AN HUMELE PETITION FOR A LOCK OF A YE Sylphs and Sylphids, sportive throng, Ye, who direct the female heart, O deign to aid my prayer! I ask not that seductive mien, To fix the raptur'd view; I seek not titles, wealth, nor fame, Of bright Circassian hue. Ye favour'd Sylphs who guard the fair, Kings might be proud to gain. Like Scylla's famed of old, As Poets oft have told. When I the feather'd form assume, Be this my task assign'd; Then oft on dewy pinions borne, BAKER. GEORGE HERE tombless, whole, untainted, lies By fell disease, and ling'ring death, The bloom of life resum'd. Great Hunter's art, untri'd, improv❜d, Oh! happy husband! to enjoy Her converse night and day, But what more wonderful appears, That's sweeter, prettier, plumper too, Oh! happy, enviable man, Thy lot how new and strange, To have a woman still the same, Nor liable to change! TO THE MEMORY OF ELIZABETH TO Time's deep gulph departs another day, And Friendship notes it with a heart-born sigh! Why should we weep? In yonder azure skies That Cavan's spirit mingles with the blest? No! chace the selfish sorrow from your eyes, And hush the turbid heavings of your breast! Yet, never Cavan, never soul like thine, Alas the tear unseen, unheard the strain, The murmuring mortal strain, to frailty given! Our weak complaining follows thee in vain, For even Friendship's cries invade not Heaven! Ga Go thou to bliss! Yet, tho' no smile of thine, The Muse that smile once cherish'd may obtain, Fondly she hangs her tribute on thy shrine, She mourns thee, Cavan, tho' she mourns in vain! Lo! Penury gazes wildly on the bed, Where even now is laid her earthly trust, Ask'st thou why lower droops the sufferer's head? This day was Cavan's form consign'd to dust! Friendship-but Friendship mutely turns aside, She speaks not, yet the pitying Muse can guess That secret the tenacious heart would hide, The grave has seiz'd thy transient dignity; That thou wert good, may God's high sanction seal, And stamp thy rank to all eternity!" PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. REPORT OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE of FRANCE, FOR 1810. NEW years have been so fertile as the First, in various and important re science; searches, in the different branches of from the more general divisions of philosophy, to the particular history of the species of the animal, vegetable, or mineral, kingdoms, the labours of the members, and of others which have been submitted to this class, have added new treasures to the stores of know ledge. Heat. The sudden production of heat, in an infinite variety of chemical phenomena, although more known than those of light, requires to be determined with greater precision. M. Sage has given the result of his researches on the degrees of heat, which concentrated mineral acids produce, in combining with metallic oxids, earths, and water. Sul. phuric acid at 67 degrees of the areometer of Beaumé, mixed with a third part of water gave a temperature of 80 degrees; nitric acid of 45 degrees gave 45 degrees; and muriatic acid of 20 degrees gave, with the same quantity of water as in the preceding experiments, 22 degrees. The greatest degree of heat obtained with the sulphuric acid, is that which results from a mixture of this acid with calcined bones, which was 160 degrees above zero. In general these experiments lead us to presume, that the heat produced by the combination of bodies is proportional to their contraction. It is to be regretted that M. Sage had not determined the specific weight of the bodies he combined, both before and after the experiment. The absolute measure of heat in high degrees of temperature, for which liquid substances can not be employed, has always engaged the attention of philo sophers. M. de Morveau, who has been engaged in experiments on this subject for several years, las communicated a continuation of the tables mentioned in our report of 1808. The first of these presents the degrees of heat, of fusion, and of evaporation, in different bodies, corrected and arranged with the most approved pyrometrical and thermometrical scales. A second table gives the dilation of metals, determined according to the same scales; in the third he indicates the relation be tween the expansion and fusibility of metals. In the fourth he gives the de grees of heat indicated by his pyrometer of platina, and their agreement with that of Wedgwood from observations of fusion in the highest temperatures These tables are accompanied with de tails of the processes employed by the author to correct his calculations, which differ essentially from those given by Wedgwood. This difference is chiefly occasioned by an error which that philo sopher committed in measuring the fu sibility of silver, and making it the basis of his calculations.* Light-The class of natural philoso phy and chemistry had proposed a prize for the examination of the circumstances and causes which occasion phosphores cence. M. Dessaignes, principal of the col lege of Vendome, has continued his experiments on these subjects, in order to. ascertain the phenomena attending lu minous appearances; whether, sponta neous, by friction or by gentle warmth, * Dr. Davy, in his lectures this year at the Royal Institution, stated, that the pyrometer of Mr. Wedgwood was discovered to be an imperfect measure of heat. If kept.for a long time in a lower temperature, it contracts as much as when exposed for a shorter time to a more intense degree of heat. and and in every other circumstance differ- These luminous organic bodies more acid are produced. The woody part, and muscular fibre, do not undergo in these changes any essential alterations. The phosphorescence of the wood is chiefly owing to a glutinous principle, that serves to unite the woody fibres; and that of the fish, to a gelatinous principle, which unites the muscular fibres. M. Dessaignes has endeavoured