New Works Published in Edinburgh. Literary Intelligence. R JAMES FORBES, F.R.S. &c. phy, being heads of lectures, M&c. has in the press, nearly delivered in the University of Edinburgh. By John Playfair, Professor of Natural Philosophy, &c. Vol. I. 8vo. 9s. The Planter's Calendar; or the Nurserymen and Forester's Guide in the operations of the Nursery, the Forest and the Grove. By the late Walter Nicol, author of the Gardener's Calendar, &c. Edited and completed by Edward Sang, Nurseryman, large 8vo. 15s. A Greek Grammar, and Greek and English Scripture Lexicon ; containing all the words which occur in the Septuagint and Apocrypha, as well as in the New Testament. By Greville Ewing, minister of the gospel, Glasgow, royal 8vo. 15s. Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste. By Archibald Alison, L. L. B. F. R. S. &c. Third Edition 2. vols. 8vo. L. 1. Is. Tracts in controversy with Dr Priestly, upon the Historical question of the belief of the first ages in our Lord's divinity. By Samuel, late Lord Bishop of St Asaph, Third Edition, 8vo. 148. A Sermon, preached in St Andrew's church, Edinburgh, on Friday, 21st February, 1812, for the benefit of the Lancastrian school, established in that city; with Notes subjoined. By Sir Henry Moncreiff Wellwood, Bart D. D. F. R. S. E. 8vo. Brief, thoughts on the present state of the currency of this country. By a Merchant, 8vo. The Edinburgh Review, No. 38. This Number contains, Miss Baillie's Plays; Lord Erskine's speeches; Letters of Tippoo Sultan; Mackenzie's Travels; Lord Byron's Childe Harold; Dispute with America; Wilson's Isle of Palms, &c. completed, a work upon the gener al, moral, and natural History, of a considerable part of India, where he resided many years, with oppor tunities of acquiring information, seldom obtained by Europeans. Numerous admirable engravings, from his original drawings, some of them, coloured by artists of the first eminence, will illustrate the subjects of antiquities, ruins, public buildings, topography, natural history, arts, costume of the natives, &c. &c. Professor Stewart, of the East India Company's College, has in hand a History of the Kingdom of Bengal, from the earliest Periods of (authentic) Antiquity, to the Conquest of that Country by the English, in 1757. This work will form a companion to Dow's History of Hindostan, and Scott's History of the Dekhan; but instead of being the translation of one author, will be a compilation from several, whose works will be carefully collated with each other, and will comprise the events of many more years than have been elucidated by any one historian. The very extensive collection of Persian manuscripts, lately purchased by the East India Company, for their library in Leadenhall Street, in addition to those brought from Seringapatam, has given access to many volumes which were formerly scarcely known to Europeans. Dr Davy has in the press a volume of the Elements of Chemistry. Miss Maria Edgeworth has in the press, a fourth and fifth volume of Tales of Fashionable Life. A translation is announced of the Voyage round the World, in the years 1803, 4, 5, and 6, by command of his Imperial Majesty Alexander I. in the ships Nadesha and Neva, under the command of Captain Von Krusenstern; by R. B. Hoppner, Esq. in one volume, quarto, with charts, plates, &c. The Author of the Curiosities of Literature announces Calamities of Authors; including some inquiries respecting their moral and literary characters. Mr Galt, who lately published part of his Travels, has in the press a work on the Life and Administration of Cardinal Wolsey; which will be published in the course of next month. Besides the ecclesiastical and political transactions of Popes Julius II. Leo X. Adrian VI. and Clement VII., Mr Galt gives occasional sketches of the state of English literature, at that period; and of the opinions then held by the people on Astrology, &c. In the appendix will be introduced, several original documents and private letters, written by Henry VIII. Francis I. Charles V. Mary Queen of France; and other persons of eminence in that age. 1 A History of the European Commerce with India; with a review of the arguments for and against the management of it by a chartered company, an appendix of authentic accounts, and a map, is preparing by Mr. Macpherson, author of the Annals of Commerce. Kabington's Castara, with a biographical and critical Essay, by C. A. Elton, Esq. the Translator of Hesiod, is reprinting at Bristol. Decker's Gull's Hornbook, with explanatory notes, is also republishing at Bristol. In a few weeks will be published, the Poetical Latin Version of the Psalms, by G. Buchanan, with copious notes in English, critical and explanatory, partly from those of Burman, Chytræus, Ruddiman, Hunter, and Love, and partly by the editor, A. Dickinson, of the University press, Edinburgh. To each Psalm will be prefixed the nature of