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1825.]

REVIEW. Dacre on Salt as Manure, &c.

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Amiable fellow! as he says, "Whe-, been black. But people will maintain ther there will be any desire or rather things in print, which if they attemptmeans of suspending a piece of marble ed in subjects relating to private life, over my grave, I have my doubts.", would draw upon them imputations of We will give it, in return for the plea- insanity. sure which we have derived from Dr. Syntax :

"Vir fuit nec sine doctrinâ, Nee sine sermonum ac morum suavitate; Vixit nec sine pietate erga deum, Nec sine honestâ de numine ejus opinione; Nec vero sine peccatis multis, Nec tamen sine spe salutis, A Domino clementissimo, impetrandæ."

18. A Reply to the Second Postscript in the Supplement to Paleo-Romaica. By W. G.. Broughton, M. A. Curate of Hartley Wespall in Hampshire. 8vo. pp. 84.

WE have had occasion before to show from Cicero, that Greek and Latin were languages used indifferently in the Roman empire; and that, ac-, cording to Cicero, the Greek was more understood than the Latin in the greater, part of that extensive dominion. It is admitted by Beausobre and L'Enfant, and we believe the Bishop of St. David's, that there were Latin versions of the New Testament older than any one of the existing Greek manuscripts. In our judgment the palpable Hellenisms of both versions sufficiently show the language of the original; nor are we alarmed at the use of Greek words in a sense not to be found in other authors (see pp. 8, 9), because we are sure that no man ever did live, or will live, who is capable of understanding the full meaning of numerous Greek words. The style of the New Testament, whatever may be the language, is evidently not Roman. It is, as Mr. Broughton observes (p.37), "Greek in the main, but tinged with Hebrew idioms." As to the remark in p. 38, of St. Mark's using a Latin word in Greek characters, we have inscriptions existing where Greek is written in Latin characters, and vice vers. In short, as Antiquaries we affirm, that the author of Palæo-Romaica knows little or nothing of the use of the Greek and Latin languages in the ages to which his enquiry appertains. See a preceding Review, vol. XCII. i. p. 531. It is deeply to be regretted that sound and able writers, like Mr. Broughton and others, should be obliged to waste their efforts in proving that white could never have

19. Testimonies in favour of Salt as a Manure, and a Condiment for Horse, Cow, and Sheep, with Testimonies of its vast Importance in the Arts, &c. By the Rev. B. Dacre, A.L.S. 8vo. pp. 288.

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ACCORDING to Kirwan, in his Essay on Manure, the benefit of dung in vegetation arises from its being soluble carbone, which, to have that property, must pass through the laboratory of an animal stomach. Dùng we believe to be of universal benefit in every species of soil, but do notthink that this can be said of any other manure whatever. Salt may be of eminent utility in some soils, especially with regard to grass lands, for it may give a flavour to the vegetation highly acceptable to cattle. To the testimo-' nies adduced by Mr. Dacre, we add the following. In Mr. Hughes's Travels in Albania (ii. 353), is this passage, "In our ramble [at Paxo] we observed some sheep and goats on the sea shore sipping the salt water. We were informed that the few cows which are kept in this island do the same, and that the milk of these animals is particularly good." We therefore think that salt may be a valuable manure for meadows. Mr. Dacre says, p. 80, that salt will prevent the rot in sheep. We have a marshy meadow upon which we have fed sheep without damage, by the following preparatory medicine. A tea-spoonful of turpentine, and a table-spoonful of common salt, given to each sheep at the time of turning in, and continued for three weeks afterwards. It certainly did prevent rot.

We consider Mr. Dacre to have compiled a very useful book for agriculturists, because artificial manures can never be raised in sufficient quantities, and every accession is of value. Concerning salt, Mr. Dacre has col-,. lected all the evidences existing.

