ferent meetings of individuals attached to literary or scientific pursuits, or the admirers of science and literature, under the same name, which are becoming frequent in the metropolis. Of these, Mr. Frederick Webb's, in Langham-place, has been most numerously and fashionably visited during the season. Mr. Oakley's, in Tavistock-place, has possessed considerable attraction for scientific men, and has been also fully attended. Several other meetings of the same character have contributed to bring into collision a number of those who are known but little in active society, and also to effect a communication of ideas and promote intimacies between persons before known to each other but by name. There is more of this intimacy wanted in our metropolis; hitherto Paris has far surpassed every other city of the world in social intercourse of this species, delightful and kindly as it is to the best feelings of the mind; and it is not without reason that Englishmen have been accused of sullen reserve, and pronounced deficient in those conversational powers which give a real charm to life. Let us improve upon and surpass our neighbours in these elegant and simple entertainments Fas est et ab hoste doceri. Ancient Palace.-It has often been remarked, as a surprising fact, that there is extant no descriptive account of Clarendon Palace, (3 miles east of Salisbury) so celebrated in British History as a royal residence in the 12th century. It is believed that there is not, among the innumerable prints of noted buildings in England, a single sketch of this palace; and although the most minute and accurate accounts have been handed down to us, of the important laws that were framed and enacted at Clarendon Palace in the splendid reign of Henry II., yet is there no document left which conveys an idea of the extent and nature of the building itself. Of the palace, the only remains now left are a part of its wall, overgrown with ivy, in length 34 feet, in height 20 feet. Some men have lately been employed in digging the ground that formed the site of the building, and it has been ascertained, by tracing the foundations of the walls, that the palace extended full 700 feet in length from east to west. By removing mould of several feet in depth (varying in depth in different parts), the floors of no less than 8 or 9 rooms have been discovered, several of them in a very perfect state. The structure of the building appears to have been very irregular. The principal room is 90 feet long and 62 feet wide; and it is conjectured that it was in this room Henry II. and the heads of the clergy of his kingdom framed and ratified the laws (called the "Constitutions of Clarendon") which regulated the powers of the clergy. The floors of some rooms were paved with Norman tiles. These tiles are for the most part square and triangular; they are extremely hard in substance, of different colours, and variously ornamented; some of them exhibiting dragons, griffins, flowers, &c. It is not a little remarkable that, notwithstanding the many centuries these tiles have remained under a deep and damp mould, the greater part of them retain, in a perfect and undecayed state, the glazing that covers and preserves the figures with which they are stained. Some of the floors were composed of a smooth plaster, which still remains in a perfect state. In the course of the interesting search which has been made for the traces of this once celebrated palace, several shingles, or slates, have been found, which there can be no doubt formed part of the roof of the building. Several pieces of beautifully stained glass, of which the palace windows were composed, have also been discovered. The walls of the various rooms differ in thickness from 2 feet 8 to 5 feet 2 inches. British Museum.-The number of admissions to the British Museum, from 27th March, 1820, to 25th March, 1821, was 62,543. Chemistry. On the Action of Saits on the Chloruret of Gold. If the acids could unite to oxyd of gold, and form true saline compounds with it, the most favourable circumstances to produce these compounds would certainly be found in the play of double affinities. However, salts of gold have never been formed by this method, but only mixtures, when solutions of phosphate of soda, &c. have been added to the chloruret of gold. Some peculiar appearances have occurred to me on using the sulphate and nitrate of silver, which I shall now relate. When a solution of sulphate of silver is added to liquid chloruret of gold, though the salt of silver is very sparingly soluble in water, a yellowish-brown precipitate suddenly falls down, the liquid becomes clear, and retains nothing but naked sulphuric acid, if the proportion of the sulphate of silver has been sufficient to engage the whole of the chlorine of the auriferous solution. Nitrate of silver has the same effect on the solution of gold, only more marked, on account of its