second; which agreement with the rule is a proof of the accuracy of the numbers. "Whilst I am upon this subject, I shall take the liberty of cautioning medical gentlemen against an imposition which some, I hope not many, watchmakers practise towards them in the sale of watches; and I the more readily make this caution public, because the health of thousands of individuals is connected with imposition, which is this, that a second-hand, with a stop, and an appropriate face, are sometimes put to a watch, the wheelwork of which is not calculated to indicate seconds. The watch which is the second mention ed in this paper as being in my own possession, is one of this kind; I bought it of a clock-maker, who had it made in town, with his own name enamelled on the face, but unfortunately I kept it too long before its imperfection was discovered, so that I am now under the necessity of using it. Upon enquiry, I found that more of the same kind have been sold to medical gentlemen and others for the purpose of ascertaining the number of pulsations of invalids in a minute, in order that they may be treated accordingly. At first I suspected that the disagreement in the motions of the second and minute hands, which I observed might be owing to some inequality, or shake, as the workmen call it, in the teeth and spaces of the wheelwork; but upon counting the numbers I afterwards detected the real cause; that part of the train which lies between the axle of the centre wheel and the axle of the contrate wheel, on which the hands are placed, viz. 60 X is 8 8 equal to only 56,25 instead of 60, so that 3 seconds are in defect in every minute, which is equal to a whole revolution of the second-hand in every 16 ininutes: hence, if the pulsations of any patient in a fever were really 120 in a minute, the determination by the second-hand of the watch in question would be only 112, consequently the judgment of the physician or apothecary would be proportionably biassed in drawing a conclusion from the pulse upon the state of the fever, and would undoubtedly prescribe medicines accordingly. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the observations here made upon the construction of a watch may, exclusively of philosophical purposes, prove useful in directing the choice of such gentlemen as may have occasion to purchase a stop-watch, and consequently may obviate the description which has hitherto been practised by certain makers and venders of watches." "There is another instrument frequently to be met with, which is capable of various constructions, that will measure smaller portions of time than it is usually made to measure; and which is sufficiently portable for being carried smaller distances: I mean the spring clock, the vibrations of which are regulated by a short pendulum. Out of the many instruments of this kind which I have noticed, I do not remember any one which measures, or, at least, which indicates seconds: I shall, therefore, subjoin such numbers as are proper for a spring clock, that shall indicate seconds, and also * "If a wheel of 64 be substituted for either of those of 60 each, the seconds will be truly indicated.-P." make make a given number of vibrations in a second.-If 39.2 inches be taken as the true length of a pendulum, to swing seconds in our climate, which varies not one-tenth of an inch from the result of Mr. Whitehurst's and George Graham's experiments on the lengths of pendulums, the error in the length of small pendulums, calculated therefrom, will fall within the threads of the adjusting screw at the inferior end of the rod; on which account the lengths, so deduced, may be put down as the true lengths without impropriety : thus, 4 vibrations in a second will require a pen. the second portion, any one of the formulæ given for a watch in the former part of this article, will be proper; but for the last portion, each different pendulum will require different numbers: a pendulum to make 2 vibrations on a second, may have the contrate wheel 24, its pinion 8, and the crown wheel 5; or, otherwise, th_contrate wheel 40, with a pinion of 8, and the crown wheel 15: where the vibrations are 2 in a second, the contrate wheel may be 36, with a pinion of 8, and the crown wheel, as before, 15 : and for exactly two vibrations in a second, the contrate wheel will be required to 2,45 inches long be 32, with a pinion of 8, and 4,35 6,27 7.74 9,8 "The two first of these penduJums appear to be too short to perform with steadiness, and consequently will be considered as unworthy of further notice. The first portion of a train, suitable for any the three last pendulums, for a spring clock to go upwards of a week, may be 84 7 84 8 of x 17 turns on the fusee, 8 96 or X 15turns or × 12 turns or indeed any other similar numbers producing a like result for the crown wheel 15, as in the two last instances. In all these calculations, a hand, placed on the axle of the contrate wheel, will indicate seconds without apparent recoil; and the trains, composed of any of the various portions laid down, will be equally accurate, and admit of many varieties. "If a spring clock is to be used for measuring small portions of time, by the vibrations of its pendulum, which falls not under the description of any of those constructions, the vibrations and fractional parts of a vibration are calculable by the general rule for watches already given." : 1799. OBSERVATION OBSERVATIONS of the MANNERS, HABITS, and NATURAL HISTORY of the ELEPHANT, by JOHN CORSE, Esq. [From the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, for the Year 1799-1 INCE the remotest ages, the elephant, on account of his size, his sagacity, and his wonderful docility, has attracted the notice, and excited the admiration of philosophers and naturalists, both ancient and modern; and few travellers into Asia or Africa have omitted giving some account of him. "A residence, however, of more than ten years, in Tiperah, a province of Bengal, situated at, the eastern extremity of the British dominions in Asia, where herds of elephants are taken every season, afforded me frequent opportunities of observing, not only the methods of taking them but also the habits and manners of this noble animal. "From the year 1792 to 1797, the elephant hunters were entirely under my direction; so that I had it in my power to institute such experiments as I thought likely to discover any particulars, not formerly known, in the natural history of the elepeant. Soon after my arrival at Tiperah, while informing myself of the methods of taking wild elephants, I had occasion to observe, that many errors, relative to the habits and manners of that useful animal, had been stated in the writings of European authors, and countenanced by some of the most approved writers. "The elephant has been declared to possess a sentiment of modesty in a high degree; and, by some, his sagacity was supposed to excite feelings for the loss of liberty, so acute, as to cause him