_028 1814.] Literary and Philosophical Inteligence. been improved upon by Mr. SINGER, the Electrician, and continued motions on this principle, though of small power, are now to be met with in the houses of many curious persons. The second volume of Mr. PLAYFAIR'S Outlines of Natural Philosophy is in great forwardness. It is intended to reprint in one volume, Dr. Tyrwhitt's Dissertation on Babrius, his edition of Pseudorpheus, wapi nidov, bis Notes on Euripides, and on Strabo, and his other smaller pieces of a classical nature. A montbly work has been carried on for the two last years at Haddington, on a plan which merits patronage, under the title of the Cheap Magazine, or Poor Man's Fire-side Companion. It consists chiefly of extracts from moral and entertaining publications, in prose and verse, and seems to be well calculated to produce its professed effect among the class of persons to whom it is addressed. It is in contemplation to reprint in this country the whole of the Latin Classics, from the editions in usum Delphini. Mr. ALEXANDER WALKER has in the press, a critical analysis of Lord Bacon's Philosophy; preceded by a historical sketch of the progress of science from the fall of the Roman empire till the time of Bacon, a biographical account of that philosopher, a critical view of his writings in general, and a delineation of their influence over philosophy, to the present tines. The same gentleman is also printing Outlines of a Natural System of Universal Science; preceded by a preliminary discourse exhibiting a view of the natural system, and followed by refuta tions of all the prevalent hypotheses in philosophy, in 3 vols. 8vo, with plates. He is also printing his long promised work on the Natural System of the His. tory, Anatomy, Physiology, and Patho logy of Man; adapted to the Use of Professional Students, General Readers, Amateurs, and Artists. It will be illos. trated by numerous plates and synoptic tables, and extend to four volumes in octavo, and one of folio plates. The three works above named will form one systematic series. The first is meant to enunciate the great principles of modern science; the second, to combine its scattered facts under one theory, and to reduce them to one original, simple, and im pressive system; and the third, to detail those particular portions of science which the Author deems the most inteTresting. : 347 In justice to true science, and the illustrious name of Dr. HERSCHEL, WO think it proper to state that all connec tions of his name with Weather Guides, or Weather Prognostics, are frauds on the public, and merit utter contempt. At the sale of the late Rev. Sam. Palmer's library, of Hackney, the pulpit bible of John Bunyan was purchased by Mr. Whitbread for twenty guineas. Dr. THOMAS YOUNG states the mean temperature of the six winter months, or frem October to March : London... Lisbon 43.5 40.4 45.3 (55) 41.2 55.5 63 63 68 It appears from this comparison, that none of the situations here enumerated, north of Lisbon, except Penzance, has any material advantage over London in the mildness of its winter. The best parts of Devonshire seem to be about a degree and a half warmer. Penzance may be considered as having a temperature 40 higher than London in the coldest months. It is remarkable, that the temperature of the three coldest months is the same at Paris as at Edin burgh, being, in both these cities, about three degrees lower than in London. Malta and Madeira present, numerically, עד the surfaces of the snow absorb caloric in the same proportion, or nearly so; and consequently an uniform retreat of the whole depth of snow will take place, and a bare piece of ground will be seen around the substance, of whatever kind it may be, whether vegetables or stones, in the form of a rude circle. A question was lately decided in the Court of King's Bench calculated to check a prolific source of newspaper corruption. Baron KILRULFT brought an action against the proprietor of the Traveller, for misrepresenting what passed regard ing him in some law proceedings. In his observations to the jury Lord Ellenborough stated, that in courts of law coun. sel were often obliged, in order to for ward the ends of justice, to make observations which bore hard on the characters of individuals; but it was a very dif ferent case for persons to publish such observations to the world merely for the amusement of their readers, and their own profit. A verdict was in conse. quence given in favour of the plaintiff, with 201. damages. No less than NINETY-FOUR periodical works issue at this time from the London press, of which only NINE are senior to the MONTHLY MAGAZINE, and not more than 3 or 4, and these of a religious nature, are superior to it in circulation. Of the 85, above twenty have grown up out of the several departments of the Monthly Magazine, or are scions from its stock. The fourth number of DANIELL's Voyage round Great Britain, containing Views of Ilfracombe, on the Coast of North Devon, and from fracoinbe to Hilsborough, will appear on the 2d of May. Mr. DYER'S History of the University and Colleges of Cambridge; including notices of the Founders and Eminent Men; embellished with thirty-two engravings, in two volumes, royal octavo and quarto, will be published early in the month. A new edition of Dr. HUTTON's Recreations in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, in four volumes 8vo. with nearly 100 copper plates, will be published in May. Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, from the earlier Teutonic and Scandinavian Romances; being an abstract of the Book of Heroes, and Nivelungen Lay; with translations of Metrical Tales, from the old German, Danish, Swedish, and Icelandic languages, with notes and dissertations; will be published in a few days, in one volume, royal quarto In the course of the present month will be published, Essays, moral and entertaining; on the various Faculties and Passions of the Human Mind, by EDWARD EARL of CLARENDON. The Rev. LEIGH RICHMOND is about to publish Annals of the Poor: containing the Dairy-man's Daughter, with considerable additions; the Negroe Servant; and the Young Cottager. Mr. J. G. DALYELL has in the press, observations on some interesting Pha nomena in Animal Physiology, exhibited by various species of Planariæ, and illustrated by coloured figures of living animals. The Rev. W. GUNN is printing, an inquiry into the Origin and Influence of Gothic Architecture, illustrated by engravings. Dr. J. P. SMITH will soon publish, a Manual of Latin Grammar; with prefatory advice to solitary students on the best method of self-improvement. Mr. C. BROUGHTON, of Edinburgh, has in the press, a Synthesis and Ana lysis of the First Ten Powers of Num, bers, forming the introduction to a new theory of numbers. The Rev. Sir H. M. WELWOOD, bart, will speedily publish Discourses on the Evidences of Christianity, connected with some of its practical results. The Rev. WILLIAM POTTER announces a volume of Essays, illustrative of the Principles, Dispositions, and Manners of Mankind, pourtraying the horrors of human depravity, and the beauties of genuine religion. COUNT O'NEIL is printing a Narrative of his Incarceration, and of the Massacre of his Family in France during the period of the Revolution; and of his Second Im prisonment as a Prisoner of War. A work, to be completed in nine monthly parts, will appear on the 1st of May, entitled, British Pulpit Eloquence, a selection of sermons, in chronological order, from the works of the most eminent divines of Great Britain, during the 17th and 18th centuries, with biographical and critical notices. Mr. W. HAYGARTH is printing a poem in three parts, descriptive of Greece. The first part comprises the Northern parts of Greece; the second, Athens; and the third, the Peloponnesus. Notes and classical illustrations will accompany each of the parts, with eight engravings from sketches made on the spot. The Rape of Proserpine, with other poems from Claudian, have been translated into English verse, with notes, and a prefatory 1814:] Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. a prefatory discourse, by Mr. JACOB Mr. J. F. GYLES, of Bath, is preparing Grammar. Mr. R. WINTER announces a History of Whitby, the Abbey of Streonshalb, and Mulgrave Castle, Yorkshire, containing an account of the antiquities, mineralogy, botany, biography, and other local particulars, comprehended within the limits of twenty-five miles round Whitby, including an excellent map of the district, a view of the town and abbey, and several vignettes. Proposals have been circulated for publishing by subscription, in 20 monthly numbers, forming two volumes, the His tory of the University of Cambridge, illustrated by eighty highly finished and coloured engravings, fac-similes of drawings, representing exterior and interior views of the colleges, halls, public buildings, and costume, as well as of the more striking parts of the town. Mr. WooD, author of the very elegant work on Zoography, is engaged in the publication of a General Conchology, which is to appear in monthly numbers. Mr. JOHN WM. SMITH is printing the first book of a poem, called, The Horrors of Imagination, with specimens from other books of the same poem. GERMANY. Mr.LINK, in some late researches into the anatomy of plants, distinguishes the cellular texture into several varieties, in the following manner: 1. Alveolary Texture; consisting of short cylindrical or prismatic cellules: it is very common, particularly in the pith, external bark, &c. 2. Elongated Texture; the cellules longer and narrower. Found in the stamina, the pistils, and in some other elongated parts. 3. Globular Texture; composed of spherical or almost spherical cellules it fills the interior of the leaves, of the peduncles, of the receptacle, &c. 4. Vesicular Texture; composed like the foregoing of spherical cellules; but these cellules are more detached from each other, and frequently dispersed: common in mushrooms, and several kinds of agarici, pezizo, and phallus, are entirely made up of vesicles. 