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SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

Europe is about to be presented with all the science of the Arabians, in grammar, rhetoric, and logic, in some translations from the elementary books of the east, by Lieutenant Lockett, assistant secretary in the college at Fort William. The three sciences will fill a quarto of five hundred pages.

Thomas Myers, A. M. of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, author of a Compendious System of Modern Geography, historical, physical, political, and descriptive, intends soon to publish, elegantly printed on a large sheet, a Statistical Table of Europe, uniting all that is most interesting in the geography of that distinguished quarter of the globe, and showing at one view the territorial extent, the military strength, and the commercial importance of each state.

Dr. Brewster, of Edinburgh, is about to publish a Treatise on New Philosophical Instruments for various purposes in the arts and sciences, with Experiments on light and colours, in one volume 8vo. with twelve plates.

Mr. Thomas Forster has now in press Meteorological Researches and Journals, with engravings, 8vo.

Dr. Wollaston has read to the Royal Society of London, a description of his newly invented single lens micrometer. This instrument is made like a common telescope, but the focus of the lens is only 1-12th of an inch: this glass is placed behind a brass plate, through the centre of which an eye-hole is drilled; the subjects to be viewed are placed between glasses serving as object glasses, and the measure of the magnifying powers and of the subjects examined is taken by means of a certain number of wires fixed near the object glasses. The measure and number of the wires being determined, the objects may be extended to such distances as to give their dimensions by making a wire the two hundredth part of an inch to cover them. The description was illustrated by designs of the mierometer, which the author adopted in consequence of his experiments on drawing very fine wires, some of which did not exceed the thirty thousandth part of an inch; but they were incapable of supporting themselves at this fineness, and were broken in very short pieces. He found wires, 18,000 of which covered an inch, to be the finest and strongest for any useful purpose.

A paper by Dr. Pearson, on the tinging matter of the bronchial glands of the lungs, and on the black, or tinging matter of the lungs themselves, was read. From his researches it appears that this black matter is principally charcoal in an uncombined state, or, at least, that it is only intimately mixed with a small portion of animal matter. He conceives that it is derived from the atmosphere in breathing; that it is first conveyed into the air-tubes, and from them, by means of the numerous lymphatics, into the bronchial glands, and, therefore, that it is not a secreted substance. This subject being so novel, Dr. Pearson declined entering into much reasoning, or drawing many conclusions until more facts are brought to light.

Mr. Carmichael of Dublin has made several ingenious experiments, and conclusions respecting the electric fluids, considered as different compounds of the solar

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Professor Berzelius continues his experiments upon the combinations of metals with sulphur and oxygen, with a view of ascertaining the truth of Sir H. Davy's theory of definite proportions.

The dispute between Mr. Murray, Lecturer on Chymistry, in Edinburgh, and Sir H. Davy, on the subject of the existence of water in muriatic acid gas, still remains undecided.

The claims of Zerah Colburn, the American boy, to extraordinary talents, and originality of discovery, have been denied by several English mathematicians, but successfully defended by others; they both agree in the discovery that his mode of extracting the square and cube root depends merely on the two first and two last figures of the number.

Madame Perpenti has succeeded in the manufacture of incombustible cloth and paper, from Asbestos, in the manner of the ancients.

Mr. Fournay has shown by experiment that the clay pyrometers of Wedgewod, however accurately made, and uniform as to the composition and mode of mixture of the ingredients, cannot be trusted to as a faithful standard of measurement of every degree of heat:

Dr. Brewster has been for some time employed in experiments on the properties of light, more particularly on the effects produced upon it by such bodies as possess a double refractive power.

