a quadrant, as conjecture is likely to be very fallacious.

The above directions of the Aftronomer Royal have been very useful, and they feem to have been attended to with great fuccefs by Mr. Firminger, who defcribes the meteor to have been frit round and well defined, except in the part oppofite to the point it was approaching, which feemed to project a little, and to terminate in a tail, on each fide of which were two or three fmaller balls tinged with yellow, and one or two with purple. It moved for a fecond or a fecond and a half in this manner, when it changed its figure to that of an egg; and its light was full two-thirds of that of the fun on the meridian. The diameter of the large ball feemed, at first, to be about twenty minutes; the fmaller balls about one-fifth in diameter of the large ball. The height about fifty or fifty-five degrees during the whole of its appearance, or four feconds and a half; vanilhing about feventy-five degrees to the weft of the horizon. The azimuth and height were estimated by means of a compafs and a fmall Gunter's quadrant; the apparent path, meafured by a fextant, was about eighty-five degrees, and it vanished at thirty-nine feconds after half past eight, mean time, by a chronometer. Two minutes after the appearance was a noife like a diftant clap of thunder, which lafted a minute and forty feconds. Mr. Firminger conjectures, that the real diameter of the meteor was two hundred and eighty yards, being about half a mile in circumference; its velocity between feven and eight miles in a fecond. But the facts can be determined only by a variety of observations, which, if made with the fame care as thefe of Mr. Firminger, would lead to a complete knowledge of thefe appearances. It may be added here, that if perfons who fee a meteor on a itar-light night would only note down the ftar Dear which it took its rife, and the ftar near which it burft, the path of the object might be easily determined.

By the obfervation made on the occultation of a star in Sagitarius by Mars, Sir H. Englefield determines the equatorial diameter of Mars to have been at that time 14,5 feconds, and his distance from the earth 0,74456, the fun's mean diftance being unity: the diameter of Mars, at the mean distance of the fun, would be 10,8 feconds, differing one fecond from that given by

Herschell, who makes it only 9,8 le

conds.

IN obferving the tranfit of Mercury over the fun, Profeffor Bugge, of Copenhagen, could difcover no traces of an atmosphere; nor could Herschell perceive the flightest degree of ellipticity in the form of the planet's difc.

1

DR. Herfchell has made fome obfcrvations on telescopes, which deserve attention. The temperature of the atmofphere and mirror fhould be uniform, and the air moift. A change from froft to thaw, or thaw to froft, impairs the perfection of the telescope, which is injured alfo by a change from a warm room to cold air, and vice verfa; windy weather is unfavourable, from the changes in the air. An aurora borealis and air from a warm roof affect the dif tinctnefs of the view. The effect of heat may fometimes be remedied by apply ing a heated body near the opposite furface of the mirror.

IRON railways are now fo common, that a defcription of them is fcarcely neceffary; yet, we may juft fay that they are formed by two parallel rails of iron, on which waggons with four low iron wheels move; and each rail has a rib on one edge to prevent the wheels from running. The rail being flat, prevents frequent obstructions by stones and dirt lodging on them, and the rib, from the friction excited, retards the motion of the waggons. Thefe evils have been obviated by a very ingenious contrivance of Mr. Benja min Wyatt, of Lime Grove, near Bangor, who planned a railway, which, inftead of being flat, was convex, and the wheels of the waggons were made with a concave rim fuitable to the convexity of the railway. Thus dirt and gravel may be easily cleared from the railway, if it fhould rest upon it, which cannot be the cafe without great neglect, and there is little or no friction. This kind of railway is ufed from Lord Penryhn's flate quarries in Caernarvonshire to Port Penryhn, on which two horfes will draw twenty-four waggons one stage fix times a day, carrying each time twenty-four tons, or a hundred and forty-four tons a day. The railway is fix miles and a quarter in length, divided into five stages.

THE power of the lever has been applied with great fuccefs, by Mr. Buf chendorf, to the fpeedy packing of all kind of goods in a fmall compats. The goods to be compreffed are fixed on a ftrong frame, and on them is another

frame, in the middle of which is fixed perpendicularly a flat iron bar, cut on one fide like a faw; and an iron trigger preffed into the indentures of the faw, by a fpring connected with a bar above, prevents the rifing of the goods from the ftate into which they are preffed. The bar connects together two upright beams, between which the goods are placed; and one of them is perforated at different places, through which a pin is paffed, that ferves as the centre or prop of a lever; the goods to be preffed being nearer to this prop

than the other end of the lever.

A

all power, according to the length of the arm, will act with great advantage. When the goods have been preffed down a little by the application of the power, they are retained in this Situation by the fpring and faw: the pin, that ferved as the prop to the lever, is taken out, and placed a peg lower; the power is then applied again, and fo on till the goods are preffed into the compafs defired.

