Saturday

No 509.

JUNE

WLEDGE IT

S NOT GOD

Magazine.

6TH, 1840.

THE reader in his visit to the British Museum has probably inspected a gallery of antique marbles which bear the name of ELGIN. It may be interesting to say a few words respecting the origin of this valuable collection.

The Elgin marbles are so named after the Earl of ELGIN, by whom they were recovered from the hands of the Turks, brought to England, sold to the British government, and deposited in the British Museum for the benefit of the public.

These mables are considered by competent judges to be admirable specimens of the excellence of ancient sculpture. They belonged originally to the temple of Minerva Parthenon, and to some other buildings on the citadel of Athens, in Greece. They were executed chiefly by Phidias, a celebrated Athenian sculptor,

about 400 B.C.

To make a collection, therefore, from these marbles, either by bringing away actual specimens, or by taking casts of such as might not be removed, was recommended, at the latter end of the last century, by the most eminent artists of England, as of the highest importance to the arts. It fell to the lot of the Earl of Elgin, the British ambassador at the court of Turkey in the year 1799, to appreciate this recommendation, and to Mr. Harrison, an experienced VOL. XVI

architect, to join in making it. This gentleman, while professionally serving Lord Elgin in Scotland, was consulted by his lordship on the benefits that might possibly be derived to the arts in England, in case an opportunity should be found for studying minutely the architecture and sculpture of ancient Greece. The opinion of Mr. Harrison was, that, though the public was in possession of everything to give them a general knowledge of the remains of ancient Grecian art, yet there was nothing which would convey to artists, particularly to students, that which actual specimen, or representation by cast, would more effectually give them. Therefore, though we might possess exact measurements of the public buildings at Athens, yet a young artist could never form to himself an adequate conception of their minute details, combinations, and general effects, without having before him some such sensible representation as might be conveyed by specimens or casts.

Greatly influenced by such counsel as was thus given, Lord Elgin proposed to his majesty's government, that they should send out English artists of known eminence, capable of collecting information on this subject in the most perfect manner. But the whole affair seemed to be of too indefinite a nature, and the cost of undertaking it too uncertain, for the

509

ministers to recommend it to parliament.

Lord Elgin then endeavoured to engage some of the principal artists in the country to assist him in his views; but the value of their time being beyond his means, the business was dropped for a while.

It was not however the original intention of Lord Elgin to bring away the marbles from their native abode but only to obtain drawings and casts of them. He was however incited to carry away such of the treasures of antiquity as were most valuable, in consequence of observing the very wilful devastation to which all the sculpture, and even the architecture, was daily exposed on the part both of the Turks and travellers; the former influenced both by mischief and by avarice, as well as by a religious feeling, the Mahommedan faith strictly forbidding any sculptured representations of animals; and the latter from the wish to become possessed of some relic of ancient Greece. His lordship was likewise tempted, and enabled, to gratify his wish for removing the marbles, by reason of the increasing amity of our relations with the empire of Turkey,

When Lord Elgin was on his voyage to Constantinople, he touched at Palermo, in Sicily, where Sir William Hamilton was stationed. Upon consulting with Sir William on the subject of the fine arts, he was encouraged by him in his idea of procuring drawings and casts from the sculptures and architecture of Greece, and more particularly from the specimens existing at Athens. By the advice and assistance of Sir William, therefore, Lord Elgin was enabled to engage six of the first artists of Rome, two architects, two modellers, a draftsman, and a painter. When Lord Elgin had obtained, with much difficulty, permission from the Turkish government to establish these six artists at Athens, they systematically prosecuted the business of their several departments during three years, under the general superintendence of Signor Lusieri, the painter.

Accordingly, every monument, of which there are any remains in Athens, has been most carefully and minutely measured, and from the rough drafts of the architects, (all of which are preserved,) finished drawings have been made of the plans, elevations, and details of all the most remarkable objects, the sculpture being restored in the casts with exquisite taste and ability. Accurate drawings have also been made of all the bassi relievi on the several temples, in the precise state of decay and mutilation in which they at present exist. Hence nearly all the characteristic features of architecture in the various monuments at Athens have been moulded, and the moulds of them brought to London. All similar remains, likewise, which could be traced through several parts of Greece, have been measured and delineated with the most scrupulous exactness.

When English influence prevailed at the porte, in the early part of the present century, Lord Elgin's exertions were so successful that he brought to England, from the ruined temples at Athens, from the modern walls and fortifications, in which many fragments had been used as blocks for building, and from excavations in the ruins, such a mass of Athenian sculpture, in statues, alti and bassi relievi*, capitals, cornices, friezes, and columns, as, with the aid of a few of the casts, to present all the sculpture and architecture of any value to the artist or man of taste, which can be traced at Athens.

