I, "the proof for the existence of God is not so strong as the other. There is no reason, we shall suppose, in either case. It is only the bent of my mind, the train of my thought, which leads me to conclude that other men are reasonable beings; but this is a train of thought without which I could not exist for a moment among them: it is necessary for me as an agent. The belief of the existence of God is only necessary for me if I am to be religious; but it remains to be proved that religion is a necessary part of human nature. We can go through life without it." "True," said Philo, "we may, in a great measure, go through life without the moral sentiments of religion: but I will venture to say, no reasonable being can exist without perceiving the fact that there is design in nature, and without founding all his conduct upon his perception." "Make out this position," said Cleanthes, "and you will do a great deal."

66

Pray, Cleanthes," said Philo, "why do you believe that the sun will rise to-morrow?" "There are two answers," said Cleanthes, " to your question, between which you may choose. The belief is either instinctive, and no account can be given of it; or it is an effect of custom on the mind. There never has been a day without the appearance of the sun. I cannot think of to-morrow without supposing this appearance. I therefore believe that the sun will rise to-morrow."

"I am not satisfied," replied Fhilo, "with either of these answers. I am conscious of no instinctive belief such as you mention. That the sun will rise to-morrow seems a reasonable belief, and not to rest upon any unaccountable principle. That the principle is not custom, I think may appear from this, that custom cannot be the principle of any thing. An opinion must exist in the mind before it can be customary. When it has existed a certain time, I can easily conceive that custom may rivet it more forcibly, and may continue it with scarcely any reference to the principle on which it

rests.

But it must rest on some principle antecedent to all custom. And this, by the way, is an answer to the supposition stated by Pamphilus, that the whole ground for our belief of the intelligence of other men is derived from a customary habit of thought which leads us to conceive others to be

like ourselves. What is the foundation of this habit? Custom may continue it, and we may lose sight of its foundation, but it must rest originally upon perception. Mind perceives mind. We not only think that others are intelligent beings, but we know them to be so."

"But what has all this to do," said Cleanthes," with your question about the sun-rising, or rather, why did you ask that question?" "If our belief of this common fact," replied Philo, "is founded neither on blind instinct, nor on a mere habit of thought, I can see only one ground on which it rests, and that is a very firm one. To me it seems certain that it rests upon our observation of the plan or order of nature. We perceive that the regular rising of the sun forms a part of the plan of the universe, and we predict, therefore, this event, with entire confidence in the ruling mind by which the universe is conducted. Mind perceives mind. If we had no perception that there is mind in nature, we should have no grounds for believing that the sun will rise to-morrow."

"I confess, Philo,” said Cleanthes,

you place this argument in a point of view which never occurred to me, and if you are in the right, you interweave the proofs of the existence of God with all the first principles of human belief. But how can you prove so extraordinary a position? Has a child in his mother's arms a perception of the existence of mind in nature?"

"I really think so," said Philo, " and I see nothing at all miraculous in the supposition. Does a child perceive that its mother is a being possessed of feelings and faculties similar to its own? Surely it does, whenever it has sense to perceive any thing. Why may it not trace, as well, indications of order, plan, design, in every thing round about it? A child is not a deist, does not form to itself an abstract notion of God, as either an intelligent or a moral being; but still the merest infant has a perception that there is a system in which it moves. The order of nature, in a word, is accommodated to the human understanding. Mind cannot exist without feeling the impressions of mind from the surrounding universe, and it surrenders itself almost without its own consciousness to the sentiments of trust and dependence which those impressions inspire!"

Discovery of a New Metal.-Professor Berzelius of Stockholm, has communicated to Dr Marcet an account of the discovery of a new metal, which, from its resemblance to tellurium, he has called seleniM. This substance has the properties of a metal, combined with those of sulphur, to so great a degree, that it might be supposed to be a new species of sulphur. The following are some of its properties: In its metallic state, it has a brilliant metallic lustre on the external surface, with a tinge of red; the fracture is vitreous, like that of sulphur, but with a very brilliant lustre, of a gray colour. At the temperature of boiling water it is softened, and at a high temperature it melts; it may be distilled at a temperature approaching to that of boiling mercury. Its gas, with which the heated part of the vessel may be filled, is yellow, exactly like that of sulphur. If it be sublimed in a large vessel, it is deposited in the form of flowers, of the colour of cinnabar, which are not, however, in the state of an oxide. During its cooling, it preserves for some time a certain degree of fluidity, so that it may be moulded between the fingers, and drawn into threads. The threads, when drawn out to a great degree of fineness, if held between the eye and the light, are transparent, and of a ruby colour; while by reflected light they exhibit a brilliant metallic lustre. When this new substance is heated by a candle, it burns with an azure-blue flame, and exhales a strong odour of horse radish, which led Berzelius to suppose that it was tellurium. It is not easy to produce this odour from purified tellurium, either because it does not belong to it, except in as much as it contains this new substance, or because it is difficult to make it undergo the change which is necessary to produce this odour.

