Meanwhile the infantry engaged with great fpirit; the ardour on the weaker fide being inflamed to enthufiafm by the confcious worth of the Argyrafpides, who upbraided their adverfaries, as wretches who combated their fathers. The rapidity of this felect body was equal to its firmnefs; and wherever thefe veterans affailed, their exertions were decifive. Antigonus, when both his main body and his left wing had given way, was advised to move towards the mountains and endeavour to cover the retreat. But the impetuofity of the Argyrafpides in urging the purfuit, had left unfupported the divifion commanded by Eudamus. Antigonus feized the decifive moment; rushed into the opening with the flower of his cavalry, and by an attack in flank put to rout the whole of this left wing. The swifteft of his horfe were difpatched to collect his own fugitives, whom the alternation of victory enabled him to rally and form at the foot of the mountains. Eumencs perceiving the defeat of his left wing, returned with his cavalry from the purfuit, and alfo recalled his infantry. Before either army was again prepared for battle, night had 'come on; but it was then full moon; the sky was clear and ferene; and the hoftile lines ftood fo near to each other *, that they could mutually perceive the diftinct flashes of adverfe fteel, and hear the clang of weapons, the neighing of horses, and the roaring of elephants.

"Eumenes, whofe lofs of men had been inconfiderable, compared with that of his opponent, might have renewed the engagemeat with advantage; but he was overruled in this purpofe by the mutinous temper of his troops, as well as in the design of moving to the left that he might have an opportunity of interring the flain t." Vol. I. p. 345.

After the defeat and death of Eumenes, which took place eight years pofterior to the demife of Alexander, Antigonus ruled almoft without controul in the provinces of Afia, and feems to have meditated the complete fubjugation of the rival chieftains, who had eftablished their power in the remoter diftrifts of the empire. His plans of ambition were powerfully feconded by the talents and activity of his fon Demetrius, one of the most extraordinary characters of his age; and furnamed Poliorcetes, from his uncommon fkill in the art of conducting fieges. This young prince combined with undaunted bravery, and a boundless fpirit of enterprife, a generous opennefs, and a fondness for the

*Only fout de afunder, that is 400 feet; but the age, as a measure of length, is cftimated differently by Suidas and Hefychius.

+ Diodor. 1. xix. f. 31.

arts and literature that had conferred immortality on the Grecian name. But he was fickle, haughty, and addicted to pleasure. In the true fpirit of enthufiafm, he planned an expedition for the purpose of emancipating the Grecian republics, and reinftating them in the full poffefion of their ancient privileges. To Athens he was particularly partial, and loaded its citizens with benefits, for which he required no other return than their efteem. The ingratitude with which he was treated by this fickle people in the feafon of his adverfity, is a memorable example of the inftability of popular favour.

The ambition of Antigonus, and the arrogance with which he purfued his fchemes of aggrandizement, at length raised against him a formidable combination of the governors of the principal provinces, who had never acknowledged his fway; and who, as well as hinfelf, had now affumed the title of kings. Thefe were Caffander in Macedon; Lyfimachus in Thrace; Ptolemy in Egypt; and Seleucus, who for fome time had obtained a footing in Babylon. Antigonus and Demetrius did not fhrink from the conteft, but immediately gave battle to the forces of Seleucus and Lyfi machus, which had formed a junction in Phrygia. The action, which was fought at Ipfus, proved decifive. Antigonus was flain, his army routed, and his fon Demetrius. put to flight. Soon after a partition was made of the conquefs of Alexander among the four fuccefsful generals, according to which, Egypt, with Colo-Syria and Palestine, were ceded to Ptolemy; Seleucus gained the reft of Syria, and was confirmed in his extenfive dominion between the Euphrates and the Indas; Lyfimachus acquired Leffer Asia, and the neighbouring mountainous diftrict; and Caffander continued to reign in Macedonia and Greece.

(To be continued.)

ART. II. Philofophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. For the Year 1807. P. I. 4to. pp. 132. G.

and W. Nicol.

THIS part of the philofophical tranfactions contains only. fix papers, befides the meteorological journal. The

contents of those papers are as follows:

I. The Bakerian Lecture on fome Chemical Agencies of Electricity. By Humphry Davy, Efq. F. R. S. &c.

The fubject of electricity, which feems to be concerned with almost all the operations of nature, whofe power ex

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ceeds that of any other known agent, and whofe effects are undoubtedly of the utmoft confequence, is far from being clearly or fufficiently underftood; there being feveral facts which apparently contradict each other, and others which are at prefent utterly inexplicable. It is for the purpose of explaining fome of thofe difficulties, or of elucidating the fubject in general, that Mr. D. defcribes in the prefent lecture feveral of his valuable experiments, and accompanies them with proper explanations, as well as a judicious appli cation of their refults to fome grand operations of nature.

