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nevolent satire produced the necessary reform; and the magistrates have so generally interdicted the practice, that the pastime may now be happily considered as extinct.

ARTS AND SCIENCES.

EXPERIMENTS on distilled sea-water have been tried at Brest, Toulon, and Rochefort, by giving it as drink to the galley-slaves, and using it in cooking their victuals. The result of these experiments is, that distilled sea-water may be used as a necessary of life for a month, and even for a longer time; and that it may be of great assistance in long voyages and journeys of disco

very.

Arts and Sciences.

considerable. The old and the new
world have genera of insects peculiar
to each. Even those which are com-
mon to both present appreciable differ-
ences. In the western parts of Europe,
the domain of southern insects appear
very distinctly, as soon as going from
north to south we come to a country
favourable to the cultivation of the
olive. This change of temperature is
marked by the presence of scorpions.

Dr Mitchell announces the disco-
very of the remains of a mammoth in
the town of Goshen, Orange County,
within sixty miles of New York, in a
meadow belonging to a Mr Yelverton.
The soil is a black vegetable mould, of
It abounds
an inflammable nature.
with pine-knots and trunks, and was
about thirty years ago covered with a
grove of white pine-trees. The length
of the tooth was six inches, the breadth
three and a half inches; the circumfe-
rence of the lower jaw, including the
tooth it contains, twenty-six inches; the
length of the jaw thirty-five inches.

Mr John Gough, in a paper lately

[March 7, 1818.

The same chemist, in a late publication on vegetable tinctures, states, that a little Brazil wood saw-dust mixed with some natron or impure carbonate of soda, and put into a tumbler of water, immediately communicates to it the colour and appearance of red wine; but if this coloured fluid is poured into another glass containing a few drops of lemon juice, it instantly loses its colour and becomes like white wine.

ROYAL SOCIETY.

On the 18th, a paper by James Smithson, Esq. containing some remarks on vegetable colours, was read. Among the substances which he examined were litmus, the colouring matter of the violet, of the blue hyacinth, of the blue M. Humboldt has lately published, paper which is used for wrapping up at Paris, a work on the geographical loaf-sugar, of the mulberry, and the description of plants, according to the pigment called sap-green. Some of temperature, latitude, elevation of the these are employed by chemists as desoil, &c. He offers some interesting licate tests of acids and alkalies; and views with regard to vegetable forms. various experiments were related reOn comparing, in each country, the specting their action on these bodies, number of plants of certain well-deter-read to the Kendal Society, on the Nu- and the manner in which they are remined families with the whole number triment of Vegetables, has detailed va- spectively affected by them. The auof vegetables, he discovers numerical rious experiments which establish the thor conceives it probable that some ve ratios of a striking regularity. Certain doctrine of the late Dr Percival of getable colours may be produced by a forms become more common as we Manchester, in opposition to that of Dr combination of principles; that the red advance towards the pole, while others Priestley, who held that " carbonic acid colour of flowers may depend upon the augment towards the equator. Others gas is highly deleterious to plants, and union of carbonic acid with a blue matattain their maximum in the temperate not less destructive to the vegetable prin- ter; and that in other cases a vegetazones, and diminish equally by too much ciple, than poisons are to animal life." ble principle may be combined with a heat and too much cold; and, what is The result of Mr Gough's experiments small quantity of potash, analogous to remarkable, this distribution remains the prove, on the contrary, that Dr Percival the substance which has been called same round the old globe, following not was correct in pronouncing "carboniculmin. The author also gave an acthe geographical parallels, but those acid gas to be an essential ingredient count of some experiments upon the which Humboldt calls isothermic; that in the nutriment of vegetables." This green colour procured from certain inis, lines of the same mean temperature. is a fact which will probably prove of sects, which he concludes to be of a These laws are so constant, that, if we no little importance to practical agri- different nature from the vegetable know in a country the number of species culture, as it may finally lead to a ra- greens. of one of the families, we may nearly tional theory of the nature and opera conclude from it the total number of tion of manures. plants, and that of the species of each of the other families.

