the same subject it is just to add, that we have for some months been in possession of a sheet printed by Dr. EDMUND FRY, on which the letters are raised on the paper and capable of being felt and read by the finger's ends. Considerable efforts have been made in England within these few weeks, to manufacture from vegetable productions of home growth, substitutes for foreign coffee, tea and tobacco. These attempts have been attended with considerable success, and they prove that Europe may, if it please, be independent of the Tropics, and may, by improved habits, strike at the root of West Indian Slavery. Among the most approved of these substitutes, are those of Mr. HENRY HUNT, who thus administers in a double sense to the health of the constitution. The Coffee of his manufacture is made from prepared RYE, is rich in flavour, and recommended by the faculty, as wholesome and nutritious. The Tea is made from various British herbs, celebrated for their salutary qualities; and the Tobacco is an improvement of that called British herb. They are sold at a fourth of the price of the foreign articles, and save two-thirds in family consumption. The excise has attempted to interfere, but we are aware of no law which prohibits the free use of our native productions, and we should hope none will ever receive the sanction of parliament.

LIEUTENANT FRANKLYN, who was employed last year in the British expedition to the North Pole, set out lately from a station belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, on a mission to explore the Countries situated to the North of Hudson's Bay. He will proceed in the track pursued by Mr. Hearne, some years ago, to the mouth of the Copper River, and thence renew his route in such directions as the circumstances of time and place may indicate, for the attainment of the objects of his undertaking.

The Lancasterian method of instruction appears to be rapidly spreading over every part of Europe, while Mr. L. is an Exile in America. In Spain, a royal decree has authorised the erection of a central school at Madrid, and others in the various communes of the kingdom. In Portugal the system is carried on still more energetically, and many of the pupils are soldiers in the army. In Denmark, on the 21st of August, the Lancasterian school of Copenhagen contained 162 scholars.

It is proposed to publish six monthly

parts of Picturesque Illustrations of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video: consisting of Views, and faithful representations of the costumes, manners, &c. of the inhabitants of those cities and their environs, taken on the spot by E. E. VIDAL, esq.; and accompanied with descriptive letter-press.-Also, a Picturesque Tour of English Lakes: illustrated with forty-eight coloured views, drawn by Mrs. T. H. FIELDING, and J. WALTON, during two years' residence in the most romantic parts of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, and the whole of them engraved in aquatinta by Mr. T. H. Fielding.

A History of the Modes of Belief, usually termed the Superstitions of the Middle Ages, with curious plates, is in the press.

A History of the several Italian Schools of Painting, with observations on the present state of the art, will soon be published, by J. T. JAMES, M. A. Author of Travels in Germany, Svo.

A Narrative of the late Political and Military Events in British India, under the Administration of the Marquess of Hastings, by Henry T. PRINCEP, esq. of the East East India Company's Civil Service, with maps, plans, and views, will soon appear.

Shortly will be published, TABELLA CIBARIA: the Bill of Fare; a Latin Poem, with Notes, Observations, and Directions, relating to the pleasures of Gastronomy, and the mysterious Art of Cookery.

Illustrations of Cases of Tic Douloureux successfully treated, are preparing by Mr. B. HUTCHINSON, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Mr. FRASER'S Travels in the Himala Mountains are ready for publication. Capt. BATTY's Account of the Campaign in 1815 will speedily appear.

Miss HOLFORD's novel of Sir Warbeck of Wolfsteen, 2 vols. is in the press.

Dr. BROWN'S Antiquities of the Jews, 2 vols. 8vo.

A work on Early Education, or on the general management of children, considered with a view to their future character, is preparing, by Mrs. ELIZABETH APPLETON.

STORIES FOUNDED ON FACTS, by Mrs. GRANT, of Croydon, in the press.

The Literary and Political Life of Augustus Von Kotzebue, translated from the German, will appear in a few days.

