ZURICH is the name of a town, and of a lake on the borders of which it is situated, in Switzerland, as also of the Canton which contains both the town and the lake. The Canton of Zurich is at the north-west part of Switzerland, and adjoins the Duchy of Baden: it contains about a thousand square miles, and a quarter of a million inhabitants. Its surface presents a pleasant alternation of hill and valley; but not many of those magnificent scenes which distinguish many parts of Switzerland. The climate is mild, and the soil fertile and well cultivated. Rich pastures and extensive orchards abound, together with fine tracts of wooded country. Corn, wine, cattle, butter, cheese, cotton, silk. linen, woollen, and leather, are the chief products, agricultural and manufacturing. The inhabitants are of German origin, and, with the exception of two societies, are Calvinists. The Government was formerly a mixture of the aristocratic and the democratic; but it was remodelled in 1831, by which the legislative power was vested in a council of two hundred and twelve members, twenty five of whom formed an executive council, and court of final appeal. Large estates are sometimes to be bought; but smaller ones very rarely, because every one in possession of a few acres of land, hopes some day or other to build a house upon his property. A tenth of the produce is claimed by the government in the form of taxes. In this Canton, as well as in some others in Switzerland, every individual is obliged by law to insure his house; the sum paid for which is, however, very trifling,-ten shillings for one thousand pounds. The Lake of Zurich is one of the most picturesque and beautiful in Switzerland. It extends, in the form of a crescent, chiefly through the Canton of Zurich, but partly also between those of Schweitz and St. Gall, It is divided into two parts by the Strait of Rapperswyl, a quarter of a mile over, crossed by a bridge: in other places the breadth varies to nearly five miles; and the length is about thirty. The lake is surrounded by a populous and well cultivated country, and the prospects on its banks are richly varied. Behind and above the hills which enclose it, loftier summits rise gradually higher and higher, till the eye finally rests on the glaciers of Glarus, Schweitz, and the Grisons. The lake, for several hundred yards from its banks, is seldom more than from six to twelve feet deep it teems with fish, which, owing to the extreme clearness of the water, are seen in all their number and variety. The Lake of Zurich has been termed the Winandermere of Switzerland. The town of Zurich is one of the most important in Switzerland. It is situated on the river Limmat, at the north extremity of the lake, and in a narrow valley between hills; its distance from Constance being 36 miles, and from Berne 55. Its situation is exceedingly pleasing, although the houses of the town itself are old-fashioned. Few places of the size of Zurich, and of its limited population (14,000), have surpassed it in the cultivation of literature. For five centuries it has been a town of literary distinction, and has numbered among its natives the names of Conrad Gesner, Solomon Gesner (the author of the Death of Abel), John James Gesner, Lavater, Hirzel, and Pestalozzi. The city library contains as many as seventy thousand volumes, as well as portraits of all the chief magistrates of the place. 490 Among other public buildings in the place are, a school for deaf and dumb, a school for the blind, a society of physics, economics, and natural history, a military school, a medical seminary, &c. The tower of Wellenberg is situated in the middle of the river Limmat, and is used as a felons' prison: in former times it enclosed within its walls, the Count Hans de Habsbourgh, the Count of Rapperschwyl, and many other important state prisoners. There is an academy of artists; an academy of music; a society called the Swiss Society of Public Utility; and several schools for teaching languages. There are two newspapers published in Zurich, one appearing weekly, the other twice a week; and there is also a monthly literary journal. Almost every town and city has some record of by-gone days which is cherished by the inhabitants, and shown to visitors as the "lion" of the place. One such lion at Zurich is the bow of William Tell. A recent tourist says: Among other places pointed out to strangers as worthy of notice, I visited the Arsenal, where one may receive a lesson of humility, in attempting to wield the swords, and to carry the armour, borne by the warriors of other days. I of course handled the bow said to be the bow of William Tell; and the identical arrow that pierced the apple is also shown. I cannot conceive of what materials the sinews of that distinguished patriot were made; for the degenerate men of our time are obliged to use a machine, with the power of the lever, to draw the cord even half way to the point at which the arrow is discharged. There is a vast collection of ancient armour preserved, and modern equipments for more than all the able-bodied men in the Canton. In the cultivation of their land, the inhabitants of Zurich are spoken of in high terms by travellers. It is