the sea-coast was not, as had been alleged, necessary for its successful cultivation, as his own experience had shown him that it could well be grown at a distance of 150 miles in the interior, and every hope was given that the introduction of the American varieties would soon prove a great source of staple industry and wealth in our Eastern possessions. It was pointed out as very desira. ble that the staple should be sent over in a cleaner state, which could only be properly done by the hand. The results of the analysis of the soils were promised for an early occasion. MEDICO BOTANICAL SOCIETY. chair, the minutes of the anniversary meeting, held on On Wednesday evening, Dr Sigmond, F.L.S. in the the previous Wednesday, were read, which announced that Earl Stanhope was re-elected president, with the other officers. of common electricity. These fishes are strangely constructed. The organs necessary to produce the shock occupy a large proportion of the torpedo. These organs are not necessary to the existence of the fish. On the contrary, were their connexion with the vital functions cut off, and these organs thrown out of use, the fish would still live and flourish, and be even more vivacious than when in its natural state. In the torpedo these organs and their necessary apparatus are very large in comparison with the vital portions. In the gymnotus, or electrical eel, the converse disparity prevails. This wonder of physiology is increased by the knowledge that the nerves that run from the brain and spinal marrow to these electrical organs are enormous in proportion to those that supply the nervous influence to the vital parts. And as before said when these nerves are cut, the fish still lives and flourishes. By the consumption of the nervous influence by these organs the shock and other and treatment, by Dr. Hancock. The impropriety of A paper was read on apoplexy, its causes electrical effects are produced, the current flows from the anterior to the posterior portions of the eel, from above, bleeding in many apparent cases of apoplexy was below. And after the electrical power is developed in pointed out, as such symptoms were often referrible to diseases of the heart, and even to mere syncope. In the fish in proportion to its strength from single or successive shocks, complete exhaustion ensues. connexion with the subject, Dr. Sigmond stated that in The expectations from future experiments are to get back the of blood-letting was abolished, as one effect of it was to the generality of accident cases at hospitals, the practice nervous influence, a material substance, not the immate- destroy the power, which alone could produce reaction. rial spirit, by sending a current of electricity in a contrary The next paper read was also a communication from Dr. direction to the natural flow in the fish, and thus reconHancock on the maize de Dos Meses, a species of Indian vert that power into nervous influence.-Two beautiful prepared specimens of the torpedo by Professor Grant corn, indigenous in Venezuela, the Pampas, and other excited great attention at the conclusion of this interest-parts of South America, which ripens within two months after sowing the seed, so that three or four successive ing and important lecture. harvests may be obtained within the year. The author gave it as his opinion that its cultivation might be introduced into this country with advantage from the circumstance of its growing well in colder climates in the Pamsalubrious, and grateful to the taste, and it was considered pas. The grain was described as highly nutricious, that it might form a useful addition to the staple food of this country, if proper attention were paid to its cultiva ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. On Saturday, Prosessor Wilson, the Director of the Society, was in the chair. The first subject introduced was a letter from Mr. Goodhugh, in reference to the late communication of Lieutenant Welsted on the Hymaritic dialect and language of Job. A short biographical notice was next read from Dr. Royle on the late Dr. Rotteler, who had been for sixty years a Missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, and who died at the advanced age of eighty-six years and six months, and who was engaged to the last in his great work, the Talmud and English Dictionary. He was highly distinguished as a botanist, and particularly for his researches into the Flora of Zanguebar, and in collecting information on the Medical Botany of the country, and he had been a large contributor to an Herbarium, consisting of between 3,000 and 4,000 plants, which had lately been presented by the Church Missionary Society to King's College. Dr. Royle next read a communication from Mr. Solly, on the production of caoutchouc in India, as an abundant source, for it has recently been discovered in Assam, although the mode of preparation at present adopted is objectionable. Fresh experiments for improving the sap were required, and the more obvious one seemed to be the necessity of washing it in India. Dr. Royle being called on by the Chairman, detailed the results of the inquiries that had been made by the Committee of Agriculture and Commerce, with respect to the growth of American cotton in India. Several communications on the subject had been received, amongst which was one from Dr. Falconer, who stated that the upland Georgia cotton gave hopes that its introduction would be very advantageous. Mr. Malcolmson having written to the British Consul at Savannah upon the subject the latter had sent over a copious account of the mode of cultivation, with various samples of the soil in which it is grown. A communication from Mr. Heath stated that the natives might be trusted in its cultivation, and that in the south of India the Bourbon cotton plant had superseded the indigenous varieties, of which there were two, one being annual and the other perennial. 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"He lives!!!” We cannot doubt that those of our readers who made themselves acquainted with our last Article on this subject have gone along with us in the conviction that Louis XVII. did not die in the Tour of the Temple; and that the announcement of his death was a mere fabrication of his enemies to prevent the friends of the monarchy from rallying round their prince, to hide the disgrace of the government occasioned by his flight, and to create discord among different sections of the royalist party, many of whom would be disposed to give credence to their statement of his death in opposition to the declaration of those friends who had jeopardized their lives in effecting his escape. Who that is acquainted with the closing scene of the life of his august mother will not feel an interest in the fate of her son? Who can read the cold description of the sad catastrophe which befel Marie-Antoinette, recorded by the pen of her enemies, and feel no emotion of sympathy awakened in his bosom towards her child, deprived alike of a father's and mother's care, and given over to the oppression of their assassins? Let us read their record of her death. "Throughout the whole of her trial