to his Daughter, may be speedily expected to make its appearance.

Another part of Dr Holmes's Septuagint, containing the Book of Kings, is shortly expected from the Oxford

press.

Mr Thomas Parke is about to republish the "Gorgious Gallery of Gallant Inventions, garnished and decked with diuers dayntie Deuises, right delicate and delightfull.".

Miss Cullen, author of "Home," will publish, in April, a new Novel entitled" Mornton."

The Rev. G. F. Nott is preparing for publication, the Poems of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, of Sir Thomas Wyatt the elder, and of uncertain Authors who flourished in the reign of Henry VIII.; accompanied with Notes, Critical and Historical, and Biographical Accounts of the several Writers.

M. Becker, of Gotha, editor of an Antigallican National Gazette, was, by command of Marshal Davoust, closely confined for seventeen months in the citadel of Magdeburg; and such is the frightful effects of the various re-actions, that we learn from Mr Semple, that the learned Professor Henry, of Jena, has been long shut up, as a state prisoner, in a dungeon in Silesia, owing to his courtesy to Napoleon on his first entering that place.

Mr Mathias's projected edition of Gray's Poems, will form two handsome volumes in quarto.

The University of Halle, suppressed by Jerome Bonaparte, has been restored, and the lectures recommenced on the 3d of January.

A Dictionary, with a Grammar of the Armenian Tongue, in Armenian and Latin, was finished at Paris a few years ago, by two natives of the country, and would long since have been published at the expence of the French government, but for the costly wars in which France has been engaged. From the fifth to the fifteenth centu

ries, the schools of Armenia were renowned above all the others of Asia. One consequence of this passion for knowledge was, that the most celebrated writings of antiquity were translated into the Armenian language. Among these were Homer, Eusebius, more complete than our Greek and Latin copies, and various other works on history, philosophy, medicine, poetry, &c. When this is considered, it seems almost impossible that none of the authors of antiquity, wanting in Europe, should be found concealed in the literature of Armenia, those of the Greeks in particular.

A work, not only curious but instructive, has long been going forward in Italy. It is an account, historical and topographic, of that most interesting region, prior to the dominion of the Romans; to be illustrated with maps and plates.

Recupero, secretary of the academy of Catania, having written a History of Mount Etna, the work is about to be printed. It will form two large volumes, and be embellished with plates.

Jacopi has published at Pavia, an examination of the doctrines of Dr Darwin, relative to the retrograde movement of the fluids contained in the lymphatics.

Mr Alexander Robertson, of Edinburgh, has nearly ready for publication, the first number of a work, for the Flute, to be entituled, "Select Melodies of Scotland." The object of the Editor is to put the public in possession of proper setts of our national airs, arranged for an instrument so capable of expressing their beautiful simplicity as the Flute. work, it is proposed, shall not only contain all the ancient airs of celebrity, but also include the more modern productions of merit, particularly the compositions of the Gows.

The

The Speeches of the Right Hon. Charles James Fox, in the House of Commons, from his entrance into Parliament

Parliament in 1768 to the year 1806, with Memoirs, Introduction, &c. will soon appear in 6 vols. 8vo.

Shakspeare's Plays, without the laboured additions of his Annotators, are now printing in a style of superior beauty, accompanied each with five historical embellishments and a vignette, after original designs.

A new edition of a Narrative of the Voyages round the World, performed by Captain James Cook, with an account of his Life, by Dr Kippis, is printing in two neat cabinet volumes.

Voyage of Discovery.

The Russian ship General Suwaroff, now at Portsmouth, is about to proceed on what may appear a most extraordinary voyage, being none other than the completion of two military and commercial establishments on the west coast of North America. The Russian government have for nearly ten years past, had a fort, with a few pieces of ordnance, mounted on the island of Rodiak, in lat. 53. N. and long. 160. w. being the nearest point of the American continent to their establishment at Kamtschatka. Within these four years they have begun, to form another establishment, on the neck of land called California; and this ship takes out ordnance and ordnance stores of every description, to give to it an appearance of military strength. The trade the Russians carry on thither, which is very great, is wholly in furs, for which article they find a lucrative market in China, from whence they bring to Europe the produce of manufactures of that country, and are enabled, from their competition with each other, to afford it to the European continent at a cheaper rate than this country. The General Suwarroff will also endeavour, in the height of next summer, to discover a passage through Bhering's Straits, and in a north-westerly direction, to Archangel. A gentle man who is on board her, declares,

that on a former voyage of disco very he was more than half way through the northern seas of Cape North to Archangel, when the ship was stopped by the ice: this adventure left only about 400 miles unexplored, to complete the circuit of the world.

