. THE CHARACTER OF PLINY THE NATURALIST. Boccacio all his graces and his beauties. having committed a great many more. With respect to his judgment, that is a Every wise man who considers the imfaculty he least excels in, for it very often mense extent of his design, the prodigious fails him: he makes women,, whom he quantity of knowledge, and of curiosities calls virtuous, hold conversations which which it contains, the infinite number of would be shameful in the most infamous books from which he was obliged to take places; at other times, he makes them his materials, and that in the midst of speak as Epicureans, without considering considerable occupations, military as well who are the persons whom he introduces as political, must be struck with ajustad, on the scene; and even his description of miration of the excellence of his history. the plague of Florence, pathetic as it is, He will say with the candour of Horace : does not appear to me quite in its proper Verum ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis place. Offendar maculis, quas aut ineuria fudit, But in a poem elegantly writ, I would not quarrel with a slight mistake, of Pliny? He is without exception one of He will laugh at those literary bullies, the greatest men of antiquity: he is an author who has received praises from all who, incapable of perceiving the solid the truly wise, and who is only despised think themselves great persons for disco beauties with which a work abounds, by the volgar literati, as iż has been remarked by one of our most formidable vering some trifling defects. In fact, he critics, Plinius tantus vir ut non mirum will say, with one of the most judicious sit, si vulgus illum improbet, quum minime critics of the last century, that whoever sit Auctor vulgaris. Gibbon has inge. of Pliny, hurts that great man's speaks niously described his work as “the Li- reputation much less, than he does his own: Non tantum Pliniano detraxit nobrary of the Poor Man." Nevertheless, mini those who have praised him the most, quam suo, have discovered in hini many defects; but, PETRARCH'S WILL. for the greater part of these defects he There is a Life of Petrarch, published by ought not to incur censure. Was he Jerome Squarzaficus of Alexandria, very obliged to know more of Physic,Medicine, scarce, but printed in the curious edition or Astronomy, of the virtues of plants of Petrarch's Latin works, in folio, at Veand minerals, or of other things of the nice, in 1501, It also contains his will, same nature, than was known in his time? which is rather singular, for the whimsical If he has appeared too credulous with and good-humoured satire with which he respect to some facts, which have the air disposes of his legacies to his friends and of the marvellous, has he not acted in the domestics. same manner as all the illustrious histori He bequeaths to Lombardus Asericus ans of his age; and amongst others, Livy, his silver gilt goblet, out of which he is to whom I could on this subject turn into drink water, which he likes better than ridicule, as easily as Pliny has been? wine: cum quo bibat I have always thought, and I do still, ter bibit, multo libentius quam vinum;" to aquam, quam libenthat great men ought not to be con- John de Bochetta, vestry-keeper of his demned so inconsiderately: Modestè et church, his great breviary, which had cost circumspecto judicio de tantis viris pro him a hundred francs; to John de Cernunciandum. I allow, that we should not taldo seu Boccatio, fifty gold forins, of copy their errors; but before we pro- Florence, to buy him a winter garment, nounce judgment against them, we fit for his studies and his vigils ; " to Thoshould consider well whether some ex- mas de Bambasia de Ferrare, his lute, cuse might not be offered for them; sea- that he might make use of it to sing the son and equity command it, and so does praises of the Lord, non pro vanitate the self-interest of those who ever attempt sæculi fugacis ; to Barthelmi de Sienne, to write. called Pancaldus, twenty ducats, with After all, though Pliny committed some the proviso, that he does not game them faults (which we cannot deny), we ought away, Quos ludat. to be less surprized at that, than at his not non ORIGINAL If some good Angel such a Friend bestow'd, Thy soul wou'd doat on her's-and should'st This first of blessings-Hold! ah, hold, my Nor paint a scene which Nature cou'd not bear. Yes seek a Friend! a firmer Friend than Against the unfeeling baseness of this world: aside, Compel curs'd Falsehood at Truth's shrine to kneel, Or rob the hand of Malice of its steel: e'er mind Not all the malice of this world combin'd Yet, tho' thy woes, with my upbraidings O'er Fate herself presides, o'er Time, o'er join'd, In vain wou'd strive to meliorate mankind, Too just, too ample is thy cause for woe; Thy ev'ry care, thy ev'ry thought impart ; Space, And all the myriads of the Human Race; IMPROMPTU LINES TO SIR JOHN CARR, THO' much you've honour'd martial men, Make every realm you reach your own. Of rich instruction and delight. Your graceful wreath of" Polar Flowers." H. THE SKULL. Juv. "Mors sola fatetur Quantula sint bominum corpuscula!" [The following Lines were occasioned by the accidental discovery