the verse, with a scanning table. Some copies will be thrown off on royal paper. A M.S. Latin Translation of the lost Optics of Ptolemy has been lately found in the Imperial Library at Paris. It was made by one Ammiratus Siculus. It is said that, in the conyent of Mount Athos, a Greek manuscript has been found, which contains the text of about eighty comedies, supposed to be works of Menander and of Philemon. Doubtless Asia Minor and Turkey abound in these curiosities, as well as the religious houses in Russia. The first volume of a new History. of the Roman Empire, by M. Nieburgh, counsellor of the King of Prussia, was lately published at Berlin. The posthumous works of the celebrated Pallas, are expected from the press at Berlin. Mr. John Brady, of Kennington, proposes to publish a Connected Series of Essays, affording a comprehensive and authentic detail of the phenomena of time, the manner in which it has been computed, divided, subdivided, and regulated, from the earliest periods of antiquity; with an etymological description of the times of each division, now and formerly in use; a full and historical account of the various instruments that have been invented for registering its flight, recording events, and every other important particular connected with that subject. Mr Williams, of Stationers' Court, proposes, in future, to publish a Monthly List of New Publications, and New Editions of Works on Theology, Morals, and Education. Memoirs Memoirs of the Progress of Manufactures, Chemistry, Science, and the Fine Arts. PROFES ROFESSOR LESLIE has succeeded in freezing quicksilver by his frigorific process. This remarkable experiment was performed in the shop of Mr Adie, Optician, here, with an air-pump of a new and improved construction, made by that skilful artist. A wide thermometer tube, with a large bulb, was filled with mercury and attached to a rod passing through a collar of leathers, from the top of a cylindrical receiver. This receiver, which was 7 inches wide, covered a deep flat bason of nearly the same width, and containing sulphuric acid, in the midst of which was placed an eggcup halffull of water. The inclosed air being reduced by the working of the pump to the 50th part, the bulb was repeatedly dipt in the water, and again exposed to evaporation, till it became incrusted with a coat of ice about the 20th of an inch thick. The cup, with its water still unfrozen was then removed, and the apparatus replaced, the coated bulb being pushed down to less than an inch from the surface of the sulphuric acid. On exhausting the receiver again, and continuing the operation, the icy crust at length started into divided fissures, owing probably to its being more contracted by the intense cold than the glass which it invested; and the mercury having gradually decended in the thermometer tube till it reached the point of congelation, suddenly sunk almost into the bulb, the gage standing at the 20th part of an inch; and the included air being thus rarified about 600 times After a few minutes, the apparatus being removed, and the bulb broken, the quicksilver appeared a solid mass, which bore the stroke of a hammer. The tem perature of the apartment was then 54° of Fahrenheit. A valuable and simple process has lately been discovered by Edward Howard, Esq. F. R. S. for the refining of sugar, which promises to be of great advantage. The following is the outline of the process: "Take brown sugar, sift it through a coarse sieve, then put it lightly into any conical vessel having holes at the bottom (like a coffee machine). Then mix some brown sugar with white syrup, that is, syrup of refined sugar, to the consistency of batter or thick cream, and pour it gently on the top of the sugar in the vessel till the surface be covered. The syrup will soon begin to percolate, and leave the surface in a state which will allow more syrup to be poured upon it, which is to be done carefully. The treacle will be found to come out at the bottom, having left the whole mass perfectly white. The first droppings are to be kept apart, as the last will serve to begin another operation. The sugar is now in a pure state, except as to its containing insoluble matter, which may of course be separated by solution in water. The clarification is to be performed by the best pipeclay and fuller's-earth, and the addition of neutral alum, if lime be previously contained therein; the whole to be agitated together; and, if expedition be required, it should be heated to the boiling point: the fæculencies will then subside. The brown syrup may also be much improved by means of tannin and the above earths. To make the sugar into snow-white powder, it is also necessary to evaporate the clarified solution to dryness on a water-bath. To make loaves, the conmmon methods may be resorted to, or the syrup drawn off by exhaustion, or small grains may be made according to M. Du Trone's |