Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/64

 66 DEVILLE DEVIL'S BRIDGE cal Journal," describes one which was cap- tured in 1828 in the harbor of Kingston, Jamaica, after ;i resistance of several hours, which dragged three or four boats fastened together at the rate of tour miles an hour. In ciiiu-n, which was smaller than the one di-M-ribed l.y Mitchill, the mouth was 27 in. wiK', opening into a cavity 4 ft. wide and 3 ft. deep, and so vaulted that it could easily con- tain a man. He named it C. manta, which is doubtless a synonyme of C.vampyrus (Mitch.). Anson and other writers have described a fish like a quilt, which wraps itself around a diver ami M|nee/es him to death. The ray called devil ti>h undoubtedly gave rise to these stories, but it is anatomically impossible that it can so seize its prey, and it does not appear that any one has ever witnessed such an event. The pectoral fins of the devil fish are too thick at their base and anterior margin, and their car- tilages are too rigid, to allow of their being so bent downward as to enfold a man or any other prey in the manner alluded to; they are composed of a great number of joints, more than 600, and must be capable of a consider- able variety of motions calculated to impel the animal through the water with great strength and speed. The appendages to the head can hardly be used in locomotion. Lieut. St. John, who has watched attentively the move- ments of this fish, says these flaps are used in driving a large quantity of water toward the mouth when the animal is at rest, feeding ; they can be bent in front of and even into the mouth, and are probably prehensile organs for various purposes; when swimming, the flexible ends are coiled up. The nature of the teeth and the narrowness of the gullet also render it improbable that this fish feeds upon anything but small fry, which it sweeps toward the month with its cranial flaps. The truth appears to be that the devil fish, though powerful and hideous, is a timid and harm- less creature, avoiding rather than attack- ing man; but when attacked and defending itself, the serrated spine of the tail would prove a dangerous weapon, inflicting a deep, la rated, and possibly fatal wound to man or fish within its range. They are gregarious, and are pursued by fishermen for the oil of tin- liver. The pieuvre of Victor Hugo's Tra- n it,- la mer, rendered " devil fish " in the English translation of that work, is a fic- Mi.ni>tT. the description of which ap- plies to no species of the devil fish. Another ml hideous fMi, which is sometimes called tea -levil or devil fUh, is the lopkillS pis- i (Linn.); this i.s described under GOOSE Klsii. (See al-, OrTMl'UB.) WMI.IK. I. Charles Salute-Claire, a French geologist, born mi tl,e island of St. Thomas in s| j- II'- studied at the school ,,f mines in and w mi i- Vni/,1,1, <i,',,! ufil^ne aux An- am /A* <L '/;,//////; f f ,/,- p oqo pu h_ Ptrta, L866-'W). The great -n,pti..n ..i i-suvius in 1855, which he wit- nessed, called forth an interesting correspon- dence with Elie de Beaumont. lie has long filled the chair formerly held by Beaumont at the college de France. Among his latest pub- lications is Sur Us variations periodiques de la temperature (1866). II. Henri Etienne Sainte- Claire, a chemist, brother of the preceding, born on the island of St. Thomas, March 11, 1818. He studied in France, and devoted himself to chemical researches. After occupying for sev- eral years a chair of chemistry in the normal school, he succeeded Dumas in 1859 at the fac- ulty of sciences in Paris. He discovered in 1849 the properties #nd preparation of anhy- drous nitric acid, and published in 1852 an im- portant paper on the metallic carbonates and their combinations. In 1853 he discovered a new method of mineral analysis, by means of gases and volatile reagents. About the same time he began his experiments with aluminum, and discovered a cheap method of producing it. He published his researches on the subject in his De V aluminium, ses proprietes, sa fabrica- tion et ses applications (Paris, 1859). He has since prepared several papers on a simplified general method for the production of simple metals, and on the variation of chemical affini- ties at different temperatures. (See DISSOCIA- TION.) He published in 1862 Eapport a Vem- pereur sur la fusion de racier aufour a rever- bdre sans emploi du creuset, and in the follow- ing year Metallurgie du platine et des metaux qui V accompagnent (3 vols. 8vo, with 3 charts). DEVIL'S ADVOCATE. See ADVOCATUS DIABOLI. DEVIL'S BRIDGE, a remarkable stone bridge in the canton of Uri, Switzerland, nearAnder- s Bridge.