fawn. On one fide of this laft stood a fmall column, upor "the top of which was a comic mafk, that ferved as a capital "to it, and discharged water from its mouth. All the figures "before described are two palms in height without their "bases.

"December 16, in the fame place were difcovered another "boy, with another mask, and three other fawns; in all re"fpects like thofe, which were found the 27th and 29th of «November, except that there was no tyger. Befides thefe "we met with two little boys in bronze, fomewhat less than "the former. Thefe likewife were in a standing posture,

had filver eyes, and held each of them a vafe, with handles, 66 upon his fhoulder; from hence the water flowed. We "alfo dug out an old fawn, crowned with ivy, having a long "beard, a hairy body, and fandals on his fect. He fat aftride "upon a large goat fkin, holding it at the feet with both "his hands, from which had iffued a larger quantity of water "than from the others; though the fawn himself is of the fame fize with the former.

"All the above-mentioned figures were taken out of a "place not exceeding eight palms fquare, and were covered "with the ruins of the building: for they were not in a gar❝den, but in a room paved with mosaic work, the remaining "part of which we are now going on to examine. You may "rely intirely upon what I write, as nothing can be moved "from the place where it is difcovered, but in my presence "We have likewise found a large quantity of houshold furni"ture, made of earthen and iron ware, and fome glass. At "present this is all that I am at liberty to mention. Shortly " will be published a general catalogue of all the things, which will year ❝have hitherto been found; and this come out also "the firft volume of the paintings. Both thefe I will take "care to convey to you.

Copy of a letter from a learned gentleman of Naples, dated February 25, 1755, concerning the books and antient writings • dug out of the ruins of an edifice near the fite of the old city of Herculaneum; to Monsignor Cerati, of Pisa, F. R. S. fent to Mr. Baker, F. R.S. and by him communicated; with a tranflation by John Locke, Efq; F. R. S.

66 IN

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N obedience to your commands, I fend you the best account I can of the writings. You must know then, "that within two years last past, in a chamber of a house, "(or more properly speaking, of an antient villa, for by many "marks it is certainly known, that the place, where they "are now digging, was never covered with buildings, but "was in the middle of a garden) there has been found a great quantity of rolls, about half a palm long, and "round; which appeared like roots of wood, all black, and "feeming to be only of one piece. One of them falling on "the ground, it broke in the middle, and many letters were "obferved, by which it was first known, that the rolls were "of papyrus. The number of these rolls, as I am told, were "about 150, of different fizes. They were in wooden cafes, "which are so much burnt, as are all the things made of "wood, that they cannot be recovered. The rolls however "are hard, though each appears like one piece. Our king "has caufed infinite pains to be taken to unrol them, and "read them; but all attempts were in vain; only by flitting "fome of them, fome words were obferved. At length fig"nor Allemani, being come a fecond time to Naples, propofed "to the king to fend for one father Antonio a writer at the "Vatican, as the only man in the world, who could under"take this difficult affair. It is incredible to imagine what "this man contrived and executed. He made a machine, "with which, (by the means of certain threads, which being "gummed, ftuck to the back part of the papyrus, where there was no writing) he begins, by degrees, to pull, while "with a fort of ingraver's inftrument he loofens one leaf "from the other (which is the most difficult part of all) " and then makes a fort of lining to the back of the papyrus, "with exceeding thin leaves of onion, (if I mistake not) and "with fome fpirituous liquor, with which he wets the papyrus,

tr

by little and little he unfolds it. All this labour cannot be "well comprehended without feeing. With patience fupe"rior to what a man can imagine, this good father has un"rolled a pretty large piece of papyrus, the worst preserved, by way of trial. It is found to be the work of a Greek wri"ter, and is a small philofophic tract (in Plutarch's manner) VOL. II,

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"on mufic; blaming it as pernicious to fociety, and produc"tive of softness and effeminacy. It does not difcourfe of "the art of mufic. The beginning is wanting, but it is to "be hoped, that the author's name may be found at the "end: it seems however to be the work of a ftoic philofo"pher; because Zeno is much commended. The papyrus "is written acrofs in fo many columns, every one of about "twenty lines, and every line is the third of a palm long. "Between column and column is a void fpace of more than "an inch. There are now unrolled about thirty columns; "which is about a half of the whole; this roll being one of "the smallest: the letters are diftinguishable enough. Fa"ther Antonio, after he has loosened a piece, takes it off where there are no letters; and places it between two cry"ftals for the better obfervation; and then, having an ad"mirable talent in imitating characters, he copies it with all "the lacunæ, which are very numerous in this fcorched papy"rus; and gives this copy to the canon Mazzochi, who tries "to fupply the lofs, and explain it. The letters are capital ones, and almost without any abbreviation. The worft is, the "work takes up fo much time, that a fmall quantity of writing "requires five or fix days to unroll; fo that a whole year is al"ready confumed about half this roll. The lacunæ, for the "moft part, are of one or two words, that may be fupplied "by the context. As foon as this roll is finished, they will begin a Latin one. There are fome fo voluminous, and the "papyrus fo fine, that unrolled they would take up an "hundred palms fpace. They tell me, that fome of the La"tin ones are in a running hand; which confirms the opi"nion of the marquis Maffei, That the character, by us ab"furdly called Gothic and Lombard, is the antient running"hand, corrupted by time. However, I have not feen any "of thefe laft. The curiofity of thefe papyri is, that there is no little ftaff of wood, on which they were rolled. "Thus I have told you all, that I know concerning thefe "papyri.

