tion in France. To this circumstance entirely is to be ascribed the greater number of mathematicians which that country has lately produced than our own.

Another circumstance wanting in this country for the flourishing of mathematical science is a proper encouragement on the part of Government. In some departments of science the number of cultivators, or at least of amateurs, is so great, that a book published on them is pretty certain of selling at least sufficiently to defray its own expenses; so that a man may cultivate these departments, and lay his discoveries and observations on them before the world, without much risk of pecuniary loss. But this is far from being the case in mathematics. The number of readers in this department has always been so small that a mathematical book, unless indeed it be a school book, cannot be expected to defray its own expenses by the extent of the sale. The consequence must be that none but the rich can venture to publish in the higher department of mathematics. But unfortunately few rich men are likely to cultivate this difficult department of science, and still fewer are disposed to dedicate their wealth to the advancement of knowledge. Mathematicians, then, will in general be deterred from publishing, and of course have but little chance of acquiring that reputation which attends the successful cultivators of the other sciences. Thus the great, the principal stimulus to exertion is withdrawn. No wonder, therefore, that but few labourers venture to cultivate so rugged and unpromising a-field.

In France, in Prussia, and in Russia, this formidable objection has been obviated by the scientific academies established in these countries. In them a certain number of mathematicians receive salaries, which leave them at liberty to devote the whole of their time to their favourite science; and the expense of their respective publications is defrayed by Government. Hence the great number of mathematical papers which fill the Memoirs of the Paris, Berlin, and Petersburgh Academies, and the various mathematical discoveries which adorn the 18th century. In England the Royal Society indeed affords the means of publishing valuable mathematical papers free of expense. To that noble institution we owe all the mathematics that still lingers in Great Britain. But as the mathematicians in this country are obliged to provide for themselves without any assistance from Government, they are compelled to devote the greatest part of their time to the laborious occupation of teaching, or to the compilation of school books, and little leisure is left them for the cultivation of the higher branches of the science.

I have some reason to suspect that but little attention is paid at Cambridge to the recent mathematical improvements made upon the Continent; for I have met with some good mathematicians from Cambridge who were quite unacquainted with these improvements. At the same time I adinit that I have met with others who were acquainted with them.

3. The third department of knowledge cultivated at Cambridge is moral and political philosophy, metaphysics and theology. The

text-books employed in these departments are Paley's Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy, and Locke's Essay. Mr. Wainewright informs us that the writings of Reid, Beattie, and Stewart, especially of the last, are also frequently referred to by the tutor, though their singular doctrine of common sense is far from being admitted. This singular doctrine to which our author alludes is this, that in the science of mind, as well as in every other, there are certain first principles or laws of human thought which cannot be proved, but must be taken for granted; otherwise the science itself cannot be established. One of these first principles is, that the external world exists. Dr. Reid, to whom alone we are indebted for this doctrine, gave these first principles the name of common sense, because they have been always admitted by the common sense of all mankind, while every person who rejects them is considered as a lunatic or madman. Say the English metaphysicians, we will not admit the existence of the external world as a first principle. We cannot indeed prove its existence, but we think it ought to be proved. If it cannot, the doctrine of Berkeley and Hume must be allowed to be sound. For my own part I want no evidence whatever of the existence of an external world, and would consider any attempt to prove it as silly trifling. We are so constituted that we must, whether we will or nor, give credit to the senses, and admit the information which they communicate as first principles. Such is the doctrine of Dr. Reid; and instead of being a singular doctrine, I will venture to affirm that it has been maintained by 999 thousandth parts of all mankind in every age. It is singular enough that, though I never met with any Englishman that would admit the truth of Dr. Reid's principles, I never found any one who seemed to be acquainted.with these principles, or to have perused the works of this acute philosopher. Mr. Wainewright shows us that at Cambridge this ignorance is universal; for he says that the tutors refer especially to the writings of Dugald Stewart. Now Mr. Stewart is an elegant writer, and has illustrated the philosophy of Reid in a very beautiful manner; but he has made very few additions to it. In point of arrangement he is rather deficient, which injures considerably his writings as a whole. Tutors acquainted with the subject would rather refer to the original discoverer than to his illustrator and commentator.

Besides the knowledge communicated by the tutors, there are likewise lectures on the following subjects, which I presume the students are all at liberty to attend :

On modern history.

On the laws of England.

On the Roman civil law.

On experimental philosophy.
On chemistry.

On the application of chemistry and natural philosophy to manufactures, agriculture, and the arts.

On domestic medicine.

On theology.

Such, then, is a view of the knowledge which may be acquired at Cambridge: and every person will readily acknowledge that it is very considerable, and that a young man in such an University may very well lay a sufficient foundation for future eminence. One advantage must be still added, which I consider as more important than all the rest put together. Every student has free access to a library containing above a hundred thousand volumes, from which he may borrow ten books at once, merely by obtaining a Master of Arts' order. This advantage must give Cambridge a prodigious superiority over Oxford.