impossible to look at their fields, gardens, hedges, trees, flowers, or domestic vegetables without perceiving proofs of the extreme care and industry that are bestowed upon the cultivation of the soil. If, for example, a path leads through or by the side of a field of grain, the corn is not, as in England, permitted to hang over the path, exposed to be pulled up or trodden down by every passer by: it is everywhere bounded by a fence; stakes are placed at intervals of about a yard, and boughs of trees are passed longitudinally between them. In the gardens, which around Zurich are extremely large, the most punctilious care is evinced in every production that grows. The vegetables are planted with great accuracy; and neither weeds nor stones are to be seen among them. Plants are not earthed up, as with us, but are planted in a small hollow, into each of which a little manure is put, and each plant is watered daily. Where seeds are sown, the earth directly above is broken into the finest powder. Every shrub, every flower, is tied to a stake, and where there is wall fruit, a trellice is erected against the wall, to which the boughs are fastened. Zurich is an exceedingly industrious place. The field labourer frequently works from four in the morning till eight in the evening; and the townspeople also seem to care very little about amusements; for there is neither theatre, public concerts, nor balls indeed dancing, from what certainly appears an ultra solicitude for the preservation of morals, is not permitted in any part of the Canton, unless by special permission of the government; and this is almost always refused. In order that the pleasure of a dance may be enjoyed without incurring certain penalties, a given number of persons must subscribe a paper declaratory of their intentions. This is handed to the council; and it is for them to decide whether or no it shall be granted; but it is said that a refusal is generally the result. But although there is little of what we call public amusement, there is a good deal of visiting among the inhabitants; consisting either of dinner parties, to which relations only are invited, and which take place at stated times in each other's houses; or else of soirées, which have, however, a different character from similar meetings in France and England, for while there is tea and talk for the ladies, there is tobacco and talk for the gentlemen, as the two sexes do not mingle together on such occasions. One favourite pursuit of the Zurichers is, after having earned a fortune by industry, to build a country-house on the borders of the lake. Most of the villas which adorn the lake, and which exceed in number and beauty those surrounding any other of the Swiss lakes, are erected as pleasure-houses by the townspeople. The suburbs also, on every side of the town, are studded with handsome residences. There are many pleasant promenades in the neighbourhood of the town; one in particular called the walk of Gesner. The language spoken at Zurich is a very imperfect patois, but good German is everywhere understood; and the French and English languages also form part of a good education. It is melancholy, however to readers accustomed to the simple rites of the English Church, to think that such a beautiful spot should be the abode of superstition. There is, in the Canton of Schweitz, to the south of that of Zurich, a place called Einsiedeln, to which pilgrimages are made every year by the Roman Catholic inhabitants of Switzerland. Mr. Inglis, in his journey through Switzerland, thus speaks of the first sight that met his eye on entering Zurich :→→→ The quay of Zurich was crowded with a host of miserable looking beings, whose dress and aspect at once distinguished them from the inhabitants of the canton. They were mostly women; their hats were of bright yellow straw; their garments, a union of rags; a scrip, with seemingly scanty provision, hung over the shoulder of each; and in the hand of each was a rosary. Several boats were preparing to receive them; and they were soon, to the number of at least a hundred, disposed in the different boats, and were immediately rowed down the lake. These were pilgrims,-poor misguided, deceived pilgrims, who were on their way to the church of our Lady, at Einsiedeln, in the canton of Schweitz, to pay their adoration to a miraculous image of the Virgin, and to receive absolution. They had, many of them, come from distant parts of France, Germany, and even Belgium. They had left home and friends, and what to them were doubtless comforts, to journey upon foot some hundreds of miles, and to spend upon this pilgrimage the saving of years. Those nave a heavy account to answer, who have aided the delusion of these miserable devotees. Again, the same writer observes : Scarcely a day passed while I resided at the lake-side, upon which one or more boats were not seen filled with pilgrims on their way to Einsiedeln. A monstrous muttering of prayer came over the water, according ill with the smiling scenery around, and the glorious sunshine that lighted them on their way, and in strange and disagreeable contrast with the Swiss echo-song which had just arisen from a boat freighted with light hearts, and