Bibliophiles. Then followed the Auchinlech Press, &c. &c. As the evening advanced, on the secession of the noble president, Mr. Heber was voted to the chair by acclamation, and, as usual, maintained the spirit and hilarity of the meeting. Toasts continued with some labourers in the vineyard. A well-timed compliment was paid to the vice-president, the Rev. T. F. Dibdin, upon his entertaining and highly embellished Tour. A Lucinean toast was pledged to the long-desired Shakspeare and Mr. Boswell. To Mr. Haslewood was wished a speedy call for Barnabee's Itinerary, which occasioned a repetition of the engagement, that the fac-simile edition would never be reprinted. Such a burst of intellectual communication and animated conversation continued through the whole meeting, as satisfactorily evinced the members met too seldom. Natural History.-Some time ago the sexton of the church of St. Eustace, at Paris, amazed to find frequently a particular lamp extinct early, and yet the oil consumed only, sat up several nights to discover the cause. At length he detected that a spider of surprising size came down the cord to drink the oil. A still more extraordinary instance of the same kind occurred during the year 1751, in the cathedral of Milan.-A vast spider was observed there, which fed on the oil of the lamps. M. Morand, of the Academy of Sciences, has described this spider, and furnished a drawing of it. This spider, of four pounds weight, was sent to the Emperor of Austria, and placed in the Imperial Museum. Chemistry. The analysis of the constituents of Yellow Indian Corn, in the common and dry state, is as follows:Com. state. Dry state. Water 9.0 ,0055082 314.2 .0055258 3113 Effect of Position on Magnetic Masses. -Colonel Gibbs, in vol. I. p. 242 of the Edin. Phil. Journal, has noticed this subject. Sir C. Giesecké observed similar effects in Greenland. All the basalt of Disco Island is magnetic. That which is found iu the most elevated situations is most so, the fallen masses dispersed around the base of the mountains having more power over the needle than others. Liverpool Athenæum.-Moses Samuel, esq. of Bold-street, Liverpool, has presented to the Library of the Athenæum a Manuscript Pentateuch, or Sacred Law of the Jews. This singular curiosity is of very great value, and beautifully written on a roll of fine vellum, four inches wide, and upwards of forty-five feet long; it is attached at each end to an ivory roller, and the whole is enclosed in a splendid case of crimson velvet. A special meeting of the committee was summoned for the purpose of receiving this valuable present; and an ark was ordered to be prepared for its preservation, under Mr. Samuel's directions. Rich as this library has always been in literary treasures, it is now indebted to the generosity of Mr. Samuel for its greatest rarity. Botany. In the nursery of Mr. Boughton, at Lower Wick, near Worcester, is a beautiful and rare specimen of the Yucca Gloriosa, or Superb Adam's Needle, in full flower, the stem of which is nearly nine feet from the earth, and it has between six and seven hundred blossoms on it either open or to open. This plant is a native of North America, and was first brought into England in the year 1596. Newspapers.-The first newspaper established in England was entitled the "English Mercury," and is dated July 28th, 1588, one of which is preserved in the British Museum. The Gazette was first published at Oxford, August 22nd, 1642. Aërostation. It is a fact interesting to science, and important to the progress of acrostation, that the balloon in which Mr. Green ascended from the Park, on the day of the Coronation, was filled with ordinary coal-gas, or carburetted hydrogen, instead of gas prepared from sulphuric acid and zinc, or iron filings, by the usual tedious and expensive process. A pipe was laid on to the main which supplies the street-lamps, and the balloon was filled without solicitude in a shorter time than the same operation was ever performed before, and at the expense of 51. Taking the gas at 555, and the diameter at 32 feet, the power of ascension exceeded 7 cwt. Of course the machine acted well, and the ascent was one of the most beautiful ever beheld since the first ascent of Lunardi, in 1785. Optical Properties of Leucite, or Amphigene.-Dr. Brewster has succeeded in separating the two images formed by the double refraction of Amphigene, and has ascertained that it has two axes. It cannot, therefore, have the cube with either one or three axes as its primitive form. The circumstance of Hauy having assigned to it two primitive forms, viz. the cube and the rhomboidal dodecahedron, points it out as a remarkable mineral. It must now take its place under the prismatic system of Mohs. Natural History.