are clearly discernible. Most of them are of By the committee to whom has been inspecies extinct, or not now known to exist. trusted more particularly the cultivation of The learned Doctor enumerates the follow- Botany and Vegetable Physiology, I am diing among the varieties that may be made rected to solicit your co-operation in promotout; Belemnites, Encrinites, Terebratulas, Pec- ing and carrying into effect the designs of tinites, a Cardium exhibited in various frac- this institution. tures, and a spherical flesh-coloured body, which he conjectures to be an Actimia. The Lumachella of Coeyman's, were it not for its flinty ingredients, would be nearly equal to the Italian Lumachella. CIRCULAR. New-York Institution, April 8th, 1817. SIR-By request of the Mineralogical committee of the New-York Historical Society, I have the honour to forward to you a notice of their intention to form a collection of the minerals and fossils of the United States. The object of this undertaking being of great public utility, they trust that it will meet with general encouragement. Allow me, Sir, in their behalf, to request of you such donations of minerals and petrefactions of the United States as you may have it in your power to procure for us, and such information as yourself or friends may possess of the mineralogy of any part of the United States. I have the honour to be, CIRCULAR. AMERICAN ZOOLOGY AND GEOLOGY. New-York Institution, March 11, 1817. SIR-In behalf of the New-York Historical Society, I beg leave to solicit your assistance toward the formation of a Zoological Muse um. For the purpose of becoming more extensively acquainted with the animal creation, a plan has been digested for collecting specimens and productions from the different tribes. These it is intended to preserve and arrange in an apartment allotted for their reception. The document annexed to this letter, contains some of the leading subjects of inquiry. Every fact and article relative to this exalted department of Natural History will be thankfully accepted and duly estimated I beg you to accept the assurance of my good will and respect. SAMUEL L. MITCHILL, Chairman. CIRCULAR. New-York Institution, April 8, 1317. SIR-It was one of the original objects in the establishment of the Historical Society of New-York, to attend not only to the civil and ecclesiastical, but also to the natural history of our state and country. As it is our intention to assemble, as far as may be practicable, all the various Trees, Shrubs, gramineous and herbaceous plants of our country, whether they are cultivated for their alimentary qualities, their medicinal virtues, or their use in the arts, or are distinguished for other important or remarkable qualities, your contributions, by sending us the living plant, or the seeds, roots, cuttings. layers, offsets, or other means of cultivating or propagating it, will be particularly acceptable, and will be duly and gratefully acknow ledged by the Historical Society; at the same time that we can now confidently assure you, they will be cultivated with great care, at the Botanic Garden, the state establishment, in the vicinity of this city. We also request the favour of you, to ac company such communications by a descrip tion of the more prominent characters of the plant, and of the several uses to which it is applied. A specimen of the dried plant, prepared in the manner pointed out in the subjoined directions, to be placed in the Herbarium of the Society, will also be acceptable. Another object of the Society is to collect specimens of the various woods, which are employed in any of the arts of life, or which in any way administer to the benefit of man; should it be in your power to contribute to the cabinet, you will oblige the Society by sending specimens of a size that will admit of a block being formed of about 6 inches in length, and 4 in width, with an account of the purposes to which such woods are seve rally applied. Specimens of these dimen sions, if carefully selected, will show the tex. ture and character of the wood. The various Barks and Roots which are in like manner made use of in diet, medicine. or in the various arts and manufactures, will be an acceptable addition to the collection now forming in this Institution. Preparations illustrative of the internal structure and economy of the vegetable body and of the diseases to which plants are liable, more especially those which frequently fall ander the notice of the farmer or the horticulturist, will be gratefully received, and will claim the particular attention of this Society, I am, Sir, respectfully, Your humble servant, DAVID HOSACK, Chairman. DIRECTIONS At a late meeting of this Institution, committees were selected from its members for To be observed in Collecting and Preserving the cultivation of the several departments of Plants. Zoology and Geology, Botany and Vegetable 