November 8, 1817.] Notices Biographical, Historical, Moral, &c. "broad grins." The particulars of this humi- disciples. He preferred the doers of the word the prince now wears, and thy family shall be 107 with no great ceremony or devotion. When a glass of brandy is given to an African, he puts it to his lips, then up with his fetish, into whose face he puffs his breath once or twice, with a noise something between blowing and whistling. He then swallows the dram. A similar action, or a whisper in the ear, or a less graceful motion, takes place whenever the fetish is consult. ed. A Mafooka, soliciting the arrival of slave ships, blows lustily at his little wooden deity, and exclaims, "Ship come, many, many ་་་ There seems to be a great resemblance, in many customs, between the African savages and those of the South-sea islands. Miss M Avoy.-Dr Gough of Kendal, who although blind from a very early period of life, possesses very extensive powers of observation, has published the following remarks on the new powers of vision, which is said to be possessed by this lady. Miss M'Avoy lost her sight by a disorder in the brain, but not the power of seeing, which has been transferred from the seat of vision to her hands, feet, and other parts of her body. This wonderful alteration in her constitution, enables her to read by the assistance of her fingers when her face is covered; by running her fingers over one side of a thick plate of glass, the opposite surface of which was covered with a piece of writing, having the characters turned towards it. But what is still more wonderful, upon holding up her hands before the window, she recognized a person displaying a scrawl of paper on the opposite side of the street. These amazing feats are not performed for the sake of lucre, nor can she always succeed in them, for, according to her own account, her hands lose the power of seeing when they are moist. A visit to this surprising character must be made in company with a medical gentleman of her acquaintance, and the greatest delicacy of behaviour is to be observed during the interview, because the least perturbation of mind will terminate in fits. It will be readily admitted, that the surface of the human body is insensible to the action of light, at least when it is uncombined with calorific rays; but this is not the case with the lady, who can read a letter through glass with the tips of her fingers, when her face is covered. In the next place, War Fetish (or Fetiche) of Embomma. These does natural history afford any instance of an personal divinities are mentioned in the narra-animal which perceives the presence of light tive of the late voyage to the Congo: the natives without the assistance of its eyes? this question carry them about with them wherever they go, may be answered in the affirmative, for a creahung over their shoulders, or under their arms, ture resembling a water lizard has been discoveror any where most convenient to the wearer. ed in the subterraneous lakes of Germany, which When the Portuguese missionaries first visited being intended to spend its life in perpetual this region, their crucifixes and images were all darkness, is not furnished with the visual organs; held to the fetishes, and one of the most ancient but if a torch happen to shine upon the animal's writers, in relating the arts employed to inspire body, it shows a strong aversion to light by hissa chief with jealousy of his son, who continued ing and other signs of uneasiness. It is not ima Christian while his father recanted, because possible that a morbid affection of the nervous the priests would not allow him half a dozen of system has given to the hands and other parts wives, informs us that they made the old man of the Liverpool lady, that extreme sensibility believe, that Prince Alfonso (the son's name) by which the Proteus possesses, and thereby has the power of his European fetish rode through turned each of her fingers into an unheard-of the air every night 80 leagues, carried off his kind of retina; but should this hypothesis be father's favourite wife, and conveyed her back granted, it will prove insufficient on the preto her own residence in the morning! These sent occasion, because a retina is no more on the fetishes are generally about the size of large eye than a sheet of white paper is a camera obdolls, and the most grotesque figures that can scura, for both the organ and the instrument be imagined. They are indifferently carved require a proper refracting medium to make out of wood, or made of rags; the eyes and them complete and fit for use. Thus it appears teeth are of shells, and the whole appearance as that the irritation produced by light can give no hideous as the workmanship is clumsy. They just conceptions of the objects from which it is are such things as children would contrive in reflected, because touch is the only one of the sport. Nevertheless, they are worshipped and five senses which judges of bodies by actual conprayed to with unceasing importunity, though tact, the rest of our perceptions being received 108 Notices Biographical, Historical, Moral, &c.