greater solubility; the clear liquid containing the whole of the acid of the nitrate of silver employed. What can be the nature of the precipitate thus obtained? Considering the affinity of chlorine for silver, it would at first be concluded that the silver is in the state of chloruret in this precipitate; but to unite with chlorine the silver should be reduced to the metallic state; therefore, in this case, as no chlorate of silver is formed, and no oxygen given out, the latter must unite with the gold. The precipitate, therefore, must consist of an intimate mixture of chloruret of silver and oxyd of gold. Therefore, if this precipitate is treated with hydrochloric (muriatic) acid, all the oxyd of gold is taken up, and is found in the solution in the state of chloruret. At the same time the precipitate loses its colour, diminishes in bulk, and is reduced to simple chloruret of silver. An artificial mixture of chloruret of silver and oxyd of gold, shews exactly the same appearances with muriatic acid. If the precipitate is heated by itself in a proper apparatus, a large quantity of pure oxygen gas is obtained. -Annal. de Chimie. Hyoscyamia.-Hyoscyamia is extracted from the hyoscyamus niger, and is not easily altered even at a red heat. It crystallizes in long prisms, and when saturate with sulphuric acid or nitric acid, forms very characteristic salts. In examining the constituent alkaline principles of narcotic plants, much care must be taken, as the venomous properties of the plants are concentrated in them. The vapour is very injurious to the eyes, and the smallest fragment placed on the tongue is extremely dangerous. Journ. de Physique. Cause of the diurnal Variation of the Needle. The diurnal variation of the needle has been ascribed, in a memoir of M. Ampere, to the alternate change of temperature of the two regions, during the diurnal rotation of the globe; the influence of temperature on electric ac tions having been established by M. Dessaignes and others. "We must add also," says he, "among the electromotive actions of the different parts of the earth, that of the magnetic minerals which it contains, and which should be considered as voltaic piles. The elevation of temperature which takes place in the conductors of electric currents, ought also to take place on the terrestrial globe. Is not this the cause of that internal heat in the earth, which has been established by recent observations ? And when we consider that this elevation of temperature produces, when the current is sufficiently energetic, a permanent incandescence, accompanied by the most brilliant light, without combustion or loss of substance, may we not conclude that opaque globes are so, on account of the little energy of the electrical currents which are established in them, while those which shine by themselves, derive their light from the more active currents which they possess?" New Plant.-A plant of the Abor Iristis has recently been brought to England from the coast of Malabar: this curious exotic, about nine o'clock in the evening, is covered all over with flowers of a beautiful white colour, and a most delicate smell. Queen Mary's Ring. This ring is a diamond of considerable value, perhaps, from 2001. to 2501. It is set in a plain gold ring, in the manner in which signets were worn in those days; but is more remarkable for the sharpness and beauty with which the arms and initials are cut. Notwithstanding the great advance of art, we are of opinion, that this operation could, with difficulty, if at all, be performed in this country at the present time. Probably, the ring of the unfortunate Mary was executed in Italy, where the artizans were then justly celebrated for their skill. Be that as it may, there could be no doubt of its originality, even were there no prima facie evidence in a stone of so much value being devoted to such a purpose, which could only be done for a personage in her station, and not for any subject, without claim to, or interest in those distinctions. The history of the ring itself is brief and simple. The queen gave it to one of her servants, immediately before her death, to be conveyed to her son, James. From James it fell by inheritance to Charles I. who presented it at the scaffold to Bishop Juxon. In the possession of the second James, his distresses after his abdication obliged him to pawn it in Holland; and this he did to a General Phelps, for 3001. On the death of Gen, Phelps it was sold, and once more returned into the family of Stuart, being purchased by the old Pretender for 3207. He finally bequeathed it to the Cardinal York, and when he died, it was sent to England, where the names of the persons through whose hands it has passed, are well known.-Literary Gazette. Chromate of Iron in Shetland.