white on the N. edge, and better defined than on the S. on which side it in some parts shaded off into the sky. On the west end it sunk bright below the horizon, but on the east, where it approached the moon, it ended like the former in a tail or brush-shaped point, before it reached the horizon-perhaps about 20° above it. Having no instrument to measure the breadth, I compared it with the distances of some stars, and found it equal to the longest diagonal of the square of the Great Bear-wider in the E. and narrower in the W. After looking at it occasionally for about twenty minutes, I began to be aware that the arch was making a progress towards the south, and had already gone over a space equal to its own breadth. I remarked likewise, that its extremities were comparatively stationary; or that it revolved on its horizontal diameter, and at thirty minutes after eight, the arch through which it moved was, as near as I could judge by the eye, equal to three times its breadth. I now regretted still more the want of an instrument to measure angles; for, while lying on my back to observe the curvature, I noticed that the bearing of the extremities was not due E. and W; but that a line from the Pole star formed an acute angle with the eastern half, and I began to suspect that the centre of the arch might be the magnetic pole. At this time the brightness began to fade, and a longitudinal fissure appeared in the E. quarter. At nine o'clock, the whole arch had become broader and considerably less bright; and in a short time after it very suddenly broke up into fragments, which I soon observed had a motion, following one another in the line of the arch from E. to W. My attention was now strongly directed to this movement, which I never before noticed in any of these arches. The appearance which this now assumed was very interesting, Whether it was owing to the moon being in that part of the heavens that directed my attention to the E. I am uncertain; but I first observed that in the eastern part the separated portions or nebulæ had assumed a striated or rather crinited appearance, the lines of each individual nebula pointing S. E. even while they moved all westward, following one another in an order parallel as to each other, but obliquely as to their position on the arch, so that to a careless observer the first general form of the arch would have seemed to be preserved; only that at, and on a little on each side of the meridian, the general continuous line of the arch was interrupted; and here an interesting change took place in the direction of the striæ of the nebulæ, or rather in the order in which they appeared when farther E; for, on crossing the meridian, they veered to the right, and formed on the western part of the arch, with the striated appearance pointing S. W. During the time that this movement continued, coruscations were apparent, and sudden alternate disappearances and re-appearances of the brightness, similar to what is often observed in the common streamers; the striated divisions not being always, nor throughout the whole length of the arch, distinctly separated from each other. These coruscations were most apparent in the eastern quarter, although they sometimes flashed from one end of the arch to the other, and always from east to west. The motions of the striated divisions had the apparent velocity of clouds in a gale of wind, but the shifting and flashing was similar to that of the streamers usually seen in the north. I have since learned from two different persons, one in this neighbourhood and the other in Liddesdale, that there were two arches that evening, one a little after sun-set, which was not so bright and soon disappeared; and that the second flashed out at once bright into the sky. It has since occurred to me that the motion of the striated portions of the arch from E. to W. and which seemed so singular, would be best described by referring it to the motion of a wheel with radiated teeth. The motion of such seen in perspective, would exactly represent the extraordinary appearance attempted to be described.Brewster's Journal. A new metal discovered.-M. Dulong read, on the 7th of February last, to the French Institute, a letter from Berzelius, which announces the discovery of a new simple substance by Mr. Sestrom, director of the mines of Fahlun in Dalecarlia. Mr. Sestrom being engaged in examining an iron, remarkable for its softness, discovered in it a substance, which appeared to him to be new, but in such small quantity, that he could not determine with accuracy all its properties. Afterwards, however, he found it more VOL VIII.-SECOND SERIES. abundantly in the scoria of the iron, and was thus enabled to prove that the substance in question was a new metal, to which he gave the name of Vanadium, after an ancient Scandinavian deity. We have had communicated to us the following additional notice:-Humboldt presented to the Institute specimens of vanadium, the new metal recently discovered in the iron of Esterholm by Mr. Sestrom, and which also exists in Mexico, in a brown ore of lead of Zimapan. M. Del Rio, Professor in the school of Mines, of Mexico, had extracted from that ore a substance, which, to his apprehension, resembled a new metal, to which he gave the name of Erythronium. M. Collet Descotils, to whom he sent a specimen, could not admit that erythronium is a single substance, and believed he had demonstrated that it was an impure chrome. It would appear that Prof. Del Rio agreed in this opinion, and there was no longer any idea of its being a new metal. But since the discovery of Sestrom was known to Voller, he, struck with the resemblances which exist between the properties of Vanadium and that which the Mexican chemist attributes to his erythronium, has repeated the analysis of the brown ore of lead of Zimapan, and from which he has obtained a simple body perfectly identical with that of the iron ore of d'Esterholm. It is worthy of remark that so rare a metal should have been discovered in two places so far asunder as Scandinavia and Mexico.