with the notes of a sweet pipe floating from the opposite shore. Boats laden with pilgrims passed from, as well as to, Einsiedeln ; but the laugh and the jest, instead of the prayer, were heard among them; for they had bowed at the shrine of our lady, and had no more occasion for prayer! It may not be out of place briefly to state the nature of this pilgrim-place. A church situated at the small village of Einsiedeln is said, by a bull published by Pope Leo VIII., to have been consecrated by God himself. The Bishop of Constance, in the year 948, was about to consecrate a chapel to the Virgin Mary, when he suddenly heard angels in the air chanting the very same prayer which is chanted when bishops are accustomed to consecrate churches. The bishop thereupon refused to consecrate the chapel, at which the people were enraged, and while they were expostulating with him they heard a clear voice saying, "Cease, my brethren, it is divinely consecrated!" at which all the people marvelled, and were convinced. Such is the legend promulgated by those in authority; after which, "who can be surprised," as Mr. Inglis remarks, "that the credulous and ignorant should need little incitement to make a pilgrimage to Einsiedeln ?" One thing is certain, that the convent and church at Einsiedeln are most magnificent, contrasting strangely with the mean hamlet in which they are situated. The convent is of the Benedictine order, with about fifty resident friars. The sleeping rooms of the brethren are comfortable, and simply fitted up with two chairs and a mattrass on a bedstead; but the eating room is large and magnificent. The church of the convent is gorgeously decorated with gilding, paintings, marble, &c.; there being not a foot of either walls or roof without some kind of adornment. But the great attraction of the church, that to which the devotees direct their wandering steps, is the Holy chapel, containing the miraculous image of the Virgin. The chapel is of black and gray marble, and stands within the church; and in a niche in this chapel, erected for the purpose, is deposited the image; and at all hours of the day, from the earliest dawn till deep twilight, hundreds may at all times be seen prostrated before the iron gate, through which the devotee may catch a glimpse of the object of his pilgrimage. While Mr. Inglis was in the town, he saw a procession of the pilgrims. Preceded by banners, and the other emblems of the Romish church, and by all the inmates of the abbey, among whom appeared two friars of the order of Capuchins, with hair-shirts and sandals, were seen all the pilgrims then congregated at Einsiedeln. The men walked first two and two, and the women followed, the number of the whole being upwards of 8000. After the procession had made a considerable circuit, it entered the church, where a discourse was preached by one of the Capuchins. We cannot conclude this paper without expressing regret that so beautiful and luxuriant a land should be the scene of such mis-applied zeal, and mis-spent time and money. WILL-O'-THE-WISP. I HAD the pleasure of seeing that remarkable and interesting phenomenon called ignis fatuus or Will-o'-the-Wisp, on the night of the 31st of December 1839, in two meadows and a stubble field, about a mile from Powick Village, near the Upton road. I had for several nights before been on the look out there for it, but was told by the inhabitants of the house that previously to that night it was too cold. I noticed it from one of the upper windows intermittingly for about half-an-hour, between ten and eleven o'clock, at the distance of from one to two hundred yards off me. Sometimes it was only like a flash in the pan on the ground; at other times it rose up several feet and fell to the earth, and became extinguished; and many times it proceeded horizontally from fifty to one hundred yards with an undulating motion, like the flight of the laughing woodpecker, and about as rapid; and once or twice it proceeded with considerable rapidity in a straight line upon or close to the ground. The light of these ignes fatui was very clear and strong, much bluer than that of a candle, and very like that of an electric spark, and three or four of them looked larger and as bright as the star Sirius; of course they look dim when seen in ground fogs, but there was not any fog on the night in question; there was however a muddy closeness in the atmosphere, and at the same time a considerable breeze from the south-west. Those Will-o'-the-wisps which shot horizontally invariably proceeded before the wind towards the north-east. On the day before, namely, the 30th of Dec., there was a white frost in the morning; but as the sun rose behind a heavily (as we anticipated) in the evening; and from this mantle of very red and beautifully stratified clouds, it rained circumstance I judged that I should see the phenomenon in question on the next night, agreeably to all the evidence I had before collected upon that subject. On the night of the 1st Jan. 1840, I saw only a few flashes on the ground at the same place; but on the next night (the wind still blowing from the south-west) I not only saw several ignes fatui rise up occasionally in the same locality