ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.

This society has also commenced its sittings for the season; Thomas Amyott, Esq. in the chair. Mr. Milne exhibited some Roman remains, consisting of part of a very large earthen vessel, a copper coin of Domitian in most excellent preservation, a hatchet, a gilt steelyard, &c. found with several skeletons, buried in peat, near Ware in Hertfordshire.

A communication was read from Mr. Stark, on the lordship of Thonock, in the parish of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, and a Danish encampment and tumuli there. It entered into a long historical account of the owners of the lordship from an early period, and described the encampment as being near Thonock Hall, of an oval form, and having a triple foss and a vallum, apparently impregnable against any weapon of the era to which it belonged, but as powerless against an attack according to modern warfare. In some of the tumuli were found a battle-axe, similar in form to an Indian tomahawk, a key, a dagger, and other remains. Mr. Stark then proceeded to the question, whether the camp was Roman or Danish? and, in addition to the evidence of tradition in favour of the latter, he stated, that, in the ninth century, Sweyn, king of Denmark, entered the Humber with a powerful army, and, having landed, carried his victorious arms to York, which he besieged and took, and, after ravaging the country, brought considerable spoils into Lincolnshire, where he died. It was reasonable, he concluded, to suppose that one of the tumuli in the neighbourhood of the camp was the burial-place of Sweyn.

ROYAL ACADEMY.

Mr. Green has commenced, for the season, his lectures on anatomy. Pictorial anatomy ought to lead men to inquire more deeply into the springs and source of those actions which the peculiar art to which his lectures were subservient, was intended to perpetuate. Motion and feeling are the peculiar characteristics of animal in contradistinction to vegetable life, growth being common to both. The springs and organs from which they rise would be found in the brain, the viscera, and the heart, those portions which occupy the three great cavities of the frame, the brain being the organ of feeling, the viscera of growth, and the heart of motion. The embryo animal contains the rudiments of these three great systems; for it consists of distinct layers of membranous substance, whereof the first becomes elevated until it forms the spinal chord and brain; the second resolves itself into the bony and muscular systems and the great viscera; and the third into

the organs of respiration, the stomach and There the glands connected with them. is also a little red spot called the punctum saliens, which appears to flash with light From this is formed the heart. So, in the as it alternately contracts and expands. egg, appears a floating, very minute, and slightly opaque spot; so small that it would escape the casual observer; yet it is on this insignificant platform that the mysterious superstructure, life, is raised.

The

In proportion to the power, extent, and capacity of the organs of respiration depends the greater or less activity of the body. Thus birds are more energetic in their action, and have a freer motion than quadrupeds; while some insects are, for the same reason, superior in those qualities to birds. outward manifestations of laughter, sobbing, panting, sighing, &c. were so many safety valves or vents to relieve the lungs, overburdened by too great a distension; and those manifestations arose from the effort of nature to accelerate the circulation, which, by the intense excitement of the mind, had been momentarily suspended. Whenever that excitement is too overpow ering, death must inevitably ensue; and on this principle, perhaps, the death of persons from tickling, and likewise from a forced suppression of the outward manifestations of feeling, might be explained. To depict with justness these manifestations required of the internal emotions on the external a consummate knowledge of the operation

form.

How just and beautiful were the expressions of emotion embodied by Mrs. Siddons in the character of Mrs. Beverley, in which the very distraction of despair and grief was pourtrayed by that great actress to the life! Thus did the lecturer throw life and spirit into the hitherto formal dis course on the principles of nature, as a source from whence to draw the principles of art.-Atlas.

MECHANICAL INSTITUTION.

At the Eighth Anniversary Meeting of the Institute, the following prizes were awarded.-61. for the best, and 41. for the second best Essay on Political Economy, to Mr. Hunter, and to Mr. Price, a mathematical instrument-maker, who had only recently attained his majority. — 101. for the best Essay on Emigration, to Mr. Francis Clifton. - 101. for the best Essay on the Effects of the Distribution of the Revenue on the Condition and Interests of the Working Classes, to Mr. Ward, an engineer.-A prize for an architectural drawing of the new London bridge was awarded to Mr. Colliver, a smith; and for a drawing and elevation of Martineau's steam-engine, to Mr. Curtis, an operative.