One of the most considerable difficulties of Lord The terms basso and alto relievo are of modern Italian origin. The former refers to that kind of sculpture in which the figures do not stand out in full proportion: the sculpture is low or flat. In the

Elgin's undertaking, was the removal of the enormous and ponderous pieces of marble, a distance of nearly five miles, from Athens to the port, in a country without roads, without machinery, and without any other resources than manual exertion. He had to convey them to England, to bring them from the outports to London, and to keep them there at a considerable expense. One of his lordship's vessels with marbles was wrecked off Cerigo, an island south of the Morea; but the marbles he recovered with infinite labour, perseverance, and cost. In addition to all this, it is well known that no operations can be conducted in Turkey without the distribution of presents; which are always proportioned to the rank of the parties, and the eagerness or difficulty of the pursuit. So that, while Lord Elgin endeavoured to further his purpose with the chief men at Constantinople, his artists had to purchase the good-will of the persons in authority on the spot, on every occasion when assistance was required.

When Lord Elgin left Turkey in 1803, he dismissed five of the artists, sent home the amount of his collections, and left Lusieri at Athens, to continue such general operations as might tend to make the entire collection more complete.

It was Lord Elgin's first intention that the works of the draftsmen should be engraved for general sale; and that, in order to derive the utmost advantage from the marbles and casts, the mutilated statues, &c., should be restored. For this purpose he went to Rome, to consult and employ Canova, the most eminent sculptor of the day. His decision was conclusive. On examining the specimens shown him, and making himself acquainted with the whole collection, by means of the artists, who had returned to Rome with Lord Elgin, Canova declared that "it would be sacrilege in him or any man to presume to touch them with his chisel." The judgment pronounced by Canova respecting the excellence of the sculpture of the marbles, and the impropriety of attempting to restore them, has been sanctioned by all the chief artists and men of taste of the day. The marbles have been constantly visited and studied by the most eminent painters and sculptors, who testify to the perfection to which the art of sculpture had advanced under Phidias among the ancients. They likewise confess themselves struck with the strict anatomical truth of the designs; their wonderful accuracy, with the great effect of minute detail, and with the life and expression so distinctly produced in every variety of attitude and action. The elder painters and sculptors of the day regretted that they had not possessed, when younger, the opportunity of studying these models, which, in the view of professional men, form the most valuable collection in existence.

In the year 1811, Mr. Perceval was disposed to recommend to parliament the sum of 30,000l. to be given for the collection as it then existed; but the offer was then declined by Lord Elgin, who kept on for some time longer adding to the collection.

In 1815, Lord Elgin, in a petition to the House of Commons, offered to transfer the property of his collection to the public, upon such conditions as the house might deem advisable, after an inquiry upon evidence into its merits and value.

After some debate, the subject was referred to a committee, who came to a unanimous opinion in favour of Lord Elgin's conduct and claims, which opinion was distinctly expressed in the report which was the result of their examination,

After entering into and examining various pecu

places.

with a solution of blue vitriol,
that is, a compound of sul-
phuric acid and oxide of
copper.
A plate of copper
c, and one of zinc z, con-
nected by means of the wire
w are immersed in those
fluids. The zinc decomposes
the salt, with the chlorine of

which it unites, forming A
chloride of zinc, while the
sodium of the salt is repelled,
and passing through the
bladder, enters the solution
of sulphate of copper, which

B

W

N

it decomposes, uniting with the sulphuric acid and oxygen to form sulphate of soda, and setting free pure copper, in the form of beautiful crystals, which are de posited on the plate c. The connecting wire w serves to convey electricity from c to z, and thus the action is maintained so long as any common salt and sulphate of copper remain undecomposed.

The discovery of the method of engraving by means of galvanism is due to Mr. J. Spencer, who in trying some experiments with a voltaic arrangement such as we have described, and being desirous that no action should take place on the conducting wire w, covered it with a sealing. wax varnish, and in doing so dropped a portion of it on the copper plate c. He thought nothing of this circumstance at the time, but set the battery in action. A few days after, on examining the copper plate, he found it covered as usual with copper crystals, except on the part which had been spotted with the drops of varnish, and he at once saw that he had the power to guide the metallic deposition in any desired shape or form, by means of a corresponding application of varnish, or other non-metallic substance.

Mr. Spencer's first attempt was made with a piece of thin copper plate, which he covered with a cement of bees' wax, resin, and Indian, or Calcutta, red. The plate received its coating while hot, and on becoming cool, the experimenter scratched the initials of his name upon the plate, being careful to clear away all the cement from the scratches, so as to expose the copper below. A piece of zinc was attached to this plate, by means of a copper wire, and the voltaic current was set in action by means of the simple apparatus shown in fig. 2.

