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habitants. The furface here is hilly, though none are of great height, afford ing excellent fheep pafture. The total rent is above 3000l. Sterling. The rivers Borthwick and Ale take their rife on the borders of this parish, and are well ftored with excellent trout.

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HAWICK. This is a very extenfive parith, being upwards of 15 miles in length, and 4 in breadth, containing about 2920 inhabitants. The whole is hilly, but thefe not of a great height. The rivers Tiviot and Slitridge furround the town. The foil on the banks of thefe is a light loam upon fand or gravel. The hills afford excellent pafture for fheep, being almoft all covered with grafs. There is little natural wood here. The total rent is about 28ool. Sterling per annum. The town is in a very thriving condition, in which there are 2320 inhabitants. It enjoys all the privileges of a royal burgh, excepting ⚫that of voting for a reprefentative to parJiament. The manufactures of carpets, stockings, and narrow cloths, are carried on with great fpirit*. Veftiges of camps and fortifications are to be feen, in many parts over the country. Tho' there be plenty of marl here, it is not generally used as a manure.

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value of the fruit is calculated at 300k yearly. There are two chalybeate fprings in the neighbourhood, and abundance of fandstone,Still higher up the country we find 574

CAVERS, a very extensive parish, upwards of 20 miles long, and from 7 to 2 broad, containing 1.300 inhabitants. The furface is hilly; from the top of the Wip both eaft and weft feas are feen. The rivers Tiviot, and Rule run through it; on the banks of which the foil is rich, producing wheat and all kinds of grain; it rents from 15s. to 30s. per acre. The land rent of the

whole is about 4700l. Sterling. The remains of ancient fortifications may be traced, and occafionally. Roman urns, coins, &c. are dug up here.

KIRKTON. This parish extends from eaft to weft about 8 miles, its breadth is from 1 to 2, and contains about 340 inhabitants. The furface is uneven, and moftly hilly; the foil is dry and gra velly, producing, in whole, about 1000ol. per anuum of land rent. There is a great deficiency of timber in this quarter, which gives a very bleak and barreu appearance to it.

HOUNAM. This parish is 9 or 10 miles long, and about 6 broad, and contains only 365 inhabitants, yielding about 4cool. Sterling per annum. It is of a hilly and mountainous afpect, affording fine fheep pafture. the highest of the border hills, the Cheviot excepted.

Hounam Law is

JEDBURGH, a very extenfive parifh, about 13 miles long, and 6 or 7 broad, containing about 3000 inhabitants. The greater part of this parish is hilly; on the flat ground and banks of the river Jed, which runs through the parish, the foil is a light loam, and very productive. OXNAM. This parish is upwards of The hill part rents at from 3s. to 5s. 9 miles long, and from 2 to 4 broad, per acre; the arable lands from 10s. to containing nearly 700 inhabitants. The 20s. per acre. Many veftiges of artifi- general appearance is bleak and hilly, cial caves are pointed out on the banks with few or no inclofures. The low of the Jed; they were ufed as hiding grounds are tolerably productive, renting places in the time of the border wars. from 10s. to zos. the patture ground The town is a royal burgh, and plea- about 3s. per acre, producing in whole fantly fituated in a glen. The orchards about 36701. Sterling per annum. and gardens in and about the town are The rivers, Jed, Oxnam, Coquet, and iamous for excellent pears; the medium, Kail, all water this parish, and are • The first winnowing machine, or corn- well stocked with trout; but there is fanner, was invented and made by Andrew little or no wood to vary the fcenery Roger, a farmer in this parish, an. 1737d and delight the eye. There are here

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the veftiges of military operations. Part which runs through the middle of the of the Roman Causeway, which runs parish, is a deep loam; towards the from St Bofwells to Borough-bridge, high ground it is light and gravelly. in Yorkshire, may be traced. Here The land rent is nearly 2500l. Sterare seen, too, the ruins of the Tower of ling. Crailing is very pleafantly fitua Dolphington, and of fome other forts. ted near the bottom of the tract called There is limeftone on the banks of the Tiviotdale, that extends from Hawick Jed water, but the distance from coal to Kelfo, along which the scenery is has probably prevented its being wrought. various, beautifully adorned with gentleSOUTHDEAN. This parish is about men's feats. 12 miles long, and the greater part 7 miles broad, containing about 715 inhabitants. The greater part of the parifh is in pafture, though not very hilly. The river Jed runs through it. As in, the other parishes on the English border, tumuli, veftiges of camps, and ruins of towers, &c. are confpicuous. There is abundance of fandstone and limeftone in this parish, but no coal. There is alfo a fine quarry of micaceous rock, which is used for chimney grates.