to explain the luminous appearance of the sea, and to support his reasoning by a numerous collection of facts relating to spontaneous phosphorescence. He at tributes the light of the sea to two causes, first, to the presence of phosphoric ani malculæ, and the emanation of luminous matter produced by them; and, secondly, to the simple presence of this matter dissolved and mixed in the water, proceeding not only from these animalculæ, but from molusci, fish, &c. Mathematics. The subject of the double prize of 5000 francs to be distri. buted by this class, in its sitting, January 7th, 1811, was the following: "The theory of those planets which have an inclination and eccentricity too great to admit the calculation of their irregularities with sufficient exactness by known methods." The class did not require a numerical application, but only analytical formu laries, disposed in such a manner that an intelligent calculator could apply them with certainty to the planet Pallas, and to every other which are or may be discovered. Two memoirs were presented which were not satisfactory; the class therefore proposed to reserve the deter mination of the prize to the 1st of Ja nuary, 1816, that geometricians may have sufficient time to resolve this important question. The medal of M. de Lelande for the most interesting observation, or the most useful memoir, on astronomy, for the last year, has been given to M. Poisson, for his works relating to the secular inequalities of the mean motions of the planets, the stability of the planetary system, the rotation of the earth, the change of place of the poles at the surface, and the equations on which the move. ments of its axis depend. These works have merited the gratitude of astrono. mers, to whom he has demonstrated in the most complete manner hitherto done, the fundamental points of the system of the world, which are the base of all astronomical calculations. Geology.-Messrs. Cuvier and Brongniart, have discovered, in the environs of Paris, very extensive beds of stone, that contain only fresh water shells, which appear to have been deposited in ponds or lakes. Some of these beds of stone are separated by intermediate strata of marine formation. This seems to prove that the sea has made an irruption on the continent, which it had formerly abandoned, and confirms the traditions of a - deluge, so universally spread amongst different nations. Upon beds of gypsum in the same neighbourhood, which contain the bones of reptiles, and of fish, with fresh water shells, and petrified trunks of palm trees, repose beds of stone, containing innumerable quantities of marine shells only; and again upon these, other beds of fresh water shells, but of a kind entirely different from the former. It is impossible to have more clear and manifest indications of the revolutions which have taken place on the surface of the globe. M. Sage and M. Cubieres have directed the attention of philosophers to a singular fact, which has excited innumerable conjectures. In the neighbour hood of Puzzoli, three erect columns of a small temple have been discovered, thirty French feet below the present level of the sea, all of them pierced and bored to the same height, by dails and polades, a kind of marine shell fish, which penetrate into the densest stones immerged under the surface of the sea. Have these columns been taken from a quarry formerly under the surface of the sea? But why should they have chosen stones so perforated; and how does it happen that the perforations extend exactly to the same height in each column? Has the temple been succes. sively sunk and raised again in a volcanic country, subject to so many irregular movements? But how, after such violent shocks could the columns remain erect? Have volcanic eruptions opened deep ravines which have closed at one extremity, and have kept the temple confined in a kind of lake until a passage was opened, and restored the ground to its natural dryness? There are difficul ties attending all these explanations, particularly the two last. How could such important changes have taken place after the construction of the temple, and have left no trace in history or in the memory of man? They frequently speak of the eruption in the year 1528, when the hill called Monte-novo was formed, and when the sea invaded a part of the coast; but there is no tradition of successive revolutions. Near this temple has been discovered a particular variety of marble, of which M. Cubieres has read an analysis to the Institute. It is white, semi-transparent, and receives a fine polish; it dissolves with difficulty in the nitric acid, and gives sparks with steel; it contains twenty-two parts in every hundred of magnesia. M. Cubieres has called it the Greek magnesian marble, and thinks it is the same which the ancients made use of in constructing their temples without windows, that received light only through the transparent walls. Physiology. The following question was proposed two years since, but, no satisfactory answer having been received, the prize of 5000 francs will be given to the best memoir on the subject, which shall he received before October the 1st, 1812: "Does there exist any circulation in those animals known under the name of Asteria or Star Fish, Echini or Sea Urchins, and Holothariæ, ou Priapes de Mer." In case any circulation be found, it is required to describe the organs by which it is carried on. The description must be accompanied with observations made upon living animals, and include the vessels of respiration if there be any particular ones, as well as those of circulation. It would also be desirable to ascertain, the chemical effect of such respiration on water and on air; but this is not absolutely required. It will be necessary that the descriptions should be accompanied with drawings, that the principal details may easily be veri fied. VARIETIES |