-Edin. Phil. Jour. Antique Medals found near Geneva.-In November last, Dr. Dufresne, in digging at his country seat near Chêne, found about one hundred Roman coins, in bronze, most of which are in perfect preservation. They are nearly all of the Emperors Constantine the Great, Constantine II. Constans, Constant II. Magnentius, Decentius, Valentinian I. One large piece, however, is of Antoninus Pius, and there are two of Marcus Aurelius, in admirable preservation, and a small number of coins of Gallienus and Claude le Gothie. This discovery is remarkable, inasmuch as coins of the Constantine family are very rarely found in this country, all those discovered for many years past being of an anterior date.-Bib. Univ. The New Volcanic Island.-The last accounts of this island contained in the Semaphore, state that the eruption has ceased, and that the crater is now filled with boiling water, from which a sul phurous smoke continues to issue. The isle is chiefly formed of a spongy lava and puzzolane. The brink of the crater is thirty feet in height at the lowest part, in other places eighty feet, and in the centre two hundred feet. It is easy to land on the southernmost side. Smoke issues from several points of the sea around. Literary Fund. The late Mr. Strahan.-During his life time this philanthrophic and benevolent individual presented a thousand pounds to the Literary Fund; not content with which most liberal donation, he has by his will bequeathed another donation of a thousand pounds to the same institution. This is to be free of the legacy duty, and does honour to the memory of Mr. Strahan, who, well acquainted with the distribution of this charity, knew that he could not leave a blessing where it would be better bestowed. Tribute to the Memory of George III.—The committee nominated to carry this design into effect, have decided upon an equestrian statue in bronze, of our revered monarch. It is to be executed by Mr. Matthew Wyatt, the original projector of this grateful monument, and whose models of horses for it attracted so much just admiration. A desirable situation in the metropolis will be procured for this work of art, and we trust as fine as it is likely to be a lasting monument will be produced. Periodicals. The Press. A journal in Turkish and French is about to be published at Constantinople. M. Blacque, the editor of the Courier of Smyrna, is, it is said, to conduct the French portion, while the Turkish part is assigned to Esad Effendi, the historiographer of the empire. Machine for saving Lives at Sea.—A Mr. Canning has invented a very simple but a very effectual apparatus for saving lives at sea from wrecks, &c. It consists of spars, booms, or any similar materials, always to be found on board of vessels, fastened together with ropes, and made additionally buoyant by the means of barrels. APPENDIX To the Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, on Patents. Papers delivered in by John Farey, Esq. [British Law of Patents for Inventions.] LORD Chancellor Eldon: "This injunction was granted on the grounds whereon this Court has always proceeded, when the public have permitted a reasonably long and undisputed possession of an exclusive right, under colour of a patent: for it is then thought that there is less inconvenience in granting the injunction, until the legal question can be tried, than in dissolving it, at the hazard that the patent may, in the result, prove valid; and unless the injunction were granted, any person might violate the patent, and the consequence would be, that the patentee might be ruined by litigation. The present defendant had entered into an agreement for a licence to work under the patent, but that is not binding if the patent is bad, because plaintiff could not legally grant that licence, and there is no consideration. As this patentee has had possession against all the world, I should act against both principle and practice if I were to dissolve the injunction before the validity of the patent is tried; that would be not only enabling the defendant to exercise a right against law, but would be also encouraging others to take the same liberty. There might be such strong doubt whether the specification was not bad in law, that the Court would put an end to the injunction, although possession of the right might be distinctly proved. I think it is difficult to support this specification. The right under the present patent will subsist until 1808, but the original machine became open to the public in 1801. Great industry appears to have been often exerted by patentees, in the invention of some improvements, annexing them to the subject of the patent, and endeavouring to cover that, as well as the use of the improvements, during a longer period than the law allows. If the improvements give an additional value to the old machine, the public may prefer the improved machine, paying for the improvements to the old machine, without them; but the choice ought always to be left open. The second patent, of 1794, recites the patent of 1787 for the former machine, and states the invention to consist in improvements thereon; but from reading the present specification no one could collect the fact that there were two patents, one for the original machine, and |