VARIETIES.

Stilton Cheese. Although Leicestershise has acquired no national fame like Cheshire and Gloucestershire for the excellence of its cheese, it stands nevertheless, both as respects its superior quality and highest price, the first in the kingdom, perhaps in the world. Many of its best dairies invariably fetch equal prices with the higher qualities of those districts. This only puts it upon an equality. But it is in this county that the truly English Parmesan (called Stilton cheese) was first made, and continues to be a standard article of production. This far famed delicacy is to be found on the tables of the highest ranks, and when of the best quality and in the highest state of perfection, independent of its exquisite relish, it probably contains the greatest concentration of nutriment of any artificial preparation of food. The secret of its make was for some time confined to the family of the original inventors, who were under an engagement to sell all they could make to the famous Cooper Thornhill, of Stilton, and being thus to be obtained of him alone it received the

appellation of Stilton cheese, when it ought to have been named Wichcote cheese, being first made in that small village on the eastern side of Leicestershire, bordering upon Rutlandshire, and about thirty miles from Stilton.

be above 10,000l. per annum. Prebendal stalls are to be held by two of the professors. The proposal has received the cordial approbation of the present Administration, and will probably be carried into effect with the least possible delay.

British and American Newspapers.-In America, where newspapers are not taxed, 555,416 advertisements are inserted in eight newspapers in New York, while 400 English and Irish papers contained, in the same space of time, only 1,105,000. The twelve New York daily papers contain more advertisements than all the newspapers of England and Ireland; and the numbers issued annually in America is 10,000,000, while in Great Britain it is less than one-tenth of that number. Advertisements which in England cost seventeen dollars, are inserted in America for about a dollar (fifty cents.); and an article which costs annually for advertising in the United States twenty-eight dollars, is liable in England to a charge of 900 dollars.

At a recent meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, a paper was read on the history of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who fell a victim to his obstinate adherence to the Pope's supremacy in the reign of Henry the Eighth. It gave an affecting account of the arbitrary persecution and hardships which Self-made Gas.-During the last summer the unfortunate prelate suffered. In a letter a bore was put down at Johnstone, to the addressed to Cromwell during his confinedepth of 150 feet, for the purpose of procurment in the Tower, he says, "I have neither ing water. The boring was mostly through shirt nor sute, nor yett other clothes that ar shale or till. At the depth of 125 feet, or necessary for me to wear, but that bee ragthereby, the workmen heard a noise proceed-ged and rent to shamefully. Notwithstonding from the bore, which they supposed to be from water rushing upwards, but which proved to be from gas. The bore was sunk 25 feet deeper, when an abundant supply of water was procured, so as nearly to rise to the surface. The supply of gas, however, did not fail. It continues to ascend through the superincumbent column of water with a hissing noise, and when a light is applied, burns with a blue flame. No analysis has been made of the gas, but from the accounts of the workmen it may safely be concluded that it is hydrogen. The quantity is so considerable as nearly to be sufficient to supply two or three gas-burners of the ordinary size. It gives out little light in combustion, probably from the absence of carbon in its composition.

Northern University. The Dean and Chapter of Durham, taking into consideration the distance of the two Universities from the North of England, have, it is said, set apart a considerable portion of their revenues for the foundation and endowment of a college. The revenues of the above establishment, at its commencement, are intended to Jan.-VOL. XXXVI. NO. CXXXIII.

ing, I myght easyly suffer that, if thei wold keep my body warm. And, ass our Lord knoweth, I have no thyng laft un to me for to provyde eny better, but ass my brother of his own purs layeth out for me, to his great hynderance." Yet such was the barbarous mode of treating prisoners in those days, that Fisher does not appear to have been worse provided for than Sir Thomas More and others, who were confined in the Tower at the same time. The unhappy prelate was so enfeebled by age and hardships (being nearly eighty), that he could scarcely walk to the place of his execution; and a chair was carried by him, on which he rested several times.

