count of the present State of the Spanish Colonies in America, and a particular report on Hispaniola, the Spanish division of the Island of Santo Domingo, with a general survey of the Settlements on the Continent of America, their history, trade, navigation, productions, population, customs, manners, &c.

Messrs. SMITH and Sox, of Glasgow, have in the press, a Catalogue contain ing many works that will interest the bibliographer from their extreme rarity. The black letter and early printed books are most of them in fine condition.

Mr. W. MOORE, of the Royal Academy at Woolwich, has in forwardness a Treatise on the Doctrine of Fluxions, with its application to all the most useful parts of the true Theory of Gunnery, and other very important matters relating to Military and Naval Science. The fiuxions will be preceded by such parts of the science of mechanics, as are necessary for reading the work without referring to other authors.

The death of the Rev. RICHARD CECIL having taken place during the progress of his works through the press, it is intended to add a fourth volume to the three already announced. This fourth volume, consisting of Remarks made by Mr. Cecil, in conversation, on a great variety of topics in Life and Religion, could not, from the nature of its contents, be published with propriety before his death; but that event having now occurred, it is become desirable to publish together all that will ever appear of his works. A Memoir of Mr. Cecil will be prefixed to the first volume; and it is hoped the whole will be ready by Christmas.

Mr. HENRY, of Manchester, has lately published An Analysis of several varieties of British and foreign salt (muriate of soda), with a view to explain their fitness for different economical purposes. He proves that British salts are no way inferior to foreign salts; and states, that that kind of salt which possesses most eminently the combined properties of hardness, compactness, and perfection, of crystals, will be best adapted to the purpose of packing fish and other provision; because it will remain permanently between the different layers, or will be very gradually dissolved by the fluids that exude from the provision; thus furuishing a slow, but constant, supply of saturated brine. On the other hand, for the purpose of preparing the pickle, or of striking the meat, which is done by

immersion in a saturated solution of salt, the smaller-grained varieties answer equally well; or, on account of their greater solubility, even better.

Messrs. CUTHBERTSON and SINGEN have lately published the following comparison of the cylinder and plate exciters in electrical machines: The principal advantages in the cylinder are, 1st, the positive and negative powers are obtained in equal perfection; 2dly, it has but one rubber to keep in order; 3dly, it is less liable (from the security of its form) to accidental fracture, than the plate; 4thly, its insulation is more perfect; and 5thly, from the peculiarity of its structure, larger multiplying wheels may be employed, and thus a considerable dimi nution of friction be obtained. The advantages of the plate machines are, 1st, they are less expensive than cylinders of equal power; 2aly, they occupy less room; 3dly, may be constructed of a much larger size, as instanced by Mr. Cuthbertson's large machine at Harlem ; 4thly, several plates, to act jointly, may be more easily combined, than several cylinders could; 5thly, the multiplying power may be applied to them to a much greater extent than it could to cylinders, without rendering the motion too rapid; 6thly, plates of equal diameters may be made to act with a uniform and equal degree of power, a circumstance seliom attained by cylinders.

At the Medical School of Guy's Hos pital, the autumnal course of Lectures will commence in the beginning of Oc tober, viz. The Practice of Medicine, by Dr. BABINGTON and Dr. CURRY; Chemistry, by Dr. BABINGTon, Dr. MarCET, and Mr. ALLEN; Experimental Philosophy, by Mr. ALLEN; Theory of Medicine, and Materia Medica, by Dr. CURRY and Dr. CHOLMELEY; Midwifery, and Diseases of Women and Children, by Dr. HAIGHTON; Physiology, or Laws of the Animal Economy, by Dr. HAIGHTON; Structure and Diseases of the Teeth, by Mr. Fox. These several Lectures, with those on Anatomy and on the Principles and Practice of Surgery, given at the Theatre of St. Thomas's Hospital adjoining, are so arranged, that no two of them interfere in the hours of attendance; and the whole is calculated to form a complete course of medical and chirurgical instruction.

Dr. REID's next course of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Medicine will commence on Monday the eighth of October, and will conclude on Mon

day

day the thirty-first of December. The lectures will be given at nine o'clock in the morning, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at Dr. Reid's house, Grenville street, Brunswick-square, where further particulars may be known.

Dr. DENNISON and Dr. BYAM DENKISON, will commence their course of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery, and the Diseases of Woinen and Children, at the London Hospital, on Monday, October 8th, at eleven o'clock.

Dr. BUXTON'S autumnal course of Lectures on the Practice of Medicine, will be commenced on Monday, the 1st October.

The winter course of Dr. CLARKE'S and Mr. CLARKE'S Lectures on Midwifery, and the Diseases of Women and Children, will commence on Friday, the 5th October, at the house of Mr. Clarke, No. 10, Upper John-street, Golden square. The Lectures are read every day from a quarter past ten o'clock in the morning till a quarter past eleven, for the convenience of students attending the hospitals. The students will have labours when properly qualified.