Travels of Discovery.

Mr Flesentrom, now at Petersburg, lately travelled through Siberia, as far as the Frozen Ocean, from whence he visited two islands, called the Holy Islands. He there found a vast number of skeletons of the mammoth, rhinocerus, elephant, and whale-fish, from whence he considers these uninhabited islands as the burial places of unknown generations. He has also found the pinions and claws of a bird which must have been at least three times the size of the condor of South America, which is the largest of all that are known of the feathered creation, and the wings of which, when extended, measured from fifteen to sixteen feet. In both the islands, pathways were discernible, which must have been made by wild beasts. From all these circumstances, it is supposed there must be a continental land extending from the 80th degree of the pole, and which must be chiefly inhabited by white bears and black ravens, who are particularly fond of the climate.

MEMOIRS OF THE PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES, CHEMISTRY, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS.

A NEW vegetable principle has been

detected in the Cocculus Indicus, or Indian Berry, a substance sufficiently well-known to fishermen, who often use it in their ground bait for the purpose of intoxicating, or otherwise disabling their prey, and thus by causing them to ascend to the surface of the water, rendering their capture more easy. This principle has been denominated

denominated Picrotoxine, and is that on which depend the peculiar deleterious properties of the Cocculus Indicus. It is of a white colour when pure, and is crystallizable. It is easi ly soluble in alcohol, but very sparingly so in water. Strong sulphuric acid, vinegar, and the alkalies, also dissolve it, as does nitric acid, by which, with the agency of heat, it is converted into oxalic acid.

An ingenious bleacher on the continent has lately been enabled to turn out thread of an exquisite degree of whiteness, by simply boiling it with well-burnt charcoal, in the proportion of 1,400 ells of the former, and 3 ounces of the latter; and we are a little surprised that the many very useful properties possessed by charcoal as an agent upon dead animal and vegetable matter, are not more extensively made use of in our numerous manufactories at home.

A new vegetable acid has been procured from the boletus pseudo-igniarius, by Bracannot, which he has accordingly called Boletic acid, and which in many respects resembles the other vegetable acids, except in being volatile when heated like benzoic acid.

Our knowledge of the composition of the various animal fluids has been much increased by the labours of Professor Berzelius. This accurate and indefatigable chemist has proved, that blood does really contain a notable proportion of iron, but that is in no degree the cause of its red colour, as has been supposed by Fourcroy and others. He has clearly shown, that the animal fluids owe their distinctive character to substances which are peculiar to them alone. Thus bile contains a principle perfectly different from every thing else, which has accordingly been designated by the name Biliary matter; and in like manner, saliva possesses its peculiar salivary matter. In other respects, most

of the fluids are composed of the same ingredients, combined together in different proportions.

A foundation for a most important revolution in the hitherto received doctrines of heat, proposed by Black, Lavoisier, and Irvine, has been afforded by the ingenious and elaborate experiments which were instituted to determine the specific heat of the different gases, by M. M. Delaroche and Berard. But the apparatus which these gentlemen employed was necessarily so very complicated, and the experiments themselves so very nice and intricate, that we must here be content merely to say, that they completely enabled their ingenious authors to attain the object for which they were undertaken; for, were we to attempt an outline of them, we should unavoidably prove unintelligible.

To such a prodigious extent has the power of producing artificial cold been lately increased, that we have now the means of freezing even alcohol itself. This, it is said, may be effected by condensing to a great degree the air in the vessel which contains the alcohole to be frozen, and then having previously exposed it to a strong frigorific mixture, permitting the air to escape from it as suddenly as possible. It has long been known, that, during the condensation of air, a considerable quantity of sensible heat is constantly evolved, and it is surprising, that the very simple process, just described, which is naturally suggested by this fact, has never been before employed.

Mr Brande has lately shewn, by experiments before the Royal Society, that the phenomenon of more heat being communicated to the negative ball of two electrified balls, between which a lighted candle is placed, arises from the same cause that the nega tive end of the voltaic battery attracts combustibles; and that the carbonaceous matter of the flame conveys

the

the heat to the negative ball. It appeared, however, that flames produced by other substances heated the positive ball in a higher degree.