M. Latreille has published, at Paris, a work on the distribution of insects. This is intimately connected with the distribution of plants; and, in reality, the same insects are found upon the mountains of a warm country that inhabit the plains of colder countries. The difference of ten or twelve degrees of latitude, at an equal height, brings with it particular insects; and when the difference amounts to twenty or twenty-four degrees, almost all the insects are different. There are analogous changes corresponding to the laEitude, but at distances much more

Dr Branchi, professor of chemistry in the university of Pisa, has obtained a volatile concrete oil from oak galls, by the same means by which volatile oils in general are extracted from aromatic vegetables. It is of the consistence and colour of good old honey, and has evidently the smell and taste of galls. When laid on paper and exposed to the flame of a candle, it instantly melts, and the paper becomes oily and transparent. In this state, when exposed again to the flame, or to the sun for a sufficient length of time, it evaporates, and leaves the paper so clean that it may be written upon with the greatest ease.

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A paper was lately read at the Royal Society of London, by Dr John Davy, giving an account of the mountain called Adam's Peak, in the island of Ceylon. This mountain has been long celebrated as the resort of pilgrims from all parts of the country, in consequence of a tradition that the Indian god Boodha ascended to heaven from its summit, and left upon it the impression of his foot. Dr. Davy computes it to be from 6000 to 7000 feet high. At the top it has a level area of nearly a circular form. The summit is surrounded by a grove of trees of the genus rhododendron, but of a species which is said to grow in no other situation. The plants are accounted sacred, so that it was impossible to procure a specimen for ex

March 7, 1818.]

this mountain.

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considered as the last contribution of that distinguished naturalist to the illustration of the natural history of his country, having been received by the Society only a very short time before. his death.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH.

