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is soon rendered mild and innocent. It is often contained in what is called hot lime, and some such limes make excellent manure, especially for peat soils.

The principal utility of lime in mortar depends upon the hardness derived from the slow absorption of carbonic acid from the atmosphere: a part, however, of the change, must be attributed to its crystallization with water, in the same manner as plaster of Paris is hardened. In mortars employed under water, as well as in tarras and cements of various kinds, containing oxyd of iron in abundance, the whole effect appears to depend on crystallization: unless if we may hazard such a conjecture, the absorption of a greater quantity of oxygen enables the iron to contribute essentially to the solidity.

The process of burning land is discussed in the eighth lecture; and is recommended either where the soil is too retentive of moisture, or where the vegetable matter is in too great quantity, constituting from to of the whole weight: but barren and sandy soils have sometimes been injured almost irrecoverably by burning. Fallowing is considered as no otherwise adviseable than for the destruction of weeds, and the pulverization of the soil, and not as enabling the ground to absorb any thing beneficial for the atmosphere. It has been in great measure superseded by the succession of crops, adopted by the most judicious modern agriculturists.

'It is a great advantage in the convertible system of cultivation, that the whole of the manure is employed; and that those parts of it, which are not fitted for one crop, remain as nourishment for another. Thus, in Mr. Coke's course of crops, the turnip is the first in the order of succession; and this crop is manured with recent dung, which immediately affords sufficient soluble matter for its nourishment, and the heat produced in fermentation assists the germination of the seed and the growth of the plant. After turnips, barley with grass seeds is sown; and the land, having been little exhausted by the turnip crop, affords the soluble parts of the decomposing inanure to the grain. The grasses, rye grass, and clover remain, which derive a small part only of their organized matter from the soil, and probably consume the gypsum in the manure, which would be useless to other crops; these plants likewise, by their large systems of leaves, absorb a considerable quantity of nourishment from the atmosphere; and when ploughed in at the end of two years, the decay of their roots and leaves affords manure for the wheat crop; and at this period of the course, the woody fibre of the farm-yard manure, which contains the phosphate of lime, and the other difficultly soluble parts, is broken down: and as soon as the most exhausting crop is taken, recent manure is again applied.

Mr. Gregg, whose very enlightened system of cultivation has been published by the Board of Agriculture, and who has the merit of first adopting a plan similar to Mr. Coke's upon strong clays, suffers the ground, after barley, to remain at rest for two years in grass; sows

peas and beans on the leys; ploughs in the pea or bean stubble for wheat; and in some instances, follows his wheat crops by a course of winter tares and winter barley, which is eat off in the spring, before the land is sowed for turnips.'-p. 356.

Sir Humphry Davy approves of Mr. Bakewell's principles respecting the treatment of sheep, by increasing the natural quantity of yolk, where it is a principal object to make the wool fine; and he recommends for this purpose a little soap of potass, or soft soap, with excess of grease, as every way preferable to the composition employed by Mr. Bakewell.

From the very copious and valuable Appendix, we shall abstract a table, which will present our readers with the most important of its results.

Table of the Pounds of nutritive Matter afforded by an Acre of the most productive Grasses.

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In a few instances, and but in a few, we are disposed to entertain opinions somewhat different from Sir Humphry Davy's. We should not have spoken so undecidedly respecting Dr. Thomson's use of silicated potass as a test of gum. p. 74. We have in vain

attempted to precipitate a recent solution of gum with this substance, and we imagined that Sir Humphry Davy would have agreed with us in attributing the effect, when it takes place, to the accidental presence of some acid, whether produced by fermentation or otherwise. When we read of 37 proportions of hydrogen, 21 of charcoal, and one of oxygen, as constituting wax, p. 96; we cannot help thinking that all idea of symmetry as the foundation of the atomic system of combination, must be wholly lost, and that in cases so complicated, no advantage can be derived from referring in any manner to the appropriate or equivalent weights. The prussic acid has been lately obtained, not only in the state of a liquid, like the acetic and malic,' p. 106, but also in that of an elastic fluid. For 'vetches, vicia faba,' p. 116, we must read beans. It was not the acetate' or sugar of lead,' p. 133, but a subacetate, that Mr. Brande employed for precipitating the colouring and acid matter of wines. We are somewhat surprised to find the turnip fly denominated, p. 217, an insect of the colyoptera genus,' instead of the coleopterous order. Some other similar errors of less importance we omit to mention; but we must observe that our author seems to be mistaken respecting the inference from the experiments of Montgolfier, when he says that they 'have shown, that water may be raised almost to an indefinite height by a very small force, provided its pressure be taken off by continued divisions in the column of fluid:' for in fact nothing more would be gained by such a subdivision, than by lessening the diameters of the columns concerned.