-That very rare and beautiful bird, called the Crossbill, (Loxia curvi-rostra,) has been seen lately at West Felton, Shropshire, in a flight of about 18 or 20. It alighted on the tops of Pine-trees and Larch; the cone of which it opens with adroit neatness, holding it in one claw, like a parrot, and picking out the seed. They are of various colours, brown, green, yellow, and crimson; and some entirely of the most lovely rose-colour; hanging and climbing in fanciful attitudes, and much resembling a group of small paroquets. Their unusual note first attracts attention, somewhat like the quick chirp of linnets, but much louder. The ob server has repeated opportunities of viewing them with the greatest facility and advantage, by means of a small telescope. They also eat excrescent knobs, or the insects therein formed by the cynips, at the ends of the young Spruce branches. These birds are natives of Germany and the Pyrenees, and are very rarely seen in England. It was observed, with the greatest precision, that the same mandible of the bill crossed on the right side in some birds, and on the left in others. Bibliography.-Count Meozi's longcelebrated library has been bought by Payne and Foss, and has since been resold by them in totality to Frank Hall Standish, esq. the author of a Life of Voltaire. This magnificent collection possesses, among other rarities of the 15th century, the Livii Historia Spiræ, 1470, printed upon vellum, with capitals most tastefully illuminated, the only known perfect copy: the Lucretius Brixia Ferrandi, the first edition, of which there are only three copies: the other two are in the libraries of Lord Spencer, and Count Delci, at Florence; the first Virgil of 1469, &c. Botany. A curious and beautiful plant, Cactus Hexagonus, or six-angled Torch Thistle, was in full bloom last month, in the Green-house, at Chapelhouse, near Bury St. Edmund's :-its corolla began to expand at six o'clock in the evening, and gradually closed at the same hour of the following morning. It is a native of Surinam, and is seldom known to flower in this country; but experience has shewn it may be greatly accelerated by a free exposure to the sun and air during hot and dry weather. The present plant is seven feet high, and supposed to be of about thirty years' growth. Heat in the Moon's Rays.-" Having blackened the upper ball of my differential thermometer, I placed it in the focus of a 13-inch reflecting mirror, which was opposed to the light of a bright full moon. The liquid began immediately to sink, and in half a minute was depressed 8 deg, where it became stationary. On placing a screen between the mirror and the moon, it rose again to the same level, and was again depressed on removing this obstacle." This experiment was repeated several times by Dr. Howard, and always with the same result.—Siliman's American Journal. FOREIGN VARIETIES. FRANCE. CHARLES VANLOO, well known to artists and amateurs in painting for his snow-pieces, died in July last, at the age of 89. A magnificent copy of Annibal Caro's Italian translation of the Æneid, printed at Rome at the expense of the Duchess of Devonshire, has been presented by that lady to the King's library in Paris. M. Lartique has executed a map of France, in relief, on a scale of 18 lines to a degree, with all the details. The and a habitation for the necessary masters. Reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and some knowledge of natural history, and mensuration, are to be taught there, by order of this benevolent nobleman. Voyage of Discovery.-The Russian frigate Voslock, Capt. Bellinghausen, has arrived at Lisbon, from a voyage of discovery, &c. in the North Pacific. She reached 70 S. nearly in the track of Captain Cook, and reports his Sandwich land to be an island or islands. Lithography. The art of lithography is making a rapid progress in Russia. A set of Views of St. Petersburgh; a set of the same kind, with descriptions in Russian and French; and a picturesque voyage from Moscow to the Walls of China, with coloured figures, price 230 roubles, have been lately published there. Constantinople.-The dreadful scenes which have taken place at Constantinople have put an end to the progress of Greek literature, at least for the present. The following is an account of the most important work which the industry of the Greek literati had effected prior to the present disturbances. From the patriarchal press the 1st Book of the Kibotos lately appeared. The preface is written in ancient Greek, in a correct and elegant style, by the superior of the convent of Mount Sinai, Hilarion of Crète. It was under the reign of Selim III. that Demetrius Mourousi, one of the greatest benefactors of modern Greece, instituted in 1805 the academy of Korou Tchesmè, in a village of that name, on the European bank of the Bosphorus, about a league from Constantinople. The first efforts of the Academy appear to have been directed towards the Greek language, and particularly to its purification. The modern Greek was entirely abandoned to the caprices of authors, and it shewed, at the same time, a most barbarous dialect united with the elegance and harmony of the ancient Hellenic tongue. The zeal and labour of the prince Demetrius, who was made president of the academy at KorouTchesme, was particularly directed to the foregoing object. Hearing that a Cretan physician, John Blastos, had been a long while engaged on a Greek Dictionary, he sought him out, and approved highly of his labour, which was a compilation from the glossaries that had already appeared. In a little time the Prince and Blastos extended their views of the work, and took for their basis the Greek "Treasure" of Henri-Etienne : it was resolved to translate it entirely, to join the notes taken from other lexicons, and thus compose a