Mr. Clarke's dissertations on the foot of the living horse promises to be of use to the world in leading the way to some inquiries into some new mode of guarding the hoof of that noble animal, whose life is now shortened one half by the pernicious and, cruel pra tice of shoeing with iron at an early period. The horse, by the law which all the irrational animals appear to observe, should live from 40 to 50 years.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

A valuable discovery has been made by some German travellers in the Isle of Egina, under the ruins of the temple of Jupiter Panhellenius. They have found 18 marble statues, nearly as large as life, and in the most antique Greek style. They had been placed on the pediment of the temple, and may be easily restored. Several interesting fragments have also been found, by digging in the same place; and on clearing away the rubbish, the pavement of the temple was discovered in perfect preservation. The French consul at Athens, M. Fauvel, having been informed of this discovery, immediately repaired to the place. He is in possession of a truly valuable collection of antiques, which is every day augmented by new researches. Among these are a great number of cinerary urns, in each of which was found an obolus. One of them is the boat of Charon. The statues above mentioned represent different heroes of the Trojan war.

The Memoirs of Sir Joshua Reynolds are preparing for publication by James Northcote, R. A. and will contain a number of original anecdotes of Dr. Johnson, Dr. Goldsmith, and other distinguished characters with whom he had intercourse and connexion.

A third volume of Dr. Clarke's Travels is in preparation, forming the Second Section of the Travels in Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land; and completing the Second Part of the whole work, according to the plan originally proposed by the author. It will contain his Voyage up the Nile to Grand Cairo; his Observations upon the Pyramids of Djiza and Saccara; a Description of the Remains of the City of Sais, in the Delta; an account of the Antiquities of Alexandria, particularly of Pompey's Pillar and the Crypt of Necropolis; and his subsequent voyage and travels in Greece, Macedonia, Thrace, &c.

Letters from the Mediterranean, by Edward Blaquiere, Esq. will shortly be published, comprising a particular account of Sicily, Tripoly, Tunis, and Malta, with biographical sketches of various public characters.

The Memoirs of Margaret de Valois, Queen of Navarre, the first wife of Henry IV. of France, containing the secret history of the court of France, from 1565 to 1582, during the reigns of Charles IX. and Henry III. including a full account of the massacre of the Protestants on St. Bartholomew's day; written by herself in a series of letters, and translated from the French, with a preface and notes by the translator, will appear in the ensuing month.

Speedily will be published,

Translations from the Anthologies, by the Rev. Mr. Bland, 8vo.
Don Quixotte, splendidly embellished from pictures by Mr. Smirke.
Mr. Playfair's Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth.
Account of the Russian Embassy to Japan.

A new edition of Mr. Turnbull's Voyage round the World, forming a supple; mental volume to the Voyages of Cook, King, and Vancouver. To which will be added, from a manuscript never before made public, some account of the Voyage of the Geographe and Naturaliste, the two French ships lately sent out on discovery by Buonaparte.

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Travels through Denmark and Sweden. To which is prefixed a Journal of a voyage down the Elbe from Dresden to Hamburgh, including a compendious historical account of the Hanseatic League. By Louis de Boisgelin, Knight of Malta. With views from drawings taken on the spot by Dr. Charles Parry. 4to. 2 vols.

[From the Monthly Review.].

M. DE BOISGELIN prefaces his narrative by ample acknowledgments to various literary and political characters, to whom he is indebted for information. We have heard it whispered that these declarations are sometimes inserted as much for the sake of giving consequence to a book, as to gratify the persons thanked; and our readers may be disposed to apply this suspicion to the present work, when they find M. de Boisgelin ranking VOL. II. New Serics.