-The chromate of iron occurs in the Serpentine rocks in the neighbourhood of Balta Sound, in the Island of Unst. Innumerable fragments of it were first seen strewed about the hill in which it is found, and even contributing to strengthen the fences of the country. It is observed in the form of imbedded and insulated masses at Buness, close to the house of the proprietor, T. Edmonstone, Esq. The extent of the greatest mass is not, however, ascertained, as it is on one side concealed by the sea, and on the other by the deep soil of a meadow. It was traced three feet in breadth, and fifteen feet in length. At Hagdale, near Haroldwick, the chromate of iron occurs in the form of numerous thin ramifying veins, but these are only from two to three inches in breadth, sometimes increasing to the breadth of five or six inches. Many masses are elsewhere observable, extending a few feet, and then losing themselves in a general dissemination throughout the serpentine rock in which they occur. This dissemination consists in the diffusion of granular particles of the colour and size of gunpowder. FRANCE. FOREIGN VARIETIES. Number of masters in 1817, 20,784; in 1820, 28,945. Number of schools held by the religious, 60 in 1817; in 1820, 187. Thus the spread of education in France is rapidly enlarging, and tends every hour to strengthen the obstacles which prevent the return of the old system of monkish superstition and civil tyranny, which once existed in that country, and of which the Ultra faction so ardently wish the return. Agricultural societies have been established in numerous districts of France, and have given medals for the encouragement of the breed of cattle, and for the improvement of culture. At Auch, at Gers, Condom, and Lectoure, the umpires have decreed the different rewards offered, in a manner highly satisfactory. At a late meeting of the Academy of Sciences, M. Cuvier presented to the society the head of Des Cartes, which M. Berzelius had forwarded from Sweden. He read the history of the head, and the details which proved its authenticity. M. Cuvier also produced a picture of Des Cartes, and remarked that the bony parts seemed of the same character as those in the head sent by M. Berzelius, which gave strength to the idea that it was the genuine head of that great philosopher. The academy deferred its decision on the means of preserving it as a precious relic. M. Magendie then read a memoir, "Sur l'entrée accidentelle de l'air dans les veines; sur la mort subite qui en est l'effet; sur les moyens de prévenir cet accident et d'y remédier." M. Dupetit Thouars continued his memoir, called "Démonstration de sept propositions ou théorèms," on which he founded his ideas of the reproduction of buds. M. Morel read a paper "Sur la faculté vibratoire du système membraneux de l'oreille humaine." M. Virey also read one " Sur la membrane de l'hymen." Greek Medal.-A silver Greek medal lately found in the ruins of Antiochia, and brought from Aleppo to Paris, has upon it a bust of Demetrius I. Soter, king of Syria, together with a female head. It is a remarkable circumstance, that of all the medals of this monarch hitherto known, not one has these two together. M. Von Hauteroche, in his "Essais et conjectures," proves that this female head is Laodicea, the sister and consort of Demetrius 1.; and confirms, by an authentic monument, the hypo thesis of the celebrated Visconti, respecting the beautiful cameo of these two persons, which is engraved in his Sconographie Grecque, pl. XLIII. No. 27. Royal Institute of France. In the Academy of Sciences, the Baron Palissot de Beauvois has been replaced by M. Dupetit Thouars. Sir Joseph Banks, by M. Gauss, of Gottingen. Among the correspondents, Blagden, Lafosse, Duvaucel, Mudge, Palassou, all dead, are replaced by Professor Leslie, of Edinburgh; Thaër, of Berlin; Brinkley, of Dublin; Bochnenberger, of Stutgard; and Daubuisson, of Toulouse. In the French Academy, the Marquis de Pastoret has been elected in the place of M. Volney, deceased. In the Academy of Inscriptions, the Abbé Morelli, of Venice, foreign associate, has been replaced by the Abbé Sestini, of Florence. M. F. de St. Vincent has been replaced by the Count de Hauterive. M. Wittenbach, of Leyden, by M. Heeren, of Gottingen. M. Tochou, is succeeded by M. St. Martin. M. Delandine, of Lyons, died in 1820. In the Academy of Fine Arts, M. West, of London, died in 1820. M.Commucini, of Rome, is elected in the place of M. Appiani, deceased. M. Antolini, of Milan, in the place of M. Marvuglia, deceased. The Royal Academy of France has nominated M.Villemain to the vacancy occasioned by the death of M. de Fontanes: the numbers were, for M. Villemain, 18; M. Davigny, 12; M. de Wailly, 2. Anti-spasmodic.