contested Pictish question. We shall now, however, consider what may be the real state of the argument.

First, then, it must be admitted, from historical evidence, that there is no proof that any Celtic tribes ever inhabited Shetland. All northern annals prove that this country, in its earliest known state, was the haunt or refuge of the Vikingr or Sea-kings, and that, sailing from such obscure lurkingplaces, they made various piratical descents upon the shores of Britain, France, and other fertile districts of Europe.

Secondly, in contradiction to the supposition of Mr. Chalmers, who must have been strangely misinformed on the subject, stone axes are very abundantly found in Shetland. Hence, these weapons must be Teutonic, and they must have been used either by Saxon or Scandinavian rovers, or perhaps by both of these tribes, there being originally little distinction between them. The real question, then, to be decided is, were such ancient stone axes as are found in the British islands ever used by Celtic as well as Teutonic tribes? On this point I think it may be shown, that military weapons of copper (to which likewise the name of Celts is applied) are most abundantly found in proper Celtic provinces. But the subject is well worth a farther investigation.

Yet if any doubt can still exist that stone axes were really either Scandinavian or Saxon implements of war, it is removed by an extract from an ancient Teutonic romance of the eighth century, to be found in Eccard's Commentaries" de Rebus Franciae Orientalis." This has been reprinted in an interesting work on Northern Antiquities, edited by Mr. Jamieson and Mr. Weber. The passage to which I allude is thus translated: "Then they first let ashen spears fly with rapid force, that they stuck in the shields. Then they thrust together resounding stone axes." The expression stone axes is in the original Staimbort,—a term compounded of such words of later orthography as stein, a stone, and barte, an axe. Hence I have had no hesitation in giving to stone axes the only name by which we find them to be recorded, namely Steinbartes or Staimborts.

There are, however, different forms of steinbartes. One found in England, and described by Whittaker, in his History of Manchester, materially differs from those which form the

subject of the present paper. The blade of Whittaker's stone axe contains an orifice calculated to admit within it a wooden haft, but there is no orifice displayed by the blade of the Shetland Steinbarte; on the contrary, it is itself passed through the aperture of a handle, for which its tapering extremity is adapted. The next question then is, did each different early tribe of Europe use some peculiar shape of a stone-axe, so as, in fact, to form a mark of distinction among Teutonic warriors? I am inclined to believe that this was the case, for the following reason: That in Orkney and Shetland, the stone-axes peculiar to these provinces have an uniform character. As these, therefore, were islands frequented by Scandinavian and Saxon pirates, I have considered that, in whatever country of Europe weapons similar to them might be found, a visitation from the Viking,r, or Sea-kings of the north, is strongly indicated.

Entertaining this view, it has often struck me, that steinbartes possessing this particular shape ought to be found in England, to the fertile coasts of which country the barks of the Northmen were not unfrequently steered. Thus Torfæus remarks of Eric, who lived about the eighth or ninth century, "Hic auctus Hiberniam et inde Bretlendiam seu Cornaviam diripuit, mox successu audacior austrum versus trajiciens, Angliam depopulatus est." I could quote numerous other instances of similar descents on the English shores. The last summer, however, I was agreeably surprised, while making a geological excursion to that part of Lincolnshire which lies near the confluence of the Trent and the Ouse, to learn that stone-axes of precisely the same shape which I had been accustomed to see in Shetland, had been found in several places in that vicinity. This spot, in fact, would, of all others, present a desirable landing place for pirates, as it commands two distinct tracts of country, divided from each other by an unfordable river, but each of which would be assailable by means of sailing vessels. The Humber was likewise the boundary of the kingdoms of Myrcia and Northumberland, which certainly owed their origin to north

ern rovers.

But I dare not continue my speculations any farther on the circumstance of steinbartes being found at Orkney and

5

Shetland as well as near the Humber; being too well aware of the danger of falling into that sort of antiquarian reasoning which has been employed by much graver men than honest Fluellin,-that "there is a river at Macedon, and a river at Monmouth, and that there are salmons in both."

I must, however, remark, that a classification of the various stone axes found in Britain, with a statement of the distinct forms, the particular places in which they have been discovered, and the relics of antiquity found near them, would throw no inconsiderable light on the early annals of our country.