20. Guy's Translation in Verse of the Epistles from Laodamia to Protesilaus, &c.. 4to. pp. 80.

WE have heard the following passage of Laodamia's Epistle,

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the effect were we to make any partial extracts; we shall therefore only say, in the concluding words of the fair writer:

"From the failings of humanity he was undoubtedly not free; he had many eccentricities, and some weaknesses: but they may truly be said to have been lost in the radiance of his virtues; and surely whoever shall hereafter attain the deepest classical erudition, and the most comprehensive praetical excellence, need not think his learning or his piety undervalued or laid in the ba lance with, and compared to, that of Dr.

REVIEW. Character of Dr. Parr, &e. "Nox grata puellis Quærum suppositus colla lacertus habet," translated by a shirt-sleeve with an arm in it," and recommended, viá matrimonii, by young medical men to prattling spinsters who have begged prescriptions in jest for their complaints. There is a profusion of tinsel in Ovid; much of the arts and costume of a showman. The fidelity of woman, so necessary to conjugal happiness and rearing a family, is a benevolent dispensation of Providence, and the only pleasing view with which we regard the modern novel-like effusions of Ovid; but it is odd that these should have been selected by a grave "master of an academy" for the expatiations of his Muse. The only explanation we can give is, that the translation is the work of Joseph Guy, junior, and, if he is courting, we can only say that he does it in an ingenious manner, and hope that the fair one will reply in his own words (p. 19).

cél, at your call, your destiny will join, Whether to die or live for ever thine."

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Parr."

22. The Tale of Massenburg is the first production, in this species of literature, of a young lady, who, we understand, has distinguished herself in the field of poesy. The chief moral of the story is to pourtray the evils attending the vice of gaming and its pernicious consequences. The daughter of Massenburg, a professed gambler, is the heroine of the piece; and the vexations and disappointments she experiences chiefly fill up the narrative. It is written in a familiar and easy style; but the denouement is enough to give the fair reader the horrors. It has been defined that tragedies end in the church-yard, and comedies in the church. So we consider that romances of horror should terminate like the former, and novels and tales like the latter; but our authoress has made her hero a suicide, and her heroine a maniac! without one redeeming or pleas surable emotion to relieve our sorrow at the fatal catastrophe.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

ROYAL SOCIETY of Literature. From the Report of the Royal Society of Literature just issued, we extract a synopsis of the contents of the Papers read during the last year:

1. A fourth Paper, by Mr. Sharon Turner, Royal Associate, R. S. L. "On the Origin of the Affinities and Discordancies of Languages." If the adoption of the same elementary sound, by a vaFiety of disconnected nations, to express the same idea, cannot be considered as accidental, still less can this be the case in terms compounded of simpler elements. This principle Mr. Turner illustrates in the present paper, by examples selected from various languages, of words made use of to express the relation of Father; and concludes, that such words must have descended to each tribe of mankind from some common origin.

The languages of the world present three inseparable phenomena, viz. 1. Various identities and resemblances. 2. The fact that these identities and résemblances are not those of one uniform element, but of several distinct elements. 3. A vast général diversity, notwithstanding those partial identities. Of these phenomena, the only satisfactory aecount is given by the author of the book of Genesis; who informs us, that the language of the primitive families was made miraculously unintelligible to each other, and that they themselves were scattered abroad and disunited. The previous identity of language explains itg present resemblances; in the "confusion of the lips," we discover the origin of the variety in those resembling ele ments; and for the multifarious diver sity of words, a sufficient cause appears, in the variety of babits and circum

stances,

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stances, consequent upon the dispersion. -Read May 19th, 1824.

II. The second Paper read, was communicated by the Rev. G. S. Faber, F.R.S. L. "Respecting the Theology and the Origin of the Mexicans." Mr. Faber commences his observations with some arguments in defence of the veracity of the Ecclesiastical Writers of Spain, to whom we are indebted for the only existing records of this extinct theology, After adduring several proofs from the Mexican traditions, as narrated by them, be concludes his reasons for believing in the bonesty of those writers, by stating that they themselves did not consider the traditions to have been handed down from the early ages, but as the remains of a supposed introduction of Christian ity, previous to the known discovery of America.