Selenium combines with metals, and generally produces a reddish flame. The alloys have commonly a gray colour, and a metallic lustre. The selenuret of potassium dissolves in water, without evolving any gas, and produces a fluid of a red colour, which has the taste of the hydrosulphuret of potash. If we pour diluted muriatic acid upon the selenuret of potassium, a selenuretted hydrogen gas is disengaged, which is soluble in water, and precipitates all metallic solutions, even those of zinc and iron. The gas has the odour of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, when it is diluted with air; but if it is breathed less diluted, it produces a painful sensation in the nose, and a violent inflammation, ending in a catarrh, which continues for a considerable length of time. I am still suffering, says Berzelius, from having breathed, some days ago, a bubble of selenuretted hydrogen

ous gas, no larger than a small pea. Scarcely had I perceived the hepatic taste in the fauces, when I experienced another acute sensation I was seized with a giddiness, which, however, soon left me, and the sensibility of the schneiderian membrane was so far destroyed, that the strongest ammonia produced scarcely any effect upon the nose.

Selenium combines with the alkalies, both in the humid way and by fusion; these combinations are red. The selenurets of barytes and of lime are also red, but they are insoluble. It also dissolves in melted wax and in the fat oils; the solutions are red, but have no hepatic odour. There exist also selenuretted hydroselenurets of the alkalies and of the earths.

Selenium dissolves in nitric acid by the assistance of heat; the solution, evaporated and sublimated, yields a mass crystallized in needles, which is a pretty strong acid; it has a pure acid flavour, and forms specific salts with the alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides. The selenic acid is soluble in water and in alcohol; its combinations with potash and ammonia are deliquescent; the latter is decomposed by fire, water is given out, and the selenium is reduced. The selenates of barytes and of lime are soluble in water. The selenic acid mixed with muriatic acid is decomposed by zinc, and the selenium is precipitated in the form of a red powder; by sulphuretted hydrogen gas, an orangeyellow precipitate is formed.

The above contains a concise exposition of the characters of this interesting substance. With respect to its origin, it is evident that it proceeds from the pyrites of Fahlun, where, according to the observation of M. Gahn, its odour may be often perceived when the copper ore is roasted. The pyrites from which the sulphur of Fahlun is extracted, is combined with galena, and it is probable that this contains selenium in the form of selenuret of lead.

Discovery of a New Alkali.-Mr Arvedson, a young Swedish chemist, has discovered a new fixed alkali, in a new mineral, called petalite, which was discovered some time ago (See our last Number, p. 699.) by M. Ď’Andrada, in the mine of Uten, in Sweden. It is distinguished from the old alkalies: 1st, By the fusibility of its salts: 2d, By its muriate, which is deliquescent, like the muriate of lime; 3d, By its carbonate, which does not readily dissolve in water; and, 4th, By its great capacity of saturating acids, in which it even surpasses magnesia.

New Lamp.-The new lamp which we describe in our ast Number, p. 699, and which has since been called the aphlogistic

lamp, appears to have been invented first by Mr Francis Ellis of Bath, who performed the experiment in August 1817.

New Photometer. A new photometer has been invented by Mr Horner of Zurich. It consists of various discs of fine varnished China paper placed in a tube. The number of discs necessary to exclude the light, is then a measure of the intensity of the excluded light. According to this instrument, the light of the sun in a clear sky, and at an elevation of 30°, is 75°; the light of the full moon 34°; and the light of a common candle 48°. These results are nearly ridiculous. Mr Leslie's photometer informs us, that the moon has no light at all, even when concentrated by the most powerful burning lens; but Mr Horner, going to the opposite extreme, makes the moon's light almost one-half of the sun's; while Dr Smith informs us, in his Optics, that it would require 180,000 moons to produce a light equal to common day-light. The art of measuring the intensity of light appears, from these results, to be in a state of deplorable imperfection.

