pieces of bone on each side of the vertebræ ; and in the codfish the vertebra is pretty well formed, having two spines and intervertebral substance. An interesting example of the use of anatomical knowledge to paleontologists was given. Dr. Buckland having observed that scales like those of the armadillo's armor were often found fossiled with the bones of the megatherium, concluded that this animal must have been like the armadillo; but Mr. Owen, knowing that the vertebra of this little animal has three noral spines placed at angles, so as to take the great the megatherium had been of the armadillo kind, its vertebræ would have had more than the one noral spine which they possess; it is therefore decided that these scales must belong to another animal. Mr. Solly takes the ganglionic view of the brain and cord; he considers both a collection of ganglia. His arguments in favor of this the fact of gray matter being found in the centre of the cord, and that in the whiting the cord consists of several ganglia joined together longitudinally. He is of opinion, too, that the brain cannot become intellectual if the skull do not expand. Another point interesting to anatomists, the communication or not of the fluid of the cord with that of the brain, and that of the ventricles of the brain with the fluid exterior, Mr. Solly said he did not consider there was any communication beyond that of endosmosis.-Lit. Gaz. ON THE BRAIN AND SPINAL CORD.-After alluding to the interest manifested in the lectures on the physiology of the nervous system delivered on former occasions by himself, before the Royal Institution, Mr. Solly entered upon the description of the protective apparatus of the very important organs, the brain and spinal cord, the centres of the nervous system. The arch-like construction of the skull was pointed out, its thicker and stronger parts being at the sides and base, in the manner of abutments. The two tables of the skull, or the outer and fibrous layer, calculated to resist a blow, and the inner or por-bearing which its armor can sustain, said that if celain layer, suited to resist the entrance of a point, were shown. Next the hard and dense membrane immediately attached to the bone, the dura matter, with its processes, the great falx, preventing lateral skaking of the brain, and its tentorium, preventing vertical shaking, and protecting the little brain, were described. And then the delicate spider-web membrane, secret-view with regard to the cord were founded on ing its lubricating fluid, and covering the inner surface of the dura mater and the outer of the pia mater, or that membrane which immediately and accurately encloses the brain, and serves to retain its form and convey blood-vessels to its substance. The spinal column was described as a hollow, flexible tube, having different curvatures, and formed of 24 joints or vertebræ: the spinal marrow passes down this canal, not in contact with its sides, but protected by fluid and short processes of the dense dura mater, which here and there on each side are attached to the sheath of the cord and the sides of the canal, acting like stays, and called the ligamenta denticulata :-the fluid was proved by Majendie to fill the cavity of the canal completely, so that when the outer membrane was laid bare and punctured, it jetted out. This is a great source of protection. In the supply of blood to the brain, Mr. S. pointed out the curves of the carotid arteries (just as they enter the skull), which serve to retard the violent injection of the blood, and prevent injury. In ruminants a more complicated provision of this kind exists, many contortions being made so as to break the force of the current without diminishing the supply. It is considered that this is so formed to prevent the additional impetus which the blood acquires from the downward position of the head in grazing so constantly; and it is remarkable that in the giraffe it is not found, for this animal crops the branches of trees. The veins of the brain have no valves, and open into large sinuses which are always kept patent, and thus allow of a free exit of the effete blood. In speaking of organs for divertion, Mr. S. mentioned that M. Simon considers the thyroid gland to act in this way towards the brain; and it is curious that in the cretins or idiots of the Vallois we find this body almost always in a state of great enlargement. The lecturer then took a brief view of the spinal cord and its protective means in the lower animals. After mentioning the grand division made by comparative anatomists into vertebrate and invertebrate animals, he showed that in the crustacea and insects the cord having no protecting case is placed on the ventral surface of the animal, thus having the whole thickness of the body above it for its protection. In the lamprey there is just a cartilaginous tube, a rudiment of the column which contains the cord. In the sturgeon there are small INTERMENT IN TOWNS.