amination. The mountain itself is com- of pearl-spar, by M. Hisinger; and of posed of gneiss, the constituents of native iron from Leadhills, by Mr Dawhich exist in very different propor- costa. Zoology.-Account of some new tions in its different parts. In some or rare British Fishes, and also of Bridistricts hornblende predominates so tish Sponges, by Colonel Montagu. much as almost to change the charac- Description of a Swordfish killed in the ter of the rock; but this passes by de- Frith of Forth; observations on the grees into a more perfect gneiss, with- genus Squalus of Linnæus; and on eout exhibiting any exact limit of separa-proboscideous and oestrideous insects, tion. The author observed some of the by Dr. Leach of the British Museum. Nov. 17, 1817.—The Royal Society. gems which are the produce of Ceylon, Contributions to the British Fauna, by having resumed their meetings after the imbedded in the gneiss which composes Dr Fleming. On the genus Falco of summer vacation, the first part of a paLinnæus, by Mr James Wilson. On per by Dr Ure of Glasgow was read, The subject of the Croonian Lecture, the Colymbus Immer, by Dr Edmond-containing Experiments and Observaread on the 20th of November by Sir ston. On the Irish Testacea, by Cap- tions on Muriatic Acid Gas. Everard Home, was the changes which tain Brown. On the structure of the At the same meeting, a paper by Dr the blood undergoes in the act of coa- cells in the combs of bees and wasps, Fergusson, inspector of hospitals, was gulation. A considerable part of the and on the causes of organization, by read on the Mud Volcanoes of the paper was occupied with an account of Dr Barclay. Mineralogy.-On the mi-Island of Trinidad. a number of minute microscopical ob- neralogy of the Pentland Hills; on the In the beginning of the year 1816, servations made by Mr Bauer on the geognosy of the Lothians; on conglo- this gentleman was employed, along red particles of the blood. He gave a merated or breciated rocks; on porphy-with the deputy quartermaster general description of their appearance, and at- ry; and mineralogical observations and of the colonies, and an officer of rank tempted to form an estimate of their speculations, by Professor Jameson. in the engineer department, to make a size. Their colouring matter he con- Geological account of the Campsie survey of the military stations in the ceives to be something superadded to Hills, by Colonel Imrie. Description West Indies, during which their attentheir proper substance; he supposes of Tinto, and of the Cartlane Craig in tion was attracted to this extraordinary that they possess a regularly organised Lanarkshire, and of Ravensheugh in phenomenon in a district of country structure; and by comparing them with East Lothian, by Dr Macknight. On that had always been considered, acthe appearance which the muscular fi- the rocks in the neighbourhood of Dun-cording to their information, as strictly bre exhibits, when highly magnified, he dee; on those near St. Andrews; and alluvial. It appeared to them to be so concludes that these particles are the on the Red Head in Forfarshire, by Dr highly illustrative of the minor incipient immediate constituents of the fibre. Fleming. On the Ochil Hills, by Charles degrees of volcanic agency in the forWith respect to the generation of vessels Mackenzie, Esq. Mineralogical obser- mation of argillaceous hills, that they in effused blood, he imagines that it de-vations in Galloway, by Dr Grierson. thought it would be right to mention it pends upon the gas which is extricated A history of the proceedings of the So- in their report, and Dr Fergusson was from blood during its coagulation; this, ciety, from its origin to the present deputed to draw up the statement. by insinuating itself between the ad- time, is subjoined; and also an index to This gentleman found, that the eruphering particles, produces tubular ca- both the 8vo volumes, the Society, it is tions of these semi-volcanoes, two in vities, which are afterwards converted understood, intending in future to pub-number, which are situated on a narrow into more perfect vessels. lish their Memoirs in the 4to form. It tongue of land, which points directly may also be noticed, that the volume is into one of the mouths of the Oronoko illustrated with twenty-seven engrav- on the Main, about 12 or 15 miles off, ings, several of which do honour to our at the southern extremity of Trinidad, artists. Of the papers above enumera- and not far from the celebrated Pitch ted, several of the most important are Lake, are at all times quite cold. That contained in the second part of the the matter ordinarily thrown out convolume, which is just published. The sisted of argillaceous earth mixed with account of the Greenland or Polar ice, salt water, about as salt as the water in by Mr Scoresby, may be particularly the neighbouring Gulf of Paria; but mentioned: it is illustrated by a map of though cold at all times, that pyritic the state of the ice about two years fragments were occasionally ejected ago, before the great breaking up of the along with the argillaceous earth. They icy barrier, which has given rise to the also observed, that several mounts in voyage in search of a north-west pass- the vicinity possessed the same characage, about to be once more undertaken. ter in all respects as the semi-volcanoes It is exceedingly to be regreted, we then in activity, having all the marks, think, that this undertaking has not except the actual eruption, of having been confided to a person so eminently been raised through a similar process to qualified as Mr Scoresby. The des- their existing altitude, of about a huncriptions of new or rare British Fishes, dred feet; and that the trees around by the late Colonel Montagu, accom-them were of the kind that are usually panied witn coloured figures, may be found near lagoons and salt marshes.

WERNERIAN SOCIETY.

The second volume of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History So ciety contains a great variety of curious and interesting papers, the subjects of which we shall lay before our readers under distinct heads. Meteorology. Observations made in Greenland in 1811 and 1812, by Mr Scoresby. On the coincidence in the pressure of the atmosphere, in different latitudes, at nearly the same time; by the Right Hon. Lord Gray. Hydrography.-On the state of the Polar Ice, by Mr Scoresby. On the tendency to filling up in the German Ocean, by Mr Stevenson, engineer. Chemistry. Analyses of magnetic iron-ore from Greenland, and of a new species of lead-ore from India; by Dr Thomson of Glasgow. Analysis

262

Arts and Sciences.

[March 7, 1818. blishing, in addition to what he had be- | powder. Hence Dr Ure infers, that fore brought forward, the fallacy of the the traces of moisture formerly observopinion in which chlorine is regarded ed by Dr Murray, on exposing sal-amas a simple substance, which, with hy-moniac to heat, must have been the hygrometric water of the imperfectly dried salt.

