more than a match for a 74; of 500 balls fired every minute from one of these guns, if only one out of 20 were to reach the mark, ten of such guns would destroy 150,000 men daily. Unfortunately it requires something more than individual property to try the discovery on a large scale. Mr. Perkins should be employed to direct other experiments and perfect his invention upon the public account, for it is easy to see that this use of steam is yet but in its infancy, giant as it is; and that the expenses of enlarged experiments are more than private property can be expected to sacrifice.

The adoption of the most destructive implements possible in war, will be most friendly to humanity, by shortening its duration. Offensive war will profit much less than defensive. A fort may be made impregnable against an attacking force; and a breach, (could such a thing be made under the fire of steam artillery,) could not be stormed. It is impossible to foresee what changes this discovery may not effect in the history of nations.

In Weber's Northern Antiquities is to be found the following instance of literary application, which, taking all the circumstances into consideration, is perhaps without parallel. Hans Sacks was born in Nuremberg, in the year 1494; he was taught the trade of a shoemaker, and acquired a bare rudimental education, reading and writing; but being instructed by the master singers of those days in the praiseworthy art of poetry, he at fourteen began the practice, aud continued to make verses and shoes, plays and pumps, boots and books, until the 77th year of his age. At this time he took an inventory of his poetical stock in trade, and found, according to his own narrative, that his works filled thirty-two folio volumes, all written with his own hand; and consisted of 4200 mastership songs, 208 comedies, tragedies, and farces, some of which extended to seven acts; 1700 fables, tales, and miscellaneous poeins; and 73 devotional, military, and love songs; making a total of 6048 pieces great and small. Out of these, we are informed, he culled as many as filled three massy folios, which were published in the years 1558-61; and, another edition being called for, he increased this to six volumes folio, by an abridgment of his other works. Society of Physicians.-A meeting of the Society of Physicians of the United Kingdom was lately held, when the following officers were elected for the ensuing year:-President, Dr. Birkbeck; Treasurer, Dr. Clutterbuck; Secretary, Dr. Shearman. It was also resolved,

that communications, whether from members or others, addressed to the secretary, should be submitted to the consideration of the society, and the most interesting and importaut of them be selected for publication as soon as sufficient materials should be collected to form a volume.

The Fine Arts.-A statue has just been erected in the cathedral of St. Paul to the memory of Lord Heathfield, who defended Gibraltar in 1780. The figure is of a colossal size, between seven and eight feet high. The design is simple, and from the chisel of Rossi.

Climate of Cornwall.-Dr. Forbes states, from a great number of experiments, that the Montpellier of England is Penzance in Cornwall. For invalids the best resort in England, and one of the best in Europe for little variation of temperature through the year. The mean is 520. The lowest in January 41o, the highest in July 62°. The mean of spring 45°, summer 59°, autumn, 57°, winter 43°. At Sidmouth, in Devonshire, the mean of November for two years was 44, Dec. 41, Jan. 34. While that of Penzance was Nov. 45, Dec. 49, Jan. 37. In the severe weather of Jan. 1820, when the thermometer was 11 in London at 8 A.M. and lower still in the vicinity of the capital, it was 22 at Penzance at the same hour. For the last 14 years it was never but once as low as 19 nor as high as 78*. In proof of the equability of the climate of Penzance, taking the month of August 1820, the maximum of London was 81, that of Penzance 67; the minimum of London was 38, that of Penzance 46. The mean of the maxima at Penzance 46, at London 72. The minima of Penzance 54, of London 50. The difference of temperature between the seasons is very small. The extreme monthly range for the foregoing month at Loudon was 43, at Penzance 21. Still more remarkable the diurnal range was max. in London 32, in Penzance only 14. Min. in London 11, in Penzance only 5, Mean in London 21, in Penzance only 9. The mean annual range of the barometer is only 1.96. The rain is frequent, but not great in quantity. There are 157 days in the year on which rain falls, but there is seldom a day that it rains without intermission or that the sun does not break out. For 14 years the average number of days on which snow falls is 24, but during four of those years none at all fell, and it always immediately dissolves. The winds are very variable. In the months of Dec. Jan. Feb. and

The last year is not included.

