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Inquiry into the origin, early signs, nature, causes, and cure, of hydrothorax, with several interesting cases.

Mr. CHARLES A. ELTON has in the press, in a foolscap 8vo volume, Tales of Romance, with other poems.

Mr. SAMUEL PROUT will shortly publish the first number of the Relics of Antiquity, or Remains of Ancient Structures, with other vestiges of early times in Great Britain, etched from drawings by himself, and accompanied with descriptive sketches.

Mr. F. W. L. STOCKDALE is about to publish a series of etchings, in imitation of the original sketches, from picturesque subjects in the county of Kent, with explanatory descriptions.

Mr. STEPHEN PASQUIER has issued proposals for publishing in a quarto volume, with copper-plates, engraved by means of the author's newly-invented machines and tools, a new system, called Neography, in which he has attempted to simplify and bring to one common, standard, all the various modes of writing and printing, used among the several nations of the earth, with a view to assist commerce, facilitate correspondence, and open an easier intercourse to the diffusion of knowledge, the fine arts, and civilisation.

A Literary and Philosophical Society has just been established in the populous village of Hackney. It consists of three classes, none of which is limited: 1. Ordinary members who contribute to the funds, enjoy the use of the books, &c. 2. Honorary members, consisting of such gentlemen whose association may reflect honour on the society, and whose opinion of the labours of its members may be such as to impress them with sentiments of respect for this mark of regard, 3. Those whose attachment to literature may entitle them to become members, but whose finances would prevent their contributing to the subscriptions for the support of the society. To these last, the library will be open gratis. It is intended that the meetings on Tuesday evenings shall be principally occupied by literary conversations, and reading such papers on scientific or literary subjects, as the society may be favoured with. The subjects for conversation, or books for the library, are to comprehend the mathematics, natural philosophy and history, chemistry, polite literature, antiquities, civil history, biography, questions of general law and policy, Commerce, and the arts; but religion, the MONTHLY MAG. No. 197.

practical branches of the law and physic, British politics, and indeed all politics of the day, shall be deemed prohi bited subjects. The purchase of philosophical instruments, and patronizing lectures on philosophical subjects, form part of the plan of this society. The subscription is fixed at one guinea per aunum for ordinary members, and the last Monday in March is appointed for the annual general meeting of the society.

A new edition, revised, corrected, and enlarged, of the Pocket Encyclopædia, or Miscellaneous Selections of Useful Knowledge; originally compiled by Mr. Guy, of the Military College, Marlow, is preparing for the press, and will be published with all convenient speed. It will be illustrated with engravings, and with references to the best printed authorities.

Mr. PEACOCK, the classical author of a poem on the Ruins of Palmyra, has a new work in a state of great forwardness, it is a lyrical poem in two parts, entitled The Genius of the Thames.

A Gazetteer of England and Wales, by THOMAS l'OTTS, closely printed in octavo, will shortly be published, illustrated by maps.

A new edition of the Ambulator, in a Tour twenty-five miles round London, is preparing for the press. Any corrections, additions, or hints for its improvement, will be received by the publisher.

Mr. BYERLEY (the translator of Machiavelli's Prince, is preparing for the press a novel, in three large volumes, under the title of "The White Ladies, or Memoirs of the Ingram Fa mily, a Worcestershire story." Ile is also editing, "Letters from India," being the genuine correspondence of a family of high rank at Calcutta, with their relations in England, from 1805 to 1809; embellished with a view of Calcutta, from a drawing by IMOFFATT. Both the above works will be published on the 1st of June next.

The Rev. HENRY ROWE, rector of Ringshall, Suffolk, a lincal descendant of the celebrated poet of that name, has in the press, Fables in Verse, in one large octavo volume, embellished with thirty beautiful engravings in wood.

A volume of Tales, original and trans. lated, from the Spanish, illustrated with eight wood engravings, will soon make its appearance.

In the press and speedily will be published the third part of Mr. CRABB's Preceptor and his Pupils; containing an ety. 2 K mological

mological and analytical elucidation of synonymous words in the English language. Also a new edition of his German and English Dialogues; and of Extracts from the best German Authors for Translating into English.

Mr. PARKINSON has withdrawn the Introduction to the Knowledge of Fossils, announced at the end of the first volume of Organic Remains of a Fornier World, considering its publication as entirely su perceded by Mr. MARTIN's excellent systematic outlines of the same subject. The third volume of Organic Remains is in considerable forwardness.

A correspondent of the Philosophical Journal states, that camphor is contained in considerable proportion in the seeds of carraway 1lb. of seed yielding about 4 ounces of oil, and an ounce of canphor.