In one of Mr Bakewell's Lectures at the Surrey Institution, delivered during the present month, he adverted to the possibility of applying gunpowder as a first mover of machinery. "Almost all the machines of the ancients," said he " were set in motion by the muscular action of men or quadrupeds; but the moderns have called the elements to their aid, and made the winds and the waters subservient

to their use. Natural philosophy has brought other agents into action; and the application of elastic fluids, particus larly of steam, as a mover of machines, has greatly enlarged the empire of man over nature. It is highly probable, that another agent may hereafter be substituted; an agent which has hitherto been chiefly employed for purposes of destruction, I mean gunpowder. I have little doubt that the expansive force of this substance might be immediately and safely applied to keep in motion large machines with much less expense than than by the steam engine. The apparatus would, I conceive, be less cumbersome and expensive. A single dram of gunpowder, if properly applied, will rend a solid block of metal equal in thickness to a large ordnance. The practical mechanic will have no difficulty in conceiving how an equable motion may be com. municated to machines by percussion, with the aid of a balance wheel and crank."

Among the indications of animals either now unknown, or at least not inhabitants of the countries where these indications are now found, may be reckoned the bones of the head, and the horns, lately found deep in a peat moss in the north of Russia. The animal must have been about twelve feet long the horns were two feet and a half long, and one foot and

:

half round at the root. From the appearance of this imperfect skeleton, it sems to have belonged to the Urus or Aurochs, mentioned by Cæsar in his account of Germany, of which the real existence has been sometimes denied by critics. It is not now doubted, however, that the true Urus may still be occasionally seen in the forests of Poland, and even in the mountains of Siberia.

NEWLY-INVENTED PRINTING PRESS,
BY MR JOHN RUTHVEN.

At a meeting of the members of the Edinburgh Institute, held on the 8th of March, Mr John Ruthven, printer, Edinburgh, laid before them a working model of his newly-invented printing press.

This press is constructed on principles entirely different from those of the presses now in use-to all of which, in the judgement of several professsional gentlemen who examined it, it is decidedly superior. As its mechanism, however, cannot be easily understood without actual inspection, it would be to little purpose to attempt to describe it; but it may be observed in general, that by substituting compound levers for the screw, Mr Ruthven has effected a considerable saving of power, and by a more commodious arrangement of the different parts of the machine, he has been enabled to remove all the material defects of the printing press hitherto in use. In Mr Ruthven's press, the coffin, or tablet for the types, remains fixed, and the impression on one side of a sheet is completed by one application of the moving power, and ef course by one exertion of the arm. He has a contrivance for making register (printing the pages exactly on the back of each other) in an improved manner, and a regulator for producing the different degrees_of pressure that may be required. Instead of pulling with the right hand,

as

as in the other presses, a practice both inconvenient and dangerous, the workman produces the impression by turning with the left hand a winch, or handle, which makes about one third of a revolution. It is proper to add, that all the parts are contrived and disposed with a due regard to economy of time and labour, and with a nice attention to every circumstance which a practical knowledge of the art could suggest.

Mr Ruthven's construction has the advantage of being equally applicable on a great or a small scale. With the model he exhibited, which did not occupy more space than a cubic foot, and although made of iron, was easily carried under the arm, he printed off, in presence of the meeting, eight small pages (contained in the size of a demy octavo,) affording occular evidence of the accuracy with which the impression was taken, and the facility with which the operation was per

formed. Such small presses would certainly be very useful in remote country places; they might even furnish a very pleasing amusement to amateurs: and those of the large size, when their advantages become known, will no doubt be brought into general use by the trade. We understand that, having obtained patents, he is preparing a number for sale.

Mr Ruthven concluded the account of his model, by observing, that as no circumstance connected with the progress of an art that had rendered such signal service to mankind was devoid of interest, he thought it but justice to state, that the Edinburgh Institute had the merit of bringing this invention into notice, as the attention excited by the portable press, formerly exhibited at a meeting of the Institute, had induced him to attempt one on a more extensive scale, which he had now the satisfaction to lay before the Society.

THE CHAPPIT TATAES." BLESS'D be the man wha did contrive To mak' potataes here to thrive !

• These verses (printed, word for word, from the original,) are the productions of a Perthshire labourer, while occupied as a shearer, and were written for the entertainment of his compeers at the ensuing harvesthome. Without his knowledge, a few copies have been thrown off, chiefly on account of the sentiments of industry, independence, and contentment, which they contain; and which are happily no strangers in this neighbourhood.

The sons of luxury, who eat before they are hungry, drink without being thirsty, and go to sleep at a late hour, but long before they are capable of enjoying the benefits of refreshing rest, can form no adequate conreption of that real happiness, which is often familiar to the well-informed, sober, and industrious Scottish labourer.