-Mr. Mackinnon has brought forward in the House of Commons his salutary measure to regulate, or rather to prevent, the interment of the dead in the midst of the dense population of towns; the principle of which was affirmed on a division. What obstacles stand in the way of so obviously wise and needful a course we are not exactly aware; but sure we are that either church interests or vested individual interests ought to yield to the paramount consideration of general health and moral feeling Let the best possible compromise be made with those who are affected in purse; but do not let every object which advanced knowledge, altered circumstances and state of society, civilization, and religion demand, be sacrificed to partial claims. You overthrow houses to make new streets, you run railroads through gardens and parks-surely, by similar legal steps, you may remove the greatest offence and nuisance that exists from the very heart of the metropolis and other populous cities! The public is deeply indebted to Mr. Mackinnon for the unremitting zeal and unwearied perseverance with which he has sought to obtain this national benefit.—Lit. Gaz. COLORLESS INK-Sir George Mackenzie bas invented a substitute, in a colorless fluid, for black ink, "the fastness of which," he says, "has been submitted to for ages." A history of the invention was lately read by him to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. A properly prepared paper, however, is required; and the ink becomes blue or black, according to the sort used. We have tried the ink on the prepared paper, and found it excellent-on unprepared paper it remained colorless. Neither will it, like common ink, stain the fingers, or anything else, except silver, and then may be easily removed. It is obvious that its cleanliness is the chief advantage of the invention, which will commend itself accordingly to the drawing-room, boudoir and library.-Athenæum. BUDDHIST BOOKS.-Particulars relative to a great collection of Buddhist Books, preserved at Thibet, have been furnished by a Mongolian priest to some French Missionaries; and are made the subject of an appeal by the Journal des Débats to the government on behalf of the Bibliothèque Royale,-to which such a collection would form a valuable addition. It is known to many Orientalists that the universal collection of Buddhist volumes, kept in that city, forms two vast compilations, called the Gandjour (108 folio volumes), and the Danjour (240 folio volumes), but it has been generally unknown in Europe, that these two encyclopædic collections have been published at Pekin, by the Emperors of the reigning dynasty, in the Chinese, Mandchou, Mogul and Thibetan tongues, and that the 1392 volumes composing these four translations, may be there purchased for about £1560.-Athenæum. "GUTTA PERCHA."-It is the juice of a large indigenous forest tree in Singapore; and is obtained by cutting notches through the bark, when it exudes in the form of a milky juice which soon curdles. In its chemical properties it somewhat resembles Caoutchouc, but is much less elastic; it however possesses qualities, which that substance does not, which will render it of considerable value as a substitute for medical instruments in hot climates. The Gutta Percha, when dipped in water nearly at the boiling point, can readily be united, and becomes quite plastic, so as to be formed (before it cools below 130° to 140° Fahrenheit,) into any required shape, and which it retains at any temperature below 1109; in this state it is very rigid and tough, and is used in Singapore for chopper handles, &c., in preference to buffalo horn, and does not appear to undergo any change in the hot damp climate of the Straits of Malacca.-Athenæum. THE LATE PROFESSOR DANIELL.-The late John Frederic Daniell, professor of chemistry in King's College, London, lecturer on chemistry and geology at the Hon. East India Company's Seminary at Addiscombe, one of the examiners in the University of London, foreign secretary of the Royal Society, D. C. L. (Oxon.), &c., was born in Essex-street, Strand, March, 12, 1790. At an early age he became a pupil of Professor Brande, in whose society he made several tours, and of whom he spoke as one endeared to him by kindred pursuits and early recollections the day before his death. In 1816, associated with this gentleman, he started the Journal of the Royal Institution,' the first twenty volumes of which were published under their joint superintendence. He married, in the following year (September 4), Charlotte, youngest daughter of the late Sir W. Rule, surveyor of the navy, and subsequently became managing director of the Continental Gas Company, to forward the interests of which he visited the principal cities of France and Germany with Sir W. Congreve and