1. As the flower and the leaf are the parts of Physiology, and Mineralogy. a plant from which the Botanical charac ters are most frequently derived, the specimen to be taken, should possess both the flower and the leaves in their perfect state. But where the root, the radical leaves, the seeds, the seed vessel, or other parts of the plant, exhibit any striking peculiarities, or possess any remarkable properties, these New-York Institution, April 8, 1817. The above Circulars were prepared by the Committees whose Reports were published in our last number, and should have accompanied those valuable memoirs. organs should also be carefully preserved. LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOII. In collecting a specimen of an herbace ous or gramineous plant, care must be taken to cut it close to the ground, that the leaves near the root, which are the most perfect, and oftentimes furnish the specific characters of the plant, may be preserved. III. In collecting a specimen of a tree or shrub, it is, in general, only necessary to cut a portion of one of the branches containing the flowers and some of the most perfect leaves. IV. They should be gathered upon a dry day; for if collected when wet, they usually turn black in drying. V. They are to be carefully placed between the leaves of a large book, or between sheets of blossom or blotting paper, or common wrapping paper. The quantity of paper to be interposed between the different plants is to be determined by their structure and the quantity of moisture they may contain. VI. When they are thus carefully arranged for drying, their several parts properly spread out, yet retaining their most natural position, they are to be put under a moderate degree of pressure, either by means of the machine usually employed for this purpose, with screws to increase or diminish the pressure, or in any other manner that may be most convenient: observing, however, to regulate the degree of pressure by the structure and succulency of the plant. VII. The paper in which they are placed must be renewed every 24 or 36 hours, until they are perfectly dried. In removing them from one book to another, care must be taken that the flowers be not injured, and that they be not long exposed to the air, as they are apt to become shrivelled. This process should be performed in a dry apartment, where the sun has some access and the air is frequently changed. VIII. When they are thus perfectly dried, they are to be placed, each species by it self, in a large book for the purpose, until they are removed to the systematic place assigned them in the cabinet. There have been many other methods employed in drying plants; but after various trials, the process now described has been found the least troublesome and the most successful. D. H. Published by order of the Historical Society. JOHN PINTARD, Recording Secretary. CIETY OF NEW-YORK. SITTING OF MAY 8, 1817. Dr. Mitchill, one of the Vice-Presidents, read a memoir on the fossil remains of or ganized beings, more especially of animals, in the region around New-York. He traced them through their various situations and forms in transition, in secondary and alluvial tracts of country. All Long-Island, the southern part of Staten-Island, and the superior and recent strata of New-York Island, all abound in those relicks. The county of Monmouth in NewJersey is replete with these monuments of ancient existences; and so indeed is Burlington, and generally speaking the whole district south of the Raritan river; abundance of them has been discovered in Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, Ulster, Columbia and Albany counties, and in short almost all the way northward to Montreal, and westward to Michillimakinac. The author enumerated particularly the reasons he had to believe that an American Elephant once existed different from the trans-atlantic species. He supposed there had been a Rhinoceros different from the animals now living. He argued conclusively that there had been a Taurian animal somewhere between an Iguena and a crocodile, and exactly resembling the famous reptile of Maestricht. Of all these he possessed teeth or bones, found near Shrewsbury and Middletown. The Mammoth or Mastodon was proved to have existed near Newburgh, and at Nyack, 40 miles from this city; bones of other land animals had been dug by himself from a layer of earth covered by a thickness of 8 feet of sand stone, and 4 of arable soil. Oysters, Clams, and Scallops existed in various places, in their proper shapes. Pectinites, Terebratulas, Encrinites, Ammonites, Baculites, Cardiums, and Anomias, were frequent in the soil and in the rocks. Nor were Belamnites, Spirulas, and Gryphoas, at all uncommon. Madapores, Tubipores, and other productions of the great class of Polypes, were often met with in a petrified state. Dr. M. considered that about twenty species of the creatures