many feet high, and fall again to the ground, but at about eight o'clock two very beautiful ones rose together a little more than one hundred yards from me, and about fifty yards apart from each other. The one ascended several yards high, and then fell to the ground in the shape of an arch and vanished. The other proceeded in an horizontal direction for about fifty yards towards the north-east, in the same undulating and rapid manner as I have before described. I and others immediately ran to the spot, but did not see any light during our stay there. Both these nights were starlight, with detached clouds, and, rather warm, but no fog. On the night of the 3rd Jan. the atmosphere was occasionally thick, but there was not any wind or fog, nor the slightest appearance of the phenomenon. I did not observe any lightning during the whole of these observations, which were made by others of the house as well as myself. ་ I am of opinion that these are electric meteors which rise in exhalations from out of the earth, particularly in the winter season, and that they occur principally if not entirely a day or two after considerable rain, and a change from a comparative cold to a comparative warm temperature. The number of pilgrims who visited Einsiedeln are stated to have been, in 1817, 114,000; in 1821, 124,000; in 1822, 132,000; in 1824, 150,000; in 1825, 162,000; in 1828, 176,000. The revenues of the abbey are said to be very large; for, independently of the sums paid for masses, besides contributions of other kinds, they receive a large accession from the benedictions bestowed upon rosaries, crosses, and images. Thousands and tens of thousands of these are bought by the pilgrims, and are carried to the abbé, who, for the kiss bestowed upon each, receives one, two or more francs, according to the means of the possessor. Many of the pilgrims are the representatives of others, who, for various reasons, [Letter from Mr. J. ALLIES, in the Worcestershire Chronicle.] may not be able to attend in person at the shrine, and who therefore placed their offerings in the hands of Ir is very remarkable that two favourite and ingenious their neighbours. Mr. Inglis, in another part of apologues prevailed among the heathen philosophers of Switzerland, met with a woman whose reputation antiquity, both of them having reference to the introduction for sanctity was so great, that she had obtained the of evil by the acquisition of knowledge, and which would appointment of representative at the shrine of the scriptural narrative at the fall of our first parents. The seem to have been suggested to their inventors by the Virgin at Einsiedeln, for all the wealthy people in the beautiful fable of the guilty curiosity and subsequent commune in which she lived; she made four pilgrim-wanderings of Psyche, until her final reconciliation with ages every year on their account. In the square in front of the abbey booths are erected on every side, with shops full of a gaudy display of trinkets, rosaries, books, crucifixes, prints of saints, popes, martyrs, images of the Virgin, and other emblems of the Romish church. These were all purchased in large numbers by the pilgrims. her divine husband; and that of Prometheus, particularly as it is given in the terribly splendid drama of Æschylus; each of them clearly point to this important fact. If not actually derived from Scripture, they, at all events, show by their remarkable coincidence with one another, and with the Mosaic history, that the hypothesis to which they refer is a correct inference from the philosophy of morals.—SHUT TLEWORTH THE HYDROSTATIC PRESS. THERE are but few principles in Mechanical Philosophy which have led to more valuable applications in the manufacturing arts than that fundamental law of Hyarostatics known as the equal pressure of liquids in every direction. This at first sight may appear erroneous, as we know that if water be contained in an open cup or basin, it presses downwards on the bottom of the vessel, but does not appear to press upwards, and therefore that the pressure is not equal in every direction. But this difficulty will disappear, when we consider the question in a more general point of view. A liquid holds a medium position between a solid and an air or gas. A solid is composed of particles clinging or cohering so closely together, that force of some kind is necessary to separate them. An air or gas, on the other hand, is composed of particles which have so little coherence, that in order to retain or keep them together, we must confine or press them: thus, if an ounce of air at the surface of the earth fill a certain bulk, it will fill a larger bulk when at an elevation above the earth, because it is less confined or pressed by superincumbent air when it is thus elevated. The atoms of air, in fact, repel one another. Water, and liquids generally, are formed of particles which have no repulsion, and scarcely any attraction, for one another, but they are free to move in every direction, by the slightest force. This is manifested in the simple act of putting the finger into a vessel of water: no difficulty exists in so doing; the particles of water, pressed by the finger, instantly yield, and