5. Irregular Texture; in which the sides do not form the same angle with the base: sometimes this angle is a straight angle, MONTHLY MAG. No. 254. 349 sometimes acute, sometimes obtuse. We find this texture in the sheaths of the leaves, in the bractea, the calyces, &c. 6. Hazel-tree Texture; the cellules not spherical, cylindrical, or prismatic; but rather an oval or obloug form. This texture is common in the internal bark of the hazel-tree, and particularly between the fibrous vessels beside the tracheæ. We These six varieties of the cellular texture admit of several shades, and we frequently find intermediate forms which appear to be two varieties at once. might add a seventh variety, the compact texture, which is found in some mushrooms, lichens, &c. not clearly developed, or so fine that its structure cannot be distinguished. The cellular texture consists of small membranous vesicles, being the primordial substance of vegetables, and of all organized bodies. The cellular texture is like the froth of common soap; but the froth of soap is composed of bubbles of air, separated originally from each other, so that each bubble is formed as it were of a distince membrane, and it is only by meeting that these partitions are confounded. Frequently, the isolated bubbles rise to the surface of the froth, as is the case with cellules isolated in the cavities of the peduncle, the receptacle of the flowers, and of the fruit. Mr. Link is of opinion that the cellules have had the same origin with the bubbles alluded to; that a gas has been developed in a viscous fluid, and has reduced it into small vesicles, which have approached each other. As the vesicles of the cellular texture have a more regular arrangement than the soap bubbles, a peculiar attraction necessary to the in-. crease of the vegetable, must have forced them into this arrangement! The cel lule increases with the whole plant. It is astonishing that a cellule surrounded with wood should extend, notwithstanding the obstacle thus presented to it. Every organized body is developed, and increases by a very powerful force, and the plant in developing itself breaks a very strong thread tied firmly round it. Every cellule is a separate organ, destined to preserve and prepare the sap, to furnish it to other parts. The superfluity penetrates into the meatus intercellulares, and resembles animal fat a little. The green matter which colours the plant is always in the cellules. It resists the action of water, but it is dis solved in alcohol: this solution is not precipitated by water like that of the 2 Z resins. resins. All the colouring matter of the leaves, the flowers, and the fruits, is contained in the cellules, as well as the acid, sweet, astringent, or saline juices. PRUSSIA. with the igniting principle or heat, produce carbonic acid and inflammable bydrogen gas. The gas is conducted into water, to cleanse it; after which it is collected in a large reservoir, where it is ready for use. A cubic cord of wood, equal to 2,133 French metres, reduced to charcoal by the process above described, produces 255 pounds, Paris weight, of the best charcoal; 70 buckets of acid of 20 pouds, produce 30 pounds, poids de marc, of tar. After the acid is properly purified, there remain 50 buckets of good vinegar. This account proves some of the advantages resulting from this me thod of reducing wood to charcoal; and if we add, that from a single cubic cord 50,000 cubic feet of gas can be extracted, and that this quantity is sufficient to feed 4000 lamps for five hours, the result will appear beyond all belief. In the ancient library lately discovered at Glogau in Silesia, there have been found many Latin translations from Greek writers, which are of a much ear lier date than any at present known. From the information with which we have been favoured by Professor Schneider, it appears that among them are several manuscript copies of versions usually attributed to scholars who lived at the period of the revival of literature, but which were written before the time of their reputed authors; and some of which turn out to be the productions of the third and fourth century. Amongst them is a complete translation of Galen, executed about that age: parts of which have been published by Matthiæ as frag ments of Latin medical writers. From 'the documents contained in this most curious collection, it is the intention of Professor Schneider to draw up an account of the state of literature in the middle ages; in which he will expose many plagiarisms and frauds of learned persons, who have hitherto enjoyed reputation for industry and research. RUSSIA., Considerable improvements have been made in Gas Lights, by Messrs. SoBOLEWSKY and HORRER, at Petersburgh. The object of the authors was to see what kind of light could be produced by the combustion of wooD in closed vessels, and by