The nature of the duties on which they were employed did not permit their attempting any analysis of the air, water, or earths, furnished by the eruptions. December 1.-A paper, by Dr Brew-drogen, forms muriatic acid. The opAt the same meeting, a paper by Dr ster, was read on the Laws of Double posite opinion, that it is a compound of Refraction and Polarisation. This pa- muriatic acid with oxygen, and that tion of the eye in the healthy state, in per was divided into seven sections, of muriatic gas is a compound of muriatic Brewster was read, on a singular affec1. acid and water, might be held to be eswhich only the two first were read. On the crystals which produce double tablished, and it undoubtedly may be consequence of which it loses the pow er of seeing objects within the sphere refraction, a property which the author maintained. But he has presented a has observed in 160 crystals. 2. On different view of the subject, as being of distinct vision. When the eye is crystals with one apparent axis of dou- more conformable to the present state steadily fixed upon any object, this obbut, if the eye is steadily directed to ble refraction. These crystals, which of chemical theory, into which our 1-ject will never cease to become visible; amount to twenty-two, were divided in- mits do not permit us to enter. At the same meeting Dr Brewster another object in its vicinity, while it to two classes, positive and negative, sees the first object indirectly, this first and include all those whose primitive communicated a very interesting paper form is the hexahedral prism, the rhom- consisting of extracts of letters from object will, after a certain time, entireone or both eyes, whatever be its forboid, with an obtuse summit, and the Mr Boog to his father, the Rev. Drly disappear, whether it is seen with octahedron, in which the pyramids have Boog of Paisley, giving an account of a square base. 3. On crystals with two the recent discoveries respecting the mer colour, or its position with respect axes of double refraction and polarisa- sphinx, and the principal pyramid of to the axis of vision. When the object tion. These crystals, which amount to Egypt, which have been made by Cap- is such as to produce its accidental coabout eighty, include all those whose tain C. and Mr Salt. By very labori-lour before it vanishes, the accidental The preceding experiments primitive form is not the hexahe- ous excavations, which were made in colour disappears also along with the dral prism, the obtuse rhomboid, the vain by the French savans, these gen- object. octohedron with a square base, the cube, tlemen have discovered that the sphinx have no connection whatever with those the regular octohedron, and the rhom- is cut out of the solid rock on which it of Mariotte, Picard, and Le Cat, relaboidal octohedron. 4. On the resolu- was supposed merely to rest. They tive to the entrance of the optic nerve. tion and combination of polarising for- found that the short descending pas- In the course of this investigation, Dr ces, and the reduction of all crystals to sage at the entrance to the pyramid, Brewster was led to a new theory of 5. On which afterwards ascends to the two accidental colours, which will be read crystals with two or more axes. crystals with three equal and rectangu- chambers, was continued in a straight at a future meeting. lar axes. These crystals amount to line through the base of the pyramid, twenty, and consist of those whose pri- into the rock upon which the pyramid mitive form is the cube, the regular oc- stands. This new passage, after jointohedron, and the rhomboidal dodeca-ing what was formerly called the well, hedron. 6. On the artificial imitation is continued forward in a horizontal of all the classes of doubly refracting line, and terminates in a well ten feet crystals. 7. On the laws of double re- deep, exactly beneath the apex of the fraction, for crystals with any number pyramid, and at a depth of 100 feet below its base. Captain C. has likewise discovered an apartment immediately above the King's chamber, and exactly of the same size and the same fine workmanship, but only four feet in height.

of axes.

December 15.-A paper was read, which had been announced at the first meeting, by Dr Murray, containing Experiments on Muriatic Acid.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

The first meeting for business took A letter from R. Anstice, Esq. acplace on November 21, 1817. companying a specimen of argonite from the Quantock Hills, was read.

The Quantock Hills consist chiefly of greywacke, but are penetrated by a bed of mountain limestone running through a great part of their length. In a quarry near the village of Mer ridge, about six miles from BridgewaJan. 5.-The continuation of Dr Jan. 19.--The second part of Dr ter, is a fissure in this limestone rock, Murray's paper on Muriatic Acid Gas W read. In the preceding part of it, Ure's paper on Muriatic Acid Gas was which has been for some time famous it had appeared, that from the action read. In this part the author showed, for its calcareous stalactites. Recentof metals on muriatic acid gas, water is that the azote of the ammonia has no ly this fissure has been cleared to a concern in the production of the water; greater extent than before; and Mr deposited. It was shewn that the water obtained in the experiments could for the whole azote, competent to the Anstice visited the spot in the month not be derived from hygrometric va- weight of salt employed, is recoverable of August last, when he found that, pour; that it could not be accounted in a gaseous form. It is then experi- after proceeding along it for about 40 for from the supposition of a portion of mentally demonstrated, that the sal-yards, the passage suddenly became water being combined with the acid in ammoniac, resulting from the union of contracted. No the gas beyond that which is strictly the two dry constituent gases, yields essential to its constitution; and that it water in similar circumstances. could not be ascribed to any lower de- water could be obtained, however, by gree of oxidation of the metal being heating dry sal-ammoniac alone, or in established. Dr Murray considered contact with charcoal, or even by pasthe result of these experiments as esta-sing its vapour through ignited quartz