MarieAntoinette preserved a calm and unruffled deportment. During the first hours of her examination she was seen to move her fingers on the arm of her chair as though she were playing on the forte-piano. "While she listened to the sentence of death pronounced against her, no sign of emotion passed upon her countenance, and she went forth from the hall of judgment without uttering a word. It was half-past four in the morning of the 16th of October, 1793. She was conducted back to the cell of the condemned in the prison of the Conciergerie. At five the Rappel was beaten throughout all the Sections, and at seven VOL. I. MARCH, 1839. all the armed forces were on foot. Cannon were placed at the extremities of all the bridges, squares, and crossways, from the Palace to the Place de Révolution. At ten numerous patroles nette, widow of Capet, in an undress of white paraded the streets. lace, was brought to the place of execution in the same manner as other criminals, accompanied by a Constitutional Priest, clothed as a layman, and escorted by numerous detachments of gensdarmes on horseback and on foot. At eleven Marie-Antoi 66 road, appeared to view with indifference the Marie-Antoinette, the whole length of the armed force, who, to the number of more than 30,000 men, formed a double hedge in the streets through which she passed. Her countenance exhibited neither haughtiness nor cowardice; and she appeared insensible to the cries of Vive la Republique! à bas la tyrannie! which she ceased not to hear throughout her passage. She spoke but little to the confessor. The tri-colored flags arrested her attention in the streets of Le Roule and St. Honoré. She remarked also the inscriptions which occupied the fronts of the houses. When arrived at the Place de la Revolution, she gave one look towards the Tuileries, and her countenance displayed signs of a lively emo tion. "She immediately mounted the scaffold with considerable courage. At a quarter past twelve her head fell from the guillotine, and the executioner shewed it to the people amidst protracted cries of Vive la Republique." More than five and forty years have rolled away since the tidings of this outrage on humanity reached the shores of England ; but the memory of it is fresh in many a feeling heart, and it stands out as a beacon in the annals of crime. Nor was France itself wholly destitute of noble spirits who felt anxious to avenge the father's and mother's wrongs by setting free their captive son, that they might thereafter place him on the throne of his ancestors. Among these were General Hoche, Gene L ral Pichegru, Count Louis de Frotté, one of the Vendéean Generals, Madame Josephine Beauharnois, M. Thorn, then called Lesonde, M. Montmorin, and Madame Damas. Our readers may rely on the accuracy of the particulars we are about to give, which have been obtained from authentic information. Josephine, being the intimate acquaintance and chere amie of Barras, who was then the chief of the Directors, succeeded in prevailing on him to connive at the escape. It is clear from the History of France that Barras was a shrewd man, and one who was engaged in playing his own game, so that let what might happen, whether the Republic* stood or a Monarchy succeeded, he might hold a rank in the state. Safety that the dumb child had been substituted immediately after the concealment had been effected; and it is even probable that they, with the advice of Barras, ordered that another child should take the place of the Dauphin, when they believed that he had escaped from the Temple. Fearing the censure of the populace, however, they concealed the circumstance, and when, four months later, they substituted, with the consent of Barras, a sick and scrofulous child, it was done with a view to hasten its death, and then to publish to the world that the Dauphin had died. When Dessault and Choppard incautiously made it known that the child whom they attended was not the Dauphin, they procured them to be poisoned, as stated in our last. With this end in view, he acquiesced in the appointment of a friend and country- By the death of this child an opportunity man of Josephine's to the office of Keeper occurred of releasing the Dauphin from his of the Tower, and Laurenz was accordingly confinement. He had been six months in appointed, 30th July, 1794. Surrounded a room filled with lumber at the top of the with Guards chosen from the Sections of Tower, where he only occasionally saw Paris, Laurenz found it impossible to bring Montmorin and Laurenz, who supplied him the child in safety out of the Tower. Oc- with a store of food from the Turret. A casionally, indeed, a Royalist friend took his dose of narcotic medicine was given him, turn as one of the Municipal Guards, and and he was put into a coffin which had been would have assisted in the escape. M. contrived for the purpose, and carried out Montmorin was one of these devoted sen- of the Tower, and the scrofulous child was tinels, and in an interview he had with the buried at the foot of the stairs of the TemPrince he persuaded him to submit to the ple, where his remains were afterwards misery of being confined in the fourth story found. of the Tower, and to obey in every respect the injunctions of Laurenz. He was accordingly taken thither in a state of unconsciousness, to prevent the discovery from any accidental noise. Barras had consented that a dumb child should be substituted for the Prince, and therefore it was necessary that for some time previous to his being lodged in the fourth story he should assume a dumb child's part, which he did by the advice of Montmorin and Laurenz; so that, when a really dumb child was put in his place, it was not a matter of surprize to the Municipal Guards, who attended in turn and occasionally came to his chamber, that he did not speak. It was Josephine who obtained this child from a family with whom she was acquainted, and the sister of the child is still living. This was effected in November, 1794. It was known to the Committee of Public * A l'abri de sa conduite revolutionnaire il cachoit les vues politiques qui echappérent à ses collègues !—GALLAIS, VOL. X. There are two witnesses still living who were concerned in the escape, and who took the Prince to the Hotel Mirabeau. He was subsequently taken by Montmorin, Count de Frotté, and M. Lesonde, into different parts of La Vendée, and kept concealed in the chateaus of the Royalists. He was there seen by the Marquise de Flair, and many others who are still living. M. Lesonde, Jun. has declared that when he was in the chateau of his uncle, in 1797, he saw his uncle arrive there one day in a calèche with a young boy aged about eleven or twelve years, with hair blonde and curling, and of a handsome figure; that his uncle caused him to be lodged in his own chamber, and in the day time never quitted him, and in speaking to him called him Monsieur Auguste. That after a stay of some weeks he went off in the night with this lovely child, and some days after came back alone, and his uncle then said to him, "thou hast had the honour of seeing the young Dauphin, saved from the Temple; keep thou the secret." M. |