tube; by which means it is gradually absorbed, and does not soon re-appear.

The following is given as a cure for chilblains before they are broken :— Wash the part affected in water as hot as you can well bear, and after drying with a clean cloth, rub it with spirits of hartshorn before the fire, keeping it warm afterwards. The best time is just before going to bed.

A correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine furnishes the following strong fact in support of the generally-received idea that the neighbourhood of the barberry-tree is injurious to wheat :-"The late Duke of Bedford, who never omitted an opportuity of bringing any agricultural question to the test of experiment, had a hedge planted in equal portions with white-thorn, black-thorn, holly, barberry, erab, and possibly some other shrubs which I do not now recollect, with a view to ascertain their comparative advantages and disadvantages in making a good fence. The hedge had not been planted many years before the field which it assisted to inclose was sown with wheat. Some time before the harvest the tenant called upon me, (then residing at Woburn,) desiring I would witness the extraordinary effect which that part of the hedge (about fifteen or twenty yards, more or less) that was composed of barberry bushes had upon the wheat. Immediately adjoining to the hedge, and for ten or fifteen yards from it, the wheat was completely blighted, scarcely a single grain being to be found in any ear growing within that distance. Beyond it a few solitary grains might be met with, and their number increased exactly in the same proportion as the distance of the wheat from the hedge. Contiguous to the latter the straw was extremely black; and this blackness gradually diminished as the wheat was farther removed from the malignant influence of the barberry. The blight extended in a semicircular direction from the hedge, nearly across the field, till the discolouration insensibly died away."

At the ordinary meeting of the SOCIETY OF ARTS on Wednesday, 20th December, the Secretary officially announced the demise of their noble President the Duke of Norfolk; upon which a motion was made, and unanimously agreed to, that the meeting should be adjourned immediately after the reading of the minutes, as a token of respect towards the illustrious deceased, who, for a period of upwards of twenty years, had

53

presided over the society with that dig nified impartiality and affability which so peculiarly distinguished his public conduct, and which will not readily be erased from the memory of those who witnessed his conduct in the chair, either on the day of the public distribution of the premiums of the society, or at the anniversary dinners,-on both which occasions he never failed to evince the zealous concern he took in promoting the best interests of the society.-At the following meeting of the society on Wednesday, 10th January, (Mr. W. Tooke being in the chair,) on the motion of the Hon. Washington Shirley, II. R. H. the Duke of Sussex was nominated for the vacant office of President, the election for which was fixed for Thursday, Feb. 1, when it is expected his Royal Highness will be unanimously elected, no other person having as yet been put in nomination; nor indeed can it be expected that any compétition can take place, as H. R. II. the Duke of Kent, who is also a member of the society, had, in consequence of the multiplicity of his other public engagements, declined the offer of a prior nomination in favour of his royal brother. Independent of his illustrious rank, there is no person in the kingdom better calculated for the office than H.R. H. the Duke of Sussex; under whose auspices the society may with confidence look forward to an extended sphere of public usefulness, which, as it was the sole foundation of their institution, is the only end and aim of their exertions. The Duke of Sussex did preside last year (in consequence of the indisposition of the Duke of Norfolk, and at his request) at the distribution and at the dinner; it is unnecessary to add that his Royal Highness on both occasions displayed that graceful benignity which is the hereditary and characteristic attribute of the offspring of our beloved sovereign.-It is a singular coincidence that on the eve of the unexpected election of so distinguished a president, the great room and model room of the society had undergone a thorough repair; the sky-light of the former was altered in order to throw a inore favourable light on the immortal cartoons of Barry, which have also been cleaned and varnished. The society are further indebted to the munificence of Mr. Blades for four magnificent bronze lamps in the great room, and to Mr. Brooks for one exquisitely imitated from an antique found in Herculaneum, in the anti-room. The effect of these lights upon the tastefu

54

and splendid decorations of the rooms, determined the society to permit a gratuitous public evening exhibition of the paintings and models for members and their friends, which will take place on the last Tuesdays in the months of Jannary, February, March, and April, in the intention of enabling a British public to pay that homage to native genius, which has recently been gratefully offered at the shrines of a Reynolds and a Gainsborough, with whom, but in a more elevated sphere, we may proudly class our Barry.