A

B

A cylindrical glass vessel, A, was filled about half with a saturated solution of sulphate of copper. A common gas glass, B, was stopped at one end with plaster of Paris, to the depth of three quarters of an inch; the plaster of Paris serving the same purpose as the bladder in fig. 1. A solution of sulphate of soda was poured into the gas glass, and the wire connecting the zinc and copper plates being bent, as shown in the figure, the zinc plate was immersed into the solution of sulphate of soda, and the copper plate into the solution of sulphate of copper. In a few hours Mr. Spencer found that the portion of the copper rendered bare by the scratches was coated with the pure bright deposited metal while those portions which were still covered with cement were not acted on. It now became an important inquiry whether the deposition would retain its hold on the plate, and whether it would be of sufficient

solidity to bear working from; that is, supposing an etching or engraving to be made, and the lines to be afterwards filled up with copper by the voltaic process, whether such lines could be printed from.

In order to answer this last question, Mr. Spencer coated with cement a piece of copper, and with a steel point endeavoured to draw lines in the form of net-work, so as to penetrate the cement, and expose the copper. After this plate had been exposed to voltaic action, and then heated, so as to get off the covering of cement, the copper net-work came off with it. This happened many times; but by an accident it occurred to the experimenter to employ nitric acid to the plate, after it had been cemented and engraved on as before. It was then subjected to the voltaic process for forty-eight hours, when the lines were found to be entirely filled with copper. On applying heat, and then turpentine to get off the cement, it was found that the voltaic copper had completely combined with the plate on which it was deposited.

A plate was then coated with cement, and lines worked upon it by an engraver; but these lines were of a wedge-shaped form, leaving only a hair line of the copper exposed at the bottom, and a broad space near the surface; and where the turn of the letters took place, the top edges of the lines were galled and rendered rugged by the action of the graver. All this was objectionable; but another plate, similarly prepared, and engraved on with a sharp point, had the copper deposited on the lines, and this was printed from successfully.

Considerable difficulty was experienced in finding a proper cement, or etching ground. One that seemed best adapted to the purpose, as far as the etching or engraving process was concerned, contained lead, which became deposited on the copper plate, and thus prevented the voltaic copper from uniting with the sheet copper.

Another cement was therefore adopted, consisting of bees' wax, whiting, resin, a small portion of gum, and plaster of Paris. This answered the purpose tolerably well; but by an extended practice Mr. Spencer thinks a better might be obtained.

One of the most important applications of the elec、 trotype (as this new branch of art is called) is the execution of metallic ornaments, either in cameo or intaglio. Now, as no metallic deposition can be made by voltaic electricity without the presence of a metallic nucleus, the difficulty was to remove the coating of voltaic copper from a coin or medal, &c., after it had been deposited.

After many failures, the following plan succeeded. A coin was slightly heated, until it would melt virgin wax; it was then wiped apparently completely off; but a minute film of wax still remained, sufficient to prevent absolute contact between the voltaic copper and the surface of the coin.

The coin was then subjected to the voltaic process for a few days, during which time a thick coating of copper was deposited on its surface. This was taken off by applying the heat of a spirit-lamp to the back of the coin, when a sharp crackling noise took place, the coin was completely loosened, and thus a complete and perfect mould of the coin was procured. By an easy application of the voltaic process, copper was deposited in this mould, (taking care first to cover it with a very thin layer of wax,) and thus impressions were made.

Another method of copying coins was successfully adopted; the coin was placed between two pieces of clean sheet lead, and then subjected to pressure at a screw press. Thus a sharp mould of both sides of the coin was procured, and the voltaic copper was precipitated into this mould. The heat of a spirit lamp ap

plied to the lead was sufficient to release the copper, in consequence of the different expansibility of the two metals when subject to heat.

In taking casts of non-metallic bodies, such as ornaments of wood, clay, plaster of Paris, &c., they were first dipped in oil, or varnish, and a metallic powder was sprinkled over their surfaces, or they were covered with gold or silver leaf. In this way the voltaic copper was readily deposited on them.

In another article we will point out numerous other applications of the electrotype, and supply such information as will enable any of our readers, at a very trifling expense, to procure for themselves correct copies of coins, medals, metallic ornaments, &c.

THE GAD-FLY.

Through waving groves were Selo's torrent flows,
And where, Alborno, thy green Ilex grows,
Myriads of insects flutter in the gloom,
(Estrus in Greece, Asilus named at Rome)
Fierce and of cruel hum. By the dire sound
Driven from the woods and shady glens around,
The universal herds in terror fly:

Their lowings shake woods and shake the sky,
And Negro's arid shore.-VIRGIL.