Col. Landmann, making those arrangements by which many of them have since been lighted. On the formation of King's College, in 1831, he was appointed professor of chemistry, and found himself at length in the position he was so well suited to occupy. His inaugural lecture, eminently characteristic of the Christian philosopher, gave a good earnest of the spirit in which his instructions would be conveyed. Of the extent of Professor Daniell's scientific labors some idea may be formed from the fact that, independent of his Meteorological Essays' and Introduction to the Study of Chemical Philosophy,' he communicated to various scientific periodicals upwards of forty original papers; of these thirteen relate to meteorological subjects, nine to electricity, and the remainder to chemistry and other branches of physical science. Of their instrinsic importance some notion may be obtained from the circumstance that he received all three of the medals in the gift of the Royal Society. In 1820 he published an account of his new hygrometer-an instrument which, for the first time, rendered regular and accurate observations on the dryness and moisture of the air practicable. It has since been extensively employed in all climates, and has enabled bygrometry to take an exact and definite form. It still remains the only accurate instrument for making such observations. In 1823 appeared the first edition of his Meteorological Essays,' of which he was engaged in revising proofs of the third edition at the time of his death. This work was the first synthetic attempt to account for meteorological phenomena as a whole, the known laws of which regulate the constitution of gases and vapors. In the following year (1824) appeared his essay on artificial climate in the Horticultural transactions,' the practical bearing of which on culture in general, and particularly of plants grown under shelter, is daily becoming better appreciated, and which, according to Dr. Lindley, has done more for the improvement of this art than any single circumstance besides. He received the society's silver medal for this paper. In 1830 and in 1831 he published his new pyrometer, an instrument still the best for measuring high temperatures, such as those of fusing metals, and furnaces in general. The Royal Society deemed this an invention of such utility and importance, that they, in 1832, conferred on him the Romford medal for the most important discovery relating to heat that had been made throughout the whole civilized world during the three preceding years. In 1836 appeared a paper of his in the Philosophical Translations,' describing his valuable improvement in the voltaic battery, by which he showed the means of obtaining a constant and unlimited supply of electricity. The importance of this discovery was recognized immediately throughout the whole scientific world. In appreciation of its merit the Royal Society, in 1837, honored him with the Copley medal, for the most important scientific discovery of any description made in any part of the world during the previous year. Several other valuable papers appeared in the Philosophical Transactions' for the following years, and for two of these he, in 1842, received one of the Royal medals-Times. M. THIERS'S STUDY.-A French paper describes M. Thiers's study at his residence in the Place St. Georges. "Let the reader imagine a large square apartment, with a richly ornamented It is ceiling, and the floor covered with one of those | busts are said to be so superior to anything hithsplendid thick carpets such as they make at Gob- erto discovered on the banks of the Rhine, that it elins or at Aubusson. Two windows light the is conjectured that some rich family, the tenants room, and two doors, on opposite sides, lead to it. of this sepulchre, may have brought them from In the middle of the room stands an immense Italy, or commissioned some Italian sculptor. desk, carved in the fashion de la Renaissance. Among the jewels found in the tomb, is a small Around, and breast-high, there are book-cases, female figure, 33 inches in height, of a light-blue laden with books: standing on the top of these opal, the perfection of whose chiselling, with the cases, there are numerous beautiful little statues, style of its drapery, have caused it to be assigned busts, Japan vases, globes, &c. A lovely Venus to the third century of the Christian era. is in front of the desk, and on the right is the said that several Belgian virtuosi are in treaty for statue of Mercury. An arm-chair, a la Voltaire, this monument for which they have offered a is placed before the desk: it is that belonging to large sum, with the view of taking it to pieces the master of the house. Twelve beautiful but and transporting it into Belgium. We quite smaller chairs stand round the room, near the agree with the letter-writer, that the removal of book-cases; and lastly, valuable and costly pic- such monuments from the localities to which they tures literally cover the walls."