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seilles, has publicly called upon the French nation to bestow on Dr. Edward Jenner a reward worthy of the services which he has rendered to mankind. “It is ten years," says he, " since Dr. Jenner ascertained that vaccine inoculation it a preservative against the small-pox. It is upwards of thirty since he commenced his researches into the nature of the cow-pox. It is nine since he made public that invaluable discovery; and it is seven since his practice was introduced into France. It is now spread over almost every part of the globe. Several millions have experienced its beneficial effects, and every day is marked with new and uniform success. What a debt

of gratitude do we owe to the author of this new method! All nations pour forth their benedictions upon him. Every country, every city, would fain offer him a civic crown, and each individual express his gratitude. What mortal was ever more useful to society? No kind of reward, no dignity, can be an adequate compensation for such a service. The noble and generous manner in which Jenner communicated his knowledge, his solicitude to ascertain the results of his experiments, are beyond all praise. Engaged in accomplishing a great revolution in this important part of medicine, and in promoting the welfare of his fellow-creatures, by a practice as simple as it was extraordinary, he thought nothing, so that he could but ultimately succeed, either of time, trouble, or the expense incurred by a very extensive correspondence. The French physicians were not the last to proclaim him the benefactor of mankind; and in this they are joined by the public opinion. The central committee of vaccination, established at Paris, under the auspices of government, observes in the report published by it in 1803: The committee will not conclude this sketch of its proceedings, without paying a just tribute of gratitude to Dr. Jeuner, the illustrious author of this discovery, who will henceforth be numbered among those men who have done the most honor to science, and the greatest service to humanity.' The reward conferred on Jenner, by the English parliament, in 1802, though accompanied with the most gratifying expressions, is very inadequate to the incalculable advantages which will result from his discovery. If the English nation, during the reign of queen Anne, loaded the duke of Marlborough with honors; if, to reward his military achieve.

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ments, they presented him with princely domains, built for him the magnificent palace of Blenheim, and erected on a hill in his park, a splendid monument, whose base, covered with inscriptions, attests his martial exploits, and whose summit is crowned with a statue of that general, there is nothing astonishing in all this. But what excites much greater surprise is, that the same nation has, since 1802, done nothing more for Jen. ner, except that in 1805, the lord mayor, and common council of London, be stowed on him a testimony of the publie gratitude, by presenting him with the freedom of the city, in a gold box, enriched with diamonds and emblems allusive to science, for the salutary dis. covery of the vaccine inoculation, owing to his indefatigable researches.' Jenner has become the man of all nations. Like Hippocrates, he belongs to every country. His name will live to the most remote posterity. It is the present generation which owes him a great remuneration. May it be worthy of one of the fairest epochs of the world! May the French nation, which is capable of appre ciating great things, not delay it too long! Induced by these considerations, I would suggest to all the societies in the French empire for promoting the advancement of the healing art, the following propositions:-1. To open, with the consent and under the patronage of government, a subscription for Dr. Jenner. 2. The committee of the central vaccine society, and the medical societies of the metropolis, should be exclusively empowered to determine the nature of the recompence to be decreed to that great man, 3. These societies might depute some of their members, to present a plan to that effect; and to obtain permission of the minister of the interior, to invite the medical societies of the departments to contribute to the present, by voluntary subscriptions. 4. Every learned society, and every individual who cultivates the healing art, should likewise be at liberty to contribute. 5. At the period fixed for closing the subscription, the committee formed by the societies of Paris, should appoint deputies to go to England, when circumstances, and the government, shall permit, to present our homage and our gratitude to Dr. Jenner. 6. The same committee should likewise determine the time and place for erecting a statue in honor of him. 7. It is to be presumed, that the medical societies will not fail to

place

place the bust of Jenner beside that of Hippocrates."

ITALY.

A very simple contrivance has been invented by M. FABRONI, for transforming any good common balance into an hydrostatic balance. It is a moveable column, which, being placed in a vessel proper for the purpose, beneath any ba lance whatever, provided it be exact, renders it capable of giving specific gravities, without the necessity of recurring to the extraordinary and expensive methods with which the machines now called hydrostatic balances are attended.