**

THE term gad-fly has been 'employed to denote the various species of a family of insects, parasitic on horses, oxen, and other animals. These insects much resemble large common flies, but the body is often ornamented with bands of different colours, like the humble bees. The wings are very strong, and in general fully extended; the mouth of the insect, when in its winged state, is nearly obsolete, its place being supplied by three small tubercles, which are not fitted for organs of nutrition. Each species of this remarkable family is confined to its own particular quadruped, and displays much skill in the selection of the fittest spot for the deposition of its eggs.

The animals which have been ascertained as subject to their attacks are the horse, ox, ass, rein-deer, stag, camel, sheep, hare, and rabbit. Although there is reason to believe that the deposition of the eggs is rather annoying than painful to the several animals, yet the degree of terror which the approach of the gadfly produces in them is very great. Horses are much agitated at the sight of it: they toss their heads, and gallop to a distant part of the pasture, in the hope of driving it away, or escaping from its pursuit. This is not, however, to be easily effected: the fly often keeps up with their pace, and follows her victim wherever he goes. His only chance of escape now lies in plunging into the stream, and if there is one at hand, he thus effectually rids himself of the annoyance, for the gad-fly never follows him there. If no water is near, the fly soon finds an opportunity of accomplishing her purpose. Selecting the part where she designs to deposit her egg, she hovers over it for a few seconds, then suddenly darts down and leaves the egg adhering to the hair; this is so rapidly done that she hardly appears to settle, but merely to touch the hair and leave the egg affixed, by means of the glutinous liquor which is secreted with it. She then retires to a short distance from the horse, and prepares another egg which she attaches to the animal in pre

cisely the same way, then another, and so on. Other flies repeat the operation, so that as many as four or five hundred eggs have be en placed on one horse The most wonderful part of this proceeding is that the insect invariably places the eggs on those parts of of the horse's body which are within reach of his tongue. After four or five days these eggs are ready to produce the young worm upon the smallest application of heat, so that when the horse licks that part of skin on which they are deposited, the eggs readily open. Small active worms issue forth, and clinging to the moist surface of the tongue, they are carried with the food into the animal's stomach. Here, in a heat far surpassing that of our warmest climate, these worms attain their full size, and on this taking place, they detach themselves from the hold they had taken within the animal, and are voided by it. They then seek some convenient situation and assume the pupa state, and after six or seven weeks appear in the form of a fly. There are no less than five species which form the torment of horses, and trouble the short repose allowed to this noble animal. In Germany the grooms make use of a particular kind of brush, with which they cleanse the mouths and throats of the horses, and thus free them from these troublesome insects before they are carried into the stomach.

The uneasiness occasioned to the horse by the different species of gad-fly is supposed to arise solely from the irritability occasioned by the deposition of the eggs, for it is maintained by those who have closely studied the subject, that the animal receives no pain from their residence within his stomach. They fasten on the cuticular or insensible coat, and their presence is not found to affect the health of the animal. It is impossible to remove them by medicine, because they reside in a part of the stomach to which medicines are not usually conveyed. This being the case, it would appear useless to take any measures for the removal of these insects, except where they are found on the coat of the horse, where they sometimes come to life, and not adhering to the tongue, so as to be conveyed to their usual destination, crawl about a few days to the great annoyance of the animal, and then die. One species of gad-fly to which the horse is subject, always deposits its eggs on the lips of the animal and is even more distressing to him than those we have just described. It perseveres in its attempts, notwithstanding all the efforts made to avoid it, and often hides in the grass till the horse is grazing tranquilly, when it fastens on the desired situation.

We now come to speak of this insect, as it affects another valuable quadruped, the ox.

The angry gad flies fasten on the herd,
That startling scatters, from the shallow brook,
In search of lavish stream. Tossing the foam,
They scorn the keeper's voice, and scour the plain,
Through all the bright severity of noon;

While, from their labouring breasts, a hollow moan
Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the hills.-THOMSON

The description also given by Kirby and Spence of the appearance of a herd of oxen, under the attack of gad-flies, is true to nature.

At certain seasons, the whole terrified herd, with their tails in the air, or turned upon their backs, or stiffly stretched out in the direction of the spine, gallop about the pastures, making the country re-echo with their lowings, and finding no rest till they get into the water. Their appearance and motions are, at this time, so grotesque, clumsy, and seemingly unnatural, that we are tempted rather to laugh at the poor beasts than to pity them, though evidently in a situation of great terror and distress. fly, (Estrus bovis) less than the horse-bee, the object of cause of all this restlessness and agitation is a small gadwhich, though it be not to bite them, but merely to oviposit in their bides, is not put into execution without giving them considerable pain.

The