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nance. For one of the species of cruelty towards brute animals, existing in this town, (we mean the overloading of carters' horses) the law has provided a remedy. All that your committee, therefore, judge to be needful for the removal of this evil, is the due enforcement of the law. The sense of shame may, they think, be turned to good account in the service of this society. A man may be perfectly indifferent to the sufferings of brute animals, who may, nevertheless, dread that the public should talk of his cruelty. Your committee propose, therefore, that a committee be appointed for the purpose of enquiring into reported cases of cruelty, and of publishing the accounts of them (when the facts are well established) in the papers of the day. They recommend that your statements should wear an official form; the credit which they would receive would be proportioned, of course, to the opinion entertained by the public of your reporting committee. Cases of a most flagitious nature might occasionally occur, in which it might be advisable to publish the names of the parties: in general, however, your com

About twelve months ago, several meetings of the gentlemen of the town and neighbourhood of Bradford, in Yorkshire, whose sentiments were favourable to the promotion of science, resolved to form themselves into a society, to be called the "Literary and Philosophical Society of Bradford," and adopted rules for its government. Suit-mittee think that this step would not be able apartinents have been procured; and a sinali, though valuable, collection of books in various branches of natural history and philosophy, has been pur.

chased.

A society has been lately formed at Liverpool, for preventing wanton cruelty to brute animals. At their first general meeting they appointed a committee to prepare an account of the objects of the society, and of the modes which they might deem best fitted to secure the accomplishment of those objects; and this committee accordingly presented a report, of which the following is the substance: "The great object of the society is, to meliorate the state of brute animals, by preventing those sufferings which they unnecessarily experience at the band of man. Your committee judge that you may aim to accomplish this object in two ways: 1. By the exercise of coercion with respect to those who are guilty of cruelty to brute animals; 2. By the diffusion of such principles and feelings as shall be incompatible with the existence of that spirit whence cruelty to animals originates. The coercion exercised may be of three sorts; that of the laws, that of shame, and that of individual discounte

requisite. Individual discountenance may be manifested in different ways: in every mode in which such discountenance can be given by you, severally, to acts of cruelty, in every such mode do your committee recommend that it be shewn. But what they would particu larly recommend to you at this time, as applying an especial remedy to particular evils which they have in view, is discoun tenance in the way of trade. There are some tradesmen, as your cominittee think, whose very gain is derived from brute animals, who are frequently or habitually careless respecting the suffer ings of their beasts; and of some of whom it may be said, that the misery of the beasts subjected to them, is almost a necessary result of their peculiar mode of conducting their business. Your committee suggest to you, in your individual capacities, that where you have occasion to employ tradesmen of such classes, the consideration of the manner in which different individuals among them treat their beasts, should have great weight with you in your decision, as to which of those tradesmen you employ. They think too, that where fair occasions occur, the ground of preference should be distinctly stated; otherwise that con

nexion may not be observed between the offence and the consequence, the observation of which is necessary to the securing of its full operation to your conduct. The abuses which have appeared to your committee to be most prevalent in this town, and to call for the most immediate attention, and to which they would apply some of the above-stated principles of redress, are those practised by carters and by butchers. Concern ing carters, they have told you that they mean, at the close of this report, to submit to you a resolution. The cruelties of butchers are displayed, chiefly when they are driving their beasts into or through the town. One of your committee saw a sheep with one of its horns torn out of the socket, stated by the populace to have been beaten or wrested out by the driver. The practice of cutting the heel-tendons of sheep before they enter the town, in order that the drivers may have less trouble with them in passing through the streets (a practice, the alleged necessity for which would be removed by the employing of a larger number of drivers) is, your committee have reason to believe, by no means uncommon. Such things call, as they conceive, for the marked animadversion of those who are desirous to lessen the sufferings of brute animals; and, in their present uncertainty of the disposition of the law as to such prac tices, your committee do strongly recommend it to the individuals of this society, to shew their disapprobation of those who perpetrate or authorise them, by withholding from them their support in the way of trade. The other part of their plan, viz. the diffusion of such a spirit as should be incompatible with the spirit of cruelty to animals, might be effected by publishing, in a cheap form, books inculcating principles of gentleness towards the brute part of the creation, In this mode, they conceive that great good might be done, especially by the influence produced on the minds of the young.-It appears especially desirable, that whilst you set forth to the public a definition of your objects, you should also give some pledge as to the spirit of your future proceedings. They would propose, therefore, that you should, from the very beginning, disclaim all those mean and deceptious arts, by which men often gain intelligence; all encourage