This rather extenfive paper is divided into ten fections; the first of which contains à fhort introduction. The fecond treats of the changes produced by electricity in water. Here this author gives a concife hiftory of the obfervations made by various philofophers, relative to the production of an acid, and of an alkali, in water expofed to the action of Galvanism, or to the Voltaic pile. The phenomena, as related by those experimenters, are rather of a contradictory nature; for fometimes an acid, at other times an alkali, and often both an acid and an alkali were faid to be produced at the fame time; yet in fome cafes no indications of the prefence of an acid or of an alkali could be difcovered. But it foon appeared from Mr. Davy's experiments, as well as from those of the Galvanic Society at Paris, of Dr. Wollaflon and others, that the acid or the alkali was derived from the fubfances employed in the apparatus. By repeating and diverfifying the experiments, this author found that a small quantity of faline matter was always produced; and after living examined all the concurring circumftances, and every part of the apparatus, he found reafon to conclude, that the fixed alkali was furnished by the water itself; for though the water had been diftilled, yet it is well known that fmall quantities of the fixed alkalies rife and pass over with the vapour in rapid diftillations. In order to perform the experiment in the leaft exceptionable manner, Mr. D. ufed two hollow cones of pure gold; thefe were filled with diffilled water, and connected together by the interpofition of a moistened piece of amianthus. In this ftate they were expofed to the action of the Voltaic battery.

"In ten minutes the water in the negative tube had gained the power of giving a flight blue tint to litmus paper: and the water in the pofitive tube rendered it red. The process was continued for fourteen hours; the acid increased in quantity during the whole time, and the water became at laft very four to the taffe. The alkaline properties of the fluid in the other tube, on the contrary, remained ftationary, and at the end of the tire, it did not act upon litmus er turmeric paper more than in

the first trial: the effect was lefs vivid after it had been ftrongly heated for a minute; but evaporation and the ufual procefs proved that fome fixed alkali was prefent. The acid, as far as its properties were examined, agreed with pure nitrous acid, having an excefs of nitrous gas."

This experiment was varied and repeated in the open air, and likewife under the exhausted receiver of the air-pump, attending to all the circumftances which the nicety of the fubject feemed to demand; and after all it appeared evident that water chemically pure, is decompofed by the action of electricity into gafeous matter alone, namely, into oxygene and hydrogene; that the fixed alkali, when any of it is obtained, is not generated, but evolved, either from the folid materials employed in the preparation, or from faline matter contained in the water; and that the ammonia (minute porsions of which were often produced) and the acid, are formed by a mixture of the gafes, which are partly produced by the decompofition of the water, and partly abforbed from the atmosphere.

Sect. III. On the Agencies of Electricity in the Decompofition of various Compounds.

The refult of the preceding experiments having manifefted the power of electricity in decompofing folid bodies, Mr. D. endeavoured to afcertain the peculiar effects which that power might produce upon fuch folid bodies as were infoluble, or difficultly foluble in water. With this view he fucceffively expofed to the galvanic action feveral pieces of ftone, viz. zeolite, lapidolite, volcanic lava, &c, and he obtained an alkaline matter from every one of those bodies. But notwithstanding thofe refults, willing to remove every poffible doubt refpecting the fource of thofe products, he made the following very accurate experiment, in which he employed glafs, as a fubftance apparently infoluble in water, and of courfe not likely to afford any erroneous refults.

"The balance,'' Mr. Davy fays, "that I employed was made for the Royal Inftitution, by Mr. Fidler, after the model of that belonging to the Royal Society; it turns readily with 6 of a grain when loaded with 100 grains on each fide; a glafs tube with a platina wire attached, weighing 84 grains, was connected with an agate cup, by amianthus'; they were filled with purified water, and electrified by a power from 150 pairs of plates in fuch a way, that the platina in the glafs tube was negative. The procefs was continued for four days, when the water was found alkaline. It gave by evaporation and exposure to a heat of about 400° Fahrenheit, foda mixed with a white powder infoluble

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infoluble in acids, the whole weight of which was of a grain. The glafs tube carefully cleaned and dried, weighed 84 grains 7. The difference between the lofs of weight of the tube and the weight of the products in the water, may be eafily explained: fome minute detached particles of amianthus were prefent, and the foda must have contained water, a fubftance which it is pro. bably perfectly free from in glafs."

After this experiment, Mr. D. defcribes thofe in which he employed fubftances foluble in water, and with these the decompofition was always more rapid, as well as the refults more diftin&t. He fucceffively ufed compound falts of various defcriptions, viz. metallic, earthy, &c, and it is to be remarked that in the decompofition of thofe saline subftances by means of electricity, the acid was always found near that wire which was connected with the pofitive fide of the battery, whilft the alkali, the earth, or the metallic fubstance, was found near the wire connected with the negative fide.

"Strong," Mr. D. fays, " or faturated faline folutions, as might have been expected, afforded indications of the progrefs of decompofition much more rapidly than weak ones; but the fmalleft proportion of neutrofaline matter feemed to be acted on with

energy.

"A very fimple experiment demonftrates this laft principle. If a piece of paper tinged with turmeric is plunged into pure water in a proper circuit, in contact with the negative point, the very minute quantity of faline compound contained in the paper, affords alkaline matter fufficient to give it instantly a brown tint near its point of contact; and acid in the fame manner is immediately developed from litmus paper, at the pofitive Turface."

Seat. IV. On the Transfer of certain of the conflituent Parts of Bodies by the Action of Electricity.

It appearing probable, from the experiments of other perfons, that the faline elements evolved in decompofitions effected by electricity, were capable of being transferred from one electrified furface to another, this author endea voured to determine the matter by means of decifive experi ments, and his attempts were attended with complete fuc

cefs..

"I connected," fays he, "one of the cups of fulphate of lime with a cup of agate by abeftos; and, filling them with purified water, made the platina wire in the cup of fulphate of lime tranfmit the electricity from a power of 100; a wire in the agate cup received it. In about four hours a ftrong folution of lime