**

The Orkney and Shetland steinbarte alluded to in the foregoing memoir is represented in Plate IX. Fig. 3. Stone blades of this kind are found from four to ten inches in length; their breadth proportionally differing. When the blade of the steinbarte was used, its blunt tapering extremity may be supposed to have been introduced within the perforation made into some wooden or bone haft, and afterwards secured by overlapping cords, formed of thongs of leather, or of the entrails of some animal; twine of hemp not being then in use. This complete state of the Orkney and Shetland steinbarte I have accordingly endeavoured to represent in the engraving.

It has been remarked, that some stone axes of the same form have been, at different times, found near the Humber. One of these was presented to me when I visited Burton Strather, in Lincolnshire, in the course of the last summer. I have also seen a steinbarte of this kind found in another district of England, viz. in Warwickshire.

ART. XVI.-Description of an improved Hair Hygrometer. By M. BABINET.

As the hair hygrometer of M. de Saussure has been almost invariably used by the continental philosophers as the most accurate instrument for measuring the moisture of the air, any real improvement upon it will be regarded by the expeVOL. I. NO. II. OCT. 1824.

Y

rimental philosopher as a valuable acquisition to science. The hygrometer of M. Babinet seems to possess this character in no inconsiderable degree, and as a very favourable report upon it has been made to the Academy of Sciences by a very competent judge, M. Fresnel, we shall submit to our readers a drawing and description of it, abridged from the Journal de Pharmacie for April, 1824.

This instrument is represented in Plate IX. Fig. 4, where 1, 1, 1, 1, is a copper cylinder, resting upon a pedestal, and having large apertures cut out of it. When the interior of the instrument is to be shut up from the external air, its upper part is surrounded with a cylinder of glass, 2, 2, 2, 2, fixed at its two ends (with green wax) to the upper rings which project round the cylinder.

Three hairs, 3, 3, 3, fixed to a micrometer screw, 4, 4, placed on the upper part of the instrument, and each stretched by a copper weight, descend into the cylinder, and pass through three holes, in a small horizontal plate, in order that they may be kept separate from each other.

On one side of the instrument is placed a small telescope, 5, having a wire in its field, for indicating, with great accuracy, the position of a mark on the copper weights, and ascertaining when the marks have descended to the same point.

The object of the micrometer screw is to measure the elongation of the hairs, which it does to nearly the 2500dth part of an inch, by the usual and well-known process.

In graduating the instrument, extreme dryness is obtained by means of sulphuric acid, and extreme humidity by means of aqueous vapour; and the elongation of the hairs in passing from the state in which they are saturated with moisture to that of extreme dryness, is measured by the micrometer screw. If this elongation is five millimetres, or about one-fifth of an inch, this space is represented by 100 degrees of the scale; so that,dths of a millimetre will correspond to one degree of the scale.

When the instrument is thus prepared for use, the glass cylinder is removed, and the hairs exposed to the air, the humidity of which will be indicated by the distance of the

mark on the copper weight from the beginning or zero of the scale.

The advantages of this form of the instrument are thus enumerated by its inventor:

1. The extreme delicacy of the indications which is obtained by the telescope and the micrometrical screw, and by the use of three hairs, which are three hygrometers, the mean of the changes of which affords a much greater degree of accuracy than if a single one were used.

2. The removal of the error which arises from the friction and play of the axis of the needle in common hygrometers, as well as from the bending of the hair round the small pulley.

3. The facility of measuring the hygrometrical elongation of any substance, whether flexible or not, when reduced to a slender cylinder, and of comparing two hygrometric sub

stances.

4. In this instrument, the three hairs, which are three hygrometers, agree nearly with one another, while two common hygrometers require very great precaution in order to agree with one another, even less perfectly.

5. This instrument becomes very portable by stopping the weights attached to the three hairs by a small pin which passes through them, and supports them while they are carried about.

ART. XVII.-Account of the most recent Improvements on the Lunar Tables. By M. LE CHEVALIER BURG. In a Letter to Dr. Brewster.

SIR,

For some years past, I have devoted myself entirely to the task of perfecting my first determinations of the lunar orbit. My object has been to fix with all the precision, which perseverance and the use of the best materials could enable me to do, the elements which the lunar theory ought always to suppose given by observation. The results which I have lately obtained, are founded on the positions which Professor Bessel has deduced from the observations of Dr. Bradley for the year 1755, and from his own for 1815, on the axis of nutation, con