indifference which told him she had not taken his infinuation to herself. Thus feveral weeks paffed away, till Verblan was pofitive the loved him, and hugged himfelf in the good fortune of poffeffing the affections of a prude. Satisfied, from the foftnefs of her looks, the pointed manner of her reception, the blufhes that often fuffused her cheeks at his fudden appearance, and the diftance with which the fometimes affected to treat him, that she would readily yield to love and poverty, he ventured, in pathetic language, to defcribe to her the tortures of his agitated bofom. "Ah, charming Maryna " faid he, with a figh, can ming Maryna; and heard, with admiration, her prudential character, from all who spoke of her. "I am fure," thought he, "I fhall find the way to her heart. She blushes-that is a fign of fine feeling. She fpeaks little, but that betrays her good fenfe. Ah! what a happy man fhall I be, with a woman of fenfe! I know the will defpife wealth, in comparison of love and talent; and, befides, the woman whom I can adore, muft love me only any one can love my wealth." Amufed, and in love, Verblan haftened to fit himself for the part he had to act. He caft afide the trappings of wealth; cloathed himself in the hmble garb of a bourgeois; and, as the fon of you return the affections of a man a merchant, came to collect the wreck who adores you? Does that gentle of a little fortune among Parifian cre- breaft admit the infinuating foitness ditors. He was introduced to Maryna's of love? Can you accept a man who father, who was a man of letters. This was a fine opportunity for the difplay of intellectual knowledge; and, in the prefence of the lovely brunette, Verblan did not fail to thine. He difplayed his knowledge of antient learning; traverfed the Grecian and Roman fhores; and danced through the belles lettres; but his eloquence fhone out with peculiar luftre, when he touched on poetry; and, as his eyes turned on Maryna for approbation, a flight blush, and a diffident confufion, thrilled through his heart. values you for your fenfe, who will rejoice to receive you with no other portion than your own merit, and who laments that he has not a fortune equal: to that merit to beflow?" "I know not," faid fhe, with apparent diffidence. "I am yet too young to think of love. I never mean to marry." So much for the first declaration. Verblan was in defpair; he did not know what to think, but he returned the next day to the charge. He defired to know, if her refufal proceeded from his poverty. "No," faid the; can you think it? I will never marry a man for his wealth; but I do not love you!" This was accompanied with a smile that implied the contrary. He would have caught her in his arms, and have endeavoured to extort a kinder confeffion; but he feared to offend her delicacy, and fat like a fool till her father entered. He retired home in an extacy, and fpent the night in compofing a poem, wherein love and poverty were admirably pourtrayed he did not defcend to flatter, because he thought flattery, to a prude, would be infipid; he confined himfelf folely to fenfe, or rather nonfenfe; and, the next day, haftened to prefent it. He found his adorable alone. She blushed with the prettieft confufion in the world. "Ah!" thought Verblan, he loves me al- In this fort of trifling, he dangled ready." They difcourfed on Arcadian feveral months; always certain of bepleafures. Verblan ventured to fay, ing beloved, and always refufed in a how happy he fhould be with a nymph manner that decided nothing. fo modeft and fo good; who knew length, he determined to know his fate how to rife fuperior to all the trifles of without fubterfuge; and, finding an life, and enjoy the calm pleafures of opportunity, he ventured to fay-"Crurural retirement. She did not contra- el girl! why will you torture me with dict him; on the contrary, fhe allowed this doubt? Why will you not accept that it would be charming, with an me, or at once tell me that you bate At me me, and for why? You have faid that her character too much to reproach it is not my poverty which you reject; her; he contented himself with faying tell me, then, what other reafon you" Madam, you delight to torment have, that I may, if poffible, endeavour me. You have loft a heart that would to remove it ?" have cherished you through life. I fly. from you, never to return!" "I do not know!" faid fhe, with her usual indifference. “ Why will you teaze me, when I tell you that I do not love you?" "But you will, perhaps? You own, you do not know your objection: you know the candour of my heart, and you will