[From "The Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1833.”]

BARON DE ZACH.

DIED September 1, at Paris, of the cholera, aged 79, François Xavier, Baron de Zach, an eminent astronomer, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London.

He was born at Pesth, in Hungary, and his taste for astronomy was decided at the early age of fifteen, by the interest which he took in the observation of the comet of 1769, and by the transit of Venus over the disc of the sun in the same year, a memorable event which served to make more than one important convert to the science. After travelling through different countries of Europe, and residing for several years in England, where he acquired for our manners and institutions an attachment which continued throughout his life, he settled at Gotha in 1786, in the family of the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, who charged him with the construction of the Observatory at Seeberg, over which he continued to preside for a considerable period. He published at Gotha, in 1792, Tables of the Sun, with a Catalogue of 381 Stars, and subsequently many other important astronomical Tables, particularly those on Aberration and Nutation. He became in 1800 the editor of the "Monatliche Correspondentz," a German periodical work on astronomy and geography, which was republished in French under the title of "Correspondence Astronomique, &c." upon his removal to the South of France in 1813, and subsequently to Genoa in company with the Duchesse de Saxe-Gotha. This was a most valuable Journal, containing records of the progress of astronomy in every country in Europe, and contributing more than any other publication to the great impulse which has been given for many years to the cultivation of astronomical science in Germany. In 1814 he published his very interesting work on the " Attraction of Mountains." For many of the later years of his life he suffered severely from the stone, and he had established himself at Paris, for the purpose of being constantly under the care of Dr. Civiale, and experiencing relief by the operation of lithotrity, when he died from a sudden attack of cholera.

The Baron de Zach was a most zealous friend to astronomy, and throughout his long life contributed to its progress by his numerous publications, and by maintaining a most extensive and laborious correspondence with the principal astronomers in Europe. He was a man of warm and ardent affections, rapid and sometimes hasty in his conclusions, of the most lively and agreeable manners, and of the most indefatigable industry and there are few persons of the present day whose loss will be more sensibly felt by the friends of astronomical science in every country in Europe.

[From "The Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1833."]

BARNABA ORIANI.

DIED November, 1832, at Milan, in his 80th year, Barnaba Oriani, Director of the Observatory of the Brera in that city, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London.

He was a native of Garegnano, near Milan, and had resided for fifty-five years in the Observatory, having been the assistant of Lagrange, whom he succeeded as principal. He was the chief conductor of the measurement of an arc of the meridian in Italy; and of the great trigonometrical survey of Lombardy, which was performed between the years 1786 and 1790. In reward for his services on the great map of the kingdom of Italy, Napoleon made him a Senator, and Knight of the Iron Crown. Throughout his long life, he devoted himself to the cultivation of physical and practical astronomy. He was the first person who calculated the orbit of the planet Ceres after its discovery by Piazzi at Palermo. He published theories of the planets Uranus and Mercury, with Tables of their motions. He labored with singular skill and perseverance in the improvement of the Lunar Tables both by theory and observation. He was the author of an admirable treatise on spheroidical trigonometry and the Astronomical Ephemeris of Milan was published for many years under his directions, by Carlini. "Upon the whole," as was remarked by the Duke of Sussex in his last Anniversary Address to the Royal Society,* "if the union of practical with theoretical science be considered, we shall be justified in pronouncing him to have been, after Bessel, the most accomplished astronomer of the present age."

COUNT CHAPTAL.

DIED July 29th, 1832,† in the 76th year of his age, Jean Antoine Chaptal, Compte de Chanteloup, a Peer of France, Member of the Institute, and Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London. The following account of him is from the Duke of Sussex's last Anniversary Discourse to the Royal Society.

"He was Professor of Chemistry at Montpelier before the Revolution, and was one of the most active cultivators of chemical science before that event, in conjunction with Monge, Fourcroy, Berthollet, Guyton de Morveau, and the illustrious Lavoisier.

[From which the whole of the above notice is copied with some slight additions.]

t See "Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1833."

the year 1793, upon the threatened invasion of France by the Allies, when saltpetre was not to be procured in sufficient quantities for the manufacture of the powder wanted by the French armies, he was invited by the Committee of Public Safety to superintend the establishments for that purpose; and his chemical knowledge so greatly improved the method followed in its manufacture, as in a very short time to make the produce greatly exceed the demand. He was made Ministre de l'Întérieur by Napoleon, and continued under the Empire to fill many important situations. He was the author of considerable works on chemistry, on the application of chemistry to the arts, on the application of chemistry to agriculture, on the art of making wines, and on the art of dyeing cotton and wool, which are written in a very perspicuous and elegant style, and which have enjoyed a very considerable popularity in France. The labors of his whole life, in fact, were devoted to the improvement of those manufactures whose perfection depended more or less upon the most correct and economical application of chemical principles; and, after his distinguished countryman Berthollet, he must be placed in the first rank of those who have benefited the arts through the medium of chemical science."

The following is a list of the most important of his valuable and numerous works, from "The Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 19." "Élémens de Chimie," 3 vols. 8vo. The first edition appeared in 1790, and the fourth in 1803.-"Traité sur le Salpètre." 8vo. 1796.—“Essai sur le Perfectionnement des Arts Chimiques en France." 8vo. 1800.-"Art de faire, de gouverner et de perfectionner les Vins." 1 vol. 8vo. First edition 1801, second edition 1819. "Traité théorique et pratique sur la Culture de la Vigne, avec l'Art de faire le Vin, les Eaux de vie, Esprit de vins et Vinaigres." 2 vols. 8vo. First edition 1801, second edition 1811. — "Essai sur le Blanchiment." 1801. "Chimie appliquée aux Arts." 4 vols. 8vo. 1807.-"Art de la Teinture du Coton en rouge." 8vo. 1807.-"Art du Teinturier et du Dégraisseur." 8vo. 1800.-"De l'Industrie Française." 2 vols. 8vo. 1819. "Mémoires sur le Sucre de Betteraves." 8vo. Third edition 1819. "Chimie appliquée à l'Agriculture." 2 vols. 8vo. 1823.

