without its limits." At Athens there was a separate | market called the "oil market," and a small trade was carried on in the fruit itself, for, according to a law in force, "all olives are exportable, but other fruits are not; so that the archon shall openly curse the persons that exported them, or else be fined 100 drachmas," (31. 4s. 7d.) The oil and unripe fruit in a pickled state are chiefly brought to England from Languedoc, Leghorn, and Naples; the best oil is from Leghorn, and the best pickles from Genoa and Marseilles. The Ionian islands are very rich in oil. The average product of the harvest of Zante is from 4400 to 4500 barrels, and that of Corfu in 1835 was reckoned at 80,000 or 100,000 barrels, and was valued at 2,000,000 dollars; but it must be observed that the trees bear well only every second year, and 1835 was the productive year. Strangers visiting the Ionian islands in Autumn are apt to think that currants are the chief produce, as at that time the whole of the country is engaged in the currant harvest, and the ports are crowded with vessels anxious to obtain the first fresh fruit. The trade in oil, however, is the most valuable, but as it is carried on constantly, and the oil is quietly embarked all the year round, it does not come so directly under the notice of strangers. The process of expressing the oil is very interesting. Before the invention of mills it was obtained by pounding the fruit in a mortar; in Exodus xxvii. 20, we read of "pure olive-oil beaten for the light." It was also obtained by treading them with the feet in the same way as they crush grapes in many places at the present day, as at Xeres in Spain for our sherry wine; so in Micah vi. 15, "Thou shalt tread the olives;" but the feet appear to have been armed with metallic shoes; "Let him dip his foot in oil; thy shoes shall be iron and brass."-Deut. xxxiii. 24, 25. To illustrate the preparation of oil, as it is carried on at the present day, we shall conclude with a description of some Olive-mills at Athens. About half a mile from Athens, on the road to the port, and on the skirts of the great Olive-grove, are a row of low cottages built of mud, but not ill-looking, in which may be seen the rude and simple machinery which constitutes their olive-mills. They commence work about the beginning of November. Some of the fruit falls of itself before the season commences, and is either trodden under foot or washed away by the rains; but when there is a sufficient quantity ripe, the trees are well beaten, and the Olives are picked up from amongst the grass by women and children, and collected into small sacks. These are balanced on each side of an ass or mule, and carried at once to the proprietor of the mill, with whom the fruit is bartered for a certain quantity of oil. The proportion of fruit for oil depends upon the abundance of the harvest, and the period of the season; the fruit that is first gathered being dry, and unproductive compared with that collected later in the season, which swells even till it bursts, and lets the oil run away. At the beginning of the season of 1835, 28 occas* of fruit were exchanged for 5 occas of oil, or nearly three gallons; but later in the season, only 24 occas, or even less, were given for the same quantity. The weighing of the little sacks as they come in is not the least curious part of the ceremony. The countryman not placing implicit confidence in the master of the machines, invariably brings his own scales with him, while the latter pays the same deference to the honesty of the other by weighing a second time with his scales, and it is not considered etiquette for the buyer to stand very near the sack for fear he should be tempted to give it a slight lift upwards with his foot. One sack weighed 53 occas, and another after that 46 occas. The fruit is now shot out into a large square bin, in a corner of the building, like wheat in a granary, and close to this bin is the little mill for crushing chines are of two kinds, the one in common use has only one stone attached to a perpendicular beam which rotates with it. A horse is attached by traces to a horizontal pole which runs through the centre of the stone, and to a stick on the other side by a rein ingeniously tightened, so that the horse most unwillingly pulls itself along when once the machine is set in motion. The improved machine has two smaller stones further removed from the central beam, which does not rotate with them, but is made fast to the roof of the building. These are much more effective than the other as they describe larger circles, but require more moving power. The object of the mill is only to crush the Olives, no oil what- | ever being expressed. A sufficient quantity of fruit being thrown in from the bin at hand, the machine is set in motion, and a man goes before the horse, with a long pole armed with iron, to push the fruit in the path of the wheel. After a few rounds, about two gallons of boiling water is poured in to assist the action of the stone, and more added as required, till the whole mass acquires the consistence of a coarse paste. It is now put into a large jar and carried to the press, where one of the men kneads it with more hot water into a thinner paste, and as often as he fills the shallow dish before him, empties it upon a square cloth of the same coarse and thick material as the capotes or cloaks of the country, and of such strength as to bear the greatest power of the press without bursting. Another man immediately forms the paste with his hands into a square flat mass, folds up the cloth neatly, ties it with a string attached to each, and places it in the press before him, and so on to the number of sixteen or seventeen. The press is now turned down by means of a hand-lever, and when more power is required, a rope is carried from the lever to an upright rotary beam at some little distance, which two men turn round with great rapidity; this part is very amusing. The men make it rather a sport than work, and there is almost a snake-like elegance in their large halfclad and swarthy limbs, as they chase each other round the central beam with extraordinary