Warwickshire antiquaries, who have collected much original matter of local interest and historic importance from various private repositories hitherto unexplored. The work will be comprised in three volumes folio; and, in addition to such of the original subjects as must necessarily be re-engraved, will be embellished with select views of the most in teresting objects of architectural and antiquarian curiosity in the county. Mr. TURNER, of the Middle Temple, is preparing a new work on Conveyan cing, to consist of a collection of modern precedents, with notes and illustrations; and a practical introduction on the language and structure of Conveyances. Mr. JOSEPH HARPUR has nearly ready for publication, an Essay on the Principles of Philosophical Criticism, applied to poetry. A third and last volume of the Temple of Truth, under the title of Additional Studies, is in the press. The Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, commonly called the Persian Prince, in Asia, Africa, and Europe, during the years 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802, written by himself in the Persian language, and translated by CHARLES STEWART, esq. are preparing for publication. The History of Lincoln, with an Appendix, containing a list of the members returned to serve in parliament, will speedily be published in a duodecimo volume. Mr. Toy has in the press, a work on Scripture Geography, containing a description of the most distinguished countries and places noticed in the Holy Scripture, with a brief account of the most remarkable historical events connected with the subject, intended to fa. cilitate the study of the sacred writings. A new edition of Bishop Earle's Microcosmography, is in the press. This curious and entertaining volume was originally printed in 1628, and contains a variety of allusions illustrative of the manners of that age. The Norrisian prize in the University of Cambridge, is this year adjudged to HENRY JEREMY, B. A. of Trinity College, for his Essay on the Connection of Learning and Religion By an accurate calculation, it appears that, in the course of the last year, Great Britain produced 600,000 packs of wool, each weighing 240lbs. A correspondent gives the following improved method of preparing phosphorus bottles. The phosphorus being care fully dried by filtering paper, cut a thin slice, divide it into as many pieces as can expeditiously be done, and introduce each piece into a small bottle, with as much lime as will surround it. Lime slaked in the air, and submitted to a strong red heat in a black-lead crucible for twenty minutes, is in a good state for the purpose. The bottle when full may be exposed, corked, to the radiant heat of a fire, till some of the pieces of phosphorus have assumed an orange tint. It will then be ready for immediate use. But the heating is not necessary, if the bottle is not wanted for immediate use, and it will continue longer in a service able state. In using the bottle the mouth should be closed as soon as the match is withdrawn. Bottles thus prepared continue serviceable four or five months, though very frequently used. Mr. YEATES has been for some time employed in collating the manuscripts brought from India to England by the Rev. Dr. Buchanan, and presented by him to the University of Cambridge. From the account given of them by Mr. Yeates, the following particulars are extracted :-These manuscripts are chiefly biblical, and are written in the Hebrew, Syriac, and Ethiopic, languages: the Hebrew manuscripts were obtained from the black Jews, who have had settlements in India from time immemo, rial. These Jews differ in many respects from those of other countries, and bear evident marks of being descendants from those ancient dispersions we read of in sacred history. They call themselves Bene Israel; they have the Hebrew Pentateuch, but scarcely know of any other books of Scripture. A copy of the Hebrew Pentateuch, written on goat. skins, and found in one of their syna gogues, is in the Buchanan collection. The Syriac manuscripts were collected from the Syrian Christians in Travancore and Malayala, where a race of Christians had existed ever since the apostolic times: and the native Indian christians bear the name of Christians of St. Thomas to this day. They have the Bible, and other books, not in our canon, extant in the Syriac language; and theirs is perhaps the purest of all the versions of Scripture now known. There is in Dr. Buchanan's collection, a copy of the Bible, containing the books of the Old and New Testament, with the Apocry pha, written on large folio vellum, and in the ancient or Estrangelo character, and which was a present to the doctor from Mar Mar Dionysius, the archbishop of the able so to affect the electricity of the THE DROUGHT.-About twenty years same causes. The following curious circunstance respecting the toad, is communicated by a correspondent to Nicholson's Journal: "A person," says he, "in the neighbourhood of Maidstone, who manufactures brown paper, informed me, while I was observing his people at work, that he bad frequently placed a toad amidst a pile of sheets to be pressed, and always found it alive and well on taking it out, though it must have sustained with the paper a pressure equivalent to several tous; but a frog could never survive the same degree of pressure. I sought a long time for a toad to see the experiment myself, but was unable to find one till after the men had left work." Sir GEORGE MACKENZIE, accompanied by vir. HENRY HOLLAND, and Mr. RICHARD BRIGHT of the University of Edinburgh,has sailed from Leith for Stromness, whence they proceed to Iceland, in a vessel from London. The object of this arduous undertaking is to explore a part of that inhospitable country, which nevertheless, in the circumscribed state of our commerce, is well worth the attention of Great Britain. In return for our coarse fabrics, we might procure from it such articles as Iceland, with proper