-Arts and Sciences. through indirect channels. For instance, men whenever it appears those who are not attacked annually of the small pox. In India it has been said that no less than one out of three have died of it. The terror and anxiety felt during the season in which it prevailed were inexpressible, and even the inoculation of it was usually fatal to one in 60 or 70 of the children born there of European parents! Percival, in his History of the Island of Ceylon, says, the small pox is a disease which particularly excites apprehensions among the natives; for they look upon it as the immediate instrument of God's vengeance; and therefore do not venture to use any charms a gainst it, as they are accustomed to do in other disorders. If any one dies of it, he is looked upon as accursed, and his body is denied the rites of burial; it is carried out to some unfrequented place, and there left with branches of trees scattered over it. When that shocking and fatal malady, the small pox, first made its appearance among the natives of Botany Bay, it was truly shocking, says Governor Hunter, to go round the coves of the rocks, where nothing was now to be seen but men, women, and children lying dead. So lately as the year 1793, it was conveyed to the Isle of France by a Dutch ship, and 5,400 persons perished with it there in six weeks! There died in Mexico alone 3,500,000; it was first introduced into New Spain in 1520: not long after this 800,000 Indians perished by fresh variolous infection brought over from Europe. In the single province of Quito 100,000 Indians died of it! ARTS AND SCIENCES. Effects of the small por.-The natural small pox has been supposed to destroy a sixth part of all whom it attacks; and even by inoculation about one in 300 has died. In some years more than one tenth of the whole mortality of London is occasioned by it; and however beneficial the inoculation may have been to individuals, it appears to have kept up a constant source of contagion, which has been the means of increasing the number of deaths by what is called natural disease. Dr. Lettsom computed that it proved fatal, ** in the course of a century, to twenty-one millions in Europe alone." About the year 1757, the small pox broke out in Burford, Oxfordshire, occasioned, as was generally supposed, by some infected clothes being sent thither from London. It raged with all the fury of a plague from a short time after Michaelinas till near Midsummer following; during which interval it was computed to have carried off upwards of 900 of the inhabi. tants. In consequence of the disease the market was suspended, the country-people not venturing to attend it. The provisions were left with the prices affixed at some distance from the town, whence the town's-people fetched them, leaving the money in their place, which was suffered to remain some time exposed to the air to prevent the extension of the disease. It carried off in imany instances whole families; so that, on a moderate calculation, considerably more than one half of the population of the town was swept away. At Edinburgh, according to Dr. Monro, one tenth of the whole population was cut off by the small pox. In France from 60,000 to 72,000 fell annually by this disease; and in one year not less than 20,000 died of it in Paris alone. In the year 1749, 6000 out of 32,000 inhabitants of Montpelier died of the small pox. In Rome 6000 perished by it in six months; in Naples 16,000 died in the year 1768; and in Palermo 8000, in 1799. In Germany this disease de-homonomous poles repel, while the heteronomous stroyed 70,000 persons annually. At Constantinople, before the adoption of the inoculation, even one half of those afflicted with small pox have fallen victims to it. Its malignancy has been dreadful in Russia, in Siberia, &c. In 1767 the small pox was introduced by a sick soldier into Kamschatka, whereby 20,000 persons were cut off, to the utter depopulation of extensive tracts of that country. The Kamtschadale nation has been almost entirely destroyed by this disease, the number of individuals remaining at present not exceeding 600. Capt. Turner, in the account of his embassy to the court of the Teshoo Lama in Thibet, draws a melancholy picture of the ravages of this disease, and its dreadful consequences. Its fatality is well known, and so seriously apprehended, that Magnetic Phenomena.-Professor Morichini, of Rome, having discovered the magnetising power of the violet rays of the prismatic spectrum, the Marquis Ridolfi has succeeded in magnetising two needles, the one in 30, the other in 46 minutes; and can now charge with the magnetic power, by the same process, as many needles as he pleases. The needles thus magnetized (namely, by directing on and passing over them, for a period of not less than 30 minutes, the violet rays of the spectrum, through the medium of a condensing lens) possess all the energy and all the properties of needles magnetized in the common way, by means of a loadstone. Their poles attract each other; and made to vibrate on a pivot, their point turns constantly to the north, their head to the south! This adds to the wonders of magnetism, and must be regarded as a very extraordinary discovery. | [November 8, 1817 have hitherto been observed, shall here be enumerated, as the knowledge of them may lead to cautions for preventing accidents of the most serious nature. If quicklime in any