HOBKIRK parish is of an oblong form, 12 miles in length, and about 3 where broadeft, containing 700 inhabitants. The foil on the banks of the river Rule, is, in general, a deep ftrong clay, but light and gravelly as it approaches the hills. The land-rent is a bout 28351. Sterling. The two hills of Fann and Winbrough are of confider. able height, but we do not know that they have been accurately measured. The turnpike road to Newcastle runs through the parish. From the fummit of Winbrough both the east and west feas are feen, though equidiftant from each about 40 miles. On the lands of Sir G. Elliot of Stobs, and of Harro, there are lime-kilns a-going. At a place called Robert's Linn, there is a whin rock, from which beautiful peebles are dug, and filiceous crystals have been found in the bed of the river. General Elliot, (Lord Heathfield,) the late gallant governor of Gibralter was born in this parish.

ECFORD parish is about 6 miles long, and 4 broad, containing nearly 950 inhabitants, yielding of land-rent about 3700l. Sterling per annum. The rivers Tiviot and Kail run through it. The general appearance is flat with fmall rifing grounds. The foil upon the banks of the Tiviot, is, in general, a light loam; the high grounds are heathy, but almost all are brought into tillage, excepting Caverton Edge, referved for race ground. There are two marl pits in this parish. Freeftone is in abundance, and there is flate in the bed of Kail water.

SPROUSTON. This parish is 6 miles long and 4 broad, containing about 1000 inhabitants. The furface is, on the whole, flat, particularly on the banks of the Tweed, but rises a little to the south. The whole may be called a good foil, but the banks of the river are very rich and fertile. The land rent is about4350l. Sterling per annum.-On the eaftern extremity of this county, lies the parish of

LINTON, about 9 miles long and 3 broad, containing about 380 inhabitants. The furface is various; the foil in the flats is rich, and the higher grounds are well fuited for turnip husbandry, which is much followed, and well understood in this part of the country. The rental is about 2120l. Sterling per annum ; and the average rent per acre, for land in tillage, is one guinea. There are two small lochs in this parish, the one CRAILING parish is of a circular abounding with trout, the other with form, about 4 miles in diameter, and eels. The water of Kail runs through contains about 670 inhabitants. The it. foil, upon the banks of the Tiviot

(To be continued.)

ON

ON THE NATURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE SUN
AND FIXED STARS.

BY WILLIAM HERSCHEL, LL. D. F. R. S. READ AT THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
AMONG the celestial bodies, the
fun is certainly the first which fhould
attract our notice. It is a fountain of
light that illuminates the world! it is
the caufe of that heat which maintains
the productive power of nature, and
makes the earth a fit habitation for man!
it is the central body of the planetary
fyftem; and what renders a knowledge
of its nature ftill more interefting to us
is, that the numberlefs ftars which com-
pose the universe, appear, by the ftrict-
eft analogy, to be fimilar bodies. Their
innate light is fo intenfe, that it reaches
the eye of the obferver from the remot-
eft regions of space, and forcibly claims
his notice.

Now, if we are convinced that an inquiry into the nature and properties of the fun is highly worthy of our notice, we may alfo, with great fatisfaction, reflect on the confiderable progrefs that has already been made in our knowledge of this eminent body. It would require a long detail to enumerate all the various discoveries which have been made on this fubject; I fhall therefore content myself with giving only the moft capital of them.

From the particulars here enumerated, it is fufficiently obvious, that we have already a very clear idea of the vaft importance, and powerful influence of the fun on its planetary system. And if we add to this the beneficent effects we feel on this globe from the diffusion of the folar rays; and confider that, by well traced analogies, the fame effects have been proved to take place on other planets of this fyftem; I should not wonder if we were induced to think, that nothing remained to be added in order to complete our knowledge: and yet it. will not be difficult to fhew, that we are ftill very ignorant, at least with regard to the internal construction of the fun. The various conjectures which have been formed on this fubject, are evident marks of the uncertainty under which we have hitherto laboured.