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so conspicuous a person as the late Gustavus III. among the contributors of private anecdotes. Complaints, he says, are sometimes made against the English literati for not being sufficiently communicative to foreigners: but, for his part, he has found it much otherwise; and he forthwith inserts a flattering list of persons, with Earl Spencer at their head, from whom he has received the most polite attentions. He occupies the remainder of his introduction with a catalogue raisonné of the different publications on the history of Hamburgh and the Hanseatic League; which, though drawn out to the length of twenty pages, is one of the least exceptionable parts of the volume. Next comes the journal of a voyage by M. de Boisgelin and two companions down the Elbe from Dresden. Their expedition was commenced rather suddenly, on the news of the approach of the French against the Russians, in October, 1806, and was conducted with too much haste and anxiety to admit of a deliberate observation of the various scenes through which they passed. Their vessel was a covered boat, containing room for their carriage and baggage, as well as for cooking victuals; with accommodation for the rowers, who were four in number, exclusive of the master. The hire of the vessel to Hamburgh was 401. sterling; a stock of provisions was sent on board by the travellers; and, to avoid the inconvenience of bad inns, they took beds with them, and regularly passed the night in the boat. Impatient as they were to get out of the reach of the French, they were much mortified on being exposed to almost innumerable detentions at the tolls. The houses at which payment must be made are often at a distance from the water-side; and the sovereigns of the different districts traversed by the river insist on the discharge of the tolls in their own respective coins. The best plan by far is to bargain with the boat-owner to take on himself, for a specific sum, the payment of these troublesome dues. At each halting-place, the travellers eagerly inquired the news from the armies, but could learn nothing with certainty except the death of Prince Louis of Prussia. So difficult is it to acquire intelligence by rumour, even of neighbouring events, that four days elapsed after the fatal battle of Jena, before the inhabitants of the banks of the Elbe were apprized of the result.

"On arriving at Magdeburgh, what a melancholy spectacle presented itself to view! The whole country was covered by a line of wagons, which extended beyond our sight, and were filled with the sick and wounded, and their baggage. The ramparts were lined with soldiers, as if besieged by the enemy. The dry ditches were full of carriage-horses and their drivers, both worn out by fatigue and fasting, the greater part having neither eaten nor drank for more than twentyfour hours. The cannon, and the ammunition and other wagons came

on so fast, that the town, large as it is, was presently entirely filled. In vain it was represented at the gates, that it was impossible to admit more; that the squares, courts, and streets, were already crowded with carriages; still those who arrived continued rushing in, till at last they were forced to open a passage into the large enclosure of the advanced fortifications. This some of our party witnessed; and words cannot do justice to the distress of the inhabitants, who appeared terrorstruck. Those from the suburbs hastened to bring their most valuable effects into the city; and on my inquiring at the custom-house for the principal clerk, they pointed out a boat in which he also was going to the town with his beds and families."

"Soon afterwards, a hussar arrived full gallop, and stopping, whispered the officer who commanded the nearest post to the bridge; he then immediately rode into Magdeburgh. This officer was in the artillery, and never quitted the cannon planted in that place, for the purpose of destroying the bridge: it was ready pointed, and the cannomers, with lighted matches, only waited for the signal to fire. Having observed a decent dressed citizen talking with this officer, who appeared much alarmed on quitting him, I ventured to ask him what news was brought by the hussar? I was answered, "That the French would be in sight in an hour." This most disagreeable intelligence I kept to myself, not wishing to alarm my fellow-travellers, but my impatience to proceed can easier be imagined than expressed."

The travellers were so fortunate as to steer clear of the French, and to arrive in safety at Hamburgh. The beautiful appearance of this city from a distance is productive of considerable disappointment on entering its narrow and dirty streets. The houses, built both of brick and wood, project forwards into the streets; and the windows, as in other towns of Germany, are so narrow and so near to each other as to make the dwellings of the lower orders look like manufactories. The population is computed at 110,000, of whom near 12,000 are Jews. The police is remarkably good, especially in cases of fire; which attention indeed is indispensable in a town that is built principally of wood. So admirable are the precautions, and so accurately do the engine-workers and others know the parts which they have to act, that no instance has occurred, for many years, of two houses being burned in succession. The society in this city is chiefly mercantile, scarcely half a dozen noble families being resident in it. Here, as in the other great trading cities of Europe, the merchants live with a splendour not inferior to that of aristocratic families. Literature was formerly at a very low ebb in Hamburgh: but, in late years, a great improvement has taken place, and the public libraries are now much extended. One of the best establishments of the place is a public pawn-brokerage, at which money is lent to the poor at the annual interest of six per cent. and the articles, though often sold in consequence of the inability of the parties to re

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