A METHOD is faid to have been difcovered by Mr. Conté to prevent iron and feel from rufting, which confifts in mixing with oil varnish at least onehalf, or at moft four-fifths, of highly rectified fpirit of turpentine, and applying lightly with a fpunge this mixture to any article placed out of the way of duft. This mixture may alto, it is fad, be applied to copper, and will therefore be of great ule to preferve philofophical inftruments.

MR. Gough, of Middlefhaw, a gentleman blind from his infancy, has communicated to the public his very ingenious method of writing, which deferves attention from all who lahour under the fame calamity. The paper is placed between two parallel brafs plates, in the middle of which is fixed a row of fhort pins, the diftance between them being the fame in each parallel, and exactly equal to the breadth of the writing-frame. This frame is an oblong piece of brafs, having a bevel at each end, by which it refts on the parallels and the bottom on the paper; and it is moved along the parallels as occafion requires, and kept in the proper pofition by the pins. The frame is perforated, a feries of fquares being formed in it, the divifions between being very flight; and the bottom of it being covered with printing ink, on placing it on the paper, it marks the paper in the fame

manner with correfponding fquares. The first row on the paper is thus fit for ufe, that is, two black parallel lines are marked on it; the breadth of the paper and parallel lines at equal diftances longitudinally. The pen is of fquare brafs, four inches long, each fide of the fquare being half as long as the breadth of the above-mentioned fquares or compartments in the frame. One end is cut away fo as to leave only a fide of the fquare or plate about three-eighths of an inch in length, and a line in thickness; and one end of this plate is filed down to a point, fo that, on bringing this end of the pen to the compartiment, it will mark points diftinétly in any pofition. The other end of the rod is cut diagonally, fo that the diagonal line may be used to mark ftrokes in the compartments. The ufe of the pen will be feen at once from the nature of the alphabet, which confifts of points and ftrokes, which are placed in different pofitions in the compartments, to denote the different letters. The writer has by him a cushion of foft leather, covered with printers' ink, to which he applies his pen as often as ncceflary; and bringing it to the compartment neceffary, determined by the touch, makes the marks either of points or ftrokes in the compartment, agreeably to the word he withes to write.

MR. Strapwell's invention to give efficacy to cannon fhot, it would be improper to defcribe; and the longer it remains a fecret to the enemy, the better.

MR. Brookes, of Blenheim Street, commenced his fpring courfe of lectures on Anatomy, Phyfiology, and Surgery, on Saturday the 21st instant. The diffecting rooms are open from eight in the morning till two.

MR. Bethan has published a fecond edition of his Flora Cantabrigienfis, and the following paffages are tranfcrib ed from it with extreme regret. We do not for obvious reafons tranflate them; but we flatter ourselves that they will fall in the way of thofe who can relieve as well as feel for the fituation of the writer.

"Flora autem Cantabrigienfis majores thefauros jactaret, fi dies auctori feliciores arrififfent; fi rei familiaris anguftia itinerum fumptus non omnino vetuiffet; animumque fruftra luctantem miferiæ quotidianæ gravaffent.

Aliæ etiam caufæ filentio non prætereundæ funt; fpecimina in herbario (eheu non amplius meo) confervata, plurima amicorum defunctorum pignora, in poffeflionem Societatis Linnaanæ tranfiverunt: librofque, Floræ meæ fructus, ut venderem fæva conftrinxit neceflitas."

THE work of Mr. Lawrence, author of the New Farmer's Calendar, &c., on Cattle Breeding, Improvement, and Medicine, is in its courfe through the prefs, and may shortly be expected by the public. From the author's well known long attention to these subjects, a book may be expected, comprehenfive, and full of practical utility; in thort, fuch an one as is, at the prefent period particularly, the chief defideratum in the bufinefs of the country. THE Rev. Colin Milne, whole works

on the fcience of Botany have been fo long and juftly admired, is now preparing for the prefs A New Edition of his Botanical Dictionary, in which will be introduced all the modern difcoveries.

MR. Wm. Lefter, of Piccadilly, will fhortly publish a liftory of fome of the most improved Implements in Hufbandry of the British Empire, in 1 vol. 4to. with copper-plate defcriptions.

MISS Seward is engaged in writing a Life of the celebrated Dr. Darwin, and we understand will fhortly be publifhed.

Miss Edgeworth is about to publifh a new work, entitled "Popular Tales." AN English tranflation of the Travels of M. Volney in North America is in great forwardness, and will fpeedily be published.