management, would yield in great plenty, such as fish, oil, feathers, and sulphur, the scarcity of which last article is such as to have already attracted the notice of parliainent. At a late meeting of the Society of Arts, a premium of fifty guineas was awarded to Mr. JOHN DAVIS, of Johnstreet, Spitalfields, for a highly ingenious fire-escape, which promises to be of great utility in decreasing the number of personal accidents which are so frequently occurring in cases of fire. This contrivance consists of a curious yet simply-constructed ladder, or rather three three ladders, so combined as to admit of their being slid out, like the tubes of a pocket telescope, to the height of from forty to fifty feet, if required; carrying up, at the same time, a box to receive females or children, or small valuables, while the less timid can descend the lad. der. This box, by means of a chain and pulley, worked by the people below, descends to the ground, where being instantly unhooked, another box is sent up while the first is emptying. All this is performed in about two minutes. This apparatus is erected on a carriage with four wheels, nine feet long and five wide, furnished with the usual apparatus and harness for yoking a horse to it, for the more speedy removal to the scene of danger. Mr.KNIGHT, in his Report of the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, mentions an improved method of cultivating the alpine strawberry. The process consists of sowing the seed on a moderate hot-bed, in the beginning of April, and removing the plants, as soon as they have acquired sufficient strength, to beds in the open ground. They will begin to blossom after Midsummer, and afford an abundant late autumnal crop. Mr. K. thinks, that this strawberry ought always to be treated as an annual plant. Mr. de Luc has invented a machine which he denominates the Electric Column, and which, by some of our natural philosophers, is considered the most important discovery in the science of electricity since that of the Voltaic pile He is preparing an account of it for publication. RUSSIA. The cranium of a horned animal, the race of which seems to be extinct, has been recently dug up near Minava. From the description given of this part of the skeleton, the animal must have been at least ten or twelve feet long. The horns, which are attached to the head and have partly passed into a fossil state, far exceed in size those of the oxen of the present day. They are a foot and a half in circumference at the root, and two feet and a half long. It was hoped that the entire skeleton would be recovered; but on further search, two teeth only were found. Foreign naturalists are of opinion, that this head must have belonged to the race of Urus or Aurochs, mentioned by Cæsar in his Commentaries, and which some even suppose still to exist in the mountains of Siberia and in the forests of Poland. SWEDEN. FARLUN has lately witnessed an incident which partakes of the romantic. In opening a communication between two mines, the corpse of a miner was found in complete preservation, and in a soft state, being impregnated with the vitriolic water of the mine. When exposed to the open air, it became stiff. The features were not recognized by any person present, but tradition had preserved the recollection of the accident by which he had been entombed more than half a century ago. All farther enquiry was dropped, when suddenly a decrepid old woman advanced upon crutches, and discovered that the deceased was a young man to whom she had been engaged by promise of marriage fifty years before. She threw herself on the body of her lover, and bedewed it with tears, at the same time thanking Heaven for having once more granted her a sight of the object of her affection before she descended to the grave. The contrast between these persons, one of whom had been so long buried and yet retained the features of youth, while the other was bowed down by the weight or years, may be more easily conceived than described. GERMANY An officer in the Bavarian service, who had made a variety of experiments to ascertain the ingredients used in the composition of the Greek fire, while recently engaged at Munich in an analy sis for that purpose, was, by the explo sion of the article he was decomposing, propelled through the window, with his arms torn off, and his face so dreadfully burnt, that he expired a few minutes after being taken: up. The following account of the present state of the universities, and other seminaries of education in the new kingdom of Westphalia, has been published: The universities of Halle, Göttingen, Helmstadt, Marburg, and Rinteln, contain 1207 students. There are besides in the kingdom 52 gymnasia or classical schools, at which are educated 6851 chil dren. The inferior schools, at which are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, amount to 3600, and are attended by 253,338 children of both sexes. In each of the two cities of Brunswick and Magdeburg, there are thirty-five public institutions for every branch of educa tion, besides private seminaries. In the public schools, the hours of teaching are so arranged, that the children who attend FRANCE. The archives of the different states brought from Ratisbon, Rome, and Vienna, to Paris, are to be deposited in a new building erected on purpose for them, to be called the Palace of the Archives of the Empire. The arrangement will include three divisions, French, German, and Italian. All the papal archives, in cluding the different documents relative to the donations of Constantine and other emperors, are now on their way from Renie to Rheims. The repairs of the church of St. Genevieve, lately the Pantheon, are continued with activity. The pavement of black and white marble, in compartments, is begun. The repairs and embellishments of the subterraneous church, destined to the interment of eminent men, will soon be completed. At the entrance of this vault are the tombs of Rousseau and Voltaire. The towers of this church, which, during the revolution, were almost entirely demolished, will be rebuilt as speedily as possible. ITALY. LUCIEN BONAPARTE, who possesses a fine villa in the vicinity of Rome, and devotes his attention to the arts and sciences, has recently made some valuable discoveries. Several houses belonging to the ancient Tusculum have been discovered, in which have been found, besides various pieces of furniture, seven large statues, one of them a Muse of singular beauty. The Roman antiquaries estimate this treasure at 22,000 rix dollars. 