In pursuance of a petition to the House of Commons from the trustees of. the British Museum, Mr. GREVILLE'S collection of minerals has been valued by Drs. Babington and Wollaston, and five other gentlemen, who report that the whole collection consists of about 20,000 specimens; that the series of crystallized rubellites, diamonds, and precious stones in general, as well as the series of the various ores, far surpass any that are known to them in the different collections, and that the value of the whole is 13,7271. including the cabinets, which cost 16001.

A canal has been projected from Bris. tol to join the Wiltshire and Berkshire canal, at or near Foxham. By this com munication, and through the medium of the intended Western Junction and the Grand Junction Canals, a regular and safe navigation will be opened with the ports of London and Bristol, and all towns, and places contiguous to, or communicating, with them: 400,0001. has been subscribed to carry the plan into execution.

A species of hemp, manufactured from "the leaves of a particular kind of palm, which abounds in Sierra Leone and its neighbourhood, has recently been sent to this country; and being made into cord, subjected to experiments calcu

lated to ascertain its strength, as coun pared with the same length and weight of common hempen cord, the result was very satisfactory, it being found that hempen cord broke with a weight of 43ibs. three-fifths, while the African cord drd not give way to less weight than 53lbs. two-fifths, making a difference in favour of the latter of 10lbs. in 43lbs.

Captain MANBY, whose ingenious invention for preserving the crews, &c. of such vessels as may be stranded on the coast, lately obtained parliamentary reward, has made some improvement on his invention, and exhibited them on the beech at Cromer; the experiments consisted in projecting the grappie, log-line, &c. from the mortar to the distance of 404 yards.

Some notice has recently been taken of the art of printing from stone, known in Germany by the name of "chemical printing." In the chemical printing office at Vienna, three different methods are employed; but that termed in relief is most frequently used. This is the general mode of printing music. The se cond method is the sunk. This is preferred for prints. The third method is the flat, or neither raised nor sunk. This is useful for imitating drawings, particularly where the impression is intended to resemble crayons. For printing or engraving in this method a block of inarble is employed, or any other calcareous stone, that is easily corroded, and will take a good polish. It should be two inches or two inches and a half thick, and of a size proportioned to the purpose for which it is intended. A close texture is considered as advantageous. When the stone is well polished and dry, the first step is to trace the drawing, notes, or letters, to be printed, with a pencil. The design is not very conspicuous, but it is rendered so by passing over the strokes of the pencil a particular ink, of which a great secret is made. This ink is made of a solution of lac in potash, which is coloured with the soot from burning wax. This appears to be the most suitable black for the purpose. When the design has been gone over with this ink, it is left to dry, which commonly takes about two hours; but this depends much on the temperature and dryness of the air. After the ink is dry, nitric acid, more or less diluted, according to the degree of relief desired, is poured on the stone, and corrodes every part of it, except where defended by the resinous ink. The block being

washed

washed with water, an ink similar to that commonly used for printing, is distributed over it by means of printer's balls, a sheet of paper disposed on a frame is laid on it, and this is pressed down by means of a copper roller, or copper press. The sunk, or chalk method differs from that termed in relief only in having the stone much more corrroded by the nitric acid. In the flat method less Ditric acid is used. It is not to be supposed, that the surface is quite plain in this way; but the lines are very little raised so that they can scarcely be perceived to stand above the ground but by the finger. Mr. I. D. Ross, of Princes-street, has invented an eye-bath, to clear the eye from extraneous matters, and to assist the sight; which he makes as an ornament for a lady's or gentleman's dressing

1.3552

20.9242

Mean Some other experiments of M. de Saus sure determined that a thousand parts of hydrogen gas obtained from the solution of zinc purified by sublimation, when detonated with 1000 parts of oxigen gas, afforded 3 parts of carbonic acid gas.. Hydrogen gas obtained from the zinc of the shops, which had not been sublimed, produced the same quantity of acid as the preceding.-A 1000 parts of hydrogen gas from the solution of iron produced 45 of acid gas in a similar process.The hydrogen gas from solution of tin in muriatic acid afforded 9 parts of carbonic acid. That from the decomposition of water by Volta's pile, 3 parts.-That from the decomposition of ammonia, 10 parts.

RUSSIA.

At Ochotsk, in Siberia, a dreadful gale of wind from the south-east, caine on to wards the end of January, and lasted two days. The waters of the Ochota, which, after passing through the town, discharges itself into the sea, were raised twelve feet above their ordinary level, and carried over the tops of the houses. The tempest coming on at night, between two and three hundred of the inhabitants pe

rished in their sleep. A transport be longing to the India Company, which had been carried into the river by a tempest in 1808, was raised by the waves and driven into the middle of the town.

M. TAUSCHER the botanist, who is employed by Count Alexei Rasumowski, has arrived at Sarepta, on the Wolga, with a rich collection of rare and unknown plants, collected in the steppes or desert plains, northward of the Caspian Sea. This traveller has also visited the islands in that sea, where he has found the Indian lotus. The governor of Casan gave M. Tauscher an escort of 100 Cossacks, with one piece of cannon, which enabled him to disperse a troop of 600 Kergises, assembled with the intention of pillaging him. This is the first time that a botanist ever travelled with cannon.

PRUSSIA.