Universal Greek Dictionary, the execution of which was confided to Blastos. After this it was found that an inhabitant of Yassi, in Croatia, had formed the project of translating Etienne's work, but had been deterred from publication by the expenses of the impression. Information, however, was received that his labours only contained the translation of the Greek verbs, and that they had been sent, before the death of the author, to Prince Scarlato Gika. These, added to other works of the kind, in possession of Blastos, and the different lexicons known or found in the monasteries, were placed in the hands of four professors, M. Bambas, P. Carapates, N. Logadès, and C. Psomakès, and, after ten years' labour, the two latter terminated the work. The labours of these four grammarians were begun to be retouched and compared, first by the Archbishop of Cysique, Joachim of Paros, who died, and then by M. Logadès, who put the finishing hand to them after long and tedious investigations. Thus the Kibotos, or Arch of the Greek Language, as it is called, has been completed by the descendants of Greeks, who seem on the point of reviving, at Korou-Tchesmè, the ancient tongue, a first step towards the resuscitation of Greek literature. The expense of the printing was arranged for by Cyrille of Adrianople, the exdragoman of the Porte, and by the prince of Moldavia. The work is in three columns, the 1st volume containing 763 pages large folio, and proceeds as far as the letter A inclusive. The number of copies is 2250, and the price of the first volume 50 piastres, or about 31 shillings, AMERICA. 6. New Southern Land.-Vessels from the lands situated to the south of Cape Horn have arrived in different ports, with cargoes of seal skins. The regions visited by the New York navigators lie in about the latitude of 62 deg., where vegetable life is so rare, that a little grass in a few favoured places, and some moss on the rocks, are all the forms of it that exist. The dreary climate exhibits, during the entire summer, perpetual snow and ice; not a tree, nor even a shrub appears. The minerals brought home by Mr. B. Astor, are partly primitive and partly volcanic. The samples produced to Dr. Mitchell, are-1. Quartz, in compact and crystallised forms. 2. Amethyst, in crystals. 3. Porphyry, in small masses. 4. Rough Onyx, in pebbles. 5. Lumps of coarse Flint. Elegant Zealite, like that of the Ferro group in the North Atlantic Ocean. 7. Pumice Stone. 8. Pyrites, surcharged with sulphur. The manuscript chart made by Mr. Hampton Stewart, is an instructive addition to geography, and ought to be incorporated in the charts of the globe. Geologists will learn with surprise that the high grounds and summits of the rocks in several of the spots that have been visited, are strewed with skeletons of whales, and relics of other marine animals, leading to a belief that the whole of the materials have been hove up by the operation of volcanic fire, from the depths of the ocean. Further disclosures of the natural constitution of this curious region are expected with impatience from future adventurers. There appears to be a wide field for new and original observation. It is also hoped we shall soon receive a more full and satisfactory account of the Terra Australis, or continent of the southern hemisphere, occupying the vast space between the tracts already surveyed, and the Pole. American Antiquity. has been made in Newfoundland, during - A discovery the last summer, which has exercised the conjectures of antiquaries. About half a mile from the shores of Gander Bay, there has been found a fragment of a small pillar of white marble of octangular form; about 18 inches long, and 10 inches in diameter. Its surface is much corroded by the effects of the weather, and it is probable it has lain there for a considerable time. It cannot have been left in ballast, because it is half a mile inland, and because no ships can the shore of this place. This part of come within three quarters of a mile of the country is not inhabited; and no similar stones, or works of art, have been found on searching in the same neighbourhood. marble is perfectly different from any The texture of the ture, being of a yellowish white colour, of those used in sculpture or architecand the texture is in some places crystalline granular, of a large grain; but it parts of very complicated curvatures; there are every where intermixed with capable of being separated in succession in parallel curved laminæ, as thin as paper. AFRICA. Accounts from Africa have been received from Sierra Leone. They relate had been sent to form friendly commerto the mission of a Mr. O'Beirne, who cial relations with some of the native powers. It appears that he entered the Limba country by Laiah, a town about 20 miles from the river, which bounds the Timmanec country. The chiefs treatLogo especially, who accompanied him ed him kindly; and the chief of Port him to Kookoona. From the latter place to Woolla, and sent his brother with he proceeded to the Foulah frontier, but called Berricouri, on his route. was stopped for a few days at a place difficulty surmounted, he passed from The Berricouri to Teembo, six days' journey, where he was most favourably received by Almanny Abdool and his subordinate chiefs. The Foutah