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to eaves-droppers, to creeping enquirers, to men who wear the semblance of friendship in order that they

may the more effectually betray. They propose also, that, in animadverting on the abuses which may be brought to light around you, you should not confine your remarks to the poor. The duty to be tender to the inferior creatures, they hold to be obligatory on men of every rank; and a rich man, who wantonly abuses his power over a brute animal, ought, they conceive, the more especially to be an object of censure, because his example inay operate the more largely as a supposed warrant. In your individual capacities, they would recom mend to you, that you should expel the spirit of cruelty altogether from your own houses; that you should especially allow none of those practices to exist within the range of your influence, by which brute animals are made to suffer pain, either for the mere amusement of men, or for the gratification of a pampered luxury. Lastly, they recommend it to you, both individually and collectively, that in pursuing the objects of your association, you should display the great est steadiness and calmness; especially. that you should, in every instance, be our the surest grounds convinced of the existence of an evil, before you prefer a complaint. There is such a thing as intemperance in benevolence; and the virtue may be degraded in the public estimation, and rendered fruitless in its efforts, by a union with precipitancy of judgment. Whilst they hope that the members of this society will keep themselves alive to the objects of the associa tion, and omit no rational and manly mode of promoting those objects, they also express the hope that no plan may be adopted which may carry with it a frittering of exertion, and which may justly subject the society to any portion of that reproach which many may, at the first hearing, be disposed to affix to itthe reproach of being frivolous and vexatious.

RUSSIA.

Several marbles, with Slavonic inscriptions, were discovered in 1792, among the ruins of Phanagoria. These inscriptions stated, that a Russian prince, Glied of Tmuktorakan, had caused the extent of the Cimmerian Bosphorus to be measured in 1968. On this occasion, count Mussin Puschkin published, in 1794, Historical Researches on the geographical situation of the principality of Tmuktorakan. Alexei Nicolai Olenin, counsellor of state, has published a letter on the same subject, addressed

to the count, in which he describes, among others, five manuscripts of Nestor, the most ancient historian of Russia.

SWEDEN.

The king has not only repealed the prohibition to import French and Danish books, but also restored the liberty of the press, on condition that the publisher shall give up the name and address of any obnoxious work; in which case the former is released from all responsibility.

GERMANY.

The catalogue of books which appeared at the last Easter fair at Leipsic, includes in the whole two thousand articles, among which are one hundred and twenty eight novels, fifty theatrical pieces, and between three and four hundred translations.

A German author, in a work lately published, states the following curious fact: A person having an artificial magnet suspended from the wall of his study, with a piece of iron adhering to it, remarked, for several years, that the flies in the room, though they frequently alighted on other iron articles, never settled on the artificial magnet; and even that, if any of those insects approached it, they again in a moment removed to some distance. "It is worth the trouble," says professor Voigt, who repeats this circumstance in his journal, make further observations on this phenomenon; and were it confirmed, magnetised iron might be employed to preserve it from being soiled by flies, and perhaps also for other purposes."

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The Austrian government has lately proposed the following prize-questions, relative to substitutes for various foreign articles in the materia medica. 1. What indigenous or European productions, distinguished by specific effects, may be substituted for those now brought from India? 2. A substitute for camphor. 3. A substitute for Peruvian bark. 4. What species of plants may replace senna, jalap, and ipecacuanha? 5. A substitute for opium.-The prize for each question is five hundred ducats.

For the inquisitive traveller, a barometer is an instrument of the highest necessity, as it is not only serviceable for meteorological observations, but also for measuring heights in the countries through which he passes. The common barometers are unfit for this purpose, as the weight of the quicksilver would break the glass tubes in the carriage. For this reason, M. de Luc, of Gottingen, a considerable time since, contrived a

travelling barometer, which was highly approved. Dr. SCHULTES has recently invented a new instrument of this description, which may be placed horizontally, or vertically, without suffering the air to penetrate into the interior cavity.

M. LAMPADIUS, of Freiberg, has discovered a method of condensing vapours in distillation, more rapidly than has yet been done. This is accomplished by means of a disk, attached to the tube of the still, which has the figure of a lens flattened as much as possible, and is made of copper. It produces a much better effect than the worms hitherto employed for that purpose.

M. GEITNER has, by the aid of various substances, extracted from the green shells of horse-chesnuts very beautiful yellow and brown colours, and the latter in the greatest diversity of hues. They are found to stand both on woollens and silks, though the stuffs have been wetted and wrung out, and some of them even washed in caustic liquids.