velocity. The effects of their labour are soon seen. The oil and water run down the sides of the pile of cloths in crimson rivulets into the trough before the press, which, though rudely hewn out of one log of wood, is constructed upon the knowledge of the relative specific gravities of oil and water. It is divided into two parts by a partition that does not come to the top of the trough, but is about two inches below the level of the sides, so that when the oil and water run together into one part, it allows the oil, which is lighter than the water, and consequently floats on the surface, to flow over into the other division of the trough, while the water sinks to the bottom and is conveyed away by a pipe carried upwards on the outside, to the level at which they wish to maintain the water within the trough. When the press is screwed down as far as possible, it is loosened; hot water is thrown upon the pile to wash off any oil that may remain upon the cloths, which are now removed and the paste within kneaded, but without unfolding the cloths. More boiling water is poured upon each, and they are again placed in the press, to be again removed to undergo for a third time the same operations, till no oil remains. In this manner twenty-eight occas of fruit produce eight, nine, or ten occas of oil. The water takes up most of the colouring matter of the fruit, and flows away from the cottages like rivulets of blood, dyeing the ground for some little distance of a deep and beautiful crimson. The refuse of the fruit comes from the press in square hardish masses, that are placed before the fire, where they soon become quite dry, and serve for fuel to heat the water that is so constantly required in the various processes. The oil, which is of a beautiful light-green colour, is removed from the trough into a large jar close to the press, and after depositing any water or dirt, is poured into skins, having the hair upon the inside. These are weighed before being carried away to the proprietor's house; a common sized one weighed sixty occas. At the proprietor's house it is poured into large earthenware jars, four or five feet in height, which are let into the ground, so that the short necks are alone seen above the surface. Here it remains for at least two months, till all impurities are deposited, but it still retains a greenish colour, never seen in the oil consumed in England, and which makes it less offensive to the prejudices of those unaccustomed to its use, as it appears more like, what it really is, an agreeable vegetable juice, rather than a gross animal oil. Sometimes the supply of oil falls short, as was the case in November, 1835, when there was scarcely any old oil to be purchased in or near Athens. In November, 1834, the old oil sold for one drachma (rather more than 84d.) an occa (34 pints), but at the same time in the following year, the same quantity could scarcely be bought for 2 drachmas (about 1s. 83d.) The presses were consequently crowded with purchasers, but the new oil is almost unfit for the purposes of burning, as it gives a most wretched light. To keep a press and mill in constant work, to receive the fruit, send away the oil, and attend to the coppers for boiling the water, requires six men. These are paid in oil; it is, in fact, but one continued series of bartering, fruit for oil, and oil for labour, till the produce is carried into the city to be retailed, but the oil being of universal use makes it a most convenient medium of exchange. The above description answers to the method by which oil is prepared in all parts of Greece and the Ionian Islands, and does not materially differ from the same operations as performed throughout Southern Europe. The fresh ripe fruit eaten with bread is by no means unpleasant, and when preserved by being sprinkled with salt, is almost the only food allowed to the poorer Greeks during Lent. The oil too enters into all their dishes, nor are they satisfied with it in the pure inodorous and nearly insipid state that we obtain it in this country, but prefer it, especially the lower classes, after it has acquired a rank odour and rancid taste. I have known Greek servants, when offered fish that had been fried in fresh oil, to suit the fastidious palate of an Englishman, refuse to eat it until they had given it a flavour, by cooking it over again with their own rancid oil; but the decided preference that, under similar circumstances, a Chinese would show for castor oil is still more peculiar. It is, however, to be regretted, that a prejudice against pure olive oil exists at our own tables, for, when taken in small quantities, especially with vegetables, its use is as natural, and its effects as salutary, as those of melted butter are artificial and pernicious. G. F. F. THE SEASONS. I. WINTER. THE changes of the seasons, and the varied phenomena consequent thereon, is a subject well deserv accuracy, an accuracy which has no parallel in the computations of time, and distance, and magnitude, which occur in the ordinary affairs of life. The moon, as being our nearest neighbour in the ing the most patient investigation. We believe, how-regions of space, has in all ages been an object of ever, that there is no department of human know- peculiar interest and of unwearying observation ledge, interesting and instructive as it is, respecting chimerical, that we find it difficult to believe in the giving occasion, however, to opinions so wild and which a greater degree of error prevails. Almost everything relating to the weather, to the alternations of heat sanity of those by whom they were promulgated. It and cold, to the origin of dew and rain, hail, snow, is unquestionable that the moon exercises a specific frost, and storms, is encumbered with popular errors. influence over the atmosphere and the ocean; but it Many of these errors are of great antiquity, and may that its influence is equally extraordinary upon the has also been asserted, and is very generally believed, be traced to defective information respecting what, in the present day, are considered some of the most animal creation; and particularly upon the bodies simple laws of