March, the mean of temperature for three years at Pisa, Rome, and Penzance, taken about 8 A.M. is one degree higher at Penzance than at those places: February, they being, Rome 42, 41, 43, 42.—Pisa 42, 40, 43, 41.-Penzance 42, 41, 44, 42.

Medical Jurisprudence.-The long and glaring omission of this branch of professional education, is at length supplied by the lectures established by Dr. Gordon Smith, now in course of delivery to the medical profession. Glaring as the deficiencies and discrepancies of medical witnesses have been in courts of justice, and on occasions of legislative inquiry, the members of the faculty are by no means the only parties interested in this study. Besides gentlemen of the law, who are more directly concerned in the conduct of causes depending for their issue on scientific testimony, the great body of English householders (who, in their capacity of jurymen, are continually sitting as judges of such facts,) might find their account in giving a share of their attention to these topics. We are glad to learn that Dr. S. proposes to unite, with the profounder and more technical instructions delivered to his professional brethren, courses of lectures adapted to the use of lawyers and others, to be commenced towards sum

mer.

Royal Society of Literature.-At the first sitting of the Society for the present season, the secretary read a paper by Dr. J. Jamieson, one of the Royal Associates, containing a collection of various superstitions relating to the Ternary Number. So general, among the ancients in the middle ages, and with the vulgar of times immediately connected with our own, was the ascription of a peculiar virtue to the number Three, that some reference to it was formerly mixed up with nearly all the actions and circumstances of human life. Dr. J. among many other instances, notices the influence of this superstition in the formation of camps and compounding of medicaments, in amorous incantations and funeral rites; and shows that the number of guests present, and of cups drunk or poured out in libations at entertainments; the number of sheep in a flock; of repetitions in forms of solemn invocations, &c. was religiously restricted to three, or the triplication of three; or that, at any rate, the odd number was observed. To the Triad was supposed to belong a mystical perfection, conveyed in auspicions influences to all affairs in which it was employed. Whether this superstition may be accounted for, by its being referred to an original revelation of the doctrine of the Trinity, or whether it

might have grown out of some latent affinity between certain numerical quantities and the intellectual attributes of man; the subject is certainly a feature in the history of the human mind, not unworthy the attention of the philosopher. Fanciful and futile as the preference of three, or seven, or nine, over the intermediate or adjoining numbers may appear in the present day, learned curiosity can hardly be considered as ill employed in investigating the cause of a principle powerful enough to have united, in the solemn observance of a common superstition, Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Hindoos; witches and generals; the worshippers of the three-eyed Jupiter, the tridented Neptune, "Tergeminamque Hecaten," with the votaries of Odin, Thor, and Frigga, and of the vandal Triglas or Diana.-Among the numerous books presented at this meeting, were three very elegant volumes of "Poesie Liriche e Varie," published in Italy by M. Mathias, one of the Society's Royal Associates; and various French and Italian works, by M. Groberg, Swedish consul-general at Tripoli, brought from thence by Major Denham. A series of Memoirs relative to the introduction of Greek literature into this country, and some unpublished annotations of Bentley, are among the papers in reserve for the ensuing readings.

Submarine Forest.-The submarine forest, at the mouth of the Char, is about half a mile in breadth; the sea prevents its being traced any further in a southern direction, about a quarter of a mile from its first appearance. The fossil marl is very thick, and, as geologists know, is wholly composed of such matter. The different kinds of fern remain very perfect, and nuts are found scattered about in a petrified state.

