trample on the laurel, provided he can obtain a maple chaplet. As, however, we have not room to be minute on the whole work, we will pass on to the consideration of the Village in its present civilized condition. And here the author has exhibited himself to most advantage. When he comes among civilized people, he pays his respects first, as is meet, to the ladies. In treating this part of the subject, he makes some very judicious remarks on the character most proper for women to sustain, and after a passing compliment to his fair towns-women, calling them household deities, he manifests a very correct judgment in the description he gives of a good wife; and then throws together, with some discrimination, those qualities which constitute a bad wife, and mar all the enjoyments of home. He next reviews the profession of the law, in the course of which he draws two portraits, one of a cunning, selfish, hard-hearted, designing lawyer, and the other of a stupid, ignorant and corrupt justice of the peace, the vindictive tyrant of the neighbourhood, and which, if they be not executed in the first style, are yet very correct likenesses. He takes a survey also of the clergy and the faculty, and in what he says in connexion with the former, he seems to have felt more roused and energetic than in any part of the poem. After a succinct account of the extravagance and tyranny of the Romish superstition, he introduces Martin Luther in the following animated lines. 'Kind Heaven relenting look'd on human grief, In a strain of good sense and good feeling, he speaks to the following effect on the style of preaching most calculated to benefit society, and purify the heart. 'Ye holy Pastors, wherefore then contend? Your creeds to spread and dogmas to defend? Are ye not all commission'd from above, One God ye worship and one Saviour trust, Heralds of peace and ministers of love? And all alike are children of the dust. And wondering at the mysteries you teach, Is train'd to doubt, and thence advancing fast, Becomes a perfect infidel at last. Why to vain tenets strive recruits to win, See, while ye waste in vain disputes your time, The faithless hearer, listening as you preach, Rather than save immortal souls from sin? How the vast earth is overrun by Crime. prey. We have thus endeavoured to give about equal portions of the better and the poorer parts of the poem before us, and shall only remark, further, that there is, throughout, evidence of considerable facility in composing, though it appears like the facility of a mind of moderate powers employed on easy subjects, and not that resistless movement which characterizes genius when excited to put forth its strength. ART. 6. TRANSACTIONS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. CIRCULAR. The names of those who have been approved by the Trustees are forwarded to the Regents of the University, who return an equal number of Diplomas, under the signa INQUIRIES being frequently made, by ture of the Chancellor. They are afterwards persons resident at a distance, relative to the course of studies, and requisites for graduation, in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of New-York, as also concerning other matters interesting to the Students who resort to this School of Medicine, the Trustees of the College, with a view of removing the inconvenience of answering so many individual applications, and of gratifying those whom it may concern, have ordered the present Circular to be published for general information. The College opens, annually, on the first Monday in November, and the several courses begin, successively, that week, after the Introductory Lectures of the respective Professors. The Session closes the last day of February. LECTURES IN THE FORENOON, Theory and Practice of Physic. by Dr. Hosack, from nine to ten o'clock, daily. Principles and Practice of Surgery, by Dr. Mott, from ten to eleven, daily. Anatomy, Physiology, and Surgery, by Dr. Post, from eleven to twelve, daily. The Clinical Practice of Medicine, by Dr. Hamersley, and attendance at the NewYork Hospital, from twelve to one, daily. LECTURES IN THE AFTERNOON. Natural History, including Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoology, by Dr. Mitchill, from one to two, daily. Chemistry and Materia Medica, by Dr.. M'Neven, from five to six, daily. Obstetrics, and the Diseases of Women and Children, by Dr. Hosack, from four to five, on Mondays and Thursdays. Clinical Lectures, by Dr. Hamersley, from four to five, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Institutes of Medicine, by Dr. Francis, from four to five, on Tuesdays and Fridays. Legal Medicine, by Dr. Stringham, from seven to eight, on Mondays and Thursdays. GRADUATION. It is expected that a candidate for graduation shall have attained the age of twentyone years. On or before the first day of February, the candidate shall make known his name and intention to one of the Professors, by whom he will be informed of the time and place of examination. This first examination is by the board of Professors only: it is private and confidential. signed by the Professors. By the 20th of March, the candidate shall deliver to one of the Professors a Disserta tion on some Medical Subject. He is publicly examined on the same, in the College Hall, the first Monday in April, and may publish, with the approbation of one of the Professors, either in the English, French, or Latin Languages. The Degrees are conferred by the President, the next day, at a public Commencement. From the provision thus made, it will