nature. Other errors originated in and minds of mankind, those affected by mental the absurd rites and superstitions of idolatry; whilst derangement having thereby acquired the name of a third class, and that probably the most numerous, is the offspring of the pretended science of astrology, which, to the credit of the present times, is rapidly falling into the contempt it always merited. lunatics. From this subject; respecting which, however, it must be There are some very curious facts connected with confessed that our knowledge is exceedingly limited. As most appropriate to the period of the year in The most we can do is carefully to note the effects; which we are writing, we shall endeavour to explain the testimony of those who have paid attention to such the cause is at present veiled in uncertainty. some of the causes and the effects of the atmosphe-matters, it would seem that the moon-beams possess rical changes commonly incident to WINTER, which by their constant recurrence are rendered familiar, but which on that very account are probably less attentively studied, and less perfectly understood than other phenomena which happen at longer and more uncertain intervals. First of all, let us notice the lowness of temperature, or the coldness of the weather, which is the most remarkable characteristic of Winter. There is no fact in philosophy more satisfactorily established, than that the atmosphere which surrounds the earth, is the medium through which the Creator and Preserver of the universe displays the ordinary operations of his providence towards that portion of his dominions, which is allotted to man for a temporary habitation. The air, in which, as in a seamless garment, our planet is enveloped, and which accompanies it in its diurnal and annual revolutions, is generally supposed to be about 45 miles in height. This elevation, great as it may appear when compared with that of our highest mountains, or the greatest altitude attained by the balloon, (44 miles,) is not equal to one-eightieth part of the earth's semidiameter. If we suppose the dark line in the annexed figure to indicate a part of the earth's surface, the faint line will denote the extreme limits of the atmosphere as already mentioned, the proportions being about one-twentieth of an inch on a globe of eight inches in diameter. It can hardly be doubted, that the sun (independently of its heating and light-giving properties,) the moon, the planets, and comets also, exercise some kind of influence upon our globe, which, as we may reasonably imagine, bears a direct proportion to the relative sizes, distances, and movements of the respective bodies. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine what is the precise character of the mutual influences which we suppose to subsist among the members of that system to which the earth belongs. Nor ought this to be matter of surprise. We may rather wonder that so much is known, respecting bodies so remote. By the aids of modern science, the sizes, distances, and periodical revolutions of the planets, and their attendant satellites, have been ascertained with almost incredible noticed that so late in the Spring as April and May, a cold-producing agency. In France it has been the leaves and buds of plants, exposed to the full moon, on a clear night, have been frozen, whilst the temperature of the surrounding air has been several and especially on board ship, instances have fredegrees above the freezing point. In warm climates, quently occurred, where persons who incautiously, or the face exposed to the moon's rays, have had their through ignorance, have slept in the open air with muscles distorted, their mouths drawn awry, and their sight seriously injured. In some cases these others, the individuals thus exposed, have sustained effects have remained for several months; and in a temporary loss of reason; resembling those labouring under the stupefying effects of narcotic poisons. It ought to be known that fish, which are hung out of doors to dry, if placed in moon-light are thereby rendered unwholesome. It may not be so in every case; but on several occasions we have witfish which had been so exposed. One case we renessed the most alarming symptoms result from eating member in which a whole family, consisting of six persons, was placed in imminent danger from the cause just mentioned. referred to, and which are supposed to depend on the Many other effects, equally remarkable as those moon's influence, could be enumerated; but these hints must here suffice. It has been stated that the periodical changes peculiar to the different climates of the earth, are effected through the agency of the atmosphere; but in this important work it performs only the part of an auxiliary; the sun, as the source of light and heat, being the primary cause of those changes.— And let it not be supposed that the relative intensity of the sun's rays, or, in other words, their heating property, as experienced at different periods of the year, is occasioned by the earth's nearer approach to, or greater distance from, the sun. Strange as it may appear, the earth, during the period of Winter in this country, is many millions of miles nearer the sun than it is in Summer. Other causes operate, therefore, in producing the variations of temperature on which the aspects of the seasons depend; and the principal of these is the position of the earth with reference to the direction of the sun's rays, and as a consequence of that position, the alternate increase and decrease of the period of day-light. It cannot escape the notice of the most superficial observer, that, from the 21st of December until the 21st of June, the arc in the heavens described by the sun gradually enlarges; that luminary rising earlier and setting later in proportion as the space it occupies above the horizon increases. Arrived at its extreme northern boundary, the sun, from day to day, rises more towards the south, and on the 21st of December its return to the north recommences. A fact we must not omit here to mention, will be required for the illustration of succeeding parts of our subject. We allude to the periods of