diffuse themselves between and among the surrounding particles, leaving room for the finger. But here is developed a most important truth, which is indeed the foundation of the whole science,—that although the particles are perfectly free to move among themselves, they are for all common results incompressible, that is, a given quantity of water can scarcely be compressed into a smaller bulk. This power of resisting compression is so great that it required delicate experiments to determine whether water was not absolutely incompressible. Some experiments made by Mr. Perkins seemed to show, that when a small quantity of water was compressed by a power of thirteen hundred pounds, it was reduced,th in bulk, that is, that that which before filled twenty-seven measures, now filled only twenty-six. But supposing the experiment to be correct, the compression is so very trifling, compared with the force employed, that it is scarcely incorrect, in common language, to call liquids incompressible. Let us now see what results will follow from these two properties: first, that the particles of a fluid move freely among one another; second, that they are, taken collectively, almost incompressible. So long as a fluid is contained in an open vessel, no pressure is perceptible but that resulting from gravity, which tends to confine the fluid to the bottom of the vessel. No upward pressure whatever is perceptible. But let the vessel be completely filled and firmly closed, and a new power is then just beginning to show itself. Suppose we have a cubical vessel, measuring one foot in every direction, closed on all sides, but having a square tube, an inch in diameter, inserted in the top. The vessel may be filled with water, by pouring it down this tube, and so long as the quantity of water is just within one cubic foot, the vessel will not be completely filled: there will be a little empty space just beneath the cover. But when once the cubic foot of water has been poured in, and the vessel is quite full, we have the first beginning of a pressure which will show itself upwards and sideways, as well as downwards. On pouring a little more water down the tube, the pressure instantly commences. The vessel We will hold 12x12x12=1721 cubic inches of water, and no more, and if only one single inch above that quantity be poured down the tube it will remain in the tube. If we continue pouring water in the tube to the height of twelve inches, the refusal of the vessel to contain more than a given quantity still exists. have not changed the quantity of water in the vessel, but have merely added to the height of that in the tube. But let us mark what other power is meanwhile brought into action. Is the water in the vessel in the same condition as before the additional water was poured into the tube? Far from it: the quantity is the same, but every atom is as it were in a state of constraint. That particular part of the vessel where the tube is fixed, has twelve inches more height of water than any other part. What is the consequence? That the downward gravitating force is twice as much there as in any other part, and the lower particles of water have to bear the weight of those that are above them. But as the particles cannot be forced closer together, this additional pressure then directs itself laterally, because as the particles are free to move among one another, they cannot and do not remain at rest, if there happen to be a pressure greater on one side of them than on another. Thus the pressure gets communicated from particle to particle, until the whole body of water feels it: they all remain at the same mutual distances as before, but they all feel the effects of that pressure which the water in the tube makes in that of the vessel. Now the amount of this pressure leads to some very curious results. The particles forming every square inch in any part of the liquid are pressed, and press in their turn, with the same force as the water in the tube presses on that directly beneath it; consequently the top and sides of the vessel are pressed in the same proportion; or, every square inch of the surface of the vessel experiences a bursting pressure, equal to the pressure of the water in the tube on that in the vessel. It is not difficult to determine what this pressure is; for the downward pressure of the water in the tube is but another name for the weight of it the water is twelve inches high and one inch in diameter; and the amount is therefore twelve cubic inches, which weigh about seven ounces. Every square inch of the vessel, therefore, is pressed outwards by a force of seven ounces, equal to 63 lbs. on each of the six surfaces forming the cubical vessel, or 378 lbs. in the whole. We hence see that the pres.. sure, when viewed in this light, is really very formidable; and it is one of those examples of the law, which have led to its being called the Hydrostatic paradox: seven inches of water produce a pressure of 378 lbs! But the term paradox is not properly applied here, since by tracing the operation of the law of equal pressure, we see how directly the effect just stated will follow from it:-equal pressure to equal surfaces does not seem paradoxical, and yet it is but another way of expressing the result to which we have arrived. 