of a Skull, by the Plough, at no great distance from a populous town in the West of England.] WITHIN this earthy barrier confin'd Once breath'd a heav'n-born soul, long since remov'd To bear the tale and story of these bones, When yet the streams of life cours'd over them. Mean dwelling of that wond'rous guest! Unfold the narrow volume of thy span; term Of its ordained silence, how intent Th' instructive lessons of a friend deceas'd! To thee, poor, tenantless, exhausted case Of man's frail compass, once belong'd the rule Of passions headstrong as the wint❜ry tide: To thee the helm and steerage uncontroul'd Of that slight pinnace, man; the sov'reign will To brook the buffets of an adverse wind; Haply thy days are pencil'd by the hand When ancy paints thee some black harden'd wretch, Distain'd in heart with spots of pnwash'd crime, And bend thee supple, fraught with lies, and smiles, In the lov'd sunshine of a patron's grace. Might the dread seal of secrecy be burst, What noble converse could the charnel'd dead Couldst weave a fit discourse to curb the rage And rev'rend sages of far distant times, heav'n ; organisation seems to be rather to combine substances into more complicated and diversified arrangements, than to reduce them to simple elements." From the fixed alkalies, the professor proceeded to the earths, which are nonconductors of electricity. The alkalies become conducting substances by fusion: the infusible nature of the earths, renderd it impossible to operate upon them in this state: the strong affinity of their bases for oxygen would not admit of their bodies being acted upon by solution in water; and the only methods that proved successful, were those by which they were operated upon by electricity in some of their combinations, or of combining them at the moment of their decomposition by electricity, in metallic alloys, so as to obtain evidences of their nature and proper ties. On this plan, Mr. Davy undertook a series of experiments on Barytes, Strontites, and Lime, 'employing upon them the same methods as he had used in the decomposition of the fixed alkalies. Gas was, in each case, copiously evolved, which was inflammable; and the earths, where in contact with the negative metallic wires, became dark-coloured, and exhibited small points, having a metallic lustre, which, when exposed to air, gras dually became white: they became white likewise when plunged under water, and when examined by a magnifier, a greenish powder seemed to separate from them. He then made mixtures of dry pot-ash in excess, and dry barytes, lime, strontites, and magnesia, brought them into fusion, and acted upon them in the voltaic circuit, as he had done in obtaining the metals of the alkalies. He hoped, by this means, that the potassium, and the metals of the earths, might be deoxygenated at the same time, and enter into combination in alloy. Metallic substances appeared less fusible than potassium, which burnt the instant after they had formed, and which, by burning, produced a mixture of pot-ash, and the earth employed. He had found, that when a mixture of pot-ash, and the oxides of mercury, tin, or lead, was electrified in the Voltaic circuit, the decomposition was very rapid, and an amalgam or an alloy of potassium was obtained. He tried the same on a mixture of two parts of barytes, and one part of oxide of silver very slightly moistened; when it was electrified by iron wires, an effervescence took place at both points of contact, and a minute quantity of a substance, possessing the whiteness of silver, formed at the negative point. A mixture of barytes and red oxide of mercury, in the same proportions, was electrified in the same manner. A small mass of solid amalgam adhered to the negative wire, which evidently contained a substance that produced barytes by exposure to air, with the absorption of oxygen; and which occasioned the evolution of hydrogen from water, leaving pure mer→ cury, and producing a solution of barytes. Mixtures of lime, strontites, magnesia, and red oxide of mercury, treated in the sante manner, gave similar amalgams, from which the alkaline earths were ra generated by the action of air and water. While Mr. Davy was pursuing these experiments, he heard that Professor Ber zelius, and Dr. Pontin, of Stockholm, had succeeded in decomposing barytes and lime, by negatively electrifying mercury in contact with them, and that in this way they had obtained amalgams of the metals of these earths. Mr. Davy repeated the experiments with a battery of 500, and obtained the most perfect success. The mercury gradually became less fluid, and after a few minutes was covered with a white film of barytes; and when the amalgam was thrown into water, hydrogen was disengaged, the mercury remained free, and a solution of barytes was formed. The result with lime was precisely analo gous, so also was that with strontites; with magnesia it was with more difficulty obtained. All these amalgams may be preserved a considerable period under naphtha, but in a length of time they be come covered with a white crust. When exposed to air, a very few minutes only were required, for the oxygenation of the bases of the earths. In several cases, Mr. Davy exposed the amalgams of the