Had I not already extended this article beyond the requisite length, I should have wished to have noticed a few particulars which have always struck me as disadvantages attending the English Universities, though it would scarcely be possible to remove them, without introducing changes which could not easily be acceded to. I shall barely hint at one or two circumstances.

The English Universities were established during the dark ages when learning was confined entirely to the clergy. The consequence was, that the sole object in view seems to have been to form clergymen. Hence the numerous regulations which assimilate these Universities to Monasteries. A dissenter, I understand, cannot be admitted into them. Now though I admit that the education of the clergy is a very important point, yet I think that the education of the rest of the community is of at least equal importance. It is preposterous to give all mankind the same education exactly, because they are intended for different professions; and what is of first rate importance to one man is of no use whatever to another. Human life is too short to enable every individual to run the complete career of the sciences; yet it is of infinite importance that a young man should be made acquainted with the first principles of the profession to which he is to devote himself. The lawyer requires one education, the physician another, the clergyman a third. Where in England can a merchant or manufacturer go to acquire those branches of knowledge which he ought to possess?

At the University of Edinburgh there are lectures delivered on the following subjects, which I divide into sets for the greater perspicuity :

Now any individual that chooses may attend any one of these classes without paying attention to the rest; so that every person has it in his power to select those subjects that are most likely to be of service to him. The consequence is, that in Scotland every country gentleman, every merchant and manufacturer, has enjoyed the advantage of a University education. In England, on the contrary, this advantage is confined to a comparatively small number. You will find more profound scholars, and perhaps men of deeper science, in England than in Scotland. But in the latter country every person has a little, and there is therefore more knowledge upon the whole. It would be a prodigious advantage to England if this eclectic mode of acquiring knowledge were to be introduced into the Universities. But I am sensible that as long as they are powerful political engines, and possessed of such prodigious patronage and power, this can never be the case. Science can never thrive where it is united to politics: the union is unnatural, degrading, and destructive.

*We cannot dismiss this article without reprobating, in the strongest terms, the manner in which the Universities, and other Public Libraries, have availed themselves of an Act of Parliament passed in the session before last, reviving an obsolete law, whereby authors and publishers are compelled to give 11 copies of every book, and of every new edition to which there is any alteration or addition. We forbear to notice the injustice of a law which inflicts a severe tax on one set of individuals for the exclusive advantage of another. We shall merely speak of the extent to which these public bodies avail themselves of the power vested in them; and particularly the richly endowed University of Cambridge, to which more particularly literary men are indebted for the revival of this tax. We are informed that, with the exception of one or two of the libraries, which affect to omit Novels, every book is demanded, however expensive, or useless, or unfit to be placed on the shelves for which they are destined. New editions are demanded, however small the alteration from the former. We know an instance in which the 11 copies of a book, price 17. 10s., were demanded and received in April of the present year, and another 11 copies of a new edition in August. There is every reason to believe that the parties who are entrusted to make the demands do not know

what books they order, being satisfied with returning signed the very lists which they receive from the clerk of the Stationers' Company. Had the Universities been required to pay a sum however small, even a tenth of the price of each book, this tax upon literature would have been exacted with much less severity.

ARTICLE IX.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE; AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS
CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE.

I. Lectures.

The Lectures on Midwifery, and the Diseases of Women and Children, at the Middlesex Hospital, by Mr. Merriman, Physician Accoucheur to that Hospital, and Consulting Physician Accoucheur to the Westminster General Dispensary, will recommence on Monday, Oct. 9.

A Course of Lectures on Chemistry will be commenced at the Chemical Theatre, No. 42, Windmill-street, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at nine o'clock in the morning, by Wm. T. Brande, F.R.S. L. and E. Prof. Chem. R. I. &c.

The Winter Courses of Lectures at the School of Medicine in Ireland, on Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Surgery, Chemistry, Materia Medica, Institutes, and Practice of Medicine, will commence on the 6th of November, at their respective hours.-Anatomical Demonstrations will commence the 1st of December.

Dr. Gordon's Lectures on Anatomy and Surgery commence at Edinburgh on Wednesday, Oct. 25, at eleven o clock forenoon; and his Lectures on Institutions of Medicine, consisting of Physiology, Pathology, and Therapeutics, on Monday, Oct. 30, at one o'clock afternoon. Both Courses will be continued till April, five Lectures being delivered weekly in each.

II. Substance sublimed during the Burning of London Bricks.

Many of my readers are probably aware that the method of burning bricks in the neighbourhood of London is different from what is practised in any other part of Great Britain, and probably of Europe. The fuel employed is the ashes or cinders which fall from the common fires in the different houses in London, and which are collected daily by the dust-carts. The greatest part of this fuel is mixed with the unburnt bricks; the remainder is strewed between the layers of brick. The kilns are built so as to exclude as much of the air as possible. The consequence is, that the combustion goes on very slowly; three months being frequently requisite to complete the burning of a single kiln. It is to this exclusion of the air that the yellow colour of the London bricks is owing: the outermost row of bricks is always red.