Two

Two volumes of Antient Spanish Romances, relating to the twelve Peers of France, mentioned in Don Quixote, with English metrical Versions, by THOMAS RODD, preceded by the History of Charles the Great and Orlando, translated from the Latin of SPANHEIM, are printing.

The Russian Tarif for 1820, containing all the Duties of the Russian Empire, will be published in a few days.

A periodical series is about to be commenced, called El Teatro Espanol Moderno, of which the first Number will contain five plays of Moratin, with his Portrait.

The Rev. JOHN DAVIES, A. M. Curate of Kew, is preparing a work entitled, Historical Prologues, or a versified Chronology of Events from the Conquest to the Death of George the Third.

Mr. G. R. RowE, F. R. C. S. of Haverhill, Suffolk, will speedily publish a Practical Treatise on those Nervous Disorders denominated Hypochondriasis, and Dyspepsia, or Indigestion, equally addressed to the public and profession.

A System of Education intended for the King of Rome, and other Princes of the Blood of France, drawn up by the Imperial Council of State under the superintendence of NAPOLEON, and finally approved by him, it is printing in French verbatim, with an English translation.

Dialogues, Moral and Religious, intended chiefly for the domestic use of young persons in the middle ranks of life, are printing.

A new edition of GALPINE'S Synoptical Compend is ready for publication, much enlarged and corrected by a Member of the Linnean Society. The chief addition is the introduction of the class Cryptogamia.

Mr. T. WILLIAMS is preparing for the press a Memoir of his late MAJESTY and the DUKE OF KENT, as a companion to those he published of the late Queen and Princess Charlotte.

Mr. BISCHOFF is preparing a third edition of his Reasons for the immediate Repeal of the Tax on Foreign Wool; with an Appendix, clearly shewing the injurious effects of that Tax.

FRANCE.

M. the COUNT DE FORBIN, author of the Voyage to the Levant, has set out for Sicily, to visit the antiquities of that island. He takes with him M. Huyot,

as designer, who had been the companion of his former voyage.

M. Gamba, a merchant, who has long resided in Paris, is about to proceed on a tour to Asia, and the banks of the Caspian sea, to investigate various objects of a scientific and agronomical character.

ner.

GERMANY.

An University at Bonne has lately been founded by the king of Prussia, and endowed in the most liberal manThe immense château of Bonne, ci-devant residence of the Elector of Cologne, is appropriated to the university; and the fine château of Poppledorf, with its plantations are to be the botanical gardens. A large astronomical observatory will be immediately erected. Many libraries have been acquired by purchase and donations. The anatomical theatre, the medical and surgical hospitals, and the institution for midwifery; the cabinet of physic, the laboratory, the museum of natural history, of antiquities, of Roman and German coins, medals and monuments, found in the environs of Bonne.

There are at present forty-five professors placed in the University by the King of Prussia.

ITALY.

In addition to former notices respecting the MSS. found in Herculaneum, we have to announce the enrolling of eighty-eight. Most of these consist of works by the Greek philosophers or Sophists; nine are by Epicurus; thirtytwo bear the name of Philodemus, three by Demetrius, one by Calotes, one by Polystratus, one by Carniades, and one by Chrysippus. These works, with like others, the authors of which are unknown, treat of natural or moral philosophy, of medicine, of arts, manneis and customs.

At Pompeia, there have been recently discovered several fresh buildings, in the line of the beautiful street that leads to the temple of Isis, to that of Hercules, and to the Theatre. In a house which doubtless was the residence of some experienced medical practitioner, chirurgical instruments of a highly finished workmanship, have been found, with a number of excellent paintings, representing fruits and animals.

EGYPT.

It appears by the news from Egypt, of the 20th of September last, that the labours of the canal of Rosetta are proceeding with all imaginable activity, and it was then calculated, that the

waters

In

waters of the Nile might be introduced into it, by the middle of October. Upper Egypt, some discoveries have been made of certain iron and lead mines. Mehemed Ali Pacha has sent a number of chemists and miners, to make researches for the gold and emerald mines that have been buried for some centuries, and he has promised a very great reward to any that shall discover a coal mine in Upper Egypt.