to refuse to propagate his species while in slavery, lest he should entail on his progeny a fate similar to his own; whilst others have asserted, that he lost the power of procreation in the domestic state. "Socircumstanced, I was desirous of taking advantage of my situation, and of making such experiments and observations, as might tend to render more perfect the natural hisof this useful animal. "Early in the year 1789, I gave an account of the methods then used for taking and training wild elephants, to the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, which was published in vol. III. of their Researches ; and the following experiments and observations, made since that period, on the natural history of the elephant, will not, I hope, prove unworthy the attention of the Royal Society. "The young of the elephant, at its birth, is about thirty-five inches high; and, as a knowledge of its progressive growth forms the best criterion by which we can judge of the age of this animal, I shall here note down some observations made on this subject, till the elephant has attained its full size; for, after this period, till signs of old age appear, I do not know any marks by which a tolerable guess can be made of the number of its years, unless we could examine the teeth accurately; and, even then, there would be much uncertainty. "Very erroneous notions have In 5th year In 6th year In 7th year 3 25 4 6 5 0 5 5 5 10 61 6 4 : Except during his 4th and 5th years, the above measurement shows. a gradual decrease in the proportion of growth for every year; and there was no opportunity of tracing the growth of this elephant further than its 7th year. "Another elephant, six feet nine. inches high, at the time she came into my possession, was supposed to be fourteen years old; but, as the accuracy of the hunters cannot be depended on, it will be proper to take Mr. Harris's elephant, whose age is exactly known, as a standard; and judging from its annual increase, this will lead us to consider the elephant, at the time I received her, to be only eleven years old; giving a period of four years for the addition of five inches. I have made a greater allowance of time, on account of this elephant being a female, and Mr. Harris's a male; which there is much reason to believe grows faster. "During the next five years, before she was covered, she grew only six inches; but what is extremely curious, while pregnant, she grew, in twenty-one months, five inches; and, in the following seventeen months, though again pregnant, she grew only half an inch; at which time, she was sent from Comillah, as I was then preparing to leave India. "At this time, she was about nineteen years old, and had perhaps attained her full growth. Her young one was then (Nov. 1796) not twenty months old; yet he was four feet five inches and a half high, having grown eighteen inches since his birth; which is the greatest progressive growth, in the elephant, that I have known. These observations, when applied to the general growth of elephants, are to be taken with some allowance; since during the state of the first pregnancy, there is so great an irregularity in the growth of female elephants, as alone occasions considerable difficulty, even supposing the progressive growth nearly equal in the species. It is probable, however, that this is not by any means equal; for, as elephants vary greatly in size, and as males are generally much taller than females, we must conclude they either grow faster, or are longer in attaining their full growth., Buc it may be safely asserted, that elephants, like most quadrupeds, propagate their, species before they have acquired their full growth. "A male clephant, belonging to the Cudwah Rajah till he was above twenty years of age, continued to increase in height, and was supposed not to have attained his full size, when I leit Tiperah; he was then about twenty-two years old." 12 Many Many females have been known, when taken while pregnant, to have grown several inches higher before delivery; and, as it has been stated, that the female elephant on which my observations were made, could not exceed sixteen years when she received the male, it is probable the wild female elephants are in heat before that period. "If, from the above data, it may be allowed to form a probable conjecture, elephants attain their full size between eighteen and twentyfour years of age. The height of the elephant, I believe, has been generally much exaggerated. India, the height of females is, in general, from seven to eight feet; and that of males, from eight to ten feet, measured at the shoulder. "I have never heard but of one elephant, on good authority, that much exceeded ten feet: this was a male, belonging to Asoph ul Dowlah, the late vizier of Oude. His dimensions, as obligingly communicated to me by Mr. Cherry, then resident at Lucknow, were as follow. "He was measured on the 18th of June, 1796. "From foot to foot, over the shoulder, twenty-two feet ten inches and a half. "From the top of the shoulder, perpendicular height, ten feet six inches. "From the top of the head, when set up, as he ought, to march in state, twelve feet two inches. "From the front of the face to the insertion of the tail, fifteen feet eleven inches. "Captain Sandys, of the Bengal establishment, obligingly shewed me a list of about one hundred and fifty elephants, of which he had the management during the late war with Tippoo Sultam, in Mysore, and not one of them was ten feet, and only a few males nine feet and a half high. I was very particular in ascertaining the height of the elephants employed at Madras, and with the army under marquis Cornwallis, where there were both Ceylon and Bengal elephants; and I have been assured, that those of Ceylon were neither higher, nor superior, in any respect, to those of Bengal; and some officers assert, that they were considerably inferior in point of utility. "The Madras elephants have been said to be from seventeen to twenty feet high; but to show how much the natives of India are inclined to the marvellous, and how liable Europeans themselves are to mistakes, I will relate a circumstance that happened to myself. "Having heard, from several gentlemen who had been at Dacca, that the nabob there had an elephant about fourteen feet high, I was desirous to measure him; especially as I had seen him often myself, during the year 1785, and then supposed him to be above twelve-feet. After being at Tiperah, and having seen many elephants caught, in the years 1786, 1787, and 1788, and finding all of them much inferior in height to what I supposed the nabob's elephant, I went to Dacca in 1789, determined to see this huge animal measured. At first I sent for the driver to ask some questions concerning this elephant; he, without hesitation, assured me he was from ten ta twelve cubits, that is, from fifteen to eighteen feet high; but added he could not, without the nabob's permission, bring me the elephant |