63 lbs.; the top was therefore pressed upwards with that force. Now if there could be any contrivance by which the top of the vessel would be moveable upwards, without letting out the water, and if there were sixty pounds weight placed on the top, it would still be forced up because the pressure from within is greater than that from without. Seven ounces of water in the tube would. therefore actually elevate 60 lbs. weight. But in order to produce a pressure powerful enough to be available for many processes in the arts, either the size of the vessel must be much increased, the diameter of the tube much diminished, or the water made to stand higher in the tube. All these methods have some defects, and it is therefore important to avail ourselves of the fact, that pressure of any kind, acting on a small surface of the water in the vessel, will be felt equally at all other parts; so that seven ounces pressure, effected by a piston or any other means, would be as available as the water in the tube. As the kind of pressure induced by a forcing pump is very great, we have thus an almost unlimited supply of power The reader will now be in a condition to understand the action of a hydrostatic press, of which a cut is here given, representing a vertical section of the instrument. At A is a small cistern, or reservoir of water, into which dips the lower end of the pipe of a small forcing pump. This pipe may either have an open end, or, as in the figure, may have several small perforations, through which the water may flow from the cistern into the interior of the pipe. At the part of the pipe near в is a valve opening upwards, and above that is a continuation of the pipe, with a solid piston working vertically in it. This piston is connected by its rod with a handle, which is worked in the usual manner of a pump. A lateral tube springs from the part between the valve and the piston, and after bending upwards, terminates at the valve D. Above this is a hollow cylinder, with a solid piston working water-tight in it. This piston acts by the intervention of a shaft or pillar E, on a stout beam F, so that when the piston rises the beam or platform F rises also. These being the positions of the several parts, the action is as follows. The water is at the same height in the pipe as in the cistern. But on raising the small piston, the air contained between the two valves and the piston becomes rarified: the valve at в opens in order that the air may equalize itself throughout the tube, and a little water rises in the tube. After a few strokes of the piston, the water has risen above the valve B, and fills the lateral pipe leading to D. The remarkable hydrostatic pressure now begins to show itself. On pressing down the piston again, the water cannot descend into the cistern, because the valve в opens only upwards: it therefore opens the valve D, and gets into the larger cylinder or pipe. A few more strokes of the piston brings the water in contact with the large piston in the cylinder after this, every effort to press down the small piston operates in pressing up the larger one, and the amount of this upward pressure depends on the comparative dimensions of the two pistons. If the smaller one is one inch in diameter, and the larger six inches, it presents thirty-six times as much square surface, every inch of which is pressed upwards with the same force as the small piston is pressed downwards. Now, if the piston be pressed down with the force of 20 lbs., (an inconsiderable force with such a leverage as a pump handle affords,) the large piston will be pressed upwards with a force of 20 x 36 720 lbs.; so that if F were the lower board of a press, it would act on the body between it and the upper board with a force of 720 lbs. When once the principle of a machine is well understood, improvements in the details may be expected. Mr. Bramah has availed himself of the beautiful hydrostatic law which we have been considering, to construct a press, the power of which is so extraordinary, that a mere statement of it, without explaining the principles on which it rests, would scarcely be credited. The small pipe of the forcing pump is frequently about half an inch in diameter, and of the cylinder twelve inches, so that a section of the large piston contains 576 times as large a surface as a section of the smaller cylinder. The pump is so strongly made, that a force of one ton may be applied to the handle, so that the small piston is pressed down with that force, and the larger piston is pressed up with a force of five hundred and seventy-six tons. We merely give this statement in figures, to show more clearly the power of the instrument. The actual power produced may be in any ratio we please,-limited only by the strength of the materials of which the press is made. We have seen a bar of iron cut through by a Bramah press not much exceeding a foot dimensions in each direction. In a future paper on Bandana Handkerchiefs, we shall have an opportunity of seeing one of the many instances of the valuable employment of the power produced by hydrostatic pressure. THE sober stillness of the night |