"We may comfort ourselves, that the affair is in good "hands;

Original-Trenta.

hands; being under the care and conduct of so learned an antiquarian, as the canonico Mazzochi, and of this able and adroit father Antonio."

any

In the twenty-fourth article we find an account of several earthquakes felt at Conftantinople, by Mr. Porter, the British ambaffador, who defcribes them with great accuracy; and from his own obfervation, justly concludes, That there are not fixed or probable prognoftics of earthquakes; but that 'they come on us indifcriminately in the midst of high winds and calms, heat and cold, rain, fnow, and fair weather; 'fo that no other connection can be fufpected of these with 'the atmosphere, than merely the collected mafs of igneous exhalations, perceived on the 6th of September at night; unlefs the direction of the winds, which feemed most commonly nearly in the fame line with the shakes of the earth'quakes, might be thought to have any.

"

2dly, What fome of the antients have told us of the fpring and autumn being the two ufual feafons for earthquakes, appears not only from thefe, but what has been ohferved by others, to be no general fecure rule, fince they happen 'equally in all feasons.

3dly, The velocity of motion, and the distance of the line of communication, appear extremely furprifing. From Adrianople to Smyrna, in a right line, is not lefs than 250 miles, and to Conftantinople 150 miles. Poffibly the reafon it was 'felt with lefs force at the former of thefe places arifes from 'the difference of diftance, and that its force decreafed in proportion to it; whence we might form a conjecture on 'some grounds, that the origin of the explosion was at or about Adrianople.

The 25th article is compofed of three letters from Henry Ecles, Efq; concerning the cause of the afcent of vapour, exhalation, and winds, and the general phænomena of the weather and barometer, all which he afcribes to the power of electrical vapour. He denies that vapour and exhalation thro' the air, are effected by impulfe, or an alteration in their specific gravity; but these are hardy affertions, which we apprehend this gentleman has not supported with proper demonftration; that fire, whether folar or culinary, will drive the particles,

both of fluids and folids, upwards into the air, may be proved by a thousand different experiments; and it is no less certain, that particles, fpecifically lighter than air, will be buoyed up, and float in the atmosphere without any impulfe from fire, juft as oil or fpirit floats in water: whatever, therefore, divides any body into parts fpecifically lighter than air, will produce vapour, fume, or exhalation; and the atmosphere will suspend that vapour, just as falt, when diffolved, is fufpended in water. This divifion of parts may be occafioned by agitation without heat, as in the inftance of evaporation produced by wind, which is effected to an astonishing quantity, during a hard gale, as many inconteftable experiments have fhewn. Mr. Boyle has proved, by ftatical experiments, that sharp frost raises a confiderable quantity of ice into the air without intermiffion, until the whole mafs is confumed. The circum-ambient atmosphere, though generally distinguished by the name of air, confifts chiefly of water, or a moist fluid, in which a variety of fubftances are diffolved, and in which every fluid will rife and float, when their particles are so separated, as to acquire large furfaces in proportion to their folidity.

Mr. Eeles allows, that bodies, by an increase of surface, meet a greater resistance in paffing through any medium; but, he says, that refiftance which prevents the finking of the minute parts of a body in a fluid fpecifically lighter, must equally retard their ascent in the fame fluid, and therefore can never be the cause of their afcending: if this was the cafe, a piece of gold leaf, immersed in a pail of water, would be fixed at the same depth at which it is immerfed, as the preffure is equal on all fides but this is not true in fact, for the leaf will immediately rife to the furface.-If this fuppofition was really true, it would not affect the common theory with respect to the ascent of vapour, because it does not rise in a body specifically lighter than itself; for the particles into which it is divided, are fpecifically lighter than thofe of the atmosphere through which it afcends. Though impulfe therefore is not a force fufficient to raise vapour to that height at which it is often fufpended, yet, this agent joined to the alteration in the specific gravity of the particles, will, we apprehend, be sufficient for the purpose, even without the help of electrical fire. Not that we pretend to

exclude