The dark spots in the fun, for inftance, have been fuppofed to be folid bodies involving very near its furface. They have been conjectured to be the smoke of volcanoes, or the fcum float ing upon an ocean of fluid matter. They have also been taken for clouds. They were explained to be opaque maffes, Sir Ifaac Newton has fhewn, that the fwimming in the fluid matter of the fun, fun, by its attractive power, retains the dipping down occafionally. It has been planets of our fystem in their orbits. fuppofed that a fiery liquid furrounded He has alfo pointed out the method the fun, and that, by its ebbing and whereby the quantity of matter it con- flowing, the highest parts of it were octains may be accurately determined. Dr cafionally uncovered, and appeared unBradley has affigned the velocity of the der the shape of dark spots; and that, folar light with a degree of precifion by the return of this fiery liquid, they exceeding our utmost expectation. Ga- were again covered, and in that manlilco, Scheiner, Hevelius, Caffini, and ner fucceffively affumed different phases. others, have afcertained the rotation of The fun itself has been called a globe. the fun upon its axis, and determined of fire, though perhaps metaphorically. the pofition of its equator. By means The wafte it would undergo by a grasa of the tranfit of Venus over the difc of dual confumption, on the fuppofition of the fun, our mathematicians have cal- its being ignited, has been ingeniously culated its distance from the earth; its calculated. And in the fame point of real diameter and magnitude; the dep- view, its immenfe power of heating the fity of the matter of which it is com- bodies of fuch comets as draw very near pofed; and the fall of heavy bodies on to it, has been affigned. its furface. The bright fpots, or faculæ, have 4 D been

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VOL. LVIII.

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been called clouds of light, and lumi-
nous vapours.
The light of the fun it-
felf has been fuppofed to be directly in
vifible, and not to be perceived unless
by reflection; though the proofs, which
are brought in fupport of that opinion,
feem to me to amount to no more than
what is fufficiently evident, that we can-
got fee when rays of light do not enter
the eye.

But it is time to profit by the many valuable obfervations that we are now in poffeffion of. A lift of fucceffive eminent aftronomers may be named, from Galileo down to the prefent time, who have furnished us with materials for examination.

to be divided into parts. The largest of the two, on the 19th of April, meafured '8",06 in diameter, which is equal, in length, to more than 31,000 miles. Both together must certainly have extended above 50,000.

per

The idea of its being occafioned by a volcanic explofion, violently driving away a fiery fluid, which on its return would gradually fill up the vacancy, and thus restore the fun, in that place, to its former fplendour, ought to be reject ed on many accounts. To mention only one, the great extent of the spot is very unfavourable to that fuppofition. Indeed a much lefs violent and lefs nicious cause may be affigned, to acIn fupporting the ideas I fhall pro- count for all the appearances of the spot. pofe in this paper, with regard to the When we fee a dark belt near the equaphyfical conftruction of the fan, I have tor of the planet Jupiter, we do not reavailed myself of the labours of all these cur to earthquakes and volcanoes for its aftronomers; but have been induced origin. An atmosphere, with its natu thereto only by my own actual obfervation of the folar phænomena; which, befide verifying thofe particulars that had been already obferved, gave me fuch views of the folar regions as led to the foundation of a very rational fyftem. For, having the advantage of former obfervations, my lateft reviews of the body of the fun were immediately direct ed to the most effential points; and the work was by this means facilitated, and contracted into a pretty narrow compafs.

The following is a fhort abftract of my obfervations on the fun, to which I have joined the confequences I now be lieve myself entitled to draw from them. When all the reafonings on the several phænomena are put together, and a few additional arguments, taken from analogy, which I fhall alfo add, are properly confidered, it will be found, that a general conclufion may be made, which feems to throw a confiderable light upon our prefent fubject.