be seen, that the various Courses of Lectures, delivered in the College, are so arranged, as to constitute a complete system of Medical Education. The Board of Trustees, bowever, think it incumbent on them to state, that it has been their unremitted endeavour to increase, as far as practicable, the means of instruction, and to render the advantages enjoyed by the College, at least equal to those of any other similar establishment in the United States, The Anatomical Museum, of large extent, has been augmented by some rare and valuable preparations, and very important additions have been made to the Chemical Apparatus and Laboratory. The Cabinet of Natural History has also been greatly enriched by numerous specimens, native and foreign; and in the illus trations of the Geology and Mineralogy of the American States, is peculiarly rich. It is proper further to state, that although the most liberal and extensive system of Medical and Philosophical instruction has thus been provided the expense of education to the candidate for Medical honours is not increased beyond that of any other College in the Union; as the courses are not made indispensably necessary for graduation, and the student is at liberty to attend any course or courses he may think expedient: the Professors insist upon the attainments of the candidate, and not upon the number of courses nor the number of years he may have attended at the University.-The Trustees believe their plan of education satisfactory, and they indulge the hope that nothing will be wanting to fulfil the just expectations and liberal views of their patrons, the Honourable the Legislature, and the Regents of the University of New-York. By order, SAMUEL BARD, M. D. President. A second examination is held before the JOHN W. FRANCIS, M. D. Registrar. board of Trustees, to whom, on this occa- N. B. The Student of Medicine has abunsion, an appeal lies, and before whom there daut opportunities of prosecuting private disis offered an opportunity of redress, if a can- sections, under the immediate direction of didate thinks himself in any wise aggrieved, the Professors of Anatomy and Surgery, as the College enjoys the peculiar advantage of being able to procure subjects from the State Prison, under the sanction of an act of the Legislature. City of New-York, Jan. 28th, 1817. Annual Medical Commencement in the University of New-York.-Agreeable to a resolution of the honourable the regents of the University of the state of New-York, the annual commencement, for the purpose of conferring the degree of doctor of medicine, in the college of physicians and surgeons of this city, was held on Tuesday, the 8th day of April, 1817. The exercises took place in the hall of the college, and were honoured with the presence of a numerous and respectable audience, besides the trustees, professors, and other officers of the institution. The degree of doctor of Medicine was granted to the following forty gentlemen, who had been students of the University, had undergone the several examinations required by its laws, and publicly defended their respective inaugural dissertations. After the candidates were vested with their academic honours, the venerable and learned president, Samuel Bard, M. D. L. L. D. delivered an interesting address to the graduates. Nathaniel Allen, A. B. of Connecticut, on the vis medicatrix naturæ. John B. Beck, A. M. of Schenectady, N. Y. on infanticide. Lewis D. Bevier, A. B. of New-York, on hydrophobia. Thomas W. Blatchford, of New-York, on feigned diseases. Isaac Motte Campbell, A. M. of SouthCarolina, on amputation. John Colvill, junr. of New-York, on phthisis pulmonalis. Alexander Chisholm, of South-Carolina, on tetanus. John Julius Conturier, of South-Carolina, on pneumonia typhodes. William N. Clarkson, of South-Carolina, on arthritis. Samuel P. Dunbar, of New-York, on urinary calculi. Nicoll H. Dering, of New-York, on hydrocephalus internus. Charles Doughty, of South-Carolina, on fungus hemodates. Henry M. Dueachet, of South-Carolina, on the action of poisons. Harvey Elliot, A. M. of Connecticut, on the asclepias tuberosa of Linnæus. Benjamin Rodolphus Greenland, of SouthCarolina, on the medical properties of the prenanthes virgata. James A. Gray, of Virginia, on cynanche trachealis. Thomas J. Gibbons, of New-York, on hemorrhage, Stephen Hasbrouck, A. B. of New-York, on insensible perspiration. James L. Hannah, of St. Martins, WestIndies, on digestion. John Hill, A. B. of North-Carolina, on angina pectoris. Jesse Hamor, of Pennsylvania, on dysentery. 'Ezekiel Hall, of North-Carolina, on hydrothorax. Asa Hillyer, junr. A. M. of New-Jersey, on the passions. Ellis C. Harlan, of Pennsylvania, on ce phalitis. Cornelius P. Heermans, of Ontario coun. ty, N. Y. on the medical topography of On. tario county. John J. Ingersoll, A. B. of Connecticut, on animal heat. Reuben King, of Massachusetts, on hereditary predisposition to disease. Roderick Murchison, of South-Carolina, on the absorbent system. J. B. Ricord Madiana, of France, on insanity. William L. Mitchell, of New-York, on concussion of the brain. Michael O'Brian, of South-Carolina, on the anterior operation for cataract. James Roane, of Tennessee, on pneumonia typhodes, as it appeared in Nashville. Stephen C. Roe, of New-York, on ammo. nia. Zabina Smith, of Massachusetts, on the chemical effects of light. James Seaman, of New-York, on ergot. Abraham Van Gelder, of New-York, on the nature and constitution of the atmosphere. James S. Watkins, A. B. of New-York, on the agency of electricity and