From the similarity, in history and in attributes, of the Gods of Mexico to those of the Old World, and from the mutual resemblance of their rites, Mr. Faber infers, that the Eastern and Western Pagan Theologies both sprang frum the same source. The same inference be draws from the existence of various pyramidal edifices, called Teocallis (House of God), erected by the tribes which peopled Mexico, in imitation of that raised by the descendants of Noah, in the Plain of Shiuar, to represent at once the Mount of Paradise, and the peak upon which the ark rested after the Deluge. These edifices are all immediately connected with holy lakes; which Mr. Faber regards as consecrated symbols of the Deluge, and the prototypes of which existed in the Old World. The paper concludes with various additional arguments, drawn from the traditions of the Mexicans, all tending to corroborate the opinion, that the ancestors of that nation were emigrants from Asia,probably "a Japhetic people, under the Rovernment of an Indo-Scythic, or Cathie race of priests and nobles.”— Read June 2nd, June 16th, and November 27th, 1824.

III. The third Paper was “On the Introduction of Greek Literature into England, after the dark ages." By P. F. Tyler, Esq. Sec. R. S. E. and Hon. Assoc. R.S. L. Greek learning was revived in Italy, by Petrarch and Bʊceacio, about the middle, but more effectually under Chrysoloras, towards the close of the fourteenth century. The honour of its revival in this country, which did not take place until nearly the end of the succeeding century, is divided among several learned individuals; of whom, the most eminent are Linacre, Grocyn, Latimer, Lilys, Tunstal, Pace, Colet,

and Sir Thomas More. The present communication is chiefly devoted to a detail of the life, studies, and personal character, of the first of these scholars; whose master was the famous Politian, and who numbered among his pupils, Erasmus and Sir Thomas More.

Mr. Tytler has extracted testimonies to Linacre's taste and learning from Buchanan and Erasmus, and added a list of his works. Linacre died in 1524. Read December 1st, 1824.

IV. This Paper was entitled "Observations, elucidatory and emendatory, on the Epistle of Horace to Torquatus," By Granville Penn, Esq. F. R. S. L. Mr. Penn explains or corrects four different passages in this little poem, and for each change and explanation suggested by him, he gives bis arguments at length, -Read December 15th, 1824.

V. Another Paper, by the same writer, on the Ode of Horace, "Persicos odi, Puer, apparatus," &c. to which Mr. Penu gives the name of “ Carmen Brundusinum" The appropriateness of this title be defends, by endeavouring to prove, from internal evidence, that this Ode was composed upon occasion of the festivities which took place at Brundasium, in the year of Rome 714, upon the ratification of the treaty between Octavius and Antony; and that the "Persici Apparatus" and "Simplex Myrtus," contrasted by the poet, are descriptive of the respective entertainments given by the Triumvirs; that of Octavius being distinguished, according to the Roman usages, by a martial simplicity, and that of Antony by the assumption of Oriental luxury and ostentation.-Read January 5th, 1825.

VI. The sixth Paper was communicated by the Rev. H. J. Todd, Royal Associate R. S. L. It contained an account of a manuscript belonging to the Dean and Chapter of York Cathedral, entitled, "A Collection of Passages of State under Queen Elizabeth and King James." No writer's name is prefixed; but, throughout, it is apparent, that the author of this manuscript is Sir John Harington. Mr. Todd's paper consists chiefly of quotations, viz. 1st. An analysis of the vol. by a later hand. 2d. A letter from the work itself, written by King James I. to Sir James Harington, in return for the present of his transla tion of Ariosto. 8d. A defence of Queen Elizabeth's reputation for chastity. 4th. A character of Lady Arabella Stuart. 5th. An apology for Queen Elizabeth's conduct towards the Queen of Scots. 6th. A statement of the imprisonment of the Author's father. 7th. An account of the zealous attachment of all parties

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to Queen Elizabeth at her accession.Read January 19th, 1825.