people held a palaver, and agreed to trade with Sierra Leone, by the direct road of Port-Logo. While at Teembo, Mr. O'Beirne gave up his intention of penetrating further into the interior, in consequence of the archa, king of Sego, on his way to the rival of a Seracolet messenger from Dagovernor of Sierra Leone, with a letter, inviting the visits and trade of white king of Teembo to protect any travellers men to Sego. Dacha also requests the who may pass through Foutah-Jallon to Bambarra, as his (Dacha's) strangers. The messenger was attended by three men of the late royal African corps, one who accompanied Dr. Dockard to Bamof them said to be a European serjeant, barra. It is probable that some light and customs by these individuals, and it will be thrown upon African geography may be that the Niger will be explored in this direction. RURAL ECONOMY. Pear Trees.-In Phillips's Pomarium Britannicum we remark an important practical hint with regard to the management of the pear tree. "The blossoms are commonly produced from buds at the extremity of last year's shoots, and, as these are often cut off by the unskilful pruner, it prevents their producing fruit, and causes the boughs to send out new branches which overfill the tree with wood. The summer is the best time to look over pear-trees, and to remove all superfluous and foreright shoots, which would too much shade the fruit. If this be carefully done, they will require but little pruning in the autumn."-The wild tree has spines, and bears very harsh fruit; but both these symptoms of its savage state are removed by civilization and grafting. Few trees under the guidance of man have exhibited so many varieties; for the French gardeners, at the close of the seventeenth century, reckoned about 700 different sorts of which, however, scarcely more than 50 were of superior quality and worthy of being reared. American Apples.-There were lately taken up from among potatoes in a field near Paisley, many hundreds of seedlings from American apples. A quantity of spoiled American apples had been deposited in a dunghill, and with this dung the potatoes had been planted. Many attempts to raise seedlings from American apples in this country have been unsuccessful; but it is supposed the preparation of the seed in the dunghill was the cause of so complete a success in the present instance. Mowing Corn. Mr. Weld, jun. of London, has published a letter on the subject of harvesting corn, in which he strongly recommends mowing in preference to the sickle, agreeably to the practice in Switzerland, where a boy walks on the outside of the standing grain with a pole, which being placed against the upper part of the straw, it presents to the mower a fair stroke for the scythe, and lays the crop much smoother in the swathe. The advantage held out by this mode is, the quicker gathering in the harvest, an object so essential in precarious weather. The writer further recommends the bands for the sheaves to be made of straw, preparatory to a harvest, as a saving of time in the field. Black Currant.-A new species of black currant has been cultivated in Cambridgeshire, the fruit of which is so large, that in some instances a single berry weighs 61 grains, and measures in circumference two inches and a half. Extraordinary Produce.--Doctor Roulston, of Raphoe, in Ireland, lately dug in his garden a single potatoe top, which produced 568 evenly sized potatoes. Cucumber.-A cucumber has been cut from Mr. Martell's garden, at Southsea, Hants, measuring five feet in length. Horticulture.-A most beautiful and singular Auricula was gathered lately in the garden of Mr. Tanby, of Bath; it had eight distinct stalks, combined in one flat stem, completely incorporated together, and bearing a calix containing 107 petals. Culture of Opium in Great Britain.Mr. Young, who has successfully and lucratively cultivated British opium, says, in a communication to the Society of Arts, "Last summer I produced 19 pounds of opium, 25 gallons of poppy oil, and at the rate of 40 bolls of early potatoes, from 129 falls 18 yards, being 30 falls less than one acre of ground, by the mode of cultivating communicated to the Society of Arts, and afterwards more particularly detailed in the second and third Numbers of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, with this difference, that the gatherers collected the milky juice with their thumbs instead of brushes, which I consider to be a material improvement in the mode of gathering; and although I had from twelve to twenty boys, from twelve to fourteen years of age, employed during the season, only two were affected with drowsiness, and I could not be certain whether this was the effect of the absorption of the opium, or of the extreme heat of the weather. By this new mode of gathering the milky fluid of the poppy, one of the boys, more than once during the season of gathering, filled his flask in one day, of ten hours work: the flask contained fourteen ounces, which, when cvaporated, gave three ounces and two drachms of solid opium. I may observe, that owing to the extreme heat, and want of rain, during the last opium harvest, my plants came so rapidly to maturity, that I did not get so much opium as I probably should have done had there been occasional showers." |