galvanism. Egerton L. Winthrop, A. B. of New-York, on indigestion, and its influence on certain diseases. Thomas Waties, junr. A. M. of SouthCarolina, on the operation of cold. W. Williamson, A. M. of New-York, on stone in the bladder. The degree of doctor of medicine was also conferred on John D. Jaques, of NewYork, a trustee of the college. MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. Agreeable to Statute, this Society met at the Capitol in the city of Albany on the 4th day of February last The annual address was delivered by the President, Joseph White, M. D. being an ingenious discourse on the subject of White Swellings of the Joints; which has been published at the request of the Society. The Society then proceeded to the Election of Officers for the present year-when the following gentlemen were chosen; John Stearns, M. D. President, Henry Mitchill, M. D. Vice Pesident, James Low, M. D. Secretary, Charles D. Townsend, M. D. Treasurer, Drs. Theoderick R. Beck, James Low, taneous or originating within itself, and not After disposing of the various subjects which came under their consideration, the Society adjourned on the 6th. NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Sitting of May 6th. DR. MITCHILL communicated, with some specimens of Zoology, &c. contributed by Capt. Edmund Fanning of this city, the following observations, which, on account of their importance, we have copied verbatim from the journal of the sitting. “But, in addition to these articles, Capt. Fanning has given us more information concerning that enormous inhabitant of the ocean, which appears to surpass in magnitude, all the living creatures belonging to the terraqueous globe." "On a former occasion I endeavoured to collect and state the evidence which NewYork afforded concerning such huge próductions of nature. It then appeared from the testimony of seven independent and respectable witnesses, that the existence of creatures larger than whales, and different from whales, could not be doubted. By comparing this mass of intelligence with that collected, from all sources within his reach, by Dennis Montfort, in his elaborate history of Molluscas, I was led to believe this prodigious animal was the sepia octopus, or eight armed cuttle fish. These particulars were arranged in the form of a Memoir, and printed in the 16th vol. of the Medical Repository, page 396-406. "Afterwards, the declarations of other persons, unexceptionable in point of credibility and character, were taken. They corroborated the former conclusion, by a further mass of powerful evidence. All these matters were recorded in the before-mentioned work, vol. 17. p. 388-390. "After all this, as if to make assurance as certain as possible, Capt. Fauning has entered on the Journal of the ship Volunteer, commanded by him, bound to the Sonth Seas, that being in about the Latitude of 36° south, on the Atlantic Ocean, sailing towards Terry del Fuego, he saw one of these monsters of the deep. It was in the month of August, when the ocean was calm, and the vessel proceeding at the rate of four miles the hour. During the brightness of a fair day, while the captain and officers were taking their food below, the boatswain alarmed them by stating that he descried a rock at some distance a-head of the ship. They all proceeded to the deck, and soon satisfied themselves that the supposed rock was a moving body, and that its impulse was spon ing now convinced it was an animal, they discovered his course to be directly across the ships direction. They continued straight forward with the expectation of passing ahead of him. But his progress was such that there was a necessity of running foul of him, or of keeping away to go behind him. The ship was first kept away to clear him, and immediately after passing his wake, brought round a little to reconnoitre him. He was mostly under water; but a part apparently of the size of a ship's boat upside-down was above the waves. His visible magnitude was estimated at one hundred and ten feet, or more, from side to side. This surface was uneven, as if covered with moss, weeds, and barnacles or shells. He paid no regard whatever to the ship, and the billows rolled over him as over a shoal or rock. It was supposed that his eyes were discovered, as also, something like fins or a tail in action. But no determinate judgment of his bulk, figure, or manner of swimming could be formed, partly by reason of his vastness, and partly because of his concealment under water. On the whole, the crew were glad to leave him unmolested; and some of the seamen, for several days, retained the terror of the impression so strongly that they were constantly on the watch for krakens, and feared that they might all be lost, by encountering such an enormous creature in the night." Dr. Mitchell also stated that, in consequence of a request from Professor Bigelow of the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts, he had noted the flowering of the following trees, shrubs and plants in this city and its vicinity, this season, which are arranged in their chronological order. April 11th. Red maple, dandelion, and common elm.-15th. Currant and gooseberry; yellow narcissus or daffodil; dogs-toothviolet, (erythronium lanceolatum.) 16th.Marsh marygold, (caltha palestris.) 19th. Wood anemone, (A nemorosa,) and claytonia virginica. 20th. White narcissus. 21st. Peach tree flowered; 26th. in full bloom.25th. Cherry tree flowered; May 2, in full bloom. 