quantity be laid in contact with any combustible, as wood, and be wetted accidentally, as to make it into mortar, a sufficient quantity of heat may be extricated to set fire to the wood. Animal or ve getable substances laid together damp in large heaps undergo a fermentation which often excites combustion, as in the case of hayricks, and also in the destruction of the human body, many instances of which are on record-but it has been observed, that all the persons who thus suffered were much addicted to the use of spiritous liquors. Woollen cloth, not freed from the oil used in dressing it, and laid up damp in large heaps, has been known to take fire; and so has painted canvas. Flowers and herbs boiled in oil, as is done by druggists, and then laid in heaps, sometimes do the same. The mixture of linseed oil and lamp-black, and of linseed oil and black wadd is also very liable to inflame. The cause of a fire, some years ago, in the Ganges schooner, was ascribed to the spontaneous combustion of a small quantity of wood oil contained in a dubber, or leathern jar, which had been stored in the gun-room; a fire, originating from a like cause, occurred in the arsenal of Fort William about the same time: another instance has been mentioned, of a vessel having taken fire, in consequence, it was believed, of a quantity of oil having fallen upon some wool. Torrified vegetables, as malt, coffee, or bran, put, while hot, into coarse bags, are apt to take fire. The spontaneous combustion of phosphorus, and various pyropheri, is well known. The vegetable kingdom abounds with phosphorus or its acid. It is principally found in plants that grow in marshy places, in turf, and several species of white woods. Various seeds, potatoes, agaric, soot, and charcoal, afford phosphoric acid. It is sus pected to be owing to the presence of one or other of these substances that charcoal sometimes takes fire without any apparent cause; and the charcoal of peat is said to be particularly liable to this. To this cause professor Bartholdi ascribes two accidents at the powder-mills at Elsone, where spontaneous combustion appeared to have taken place in one instance in the char. coal store-room-in the other, in the box into which the charcoal was sifted; as well as three successive explosions at the powder mills of Vosges. To the same cause may be ascribed many of the explosions of powder magazines in this country. On the Distillation of Spirits of Wine (Alcohol) from Potatoes.-A French lady, the Countess de N*** whom political events compelled to change her chateau, on the banks of the Soane, for a cottage eight leagues from Vienna-has established, on the small farm she occupies, a distillation of brandy from potatoes, which she has found to be very lucrative. The brandy of twenty degrees of Reaumur is very pure, and Spontaneous Combustion.-There is a remark- has neither taste nor smell different from that able distinction in bodies with regard to the effects produced by the distillation of grapes. The of heat upon them. Combustion is commonly oc- method she employs is very simple-1001b. of casioned by the application of a body already igni- potatoes, well washed, dressed by steam, and ted to the combustible; and when this is not the bruised to powder with a roller, &c. 4lb. of case it is termed spontaneous. But this would in- ground malt, steeped in lukewarm water, is clude the mechanical means, as friction, and the then poured into the fermenting back, with concentration of the solar rays, which cannot twelve quarts of boiling water; this water is with propriety be called spontaneous. Combus-stirred, and the bruised potatoes thrown in, and tion, therefore, which arises simply from the play of chemical affinities, can alone be justly termed spontaneous. Such instances of these as well stirred again with wooden rakes, till every part of the potatoes is well saturated with the liquor. Six or eight ounces of yeast is to be mix on the surface; in which state it takes the name Tow, a substitute for Hair in Plaster. ed with twenty-eight gallons of water, of a proper warmth to make the whole mass of the temperature of from twelve to fifteen degrees of Reaumur; there is to be added half-a-pint to a pint of good brandy. The fermenting back must be placed in a room, to be kept, by means of a stove, at a temperature of fifteen to eigh teen degrees of Reaumur. The mixture must then be left to remain at rest. The back to be large enough to suffer the mass to rise seven or eight inches, without running over. If, notwithstanding this precaution, it does so, a little must be taken out, and returned when it falls: the back is then covered again, and the fermen-nation, which gives of potass 2,200lb. tation suffered to finish without touching it- New kind of Vinegar.