We have been favoured by a correspondent, whose letter arrived too late to Le inserted among our original communications, with the following correction of a paragraph in our last number, which we copied from a provincial paper:In page 553 of your last number, I have read a statement respecting the discovery of an insect of the beetle species in the heart of a cherry-tree, by a Mr. Jos. Saul, of Carlisle, as he was sawing it across. I beg to inform you, from ocular demonstration, that some of the particulars in your notice of the circumstance are incorrectly described; for, in the first place, the insect was not found in the "heart of the wood," but very near the surface; and, in the second place, it is too much to assert that "there was no communication between the outside of the wood and the cavity," as a very slight examination of the specimen will serve to shew that there now is, and probably always was, a small orifice or perforation more than sufficient to supply the insect with air. In consequence of the circumstance having been detailed in the public prints, in precisely the same terms as I find it noticed in your valuable publication, I wrote to Mr. Jos. Saul for the purpose of obtaining more correct information upon the subject, to which I received an answer and also a present of the two sections of the cherry-tree and the insect which is still alive. The whole is now deposited in the library of the Philosophical Society of London (Scot's Corporation Hall, Fetter-lane) together with an explanatory correspondence that ensued respecting this supposed phænomenon between Mr. Jos. Saul, Dr. Heysham, a respectable physician and magistrate of Carlisle, the Bishop of Carlisle, and myself. I am sorry it is not in my power to present you with more particulars; but as I have no copies by me of these letters at present, I have preferred stating what is merely necessary

:

[Feb. 1,

to guard your readers against the incorrectness of the original information, to enlarging upon the subject from a defective recollection. This is the less necessary on the present occasion, as the whole may be seen by the curious upon application to the secretary of the insti tution just mentioned, T. J. PETTIGREW, Esq. Bolt-court, Fleet-street."

FRANCE.

The reign of political pamphlets in this country is not yet over, but it seems to be drawing towards a close. It is probable at least, that when this session of the two chambers is finished the public will return to that fondness for literature from which it has been long estranged. Several pamphlets have appeared against the Reports of Fouché, the Statement of the Conduct of Carnot, and the Speech of Lanjuinais; there is even a Memoir, which professes to be by an Englishman, against Fouché, who is no longer feared. Lastly, the trial of Marshal Ney bas given birth to a dozen publications, most of which were by his friends who strove to prove that he had never in all his life betrayed his country. A refutation of these vindications serves as a counterpoise to them. The whole of the proceedings is now published in two 8vo. volumes. Buonaparte still employs the pens of many writers; but so much has already been written concerning him that the subject begins to be exhausted. A Captain Revel is complaining before the tribunals that Buonaparte and Murat seduced his wife, and that Madame Campan, who was at the head of the great institution for educating the daughters of members of the Legion of Honour, lent them all the assistance in her power. The poor husband was thrown into prison, while his powerful rivals usurped his conjugal rights; and he has now published a tolerably scandalous memorial on this affair. Several writers have exercised their ingenuity upon the letter of the Duke of Wellington to Lord Castlereagh, respecting the restitution of the works of art. The Parisians persist in considering this act of authority as a violation of the capitulation, and they assert with might and main that they ought to have been permitted to retain their museum, because they allowed the free access to and enjoyment of it to every body, to foreigners as well as natives. Some of them even now attempt to prove that master-pieces of art ought never to be removed. This subject has however called forth one

1816.] good work by the learned Quatremère de Quincy on the moral influence of productions of the arts.