[From "The Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1833."]

ANTONIO SCARPA.

DIED at Pavia, October 31st, aged 86, Antonio Scarpa, Professor of Anatomy in that University, one of the eight Foreign Members of the Académie des Sciences of Paris, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London.

Scarpa was a native of the province of Treviso. He was made Professor of Anatomy at Pavia in the twenty-second year of his age; and for the last half-century has been placed by the common consent of his countrymen at the head of their anatomists and surgeons. At the epoch of the French invasion in 1796, he refused to take the oath to the republic, and was consequently dismissed from his chair. Napoleon, in 1805, having made himself King of Italy, went to visit, among other places, the University of Pavia, the professors of which were duly introduced to him. He suddenly inquired where Scarpa was? The reply was, that Scarpa had been dismissed long since, on account of his political opinions, and because he refused to take the oaths. "And what have political opinions, and refusal of oaths, to do in such a case?" impatiently interrupted Napoleon; " Dr. Scarpa is an honor to the University, and to my States." Scarpa was therefore invited to resume his chair, which he did, and he continued to lecture to a very advanced age, occasionally employing one of his pupils as a substitute. Besides his great fame in the scientific world, his personal character was held in the highest estimation, and he was beloved and revered by his disciples. The principal among his numerous works are: - his "Treatise on the Organs of Hearing and Smelling," published in 1789; his “Tabula Neurologicæ, or Plates of the Nerves of the Human Frame," 1794; his "Essays on the principal Diseases of the Eyes," 1801: his work on Aneurism, 1804; and his "Treatise on Hernia," 1809.

Scarpa had accumulated a handsome fortune by the practice of his profession, and had formed a very valuable collection of paintings in his palace at Pavia; where he lived during his latter years, surrounded by his pupils, reverenced by his countrymen, and in the enjoyment and contemplation of that brilliant reputation, the full developement of which a great man can rarely live to witness.

[From "The New Monthly Magazine, No. 147."]

EARL FITZWILLIAM.

THIS venerable, patriotic, and generous nobleman died on the 9th of February at his seat in Northamptonshire. The noble Earl was in his 85th year; he is succeeded in the title and estates by his eldest son, Lord Milton.

Earl Fitzwilliam was born in 1718, and at the age of eight years succeeded to the title and a large fortune, with the expectancy of a still larger, being the presumptive heir to the extensive estates of his uncle, the Marquis of Rockingham. At the age of twelve he was sent to Eton school, where he was contemporary with Charles Fox, Lord Carlisle, and many other illustrious characters.

Though he did not display talents as shining as those of some of his companions, he was industrious in the pursuit of knowledge, and possessed an enlarged mind, and much liberality of sentiment. By his agreeable and generous disposition he endeared himself to his fellow-scholars; and his benevolence to the poor and unfortunate, to the widow and the orphan, is said to have been unbounded. His studies he finished at King's College, Cambridge. In 1770, soon after he came of age, he married Lady Charlotte Ponsonby, the sister of the present Earl of Besborough; a union which united him more closely with the great Whig families.

With such an education and such principles, Lord Fitzwilliam was decidedly hostile to the war against America. In his opposition to it he displayed equal perseverance and ability. When, at length, repeated disasters had awakened the nation to a sense of the folly and hopelessness of the contest, he redoubled his efforts, and the motions which he made, and the support which he gave to the motions of others, had no small influence in hastening the downfall of the ministry. Under the administration formed by his uncle, the Marquis of Rockingham, Lord Fitzwilliam did not hold any office; but, in his senatorial capacity, he strenuously supported his friends; and when, after the death of the Marquis, the court succeeded in producing a schism among the Whigs, his Lordship was one of those who most severely arraigned the conduct of Lord Shelborne, who had been made an instrument in producing that schism. "Does the King need a confessor and a master of the ceremonies, and would he unite them in one," said his Lordship, "let him choose the Earl of Shelborne. I know no one who can quibble more logically, or bow more gracefully." It was the circumstance of Lord Shelborne lending himself to the schemes of the court, which provoked the Whigs to form their impolitic coalition with Lord North. When the united parties accomplished the expulsion of Lord Shelborne, and again obtained the reins of power, Lord Fitzwilliam was intended to be the President of the Board of Commissioners for the management of India affairs, under the celebrated India Bill of Mr. Fox. That bill, however, caused the dismissal of the ministry; and it also destroyed, for many years, the influence which Lord Fitzwilliam had possessed in the city and county of York. Till the year 1793, his Lordship continued to act with the whigs; and at the period when the Regency question was in debate, he was the person whom they selected to fill the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

The progress of the French revolution at length produced another division among the Whigs. While Mr. Fox, Mr. Grey, and many of their friends, believed that England had nothing to fear from French principles; Mr. Burke, Mr. Windham, the Duke of Portland, Lord Spencer, and Lord Fitzwilliam, were of opinion that those principles were fraught with danger to this country, and they accordingly quitted the party with which they had long acted, and lent their support to Mr. Pitt. In 1794, Lord Fitzwil