Discovery of Queen Elizabeth's MS.About six months since, the son of Mr. Lemon, the indefatigable keeper of the State Papers, discovered, on examining some of the papers of the reign of Elizabeth, a paper in the hand-writing of the Queen, and marked "The Third Booke." Conceiving this to belong to something of importance, he placed it carefully aside, and by a diligent search has at length obtained the papers of four other books, which turn out to be an entire translation of "Boetius de Consolatione Philosophiæ." In Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, it is mentioned that Queen Elizabeth had translated this work, but no vestige of it was known to exist. Nearly the whole of the work is in her Majesty's own handwriting, but there are parts evidently written by her private secretary,

and by the Secretary of State of the time. All the difficult passages and all the poetical portions are in the Queen's own hand, and it is not a little curious that in the translation of the latter she had imitated all the variety of metre which is found in the work. It is therefore a literal rather than a poetical translation. There are let ters also discovered, which identify this translation to have been made by the Queen, and it is to be hoped that the public will soon be gratified with the publication of this literary curiosity. From a document accompanying this translation, it appears that her Majesty composed the work at Windsor, during five weeks of the winter season; and, from rather a courtly computation made by the Queen's secretary, we collect the information, that less than 24 hours of labour were actually bestowed upon this manuscript of many pages!

Colchester Philosophical Society.-A paper was lately read by a member of this society, upon the connexion of chemistry with medicine. At the same time also the following donations were made to the Society: A specimen of the Pyrosoma Atlanticum,, by Mr. Thomas Joslyn; a plate of Colchester Castle, lately finished by Mr. A. Glover, by Mr. J. Chaplin ; an Ashantee Bow, with a quiver containing poisoned arrows, by Mr. Walter Johnson; a beautiful Roman Sepulchral Urn, by Mr. S. Lay; Reliquiæ Diluvianæ, handsomely bound, 4to, by the Rev. W. Buckland, presented by Miss Freman; 100 specimens of Lavas, Sulphurs, Scoria, &c. chronologically arranged, and principally from Mount Vesuvius, by the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Melville; several specimens of Cloth manufactured from the bark of a tree, and formerly in the possession of the late Queen of the Sandwich Islands, by Mr. Robertson.

A paper was read by Mr. Rothman, Fellow of Trinity college, on the discordance between observed magnetic intensities, particularly in considerable latitudes, and the results given by Horsteen's formula; which some authors have considered as generally coinciding, or nearly so, with observations. A paper was also read by Mr. Airy, on the connexion between impact and pressure, and the explanation of their effects upon the same principles. A portion also of a very interesting paper on the ornithology of Cambridgeshire was read by the Rev. Leonard Jenyns, of St. John's college, the remainder of which was deferred to the next meeting of the society.

Phosphorescence of Potatoes.-Lichtenberg tells us, that an officer on guard at Strasburg, on the 7th January, in passing

the barracks, was alarmed on observing a light in one of the barrack-rooms. As this was strictly prohibited, fire was suspected, and he hurried forward to the apartment. On entering it, he found the soldiers sitting up in bed admiring a beautiful light, which proceeded from potatoes in an incipient state of putrefaction. The light was so vivid, that the soldiers could see to read by it; it gradually became less and less vivid, and entirely disappeared by the night of the 10th of the month.-Edin. Phil. Journ.

Rein Deer.-The attempt to naturalize rein deer in this country appears to have failed. In the autumn of 1823, a Norwegian, with five of the deer imported by Mr. Bullock, arrived at the seat of a gentleman in this county; here they remained during the winter, and were fed with the lichen rangiferinus (the moss upon which they feed in Lapland.) They continued healthy until the following April, when they were removed to Clee Hill, on the highest part of which the lichen grows in great abundance; soon after this, one of them died with maggots in the head; this is no uncommon disease in Lapland, while the horns are in a tender state. Two others also died, having gradually declined. The two survivors appeared to thrive until autumn, when they were suddenly seized with diarrhoea, of which they died. From the inquiries we have made, we are led to believe that the deer sent to Ireland succeeded no better.-Berrow's Worcester Journal.

Natural History.-Moth.- A Madras journal describes a moth found near Arracan, of such extraordinary dimensions as to measure ten inches from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other; and also beautiful in colours.