New Comet.-A new comet was discovered at Marseilles on the night of the 26th December last, by M. Pons, in the constellation of the Swan, near the northern wing. It had a nebulous appearance. Its light was extremely feeble, and its figure indeterminate. It had neither nucleus nor tail. It was seen again on the 29th of the same month, in the evening, but only for a few minutes, in consequence of clouds. Its situation was then about two degrees south of its first position. Its light was more bright, and its apparent size increased. A small nucleus could then also be distinguished.

It was seen again on the morning of February 14th, and was still in the constellation of the Swan, but farther south.

The same comet has been observed at Augsburg on the 2d of this month. It was found near the star of the fourth magnitude, on the outside of the wing of the Swan, and above the constellation of the Fox. It is considerably enlarged, and its nucleus is now very distinct.

New Observatory at Cambridge.-It is proposed to build an observatory within the precincts of Cambridge University, the expense of which is estimated at about £10,000. A grace will be proposed to the Senate for a donation of £5,000 from the University chest, and a subscription opened for raising the remainder of the sum. Application is to be made to Government to appoint an observer and an assistant, with adequate salaries.

M. de Lalande's Medal.-The gold medal founded by the late M. de Lalande has been awarded by the Institute and Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, to Mr Pond, the Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, for his interesting and important researches on the annual parallax of the fixed stars.

New Harpoon.-A new harpoon has been

invented by Mr Robert Garbutt of Kingston-upon-Hull, for the Greenland fishery; calculated to secure the whale in the event of the shank of the instrument breaking. The improvement consists in placing a kind of preventer, made fast to the eye of the foregager, which passing along the shank of the harpoon, is attached to the thick part of it in such a manner, as neither to lessen its strength nor impede its entrance when the fish is struck.

Nautical Instrument.-Among other ingenious inventions submitted to the Board of Longitude, one countenanced by the Board, and recommended to the Lords of the Admiralty for immediate trial, is likely to facilitate the object intended in exploring the polar regions. The merit of this invention is, that it works horizontally and vertically, assuming the magnetic meridian by its own action. The inventor is Mr Lockwood of the navy.

Test for Sugar.-It has been proposed by M. Dobereiner, to test sugar in solution, in small quantities, by adding to a portion of the liquid a few grains of yeast, and placing it in a vessel closed by mercury. A fermentation takes places, and the bulk of gas liberated indicates the quantity of sugar.

Change of Colour by Acids.-The effects of muriatic acid gas and ammoniacal gas upon turmeric paper, are so similar, that it is difficult to distinguish the two by this test alone. The acid reddens it almost as much as the alkali. Phosphoric, nitric, muriatic, and particularly sulphuric acid, also redden turmeric paper; but in all these cases, water, even in small quantities, immediately restores the original colour.

Cholesteric Acid.-MM. Pelletier and Caventon have obtained a new acid from cholesterine, or the pearly substance of human biliary calculi, discovered by Poulletier-deLasselle, and named by Chevreul. Cholesterine is to be heated with its weight of strong nitric acid, until it ceases to give off nitrous gas. A yellow substance separates on cooling, scarcely soluble in water, and which, when well washed, is pure cholesteric acid.

It is soluble in alcohol, and may be crystallized by evaporation. It is decomposed by a heat above that of boiling water, and gives products containing oxygen, hydrogen, and charcoal, as their elements. It combines with bases, and forms salts. Those of potash, soda, and ammonia, are very soluble; the rest are nearly insoluble.

Water Spout.-On Saturday, March 7th, an immense water-spout descended at Stenbury, near Whitwell, in the Isle of Wight. The weather was very stormy immediately before its fall, and for one half hour was in a continual terrific roar. The descent of the water was compared to the influx of the sea, so great was its quantity, and destruction to those on the spot appeared inevitable. Walls were broken down, and cattle were carried away and dispersed.

Increase of a Glacier-The glacier of Ortler, in the vicinity of Chiavenha, in the Tyrol, has, notwithstanding the late moderate winter, increased in a very extraordinary degree. A stream which formerly ran from this glacier has ceased to flow since Michaelmas 1817, and incessant subterraneous noises and roarings, which are heard from beneath the ice, are attributed to the collection of waters within the glacier. The glacier in the valley of Nandersberg has presented similar appearances, and great fears are entertained for the neighbouring country in both these places, on the liberation of the confined waters on the approach of summer.