The stay of the Allies at Paris has given rise to two collections executed with considerable elegance. The one is a Collection of the Military Uniforms of the Allied Powers, in 48 parts; to which is annexed a Historical and Statistical Account of the Armed Force of each Nation: the first part has just appeared. The other is a Collection of caricatured Dresses, designed by Vernet, who enjoys a high reputation in this line. This collection, enriched with an explanation in the manner of Lichtenberg's comments on Hogarth's prints, will be annually augmented with a new part. The text to both these works is by M. DEPPING.

To judge from the luxury of the splendid works with engravings now publishing at Paris, it would never be supposed that France had twice suffered the ravages of war. The booksellers indeed assert that most of the copies of these expensive works are purchased by foreigners: but the French government generally subscribes for from 10 to 25 copies. In this numbe, are the Liliacées of M. Redouté, of which 75 numbers have already appeared, and which will be followed by a similar work, but not so extensive on the Roses; the Musée des Antiques, by M. Bouillon, who has discovered the art of representing sculpture upon paper with extraordinary truth; La Flore Medicale, from the drawings of Turpin, the originals of which were purchased by the Emperor of Austria during his last residence at Paris; the Vues, Usages et Costumes de la Russie, by Damame Desmartrais, which is to form ten folio parts; the Monumens de l'Indostan, with explanations by M. Langlès; the Flore Parisicane, likewise from designs by Turpin; the Arbres Fruitiers, by Duhamel, of which M. de la Chaussée is publishing a new edition with splendid engravings, exhibiting with admirable correctness all the fruits of this climate.

Some novels have been translated from the English and German; but upon the whole fewer translations are published in France than in other countries. This is not a bad sign for French literature. Mr. CRAUFURD, an Englishman, has published a Course of French Literature, in S volumes 8vo. The author is not a Laharpe, whom he frequently copies and sometimes criticizes; yet his work is a good compilation, and if we had not Laharpe's excellent performance, that of Mr. Craufurd would be considered a

55

very good one. At any rate it is a useful manual, especially for youth.

A few scholars have not been afraid to publish the fruit of their researches among so many works of temporary interest. They are not much read, but at least those who do read them are mostly persons capable of appreciating them. M. MILLIN has published a new edition of his Mineralogie Homerique. The same writer is preparing a description of a tomb discovered at Canosa in the kingdom of Naples, and of the painted vases which it contained. This work, in large folio, will be accompanied with 18 plates and vignettes. The subjects found in this tomb relate to the heroic history and to the mysteries. M. Millin considers the paintings of the vases as the finest of the kind that have yet been met with. I have seen some of the plates, and can affirm that they will be thought extremely curious. M. Millin has also published a Dissertation on the Marfinales, or the Festival of the Goose. M de MOURCIN has chosen for the subject of a learned memoir the text of the oath taken at Strasburg in 842 by Louis the German, Charles the Bald and their armies, which have always been regarded as a valuable relic of the language of the 9th century. Unfortunately out of about forty scholars who have published and commented upon the text, there is not one that has transcribed it correctly, This consideration has induced M. Mourcin to publish it verbally with a fac simile from the manuscript of Nithard in the Royal Library, and to annex to it a very detailed grammatical explana, tion.

[Thus far our Paris correspondent.] At the anniversary meeting of the Class of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences of the Royal Institute of France, on the 8th of January, 1816, the following papers were read :

1. Account of the Life and Works of M. Levesque, by the Chevalier DELAMBRE,

secretary.

2. Considerations on the Volcanoes of Auvergne, by Baron RAMOND.

3. Account of the Life and Works of M. OLIVIER, by Chevalier CUVIER, secretary. 4. Results of the Treatment of the Insane

in 1812, 1813, and 1814. By M. PINEL.