-Messrs Turnbull and which takes place generally in five or six days. Ramsay, of Glasgow, chemical manufacturers, This is known by its being perceived that the have made an important discovery to the arts, liquid is quite clear, and the potatoes fallen to in the purification of pyroligneous acid, which the bottom of the back; when the fluid is de- thus becomes vinegar of an excellent quality, canted, and the potatoes pressed dry. The dis- and superior to the vinegar which is obtained tillation is by vapour, with a wooden or copper from the fermentation of saccharine substances. still, on the plan of Count Rumford. The pro-From its strength, and less tendency to undergo duct of the first distillation is low wines. When any change, it is found to answer well for warm the fermentation has been favourable, from climates, for preserving vegetable and animal every 100lb. of potatoes, six quarts and up-matters, and for combining with lead and copper wards of good brandy, of twenty degrees of the to make sugar of lead and verdegris. In the aerometer, are obtained; which, put into new notice which we have seen of this discovery, no casks, and afterwards browned with burnt su- mention is made of the method of purifying the gar, like French brandy, is not to be distinguish acid as it is obtained from wood. Is it by dis-❘ ed from it. The countess has dressed and distillation alone? tilled per diem 1000 lb. of potatoes at twice, which gives sixty to seventy quarts of good brandy. The residue of the distillation is used MR EDITOR-Many practical processes in the as food for the stock of her farm; which con- arts, that are of great importance and value, are sists of thirty-four horned cattle, sixty pigs, and frequently lost in their results to the community. sixty sheep: they all are excessively fond of it They are confined to the district where they when mixed with water, and the cows yield a. are first discovered and applied, or if the knowbundance of milk. The sheep use about five ledge of them spreads, it spreads very slowly. quarts per diem each; one half in the morning, The unlettered professional men whose expe. and one half at night. The malt must be fresh-rience and sagacity suggest them, are more acground the countess has it ground every week. On the Means of extracting Potass from Potato-tops. It is necessary to cut off the potatotops the moment that the flowers begin to fall, as that is the period of their greatest vigour ; they must be cut off at four or five inches from the ground, with a very sharp knife. Fresh sprouts spring, which not only answer all the I have often regretted the public loss (or rapurposes of conducting the roots to maturity, ther the privation of public benefit) sustained from but tend to an increase of their bulk, as the the circumstances I have mentioned, and I have sprouts demand less nourishment than the old wished that those well-informed individuals who top. The tops may be suffered to remain on happen to come to the knowledge of such imthe ground where cut; in eight or ten days proved practical processes, (whether in the liberthey are sufficiently dry without turning, and al or mechanical arts), would take the trouble may be carted, either home or to a corner of to describe and record them. For such a purthe field, where a hole is to be dug in the earth, pose, periodical publications that are generally about five feet square, and two feet deep. The circulated, seem fit and favourable channels; combustion would be too rapid, and the ashes and if the OBSERVER supports, in its future cool too quick, and thereby diminish the quan. Numbers, that claim to patronage which its first tity of alkali, were they burnt in the open air. Numbers promise so strongly to establish, I The ashes must be kept red-hot as long as pos- would be gratified by seeing it become" a Desible: when the fire is strong, tops that are only pot for Scottish Improvements in the Arts."imperfectly dried may be thrown in, and even Under these impressions, I beg to give you, as green ones will then burn well enough. The a specimen of what I have in my view, and as ashes extracted from the hole must be put in a the first article to be deposited, the following vessel, and boiling water be poured upon it, as notice. In a late excursion to the country, then the water must be evaporated: for these (Perthshire), I learned, that a considerable imtwo operations potato tops may be used alone provement had been adopted by a tradesman in as firing in the furnace, and the ashes collected. making good and cheap pluster for the walls of There remains after the evaporation a dry saline some apartments in his house; and I found, too, reddish substance, known in commerce under that a gentleman in his neighbourhood had sucthe name of salin; the more the ashes are boil-cessfully adopted the same expedient. Hair ed, the greyer and more valuable the salin becomes. The salin must then be calcined in a very hot oven, until the whole mass presents a uniform reddish brown. In cooling it remains dry, and in fragments-bluish within, and white customed, in many of the cases, to wield the tool 109 refuse tow, or what is often vulgarly called pob, and is thrown aside as useless at lint-mills. (At times, indeed, the pob is used by cottars who live near such mills, and receive it gratis, for their fires, or it is put by them as thatch on their houses.) He twisted the tow into slender ropes by the same rude instrument applied to twist straw ropes for the roofing of stacks in the farm yard. These slender ropes he afterwards cut by an axe into small short portions of an inch or an inch and a half in length, and having beat and teazed these till the different filaments were fully loosened and separated from each other, he mixed them with the lime in the same way that hair is usually mixed with it in making plaster. I saw the plaster so made in its crude state, and also after it was applied to the walls and smoothed, and I am quite satisfied that in every point of colour and quality it is equal to hair plaster. Nor can i doubt its durability. It is no doubt a vegetable product, while hair is an animal one, but the lime will equally preserve it from change.