nascript of M. de Luc, by the Rev. HENRY DELA FITE, M.A. of Trinity college, Oxford, and will form an octavo volume.

The coloured Engravings, in imitation of the drawings by the Rev. W. BRADFORD, of the Costume, Character, and Country in Spain and Portugal, made during the campaign, 1808 and 1809, are in great forwardness.

Mr. GALT, who has for some time been engaged in researches among the national records, is preparing a work, illustrative of the Life of Cardinal Wolsey, and those corruptions in the church which led to the Reformation, and the general change which at that period took place in the political system of Europe.

Mr. GREIG, of Chelsea, has announced a work on Astronomy, on a new plan,. whereby that science is rendered simple and easy. The chief Constellations are to be exhibited (in a manner similar to geography) on separate maps, with their etymology, boundary, the stars to the 4th mag. introduced; and the declination, right ascension, culminating, &c. of the principal star in each specified, with remarks, &c.

Mr. THELWALL is preparing for publication, an Essay on the Causes and Probable Consequences of the Decline of Popular Talent; addressed to the serious consideration of those classes of the community, the individuals of which may be expected to aspire to the dtinctions of the senate and the bar, &c. The work will contain a full discussion of the principal desiderata, in the existing systems of liberal education, and critical delineations of the characters, talents, cloquence, and oratorical endowments of Messrs. Burke, Pitt, Fox, &c.

Mr. THELWALL has also in the press, a formal announcement (intended to be circulated through all the colleges, public institutions, and literary societies of the United Kingdom) of the Plan of his Institution for the Cure of Impediments, Cultivation of Oratory, and Preparation of Youth, for the higher departments of active life; together with proposals for the further extension of the advantages of his 'system of instruction. This institution has now been established in Bedford Place, Russell Square, for upwards of three years; and during that time, it is asserted, that no person with any species of impediment, delect, or foreign or provincial accent, has been under instruction, even for the shortest period, without receiving essential benefit; nor has

any one persevered for any reasonable tine, in the plans of the institution, without attaining an effectual and radical cure.

Dr. REID will commence a summer course of Lectures, on the theory and practice of medicine, at his house, No. 6, Grenville-street, Brunswick-square, on Monday the 224 of May, at nine o'clock in the morning.

Dr. CLOUGH, physician-manmidwife to the St. Marylebone General Dispensary, &c. will on Monday the 8th of May, at ten in the morning, commence his Course of Lectures on Puerperal Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology, at his house, No. 68, Berner's-strcct.

The Rev. JOSEPH WILKINSON, is about to publish by subscription, Select Views in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and part of Scotland, exhibiting the most picturesque situations in these counties.

Dr. SERNY is about to publish a Treatise on local inflammation, more particularly applicable to discases of the eye, wherein an improvement in the treatment of those discases is recommended, founded on numerous cases under the author's own care.

Mr. YORICK WILSON, veterinary surgeon of Lemington, near Warwick, has in the press an improved Practical Treatise on Farriery, entitled, the Gentleman's Veterinary Monitor. It is the result of his own experience in the various diseases of horses, and prescribes humane and rational methods of cure, without the assistance of a farier. It likewise treats on breeding, training, purchasing, riding, management on a journey, in the stable, &c.

Mr. WESTON has translated one of the Imperial Poen of Kien Lung, mentioned by Voltaire, in his Epistle to that Emperor, and found on a China Vase, in Mr. W's Collection. An engraving of the Vase will be prefixed to the work.

The Fifty-two Lectures on the Church Catechisin, by the Rev. Sir ADAM GOR DON, will be published this month in two volumes.

Mr. SHELDRAKE bas invented an arficle of female dress, which he calls the Invisible Grecian Zone, for preserving the shapes of children or young persons who are approaching to maturity.

Dr. CAREY, has in the press, and will speedily publish an Essay, and familiar introduction to English Prosody and Versification, on a novel but simple plan; begides descriptions and analyses of the different species of English verse, with preparatory

preparatory exercises in scanning; it contains practical exercises in versification, progressively accommodated to the various capacities of youth, in the successive stages of scholastic education; the whole calculated to produce correctness of ear, and taste in reading or writing poetry. For the convenience of teachers, a Key to the Exercises will be added. Dr. Carey is also preparing for the press, an Easy Introduction to Latin Versification, on a nearly similar plan. Letters of Mrs. ELIZABETH MONTAGU, with some of the letters of her correspondents, will shortly be published by MATTHEW MONTAGU, esq. M.P. her nephew and executor.

The Travels of Lycurgus, the son of Polydectes, into Greece, Crete and Egypt in Search of Knowledge, is printing.

The Rev. THOMAS GISBORNE has in the press, an octavo volume of Sermons, chiefly designed to illustrate Christian Morality.