love me in a little time.""No, never!" faid the laughing. Verblan was confounded." Was he to believe his eyes or his ears? He began to think he did not poffefs all that good fenfe which he had fuppofed, and he was certain that he wanted generofity. But he was in love; and, therefore, made a thousand excufes. He returned often to the same story; each time was to be the laft; but ftill he was difmiffed with negatives and fmiles. Determined no longer to bear the torments the inflicted-now making himfelf certain, from fome accidental expreffions of tenderness, and then defpairing, from the coldnefs the af fumed he arrived at the house. "Madam,” said he, seriously, "I am come hither to be yours, or fly you for ever! I do not now afk for the reafon of your refufal; but tell me, on your honour, if you feel for me any partiality? Trife not with me any longer be the generous girl I loved, whom I do love; and accept, or difmifs me, at once, and for ever!" "I have told you," faid fhe, with her ufual smile," that I cannot love you. It is you who perfecute me. Go! I will never have you"-" You are ferious?""Yes."" Then why, if these are actually your fentiments, did you not tell me fo before, that I might have fpared myself this trouble?"-" I have told you so often. When did I ever give you any encouragement?" Verblan paufed; he was confounded. He could not fay that fhe had, with her mouth; but, even now, her looks, and her fmiles, filled him with doubt. He defpifed the meannefs of ter, He haftened away, and met with his friend Bellcour. "Well," faid the lat"how does the gentle and fentimental Maryna? When does the retire with you to love and a cottage ?""never!" "Ha ha! he has jilted you, has the? Well, you are now fick of prudes, who difguife ignorance under a pretended modefty; vanity under apparent humility; and love to torment, while they appear fentimental, candid, and open! Would you believe it, this chit of yours was engaged to an old hunks?" "How ?" "It is true. She is to be married fhortly, and you will enjoy your triumph. She refufed you only because the thought you poor. She will take him, because the thinks him rich." An Account of a new Churn, invented by Mr. William Bowler, for which a Premium of Thirty Guineas was voted to him by the Society for the Encou ragement of Arts, &c. MR. BOWLER, the inventor of the ་ new-improved Churn, was recommended to the fociety by James Berwick, Efq. of Waltham Abbey, Effex. This churn,' fays Mr. Berwick, in his letter to the fecretary, is, upon trial, much fuperior to any churn that I know of now in ufe. My fervant has been, for the two laft times of churning, with the butter-churn ten or twelve hours: I have known many farmers who have been two days before they have got butter; and upon a fair trial, with this new-invented churn, it produc ed good butter within the hour.' DESCRIPTION OF THE CHURN. The churn itself is of the barrel kind, being a cylinder, eighteen inches diameter, and nine inches wide; the fides wood, and the rim tin plate, having two openings; the one, eight inches and a half long, by four inches wide, through lated. He, who to ardour of conception unites vigour of action, will feldom have occafion to charge Fortune with neglect, or God with injuftice; but, on the contrary, will often feel fenfations of the most heart-felt gratitude to the Supreme Dif. penfer of all things. Belfaftienfis. I. A. B. the active and induftrious boaft with regulate what he himself left unregu vigour the aufpicious iufluence of their good Fortune; and feem to think all the exertions of others in vain, unlefs favoured by this fickle goddels, Fortune. But what is this Fortune, which is fo often trumped in our ears as the fovereign arbiter of terreftrial affairs? Is it fomething? Is it nothing? I will not deign to fay it has any analogy to the Author of time itself, but a mere bugbear, the idol of ignorance, adapted to make flaves of the timid, and tyrants of the courageous. Thefe cadets of fortune may be truly faid to be the people who bury their talent, and who with to reap where they have not fowed-a practice repugnant to all the laws of God and man. It would be abfurd to deny the Author of Nature's fupremacy and fuperintending power; and it must be equally abfurd, and even an infult to that fupre macy, to fuppofe another being, one equal in power, but capricious and partial in diftributing the gifts of an allwife God. In fhort, it is no less than faying, that God was incapable of governing the universe by his own eternal and unchangeable laws, without the affistance of fome difpenfing power, to