reducing it to charcoal. The greatest difficulty consists in getting rid of the vapour that exhales from the gas, and in giving brilliancy and purity to the flame; for in all the trials made in Russia, and in other countries, the flame has always been feeble and blueish, but little luminous, and accompanied by a mephi tic exhalation. After many satisfactory attemps, Messrs. Sobolewsky and Horrer have at length completely succeeded, and can be certain of producing light by the gas, which will be very bright, without any sensible odour or fuliginous exhalation. By an extreme external heat the pure wood is decomposed, and becomes charcoal; and its other constituent parts, such as the acid, the hydrogen, and the carbon, are disengaged, and form, from the commencement of the operation, empyreumatic oil and acid, that is to say tar. Afterwards, in proportion as the heat augments, these substances, combining In England the Gas Lights produced from coals by Mr. WINSOR's process, have afforded one of the greatest improvements in the arts of life that has been made in our time. The bones of an unknown animal were lately found in a peat moss in Russia. This creature must have been about twelve feet long. The horns were two feet and a half long, and one foot and a half round at the root. From the appearance of this imperfect skeleton, it seems to have belonged to the Urus or Aurochs, mentioned by Cæsar in his account of Germauy. And it is thought that the real Urus may still be occasionally seen in the mountains of Siberia. GREECE. The extensive works going on at Corfu, by order of the French government, have led to the discovery of various interesting articles. It had been long since known that an ancient city was situated in that part of the island which extends between one of its old harbours and the sea, at the foot of the small hill, St. Pantaleon. The remains of ancient aqueducts, the great quantity of ruins, inscriptions, and ancient columns, along the sea-coast to the point of Aperama, far from the position of Paleapolis, induce a belief that the city extended that length. At three different points within the inclosure of the ancient city, there are remains of a stone aqueduct. This aqueduct was, in the lower parts, sustained by arcades, a great part of which we still see at the level of the ground to an extent of 7 or 800 metres. These monuments prove, that what the ancients have told us of the 1814.] Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. the magnificence of the works of this city is not exaggerated. As to the waters, Homer informs us that there were two fountains constantly spouting water, one of which watered the gardens of Alcinous, and the other flowed through canals under the windows of the palace, forming afterwards a large basin for the use of the citizens. Fragments of columns and several capitals of the Doric order have been found, and particularly some shafts of finely fluted columns. One of these shafts is 1 netre 10 centimetres in diameter, another 87 centimetres: some elegant small heads have also been found, a statue of a female with very elegant drapery, and several other figures in marble: a leaden bow very well preserved, and two weights of an oval form and of less diameter than an egg, with the inscription ΚΑΛΙΣΤΡΑΤΟΥ. These were probably the balls which served for the sling of some hero among the Corcyrans. In the same environs, at a place called Straties, there was found an ancient bronze vase of middling size and without handles: it contained a large quantity of silver medals. The greater part of these medals are in high preservation; they are of Dyrrhachium, an ancient Corcyran colony, now called Durazzo, a city on the shores of Epirus. These medals bear the usual emblem of a cow suckling a calf, and on the exergue what archeologists regard as the gardens of Alcinous, with the epigraph ATP and the club. The only difference which we have to remark is, that the cow is turned to the left, instead of being to the right, as upon all the medals of this colony. Among these medals, some have been found belonging to Corinth and Siphnos, with the Sphynx, and belonging to Corcyra with the diota to the right and the star in the exergue: other Corcyran medals of third rate size, have on one side young Bacchus crowned with ivy, on the other a winged Pegasus, a laurel on his head, and at his hind feet the prow of a ship with the monograms A.K.K. others have the inscription ΦΑΛΑΚΡΟΥ and ΦΙΛΩΝΙΔΑΣ: others the name of Demetrius, king of Macedon. At the same spot where the vase was found, bronze nails were seen with large heads, and a small golden calf. The monuments which have been discovered in greatest quantity, are inscriptions on 351 bricks. Almost all these fragments are This An Be N. B. We purpose in future to pluce our MONTHLY REPORTS before the London and Country News, as being in more immediate connection with analogous articles, and more commensurate with their value and interest. |