-Spectator. belong, is justifiable only for the preservation of the monuments themselves-as in the case of the Elgin Marbles-and always disturbs a portion of the interest attaching to them. In such a case as this, he says, very sensibly, the thread of local tradition is broken by removal; and a work of art or of antiquity is preserved to the future-valuable, no doubt, in any keeping-but whose history and origin become, in the lapse of time, an enigma.-Athenæum. FRENCH ANTIQUARIAN INTELLIGENCE.-A curious document has been lately published by the Comité Historique, concerning the completion of the Louvre and the Tuileries. It belongs to M. A. Lenoir, and was once in the office of the Grand Provost of France. It appears from this paper that all masons and other handicraft men could be forced to work upon the king's buildings, by order of the provost, to the exclusion of all SHAKSPEARE'S TAMING OF THE SHREW.-A other buildings, which they were obliged to aban- discovery has lately been made of a rarity of some don for the time being. The king (Louis XIV.), value-a quarto edition of Shakspeare's Taming after ordering all due preparations to be made of the Shrew,' of a date prior to the folio of 1623, for the collecting of stone, &c., commands that, in which year it has hitherto been thought to while these palaces shall require the aid of a con- have been first printed. This adds another quarsiderable number of hands, no workman in Paris to to the twenty printed by Steevens. The titleshall be allowed to work on any other edifices page is unfortunately wanting; but on the first whatever; and further, that no persons shall pre-leaf is written, in a hand of the time, "1607, sume to erect any building in Paris and within ten leagues round, under penalty of 10,000 livres fine for the first offence, and the galleys for the second.-Lit. Gazette. AUGUSTUS WILLIAM SCHLEGEL.-Letters from Bonn mention the alarming illness of Augustus William Schlegel, said to be from aneurism of the heart, and threatening the worst results to a subject of seventy-eight years old. The King of Prussia had sent his physician to tend the sick philosopher; each day a deputation from the professors, and another from the students, of the university, presented themselves at his door for a bulletin; and the inhabitants of Bonn, of their own free suggestion, would suffer no carriage to pass through the street in which he lives.-Athe næum. stayed by the aucthors;" meaning, we suppose, stayed the printing, a not uncommon occur rence at that time. This mention of "authors" is confirmatory of the view maintained by many, that more than one person was concerned in writing that play. The volume is in Mr. Collier's hands, and will be printed forthwith, as a supplement to Steevens' Twenty and Mr. Amyot's Taming of a Shrew,' recently issued by the Shakspeare Society, from the Duke of Devonshire's unique edition of 1594. BEETHOVEN MONUMENT.-The monument of Beethoven is finished; and a grand musical festival is to be held at Bonn, on the occasion of its inauguration, in July next. The festival is to be of several days' duration; and the leading musicians of France and Germany are expected to take a part in its celebration Athenæum. ed, he estimates, to a length of from seven and a half to ten leagues. They were in nearly a starved state, and devoured with rapidity all the vegetation that fell in their way.—Athenæum. SUBTERRANEAN TOMB ON THE RHINE.-A letter from Hanover speaks of an interesting archæLOCUSTS.-A letter was received from M. Leological discovery which has been made in the vaillant, the commandant of the garrison of Philipvillage of Weyden, lying on the road from Co- peville, in Algeria, stating that on the 18th ult. that logne to Aix-la-Chapelle. This object of anti- province was visited, notwithstanding the season quarian curiosity-the burial-place of a family-of the year, with a swarm of locusts, which extendis reached by a staircase of eleven steps, and is a sepulchral cave, surrounded by lateral niches and covered by a vaulted roof. According to all appear ance, the tomb has always been subterranean, and indicated externally only by a tumulus or a simple stone. From this cavern have been exhumed, besides a number of vases, and instruments of vulgar use, a sarcophagus ornamented with figures, representing the Genii of the Four Seasons, and three busts in marble, one male, the others female, and all of the life size. These INUNDATIONS.-The Continental papers teem with accounts of inundations in Germany,—exceeding, it is said, in extent and amount of diaster, the most terrible calamities of a similar kind in that country (those of 1655 and 1784) recorded for the last two centuries.