The narrow part being enlarged at his desire, it was found to lead into a cavern about twenty yards in length, from six to ten yards in breadth, and from three to six feet in heighth along the middle. About one-third of its sur

March 7. 1818.]

face was covered with stalactites of arragonite (flos ferri) of great beauty. This cavern is situate in the greywacke; and Mr Anstice remarks, that the arborescences of arragonite occur only in that rock, while those which are found adhering to the limestone are common calcareous stalactite.

A letter was read from Mr Winch, mentioning the discovery of a tree about 28 or 30 feet long, with its branches, in a bed of fire-stone (one of the coal sandstones) at High Heworth, near Newcastle. Of this organic remain the trunk and larger branches are silicious; while the bark, the small branches, and leaves, are converted into coal; and Mr Winch remarks, that the small veins of coal, called by the miners coal pipes, owe their origin universally to small branches of trees. Mr W. states it as a remarkable and interesting fact, that while the trunks of trees found in the Whitby alum shale are mineralized by calcareous spar, clay ironstone, and iron pyrites, and their bark is converted into jet; those buried in the Newcastle sandstones are always mineralized by silex, and their bark changed into common coal.

A paper by Dr Berger was read, containing a theoretical explanation of the curvature of the beds of limestone which form the Jura mountains.

December 5.-The reading of a paper by Mr W. Phillips, entitled, "Remarks on the Chalk Hills in the neighbourhood of Dover, and on the green Sand and blue Marl overlying it near Folkstone," was begun.

December 19.-The reading of Mr Phillips's paper was continued.

FINE ARTS.

Cast from the Statue of Moses by M1-
CHAEL ANGELO, and the Horse on

the Monte Cavallo at Rome.

We conceive that no man deserves better of the artists or amateurs of his country than Mr Alexander Day, the collector and proprietor of the works of art in the exhibition at the Royal Mews; he has displayed great judgment and a highly cultivated taste in the selection of the productions with which it is enriched, and has, by having brought them to Britain, a fairer claim to the character of a true patriot than many of those who make more noisy preten sions. The value of the collection has