Earthquakes on the Continent.-During the storm which raged, on the 23d of February, over Provence and the northern part of Italy, many towns were thrown into great disorder by repeated shocks of earthquakes. At Turin, two shocks were felt, and at Genoa, Savena, Alanco, and San Remo, they were repeated at intervals during two days, and at some towns several houses were injured.

At Antibes, in Provence, the weather was very rough; a few minutes after seven in the evening of the 23d, a tremendous rush of wind took place, and then sank into a calm; a dull subterranean noise was heard, the sea suddenly dashed against the rocks, and in three seconds three oscillations of the earth were felt, proceeding from south-east to north-west. The wind then rose, and the storm raged as before. At twelve o'clock a fresh shock was felt, and next morning, near mid-day, another also, preceded by the same smothered rumbling noise. The shocks were felt throughout the whole of Provence, where no earthquake had been experienced for eleven years.

Earthquake in France.-A slight earthquake was felt at Marseilles on the 23d of February, at seven o'clock in the evening; and on the 24th, at eleven o'clock in the morning. The same phenomena occurred also on the 19th, at Roffach Soietz and Befort, in the Upper Rhine.

On the 24th and 25th, several shocks of earthquakes were felt at Var.

At

Earthquake in England.—A slight shock of an earthquake was experienced at Coningby. in Lincolnshire, on the 6th of February, which lasted some seconds. A noise like the subterraneous firing of cannon was heard at the time, and the windows of the houses in the town were much shaken. the same time, a similar phenomenon was experienced at the east end of Holderness, where the noise strongly resembled that of horses running away with a waggon, and it is said that the drivers of several teams drew up to the road side, to make way for what they supposed the cause of the sound. A gentleman, who, with his servant and labourer, were in the neighbourhood of Trentfall, about fifty miles from Coningby, also heard the noise. It lasted about two VOL. III.

minutes, and at first consisted of noises exactly resembling gun-shots, at equal distances, of about a second, each loud and distinct, afterwards it fell away to a kind of grumbling, which gradually ceased. The noise appeared to shift in a direction from east towards the south.

Earthquake in Greenland.-A severe shock of an earthquake was experienced in Greenland in the night of the 22d of last November. Hecla was perfectly quiet at the time.

Extraordinary Fall of Rain.-On the 21st of October 1817 (the day the hurricane commenced in the West Indies), at the Island of Grenada, with the wind west, and the barometer at 29.40, eight inches of rain fell in twenty-one hours, and the rivers rose thirty feet above their usual level. From the 20th of October to the 20th of November, seventeen inches of rain fell.

Fossil Bone of a Whale.-Part of the jaw bone of a whale was dug up a short time since in Roydon gravel pit, near Diss. It measured twenty inches in girth, but was not above nine inches long. The outside was penetrated by stony matter, but the inside was similar in every thing to recent bone, except in the colour, which had been given it by the stratum in which it lay. Its present form and appearance are attributed to the attrition it is supposed to have suffer. ed at former times. The ends are so worn, that they seem rather artificial than natural.

Remains of a Mammoth.-A fisherman of Philipsbourg, on the Rhine, lately drew up in his net, the foot and the omoplate of a Mammoth. These curious remains were sent to the King of Baden's Cabinet of Natural History at Carlsruhe.

Cobalt and Silver Mine.-We are informed by Mr Mawe, that the machinery for working the cobalt and silver mine on the west edge of Dartmore is just completed; and the workings will shortly assume a regular form. The large black masses of arsenical cobalt, contrasted with the white curls of capillary silver and crystallized sulphuret of silver, which fill the cavities of the quartz gangue, form specimens peculiarly interesting, and almost rival those from Mexico.

