Judicious remarks are made by each of these gentlemen on the state of the poor, and on the poor laws: but we particularly approve those of Mr. Kent. He wishes to have the poor considered as a part of the community, and to interest them in the general welfare. Instead of massing and congregating the poor in one huge building, Mr. Kent advises cottage accommodations for them:

• There is one thing which is incumbent on all great farmers to do, and that is to provide comfortable cottages for two or three of their most industrious labourers, and to lay two or three acres of grass land to each, to enable such labourer to keep a cow and a pig:such a man is always a faithful servant to the farmer' who employs him: he has a stake in the common interest of the country, and is never prompt to riot, in times of sedition, like the man who has nothing to lose; on the contrary, he is a strong link in the chain of national security *.'

Though one of the writers before us controverts the propriety of universally assigning to the cottage the quantity of land here mentioned, we think that there should be some cottages so circumstanced, as a reward to honest industry; and that it is wise, in a political view, that even the poorest should have some portion of property. Mr. Kent very justly supposes that the astonishing rise of the poor-rates originates in the increased price of provisions beyond the proportional augmentation in the price of labour; he recommends to magistrates the perusal of Fleetwood's Chronicon Preciosum; and he concludes his report with the following advice, which does equal credit to his head and heart:

Every farmer I would advise, to consider the labourer not as an incumbrance up on him, but as essentially necessary to carry on his business, without whom he could not live or support his own family; but the present weak policy has ari en from a misconception of the utility and real importance of the 1. bo irer to society. No farmer will slight his horse, or give him the less hay or corn for its being dear; if he did, he would expect the animal to decline in condition. Why then should the human servant be less attended to? He is, undoubtedly, the first einew that puts the labour of the farm in motion, and without which it cannot be carried on: if, therefore, his full earnings will not keep him, it is a duty incumbent on his master to let him have a sufficiency of corn, for his own family, at the same rate or price by which he is paid for his labour, and not to suffer the spirit of a poor man, of this description, to be broken.

The force of this argument is grounded in my heart, and I hope it will strike those with conviction, who have power, in their dif ferent stations, to administer the comfort I recommend-and that no dispassionate person will blame me, for thus standing forth-the steady friend of the helpless.'

See other remarks on this subject, Rev. December, p. 397, &c.

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On the use of Oxen in husbandry, we here observe some diversity of opinion. Mr. Pitt informs us that, in the county of Stafford, oxen used to be employed; but, as a more extended and improved cultivation has taken place, and the price of human labour has increased,' (a material matter to be taken into the account,) they have given way to horses.' Mr. Kent recommends the use of Oxen in preference to horses; remarking that in most instances they are nearly equal to horses, and, in their support, they are full thirty per cent. cheaper.' Still, however, he admits that there is a prejudice against them in Norfolk; and that only a few gentlemen-farmers use them: but he hopes that this prejudice will gradually be removed.

The subject of Fallowing is not contemplated by each of these writers in the same light. Mr. Kent would explode it altogether; while Mr. Boys contends that, in the clayey and stiff soils, a well made summer-fallow is certainly requisite. If Mr. Kent's observations be restricted to the sandy or sandyloam soils of Norfolk, they are very proper: but there are adhesive soils which cannot be broken and pulverized by any mode so well as by summer fallowing.

In these three reports, we find but one mention made of the Thrashing Machine; viz. by Mr. Boys, who tells us that the one which he has is the sole machine of which he has heard in the county.

By a comparison of these reports, the reader will perceive the peculiarities and characteristic features of each county.

Kent is distinguished for its hop-grounds, and for the culture of the canary seed in the Isle of Thanet. Its manufactures are trifling, but it has a rich and respectable yeomanry.

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Staffordshire is remarkable for its manufactures of various kinds, particularly for its Pottery. More rain falls on it than on either Kent or Norfolk. It continues to be stocked with all kinds of timber: but it does not grow corn enough for its own consumption.

Norfolk is celebrated not only for its manufactures, but for a most productive cultivation. If it cannot boast of its timber, it may be proud of its grain; which is so abundant, that the four ports of Norfolk export as much as all the rest of England-but in Norfolk they have no idea of making bacon.

These surveys contain, as usual, plans of farm-houses, yards,

Thirty-six inches of rain annually fall in Staffordshire, while from twenty to twenty-one only fall in and about London; so that the climate of this county may be said to incline to wet.'-It is not however so wet as Lancashire, where the rains amount to forty-two inches; and hence by some it has been called the Moab or wash-pot of England.

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and offices; and views of cattle, and of husbandry implements. Mr. Pitt has inserted in his publication, a botanical catalogue of indigenous plants: which is a valuable addition to the other notices respecting the county which he has undertaken to describe.

ART. VII. Tracts on the Nature of Animals and Vegetables. By Lazaro Spallanzani, R. P. U. P. 8vo. pp. 400. 6s. Boards. Edinburgh, Creech. London, Cadell jun. and Davies. 1799.

'HIS translation of some recent tracts, by the Abbate Spallanzani, will be a most acceptable present to those of our philosophical readers who are unacquainted with Italian. To comment on the merits of this illustrious naturalist, or to lament his recent death, would be totally superfluous; by all philosophers were his talents known, and by all will his decease be regretted :--we shall therefore proceed to give some account of the contents of the volume before us.

The first tract contains observations and experiments on the animalcula of different vegetable infusions; and the object of these experiments was to ascertain whether the progress of boiling, long-continued, was destructive to the animalcula contained in the infusions of vegetable substances. The event of the trials is thus summarily given:

Thus, it clearly results, that long boiling the seed infusions, does not prevent the production of animalcula. To explain why the infusions boiled for the shortest time have the fewest animalcula, I may observe: That animalcula should appear in infusions, it is necessary the substances infused, sensibly begin to dissolve; for, as this dissolution is effected, or at least for a certain time, the number of animalcula augments. Seeds of plants, boiled for a shorter time, are, for a shorter period, encompassed and penetrated by the dissolving power of the fire; consequently, when put to macerate, will not be so soon decomposed.'