-It may be, Mr Editor, that this improvement now described, is known and practised in other districts than that where I observed it; but I am sure that it is not generally known, and your inserting the description may be the means of leading to such repetitions of the very simple and unexpensive experiment as will ultimately produce a very desirable saving in the cost of buildings. Edinburgh, October 11. B. Patents lately enrolled in France.-By a royal ordinance of July 9th, several persons have obtained patents for steam engines. Among these are Mr Isaac Cox Barnet, for a machine producing immediately, according to him, a rotary motion;-Mr Wm. Paxton, for the importation and improvement of a new steam engine ;—M. Honore Dalmas, residing at Castelnaudary, for a machine for applying the action of fire to the rotatory motion of flour mills and other purposes;-M. Bagneris for additions and improvements to the steam engine;-the Marquis de Jouffroy for the same. Several patents have also been granted by the same ordinance to different persons for extraordinary amusements; as, for example, to Sieur Benoiste, restaurateur on the Boulevard of Mont Parnasse, for his Promenade Suisse; to the Sieurs Beury, Vallede, and Ruggieri, for the Saut de Niagara; to Sieur Lesigne, for machinery for setting in motion fifteen carriages at once, and which he calls Promenade Dedalienne. Other patents have been granted, to Sieur Allix, for the manufacture of wigs that are not affected by perspiration; Briard, for a cosmetic called by him Eau de Rosieres; Fabre, for a cosmetic called des Templiers; Darcet, for processes for extracting the gelatine contained in bones; Cabany, for a copying machine; Gengambre, senior and junior, for apparatus applicable to the system of illumination by inflammable gas; Thilorier, for processes for the construction of radeaux plongeurs ; Sartoris, for a kind of fire arms which is loaded at the breech; Blanchet and Binct, for a hydraulic crane; Marguerite, for plating needles with silver; Passe, for a lamp which he terms hydrostatique regulateur; Lousteau, for making hats of cotton, or other fibrous substances; is the only material hitherto used for mixing Matthieu de Dombasle, for a still called combiwith the lime of which plaster is made: but it neur hydropneumatique ; Lemire, senior and juis expensive, and the tradesman referred to em.nior, for making nails cold; and Jomard de Saployed a vegetable substitute in lieu of it, which vergue, for making a liquor which he calls kiliat present costs nothing. He employed the schi. 110 FINE ARTS. Lithographic Engravings of A. Durer's Designs in a Prayer book.-After the revival of literature and the arts in the latter part of the 14th and begininng of the 15th century, when they were so'rapidly promoted by the valuable discovery of printing, the first painter of eminence produced by Germany was Albert Durer. Though his works sometimes possess the quaintness of idea, stiffness in the dresses, and an absence of Grecian proportion in the figures, which mark the style of German art in his time, there is still an intermixture of much grace, and an occasional approach to elevated feeling. Perhaps no master in painting ever presented so conspicuous an instance of incongruity, of the union of excellence and inferiority, of meanness and refinement, of stiffness and freedom, of beauty and plainness. He is almost a harpy in art. His genius appears to have struggled against the contracted taste, uncouth costume, manners, dress, &c. of his period; in short, against the common nature, and what is technically called, the "dryness of style," to which the German painters had been confined, up to his own superior practice. His disposure of the limbs is sometimes uncouth, oftener elegant; and his dresses, with all the angular harshness, have frequently much grace, and of ten an aim at grandeur. What pleases us most is the look of truth in the positions and actions of his figures, which appear as if faithfully transferred by his pencil to the canvas, paper, or copper, while they were engaged in actions similar to those he described. In pourtraying character, his genius bears no small affinity to our keenly-discerning Chaucer. The influence of his genius gave a noble impulse, not only to his own but other countries and times, and it is felt to this day. Even Italy, with its own boasted Raffaelle himself, has felt it. These opinions respecting A. Durer are, in some degree at least, borne out by the engravings just now produced, from a series of German plates published by Messrs Strixner and Piloty, engraved from A. Durer's designs for a Catholic Breviary, and deposited in the Bavarian library at Munich. They occupy spaces round oblong borders, which are blank within, as in the German plates, but, says the advertisement affixed to the English work, "through the friendship of M. Scherer, librarian to the King of Bavaria, Mr Ackermann is enabled to furnish a specimen of the first page of the Breviary. It will also be seen, that for the interesting introduction, which contains all the information that can be collected respecting the original work, he is indebted to Mr Bernhart, assistant librarian of the royal library at Munich." The forty-three plates, contain subjects illustrative of the Breviary's text, some from the Bible and Catholic Legends, such as an Ecce Homo and The Napkin of Veronica; others from Pagan mythology, as moral allegory, such as The Fight of Hercules with the Harpies; some of modern allegory, such as A Warrior on horseback pursued by Death; some relating to domestic matters and objects of local peculiarity, such as The Housewife returning from Market, and An Indian Warrior. All the subjects are partly and some purely Arabesque, such as plate 32, where chimeras, animals, flowers, flourishes, &c. are most fancifully conceived, gracefully arran. ged, and drawn with a surprising dexterity and freedom. This species of designing may be called the lively small-talk of a pictorial genius, and is highly entertaining, from the association of contrary objects, and the beautiful composition and Fine Arts. play of the lines in every direction. These en- Styles of Art in Landscape Painting.—We are "In landscape painting there are two styles that eminently distinguish themselves, and they will be found in the Italian and Flemish schools. In the latter, an imitation of nature in the detail; in the former, general character, with a view to a more exalted style of art. Between these are many connecting links and similarities; but this would lead us much beyond the [November 8, 1817. limit we intend, that of general information.The young admirer of art would be little benefited by the endless variety of names and dis. tinctions, with which dealers and dictionaries have contrived to puzzle the understanding.To enjoy a prospect or a picture is within the power of good sense; but, like the science of music, its utmost pleasure can only be reached by the artist and the connoisseur. Style in painting is that by which one artist is distin. guished from another, and this chiefly from the manner in which the work is executed: some with a broad and firm pencil; others with a minute and delicate touch: some, as the painters call it, well impasted; and others smooth and blending. Of the firm and bold style, there are but few prominent examples, such as Salvator Rosa, Borgononi, and Rosa di Tivoli. These are seldom to be mistaken, and scarcely ever to be copied in the executive part. Dividing the two distinguished styles of painting between the Italian and Flemish schools, they will be found to present, from the nature of their subjects, the epic and the pastoral in art. To begin with the latter, it will only be necessary to select a few of the most eminent masters in the Flemish school, whose styles may be said to take the lead, most of the others resolving themselves more or less into the resemblances of these masters; and we give the names of the following, as particularly at the head of a class or style of art:-Rembrant-Rubens-D. Teniers-Hob bima-Ruysdal-Cuyp-Borghem-Pynaker Both-Waterloo-Brugghel, and Vander Hyden. To these perhaps might be added Wouvermans, but his landscapes are so entirely accessaries to his figures, that it might be going out of our intended path to detail the particular features of his style. "Rembrant, with whose style we shall begin, has little in the eye of the uninitiated, that will bear out the extravagant praises of the inspired connoisseur, when he is expatiating on the magic of his light, the depth and mellowness of his shade, and the harmony and brilliancy of his tone and colours. The truth of all this certainly does apply to Rembrant; but as this taste is not the growth of a day, it will not be easily. understood, unless we examine and analyse the principle on which he wrought. From the nature of vision only a small space or angle can be taken in, and distinctly seen, and the camera will assist to demonstrate this position, where all the objects are comparatively indistinct, to that of a central space; and this principle should guide every work of art, but not so as to prevent a proper distribution of light, according to the nature of the subject. This contracted or focus light is peculiar to the pictures of Rem. brant, and has been thought by some to be too great a sacrifice, while many of his imitators have imagined a spot of light, surrounded by much dark, was painting like Rembrant. In some of Rembrant's historical pieces may be found a slight and sketchy back-ground. This may have been for the purpose of giving value to the care and finish with which the luminous and principal part of the subject was treated. In his landscapes also, a slight and sketchy sky is often seen contrasted with the objects on the ground, which are painted with great care; all which tends to that point in art of bringing the attention to a focus in the picture. This artifice of obscuring much for the sake of a little, is, after all, only conceding what we have not the power to effect, the entire representation of objects, or that bright and perfect light which nature throws November 8, 1817.] Fine Arts-Natural History. zon is placed very high in the picture, and in To be continued.) NATURAL HISTORY. Account of Minerals in Scotland.