OUR

New Series opens with a state of public affairs very different from any hitherto experienced by this island. Europe is viewing in awful fufpence the preparations making by two great powers; the one meditating total deftruction, the other anxious for its own fecurity. Such a change in the politics of the last ten years will exercise the pens of future hiftorians; whilft they who are engaged in the prefent contelt are too much occupied by the things before them to trace up to its true fource the cause of such unforeseen calamities. The late war terminated in a manner very different from the expectations of thofe who planned it; and France, by the energies arising out of her civil commotions, faw realised thofe fchemes of aggrandizement which her former monarchs had continually in view, which were preferved with the utmost diligence in her cabinets, and' which were purfued with equal eagernefs by every party that obtained the fway in her councils. It is now too late to complain of the errors of the statesmen of Europe. Men of detail, accustomed to the petty routine of their respective cabinets, they calculated coldly upon the effects of their men, their money, and their arms; but, having little or no insight into human nature, the infurrection of a whole people struck them with

aftonishment; their little plans of attack, weakly formed and weakly fupported, were fucceffively defeated, and France, that was confidered by the weakeft of politicians as blotted out of the map of Europe, carved to herself dominions as the pleased; and they, who threatened to divide among themfelves her territories, received the commands of the new republicans with fear and trembling.

The fatal pre-eminence of France was too visible at the conclufion of the treaty of peace; yet its return was fo grateful to thofe who had been haraffed by the horrors of an unavailing conteft, that it was hailed with joy by all partics. Whether it could have been preferved or not, or with whom lies the blame of renewing the conteft, it does not enter into our plan, nor is it neceffary at prefent to inveftigate. War was firft proclaimed by this country, and, as ufual, it was attended with a manifefto, declaring fuch grievances to have been committed by France, as could be expiated only by the fword. Our enemy of courfe appealed to the powers of Europe, and afcribed the aggreffion to our infatiable avarice and ambition, to our reftlefs fpirit and love of dominion. We were prepared for the conflict; our fleets were foon manned; the commerce of France fell an I

eafy prey to our fhips, and her connections with the Weft Indies were foon nearly annihilated. Holland became involved in the conteft, fuffering equally in her West Indian colonies, and holding her eastern poffeflions on a very precarious tenure. But these natural confequences of our pre-eminence at fea were counterbalanced by the equal, 'if not greater, fuccefs of the French arms by land. With the utmost ease they entered the hereditary poffeffions of the fovereign of the united kingdom, and Hanover faw herself at the mercy of the French. The inhabitants were not in the leaft inclined to struggle for their former government, and they appeared to receive, with the utmoft apathy, a change of masters.

Our fuccefs in the West Indies is not without fome alloy. The hopes of the French, in the richest and most important inland in that region, are complete ly ruined, and St. Domingo offers to our view a revolution that may be attended with as horrid confequences as even that which has excited fo much confufion in Europe. For nearly three centuries, men, calling themfelves chriftians, have been employed in a wicked and abominable commerce; which, by tearing away from their native homes the inhabitants of one quarter of the world, placed them in fubjection to people of a different colour and habits of life in a diftant region. The flaves from labour and ill treatment could not multiply, and the diminution of their numbers was fupplied with fresh importations from that continent, which is fuppofed, but without reafon, to nourish a race inferior in mental faculties to the rest of mankind. The ifland of St. Domingo was thus peopled by two fpecies of inhabitants, the blacks and the whites, naturally hating each other; for the one party felt the injuftice of their fituation, and the other were obliged to fecure the fervices of the flave by feverity and watchful jeafoufy. A divifion among the whites. held out to the blacks the hopes of refcuing themselves from oppreffion: they feized it with avidity, and a black republic was formed. But fuch an end could not be accomplished without the moft horrid barbarities, and the unhappy whites feemed doomed to fuffer in a few years as much as had been inflicted on their fellow creatures in the courfe of as many centuries. There was a profpect that the antient fubor

dination might be restored, though the forces fent from France to the ifland were not fufficient for its complete fubjugation. What could not be done by force might have been accomplished by art; and, by a prudent union with the chief of the blacks, the island might have been gradually reftored to its former masters. This obvious policy was, however, neglected; and, by trantporting the chief to a dungeon in Europe, the confequences exasperated to the utmost those whom they ought to have taken pains to footh by lenient measures, and the war was renewed with redoubled fury. Fortunately for the blacks, the rupture between England and France prohibited the latter from fending fupplies to its enfeebled army: the blacks reign triumphant; and what form of government they will affume, what changes they may make in the neighbouring iflands, the forefight of the deepest politician cannot anticipate. The alarm is felt in Jamaica: the example is of a dangerous tendency; and the planter dreads a combination which might restore liberty to the slave, and fpread defolation over the whole ifland.

The lofs of Hanover on one fide, and of Domingo on the other, are the chief features of the prefent war: every thing befides is mere preparation. Our fleets block up the ports of the enemy, who does not feem likely to give them an opportunity of adding to the triumphs of our navy: he is preparing a new fpecies of warfare, and Europe is waiting with the utmoft anxiety the refult of his intended experiment. A prodigious armament, confifting chiefly of boats, is faid to be now nearly in readinefs to convey a fufficient number of troops to fubjugate this ifland. By one mighty effort the fovereign of France is determined to annihilate our confequence, change our government, and lay waste our country. In what manner the attempt is to be made, if it is ever made, time muft difcover: but unlefs a floating battery can be provided to refift the cannon of our fhips, and to keep the boats without the reach of their fhot, the channel cannot be paffed, whilft a fhip of force is near; and the opportunities of navigating the channel, when they are driven from their ftation, are fo rare, that it feems next almoft to an impoffibility that fuch a squadron of boats thould reach our fhores in fafety. But fortune has favoured great

ly the Conqueror of Marengo; and he who tranfported his heavy artillery over the Alps has a mind fertile in refources, which is not to be appalled by the terrors of our fleets or the dangers of the fea.

The country is fenfible of the impending danger, and prepared to meet it. However dictated it may have been in other refpects, on this fubject perfect unanimity prevails, and the contraft between a free and an enflaved people is firiking. France has produced numerous armies by the terror of confcription: the moment this country was menaced, fome hundred thousands stepped forward voluntarily in its defence. Should the enemy efcape the danger of the fea, should he be able to make his landing good, fhould he march a few miles into the country, he muft then prepare himself for a different fpecies of warfare from any he has hitherto experienced. He has not yet met a people in arms. He has fought with armies formed on the usual fyftem of difcipline and pay: the people of the country were either divided, or glad to receive him: every step that he advances in this country will be marked with blood; every step will increase his difficulties; retreat will be entirely cut off; and, unless fuch mifmanagement fhould take place in the direction of our force as can hardly be fufpected, we might almost anticipate the furrender of his army within a fortnight from the time it reached our fhores.

The fteady zeal which has thus been manifefted for the defence of the country cannot be too much applauded. There was no neceffity to excite it by any of thofe idle motives which are found neceffary in other nations; and the abufe of the pulpit and the prefs, and the arts on this occafion, only difgrace thofe who have thought it proper to refort to fuch expedients. What, indeed, can be more contemptible than to hear a minifter of religion inveighing against a fovereign, overwhelming him with abufe, treating him with all the hard names that he can find in fcripture, and fuppofing, that, by comparing him with Cain, or the demons of darknefs, his audience will be relieved from their fears, or the country be freed from his attacks. The press has followed too clofely in the fame track, and the fhops of caricatura feem to have endeavoured to outrage every feeling of humanity by the traih they have

expofed to public view. It is not by fuch contemptible arts that the Firit Conful of France is to be fubdued, nor is this the mode that becomes an Englishman. The adverfary with whom we are to cope is poffeffed of talents, indefatigable industry, and infinite refources: all the arts of generalship, and the bravery of veterans, will be employed against us: cowards only have refort to abufe; but the powers of brave men will be employed in counteracting the efforts of their enemy. Two great nations are now at war, and the conteft will not be decided by either the pen or the tongue.

The nations of Europe are determined to be fpectators of the conflict. England has no allies. Spain and Portugal have bought their neutrality. Auftria is too weak to take up arms. The Italian States are of no confequence. Pruffia is minding its own concerns. It is doubtful whether we have even the wishes of the northern courts. Denmark refents the blow we ftruck her in the laft war. Sweden and Ruffia would not be forry to see our naval force humbled; and Ruffia, from the experience of her late alliance with us, is not at all inclined to fend her men to fight under our banners. She has alfo other projects in view; and, having no fear from the fuccefs of either party in the prefent contest, fhe fees, in their mutual attempts to weaken each other, a fecurity against the interference of either, when the time comes for the downfall of the Ottoman empire. In Germany there appeared to be fome reason to expect a degree of co-operation in our favour; but this was owing to a mistake of the Germanic conftitution. In the plunder of the Ecclefiaftical States, the divifion was not fo accurately ascertained as to prevent future difpute; and the Elector of Bavaria and the Emperor both laid claims to a territory which ought not to have belonged to either. The formality of taking poffeffion of it by their respective troops did not neceffarily involve these powers in war: it is a question which may be decided by negotiation, and will probably terminate without any appeal to the fword.

Whilft mighty preparations are making for bloodthed in the western part of the antient Roman empire, the eastern part feems likely to attract foon the attention of Europe. The Pachas on