263

Fine Arts.-Cast from the Statue of Moses.
been of late enhanced by the addition panegyric, and is confessed to be the
of a cast of the horse on the Monte Ca- sublimest production, in that branch of
vallo at Rome, and the exhibition of a art, of the most original and elevated
most perfect and beautiful cast of the genius of the Italian or any other school.
Moses of Michael Angelo. The horse Of Michael Angelo, at once a painter,
is of the highest rank in beauty and in a sculptor, and an architect, it may be
art; we are inclined to consider it as of said in the eloquent language of John-
contemporaneous date with the statue son, "Nullum tetigit quod non ornavit."
near which it is placed, and the cele- His splendid genius overleaped the pal-
brated Elgin marbles. There is a strik- try boundaries which habit had con-
ing resemblance of style between it and structed around the arts, and which
the horses in the latter; the formation were only suited to meaner minds.
of the animal is similar, the superior Like the most stupendous among ce-
character infused is to be observed in lestial bodies, his orbit was unbounded;
both; the disposition of the mane, and he carried around him an atmosphere
above all, the similar style of execution, of his own, and for ever breathed the
justify the conclusion that they are of same ethereal air. He maintained his
the same age, and probably by the expansive course, disdaining like a sa-
same artist. It appears evident, that tellite to tread a beaten path, and move
the present groupe is incomplete; the in prescribed rotation around one only
action of the horse does not connect it- world. It has often been a subject of
self with that of the human figure; nor inquiry in which art this divine artist
does it in any way denote that relation was most successful; we cannot con-
which one is warranted in expecting. ceive any thing finer of its kind than
The human figure is in the act of de- the statue before us, and are almost
fensive warfare; the horse is curvetting tempted to acknowledge its supremacy;
with somewhat an air of offence and it is the acme of majestic and impress-
passion, as if arising from a blow upon ive beauty. The late Mr Bacon's ob-
the head, or the action of the curb.servations on that art in which he ex-
There cannot, however, be a diversity celled, are admirably exemplified by
of opinion with regard to the individual the Moses :-" Sculpture has indeed
merits of this horse, whatever doubts had the honour," says he, "of giving
may arise as to its age, its purport, or law to all the schools of design, both
its connection with other statues now ancient and modern, with respect to
swept away by the desolating hand of purity of form; the reason perhaps is,
time. There is the same elevation of that being divested of those meretricious
character to be observed as in the hu-ornaments by which painting is enabled
man figures of the same master, the to seduce its admirers, it is happily
same happy union of all that can be forced to seek for its effect in the high-
imagined as beautiful, without overstep- er excellencies of the art,-hence eleva-
ping that which is natural. You per- tion in the idea as well as purity and
ceive the same dignified difference be- grandeur in the forms, are found in
tween the horse and all others as you greater perfection in sculpture than in
observe in the portraiture of men by the painting."-Last edition of Chambers's
same divine artist; and the only reason Cyclopædia, article Sculpture. The
why similar admiration is not excited statue from which the cast before us is
iş, because the mind is less accustomed taken, is part of a monument to Pope
to contemplate this species of excel- Julius the Second, in the church of St
lence. The pictorial anatomy and study Peter de Vincolis, and has on each side
of the horse is too much neglected: of it a female figure, supposed in Rome
scarcely any considerable heroic com- to be the design, but not the workman-
position can be produced without the ship, of Michael Angelo: the whole be
introduction of this noble animal. And ing surmounted by a sarcophagus,
yet our schools have no professor of whereon, in a recumbent attitude, is the
this branch of art; nor is there any figure of his holiness, looking down-
mode of supplying the deficiency but wards with an expression of mingled
by consulting grooms or frequenting majesty and benignity. The figure of
stables, occupations which are revolting the Prophet is seated, the head slightly
and uncongenial to the pursuits of ar- upraised; his right arm rests on the
tists, whatever may be the prevalence stone tables of the law, his left is not in
of fashion with other classes.
action; the left foot is somewhat ad-
vanced; the drapery is disposed around
the figure in the most masterly style
that can be conceived; the expression

Of the Cast of the Statue of Moses we know not how to speak in terms of sufficient admiration; it has exhausted all

264

of the head is of the highest order of sublimity; the face is imbued with grandeur, the eye sufficiently sunk to mark the aged seer, the forehead prominent, and the beard, which falls in graceful exuberance, completes the expression of this exalted performance. Those parts of the figure which are not concealed by the drapery, are exquisitely finished, the left arm is peculiary beautiful. The back of the figure, on which from its being placed in a niche, less labour has been bestowed, is very interesting; it affords some evidence of the progress of the artist's mind, the prominent forms are boldly expressed: accuracy of anatomy and just proportion are as observable and effective as in the front and more finished parts of the statue. It must not be imagined that any part of this sublime performance is overwrought or overstudied; on the contrary, it evinces the most profound knowledge of anatomy, united to an expression of elevation and grandeur which never suffers its minute finishing to appear pedantic or destructive of the totality of effect which, in less able hands, is commonly the case.

From a History of Painting in Italy,

by an Anonymous Writer.

"I HAVE many reproaches to make myself, that, in speaking of Naples, the fine statue of Aristides, at the Studj, was passed over; but, in gratifying our curiosity, we are exhausted by the sensations excited, and we return home half dead.