Experiments and Obfervations on the THE Board of Agriculture having requested me to enquire into the compofition, or parts, of which the potatoe root confifts, and particularly to afcertain the proportion and nature of the watery part; I have now the honour of laying before the Board the following experiments and obfervations. It will be proper first to obferve, that the fort of potatoe-root ufed in these experiments, was that well known by the name of kidney potatoe; and that the fkin was taken off by paring it in the ufual way. Experiment 1. Three thoufand five hundred grains of potatoe-roots, cut inio flices of about one-eighth to onetwelfth of an inch in thickness, after expolure in a large glafs difh to the heat of the fteam of a water-bath, of one hundred and ninety to two hundred degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, afforded one thousand grains of a very brittle, hard, heavy fubftance. Some pieces of this fubftance were whitifa, others brown, and many of them alfo were black, being a little burnt. Experiment 2. On a repetition of the preceding experiment, the refult was nearly the fame; three thousand five hundred grains of potatoe-roots affording about one thoufand grains of hard brittle fubftance. Experiment 3. Seven thoufand grains of fliced potatoe-roots, treated as in the preceding experiments, yielded two thousand one hundred grains of dry brittle matter. Experiment Experiment 4. Three thousand grains of fliced potatoe-roots, being evaporated in a fand-bath, of a higher temperature than the water-bath, there remained nine hundred grains of britde, dry, hard pieces of matter; moft of which were burnt a little, and black. Experiment 5. The whitish and unburnt dried flices of potatoe-roots, being ground to powder, afforded a greyish meal or farina, of the tafte of raw potatoe-root, of about the fame fpecific gravity, and drier than meal of wheat in its usual state. From the above experiments it appears that potatoe roots afford about two-fevenths of their weight, or twentyeight to thirty per cent. of meal. Hence, it a bushel of these roots weigh feventyfive pounds, it thould yield twenty one or twenty-two pounds of meal. Experiment 6. Seventeen thoufand five hundred grains, or three pounds and half an ounce, troy-weight, of ficed potatoe roots, were diftuled to drynefs by the heat of the fteam of wa ter. The difilled liquid amounted to thirteen thousand grains, or about • twenty-feven ounces, and measured near one pint and ten ounces. The dry matter in the retort weighed nearly four thousand five hundred grains. The diftilled liquid was clear and colourlefs as rock-water; it had the fmell of the potatoe-root, and alfo a fight empyreumatick fmell; it had no tate; it did not alter the colour of paper ftained with turnfol, nor that with turmerick. Being evaporated into drynefs, a quantity of refidue was left behind, but much too fmall in quantity to be collected and weighed; it feemed to be common falt, which I imputed to the water with which the receiver had been washed. This diftilled liquid may therefore be confidered to be pure water, excepting the impregnation with a little effential, or volatile, and perhaps empyreumatick, oil. Experiment 7. A quantity of potatoe-roots was rafped; and in this ftate they refembled curdy matter in watery liquid. Of thefe rafped potatoes leven -thousand grains were mixed with four pints of river-water. After being maHib. Mag. Feb. 1796. cerated twenty-four hours, during which time the mixture was frequently stirred, a clear dark brown liquid, of the fmell of potatoe-root, poffeffing neither acid nor alkaline properties, was poured off; leaving behind a large proportion of leafy or fibrous fubftance, and a precipitate of white impalpable, powder This white precipitate and fibrous fubflance were macerated repeatedly, with freth portions of water, till the decanted liquor was colourlefs, and without smell or tafte. The fibrous fubftance and white precipitate, being mixed with water, were poured upon a fine hairfieve, through which the water paffed, carrying with it the white precipitate; the fibrous matter was left behind. The white fediment, depofited from the filrated water on ftanding, being collect ed and dried, weighed one thousand and fifty grains; it had the obvious or fenfible properties of ftarch or wheat, and afforded a tranfparent jelly with boiling water. The leafy and fibrous fubftance, being dried, formed fmall, hard, brittle, irregular figured maffes, which amounted in weight to fix hundred grains. A pint of the first filtrated brown liquid, poured off from