CRISTOPHER HEEREN, organ-builder, at Gottesbühren, in Westphalia, has invented a loom, which performs all the operations of itself. Without the intervention of the weaver, it sets the treadles in motion, throws the shuttle, and stops it at the opposite side; loosens the web, when a certain portion is finished, and winds the cloth upon the axle. Every thing is kept in proper order; and the piece of stuff, when finished, is smoothed. An index, attached to the machine, shows at any time the number of ells that are woven. This machine has as yet only been exhibited on a small scale to connoisseurs, and has obtained the highest approbation.

Many ladies of Münich have learned to knit without needles. The inventor of this art is M. NELLISEN, a native of the county of Limburg, who teaches it himself in the Bavarian capital. It is, however, yet very imperfect; as, by this method, they can only knit breadthwise, and not circularly.

A. ROCKSTROH, of Berlin, has invented a machine for cutting paper straight, with any kind of scissars, winch is likely to be of use to men of business.

We have already noticed the experiments of M. DEGEN, of Vienna, to raise himself into the air. As his weight exceeded the power of the machinery with which he effected this, by thirty-four pounds, he conceived the idea of combining with it an air-balloon, imagining

that,

that, by means of the latter, he could be supported in the air, and at the same time have it sufficiently under his command. The experiments which he made with it, towards the conclusion of last year, in the Prater, before a numerous company, were completely successful. He flew at pleasure in all directions; raised and lowered himself; and the balloon followed him spontaneously which ever way he turned. The diameter of the latter was nineteen feet five inches. After deducting the weight of Degen and his flying-machine, the balloon possessed a power equal to thirty-two pounds.

While the Prussian states were occupied by French troops, the Academy of Sciences at Berlin lost many of the treasures of art which it possessed, and which it was obliged to cede to the museums of Paris. As some compensation, the French government intends to send it casts of all the antiques at Paris, taken off with care.

The successes of the French armies, and their long residence in Germany, have procured them an advantage which they formerly dispensed with in their victories, but of which they will not fail to avail themselves in their future military enterprizes. They have put them in possession of a map of Germany, surpassing all its predecessors in perfection and accuracy. Hanover was surveyed by Epaillu, chef de bataillor, immediately after its occupation by the corps of Mortier. In Brandenburg and Silesia, the French had two year's time to collect the requisite topographical information; and it is not improbable, that the beautiful maps of several provinces, drawn up by order of the Prussian government, have fallen into their hands; as their entrance into Berlin was so sudden, that a great quantity of important papers and valuable effects could not be secreted. Saxony caused a portion of its states to be surveyed every year: at the request of the French government, the work has been for some years accelerated; and the court of Dresden has made such communications as were required. It is believed, that the same has been done by Denmark, in regard to the duchy of Holstein, and perhaps of the whole Cimbrian peninsula. The French govern ment has caused not only the northernmost provinces of Germany to the North Sea and Baltic, but likewise the counties of Stolberg, and the duchies of Weimar, Coburg, Meinungen, Hildburghausen,, c. to be surveyed by engineers.

It

probably possesses fewer materials of the former circle of Franconia: but it is possible that the grand duke of Würtzburg may have furnished information, to extend the topographical knowledge of those countries. Of Swabia and Upper Austria, the geographical bureau at Paris bas a beautiful manuscript map. Bavaria has been surveyed for some time; aud the map of the Tyrol is already engraved and sold at Paris. In respect to Austria alone, the materials are perhaps rather scanty, as the French have remained there too short a time to undertake extensive measurements. It is concluded, that this large and complete map will be given to the public, from the circumstance that Suabia has already been engraved at Paris.

M. VON HAMMER, a skilful orientalist, and formerly agent of the Austrian go vernment, in Moldavia, has lately been sent to Paris to claim the restitution of a great part of the Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian manuscripts, taken en masse from the imperial library of Vienna, last summer; M. DENON having given assurances, that only such should be kept as were not to be found in the imperial library at Paris.

A remarkably large parabolic lens was recently purchased at Vienna, for the French government. It was made at Gratz, in Styria, by Rospinè, a celebrated mechanist, for some alchemists. It was not cast, but softened by heat, and bent over a parabolic mould. Several pieces were broken before he succeeded; so that it cost originally from 800 to 1200 guineas. It is three feet three inches in diameter, and of eight feet four inches focus; composed of two pieces of glass united together by an iron hoop, so as to form a hollow vessel, capable of holding eighty or ninety quarts of spirit of wine. M. JACQUIN, of Vienna, and several men of science, who witnessed the expe riments, declare, that it burned a dia mond in a few seconds, and fused platina in a few minutes. A button of platina, weighing twenty-nine grains, was melted by it, and made in part to boil. The diameter of the focus does not appear to exceed four lines. It weighs 550lbs. avoirdupoise.

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