M. GONZATTI has discovered a liquid which instantaneously extinguishes fire. The following experiments were publicly made with it at Venice. Some resin and oil were set fire to, and scarcely had a few drops of this liquid been poured on the flame, when it immediately disappeared, leaving behind not the least trace of fire. Billets of wood, besmeared with pitch and resin, and afterwards dipped in this liquid, resisted the action of the hottest fire, to which they were exposed for several hours. The inventor affirms, that a few applications of this composition to wood-work would preserve it from all danger of fire. He has not thought fit to publish the manner in which this composition is prepared; but it is probable that a solution of alum, pot-ash, and vitriol, is one of the ingre dients.

By a decree of the government of Lucca, a school of sculpture is to be established at Carrara, to which will be granted revenues for founding prizes, and for assisting young sculptors.

The celebrated sculptor CANOVA has erected a funeral monument to the memory of his friend and fellow-citizen, Giovanni Volpato, an eminent engraver. It consists of a beautiful marble tablet, sculptured in demi-relievo, and representing the portrait of the artist; before him, Friendship, seated, mourns the loss

which she has sustained. The bust is placed on a cippus, or the shaft of a column, supported by a simple pedestal, and adorned with a garland. Friendship, personified under the form of a young and beautiful female, is in a pensive and sorrowful attitude. She is raising to her eyes a corner of her garment to dry her tears. The drapery is well contrived; notwithstanding its fullness, and the quantity of folds, it shows the contours of the figure. The portrait of Volpato is a striking resemblance; and the whole composition combines grace with simplicity. It is to be placed in the vestibule of the church of the Apostles.

By an imperial decree, the museum of sculpture, of Turin, is to be restored. M. SPALLA has been appointed director, and sculptor to the emperor, with a pension of 6000 francs.

AMERICA.

The following circumstance, related on the authority of an officer of his majesty's ship Dædalus, occurred while that vessel was lying at Samana, St. Domingo.-Early in the forenoon of 20th November, 1808, several sharks were seen swimming about the ship in expectation of prey. A hook and bait were put overboard, which one of them immediately seized with the greatest voracity. A rope being passed over its fins, it was hoisted on board by twenty men. In its maw was found a calf that hud been thrown overboard a few hours before. The length, from the snout to the extremity of the tail, was ten feet, and the circumference of the body proportionate. Three others of equal size were successively caught; in the last were found sixty-two living young ones, a turkey, and a live hawk's-bill turtle, two fect six inches in length, and one foot nine inches broad; which, immediately after its release, swam about in tub of water, apparently not in the least injured by its confinement.

PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES.

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. Substance of a Lecture read before the Board of Agriculture, by their Secretary, on the Advantages which have resulted from the Establishment of that Institution.

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FTER observing in the introductary part of his lecture, that the

theory of this establishment was, that of concentrating in a focus the knowledge, talents, and abilities, which were scattered, in men of a certain rank, through the kingdom, Mr. Young proceeds to detail its more immediate practical purposes, and its actual benefits -

As a board of reference, to receive requisitions

requisitions for information from the minister, or either house of parliament, the board has acted on various occasions in perfect conformity with the theory of its institution; and I need not observe how extremely necessary it is to be prepared, with this view, by having such well-arranged collections of facts, as may at once be applicable to the inquiries which may probably come from higher assemblies to this board.

Another branch of our quiescent duties, and perhaps not the least important, is that of considering the institution as an office of intelligence, for the use of individuals who desire information on any subject of rural economy. It is certainly the duty of the secretary to give at all times, and to all persons, every species of information in his power; to make whatever inquiries may be neces sary, with that view; and to introduce such persons to each other, as can best supply their mutual wants: and it is no exaggeration to assert, that this has been done to the amount of some thousands of cases.

The institution was hardly established, before a severe scarcity afflicted the kingdom; and the board, with the utmost assiduity, gave an immediate attention to a subject which naturally drew upon it every eye. To answer the immediate pressure, many experiments were ordered and executed on the manufacturing of bread from every species of grain which could, by various mixtures, be made to enter into its composition. Fourscore sorts of bread were at once exhibited to the eyes of the public; and those who recollect the examination, must remember the pleasure very generally expressed at the sight of a resource which till then had been quite unknown. These experiments were registered and printed, and remain for future use.

But an object of much greater impor tance, also occupied the attention of the board; this was the cultivation of the immense wastes of the kingdom, by a general enclosure act. In order to ascertain the amount of these deserts, so disgraceful to the richest country in the world, inquiries were set on foot in every district, and the result produced the enormous amount of more than twentytwo millions of acres! The energy and vigour with which the president executed the wishes of the board, in making these inquiries, and in framing a bill that should remedy so great an evil, merited the highest commendation, and deserves

the gratitude of every succeeding age: though the effort unfortunately was unsuccessful; and it is lamentable to refiect, that the obstacles which arose to the measure, were aggravated in no slight degree by efforts of private in

terest.