Wonderful Tree.-A curious production of the ocean was washed up by the tide above low-water-mark on the sea-beach at Crosbie, Liverpool, on November the 4th. It consists of the trunk of a tree, 39 feet in length, from which are appended millions of a singularly-strange shell fish, sufficient to fill the bodies of two or three carts. The upper part sticks with the tenacity of a leech to the wood, and is a sort of a wormy sub

F

stance, many of them being at least three feet in length, as thick as a piece of rope, and terminate with a shell of a half-conical form, of a delicate light-blueish hue, containing a black fish, having a slit or orifice edged with a bright-yellow colour on the upper side, which the animal opens and shuts at pleasure, and by which it obtains its nutriment. They are all distinct in their formation, all alive, and as thick upon the wood as the leaves upon a tree, or clusters grapes; indeed the point of a pin cannot be inserted between them, and from a small bit cut from the end of the wood, of only half an inch square, there hung no less than thirty of different lengths.

of

Benefit Societies.-The following is the number of Benefit Societies in the different counties of England, together with the amount of their deposits in the Savings'

Banks :

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Steam Carriages.-The Select Committee appointed last session, on the motion of Colonel Torrens, conclude their report with the following summary of the result of their inquiries :

1. That carriages can be propelled by steam on common roads at an average rate of ten miles per hour. 2. That at this rate they have conveyed upwards of fourteen passengers. 3. That their weight, including engine, fuel, water, and attendants, may be under three tons. 4. That they can ascend and descend hills of considerable inclination, with facility and ease. 5. That they are perfectly safe for passengers. 6. That they are not (or need not be, if properly constructed,) nuisances to the public. 7. That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode of conveyance than carriages drawn by horses. 8. That as they admit of greater breadth of tire than other carriages, and as the roads are not acted on so injuriously as by the feet of horses in common draught, such carriages will cause less wear of roads than coaches drawn by horses. 9. That rates of toll have been imposed on steam carriages which would prohibit their being used on several lines of road, were such charges permitted to remain unaltered.

sun.

Eclipses in 1832.-During the year 1832 there will be but two eclipses, both of the The first will take place on February 1st, and will be invisible at Greenwich; the second takes place on July 17th, visible at Greenwich; begins 2 hours 34 min. p.m. ends 2 hours 28 min., digits eclipsed onefifth. On the 5th of May the planet Mercury will appear, like a black spot, to move over the sun's disc.

New London Bridge.-A report has been made by Messrs. Telford, Walker, and Clark, the engineers, respecting the state of the new London Bridge. We have not room to give the report entire, but it is, upon the whole, of a satisfactory nature; for though the engineers admit that there are some irregularities in the bridge, yet they give an opinion that they arose principally from the difficulty of the undertaking, and that, from the goodness of the materials, they will not affect the stability of the structure. Sir John Rennie, in a letter to the engineers, states, that no alteration has taken place since the removal of the old bridge, and that every part of the bridge stands as firm as possible. Edward Banks has given a similar opinion. -The report also recommends the formation of a new line of streets, direct from the bridge to the western extremity of Cornhill, in preference to the street leading from the Monument to the Custom House. This recommendation,it states, has received the sanction

Sir

of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer having concurred, it recommends that the necessary

notice be given of the intended application to Parliament to carry the recommendation into effect.

FOREIGN VARIETIES.

Turkey Newspaper. The prospectus of a paper, to be published under the auspices of the Sublime Porte, has recently been received in this country. It is a document of great interest, and is pregnant with instruction for the absolutists of the country. The following are extracts from the prospectus : "When the daily events of the present age are not publicly notified at the time of their occurrence, and their real causes remain thereby unknown, the people, acting in the spirit of the old proverb, that man dislikes whatever is strange to him, are accustomed to resist every thing the occasion and necessity of which they do not comprehend. Thus has it hitherto happened that the people, viewing the internal and external relations, the official changes, and other affairs of the Sublime Porte, as things altogether enigmatical, have often referred political transactions to intentions very different from the views of the Government. And

