combination of the feveral foluble earths, and most of the metallic calxes with an oil. The combinations of calcareous, ponderous, and argillaceous earths, are infoluble in oil, fpirit of wine and water; that of magnefia is foluble in fpirit of wine and oil, but not water. Some of the metallic combinations are foluble in cold alcohol, and all more or less in this fpirit when heated; but oil, and more especially oil of turpentine. By the fimple term oil M. B. means expreffed oils only. He is of opinion, that ammoniacal foap, which is formed by merely mixing together a folution of fal ammoniac and of foap, will probably prove of great fervice in medicine. He obferves, that it has over Starkey's foap the advantages of being foon and eafily made, of being always identical, and of keeping very well in clofe veffels. With refpect to the combination of mercury and oil, he defires the reader to distinguish it from the mercurial ointment of the pharmacopeias. This retains all or most of its phlogifton, whereas in the compound formed by mixing folution of foap, with that of corrofive fublimate, or, what is better, with that of mercurial nitre, the mercury has undergone calcination. We expect foon to hear of this compound being employed for medical purposes. In this manner has M. B. opened a very curious enquiry. Much remains to be done, and he will doubtless profecute the train of experiments, which he has fo happily begun. The refpective quantity of ingredients in the feveral compounds, is yet to be afcertained, and a table of affinities, the great aim of chemical refearches, to be adjusted. M. B. has indeed done fomething towards the attainment of the latter object. He places calcareous and ponderous earths first, then fixes alkali, afterwards magnefia, next volatile alkali, which decompofes all the metallic compounds, of the relation of which to each other he fays nothing, but adds, that clay is probably to be placed after them all. M. Cornette confiders in three memoirs, the action of the three mineral acids, as they are called, on oils. Following M. Baumé he divides oils into three claffes, viz. effential, ficcative, or those which dry in the air, fuch as linfeed oil, oil of nuts, &c. and unctuous. : His experiments tend to fhew that concentrated vitriolic acid produces heat and ebullition with the two former claffes that the compound is foluble in alcohol, and diffufible through water, to which it imparts a dark colour: but this fpecies of foap is at laft but very imperfect; for fome portion of the oil feparates, and rifes to the top. The The fame acid unites more quietly with the unctuous oils, and forms a complete foap which, when diffused in water, does not part with any oil. The action of marine acid, of which the fpecific gravity is to that of water, as 9 to 8, upon oils is not very confiderable; but in the form of the fmoaking liquor of Libavius, it approaches to the vitriolic acid: it is incapable of forming a confiftent soap, but it renders a fmall quantity of oil mifcible with water. Unctuous oils fubje&ted feveral times to the action of marine acid, become soluble in alcohol, and acquire retinous properties. Some of M. Cornette's experiments feem to confirm the opinion, that acid of amber is only a modification of marine acid. The vehement effects produced by mixing the nitrous acid with oils, have been long fince noticed: it does not set fire to unctuous oils without the vitriolic, and even then they must be added at the fame time: the nitrous acid renders oils of this clafs foluble in alcohol, as alfo thofe refinous fubftances which otherwise elude its action. (To be continued in a future number.) ART. XII. Les Numeros. The Numeros. In three Parts. Amfterdam, et fe trouve a Paris, 1783. HE title of this book is full of affectation, and does not Trend, in the smallest degree, to discover the nature of the work to which it is prefixed. The word numero is, we believe, full as much an English as a French word; and may therefore be expected to carry to our readers as truly the idea of the author, as it could convey to the ear of a Parifian. A book however is not to be judged of merely by the evidence of its title. In the cafe before us, the title indeed of the work is uncouth and obfcure, but the book itself is ingenious, elegant and entertaining. The defign of the performance is to paint the reigning manners of the French metropolis, to ridicule its follies, and to contribute, as the author has expreffed it, to the rendering "its king the most venerable, its ftate the most flourishing, its generals the most fkilful and the most famous, its minifters the most enlightened and the most fagacious, its judges the most honeft and the beft informed, and its citizens the moft fortunate upon the face of the earth." This is indifputably an heroic and arduous undertaking. In the mean time we are of opinion, that the work of M. Peyffonel is calculated to ferve this excellent purpose; and however however trifling its utility may be imagined, it fould be remembered, that every ftone that is laid, contributes fomething to the completion of the largest edifice; and that every mite that is contributed to a charitable undertaking, adds fomething to the fum of general happiness. The author of the Numeros, though inlifting in the clafs of fatirifts, is upon the whole, a model of mild and temperate fatire. Indeed, when his declarations upon the fubject are heard, it will be fufpected, that he has rather exceeded on the fide of adulation than invective. "I reverence the doctrines," fays he," and I admire the morality of the religion in which I was born. I am attached to the government to which destiny has fubjected me, because it is the mildest that exists. I love the king that nature has made my mafter, because he is an excellent prince. I love the house that fits upon the throne, because it is the moft illuftrious and benign with which I am acquainted; becaufe during eight hundred years that it has fat there, it has produced a multitude of heroes and not one tyrant. I love the French nation because, after having feen a number of other nations, I have not difcovered one that is to be ferred to it." pre But foftly, my good fatirift. That you should prefer your own country, and your own religion is very natural. That you fhould think well of Louis XVI of France, against whose conduct fo few objections can be raised, is not to be wondered at. But we can by no means agree with you, that a government, that reftrains the liberty of the prefs and the liberty of the tongue, that crouds its metropolis with fpies, and maintains a Baftile, under whatever qualifications, to omit a thousand other objections, is the mildeft that exifts. But you have added another obfervation, if poffible, still more extraordinary. What, cannot you find one tyrant in the whole fucceffion of the prefent race of your monarchs? Was not Louis XIV. that reftlefs warrior, who facrificed without regret every confideration for his people to the acquifition of an empty name, a tyrant? Was not the author of the maffacre of St. Bartho lomew a tyrant? Was not Louis XI, that immaculate pattern of all that is unfeeling, and all that is brutal, a tyrant? A reviewer of a faturnine difpofition would infallibly be tempted to exclaim here: This man is admirably formed for a fatirift! In fpite however of this moft glaring and unparalleled piece of mifreprefentation, we need not defpair to prefent our reader with fome extracts from the work before us, which fhall yield him both entertainment and information The incomparable Sterne has let fall an obfervation in his Sentimental Journey, which has often excited, as he cer tainly tainly intended it fhould, a fmile among his readers. "I regard the French nation, fays he to the count de B-, as the politeft, themoft fenfible, and the moft generous people in the universe. I have but one objection to them. But I cannot help faying, that they are rather too ferious." As Sterne has ufually been fuppofed fingular in this opinion, and as it has even been doubted whether he really entertained it, we fhall probably make no unacceptable selection in prefenting our readers with the Numero of Peyffonel upon the Gravity of his Country men. "The populace of Holland paffes pretty generally for the moft phlegmatic, the moft dull, and the most melancholy in Europe. The uncomfortable dampnefs of their foil, which relaxes the fibres, the cheese and the milk-diet, which thicken the humours of the body, and the use of beer, fo deftructive to the nerves, are the phyfical caufes of this phenomenon avarice and parfimony, that contract the foul, are the moral causes. The Muficos, which are the favourite places of entertainment with the Dutch nation are in effect public places, inconceivably difmal and nafty in their appearance. A painted lanthorn is ufually hung out for an invitation; when you go in, you pay fo much in advance, at least the price of a bottle of wine; and you find there a group of impures, who dance by themselves with a doleful and melancholy ftep. The men look on with a pipe in their mouths, and a glafs in their hand; fuddle themselves with wine, beer, and tobacco, and conclude with making choice of one of thefe fultanas; who leads home with her, the individual who has thrown her the handkerchief, in order to fatisfy an animal craving, a brutal appetite, entirely devoid of diftin&tion, of fentiment, and of cleanliness. "The populace of Paris, who inhabit a more temperate climate, who eat lefs butter and cheefe, who drink lefs milk and more wine, are not ftupid and phlegmatic like thofe of Holland, but they are grave, ferious, and irafcible Their tone of voice is harfh, unaccommodating and dogmatical. They deliver the moft ftupid remark with a dignity of articulation, that would become a fentence. They have no gaiety in their hearts, and lefs than none in their heads. The fongs you hear every where in the ftreet, and the proverbs moft frequently quoted by the vulgar, have neither, falt, nor point, nor any one recommendation in the world. And I am bold to fay, that fongs and proverbs are the very beft teft of the understanding of the vulgar. The different places where there is the greateft concourfe of the lower order of Parifians, as the Porcherons, the Courtille, &c. have more life and lefs decency; but are perhaps at the bottom as melancholy choly as the Muficos of Amfterdam. In thefe laft, at any rate, no obfcenities are practifed, but in the garden of the Porcherons, in the evening of a Shrove Tuesday, I have seen every thing that it is poffible to fee. I have even obferved in the apartment, known by the name of the Great Saloon, a great deal of indecency; and what they call the Race, in which five or fix hundred perfons of both fexes, holding each other by the hand, run at full ftretch round the faloon, and tread every body under their feet that has the misfortune to fall, has nothing in it of gay, and prefents you with the completeft image of the ancient Orgies. In general I have remarked, that in all thefe places, where you hear the found of finging, of mufic, of exclamation; where you fee dancing, feafting, drinking, obfcenity, and all the extravagance of the most clamorous merriment; you find nothing that bears the ftamp of real gaiety you are ftunned with the noise and tumult infeparable from diforderly affemblies, but you do not hear a fingle burft of laughter. What is ftill more to be lamented is, that this emotion,, fo natural, fo pleasant, fo delicious, has been completely ifhed out of good company. It is a mark of the highest ill-tubeding. A man who should fuffer a hearty laugh to escape him in a polite circle, would pass for an ideot: if the misfortune befel a woman, The muft bid adieu to her reputation for ever. There was but one refource left in Paris for those who wished for innocent frolic; it was the Italian Comedy. This has been fuppreffed. They have ftolen away Harlequin from the finall number of men, whom heaven had bleffed with a gay and careless difpofition. Foul befal thofe, who did not laugh at the tricks of Harlequin! A curfe light upon the melancholy wretch, who does not regret him! "The Parifian artifan goes on a Sunday to the Porcherons, the Courtille, the Jolly Gardener, or to fome tippling house, in order to diffipate what he has left of his week's-work, There he gets intoxicated with a grave countenance, picks a quarrel with his companion, goes home, beats his wife, and gets to bed, fatisfied that he has enjoyed the highest species of pleasure. The next day he returns to his labour, that he may act the fame scene over again the Sunday following, or the very next holiday. "I have remarked, that nations change their form of government, and change their manners, but never change their character. You may find exactly delineated in the Misopogon of the Emperor Julian, the character of the Parifians of the prefent day. This prince loved Paris, called it his dear Lutetia, and chofe it for the favourite place of his abode during |