"This Aristides is truly admirable; it is in the style non-ideal, like the bust of Vitellius, at Genoa; it has a drapery over it, and is upon a plinth; but it has been so much calcined by the lava of Herculaneum, that it is become almost

lime. The English going there after dinner, had taken to amusing themselves with giving a spring, and leaping upon the plinth; the least false motion, they must come upon the statue, and it is then reduced to powder. This little circumstance occasioned much embarrassment to Messieurs the exhibitors of the Museum; but how provide, by any regulations, against such a subject of disquietude? At length they hit upon an expedient; they found that these gentlemen did not begin their potations before two o'clock, so they determined that, for the future, the Studj should be shut at two instead of four. This fact I have thoroughly verified; seve

Arts and Sciences-Antiquities.

ral of the people belonging to the Mu-
seum shewed me the impressions of the
boots upon the plinth.

"At the villa Mattei, I saw the Se-
neca in the possession of the Prince of
Peace. This celebrated philosopher
appears with a very different counte-
nance from the horrible one we are ac-
customed to see given him. He has
the physiognomy of a true gentleman,
and is even handsome, with the mien
and air of one of our old courtiers.

[March 7, 1818.

and only made with straps to draw round the body, without any buttons. The shoes made of one piece of hide, without seam or holes, but all of raw untanned leather, on which reddish cow-hair was still visible. The shoes had over the foot, beginning at the toes, holes with thongs to draw; opposite every hole on the outer side of the foot, there was a lie star cut out, surrounded with a circle, and these stars were connected with a very tasteful "I have seen Thirwalsen: he is a and well-defined foliage. All was in Dane, whom people would fain erect good preservation, as decay does not into a rival of Canova; but he is about ensue for a prodigious length of time the level of the late Chaudet. At the in the moor, on account of its resinous Quirinal palace there is a frise by him, parts; insomuch that in East Frieswhich even there does not appear land, in such situations, in the middle. amiss; and at his house he has some of the country, lying 25 or 30 feet very passable bas-reliefs; among others, higher than the daily tide, great trunks one of Somnus. The Marquis Canova of trees, hazel-nuts, &c. are found; the has executed a hundred and thirty sta- former of which must have been overtues, and he has invented a new species thrown several thousand years before of beauty. He sacrifices the upper lip, the origin of the morass, and so by dewhich he makes very short, to the grees have been grown over with turf beauty of the nose. What is thus lost from 10 to 12 feet deep; it being in physiognomy, he atones by the gran- proved, and evident, that all turf-moors, deur of the forehead. But Canova is as in East Friesland, Holland, &c. &c. too great not to have a party against consist entirely of moss and parts of him. He has, for example, the mis- plants. The bones of the old Fries- · fortune not to please the young French lander, which were thus found in July, artists. He was so good as to shew me had probably reposed there for more the engraving of a picture which he than 2000 years! To judge by the orhas painted for the church of the vil-naments of the shoes, he was a rich lage in which he was born, Passagno. He has not only invented a new beauideal, to represent the Supreme Being, who is no longer an old man, but he has found a singular, though very just means of expressing his immensity. This means is too long to describe."

ANTIQUITIES.

man; perhaps his people looked upon him as a sorcerer, whom his contemporaries, to be secure that he would not appear to them after his death, buried in this moor, and then covered with heavy piles. As the skeleton was found on the Mother-sand, it is clear that the body was laid there before the origin of the moor. The dress also without seams and buttons, and the shoes without soles or any seam, denote

Discovery of an ancient Skeleton in a very high antiquity. There had be

East Friesland.

In the month of July this year, (1817), there was found near Friedeburg, in the commune of Etzel, by some persons who were digging turf, in the middle of the bog, and at the bottom of the turf moor, a human skeleton. The dress and situation point out a very remote antiquity. It lay in a hollow, filled with mossy ground, kept down by strong oak piles laid across the body. The dress consisted of a coarse haircloth, milled, and not woven, without seams and buttons, with wide arm-holes, and a hole for the neck. The small-clothes of the same cloth,

fore been found in the moors of this country, shoes of a very remote age, and which, from their surprising size, must have belonged to a race of men of a very large stature; but these had coarse and strong soles, with a thick rim, which was fastened with a strap to the upper leather; while those now found were, as we have stated, without any soles. There have likewise been found in these moors, amber-beads, which were of a singular form, and drawn upon a thread of white and black horsehair, which likewise seem to indicate a remote age. However, the ornaments cut in the raw leather, out of which the shoes are made, on account of the core

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