26. blood-root plant, (sang canad,) June-berry or bilberry, (Pyr. botryapium.) May 1. Apple tree dwarf, (Pyr. malus paradisaica,) Plum tree. May 2. Pear tree, (P. com.) 4. Apple tree orchard common. Lilac, (syring, valg.) dwarf almond. 5. Dr. Mitchill made some remarks on a specimen of Lumachelia marble, which he deposited in the cabinet of the Society, being a slab large enough for a hearth, received from Roger Strong, Esq. of this city, who bad obtained it from the quarry in the town of Coeymans, in the county of Albany. It is filled with the calcareous remains of Molluscas. Traces of six kinds of shelfs and creatures are clearly discernible. Most of them are of species extinct, or not now known to exist. The learned Doctor enumerates the following among the varieties that may be made out; Belemnites, Encrinites, Terebratulas, Pectinites, a Cardium exhibited in various fractures, and a spherical flesh-coloured body, which he conjectures to be an Actimia. The Lumachella of Coeyman's, were it not for its flinty ingredients, would be nearly equal to the Italian Lumachella. CIRCULAR. New-York Institution, April 8th, 1817. SIR-By request of the Mineralogical committee of the New-York Historical Society, I have the honour to forward to you a notice of their intention to form a collection of the minerals and fossils of the United States. The object of this undertaking being of great public utility, they trust that it will meet with general encouragement. Allow me, Sir, in their behalf, to request of you such donations of minerals and petrefactions of the United States as you may have it in your power to procure for us, and such information as yourself or friends may possess of the mineralogy of any part of the United States. I have the honour to be, Your obedient servant, CIRCULAR. AMERICAN ZOOLOGY AND GEOLOGY. New-York Institution, March 11, 1817. SIR-In behalf of the New-York Historical Society, I beg leave to solicit your assistance toward the formation of a Zoological Muse um. For the purpose of becoming more extensively acquainted with the animal creation, a plan has been digested for collecting specimens and productions from the different tribes. These it is intended to preserve and arrange in an apartment allotted for their reception. The document annexed to this letter, contains some of the leading subjects of inquiry. Every fact and article relative to this exalted department of Natural History will be thankfully accepted and duly estimated I beg you to accept the assurance of my good will and respect. SAMUEL L. MITCHILL, Chairman. CIRCULAR. New-York Institution, April 8, 1317. SIR-It was one of the original objects in the establishment of the Historical Society of New-York, to attend not only to the civil and ecclesiastical, but also to the natural history of our state and country. By the committee to whom has been in trusted more particularly the cultivation of Botany and Vegetable Physiology, I am directed to solicit your co-operation in promot ing and carrying into effect the designs of this institution. As it is our intention to assemble, as far as may be practicable, all the various Trees, Shrubs, gramineous and herbaceous plants of our country, whether they are cultivated for their alimentary qualities, their medicinal virtues, or their use in the arts, or are distin guished for other important or remarkable qualities, your contributions, by sending us the living plant, or the seeds, roots, cuttings. layers, offsets, or other means of cultivating or propagating it, will be particularly acceptable, and will be duly and gratefully acknowledged by the Historical Society; at the same time that we can now confidently assure you, they will be cultivated with great care, at the Botanic Garden, the state establish ment, in the vicinity of this city. We also request the favour of you, to accompany such communications by a description of the more prominent characters of the plant, and of the several uses to which it is applied. A specimen of the dried plant, prepared in the manner pointed out in the subjoined directions, to be placed in the Herbarium of the Society, will also be acceptable. Another object of the Society is to collect specimens of the various woods, which are employed in any of the arts of life, or which in any way administer to the benefit of man; should it be in your power to contribute to the cabinet, you will oblige the Society by sending specimens of a size that will admit of a block being formed of about 6 inches in length, and 4 in width, with an account of the purposes to which such woods are seve rally applied. Specimens of these dimen sions, if carefully selected, will show the tex ture and character of the wood. The various Barks and Roots which are in like manner made use of in diet, medicine, or in the various arts and manufactures, will be an acceptable addition to the collection now forming in this Institution. Preparations illustrative of the internat structure and economy of the vegetable body and of the diseases to which plants are liable, more especially those which frequently fall under the notice of the farmer or the horticulturist, will be gratefully received, and will claim the particular attention of this Society. I am, Sir, respectfully, Your humble servant, DAVID HOSACK, Chairman. DIRECTIONS At a late meeting of this Institution, committees were selected from its members for To be observed in Collecting and Preserving the cultivation of the several departments of Plants. Zoology and Geology, Botany and Vegetable 1. As the flower and the leaf are the parts of Physiology, and Mineralogy. a plant from which the Botanical charac |