M. Frediani, of whom a rapid notice has been sketched in the different public journals, was, the winter before last, at Palmyra; he then visited Egypt, and proceeded to the mountains of Sinai and Horeb, in the route of the children of Israel. After this he came to Tor, in Arabia Petræa, on his return from the delectable region of Elim; this was in May, 1819. He stopped there some weeks, for rest and recreation, and was then intending to prosecute further discoveries.

The foreign journals report the arrival of M. Belzoni at Venice, from Alexandria, and that he had just finished his quarantine there. From Venice he will proceed to Padua, his native city, and from thence to Paris and London, where he means to publish a detailed account of his different labours.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

At Sydney, in New South Wales, there are, at present, three public journals, and five other periodical publications. A second printing office has also been established lately at Port Jackson. They now export cattle to the Isle of France, and the market at Sydney is considered as plentiful in the different commodities of Europe, as well as of India and China.

UNITED STATES.

The Gazette of St. Louis (on the Missouri, United States) announces the equipment of an expedition, the object of which is to ascertain the existence of a race reported to be the descendants of certain Welsh emigrants; they intend to comprehend all the southern ramifications of the great river Missouri, within the limits of their excursion. This undertaking is confided to Messrs. Roberts and Parry, both Welshmen, and well acquainted with the language of both North and South Wales.

A mass of native iron, weighing upwards of three thousand pounds, discovered several years ago on the banks of Red River in Louisiana, is now in

the collection of the Historical Society in the New York Institution. Its shape is irregular, inclining to oviform; its surface deeply indented, and covered by an oxide of iron, and it is much broader at the bottom, where it has rested on the earth, than at the top, inclining somewhat in the manner of a cone. By several experiments which have been made upon different pieces of it, there appears to be a want of uniformity in its quality, some parts being very malleable and ductile, while others possess nearly the hardness of steel. It is susceptible of the highest polish, and is said to contain some nickel. This mass of iron was found about one hundred miles above Natchitoches on Red River, on one of those rich and extensive prairies so common to that part of the country, and about twelve miles from the banks of the river.

On the banks of the Merrimack and the Gasconade are found numerous caves which yield an earth impreg ́nated largely with nitre, which is procured from it by lixiviation. On the head of Current's river are also found several caves from which nitre is procured, the principal of which is Ashley's Cave on Cave Creek, about eighty miles S. W. of Potosi. This is one of those stupendous and extensive caverns which cannot be viewed without exciting our wonder and astonishment, which is increased by beholding the entire works for the manufacture of nitre situated in its interior. The native nitrate of potash is found in beautiful white crystals, investing the fissures of the limestone rock which forms the walls of this cave; and several others in its vicinity exhibit the same phenomenon.

The Hot Springs of Quachitta, which have been known for many years, are situated on a stream called Hot-spring Creek, which falls into the Washitaw river eight miles below. They lie fifty miles south of the Arkansaw river, in Clark county, territory of Arkansaw, (lately Missouri), and six miles west of the road from Cadron to Mount Prairie on Red River.-The approach to the springs lies up the valley of the creek. On the right of the valley rises the hot mountain with the springs issuing at its foot on the left, the cold mountain, which is little more than a confused and mighty pile of stones. The hot mountain is about 300 feet high, rising quite steep and presenting occasionally

ledges

by exposure to air. Its taste is bitter and acrid. When heated it melts; and on cool. ing, becomes hard and brittle like resin. If heated more highly it blackens, and is decomposed. Water dissolves a very small portion of it. Alcohol and ether dissolves it very readily. The alcoholic solution renders syrup of violets green, and restores the blue tint of litmus, reddened by an acid. It forms neutral salts with the acids, which are very soluble; the alkalies precipitate the delphine in a white gelatinous state, like alumine.

The thermometer placed in the caves at Paris varied last year only 1-50th of a degree; the mean result is 11,697, (53o.05Fahr.,) and is above the mean temperature of the atmosphere by half a degree.

M. M. Capestolle, a French professor of chemistry, affirms, that a rope of straw will form an excellent conductor for lightning, and supply the place of metallic conductors.

A new comet was discovered at Marseilles, on the 28th of November, by M. Blanpain, in the south wing of the constellation Virgo. Its angular diameter was about six or seven minutes. A very small and confused nucleus has been observed, but no tail.

It has been ascertained that one and the same comet returned to our system in 1786, 1795, 1801, 1805, and 1818-19. It appears never to range beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Its short period of little more than three years and a quarter, and its mean distance from the sun, which is not much greater than twice that of the earth. It crosses the orbit of the earth more than 60 times in a century, but this need excite no apprehension in those who deny the phantom of attraction-it may disturb and divert the energy of the sun's force on the earth and moon, but can in no way attract, as is vulgarly supposed.

During the last ten years, the curiosity of philosophers has been frequently excited by notices in the foreign journals, respecting a singular property of the violet light of the spectrum, in virtue of which it is capable of communicating magnetism to small needles, or bars of steel. Dr. Morichini, an ingenious and highly respectable physician in Rome, was the first person who discovered this property of the violet rays. At that season of the year when the light of the sun is most powerful, he admitted it into his chamber, having formed the coloured spectrum by means of a prism, he collected the violet rays in the focus of a convex lens, and, by moving the lens parallel to the steel needle, he made the focus of the violet rays pass from the middle of one extremity of the needle to the other, and always in the same direction, without touching the other half. By continuing this operation for nearly an hour, the needle was found to be completely magnetized. This remarkable experiment was frequently repeated by Morichini with the same success, and was also

performed in the presence of many Italian and English philosophers. Humphry Davy states that he had watched with the greatest attention the whole progress of one of Morichini's experiments, and had the most thorough conviction of its accuracy.-The very same results have been obtained by Dr. Carpi at Rome, and M. Cosimo Ridolfi at Florence; though under a more northern and less serene sky, the experiment has in England been unsuccessful. Dr. Carpi maintains, that the temperature is a matter of indifference, but that the clearness and dryness of the air are of essential importance. M. Ridolfi exposed his needles to the influence of the extreme border of the violet ray. He magnetized some in thirty, and others in sorty-five minutes; and he considered the chemical rays as contributing to the success of the experiment. His experi. ments were performed under almost every variety of circumstances. He magnetized the needles when the apartment was rendered very humid; but when the violet ray passed through a column of water in vapour, or when the needle itself was immersed in water, no effect was produced. When the violet light was transmitted through the thick smoke of burning sugar, the needle received only a slight degree of magnetism. About the end of April 1817, when professor Playfair was at Rome, he availed himself of the opportunity which was presented to him of witnessing this singular experiment, which was performed by Dr. Carpi, in the absence of Morichini, before a party of English and Italian gentlemen. The violet light was obtained in the usual manner by means of a prism, and was collected into a focus by lens of a sufficient size. The needle was made of soft iron, and was found, upon trial, to possess neither popularity nor any power of attracting iron filings. It was fixed horizontally upon support by means of wax, and in such a direction as to cut the magnetic meridian at right angles. The focus of violet rays was carried slowly along the needle, proceeding from the cen. tre towards one of the extremities, care being taken never to go back in the same direction, and never to touch the other half of the needle. At the end of half an hour after the needle was exposed to the action of the violet rays, it was carefully examined, and it had acquired neither polarity nor any force of attraction; but after continuing the operation twenty-five minutes longer, when it was taken off and placed on its pivot, it traversed with great alacrity, and settled in the direction of the magnetical meridian, with the end over which the rays had turned towards the north. It also attracted and suspended a fringe of iron filings. The extremity of the needle that was exposed to the action of the violet rays, repelled the north pole of a compass needle. This effect was so distinctly marked, as to leave no doubt in the minds of any who were present, that the needle had received its magnetism from the action of the violet rays.

The