On extending the experiment, it appeared that animalcula might be produced even after the seeds had been roasted, and ground like coffee :

Further, I subjected vegetable seeds to the most intense heat, the heat of burning coals, and the flame from a blowpipe. I exposed the seeds in an iron plate upon coals. When converted to cinders, I reduced them to powder, and made as many infusions as there were kinds of seed. The cinders from the blowpipe were extremely dry and hard. I could scarcely believe my eyes, when I saw animalcula in these infusions."

The next set of experiments was made to ascertain the effect of boiling on the animalcula, when the infusions were REV. JAN. 1800.

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were, and were not deprived of blood, appeared precisely in the same state, that is, half dead, and not attempting to escape although at liberty. Fifteen minutes afterwards, I took others from the snow: all seemed contracted, motionless, and almost frozen. I returned them to the snow; and in some hours transported them to a warm situation, carefully observing what happened. By little and little, they stretched themselves, opened their eyes, and prepared to escape, This I observed in all, without any difference. I had the curiosity still to bury them in the snow. I saw anew the same phænomena; and I constantly found the results the same, when the experiments were repeated at different seasons of the year. All the tree-frogs, toads, water-newts, whether deprived of blood or not, equally experienced the lethargic slumber, when exposed to cold, but revived with a sufficient degree of heat.'

The slightest shock of electricity proved fatal to all kinds of the animalcula. The odour of camphor, of turpentine, of tobacco, of sulphur, and the application of oleaginous or spirituous liquors, were all destructive of them. The animalcula lived, and performed their functions, for a considerable time, in vacuo: but none can support the want of air beyond a month.-In speaking on this subject, the author seems to discredit the stories which have been told, of living animals discovered in the centre of stones or trees:

I well know there are instances cited, of different animals said to have existed without enjoying the benefit of this element (air); such as, the accounts of frogs found alive in the middle of the hardest substances of living toads discovered in the centre of large stones, or of entire trees, where the smallest particle of air could not insinuate itself into their retreats. But, those histories are more the object of the admiration, than the belief, of persons who have made any progress in Experimental Philosophy. It is requisite they should be supported by authority; which is most essential, in a case so strange and paradoxical. Until we obtain facts better ascertained, we think ourselves entitled to assert, that there is in nature no known animated being, which can exist without enjoying the advantages presented by air.'

The chapter on the generation of animalcula is extremely curious, but cannot be made intelligible without the engraving. We shall extract one of the most remarkable passages, because at leads to general conclusions on this subject:

The volvox, like most animalcula, is very transparent, and the internal structure is accurately seen. Some observers have already discovered young in the womb of the mother, extending to the fifth generation. In my long observations upon infusions, I have found two abounding with the volvox; those of hemp-seed, and the tremella. They are also found in the putrid water of dunghills. Those animalcula are at first very small, but grow so large, as to be distinguished by the naked eye. They are of a greenish yellow colour,. of a globular

figure,

figure, and of a transparent membranaceous substance. In the middle, are included several very minute globes; Fig. 5. pl. 1. These minute globes, when examined with the most powerful magnifiers, appear so many smaller volvoces, which have each their diaphanous membrane, inclosing others still less. I have distinguished: the third generation, but never the two others. It is possible they were not visible in those I examined, from their not being of the size or species examined by other naturalists. When all had quitted the mother, the common membrane burst, and begun to dissolve. Meanwhile, the new volvoces contained others, burst, and then dissolved." By isolating them, I saw the thirteenth generation.

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One of the strongest objections made to the system of germs, arises from the great difficulty in conceiving the successive envelopement of animals in animals, and plants in plants. Oftener than once. we have found one egg within another; and some osseous part of one fœtus has been found within another fœtus. The butterfly is included in the shell of the chrysalis; and the chrysalis in the skin of the caterpillar. In the seeds of vegetables, are seen the rudi. ments of plants; and in the root of the hyacinth, the fourth generation has been discovered. The volvox affords a new argument for inclusion. There, we see it to the thirteenth generation; and pro-, bably that is not the last.'

In the succeeding chapter, we find an account of a polypur, not accurately described before, which is bell-shaped, and adheres by its long tail to the lentil-root. It multiplies by dividing longitudinally into two: other classes of animalcula multiply by dividing transversely.

But the most surprising and the most extraordinary multiplication I have seen, is that of some animated globes, which roll like pellets in the infusions of water lentil, and are visible without the micros cope. They are externally covered with tumours, formed of several animalcula, situated upon each other, and attempting to escape. Figure a body almost spherical, formed of concentric strata, each of which is an aggregate of animals. The animalcula composing the exterior or first stratum,, separate from this sort of sphere the is the second stratum laid open, which is composed of animalcula, and, by its separating, discovers the third. There are even strata inferior; so that the whole globe is decomposed, from the circumference to the centre. The globe has no other than a rolling motion; but the composing animalcula have the greatest activity. Each globe produces more than an hundred.

While the strata of the globes decomposed, I seized some animalcula, and isolated them. At first, each did not equal one hundredth part of the globe in size; but in three or four days, every one was as large as the whole. Their motion became slower, in pro-, portion as they increased. When full grown or complete, they rolled with only the precession common to those globes. The furface of the stratum was at first smooth; it became unequal, and loaded with tumours. These tumours were so many distinct animalcula, whichi,

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