Dr. EDWARD POPHAM, of Chilton, Wiltshire, has nearly ready for publica tion, Remarks on various Texts of Scripture, in an octavo volume.

A Series of Letters on Canada, will shortly appear from the pen of a gentle man lately resident some years in that

country.

Mr. GRAHAME, author of the Sabbath, and other Poems, has in the press a new poetical work, to be entitled, The British Georgics.

At a general meeting of the subscribers to the African Institution, held at the Freemason's Tavern on the 25th of March, the EARL of MOIRA, in an impressive speech, informed the company of his having recently learnt, that Sir Sidney Smith had been presented by the Prince Regent of Brazil, with an estate, and with a number of negro slaves, to be employed in cultivating it; and that the use which he had made of this gift, was immediately to liberate the slaves, and to allot to each of them a portion of this estate, to be cultivated by them as free laborers for their own exclusive benefit. On the motion of Mr. Wilberforce, it was unanimously resolved that his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester (patron and presi dent) be requested to communicate to Sir Sidney Smith the high sense entertained by this meeting, of his admirable judgment and liberality in the above instance, and to return him thanks for a line of conduct which is so truly honorable to the British name and character, and which MONTHLY MAG. 184.

may be expected to be productive, by the way of example, of the happiest effects,

In the year 1774, the Rev. W. HETAERINGTON enabled the governors of Christ's Hospital, London, to pay annuities of 101. each to 50 blind persons, Other benevolent individuals have since made such additions to this fund, that the governors are now enabled to extend this annuity to four hundred other persons. The governors have recently advertised, that from the 15th of October to the 3d of November, in every year, they are ready to issue from the countinghouse of their hospital, upon the applica tion of a friend, petitions for any blind persons duly qualified; the great extent of the charity rendering it impracticable to attend to letters. The petitioners must be persons born in England, to the exclusion of Wales and Berwick uponTweed, aged fifty or upwards; who have resided three years or more in their present abode; who have been totally blind during that period; who have never begged, nor received alms, nor been deemed objects of parochial relief; but persons who have been reputably brought up, and who need some addition to what they have, to make life more comforta ble.

Mr. PARKINSON has discovered in several species of marble, which he treated with muriatic or nitric acid, membraneous substances, which hung from the marble in light, flocculent, elastic membranes. These marbles were of a species formed by tubipores, madrepores, and corallites. In Kilkenny marble, the structure of the madrepores, and other testaceous substances which enter into its composition, is beautifully conspicious, from the ground of the marble in which they are imbedded being of a deep black. This circumstance, in Mr. Parkinson's opinion, proves that two distinct lapidifying pro cesses must have occurred in the formation of this marble; and that its coralline or testaceous part had acquired a strong concretion previous to its being unbedded in the including mass of calcareous matter. A specimen of this marble, which Mr. Parkinson examined. in conformity with this opinion, exhibited no membranes when treated with diluted muriatic acid; but a black matter was deposited during the solution of the marble, which being dried and projected on melted nitre, immediately deflagrated; which circumstance shews the curious fact, that charcoal in substance entered

3 D

into

that the fiorin grass should not be known in England; at least no mention is made of it by any English agricultural writer : but Dr. Richardson thinks it highly probable, that it is the same grass which has been so much admired in the ce

Dr. WILLIAM RICHARDSON has called the attention of the public to the valuable qualities of the fiorin grass, which have long been known to the common farmers of Ireland, but have hitherto escaped the notice of scientific agriculturists. This grass is indigenous in Ireland, and is found in the greatest abundance, naturally, in the morasses and mountains, because on rich soil, the other grasses contend with it to advantage, but are not hardy enough to endure the wet and cold, in which the fiorin grass thrives. It sends out long white strings, after the manner of the strawberry; these bud at the points, and produce green shoots, which soon form a sod completely impenetrable to weeds and every other species of grass. Some experiments made by Dr. Richardson, prove that cold sour bottoms may at a small expence be converted into the most valuable pasture or meadow, by the fiorin grass. Ou a thin dry soil also, it thrives as well as on a wet one: it grows spontaneously very far up the bleakest and wettest mountains of Ireland, and this is perhaps the most important fact relating to it. This property must certainly render it peculiarly applicable to the improvement of vast tracts of thin, elevated soil, in the west of England, which are at present little more productive than the deserts of Africa. The extensive forest of Dartmoor is mostly of this description, and great part of Exmoor is nearly in the same state. There are also many other tracts of land in England, where it would be found beneficial; but in Scotland, of which so large a portion consists of land of the above nature, the introduction of the fiorin grass seems to promise more proportional advantages, than in any other division of the United Kingdom. It appears rather extraordinary

bury, which was first noticed by Ray, who says its shoots were twenty-four feet long, and which so many botanists have visited without making any attempt to cultivate it.