Astronomy.-A very important astronomical fact has been discovered by Mr. J. W. H. Herschel and Mr. South. The late Sir William Herschel directed the attention of astronomers to the importance of determining the distances and positions of double and triple stars; or stars which appear single to the eye or when seen through an inferior telescope, but when viewed with one of higher magnifying powers are found to consist of two or more distinct stars. Sir W. H. published descriptions and names of 702 such double and triple stars.-The above gentlemen instituted a series of observations to determine the existence and amount of annual parallax of these stars; but this object was soon lost sight of amid the more extensive views of the construction of the universe, which gradually unfolded themselves. They have clearly established

the existence of binary systems, in which two stars perform to each other the offices of sun and planet. They have ascertained with considerable exactness the periods of rotation of more than one such pair.

FRANCE.

They have observed the immersions and emersions of stars behind each other, and have detected among them real motions sufficiently rapid to become measurable quantities in very short intervals of time.

At a late sitting of the French Academy, M. Gregory detailed some interesting facts connected with vaccination in Piedmont. A great many gold medals had been distributed to different vaccinators; and within these last five years, vaccinations had doubled; in 1824 they were 68,632; births scarcely double, 117,000.

Report on the Flora of South Brazil by M. Auguste de St. Hilaire, made to the Academy of Sciences in its sittings of the 19th of September, 1825, by Alexander de Humboldt:

"The Academy has charged me to make a verbal report on the work of M. Auguste de St. Hilaire, entitled Flora Brasilia Meridionalis, &c.

"The author occupies one of the first ranks amongst the great botanists of the age; he had hitherto only published isolated fragments of the immense labours to which he had consecrated a residence of six years in the Brazils, under a climate where the soil, in its wild fecundity, offers to the traveller at every step the most beautiful and the most extraordinary productions. The work, of which I present the analysis, contains the whole of M. de St. Hilaire's observations. It is one of the greatest monuments raised to botany; not to the science which confines itself to a sterile nomenclature, but to that which seizes the relations and affinities of the different tribes of vegetables; which assigns to each organ its place and value; and to the characters of families, genera, and species, the limits within which they may serve as bases of the natural divisions.

"M. Auguste de St. Hilaire has brought from six to seven thousand species of plants from South Brazil: it is perhaps the greatest harvest that one traveller ever made. But he has not contented himself with collecting and accumulating materials; he studied the vegetables on the very spot where they grew. He collected all the documents which could throw any light on their progressive developement, or their habitats, or geographical positions, and on their utility as food, or in the arts and medicine.

"The plants which will be successively described by the author, have been colJan.-VOL. XVIII. NO. LXI.

lected at different altitudes, and under a great variety of climate; in the provinces of Santo Spirito, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Geraes, Goyas, Santo Paolo, Santa Caterina, and Rio Grande, of the Cisplatine,' and the Missions.'

"The author felt that complete descriptions of all the organs of plants could alone render his work in harmony with the present state of science. The generic characters, and the descriptions of the species, are in Latin, while the notes, (and these are equally important) which are added to the families, genera, and species, are drawn up in French. It was thought that, by this means, a greater portion of the public of the two continents might profit by so useful a performance.

"M. de St. Hilaire does not commence his Flora by the monocotyledones, but by the plants whose organization is the most complex, by ranunculaceæ, dillenia, and magnolia. The three parts already published contain ten families, and twenty-four plates engraved by M. Turpin, who unites the double talent of botanist and artist. The typographical execution of this great work is worthy of the government under whose auspices it appears.

"When we take a survey of the voyages undertaken during the last century for the promotion of the natural sciences, we perceive with sorrow that the public has been frustrated of the major part of the observations made in those distant climes. Collections of plants and animals have remained jumbled together, without ever having been described, and often (and even this is one of the most fortunate chances) the parties have confined their labours to publish a selection of the objects brought home. After the courage which enables a traveller to endure privations in an uninhabited country, still greater courage is required not to discontinue publications which, by their nature, absorb more time than the voyage itself. This courage, which consists in long patience, we are happy to find in M. Auguste de St. Hilaire. He will not forget that the national glory of France is interested in the termination of a work for which he has made such great and noble sacrifices."