-Cornelius Devossec, a lapidary of London, was the first who discovered gold in Scotland. A bason was made of this natural gold, which contained an English gallon of liquor: it was filled up to the brim with coined pieces of gold called Unicorns, which were coined in James the Third and Fourth's time; which bason and pieces were both presented to the French king, by the regent, Earl of Morton, saying, "My lord, behold this bason, and all that is therein, is natural gold, got within this kingdom of Scotland, by a Dutchman named Abraham Grey:" Abraham was standing by, and affirmed it upon a solemn oath. This gold was found in the valleys of Wanlock-head, near Leadhill.The following is a memorandum of minerals found in Scotland, by Colonel Borthwick.' with lavish or with sparing hand. For, place "Rubens, in his landscapes, was daringly visible; they are characterised by a boldness and vigour from which an ordinary mind would shrink. The sun's place is frequently found within the picture, while the rainbow, the storm, and the shower, are equally pourtrayed and distinguished. He seems to have painted landscapes always with a view to some extraordinary effect in nature. His colouring is brilliant, and his shadows thin and transparent; his forms have little of study in them, and his trees are of the most ordinary kind; the hori Mr Payne Knight on Taste. 1. A silver mine on the north side of the hill St. Jordin, in the parish of Foveran. 111 feet; and Chimborazo, the summit of the Andes Tides in Rivers.-A paper was lately read in the Royal Society of Edinburgh, by Mr Stevenson, civil engineer, regarding the operation of the waters of the ocean and of the river Dee, in the basin or harbour of Aberdeen; from which it appears, that in the month of April 1812, with the use of an instrument, of which he exhibited a drawing, he has been able to lift salt water from the bottom, while it was quite fresh at the 2. Gold found about Dunidar, beyond Aber- surface; and has satisfactorily ascertained, that the tidal, or salt waters, keep in a distinct stra. deen. 3. Silver, called golden bank, at Menzies, in tum or layer under the fresh water of the river. the parish of Foveran. 4. Silver at the back of a park, where there is a well that serves Disblair's household, parish Fintra. 5. Gold in the bogs of New Leslie, at Drumgarran, two miles from Dunidar. This anomaly, with regard to the salt and fresh waters, appears in a very striking manner at Dundee, where the fall of the Tay is such as to cause river water to run down with a velocity which seems to increase as the tide rises in the harbour, and smooths the bed of the river. These observations shew that the salt water insinuates itself under the fresh water, and that the river is lifted bodily upwards; thus producing the re7. Gold very rich at a place called Overhill, gular effect of flood and ebb tide in the basin, parish of Beakelvie. 6. Iron at the well of Sipa, west side of Woman-hill, near Gilhomestone-mill, quarter of a mile from Aberdeen. 8. Lead at the head of Loughlieburn, north side of Selkirk. while the river flows downward all the while with a current which for a time seems to incréase as the tide rises. These facts, with re 9. Copper in a place called Elphon, in a hill gard to the continual course of the river Dee beside Allen Laird, of Hilltownslands. 10. Silver in the hill of Shrill Galloway. 14. Silver in the hill south side Lockenfill. 18. Silver in Kylesmoor, Lorn, and Macklin, downward, is such a contrast to the operation of the waters of the Thames, as seen by a spectator from London bridge, that Mr Stevenson was induced to extend his experiments to that river in the years 1815 and 1816, by a train of experiments and observations from about opposite to Billingsgate all the way to Gravesend. As has already been stated, the waters of the Thames opposite the London-dock gates were found to be perfectly fresh throughout: at Blackwall, even in spring tides, the water was found to be only slightly saline; at Woolwich, the proportion of salt water increases, and so on to Gravesend. But the strata of salt and fresh water is less distinctly marked in the Thames than in any of those rivers on which he has hitherto had an opportu nity of making his observations. But these inquiries are meant to be extended to most of the principal rivers in the kingdom, when an acHeight of Mountains.-In Dr Millar's edition count of the whole will be given. Mr Stevenof Williams's Mineral Kingdom, it is remarked, son has made similar experiments on the rivers that "Ben-Nevis, in Invernesshire in Scotland, Forth and Tay, and at Loch Eil, where the Cawhich is the highest mountain in Britain, is lit-ledonian Canal joins the Western sea. The apertle more than 4300 feet above the level of the sea; Mont Blanc, one of the Swiss Alps, and the highest European mountain, is about 15,600 19. Several ores in the Orkneys. ture at Curranferry, for the tidal waters of that loch, being small, compared to the surface of Loch Eil, which forms the drainage of a great extent |