whose remains he had described, were extinct, or at least not now known to be inhabitants of this world. He believed New-York to be as memorable a region for such deposites as any on the globe, and encouraged further researches, as he had only ploughed a few furrows in this fertile and productive field. LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. acknowledged, as he had told Mr. T. before This association was organized in Februa- his departure, to be unknown to the great ry, 1817, for the express purpose of cultivating Zoologists of Europe. Natural History. The officers are, Hon. Samuel L. Mitchill, F. R. S. E. President. Caspar Wistar Eddy, M. D. Vice PresiRev. F. C. Schaffer, Sdents. John Le Conte, Esq. Corresponding Sec. John B. Beck, M. D. Recording Sec. Benjamin P. Kissam, M. D. Treasurer. Messrs. John Torrey, D'lurco Knevels, Curators. Ezekial R. Baudouine, A. B. The following are extracts from the minutes of their proceedings. Sitting of April 9th, 1817. 'It having been resolved, that the members of the Lyceum be encouraged to direct their attention to special objects, in the great field of Natural Science, the following arrangement and distribution were made: each of the members named, in addition to his general studies and pursuits, to attend in a particular manner, to the branches or departments confided to him. Ichthyology, or fishes, to C. W. Eddy, V. P. to John Le Conte, Botany, Mineralogy to F. C. Schæffer, V. P. Atmology, or meteorology, Glossology, or nomenclature,) Esq. to C. S. Rafinesque. Hydrology, or waters. Taxodomy, or classification, Ornithology, or birds, to B. P. Kissam, M D. Zootomy, or comparative anatomy, to James Clements, Esq. Oryctology, or fossils, to P. S. Townsend, M. D. Entomology,or insects,to Mr. John Torrey, Conchology, or shells, to D'Iurco Knevels. Mr. Rafinesque read a memoir on a fossil and undescribed species of Tubipore, which he called T. striatula, found near Glens Falls, a cataract of the river Hudson; and presented a specimen of the same for the cabinet: also a description of ten species of insects belonging to the genus aphis, which had not been described by any former Naturalists; and all of which destructive creatures are found in the United States. Dr. Mitchill related, that Mr. B. Taylor, who had carried from New-York to England, several individuals of that noble quadruped the white rump deer, (Cervus Wapiti,) had arrived with them, safe; and that he had learned from Mr. Tillock's Philosophical Magazine, the animals were now exhibiting at the King's Mews, near London, and were April 16th. Mr. Rafinesque exhibited a species of Nereis, an oceanic worm, not heretofore described, and which propagates by offsetts or germs; and also a species of Gordius or hair worm, of fresh water, different from the species hitherto known. They had both been discovered by Mr. E. R. Baudouine, in the vicinity of this city. Mr. Rafinesque delivered a learned and instructive lecture on the classification and nomenclature of natural beings; as an introduction to his future exercises on the subjects assigned to him. April 21st. 'A fine specimen of the Colymbus glacialis or great speckled Loon, from Long-Island Sound which had been purchased by Mr. Baudouine, was exhibited by Mr. Clements, in behalf of the committee, elegantly prepared. 'P. S. Townsend, M. D. read a memoir on the stellar crystalization of snow, grounded on some very beautiful phenomena of this kind, which he witnessed and examined during, March, 1817, and illustrated the same, by drawings from nature. May 5th. 'A written communication was received from the President, who was unable to attend the sitting of this day, recommending the adoption of measures for obtaining a complete catalogue of the vegetables growing spontaneously within thirty miles of New-York: 'Whereupon it was resolved, Messrs. Schæffer and Townsend, laid on the table, specimens of curious petrifactions, from Corlaers Hook, contained in a mass of indurated clay, lying about thirty feet below the surface of the alluvial soil, thereabout. These gentlemen promised a further communication on this subject, at a future meeting. 'Baron Charles H. Smith, favoured the society with his presence, as an honorary member, and laid the contents of his Port Folio before the Lyceum. These consisted of beautiful drawings in Zoology, executed with his characteristic accuracy; and among other delineations, were those of the Big-horn sheep. (Ovis ammon,) the Fork-horned antelope. (antilope bifurcata,) the Grisly Bear, (Ursus saevus,) the Prairie dog, (a species of arctomys or marmot,) the American bison (Bos bison Americanus,) and several other most interesting figures of our native quadrupeds. May 12th. Dr. Mitchill laid before the Lyceum, an account of captain Dunham's voyage to the Isthmus of Darien, and a number of the adjacent islands on the Atlantic side, and presented from that navigator, a number of plants procured from the natives, and reputed to be medicinal; also a piece of American copal, dug out of the earth near the trees which produce it, and sometimes carried, unchanged, to the sea, by the floods; and likewise roots of edders, or arum esculentum, used in the tropical regions for human food, they being of a quality between yams and potatoes. 'Dr. P. S. Townsend read the lecture for the day, which consisted chiefly of a trauslation he had made from professor Hauy's me moir on the Tourmalines of the United States, published in Paris. His just and spirited version was accompanied with the manuscript copy of this mineralogical tract, as it had been transmitted from the very distinguished author to the president of the Ly ceum.' 4 May 19th. Mr. Pierce presented a sample of native Magnesia, found by himself, among the rocks of Hoboken. This interesting mineral is a carbonate. It is besides volute, light, friable, and rough; looking like the artificial carbonated magnesia of the shops. Though it comes from the same place which affords the foliated, and flakey article, already so well described in the American mineralogical Journal, it is clearly a different species. The mass of surrounding rock is telgstein, olivine, serpentine, and the analogous forms, and the veins which mostly contain asbestos, and the magnesia already described, are now found to furnish this new product. 'The Rev. Mr. Schaffer also presented a specimen of the same kind, in which the loose and powdered magnesia, was distributed in cavities irregularly through the beds of the rock, having the appearance of partial decomposition. M 'Jacob Dyckman, M. D. read a memoir on a human body lately disinterred in one of the cemeteries, and found to be converted to a mass of fat or adipocere. The paper was accompanied with pieces of the muscular parts, which had undergone this singular change. The author gave the particular history of the present case, and took an extensive survey of similar alterations in the human subject generally. Mr. Schæffer, as lecturer on mineralogy, read an address introductory to the course of lectures which he intends to deliver before the Lyceum. Dr. Mitchill exhibited an herbarium, containing specimens of two plants growing in the United States, collected by James Mac Bride, M. D. of Charleston, (S. C.), by which, and in a letter accompanying the same, it is satisfactorily shown that the Gentiana saponica of Linnæus, and the Gentiana Catesboei of Walter, are in reality different species, although considered the same by Mr. Purth, in his Flora of North America, and other writers. The distinctions both in description and in fact, were very plain. Dr. M. offered the sketch of the botany of South-Carolina and Georgia, by Stephen Elliot, Esq. as far as the same was published. Great satisfaction was expressed on finding this elaborate and classical work had proceeded almost as far as the second order of the fifth class. 'Benjamin R. Kissam, M. D. produced a branch of a tree, cut by Richard K. Hoffman, Esq. surgeon of the United States' Navy, near the lake of Avernus in Italy. The sight of this specimen, derived from a spot so famous in ancient story, naturally brings to mind the verses of Virgil, in the sixth book of the Eneid, where the whole scenery is described with poetical elegance. -Latet arbore opaca Aureus et foliis et lento vimine ramus, ART. 7. LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE. GREAT BRITAIN. R. CHARLES PHILLIPS is preparing for the press, Speeches delivered by him at the bar, and on various public occasions in England and Ireland, in an 8vo. volume. Miss EDGEWORTH has in the press, a volume of comic dramas. An Edinburgh Monthly Magazine, was announced to appear on the 1st of April. Mr. BURCHELL, who has for several years been engaged in exploring that part of the African Continent bordering on the Cape of Good Hope, has lately returned to England; and has brought with him a numerous collection of undescribed and rare quadrupeds, among which are a male and a female Came leopardalis; 540 birds; about 2500 insects; an herbarium of about 40,000 subjects, and numerous geological and mineralogical specimens. The libraries, and cabinets of coins, and medals, viz. of the late THOMAS HOLLIS and THOMAS BRAND HOLLIS, have been advertised to be sold at auction in London. The Journal of the late Cap. Tuckey's unsuccessful voyage of discovery in the Interior of Africa to explore the route of the Zaire or Congo, with a survey of that river beyond the cataract, is in the press. The new poem on which Mr. Thomas Moore has been some time engaged, is an oriental romance, entitled Halla Rookb. It will soon appear. Mr. R. Davenport has published some curious particulars relative to boiling tar. Some know, and many probably have heard with out believing, while to others it will be quite new to hear that a man can dip his hand into boiling tar without suffering. Mr. D. thrust his finger into tar heated to 230°, and made two or three oscillations of six or eight inches, which occupied between two and three seconds of time. The heat did not rise to any painful degree, though it adhered to the skin like any other fluid of similar viscidity. The Mammoth, Elephant, and Hippopolamus, formerly natives of England.