before them, at a short distance, are seen the nostrils; in the position of which the animal differs greatly from the common crocodile, which has its nostrils near the end of the muzzle. The great length of the snout is another point of difference; our fossil animal, being, in this respect, more nearly allied to the gavial. The region of the nostrils being injured in the smaller head, they cannot be discerned; but they are very conspicuous in the larger, and in another head of the same animal, in the collection of Thomas Hinderwell, esq., of Scarborough, published in the Geological Survey of the Yorkshire coast, plate XVI., fig. 2, as the head of an ichthyosaurus. The teeth are small and very numerous, and they are arranged in straight lines, as in the ichthyosaurus, and not in the bending or curved form, in which those of the recent crocodile are placed. 'The discovery of this valuable relic of a former world, is not only highly interesting of itself,' says Mr. Young, but serves to throw light on other discoveries. When the geological survey of the Yorkshire coast was published, I was inclined to think that no genuine crocodile had been found in our alumshale; but that the fossil animals, so called, had all been fishes, or marine animals furnished with fins; except, perhaps, a few very imperfect specimens. But on comparing this new discovered animal with the one found by Messrs. Chapman and Wooler, in January, 1758, described and figured in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. i., in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxx., and in the Scarborough Catalogue, it would appear that both animals have belonged to one family, and probably to one species, as the head and vertebræ (as far as can be ascertained from Wooler's incorrect drawing), seem to correspond, and as the gentlemen who discovered the animal of 1758 assure us that they observed part of an os femoris, with other bones belonging to a quadruped. The fossil animal of 1791, found between Staiths and Runswick, as noticed in the Geological Survey, p. 263, appears to have been another crocodile.' Professor Buckland's description of the cave at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, supposed to contain bones of numerous hyænas, is also a recent contribution to the geology of Great Britain. The professor considers these as establishing the fact that these animals were once natives of this country. The first thing that is observed on entering the cavern is a sediment of argillaceous and slightly micaceous mud, covering the whole of its bottom to the average depth of about a foot, and concealing the actual floor. Upon advancing some way into the cave, the roof and sides are partially studded and cased over with a coating of stalactite, which descends to the sur face of the mud, and forms over it a plate or crust, spreading horizontally over its surface like ice over a surface of water. The thickness and quantity of this crust varied with that on the roof and sides, in some places covering the mud entirely, when the stalactite on the sides was most abundant, and in other places being totally wanting, both in the roof and the surface of the mud. A great part of this crust had been destroyed in digging up the mud to extract the bones; but professor Buckland saw several places where the stalactitic crust was very thick, and formed a continuous bridge across the mud. In some cases insulated stalagmites, have been formed on the surface of the sediments by drops from the roof, but they are commonly not larger Upon first removing the mud the bottom of the cave was strewed all over like a dog-kennel, from end to end, with hundreds of teeth and bones, or rather broken and splintered fragments of the bones of all the animals above enumerated. They were found most abundantly near its mouth; those of the larger animals, such as the elephant, rhinoceros, &c., occurring as extensively as all the rest, even in the inmost and smallest recesses. With the exception of the hard and solid bones, scarcely a single bone has escaped fracture; and in some of them marks may be traced, which, on applying one to the other, appear exactly to fit the form of the canine teeth of the hyænas that occur in the cave. From this comminuted and gnawed condition of the bones, professor Buckland concludes that the cave at Kirkdale had been inhabited during a long succession of years as a den, by hyænas, who had dragged into its recesses the other animal bodies whose remains are found mixed with their own. This conjecture received a very interesting confirmation from the discovery made by professor Buckland, of many small balls of the solid calcareous excrement of an animal than a cow's pap, the name by which the workmen distinguish them. The bones have been found enclosed in the stalagmites, formed before the introduction of the mud, but principally in the lower part of the sediment. A few perfect bones have been obtained, but most of them are broken into small angular fragments and chips, lying separately in the mud, whilst others are wholly or partially invested with stalactite. The action of this mud in preserving the bones from decomposition is very remarkable, and professor Buckland found that almost the whole of their gelatine was preserved. The following table will show the nature of the bones which have been discovered, and the animals to which they have belonged that had fed on bones. This substance was at first sight recognised by the keeper of the menagerie at Exeter Change, as resembling, both in form and appearance, the faces of the Cape hyæna which was greedy of bones beyond all other beasts under his care. As the bones of the hyænas are as much broken to pieces as those of the other animals, professor Buckland likewise infers, that the carcases even of the hyenas themselves have been eaten by the survivors. The modern hyæna is about one-third smaller than the fossil animal. 5. The state of the arts in Great Britain requires some further attention than we have as yet bestowed upon the subject. While the continental nations were cultivating the imitative arts, England was engaged with those more solid pursuits of science which became the basis of her modern fame, and manufactures. Then arose her Newton, her Boyle, and her Locke; then were founded her Royal Society and various kindred institutions, all of which have fostered her genius for the application of science to practical life. In no country have equally laborious and persevering effects been made to abridge labor, produce superior articles |