Meteorological Establishment at St Bernard.-In the number of the Bibliotheque Universelle for October last, Prof. Pictet gives an interesting account of an establishment that has lately been formed for making meteorological observations at the Convent of Great St Bernard. Every attention appears to have been paid to the accuracy of the instruments, and the method of using them; and we may expect to derive the most important information from a detailed account of the state and variations of the atmosphere at an elevation of above 8000 feet, where the mean height of the mercurial column is not more than 22 inches. With respect to the construction of the instruments, we are informed that the reservoir of the barometer is exactly ten times N

the diameter of the tube; the correction for the changes of the height of the mercury in the reservoir is, therefore, only one hundredth of the variation in the tube, a quantity which is, in almost all cases, too minute to be noticed. To the barometer is attached a mercurial thermometer, furnished with two divisions, one octogesimal, according to the scale of Reaumur, the other so arranged, that each degree of the scale corresponds to one-tenth of a line of varia tion in the height of the barometrical column. The zero of this latter answers to the tenth degree of the octogesimal scale (54.5° of Fahrenheit), and every observation of the barometer is reduced to this constant temperature, by means of the correction which is obtained by the thermometer. The correction is very easily made, since every degree above or below zero represents so many tenths of a line, which are to be subtracted or added from the barometrical observation. The thermometer is formed with a flattened column of mercury, so as to present to the eye a large and very visible surface, while at the same time the absolute size is very minute. The hair hygrometer of Saussure is employed, but with a little alteration in its mechanical arrangements. In the old construction the index descended towards dryness, and ascended towards moisture; in the present instrument, the motions are reversed, so that its action is rendered more conformable to that of the barometer and thermometer.

We have an account of the observations that were made in this meteorological observatory during the latter half of September 1817.

The greatest height of the barometer 22.40 The least height

The mean height at sun rise Ditto at 2 P. M.

22.06

22.36 22.42

54.5° 29.75

38.00 46.6

92.0 84.3

There were four rainy days during this period; the quantity of rain was no more than 7 inches: the season is represented as having been peculiarly fine.

Zircon. This mineral has, we understand, been discovered by Dr Macculloch in Sutherland. It occurs in a compound rock formed of copper-coloured mica, hornblende, and felspar.

This rock forms one of the occasional beds in the gneiss, and bears a resemblance in its composition to the circon syenite of the north of Europe; the crystals are a quarter of an inch in length, and well defined, and their colour is an obscure crimson, approaching to that of cinnamon.

Dry Rot. The Eden sloop of war (new),

which was lately sunk in Hamoaze, to endeavour to cure her of the dry rot, has been raised, commissioned, and taken into dock. On opening her, she has been found defective in every part, and must undergo a tho rough repair. The Topaze frigate, also ordered for commission, which was repaired not long since, is found to be in the same state. The Dartmouth frigate, built at Dartmouth, three years old, never at sea, is also undergoing a complete repair. Not a ship is taken into dock but is found to be nearly rotten. The very best ships do not average more than twelve years existence. The San Domingo, 74, was ripped up (four years old) at Portsmouth, The Queen Charlotte, 110, was built at Woolwich, sent round to Plymouth, found rotten, and underwent a thorough repair: she was also several months under the care of Dr Lukin, an Admiralty chemist, who received £5000 for his ineffectual labours to stop the progress of vegetation in the ship. After a short cruise, the Queen Charlotte was laid up at Portsmouth, where she remains in a very defective state.

New opinion in regard to Pompeii and Herculaneum.—It is at present the general belief that the two celebrated cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were overwhelmed and destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79. It is now, however, maintained, that this was not the case. Pompeii is said to be covered by a bed of lapillo, of the same nature as that we observe daily forming by the agency of water on the shore at Naples; while Herculaneum is covered by a series of strata, altogether forming a mass sixty feet thick, of a tuff, having the character of those tuffs formed by water. From the facts just stated, it is conjectured, that the cities were destroyed by a rising of the waters, which deposited over them the stratified rocks, and not by matter thrown from Vesuvius. It is also said, that no eruption of Vesuvius took place in the year

79.

Preventing the Blight.-It is said that the American farmers have of late years adopted the following method to prevent the blight or mildew from injuring the crop of apples. In the spring, they rub tar well into the bark of the apple-trees, about four or six inches wide round each tree, and at about one foot from the ground; which effectually prevents the blight: abundant crops are the consequence. This is certainly worth trial in England.

Prize of the Royal Society of Gottingen.

The Royal Society of Gottingen has offered a prize of fifty ducats, for "an accurate examination, founded on precise experiments of Dalton's theory of the expansion of liquid and elastic fluids, especially of mercury and atmospheric air, by heat." The authors are desired to pay attention to the necessity alleged by Dalton, for changing the progression of the degrees of the present thermometrical scales: memoirs