"The good woman's alarm had by this time subsided; and she was persuaded by her husband to make her appearance, and entered with every mark of respect, and some astonishment. Napoleon, De las Cases, the farmer and his wife, forming a partie quarree, for your philosophic and profound contemplation, sat down to four glasses of Cape wine; and when they were emptied, the visit concluded.

The good man and his family had been placed so much at their ease by the courteous demeanour of their unexpected guests, that the subsequent visits laid them under no restraint; and even the little children used frequently to express their wishes, by inquiring of their mother, When will Boney come and see us again?''

In another part of the volume we find him very playful, with Madame Bertrand:

"The carriage drove off at a pretty round pace, and the pleasantry of Napoleon seemed to keep pace with it. He began to talk English; and having thrown his arm half round Madame Bertrand's neck, he exclaimed, addressing himself to me, 'This is my mistress! O not mistress; yes, yes, this is my mistress!' while the lady was endeavouring to extricate herself, and the count, her husband, bursting with laughter. He then asked if he had made a mistake, and being informed of the English interpretation of the word, he cried out, 'O, no, no—I say, my friend, my love: no, not love; my friend, my friend.' The fact was, that Madame Bertrand had been indisposed for several days, and he wished to rally her spirits, as well as to give an unreserved ease to the conversation. In short, to use a well-known English phrase, he was the life of the party.”

Our limits will not allow us to dwell longer on this very entertaining volume. We cannot but admire the romantic attachment which the companions of Napoleon evince, by sharing his confinement, and feel almost convineed that, notwithstanding the odiousness of his public career, there must be something in the fallen monarch that is calculated to win hearts, as well as sceptres.

The style in which the book is written is tame enough, and the affectation of the epistolary form is carried to a ridiculous degree, after the reader has been informed that these "letters" were got up from the author's journal.

PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES, &c.

CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN, 7th Nov. 1816.-Sir Everard Home read a paper on the circulation of the blood in the lumbricus marinus. The author is of opinion that animals form a connected series from man, the most complicated, down to the simplest of all animals, scarcely distinguishable from vegetables, in its structure. He thinks, too, that the distribution of the blood constitutes one of the best means of tracing this series. In each class of animals, there is something peculiar in the circulation which belongs to all the genera of the class. This is the case with the molusca, as well as with the other classes. It was this circumstance that induced the author to endeavour to trace the circulation of the lumbricus marinus. The heart, consisting of only one ventricle, is very small, and situated in the back of the animal. It sends an artery towards the tail. It communicates with a vein which transmits the blood to the twenty-six branchia in which the blood is aerated. From these branchiæ it is transmitted back again to the heart. The teredo navalis, the lumbricus marinus, and the lumbricus terrestris, constitute three members of the series. The circulation becomes gradually more simple in each. In the last the blood-vessels themselves carry on the whole circulation.

21st Nov.--A paper by Dr. Wilson Philip was read on the efficacy of Galvinism in difficult breathing. The author thinks he has established, by his previous communications, that galvinism is of little or no service in diseases of the sensorium; but that it will be found an important remedy in all cases, when the disease is occasioned by the diminution of the nervous energy. The dyspnea induced by cutting the eighth pair of nerves which supply the lungs, being exactly equal to asthma, induced the author to expect that it would be found an important remedy in that disease. The trials which he has made confirm the accuracy of this opinion. In about thirty cases, in which galvanism has been applied by him, every patient was relieved, and several permanently cured. His method was to apply the negative wire from the gal

vanic battery to the pit of the stomach, and the positive wire to the nape of the neck. About sixteen pair of four-inch copper and zinc plates were as many as could, in general, be endured by the patient. At first only six or eight were all that the patient could bear, in many cases. He increased or diminished the number, by slipping one of the wires along the trough, according as the feelings of the patient required an increase or diminution of the energy. From five minutes to fifteen was the time during which the galvanism was applied. He did not find any advantage from prolonging the application beyond the time when the breathing was relieved. In various cases he deceived his patients, by pretending to apply galvanism, when, in fact, one of the wires was not in communication with the trough; but in no one case was the patient relieved by this pretended application; while the real application always alleviated the difficulty of breathing. The liquid with which the trough was charged was water-mingled with one-twentieth of its weight of muriatic acid.