It was an observation of the late Pro

Ꭰ

fessor Langles, that if the Sciences could be taught in volumes in 18mo. the French would be the most learned people in the world whether his prophecy is to be accomplished, time will soon show. The reign of political pamphlets is over, and few care now for all the arguments that can be conjured up by either the Royalists or the Liberals. The latter, like a child that cries itself to sleep, have become so hoarse with their ever roaring out, "fire! murder! thieves!" that they labour under a complete extinction of voice; and their utmost effort can only muster a growl, now and then, against M. de Villele, whose talents for a missionary are very doubtful, he having entirely failed in his "conversion of the rentes !" As the French must have something new, n'en fut il pas au monde, and as they are all taught Sir William Curtis's three Rs, "reading, writing, and arithmetic," they must have books;-not mighty folios, nor ponderous quartos, but pretty little volumes which can be hid in a reticule, or concealed under the cushion of a sofa, and at the same time so plain and easy, that those who run may read; hence the shoal of Résumés, Manuels, &c. the whipt syllabubs of learning. The History of the World is compressed into an 18mo, and the History of a French Province spun out to the same length; Universal Biography matches the Art of Cookery, and The Whole History of England, The Science of making Pomatum. For halfa-crown you may learn how to take spots out of your clothes, or become a bottle conjuror; be acquainted with the history of the Jews, or the art of currying hides; the history of European settlements in India, or the trade of a baker. There is some difference in the prices of the works, of course, according to the importance of the subject; for instance, the History of Denmark is ten sous dearer than the History of England; the History of Picardy costs more than the History of Holland; and the History of Portugal is one third dearer than the History of the Germanic Empire. Spain is on a par with Russia, and Poland with America. Parkes' Chemical Catechism and Accum's Chemical Amusements, by the French Digester, become a small 18mo. of the price of two shillings, and the Mineralogy of Haay and Bragniart dwindle into a duodecimo.-Lit. Gazelle.

Mr. Charles Dupaty, one of the best sculptors in France, died lately, after an illness of about one month's continuance. His Ajax, Cadmus, and Biblis, are mentioned as among his finest productions. He was interred with much solemnity;

and the King presented his widow with a pension of 1200 francs per annum, charged on the Civil List.

Fire at Salins.-The late fire at Salins, in France, has been made the subject of a very curious and attractive exhibition on the Boulevard of the Temple, at Paris. By moveable scenes (executed after the designs of a painter who witnessed that dreadful event) and lights of different degrees of intensity, the illusion is rendered so complete, that the alarmed spectator fancies himself really present at the conflagration of a town.

In pursuance of the orders of Louis the 18th, the Coquille sloop of war was equipped at Toulon, in the beginning of the year 1822, for a Voyage of Discovery, having for its principal object the improvement of geography and of the physical and natural sciences. The command of her was confided to Lieutenant Duperry, who had accompanied Captain Freycinet's expedition. The Coquille sailed on the 11th of August, 1822. After having visited the coasts of Chili and Peru, the dangerous Archipelago, and various other groups of Islands in the vast extent of the Pacific Ocean; New Ireland, the Moluccas, New Holland, and New Zealand; the Archipelago of the Carolines, Java, and the Isles of France and Bourbon; the Coquille effected her return to France, and anchored in Marseilles Roads; having performed a voyage of circumnavigation, which lasted thirty-one months and three days, and during which she ran above twenty-five thousand leagues. The captain and the officers of the Coquille manifested the greatest zeal in their researches. A number of maps and charts were drawn with the greatest care and fidelity; and various collections, in the three kingdoms of nature, as interesting for their novelty as for their bulk, have been sent to add to the riches of the Jardin du Roi. A commission having been appointed by the Royal Academy of Sciences, to examine and pronounce on the result of the voyage, Messrs. Baron Cuvier and Arago, the organs of the commission, made a most favourable report of the benefits which science had derived from it, and bestowed the highest praises on the captain and his officers, all of whom have been promoted by his Majesty. It is very remarkable, that during this voyage of above three years in duration, the Coquille returned to port without the loss of a single man.

French Academy of Medicine.-At a recent sitting of the Academy of Medicine in Paris, magnetism, the small-pox, and vaccination, were the chief subjects of dis