44 AFRICA. In addition to the circumstances al- In colony are more or less damaged. In AMERICA. The Steam has been applied in the United States, to the purposes of inland navigation, with complete success. passage-boat between New York and Albany is 160 feet long, and wide in proportion, with accomodation for 100 passengers; and the machine which moves her wheels is equal to the power of 24 horses, and is kept in motion by steam from a copper boiler, 8 or 10 feet in length. Her route is 150 miles, which she performs regularly twice a week, and sometimes in so little as 32 hours when the wind is fair; light square sails are employed to increase her speed. PROCEEDINGS PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. M R. DAVY, in his analytical experiments on phosphorus, says, the same analogies apply to this substance as to sulphur. Common electrical sparks, passed through phosphorus, did not evolve from it permanent gas; but when it was acted upon by the Voltaic battery of 500 plates, gas was produced in considerable quantities, and the phosphorus became of a deep red brown colour, like phosphorus that had been inflamed and extinguished under water. The gas examined, proved to be phosphuretted hydrogen; and the light of the Voltaic spark in the phosphorus was at first a brilliant yellow, but as the colour of the phospho. rus changed it appeared orange. From certain experiments, Mr. Davy supposes that phosphuretted bydrogen contains a minute proportion of oxygen, and consequently that phosphorus likewise may contain it; but the action of potassium on phosphorus itself furnishes more direct evidences of the circumstance. One grain of potassium and one grain of phos phorus were fused together: they combined, with the production of the most vivid light and intense ignition. During the process th of a cubical inch of phosphuretted hydrogen was evolved. The phosphuret formed, exposed to the action of diluted muriatic acid over mercury, produced ths of a cubical inch of phosphuretted hydrogen. In a second experiment, one grain of potassium was fused with three grains of phosphorus, and a quarter of a cubical inch of phosphoretted hydrogen was generated during the ignition. But from the compound exposed to muriatic acid, onlyth of a cubical inch could be procured. It is not easy to refer the deficiency of phosphuretted hydrogen in the second case to any other cause than to the supply of oxygen to the potassium from the phosphorus; and the quantity of phosphuretted hydrogen evolved in the first case, is much less than could be expected, if both potassium and phosphorus consisted merely of pure combustible matter. The phosphoric acid, formed by the combustion of phosphorus through a crystalline solid, may contain water. The hydrogen evolved from phosphorus by electricity proves that this inust be the case; and, though the quantity of hydrogen and oxygen in phosphorus may be exceedingly small, yet they may be sufficient to give it peculiar characters; and till the basis is obtained free, we shall have no knowledge of the properties of the pure phosphoric element. From In considering the states of the carbo naceous principle in plumbago, charcual, and the diamond, Mr. Davy notices the experiments of Messrs. Allen and Pepys, which have proved that plumbago, char coal, and the diamond, produce very nearly the same quantities of carbonic acid, and absorb very nearly the same quanti ties of oxygen in combustion. "Hence it is evident," says Mr. Davy, “that they must consist principally of the same kind of matter; but minute researches upon their chemical relations when examined by new analytical methods, will, I am inclined to believe, shew that the great difference in their physical properties does not merely depend upon the differences of the mechanical arrangement of their parts, but likewise upon differences in their intimate chemical nature. the experiments mentioned, the professor infers that in plumbago the carbonaceous principle exists merely in combination with iron, and in a form which may be regarded as approaching to that of a me tal in its nature, being conducting in a high degree opaque, and possessing considerable lustre. Charcoal appears to contain a minute quantity of hydrogen in combination. Perhaps the alkalies and earths produced during its combustion, exist in it not fully combined with oxygen, and hence it is a very compounded substance, though in the main it consists of pure carbonaceous element. The experiments on the diamond render it probable that it contains oxygen, but the quantity must be exceedingly minute, though perhaps sufficient to render the compound non-conducting: and if the carbonaceous element in charcoal and the diamond be considered as united to still less foreign natter in quantity than in plumbago, which contains about th of iron, the results of their combustion will not differ perceptibly." In his experiments on the decomposition and composition of boracic acid, Mr. Davy had noted in a former paper that it appeared to be decomposed by Voltaic electricity, a dark-coloured inflammable substance separating from it on the negative surface. He now attempted to collect quantities of it by means of the battery of 500 double plate, and an olive-brown matter inmediately hegan to form on the negative surface, which gra dually increased in thickness, and at last 1 appeared |