The next effort to which I beg leave to call your attention, was a successful attempt to bring all the weights and measures of the kingdom under the summary jurisdiction of the magistrate. The board received ample information that the poor were defrauded in a multitude of cases, more especially in villages, by defective weights and measures, without there existing sufficient powers for the speedy application of a remedy: it requested one of its members to bring a bill into parliament to remedy the evil; this was done, and it passed into a law which has ever since been a blessing to thousands.

An act of parliament which had its origin in the board, was that which took off a preposterous duty on the import of oil-cakes from America: and another legislative measure adopted on the recommendation of the board was, the exemption from excise granted to draining tiles; an object of no slight importance, as, without this attention, the tax would have operated as a prohibition in this branch of the first of all improve

ments.

An object which at a very early period attracted the attention of the board, was the inquiry into the propriety of annexing land to cottages. Some persons entertaining doubts as to the general application of this system, the board adopted a measure that was founded in prudence, in order to ascer tain how far this system extended, and what were its effects in situations removed from the immediate superintendance of a few humane landlords. The board, under the auspices of a noble lord, himself the beneficent patronizer of the system on his own extensive estates, dispatched a person (Mr. Gourlay) every way qualified for the employment, to ascertain all the circumstances on the spot: he was directed to proceed to Burleigh, and to follow the system wherever he found it. This he did through an extent of between seventy and eighty miles; he saw it under almost every variation of circumstance, with no other exception than that of soils too barren to support a cow. The report he made was equally curious and įme

portant

portant: the poor people universally paid a fair rent for their land, supported themselves through the two scarcities without the smallest assistance from the parishes, and were commended by their employers as the most industrious and moral of the labouring class. The poor-rates in the districts which this system pervaded, were from three-pence to one shilling and sixpence in the pound; whereas in districts adjoining, but not under this management, they were six, seven, and ten, times as much. I will venture to assert, that had the board never performed any other service to the public than this single exertion, it would well have merited every shilling that was ever voted to it.

Their next exertion was on the subject of draining. The uncommo success which attended Mr. Elkington's practice in many considerable drainages, executed on principles unknown, or but obscurely hinted at by others, and practised by none but himself, very justly attracted the attention of the board. They proceeded in this business as they had done in every other: they began by procuring all the information that was to be had; and being well satisfied of the importance of the discovery, they recommended him to the beneficence of parliament, who voted to him one thousand pounds. But this was not all: that man, so ingenious on the spots demanding his skill, was astonishingly confused and obscure in explaining his ideas; to such a degree, indeed, that there was no slight danger of his art dying with him. To prevent this, the board employed a person of skill and ingenuity (Mr. Johnston) to take a considerable journey with Mr. Elkington, for the purpose of examining on the spot the chief drainages which had been effected, and of having the principles duly explained. The undertaking was very successful: Mr. Johnston inade himself master of the art, and reported it to the board in a treatise, which has been pabushed for perpetuating a discovery that would have been Jost, but for this well-imagined precaution of the board.

The deficiency of the crops in 1799, furnished the board with another opportunity of manifesting their vigilance for the public good. On my arrival in town, the beginning of November in that year, I found the president (Lord Somerville) not returned to England from Portugal, whither he had gone for the recovery of his health; and a sufficient number of MONTHLY MAG. No. 197.

members not attending to form a board before the adjournment, I thought it was my duty to write a letter to Mr. Pitt, to that purport in which I conceived the board would have addressed him had it assembled. I stated, from ample information, the deficiency of the late crop, which I conceived was much greater than was supposed at that time, and earnestly recommended to him, to take immediate measures for the introduction of rice from India. In March 1800, Lord Carrington was elected to the presidency, and his lordship urged to the minister the same measure. After much consideration on the subject, no remedy occurred so certain, safe, and economical, for supplying the expected deficiency, as the importation of a sufficient quantity of rice from India; from some cause or other, however, the critical period for effectual encouragement was suffered to pass by, and though a bounty on the importation was subsequently offered, the rice did not arrive till after the abundant harvest of 1801. The article, in consequence, became a mere drug, and the government was called upon to pay no less a sum than three hundred and fifty thousand pounds, to perform the parliamentary guarantee to the importers. This is sufficient to prove, that whether the board was attended to or disregarded, its merit with the public remained the same. Two millions and a half might have been saved, had the board been listened to.