VII. "A short Treatise on the Antiquities of Persepolis," by W. Price, Esq. F.R. S. L. The writer gives an account of an attempt made by him, in 1811, to decipher the arrow-headed characters upon the walls of this ancient city; in the expectation that the language of these inscriptions would prove to be the same as that now used by the Guebres. He exemplifies the affinity of the language of the Guebres to the modern Persian, by a table of words and phrases; and subjoins extracts, with a translation, from one of several manuscripts, obtained upon the spot.-Read February 2nd, 1825.

VIII. "An account of a Coin of Metapontum," communicated by James Millingen, Esq. Royal Assoc. R. S. L. This coin bears on its reverse the figure of an aged person, with a long thick beard, aud having the horns of a bull, accom. panied by the inscription αθλον Αχελοιο. It is considered by Mr. Millingen, to have been struck at some very remote period, to serve as a prize in public Games, celebrated in honour of the Acheloüs. The paper consists chiefly of an inquiry respecting the origin of the peculiar veneration of the Metapontines for this river; and with a defence of the opinion, that those coins of Napies and other cities of Italy and Sicily, the common type of which is a similar figure, represent not, as some think, Bacchus Hebon, but the Acheloüs.-Read February 16th, 1825.

IX. The ninth Paper, by W. M. Leake, Esq. F. R. S. L. was "On some Ancient Coins of Cierium in Thessaly." Cierium was the same as the Thessalian Arne. From the Coins, eight in number, found, by the writer at or near Mataranga, a village in the neighbourhood of the vestiges of Cierium, it appears, that Neptune was the Deity held in the greatest veneration by the inhabitants of that city. An ancient inscription discovered upon the spot, shews him to have been worshipped there, under the name of Cuarius, from that of the river which flows by the site of Arne. Mr. Leake has collected and compared the various notices left by ancient historians, geographers, and antiquaries, respecting this city. Read March 2nd, 1825.

X. "An account of a Codex containing several Greek Manuscripts belonging to the Patriarch of Jerusalem." Communicated by Mr. Todd. This communication is principally taken up with a copy of an accurate account, by Dr. Burney, of one of many volumes of, Greek Manuscripts, brought from the East by Professor Carlyle and Dr. Hun

July,

ter; of which Codices, four, including that bere described, were subsequently returned to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The volume consists of 268 pages, con1aining works partly entire, partly mutilated, of the following authors, viz. Anonymus, Rhetor Anonymus, Aphthnius, Demosthenes, Heraelides, Herodotus, Libanius, Simplicius. Some of which are inedited.-Read March 16th, 1825.

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XI. A fifth Paper, by Mr. Sharon Turner, "On the Origin of the Affinities and Diversities of Languages." It has been the writer's object, in this series of Disquisitions, to prove that there exists every where among the languages of the world, partial resemblances, sufficient to evince an unity of origin; whilst, at the same time, there appears such a general dissimilarity, as indicates, not a gradual departure, but a violent dismemberment and abruption, from an original common stock.

These positions are further illustrated and established in the present paper; first, in the elements of the word inquio, secondly, in the pronoun 7, in its different numbers, persons, and derivatives, which are proved to be the same in a vast variety of languages; and thirdly, in a derivation of the word nature, from nascor, from na, which in many languages means mother, and ox, to have; and of quis, from fu, which is the word in several languages for father.-Read April 20th, 1825.

ROYAL SOCIETY.

April 28. The reading of Dr. Granville's "Monograph on Egyptian Mummies, with Observations on the Art of Embalming among the Ancient Egyptians," was resumed and concluded.

The principal object of this paper was to describe a Mummy purchased at Gournou, in Upper Egypt, and presented to the author by Sir A. Edmonstone, bart. It was in a single case, of the usual form, and covered with cerecloth and bandages very neatly and dexterously applied, exhibiting almost every bandage and compress employed in modern surgery, and among which both cotton and linen were recognized:these, to the amount of 28lbs. avoirdu pois in weight, having been removed, the body proved to be that of a female. The abdominal integuments were remarkably wrinkled, and the whole sarface was of a dark brown colour and dry, but in many places soft to the touch, and, with the exception of a few parts, entirely deprived of cuticle. The height of the Mummy, from the vertex of the

head

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head to the inferior surface of the calcaneum was five feet, and seven fenilis of an inch, and the principal dimensions of several parts correspond with those which are usually considered as giving rise to the utmost perfection of the fe male formn in the European race; thus these dimensions are precisely those assigned by Camper and Winkelman to that celebrated statue the Medicean Venus; and no trait of Ethiopian character was discernible in the form of the eranium; all which, Dr. Granville ob served, supports Cuvier's opinion respecting the Circassian origin of the Egyptians.