LINNEAN SOCIETY, 5th Nov.-An account was read of a non-descript animal, thrown out of a pump-well at Hull. It was a kind of serpent, about a foot long. Its principal head was cut off before it was observed; but it was supposed at first to have had nine heads, and therefore to have resembled the hydra of the ancients. But Mr. Hayworth, who added some particulars to Mr. Harrison's account, conceives that these may have been rather connected with the lungs of the creature. Unfortunately the animal was so much injured, that even the genus to which it belonged could not be ascertained, but it was supposed to be of the genus ophis.

BAROMETER.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH.-On the 20th of May, a barometer was exhibited to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, with a communication from Mr. Kennedy, suggesting a method of preventing this instrument from being damaged by the concussion of the mercury against the upper extremity of the tube, when it is transported from one place to another. This object Mr. Kennedy

proposes to accomplish, by introducing a small bell-shaped bulb of glass, fixed to a spiral spring, and attached to the top of the tube; which will greatly diminish the accidents to which this instrument is so liable.

COMBINATIONS OF OXYGEN AND AZOTE.

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.-M. Gay-Lussac has lately read a paper on the properties of nitrous acid, which he first succeeded in obtaining in a state of purity. He states this new acid to be composed of 100 oxygen + 400 nitrous gas. Nitrous vapour is formed of 100 oxygen + 200 nitrous gas. Gay-Lussac has also shown, that no oxynitric acid exists, and that 100 oxygen gas and

133 nitrous gas form colourless nitric acid.

The five combinations of azote and oxygen may, therefore,

The distinguishing quality of this memoir is the description

of the properties of nitrous acid.

CHYMICAL NOMENCLATURE.

M. Ampere, a French philosopher, has published a sensible dissertation on the subject of a new arrangement of the chymical bodies, which is supposed to be necessary, in consequence of the late discoveries in that important branch of human knowledge. (i. Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. 295. 373. et ii. 5. 105.) He examines the properties of all the simple bodies, with great acuteness and perspicuity, and endeavours to form them into a natural system, in which they follow in a consecutive series, according to their several properties. Our limits restrict us to a mere outline of his classification..

CLASS 1. GAZOLYTES.

Genus 1. BORIDES. (From boron.)

Bodies forming permanent Acid Gases with Phthore.*

Sp. 1. Silicon.

Sp. 2. Boron.

Genus 2. ANTHRACIDES. (From avepak.)

Bodies combining with one of the Elements of Air, when exposed to it at a sufficient temperature, and forming permanent gases with the other element.

Sp. 1. Carbon.

Sp. 2. Hydrogen.

Genus 3. THIONIDES. (From BELOV.)

Bodies capable of uniting with the preceding genus, and of forming gaseous or very volatile compounds.

Sp. 1. Azote.

Sp. 3. Sulphur.

2. Oxygen.

Genus 4. CHLORIDES. (From Chlorine.)

Bodies unalterable in the air, at all temperatures, forming with hydrogen acid compounds, gaseous or very volatile.

Sp. 1. Chlorine.

Sp. 3. Iodine.

2. Phthorine.

Genus 5. ARSENIDES. (From Arsenic.)

Bodies oxidated in the air, when exposed to it at a sufficient temperature, forming solid compounds with oxygen, and permanent gases with hydrogen.

Sp. 1. Tellurium.

2. Phosphorus.

Sp. 3. Arsenic.

CLASS II. LEUCOLYTES.

Genus 1. CASSITERIDES. (From xacorepos.)

Bodies whose combinations with oxygen are decomposed by

carbon, but not by iodine.

Sp. 1. Antimony.

2. Tin.

Sp. 3. Zinc.

Genus 2. ARGYRIDES. (From apyupos.)

Bodies whose oxydes are decomposed by iodine and hy

drogen.

Sp. 1. Bismuth.

2. Mercury.

Sp. 3. Silver.

4. Lead.

*The hypothetical body called fluorine by sir H. Davy,