the highest and lowest temperatures; which do not occur just when the sun has reached its respective southern and northern limits; but in both cases about four or five weeks afterwards. Thus, the warmest weather generally happens in July or August, and the coldest in January or February. It will be understood that in speaking as we have done of the sun, we have been describing appearances only. The earth is the body actually in motion, whilst the sun is stationary; and the apparent advance and retirement of the sun through a certain portion of the heavens is occasioned by the earth's motion in the contrary direction. works on a hinge, is intended to exclude as much light as possible from the surface of the ground-glass; and when the instrument is in use it is brought down halfway to B. The rays of light from an object placed at N, pass through the lens G, and reaching the looking-glass H are reflected upwards on the ground-glass L, and an image of the object is seen on its upper surface. This image may be traced with a black-lead pencil, but it is almost impossible to transfer it from the glass. To obviate this inconvenience, Sir D. Brewster recommends the employment of a partially opaque varnish to the surface of a piece of smooth glass. This varnish can be marked with the finest lines of a pencil, and an impression of the sketch conveyed to paper, by slightly pressing it on the drawing with the hand: one of the simplest and the best of the varnishes he used was that of skimmed milk, perfectly freed of all remains of cream. Another form is the following:-the frame-work of this Camera Obscura is made of thin mahogany, Fig. 3. THE CAMERA OBSCURA. THE Camera Obscura, or dark chamber, is an optical instrument, for the purpose of making drawings of objects, which was invented rather earlier than the telescope. If a room be made entirely dark, and a convex lens of two or three feet focus be placed in a hole in the shutter, a beautiful image of all the objects before will be formed in the room behind it, and this image may be received on a sheet of white paper held behind it, but the image will necessarily be reversed. Suppose A, Fig. 1, to be the object, c the shutter, with the lens in the centre, and в the image received on a white screen. If it is required to trace the outline of this pic B Fig. 1. ture a different arrangement must be made. The most usual form in which the Camera Obscura is made on a small scale is the following: A, B, C, D, is a Fig. 2. small oblong mahogany box, with the side removed to show the internal arrangement; a smaller box, EF, slides easily in and out at one end. In the end of this box, at G, a convex lens is placed, whose focus is rather greater than the length of the larger box. His a looking-glass placed at an angle of forty-five degrees with respect to the bottom of the box: that is, if a perpendicular line were drawn from I to K, D, B, K, I, would form a square on the top of the box at L, a square piece of ground glass is placed. The cover M, which and so contrived as to fold up; the inside of this, and of all these instruments, must be painted black. A is the mirror, в the lens, c a white surface on which the image is received; the draughtsman passes his head through an opening on one side, and his hand with the pencil through another, a green curtain surrounding him to exclude the light. When a Camera Obscura is intended to allow several persons to see the picture at the same time, it is made on a large scale, and great care is taken in preparing the table on which the picture is to be received. The outer portion of the image transmitted by the lens when thrown upon a flat surface, is always distorted, especially when the table is large. remedy this in some degree, the table is hollowed out like a saucer, the curve being decided by that of the lens itself: thus, A being the centre of the circle which forms the outline of the lens, B will form also the centre of the intended curve of the table; according to this rule, there fore, the curve CD would represent a section of a table adapted to receive the picture through a lens of the same curvature as B. Το Fig. 4. There is a very excellent table of this description in the Camera Obscura in the Observatory at Clifton, near Bristol. LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS PRICE SIXPENCE. Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE CITY OF ROME. PART VII. THE BATHS OF TITUS. "THIS name," says Dr. Burton, "by no means answers to the immensity of the building which once covered great part of the Esquiline Hill, and should more properly be styled the Palace of Titus. This is, in fact, the name which Pliny gives to it." The present ruins extend from the base of the Esquiline Hill near the Coliseum, to one of its summits at the Church of SS. Martino e Silvestro, and to another at S. Pietro in Vincoli. The site is, to a great extent, occupied by gardens, in various parts of which are to be seen fragments, all once belonging to the same great edifice. The house of Mecenas had previously stood on the same spot, to which, indeed, the Golden House of Nero had extended from the Palatine Hill. Titus employed the materials of both of these edifices, and even of VOL. XII. some entire parts, in constructing his baths; this fact is abundantly shown by certain irregularities which the present ruins display. A number of apartments belonging to the baths, were discovered in the sixteenth century; they had lain hidden for centuries under a mass of ruins. It is said that Raffael studied their fresco ornaments, and imitated them in painting the ceiling of the Vatican; and he is accused of having had the rooms filled up again that his thefts might not be discovered. It is certain that they were open in his time, and that they were subsequently filled up; and appearances seem to justify the supposition that they were filled up purposely, and not by the gradual accumulation of soil. But there are other modes of accounting for the filling up, without charging it upon Raffael; the owners of the land, may have wished to clear it for the purposes of cultivation, and these subterranean chambers 363 |