as it is intended to communicate to the public in. formation on new inventions, the fine arts, the prices of the necessaries of life, and, in general, whatever relates to trade and commerce, this, in every repect, useful and salutary nndertaking, cannot fail to be regarded as a new and striking testimony of the liberality, justice, and enlightened foresight of our sublime ruler, and of his earnest endeavours to promote general prosperity and happiness. However, as it would be difficult to communicate all the above intelligence in manuscript, it has been thought advisable to establish a regular printing-office, from the presses of which a new gazette, in different languages, will issue. Indeed, our high-minded and sublime monarch, being not only a benevolent and gracious ruler of his own people, but an upright friend to all nations which maintain the relations of peace and

amity with the Porte, it is desirable that the pub

lication of this journal should be rendered more useful by separate printing in other languages, and therefore an experienced European, well skilled in foreign languages, has been selected to carry this object into effect."

French Civil List.-The King: personal expenses, 100,000f.; privy purse, 300,000f.; cabinet, 60,000f.; ibrary and subscriptions to engravings, 250,000f. The Queen, and children under fifteen years of age; personal expenses and gratuities, 1,000,000f. Military service; aides-de-camp, 360,000f. Service of the chamber; chamber, 230,000f.; chapel, 40,000f.; music, theatre, and benefits, 300,000f. Service of the household; wages, 650,000f.; liveries, 200,000f.; linen and laundry, 160,000f.; firing, 250,000f.; lighting, 370,000f.; buttery and confectionery, 750,000.; cellar, 180,000f. Service of the stables; stable (three hundred horses) 900,000f.; the stud at Meudon, 120,000f. Intendance and Sous-intendance; intendance generale, 410,000f.;

archives of the crown, 23,500f. Treasury of the Crown; treasury, 320.000f.; superannuated fund, 860,000f.; reliefs and pensions, 1,500,000f. Garde Meuble; furniture and repairs, 1,200,000f.; manufactory at Sevres, 320,000f.; Gobelin manufactory, 288,000f.; Beauvais manufactory, 78,000f. Fine arts; the fine arts and museums, 450,000f.; objects of art, 500,000f.; mint and medals, 406,000f. Domains and buildings; forests and domains, 1,100,000f.; buildings and repairs, 3,050,000f. faculty and medical service, 80,000f. Extraordinary expenses; travelling expenses, 1,000,000f.; festivals and ceremonies, 400,000f.; presents, 150,000f.; reserved fund for building, 200,000f.; sundries, 100,000f.-Total, 18,691,300f.

The

a

Discovery in Surgery.-Messrs. Taimich and Halma-Grand, on the 26th September, deposited at the academy of sciences packet, containing the ingredients of a styptical liquor, which will be opened when these physicians have completed the experiments which they are pursuing with unremitted care and observation. Each of these experiments, we understand, are more and more conclusive. The carotid arteries of fifteen sheep have been opened, four of which were cut lengthwise, and nine across, and from two of them an oval piece of the substance has been taken out, and yet, in four or five minutes, the effusion of blood has been stopped, and, in a few days afterwards, the wound has been completely healed. The same result followed a similar

operation upon the carotid artery of a horse, a few days ago, at the Abattoir of Mountfauçon. In order to stop the hemorrhage, it is only necessary to apply a pledger of lint, saturated with the liquid, which it is not required to fasten round the neck, in order to prevent its falling off by its proper weight. In the last experiment, half the lint dropped off ten minutes after its application, while the sheep was eating, and though a portion of the artery had been taken away, the hæmorrhage was not renewed.

Ruins of an ancient City.-Lieut.-Col. Galindo, Governor of Poten, in Central America, has discovered the ruins of an extensive city, called Palenque, which extends for more than twenty miles along the summit of the ridge which separates the country of the wild Maya Indians (included in the district of Poten) from the state of Chiapas. These, in the words of the discoverer, anciently have embraced a city and its