Last summer an experiment of a new kind was tried at Philipsthal, in East Prussia. This was, to split a rock by means of lightning. An iron rod, similar to a conductor, was fixed in the rock, and on the occurrence of the first thun der storm the lightning was conducted down the red, and split the rock intờ several pieces without displacing it.

HUNGARY.

From the report of three professors of Pest, sent to examine into the cause of the earthquake in this country, in January last, it appears that the centre from which the shocks were communicated is in the environs of the mountain of Czoka. At their departure, the shocks, though feeble, were still perceptible. The num her distinctly felt between the 14th Ja nuary and 14th February, was 1000.

ITALY.

In prosecuting the researches at Pompeil, there has been discovered a large edifice adorned with columns, which appears to have been one of the chief public buildings of the town.

In consequence of a particular report made by the Committee of Arts, at Rome, orders have been issued for the repairing, with all possible dispatch, of the two very elegant temples of Vesta and Fortuna Virilis, great part of which yet exist between the great sewer and the ancient bridge of the senate. The former, though the precise period of its construction is unknown, appears however to have been built about the time of Augustus. This conjecture is founded on the extreme elegance of its form, the variety of its ornaments, and the nature of the marbles employed in its embellishment. The just lamentations of artists, on beholding this monument disfigured by

barbarous hands, had already been sub mitted to the former government by M. FEA, commissioner of antiquities, and taken into consideration. The rubbish has already begun to be cleared away, and the stalls and small houses which in tercept the view of the edifice, will spee dily be demolished. A beginning has also been made to clear the three principal apartinents in the baths of Titus, which have been most admired by strangers, and are sufficient to impart a correct idea of the celebrated grottos of Ludio and Arellio, of which Raphael afterwards produced highly elegant imitations in the lodges of the Vatican. It has farther been resolved to repair what remains of the temple of Antoninus and Faustina; of the theatre of Marcellus; of the portico of Octavia; of the temples of Concord and Jupiter Stator; and other monuments of ancient grandeur.

CANOVA is at present engaged upon two colossal statues in bronze of Bonaparte, one on foot, the other on horseback. Richetti, a celebrated founder, has already finished the cast of the former. The latter will, it is said, surpass in size the largest known works of the kind, whether ancient or modern.

EAST INDIES.

Most of our readers are probably apprised that some years since the nutmeg, and clove-trees were brought from the Molucca islands, and introduced into several of the British settlements in the east; and, among others, Bencoolen. Accounts received during the last three or four years from Bencoolen, have fur nished, from time to time, the most satisfactory reports of the thriving state of the plantations established at that place, and they have now attained such maturity and extent as to have become an object of national inportance, and of emolument to individuals. The recent accounts sur pass all former expectations. The trees are represented as loaded with fruit; and the younger plantations are in such prosperity, that in the course of a few years, the produce of Sumatra will be competent to the supply of the European mar ket with cloves, nutinegs, and mace. Thus a valuable branch of trade, long monopolized by the Dutch, and considered as necessarily dependent on the possession of the Molucca Islands, has been transferred from a foreign country, and already opens to Great Britain a

new

source of national and private wealth. The soil and climate of Sumatra are particularly favourable to the

clove and nutmeg, and these, as well as the mace of Bencoolen, are found both in appearance and quality to be at least equal to the produce of the Moluccas.

Two gentlemen lately attached to the embassy of the Hon. Mr. Elphinstone to Peskour, were, at the date of late letters from India, preparing to cra bark on one of the streams of the Indus, and to proceed down that river to its mouth. They are probably the first Eu ropeans, since the days of Nearchus, who have navigated on the Attock.

One advantage, which could scarcely have been foreseen, has arisen from the late march of the British army to the banks of the Sutledge, namely, the introduction of vaccination into the Punjab. The Sings, the Sikhs, and the different people of that country, whose religious prejudices are far less inveterate than in other parts of Hindoostan, received the vaccine most gladly, gave every facility to its propagation, and have taken such precautious as are likely to ensure the continuance and extension of that mild disease. From its favourable reception in the Punjab, we may expect soon to hear of its being introduced into Cashmire, and the adjoining countries.

AMERICA.

About the middle of June, 1809, some men digging for gold in the province of Quito, in South America, came to an extremely hard substance about two feet below the surface of the earth. Ou dig ging it up, it proved to be the shaft of a column exquisitely ornamented with grape-vine, &c. This induced them to dig farther, and they met with a prodi gious quantity of remains of elegant columns, beautiful arches, and every other appendage to the most splendid edifices. These are to be found in a space of about two miles in circumference, and are in appearance the remains of a large city; but when, or by whom erected, is uncertain. The figures upon them appear, from their shape, coutour, dress, and other circumstances, to be Mexican. It is also reported that some remains of statues have been found, which would bear a comparison with the most celebrated productions of Greece and Rome.

The black pepper plant thrives re markably well in the Botanic Garden, in the Island of St. Vincent, and has been producing fruit there for some time. The doctor finds it a plant of more easy cultivation than he imagined. He has likewise cultivated a considerable, quan tity of cloves.

AFRICA