Ossian Collection > Gentleman's magazine, and historical chronicle > Volume 66, Part 2

> 79*^*1 ^' • Harrington's Remarks on modern aerial Phdofopbsn. 659
_3re, in confequence, more combuflible,
"more oiiy, more enlarged, and more
I repu fi^e to wRter, as they p( (Tefs more
i fixed fire. Cin any thing be plainer
! to us poor terreftriil people, who have
I nothing but realon to direft us, and
\ who do not inhabit this wonderful fly-
! ingifland?
Now, I fhall conclude with another
faft, which. I chink, muft come with-
in the paie uf every man's intelle6\s
(everi oar " friend's"). It is an in-
coiurovcrtible hfS-, that the red are
larger than the black globules ; there-
fore, can it be ferw.tjly fuppofed that,
'by extraflingihat groCs body charcoal,
and alO) inflammsbie air, in iuch quan-
•tiiies from ;he black globules, that
they fliould btcome in confequence
larger, and ie formed into red ones.
Let our Frtnch theorifts weigh this
fail 'with t-btir jcales of reajor.. I cer-
tainly need not enlarge upon it ; but,
I think every man, who is under the
influence of reafon, muft fay they have
received fomething to add to their
bulk, and not loft fuch a grofs body as
charcoal, &c. I would have theCe the-
orifts fed with charcoal, as they fay it
is the principal nourifhment, in order
to leach ihem common fenfe, and to
correft that fooiifli idea, that i: is the
food boih of animals and »egetables.
There aie juft the fame errors and ab-
furditiej ill their application of the
French theory to vegetation, which 1
probably at fome future period may
enlarge upon, AH their boafted publi-
cations upon agriculture, upon the
principles of this theory, are highly
ridiculous; for, let me all- them this
plain queflion, if chircoai has yet been
made either the food of animals or ve-
getables ? Though Mr. Kir.van may
4-efer the experimtnts to apothecaries,
■of making charcoal a manure, yet I
vould refer the expeiiments tohimfelf,
of making it the food of animals, upon
the principle of humanity, that others
may not be poifoned by his eirors.
But I fhall appeal to common lenfe; if
•charcoal is really the nouriflimtnt bi'th
of animals and vegetables, and that it
is it which they both extraft from tiieir
food ; how conies it that they cannot be
fed with it when pure and uncombmed
■(in the ftate of Charcoal)? For, if
their digelUve organs are able to extraft
it from Its chemical combinations with
•other br;dies ; in the name of common
fenle, they certainly ought to digell it,
and lorm it into noanlhment wiien
pure by itfelf. B it, Mr. Kirwan will
fooner be able to command the wind*
than convert charcoal (this vegetable
fulphur, as the immortal Scheele pro-
perly calls it) into nourifliment. But
both attempts are founded in igno-
rance, vsnity, and prtlumption.
But, Mr. Urban, my time, I flatter
myferf, is of too much confequence to
be employed in anfweting the illiberal
attatks of every anonymous writer;
therefore, this fhall be the laft. If
the arguments of any gentleman, who
figns his name to what he writes, de-
ferve attention, I fliall
ily anfwi
them. Niy, I have done every thing
to bring thore,who controvert my the-
ory, to the combat. I have courted,
provoked, challenged, them to it; but
all to no purpole. 1 therefore openly
aflert, that they neither can or dare.
Betore I hid adieu to my friend, let
mc a6f in the office lie has given me.
In virtue of my right, I prophefy, that
the French theory will not outlive the
18th century. And I c^nnnt now help
exclaiming, O tempora! O phllofofhia!
I think it neceliary alCo to mention, that
my fyftem is older than the French
fyftem, as 1 publifhed it in 1781.
Robert Harrington.
P. S. Your E^litor, p. 12, fays, that
aJl acids turn red globules black, but
cream of tartar. But cieam of tartar is
not an acid, but a neuiral fait formed
of the tartareous acid and an alkaline
fait. — My laft letter, p. 107, Ihould
haire been dated July 10, 1795, the day
it w.is fent, though not iiiferted till
February, 1796. R. H.
Mr. Urban, Aug. n.
T BEG, with your leave, to propofea
*- doubt concerning the word ava^v^tiog
in A6ts ill, 19, in our tranflation re-
frejbing ; which does not to me con-
vey a juft idea of St. Pecer's meaning;
and I think our tranfl.jtors (aliow me
the exprcliion) have thrown cold water
upon it. In like manner, Beza tranf-
lates it refrigeratio, fupoofing it, I pre-
fume, derived from the primitive ^vx^^ '»
and Pafor, refrigerano, recreatio, re-
focillatio. There is md-red in St. Luke,
XV'. 24, ncx-Tu-^vxcxi, which Beza has
rendered rfjii^cru, and our tranflators
to cool; both 'ighily, as appears by
the context : but all the other com-
pounds ol the like (bund and letters in
the New Teftament, ss onrosf.-t'pi^aJ, ex-
i/^X.^t '(■i^^'X°^7 ^t^r--X°i) &c. are evi-
dently