In the year 1770, there was a fpot on the fun which was large enough to be feen with the naked eye. By a view of it with a feven feet reflector, charged with a very high power, it appeared

ral changes, will explain fuch belts. Our fpot in the fun may be accounted for on the fame principles. The earth is furrounded by an atmosphere, compofed of various elaftic fluids. The fun alfo has its atmosphere, and if fome of the fluids which enter into its compofition fhould be of a fhining brilliancy, in the manner that will be explained hereafter, while others are merely transparent, any temporary caufe which may remove the lucid fluid will permit us to fee the body of the fun through the transparent ones. If an obferver were placed on the moon, he would fee the folid body of our earth only in those places where the tranfparent fluids of out atmosphere would permit him. In others, the opaque vapours would reflect the light of the fun, without permitting his view to penetrate to the furface of our globe. He would probably also find, that our planet had occafionally fome fhining fluids in its atmofphere; as not unlikely, fome of our northern lights might not escape his notice, if they happened in the unenlightened part of the earth, and were feen by him in his long dark night. Nay, we have pretty good reafon to believe,

that

the moon..

that probably all the planets emit light may be explained by a gentle and grain fome degree; for the illumination dual removing of the fhining fluid, which remains on the moon in a total which permits us to fee the globe of the eclipfe cannot be entirely afcribed to the fun. As to the uncommon appearance Jight which may reach it by the refraction of the broadeft margin being on that of the earth's atmosphere. For inftance, fide of the fpot which was fartheft from in the eclipse of the moon which hap- the limb when the fpot came near the pened October 22. 1790, the rays of edge of it, we may furmife, that the the fun, refracted by the atmosphere of fun has inequalities on its furface, which the earth toward the moon, admitting may poffibly be the cause of it. For, the mean horizontal refraction to be when mountainous countries are ex30′ 50′′,8, would meet in a focus above pofed, if it fhould chance that the high189,000 miles beyond the moon; fo eft parts of the landicape are fituated fo that confequently there could be no il as to be near that fide of the margin, lumination from rays refracted by our or penumbra of the fpot, which is toatmosphere. It is, however, not im- ward the limb, it may partly intercept probable, that about the polar regions our view of it, when the fpot is feen of the earth there may be refraction very obliquely. This would require enough to bring off the folar rays to a elevations, at least five or fix hundred fhorter focus. The distance of the moon miles high; but confidering the great at the time of the eclipfe would require attraction exerted by the fun upon boa refraction of 54′ 6′′ equal to its hori dies at its furface, and the flow revolu zontal parallax at that time, to bring tion it has upon its axis, we may readithem to a focus fo as to throw light on ly admit inequalities to that amount. From the centrifugal force at the fun's equator, and the weight of bodies at its furface, 1 compute that the power of throwing down a mountain, by the exertion of the former, balanced by the fuperior force of keeping it in its fitua tion of the latter, is near fix and a half. times lefs on the fun than on our equatorial regions and as an elevation fimilar to one of three miles on the earth would not be less than 334 miles on the fun, there can be no doubt but that a mountain much higher would stand very firmly. The little density alfo of In the year 1783, 1 obferved a fine the folar body feems alfo to be in fa large fpot, and followed it up to the vour of its mountains; for, cæteris pariedge of the fun's limb. Here I took bus, dense bodies will fooner come to notice, that the fpot was plainly depref- their level than rare ones. The dif fed below the furface of the fun; and ference in the vanishing of the thelving that it had very broad fhelving fides. fide, inftead of explaining it by mounI alfo fufpected fome part, at least of tains, may alfo, and perhaps more fathe shelving fides to be elevated above tisfactorily, be accounted for from the the furface of the fun; and obferved, real difference of the extent, the arthat, contrary to what ufually happens, the margin of that fide of the fpot, which was fartheft from the limb, was the broadeft.

The unenlightened part of the planet Venus has also been feen by different perfons, and not having a fatellite, thofe regions that are turned from the fun cannot possibly shine by a borrowed light; fo that this faint illumination must denote fome phosphoric quality of the atmosphere of Venus.

In the inftance of our large fpot on the fun, I concluded from appearances that 1 viewed the real folid body of the fun itself, of which we rarely fee more than its fhining atmosphere.

The luminous fhelving fides of a spot

rangement, the height, and the intenfity of the fhining fluid, added to the occafional changes that may happen in thefe particulars, during the time in which the spot approaches to the edge 4 D 2

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