metals of the earths, containing only a very small quantity of mercury, to the air, on a delicate balance, and he always found that, during the conversion of metal into earth, there was a considerable increase of weight. He also found that, when the metals of the earths were burned in a small quantity of air, they absorbed oxygen, gamed weight, and were in a highly caustic or unslaked state; for they produced strong heat by the contact of water, and did not effervesce during their solu tion in acids. Hence it is inferred, that the evidence for the composition of the alkaline earths, is of the same kind as that for the composition of the common me tallic oxides; and the principles of their decomposition PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. It combines with sulphur iu close ves of Mr. Davy's discoveries with re- with great vividness, with light, heat, and gard to potash, we shall proceed, as we afterwards with explosion from the vaporiproposed, to consider the properties and zation of a portion of sulphur, and ihe disnature of the basis of Soda. The basisor engagement of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. metallic substance obtained by decompo- The phosphuret has the appearance of sition, is a solid at the common temper- lead, and forms phosphate of soda, by exature. It is white, opaque, and it'ex- posure to the air, or by combustion. amined under a film of naphtha, has the The basis of soda in the quantity of 16 lustre and general appearance of silver. part, renders ır.ercury a fixed solid of the It is exceedingly mallcable, and is softer colour of silver, and the combination is than any of the common metallic sub- attended with a considerable degree of stances. It is a good conductor of elec- heat. It makes an alloy with tin, withtricity and lieat, and small globules of it out changing its colour, and it acts upon inflame by the voltaic electrical spark, lead and gold when heated. and burn with bright explosions: its spe- From some very accurate experiments, cific gravity is something inore than 93. Mr. Davy has found that 100 parts of pot. It becomes fluid at about 180° of Fahren- ash, consist of 86.1 of the basis, and heit, but the exact degree of heat at 13.9 of oxygen : and in 100 parts of soda, which it becomes volatile, has not been there will be 80 parts of the basis, and 36 ascertained. of oxygen. • The chemical phenomena produced by To the question whether the bases of the basis of soda, are in many respects, potash and soda should be called metals; analogous to those produced by the basis Mr. Davy says, that the greater number of potash: when exposed to the atmo- of philosophical persons answer in the sphere, it immediately tarnishes, and by afirmative. They agree with metals in degrees becomes covered with a white opacity, lustre, malleability, conducting crust, which deliquesces much more powers as to heat and electricity, and in 'slowly tk the substance that forms on their qualities of chemical combination; the basis of potash, and which proves to their low specific gravity does not appear be pure soda. The basis combines a sufficient reason for making them a new slowly with oxygen, and without lumi- class; for ainong the metals themselves, nous appearance, at all common tein- there are remarkable differences in this peratures; and when heated this combi- respect, platina being nearly four times nation becomes more rapid, but no light as heavy as tellurium; and in the philosois emitted, till it has acquired a tem- phical division of the classes of bodies, perature nearly that of ignition. In the analogy between the greater number oxygen gas, it burns with a white light: of properties must always be the foundain oxymuriatic acid gas, it burns vividly tion of arrangement. Hence the bases with a bright red light; saline matter is of the alkalies are denominated, Potassiformed, which proves to be muriate of and Sodaum. soda. When thrown upon water, it In reference to his own discoveries, Mr. duces a violent effervescence, with a loud Davy observes, that,“ In the common prohissing noise; it combines with the cesses of nature, all the products of living oxygen of the water to form soda, which beings may be easily conceived to be eliis dissolved, and its hydrogen is disen- cited from known combinations of matter. gaged. The compounds of iron, of the alkalies, The basis of soda acts upon alcohol and earthis, with mineral acids, generally and ether in the same manner with the abound in soils. From the decomposition basis of pot-ash. The water contained of basaltic, porphyritic, and granitic, in them is decomposed, soda is rapidly socks, there is a constant supply of earthy, fornied, and hydrogen is disengaged. alkaline, and ferruginous materials to the When thrown upon the strong acids, it surface of the earth. In the sap of all acts upon them with great energy, if the plants that have been examined, certain nitrous acid is employed, a vivid inflam- neutrosaline compounds, containing potmation is produced, with muriatic and ash, or soda, or iron, have been found. sulphuric acids, there is much heat gene- From plants, they may be supplied to rated, but no light. animals. And the chemical tendency of organization um, |