-Athenæum. GREAT BRITAIN. "My method," says he, "of extracting lime | SELECT LIST OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS. from hides or skins, when the hair has been removed by lime, and my method of removing the hair without the use of lime by the means before described, are such decided improvements, that hides and skins when so prepared may be tanned in the common or ordinary manner by terra japonica purified as above, and by other ordinary tanning matter, with much greater facility than heretofore; and the leather thus produced is of far greater weight, and much better quality than any heretofore produced." Dr. Turnbull then proceeds to specify some of the peculiarities of the process. His statement on this point will be read with interest by scientific men, as well as by those more immediately concerned. "Having thus stated the nature of my improved methods of tanning hides, and the plan of sep: arating or extracting the japonic or catechuic acid or catechiu, or other extractive and deleterious matter from the tannic acid, and preventing the formation of gallic or ellagic acid in the tanning liquor, and the manner of carrying them into ef fect, I think it essential to state, that I do not claim the principle of tanning hides or skins by sewing them into bags, nor by simply filling them with liquor; but I do claim, and my invention consists in, the following improvements in the tanning of hides and skins. First-I claim the discovery of the means of extracting the lime with which hides and skins are impregnated in removing the hair, by the application of sugar or other saccharine matter, whether obtained from honey, sawdust, turnips, potatoes, or other substances. Second-I claim the discovery of the means of removing the hair or epidermis from hides or skins without the use of lime, by the application of sugar or other saccharine matter, whether obtained from potatoes, sawdust, beetroot, turnips, or other substances. Third-I claim the discovery of the means of removing the hair or epidermis from hides and skins without the use of lime, by the application of muriate of soda or common salt. Fourth-I claim the discovery of the means of separating the japonic or catechuic acid, or other extractive or deleterious matter, from the tannic acid in terra japonica. Fifth-I claim the discovery of the means of obtaining tannic acid from the refuse or deposit of the terra japonica, in purifying terra japonica. Sixth-I claim the discovery of the means of preventing the formation or generation of gallic and ellagic acid, when oak bark, sumach, divi divi, valonia, and other materials are used. Seventh-I claim the discovery of an improved means of tanning leather by means of endosmosis and exosmosis with the materials and in the manner before described, and without the aid of hydrostatic pressure. Eighth-I claim the discovery of an improved mode of tanning by means of a general and constant agitation and circulation of the tanning liquor, composed of the materials before mentioned, from top to bottom and from bottom to top of the pits. Ninth-I claim the improved method of tanning hides or skins in pits in the common and ordinary manner, by first extracting the lime from the hide or removing the hair without the use of lime, and using terra japonica when purified, or other tanning liquor in the manner before described." Dissenter's Plea for his Nonconformity, exhibited in a Course of Lectures, by the Rev. W. Jones, M. A. Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, comprising an Essay on the Round Towers of Ireland. By G. Petrie, R. H. A. Grammar of the Latin Language. By C. G. Zumpt, Ph. D., translated from the 9th German edit., by L. Schmitz. 'Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation,' its Argument Examined and Exposed. By S. R. Bosanquet. 2d edit. Illustrations to Adventure in New ZeaBy Edward Jerningham Wake land. field. Esq. GERMANY. Geschichte von Port-Royal. Der Kampf des Reformirten und des jesuitischen Katholizismus unter Louis XIII. u. XIV. Von Dr. H. Reuchlin. Hamb. Corpus inscriptionum Græcarum. Edid. A. Boeckh et J. Franz. Vol. III. Fasc I. Berlin. Ueber die Minervenidole Athens. Von E. Gerhard. Die Ethische Bedeuting der Geschichte für die Gegenwart. Von H. Gelzer. Berlin. Beiträge zur Charakteristik der Vereinigten Staaten Von Nord-Amerika. Von W. Grisson. Hamb. FRANCE. Etudes historiques, politique et morales, sur l'état de la société Européenne, vers le milieu du dix-neuvième siècle. Par le Prince de Polignac. Paris. Français I. et la Renaissance 15151547. Par Capefigue. Paris. Œuvres de St. Denys l'Aréopagiste, traductes du Grec, précédées d'une Introduction par l'abbé Darboy. Paris. Les Manuscrits Français de la Bibliothèque du Roi, leur histoire et celle des Italiens, et Espagnols de la même collectextes Allemands, Anglais, Hollandais, tion. Par A. Paulin. Paris. Histoire de l'Armée de Condé. Par T. Muret. Paris. |