On occasion of the first scarcity, the board had ample reason to be convinced of the great importance of potatoes, as a remedy for that deficiency under which the nation laboured. It was proposed at one of their meetings, to offer a premium of one thousand pounds to the person who should make the greatest exertions in that branch of cultivation; but the sum being found too great for the finances of the board, the scheme dropped, not however without some effect; for a newspaper erroneously reporting that the board had actually made the offer, occasioned exertions in various parts of the kingdoin, as we afterwards found, by applications from individuals for information relative to the mode of reporting the experiments; and the meetings at that time were convinced, that had such a premium been offered, the effect of it would have been very considerable.

Another effort tending to the same end, was that of offering premiums in the

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year 1305, for encouraging the culture of spring wheat: these were widely claimed, and, having been followed by many others since, have proved that the article is well established in many districts.

rity, and the consequences hich have flowed from them; they describe the implements of husbandry, and mark such as merit removal from confined district to a more general application; they enter into all the minutiae of the cultivation of I come now to bring to your recol- arable land, and are equally attentive to lection, the method and success with the pasturage and meadows of the kingwhich this institution obeyed a requisi- dom; they give the particulars of woods tion from the house of lords, to inquire and plantations; they enter largely into into, and to report, the means of break- the detail of the waste-lands of the kinging up certain portions of grass-land, as dom, their soil, climate, and value, the a remedy for scarcity, and laying them improvements which have been mase down again without injury to the pro- upon them, and others of which they ar: prietors. The board deliberated with susceptible; they report upon the means great attention upon this important ob- used for the improvement of all the va ject, and determined, by offering consi- rious soils, whether by draining, iniga derable premiums, to call to its assistance tion, paring and burning, manuring, or the information of practical men in every embanking; they describe the live-stock part of the kingdom. The plan was at- of the kingdom, and the great improve tended with all the success that could be ments which have been made in that desired: three hundred and fifty memoirs important department; they note the were sent in claim of the premiums; the price, and various other circumstances, best of them were printed at full length, respecting rural labour, the state of the and extracts from many others, forming poor, and the various efforts which have on the whole, a mass of full and complete been made for ameliorating their condi information, derived from the practice tion; and they give such particulars reand experience of men known to have lating to manufactures and commerce, as been highly successful in their agricul. connect them with rural economy. From tural exertions. No subject in the this detail, which does not however inwhole range of agriculture was ever so clude the whole of the inquiries directed fully elucidated. These memoirs further by the board, it must be sufficiently ob contain much other incidental matter of vious, that these works must necessarily considerable importance; and they have, lay such a foundation for a scientific in various parts of the kingdom, been knowledge in every branch of agriculsuccessfully acted upon. I come now to ture, as cannot fail of diffusing a spirit the more active exertions of the board; of improvement through every part of in which the principal feature that de- the realm: this is their direct tendency; mands your attention, is the immense and if they should fail of effecting that undertaking of surveying fourscore pro- object, it is not so much the fault of the vinces; that is to say, an empire, in works themselves, as of the neglect of which no district was to be omitted from those who do not sufficiently examine the Land's End to the Orkneys. The them. It may be asserted with equal reports which have been already printed, safety, that no inquirer into the facts on from among those written ones which which the science of political economy this measure produced, detail many par- ought to be founded, can neglect conticulars relating to the extent, soil, and sulting these works without manifesting climate, of each county; the rivers, na- an ignorance proportioned to such negvigations, roads, and whatever contris lect: in fact, they may be as useful to a butes to internal communication; the member of the legislature, as they ought tenures by which landed property is pos to be to a practical fariner; and I do not sessed and occupied, including the effect found this assertion on a reference to a of long and short leases: they describe few of the best of these productions, but those circumstances which demand atam justified in the opinion by a perusal tention in the buildings necessary to the of the worst. It must be in the recol occupation of land; they note the pay- lection of many members of the house ments to which it is subjected in rent, of commons, that Mr. Pitt founded tithe, and parochial taxes; they give the many of his calculations that were size of farins, and the consequences of brought forward in a budget, on the inboth large and small occupations; they formation derived from one of these present a detail of enclosures, whether reports. by private exertion or by public autho

That I do not estimate this undertaking,

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