The class which last year was obliged to withdraw the prize-question on the subject of the distribution of electricity over the surface of conducting bodies, determined to substitute for it another which should leave a greater latitude to competitors. It accordingly announced

56

that this prize should be given at the present meeting to the best work or memoir in print or manuscript, on the application of the mathematical analysis to a question in natural philosophy, or to the best experiments in general physics communicated to it before the 1st of October, 1815, and which should not have been known before the 1st of October, 1813. After hearing the report of the committee appointed to examine the papers sent for this competition, the Class agreed to divide this prize between Mr. SEFBгCK and Dr. BREWSTER.

Mr. SEEBECK has discovered that all masses of glass heated and then quickly cooled, produce regular figures of different colours, when placed between piles of glass, or between reflecting mirrors combined according to the method of Malus. He also found that the figures produced in one and the same piece are frequently different when the form of it is changed. Mr. Seebeck published his discovery in Schweigger's Journal of Natural Philosophy in 1813 and 1814: he has shown that these phænomena depend on the rapidity of the refrigeration, so that by suitable heatings and coolings we may give to or take from glass the property of producing colours.

Dr. BREWSTER, as we have seen in a preceding page, obtained the Copley gold medal of the Royal Society of London, for his valuable communications to the Philosophical Transactions. Ilis papers in that collection were comprised within the limits of the present competition, for which he sent several others in manuscript. Among the important facts contained in those memoirs, there are several which had been previously discovered and published in France; but among the results which belong to Dr. Brewster, the committee particularly distinguished the transferral of the colours of mother-of-pearl, the formation of the complementary colours by successive reflections between metallic surfaces, and the development of the phænomena which Mr. Seebeck had discovered. These results seemed of suflicient importance to authorise the division of the prize between these two writers.

The prize offered for the best Statement of the Mathematical Theory of the Vibrations of Elastic Surfaces, and a Comparison of it with Experience, was adjudged to Mademoiselle SOPHIE GERMAIN of Paris, who had no competitor. -That for the Theory of the Waves on the Surface of a heary Fluid of an inde finite Depth, was gained by M. AUGUS

[Feb 1,

TIN LOUIS CAUCHY, engineer of bridges and roads; and M. Lalande's medal for the most interesting observation, or most useful memoir in astronomy, was decreed to M. MATHIEU, astronomer at the Royal Observatory at Paris, for a Memoir containing a long series of observations of great importance for their precision, for the manner in which they are calculated, and for the consequences deducible from them.

A late number of the Journal des Debats has warmly claimed for France the honour of the invention of steam-boats, in opposition to the Americans, who ascribe it to the late Mr. Fulton, an Englishman, naturalised in the United States, and whose ingenuity during the last years of his life, was directed to the discovery of a method of destroying the navy of his native country. These pretensions the French editor attacks in the following statement:-" In 1781 the Marquis DE JOUFFROY had applied the steam engine to the construction of vessels for the navigation of the rivers of France, and obtained, upon the exposition of his plan, the promise of an exclusive privilege. He repaired in consequence to Lyons, where he built a steam boat 140 feet long. During the summer of 1783 he made several experiments by going up the Saone from Lyons to the Isle of St. Barbe. Their success was certified by a report signed by a great number of witnesses, and the year following by that of two distinguished members of the Academy of Sciences. The events of the Revolution which broke out a few years afterwards prevented M. de Jouf froy from prosecuting this undertaking and reaping any advantage from it. On his return to France after a long exile in fi96, he learned from the newspapers that M. Deblanc, an artist of Trevoux, had obtained a patent for the construction of a steam-boat, built probably from such information as he could pick up relative to the experiments of the Marquis. The latter appealed to the government, which was then too much occupied with public business to attend to that of individuals. Meanwhile Fulton, who had gained the same information, and was making similar experiments near the Isle des Cygnes, alarmned M. Deblanc, who knew that he had much more to fear from the influence of an Anglo-American than from that of an emigrant. He alleged his patent right, at which Fulton only scoffed, saying that priority was a ridiculous question between them, as it belonged to the author of the experiments.