"must

suburbs. The principal buildings are erected on the most prominent heights, and to several of them, if not to all, stairs were constructed. From the hollows beneath, the steps, as well as all the vestiges which time has left, are wholly of stone and plaster." The stones of which all the edifices are built, are about eighteen inches long, nine broad, and two thick, cemented by mortar, and gradually inclining when they form a roof, but always placed horizontally; the outside eaves are supported by large stones, which project about two feet. (These are precisely similar, from the description, to the stone-roofed chapels, three or four in number, at Cashel, Glendalough, St. Doologh's, near Dublin, and we believe one other, still existing in Ireland.) The woodwork has all disappeared: the windows are many, subject to no particular arrangement, being merely small circular and square perforations. Human figures in alto relievo are frequent on small pillars; and filagree work, imitating boughs and feathers, is perceptible in places. Some of the sculptured ornaments look very like the Corinthian foliage of the ancient architects. The ruins are buried in a thick forest, and the adjacent country, for leagues, contains remains of the ancient labours of the people-bridges, reservoirs, monumental inscriptions, &c. The natives say these edifices were built by "the devil."

The Emperor Nicholas has ordered that a granite column, in imitation of the celebrated Trajan column, eighty-four feet high, and twelve in diameter, should be erected in the square of the Winter Palace, in memory of his brother Alexander; it has been cut from a granite rock in Finland, and 600 workmen have been employed in cutting it during two years; its weight is estimated at about 9,676,000lbs.

Palm Tree. The palm-tree, known by the name of the Palma Japonica, which flowered and produced fruit in the garden of Schoenbrunn, at Vienna, last year, and which is now 123 years old, has again blossomed this year, as has likewise another of the same species, 75 years old. The foreign and rare plant called the Arbor Draconis Clusii has likewise blossomed, and the fruit about the bigness of a cherry, and of an orange yellow colour, bids fair to ripen, which, it is supposed, is the first time they have arrived at such perfection in Europe.

Earthquake.-A letter from St. Gall, in Switzerland, states, that a mountain near Bregenz split asunder, with a frightful noise, and an opening of fifty feet in width was formed. Forests of fir were overthrown, and large rocks removed from their places. A brook had entirely disappeared, and it was feared that its collected waters would cause great mischief. Many families left Bregenz through fear.

Transport of Edifices. In May last M. Gregori alluded to a circumstance mentioned in a late number of the " Journal des Artistes," of a rock of granite, forty-two feet long and twenty-seven high, having been transported from the Bay of Finland to St. Petersburgh, to serve as a pedestal to a statue of Peter the Great. He stated that a much more remarkable fact had occurred at Crescentino in 1776, when a common mason, named Serra, succeeded in transporting a brick belfry, which he had contrived to cut from its base without injuring the walls, from one church to another, at a considerable distance. While it was being moved, a man inside rang the bells. A model of the machine employed in the transport was deposited in the library of the Institute.

New Mineral.-In the month of August 1830, the Academy of St. Petersburgh was presented with a new mineral, found in some government lands in the province of Perm. It has received the name of Volkonskoïte, in honour of Prince Volkonsky. The spot in which the vein was found is in the mountain called Efimiatskaïa, in the district of Okhausk. The bed does not consist of regular veins, but in bits of from one to four verschocks thick, by a quarter to three-quarters of an archine long; sometimes ten of those bits or patches are found in the space of a single sagene, and sometimes there are three sagenes without a single one. mineral, in colour, approaches the grassgreen; it divides in longitudinal plates, and breaks on the slightest pressure. When plunged in water, it separates with a loud noise into angular pieces, on which, when dried, the water no longer takes any effect. This mineral may be employed as a colouring matter to replace some of the most expensive colours, such as malachite and verdigris. The fine orange-colour of chrome may also be chemically obtained from it, as it contains about seven per cent. of extract of chrome. It is easily worked, and at a small expense.

The

New Islands in the Pacific. Captain Warden, of the American service, has published an account of a group of six newlydiscovered islands he fell in with in 1830, on his return from New Zealand to Manilla. He has given them the name of Westerfield. The inhabitants are black, of good stature, and robust, and their manners apparently pacific. They had no arms, were quite primitive in their habits, fancied their own group of islands the whole world, from one of which they imagined Captain Warden to have come; they evinced a desire for thieving, and the captain having sent some of his crew on shore to punish them, they attacked the party, in number 21, and killed all except five, who regained the ship. He gave the island the name of Massacre Island, on account of this carnage. Six months after

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »