1815.] Intelligence in Literature and the Arts and Sciences. SIR JAMES FELLOWES intends publishing shortly some Reports on the Pesti lential Fever of Spain, being the result of his observation and inquiries into the origin and progress of that disorder in Andalusia, in 1800, during a residence of five years in that country: and a particular detailed account will be given of the fatal epidemic at Gibraltar in 1804, and of the two last at Cadiz in 1810 and 1813. Mr. PHILIPPART. has in the press a work, entitled " Dispositions Military and Political of Buonaparte;" and which will contain a correct narrative of all the late important events. In the press, Scripture Biography and History; comprising a Summary of the principal Events, together with Brief Memoirs of the most Eminent Characters recorded in the Old and New Testaments: embellished with 24 engravings from eminent masters. Shortly will be published, in a neat pocket volume, (to be continued annually,) Annual Gleanings of Wit and Humour, in Prose and Verse; consisting of a Selection of Anecdotes, Bon-Mots, Epigrams, Enigmas, Epitaphs, with some choice Receipts, Toasts, Sentiments, &c. chiefly gleaned from the numerous periodicals and journals of the day; in which are included many Original Pieces. Mr. JENKINS has announced for publication, by subscription, a Series of Six Plates, representing the glorious Battles of Vittoria, the Pyrennees, Orthes, and Toulouse, the Taking of St. Sebastian by Storm, and the Sortie made from Bayonne; coloured in imitation of the drawings by Heath, and engraved by Sutherland, Havell, &c. size, 22 in. by 16. The musical work, lately announced, for the Simplification of Melody, is nearly ready for publication. One object of this work is, by means of a popular view of progressive facts, to convey to the mind, even of the youngest pupil, in the course of a few hours reading, more knowledge than could have been acquired after three years' practice. But the leading attempt is, by the application of a mere common-sense principle, and by a just direction of thought, to clear up all doubts and difficulties in the early part of the science; and at the same time to offer, even to the most learned professors, a rational clue for all those laws of harmony, of which at present they only possess a knowledge by dint of hard practice, and a laboured exertion of the reminiscent faculties. Some account of the late Rev. Thomas NEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 16. 345 Robinson, M. A. Vicar of St. Mary's, Leicester, with a Selection of Original Letters, by the Rev. CHRIS. THOMAS VAUGHAN, M.A. will appear early in May. Messrs. STEVENSON and MATCHETI, of Norwich, have invited those persons who are in possession of the first edition of Bentham's History of Ely Cathedral, and who may be desirous of having the Supplement to that work, (including the Memoirs and Portrait of the Author, with additional Plates,) now ready for the press, to signify their intention immediately, as no more copies will be printed than are subscribed for. Mr. DAVID LAING's Plans, Elevations, and Sections of Buildings, Public and Private, executed in various parts of England, announced by us some months since, will appear in a large folio volume in June, 1816. Miss CHARLOTTE NOOTH bas in the press, Original Poems, with Translations from the French, Italian, and Spanish, and a Play in five acts. Miss PORDEN will speedily publish The Veils, a poem, in six books. Mr. F. JOLLIE, proprietor of the Carlisle Journal, has announced his intention of publishing a Supplementary Volume of the History of Cumberland, which is designed to embrace the state of agriculture, population, church livings, antiquities, &c., to the present period. It will be embellished with several plates, among others, of the English, Scotch, and Irish Gates, Carlisle, which are now removed. Mr. FRANCIS PLOWDEN has been employed, during his expatriation in Paris, in revising his History of Ireland; for a libel in which a jury gave a verdict of 5,000l. damages. The Irish papers state, that "in the libraries of the continent he found a vast and untouched store of valuable materials; and he has now ready for the press such a history of Ireland, as will rescue her character from the obloquy which has been unceasingly cast upon it-will manifest the policy pursued towards her during centurieswill exhibit the actors in their real characters--will lay open their private views and will rescue from oblivion many a naine which, had the possessor flourished in a more happy land, would have long since been conspicuous on the roll of Fame." The Hon. MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE, resident of the Court of Poona, and late envoy to the King of Caubul, has in the press an Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, and its Dependencies in VOL. III. 346 Intelligence in Literature and the Arts and Sciences. [May 1, Persia, Tartary, and India; comprising a View of the Afghaun Nation, and a History of the Doorraunee Monarchy: in a 4to. volume, with coloured plates of the costume of the country. Mr. JAMES MOORE, Director of the National Vaccine Establishment, will speedily publish the History of the Small Pox. Mr. J. DUNKIN is printing the History and Antiquities of Bromley, in Kent, extracted from the best authorities. Dr. RONALDS, of Coventry, is preparing a translation of the celebrated work of Cabanis, On Certainty in Medicine. Mr. B. G. THORNTON, lecturer on astronomy and botany, has in the press The Heavens Surveyed, or Science of Astronomy made Easy, illustrated with plates. Mr. GRAINGER, surgeon in Birmingham, will soon publish a work on a New Mode of Opening the Bladder in certain Obstructions of the Urethra and Prostate Gland. Mr. Eow. GEOGHEGAN has in the press, in 8vo. Commentaries on the Treatment of Syphilis, and the Means of insuring the successful Effects of Mer cury. Memoirs of Oliver Cromwell and his Children, supposed to be written by himself, will soon make their appearance. Memoirs of Abbé Edgeworth, containing Letters to the Abbé and his brother from Louis XVII., are preparing for the press by one of his relations. A translation of the Abbé de Bouvens Historical Account of the late Duke of Enghien, is in the press. Mrs. GRANT will soon publish Popular Models and Impressive Warnings for the Sons and Daughters of Industry. mons. Some idea may be formed of the astonishing number of newspapers circulated in this country, from the following statement extracted from oficial documents recently laid before the House of ComThe total number of stamps issued for these publications, in the three mouths ending the 1st of May, 1814, was 6,677,127, producing 97,3741. 15s. 44d.; and in the three months ending 1st of Feb. 1815, 5,890,671, yielding 85,9051. 12s. 44d. The proportion consumed in London during the latter period, exclusive of some papers not distinguishable, is, The following statement of the number of London newspapers dispatched by the clerks of the roads in the General Postoffice, in the capacity of news agents, during the two periods above-mentioned, will show the effects of peace on these publications. In the three months, ending May 1, In Daily morning 1814. the three months ending Feb. 1, 1815. Daily morning 7,171 Result. Increase of daily morning Total decrease in 3 months 93,153 The attention of agriculturists was some time since directed in a particular manner to the Mangel Wurzel, which was stated, on the authority of Lord be pernicious to cattle. It seems now CREWE, Mr. COKE, and Mr. TOLLET, to to be decided that the disorder complained of proceeds rather from the from the root itself; and that cattle manner in which this root is given, than thrown to them on a bare pasture, withfeeding greedily upon mangel wurzel, out any other food to qualify the excescannot be expected to escape injury and sive proportion of water contained in it, disease; but that if it be dealt out with tity of hay, the improved quality of the care and economy, with a small quanmilk and butter, and the additional thriftirelied on. That there is nothing intrinness of the cattle so treated, may be sically deleterious in the root is more made upon 1,000 grains of it, when over proved, by an accurate experiment fresh, by Mr. KELLY, of Dublin; a gen tleman to whose science and ability the Farming Society of Ireland is particularly indebted. The result was as fol lows: 1815.] Intelligence in Literature and the Arts and Sciences. At a late meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh, Mr. SCORESBY, of Whitby, read a paper on the subject of polar ice, and the difficulties encountered by the whalers in their annual visits to those northern regions. Mr. Scoresby's frequent visits to that part of the globe have induced him to turn his attention to the possibility of reaching the pole by means of an excursion over the ice; and a considerable portion of his paper was devoted to this very interesting subject. It appears, from his accounts, that the whalers have sometimes penetrated so high as 814 degrees, or within 600 miles of the pole; which space he considers might be travelled in sledges, by means of reindeer or dogs, in about a fortnight; and that, for the return, allowing for casualties, and time for observations, the whole might be accomplished in six weeks. From his knowledge of the climate, he thinks the temperature of the weather will present no very great obstacle, having observed, that after a long continuance of north wind, the thermometer was never very considerably depressed. The difficulties he contemplates areopen water, rough or mountainous ice or similar land, soft snow, and dense mists. As it is supposed that the first will not be very extensive, he proposes to have his traineaux formed in the shape of canoes, so that they might pass over any thing of the kind, while the dogs might be made to swim; and for other obstacles he must in a great measure trust to chance, supplying himself with whatever may be necessary to overcome them, should they occur. In shaping his course to the pole he must soon lose the assistance of the magnetic needle, and must trust to solar observations, which, together with a good chronometer, would answer every purpose, could he be sure of not meeting with mists. He likewise proposes to assist himself in misty weather by making his cavalcade move, at some distance apart, in a straight line, which, once properly directed, may, with attention, be got to proceed with tolerable accuracy. From his experience of the atmosphere of high northern latitudes, however, he does not anticipate such weather, except with southerly winds, which are not of frequent occurrence or long continuance. It is very satisfactory to observe a subject of this kind treated with so much ardour, and at the same time with so much science, as Mr, Scoresby has done. It is an object which has long been very much de 347 sired by men of science, to ascertain men of Professor GRIFFITH has commenced in Dublin a series of lectures on Irish geology. The professor has made a geological survey of Ireland, in which he has ascertained the positions of many of the mineral treasures of that country, and marked those positions accurately on a map. He announces the important fact, that this portion of the empire contains inexhaustible masses of coal, fit for every purpose of manufacture or domestic use. He has accurately analyzed the various species of coal extending from the north of the county of Cork through Clare; those of the Connaught mines to the extremity of the county of Antrim, and from the east coast, through Kilkenny and the Queen's County, to the west; and they have been found by him generally superior to those of Great Britain. A correspondent has transmitted the following statement of a remedy in cases of swallowing pins, extracted from the provincial papers:-Aperson in Pendleton who was informed of a neighbour having swallowed a pin, administered four grains of tartar emetic in warm water, and afterwards prevailed upon the patient to drink the white from six eggs, which coagulated upon the stomach before the tartar operated, enveloped the pin, and brought it up.-There is a well-authenticated instance upon record, of a person who swallowed 24 pins, being made to throw up the whole by the above method.--The same may be used with success for fish and other sharp bones. GERMANY. On the 6th March the celebrated astronomer, Dr. Olbers, of Bremen, discovered a comet near the constellation Perseus. It cannot be seen but with good telescopes. At 10h. 55m. mean time it had 49 deg. 7 min. right ascension, and 32 deg. 7 min. north declination. On the 7th, at 71. 40m. its right ascension was 49 deg. 22 min., and northern declination 32 deg. 22 min. It appeared to be slowly advancing towards the constella 348 Foreign Intelligence-Germany. [May 1, tion Perseus in a north-east direction. carth oftener than usual, and conse On the 21st it was found, and observed at the imperial observatory at Vienna. It was then in constellation Perseus, near a bright star of the third magnitude, on his left knee (). At 85. 46 min. 29 sec. mean time, its right ascension was 54 deg. 31 min. 50 sec. and its northern declination 39 deg. 35 min. 50 scc. According to this observation the comet had, from the period of its discovery, accelerated its diurnal motion, both in right ascension and declination, but rather more in the former than in the latter. It was pursuing its course through Perseus, and in five days more would remain all night above the horizon of Vienna. According to a German periodical work, the number of the inhabitants of Hamburg was reduced by the unhappy events of the late war from 110,000 to 59,585. M. Mikan has published an account of a woman in Bohemia who is accustomed to eat earth like the savage inhabitants of certain tropical regions. This woman, named Anna Baber, a native of Popowitz near Gemnischt, in the circle of Kaurzin, is about 55 years old, of small stature, rather slender, weakly and indolent. Her father was a weaver. It is said that during her childhood she manifested a lazy and greedy disposition. She was sometimes afflicted with violent head-ach, and was attacked in her cleventh year with a kind of epilepsy, which is related to have first occasioned her to manifest the singular appetite for earth. The epileptic fits, to which she is still subject, are extremely irregular, sometimes returning in five or six weeks, at others four or five times a day. It is immediately on her recovery from these fits, and at no other time, that she has recourse to the earth, and in case there is none at hand, she goes and seeks it. She declares that after she has eaten it, she feels an oppression at her stomach; thirst ensues, she drinks copiously, is then quite well, and her appetite improves. In regard to the species of carth she has no particular choice, swallowing handfuls of clay, mould, or even dung of animals, without moistening or preparing them in any way whatever. The quantity of earth which she consumes is in proportion to the violence of the fit, and sometimes amounts to five or six pounds. The drink which she takes immediately after eating the earth is brandy in considerable quantity. She has been married and bad two children; during her pregnancy she is said to have eaten quently the epileptic attacks must in that period have been more frequent. She has lived in poverty, and gained a subsistence by carrying messages and going on errands, which she still does for short distances. Mr. Leopold Sauer, a well-known mechanician of Prague, is exhibiting at Vienna a curious piano-forte, which, as the successful result of twenty years' labour, deserves the attention of all friends to musical and mechanical science. It is made of mahogany, and represents a temple adorned with twenty columns and pilasters of Florence marble and gilt bronze. In front, supported by two caryatides, is a key board, compre hending eighty tones, beginning with contra C in the bass and extending to the third G in the treble. The decora tions of the cornice are entirely of ebony, and in the lower division of the instrument is introduced a set of flutes of 44 tones. But rich and ingenious as the exterior may be, it is the internal excellence that constitutes the chief value of this master-piece. For the ordinary wires the artist has substituted steel watch-springs; the hammer is made en tirely of ivory; and instead of the cloth with which the lower surface is covered he uses a permanent stuff of his own invention. A commission, among whose members were the most eminent musicians and composers of Prague, appoint ed to examine this instrument, have borne the most honourable testimony to its superior qualities, and estimated its intrinsic value at 500 ducats. The publications of Berlin have lately given the following account of a remark able case of hydrophobia, which did not manifest itself till 13 months after the bite :-On the 15th September, 1813, the son of the Rev. Mr. Schulz, of Gross Tschirne, in Silesia, four years old, was bitten on the fore-finger by a dog lying. fastened to a chain in the yard of the Catholic minister of that place, which drew blood. The child, being acquainted with the dog, had boldly passed close to him. No person had perceived the slightest symptom of madness in the animal, which had taken his food as usual at noon on the same day. The child sucked the blood from the wounded finger. (May not this circumstance have had a share in producing the fatal catas trophe?) A surgeon was sent for in about an hour, but merely to apply something to the wound, and without any appre hension of farther consequences. It was 1815.] Foreign Intelligence-France-Netherlands. not till some hours afterwards, when the dog attacked a friend of his master, with whom he was well acquainted, that it began to be suspected that the animal was mad. The surgeon. immediately adopted all the precautions usual in such cases, and by the direction of Dr. Ferne, kept the wound for six weeks in a state of suppuration. The child remained perfectly well till the 10th of October, 1814, consequently for 1 year and 25 days after the bite, when, contrary to all expectation, symptoms of madness and hydrophobia, accompanied with the most violent convulsions, appeared, and in the space of 34 hours put an end to the boy's life. If, as this case seems to demonstrate, the poison can lie dormant above a year in the system, the utmost caution, in regard to dogs suspected of being mad, is so much the more neces sary. The history of the campaigns of 1812, 1813 and 1814, must be for ages of national importance to all the people of Europe. A work treating of this subject, in a manner worthy of the great events which it would have to record, will perhaps long remain a desideratum; but meanwhile the contributions of individuals, illustrative of them, must be highly acceptable. Thus Steffens has On the published an excellent book Campaigns of Prince Blücher;" Varnhagen von Ense has narrated with frankness the operations of General Tettenborn, and those of the Prince Royal of Wirtemberg will, it is said, shortly appear in the able relation of an officer of his staff. These accounts by eye-witnesses and participators in the events, must be invaluable sources of information for the future historian of the whole. FRANCE. 349 beautiful colossal figures of rose-coloured The second livraison of the splendid French work on Egypt has made its appearance, and is principally devoted to the remains of ancient Thebes. Many of the plates measure six feet. Among other remarkable objects, the celebrated colossal figure of Memnon, which was said to emit a harmonious sound at the rising of the sun, still exists in the plain of Thebes. It is remarkable that the French artists attest that they heard similar sounds at sun-rise in another place covered with blocks of granite. Is it possible that the rapid change in the temperature of the air can by its action. upon the stone produce this effect?--In the palace and tomb of Osymandyas is still standing one of the largest and most saw, Grecian architecture possesses the utmost elegance and beauty of proportions; the ancient Egyptian, a noble simplicity, not destitute of elegance and a grandeur that elevates the mind."-This work opens a new world, a boundless field for inquiries concerning ancient history, commerce, literature, and science. Much that modern writers have hitherto only conjectured relative to the ancient intercourse of nations, and the higher degree of their culture, is here reduced to certainty. NETHERLANDS. The Journal de la Belgique, published since the 1st of February, at Brussels, exhibits the Lion of the Netherlands, with the motto-L'Union fait la force. The figure of the lion forms a map of the United Netherlands. He is standing upright with his face to the east. Around his arched tail are the words-Mer du Nord. The Zuyder Sea forms his ear, Holland the mane, Friesland and Grönin gen are inscribed on the head: Overyssel on the out-stretched tongue; Utrecht, Zutphen, Antwerp, Brabant, on the breast; Mecheln and Mastricht on the right fore-paw; Namur and Luxemburg on the left; Flanders, Hainault, Artois, on the back. The hinder legs have no inscription. ITALY. In the mountain of St. Fiora, in the province of Sienna in Tuscany, a slight motion of the earth, as upon the discharge of cannon, had been repeatedly felt for fifteen months, so that the inhabitants, accustomed to the phenomenon, |