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If any of our agricultural readers should deem our abstract of this interesting work too meagre to satisfy their curiosity, we trust that they will be induced by its deficiency to study with the more attention the original lectures, and the science to which they relate : at the same time we are willing to hope, that we have selected some facts, and some principles, which cannot fail of being practically useful, as far as their influence extends.

ART. V. 1. The Works of Confucius, containing the Original Text, with a Translation. By J. Marshman. Vol. I. Serampore, printed at the Mission-press. 1809.

2 Hora Sinicæ: Translations from the Popular Literature of the Chinese. By the Rev. Robert Morrison, Protestant Missionary at Canton. London, 1812.

THE

HE remark of Sir William Jones that it is to our French neighbours we are indebted for almost every effort that bas been made to elucidate the language and literature of China,' however just in his time, has at length, we think, ceased to be so.Within the last twenty years our own countrymen have paid off with interest to this 'neighbour' the literary debt of two centuries. Without meaning to speak lightly of the laborious attention which the Italian, the Portugueze, and the Spanish missionaries, as well as those from France, have bestowed on the history, customs, laws, and reputed ancient literature of China, we may be permitted to say that to few, if to any of them, can be assigned the merit of having directed their philological studies to any one point of practical utility. In giving us abundance of theories and ingenious speculations, they have taken good care not to overwhelm us with such lights as might enable us to pronounce a judgment on the justness of their conclusions. Indeed the authenticity of many of their communications has often been called in question-less perhaps from the matter of them than from an apparently studied concealment of the means that might enable the learned and studious of Europe to examine the originals. The ingenious dissertations of Messrs. De Guignes and Freret in the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, with all their plausible theories and conjectures, were calculated to perplex rather than to elucidate; and the copious contributions of the fathers Amiot and Cibot in the Mémoires sur les Chinois' are too diffuse, and their notions of every thing Chinese too refined, to afford any help towards the promotion of Chinese literature in Europe, or the attainment even of the Chinese language. Indeed, if we except the gleanings of Bayer in his Museum Sinicum, and the more systematic but studiously obscure Meditationes Sinica of Fourmont, not one of our 'French neighbours' has favoured the world with any thing in the shape of an introductory or grammatical treatise on this singular language, or with that indispensable help towards the attainment of every foreign language, a dictionary. In short they have given us a profusion of the garnish of Chinese literature, but totally omitted the substantial and wholesome part of it which could alone contribute to the growth and nourishment of the intellectual faculties.

The missionaries, however, may, for aught we know to the contrary, be entitled to the merit of good intentions, and it is certain that persons were not wanting in France to follow up those intentions. Fourmont had prepared, at a considerable expense of money and time, a collection of types or dies, and arranged them in proper order for printing a Chinese dictionary. These types at his death were transferred to De Guignes and Deshauterayes, with a view to the publication of the projected work; but either from the want of sufficient knowledge of the subject, or, which is most likely, of sufficient funds, the work made little or no progress. The task then devolved on M. Langlés, but, as far as we know, with no better success, though ostensibly patronized by the late French

ruler.

A German quack, of the name of Hager, having, by impudence or adulation, obtained the more effectual support of Bonaparte, figured for a time in what, in Paris, passed for Chinese literature. With a very limited knowledge of the rudiments even of that language, he contrived to print two very expensive works, the one on the Mythology of China, and the other on its Numismatics. These two volumes were compilations from the writings of Europeans, interspersed with wild theories and fanciful conjectures of his own. They may be deemed by some as curious, but can be of no possible use to the student of Chinese literature.

In Berlin the zealous and enthusiastic Montucci appears to have added largely to his stock of Chinese literature since his publications in England, as well as considerably to have improved his taste. He has not only printed a Latin dissertation De Studiis Sinicis,' and 'Remarques Philologiques, &c.' but has made, as it would seem, some progress in preparing for the press a Chinese dictionary, consisting of eight or ten thousand of such characters as are most commonly in use. If, as we have understood, he is in possession of the manuscript copy of a Chinese dictionary belonging to the late Cardinal Antonelli, of the College De Propaganda Fide at Naples, and which was lent to Lord Macartney on his embassy to China, we believe he could not possibly perform a more useful service to all those who have any desire to study the language, than by printing a fac simile of that excellent compilation; and his familiar dialogues in Chinese, Latin, and French, for a copy of which he is indebted to our countryman Mr. Raper, will be found to be equally useful to the Chinese scholar.

At Halle the ingenious Julius Von Klaproth has taken up the study of the Chinese language; but for want of a proper guide, we observe with regret, that he has, unfortunately for himself and the advancement of philology, plunged at once into the maze of Chinese metaphysics, and completely bewildered himself in at

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