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been disturbed, the tongue was entire, and the teeth were white and perfect!

Dr. Granville next proceeded to draw some conclusions as to the age at which this mummied female died, and respecting the disease which destroyed her. The bones of the iftum exhibit that peculiar thinness of their osseous plates, which shew the individual to have 'exceeded her fortieth year, and to have borne children; and as there are no charac fers of age or of decrepitude about the skeleton, the author considers her to have been about fifty. The ovarium and broad ligament of the right side were enveloped in a mass of diseased strocture, while the fallopian tube of the same side was sound, but the uterus itself was larger than natural, and the reinains of a sae were found connected with the left ovarium, all which, in 'conjunction with the appearance of the ab

Dr. Granville then proceeded to a brief summary of the present stafe of our information respecting Egyptian Mumaries, attributing its scantiness and imperfection to the rarity of perfect specimens, nearly all the mummies hitherto described presenting hule else than im-dominal integuments, leave no doubt of perfect skeletons, sometimes covered by the dry skin, enveloped in bandages.

In proceeding to examine and dissect the present specimen, which was effected in the presence of several medical and scientific friends of the author, the integuments and muscles of the abdomen were first removed, and the contents of that cavity carefully inspected: they consisted of a portion of the stomach, adbering to the diaphragm; the spleen, attached to the super-renal capsule of the left kidney; and the left kidney itself with the ureter descending into the bladder, which, with the uterus and its appendages were observed in situ, the latter exhibiting marks of disease. Fragments only of the intestinal canal were discoverable, and there were a few lumps of resin, and of a mixture of clay and bitumen, and a few pieces of myrrh. The right kidney, the liver, and the minor glands were missing; but the gallbladder was detected among the loose fragments of membranes and other soft parts, together with remains of its own ducts. The soft parts of the pelvis were then particularly examined, and the perfect condition of the muscles, membranes, and ligaments, particularly noted. The cavity of the thorax was next examined, by detaching the diaphragm, to which part of the pericardium adhere; and the heart in a very con. tracted state was afterwards found sus'pended by its vessels and attached to the Jungs, which adhered to the ribs.

Upon the examination of the cranium, it was evident that the brain had been removed through the nostrils, from the lacerated condition of the inner nasal bones; the eyes appeared not to have GENT. MAG. July, 1825.

ovarian dropsy having been the disease under which the individual suffered. Judging from the excavation out of which the mummy was taken, and according to the best authorities of the present day on Egyptian Antiquities, the period at which the woman lived must have been about three thousand years ago.

The author concludes this communication with some observations respecting the method of embalming practised by the ancient Egyptians, and the nature of the substances employed in the process; from the details of which, in conjunction with the results of his own researches and experiments, as well synthetical as analytical, he draws the couclusions following:

That the abdominal viscera were more or less perfectly abstracted, either through an incision on one side of the abdomen, or, as in the present mummy, through the auus. The thoracic cavity was not disturbed. That the contents of the cranium were removed, sometimes through the nostrils, and in others through one of the orbits. The body was then probably covered with quick lime to facilitate the removal of the cuticle, the scalp and nails being however left untouched; after which it was im mersed in a melted mixture of bees'wax, resin, and bitumen, until thoroughly penetrated; and, ultimately, subjected to a tanning liquor, probably made with the saline water of the neighbouring natron lakes; the bandages were then applied, with the occasional interposition of melted resin, or wax and resin, the lumps of resin, myrrh, &c. having been previously placed in the abdomen.

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