Mr W. WELDON has analized the water of a mineral spring, two miles to the south of Dudley, in Worcestershire, which has been famous from time immemorial, in the surrounding country, for its efficacy in various scrofulous and cutaneous diseases. In scrofula, in particular, it has been considered an almost infallible remedy. The spring flows into a well, about thirty-six feet in depth, and 74 in diameter. The bottom is a ferrnginous, argillaceous sandstone, through which is perforated a hole, whence the water issues and rises to about four feet from the surface. The sides of the well near the top, are covered with a yellowish ochrey substance. When the water is fresh taken up, it is perfectly transparent and colourless. It is little refractive of light, nor can it be said to sparkle; but after standing for a short time, numerous small bubbles of air are seen adhering to the bottom and sides of the glass. After a time, it becomes rather turbid, and at length a pale ochreous precipitate falls down, leaving the water transparent. In large quantity, the water smells of sulphuretted hidrogen; but if half a pint, or less, be examined, the odor is scarcely perceptible. The taste very much resembles sea-water. From a wine-gallon, or 231 cubic inches, were obtained: Of muriate of soda

483. 311.

-lime -magnesia & alumina 145.

other costly woods, used for furniture and the finishing of houses. The substitute which he proposes is iron. In bedsteads for instance, the posts, as well as the frame might be cast hollow; the former might be beautifully wreathed with flow ers, festoons, or clusters of fruit, or embossed with numberless fanciful ornaments, which the workman might touch up with his graver and chisel, to clear them from the sand, and to make them sharp and neat before they go to the finisher. The painter might colour them, so as to give them a more handsome and elegant appearance, than it is possible to give to carved wood. This would furnish employment to numberless hands, and afford ample scope for ingenuity. Chests of drawers, bookcases and bureaus, might all be made of slicet iron. Such furniture would be made at a considerably less price, than articles of mahogany, it would not be heavier than wood; it would be more beautiful, and exclusive of the convenience for removal, as it might easily be taken to pieces, and all the parts screwed up again without injury, it would afford a great security against fire.

The sheep lately sent over from Spain, as a present to his Majesty, are of the flock of PAULAR, one of the finest in point of pile, and esteemed also above all others, for the beauty of the carcase. The fleeces of these sheep, as weil as those of the flocks of Negrete and Escurial, were formerly withheld from exportation, and retained for the royal manufactory of Guadalaxara, The flock or cavaia of Paular, consisted of 36,000 sheep. It originally belonged to the rich Carthusian monastery, of that name, near Segovia. Soon after the Prince of the Peace rose into power, he purchased the. flock of the monks, with the land belonging to it, both in Estremadura and Leon. Accordingly, all the sheep are marked with a large M. the mark of Don Manuel. The sheep sent to England, were selected from eight subdivisions, in order to choose young, well-shaped, and fine-woolled animals. The total number embarked, was 2,214. Of these, 214 were presented by the Spaniards to some of his majesty's ininisters, and 427 died on the journey, either at sea, or on the way from Portsmouth to Kew. His Majesty was pleased to take upon himself the whole of the loss, which reduced the royal flock to 1573, and several more have since died. The ewes were full of lamb when they embarked; several of

them cast their lambs when the weather was bad at sea, and are in consequence so weak, that it is feared more will die, notwithstanding the great care that is taken of them. A few have died of the rot. This disease must have been contracted, by haiting on some swampy district in their journey from the mountains, to the sea at Gijon, where they were embarked, as one died of it at Portsmouth. There is every reason, however, to hope, that this distemper will not spread, as the land, on which they are now kept, has never been subject to its ravages, being of a light and sandy nature.

HOLLAND.

M. DELHY, a chemist of Amsterdam, has discovered a composition which he conceived, from its superior strength, would supersede the use of gun-powder. While lately employed, however, in some experiments, a large paper exploded, and tore off his left arm, also most of the fingers of his right hand, and otherwise wounded him so severely, that his life is despaired of.

No more than 361 ships arrived at Amsterdam, from sea, during the year 1908. Within the same period, 8,962 persons died in that city. The number of the poor there increases daily, and that of the physicians appointed to attend them, has been augmented from four to twelve.

To recompose this powder, it is necessary, according to M. Pally, to take: Sulphuret of antimony Calcined phosphate of lime Nitrate of pot-ash These being powdered, mixed, and triturated together, are put into a crucible, which is to be covered and exposed to a strong heat. During this operation, the oxigen of the nitric acid, attacking the sulphur of the antimonial sulphuret, converts it into sulphuric acid,