-In late observations which have been published by Mr. Parkinson on the strata and fossil remains in the neighbourhood of London, we perceive that the bones belonging to each of these animals have been discovered. A tooth of the Mammoth was found on the beach of Harwich, which was presented to the Geological Society by Dr. Menish. It possessed, in its softer parts, the colour and appearance of the Essex mineralized bones so distinctly, as to leave no doubts of its having been embodied in the stratum of that country. Mr. William Trimmer, of Kew, found beneath a bank of sandy gravel, about six feet thick, the bones of both the Elephant and the Hippopotamus. FRANCE. Messrs. Magendie et Pelletier, have presented a Memoir to the Academy of Sciences, communicating a discovery which they have made of a mode of separating the senative principle of the bark of the ipécacuanha from that which imparts it odour and ascerbity. They terin this first principle, heme tine. The first volume of a Military History of the Revolution, from 1792 to 1816, in 6 vols. 8vo. is announced. It is said that Madame de STAEL, has sold her Memoires sur M. Necker, to a company of French, English and German publishers, for one hundred thousand francs! The Cid brought its author one hundred crowns!! Amoures secretetes de Napoleon Bonaparte, et de sa famille, par M. le Baron de B.***, was published in Paris in March last. The new novel of Les Baticucas, by Madame de GENLIS, is the most popular production of the day. to the several Registers of the Land Offices of the United States, by Josiah Meigs, Esq. Commissioner of the Laud Office. An attentive observance of its suggestions and recommendations cannot fail of affording im portant results. Besides, the exact information which may, by this means, be furnished in regard to the temperature of dif ferent sections of the United States at this moment, and the data which may be col lected for the solution of interesting questions of natural history, the foundation is laid for the compilation of a meteorological digest, which, in process of time, will exhibit facts conclusive on a point of no little interest, and one on which philosophers are very much at variance,-we mean the meliora tion or deterioration of the climates of our country. CIRCULAR, To the Registers of the Land Offices of the SIR, You will receive, with this, several forms of a Meteorological Register, to which I beg leave to request your attention. The United States have already established twenty Land Offices, viz; At Detroit, in Michigan; at Wooster, Stubenville, Marietta, Zanisville, Chilicothe, and Cincinnati in Ohio; at Jeffersonville and Vincennes, in Indiana; at Kaskaskia, Shawneetown, and Edwardsville in Illinois; at Saint Louis in Missouri; at New-Orleans, Oppelousas, and north of Red River, in Louisiana; at Huntsville, Washington, St. Stephen's, and in the territory lately acquired from the Creeks, in the Mississippi Territory. These Offices are dispersed over a space of about thirteen degrees of latitude, and ten of longitude. The three columns for temperature, winds and weather, are ruled for three daily observations of each, viz: in the morning, at 2 P. M. and in the evening. The column entitled Miscellaneous Observations, is intended to comprehend a variety of objects, among which are the following, viz: 1. The time of the unfolding of the leaves of plants. 2. The time of flowering. 3. The migration of Birds, whether from the North or South, particularly of Swallows. 4. The migration of fishes, whether to or from the Ocean, or other places, and the time of their deposition of spawn. 5. The hybernation of other animals, the time of their going into winter quarters, and of their re-appearance in the spring. 6. The phenomena of unusual rains and inundations. 7. The phenomena of unusually severe droughts. The history of Locusts, and other insects in unusual numbers. 8. Remarkable effects of Lightning. 9. Snow-storms, hail-storms, hurricanes, and tornadoes-their cause, extent, and duration. 10. All facts concerning Earthquakes and The following letter has been addressed subterranean changes. 11. Concerning epi GERMANY. Professor Saatfield, of Gottingen, is engaged upon a Universal History since the commencement of the French revolution. The first part, in the nature of an introduction, comprehending a historical survey of the three last centuries, is already published. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. |