the leafy fubftance and white precipitate, being evaporated, an extract was obtained, which had a ftrong fmell of potatoes, and of empyreuma. It had a flight faltifh tafte; but, to the teft of turniol and turmerick, betrayed no acid nor alkaline properties. The whole extract or foluble mucilage in feven thoufand grains of potatoe-root, by eftimation, was from three hundred and fifty to four hundred grains; of course, the quantity of water in this quantity of potatoe root was about five thoufand grains. Experiment 8. A little of the dried leafy fubftance obtained in the laft experiment, and alfo a little of the extract, emitted, while burning, the smell of fa rinaceous fubftances, and not at all that of animal matter in general, or of glue of wheat in particular. Experiment 9. A bit of paper ftained blue by turniol, being applied to a flice of potatoe root, was inftantly turned to a red colour. Experiment 10. One thousand grains of of potatoe-roots being burnt in an open crucible, fifteen grains of athes were left, which confifted principally of mild potash, probably mixed with earth, oxide, or calx of iron, and of manganefe, common falt, and perhaps phofphoric acid united to lime. Conclufion and Remarks. 1. It appears from the above experiments (17.) that one hundred parts of potatoe-root, deprived of its fkin or bran, confift of1. Water 2. Meal 68 to 72 32 to 28 100 100 2. The meal confifts of three different fubftances -- 17 to 1. Starch or fecula 6 to 32 15 8 extraneous matters, introduced into the plant along with water, air, and other aliment; or are fecreted by the powers of the vegetable oeconomy. 6. There is alfo, in the root under examination, volatile effential oil, or Spiritus rector, to which are owing its fmell, and what little tafte it poffeffes. The proportion of volatile oil is too fmall even to be estimated; and moft of it feems to fly off with the water during diftillation, or evaporation. The greatest part, or the whole, of this oil, may be washed out along with the extract or foluble mucilage, as appears from Experiment 7. 7. There is in the juice or water of the potatoe-root an acid-Experiment 9.-which difappears upon burning the root to afhes-Experiment 10.either because it is decompounded by the fire, or evaporated, or because it en5 ters into chemical union during the combuftion. This acid is not discover28 able in the filtrated liquid from the bruifed root, because the proportion of it is too fmall to be detected by any test, when diluted with water, as in Experi 3. The potatoe-root contains alfo potafh, or vegetable alkali.-Experiment 10-By eftimation, there were ten grains of it, in its mild ftate, from one thousand grains of the root; but as, of thefe ten grains, not lefs than two and a half were carbonic acid or fixed air, produced during burning, we cannot reckon the quantity of this alkali more than feven grains and a half in one thousand of the root; that is, threefourths of a grain per cent. 4. The athes of one thoufand grains of potatoe roots afforded alfo feven grains and a half, or three-fourths of a grain per cent. of fubftances not examined-Experiment 10-but which are very probably the fame as are afforded by the albes of vegetable matters in general; namely, oxide or calx of iron, and of manganefe, phosphoric acid united to lime, magnefia, and muriate of foda or common falt. 5. The fubftances found in the afhes of one thoufand grains of the potatoerect, amounting to fifteen grains-Experiment 10.-do not, we have good reafon to believe, enter into the compofition that is, are not effential conftituent parts of the root; but are merely ment 7. Having flated what are the kinds, and proportions, of the different fubftances contained in the root under examination, it will be useful to confider the mode of junction of these with one another. 8. The above experiments, efpecially Experiment 7. fhew that the potatoe-root is what is termed in chemistry a mechanical mixture, confifting of water, ftarch or fecula, leafy or fibrous matter, and extract or foluble mucilage; for, thefe fubftances were feparated from one another by mechanical means. The falts, earths, and metallic oxides or calces-Experiment 10.—and volatile oil-Experiment 6. and 7-are indeed probably united to the water; but these are not confidered as effential conftituent parts of the root under examination. 9. The compofition, or more properly the mixture, of the potatoe-root, is in many respects fimilar to that of the feed of wheat, and of maize. We are indebted to James Bartholomew Beccari, profeffor of chemistry at Bologna, about |