-M. Girard, a physician of Lyons, has discovered that volatile ammoniac (l'alcali volatil fluor), diluted with water, is a remarkable antispasmodic. He has applied it with success to the cure of drunkenness, which he considers an affection of the nerves. Seven or eight drops in a glass of water sufficed to effect a cure. M. Chautourelle, who presented the report of the discovery to the Society of Medicine in Paris, adds that it is not by the decomposition of the wine that this remedy operates; but he thinks that it is by modifying the sensibility of the mucous membrane of the stomach, and acting on the nerves distributed over it, which convey to the brain the impression that they receive from it. SWITZERLAND. The Discourses read at the opening of the annual sitting of the Swiss Society by M. Zollikofer, called Eræstnungsrede, have been published. This literary society does not seem to be much known; it is composed of different persons, who cultivate the natural sciences in the various cantons. They assemble annually in the principal city of each canton alternately. It consists of 300 members, who cannot be supposed to be all of them deeply versed in natural history, but are many of them amateurs; those deeply versed in the science amounting, perhaps, to one tenth of the whole number. The first meeting took place at Geneva in 1815, at Berne in the following year, and in 1817, 1818, and 1819 at Zurich, Lausanne, and St. Gall. At each general meeting a prize subject is proposed; a member belonging to the city in which the meeting is that year held, is the president, and delivers a speech, which contains an account of the labours of the society for the past year. It is pleasing to observe the spread of science and literature over Europe, evinced in these directions of the human mind, all contributing to increase the happiness and freedom of mankind, though by slow and imperceptible gradations. ITALY. The publication of the first part of Istoria della vercellese letteratura ed art, &c. has taken place in Turin. It is divided into five grand divisions. The first presents the state of literature in the first, second, and third centuries, as far as the reign of Constantine. The second comprehends the fourth and fifth, until the fall of the empire of the West. The third shows the state of the three following centuries; the fourth extends to the twelfth century; and the fifth to the thirteenth. It does not seem certain whether the author will extend the work to the present time. The poem of Human Life, by Rogers, has been translated into Italian at Turin, by Vittorio Paciotti. A medal has been struck by the city of Padua, in honour of the celebrated traveller Belzoni, who is a native of that place. On his return to Europe, he took the opportunity of his first visit to Italy to present to his native city two lionheaded statues of granite, part of the fruits of his enterprising and successful researches; they have been placed in the great saloon of the Palazza della Justizia. The inhabitants of Padua, proud of the distinction which their fellow-citizen has so justly obtained, have commemorated the gift as well as the discoveries of the traveller. Of the medals sent to M. Belzoni, two were of the finest Venetian gold, six of silver, and twelve of bronze. On one side of the medal are the lionheaded statues, with the motto : Ob Donum Patria Grata A. MDCCCXIX. And, on the reverse : Jo. Bapt. Belzoni, Patavino, qui Cephrenis Pyramidem Apidisq. Theb. Sepulcrum primus aperuit, et Urbem Berenicis Nubiæ et Libya Mon. impavide detexit. Some remarkably fine statuary and other marble quarries have lately been discovered at Scravazza, in Tuscany, much superior to any thing of the kind at Carrara, which threatens to rival and lower the pride of the latter-mentioned place. His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Tuscany gives great encouragement and protection both to commerce and the fine arts within his dominions. GERMANY. A most interesting work relative to the Crusaders, displaying great historical research, and written in an excellent style, has made its appearance in Germany under the title of Gemáhalde aus dern Zeitalta der Kreuzzuge. It particularly details the history of the chiefs who took the most prominent part in those enthusiastic wars. The principal personages of whom the writer has given biographical sketches in the first volume, are Tancred and Badouin III. The work will be completed in another volume, and many incidents generally unknown in the existing accounts of the leaders of the Christians in that unchristian warfare, are brought to light and preserved from oblivion. Natural Phenomenon.--It is stated in accounts from Giessen, in HesseDarmstadt, that on the 3d of May, there fell in different parts of that city, a rain of the colour of blood. Professor Zimmerman analyzed it, and says, that its component parts were oxyd of iron, an earthly acid (d'acide de terre), and carbon. Many of the inhabitants were much alarmed by the shower. Hydrophobia.--The official Gazette of Berlin gives a correct list of the persons whose deaths have been occasioned by hydrophobia, in the different provinces of the Prussian monarchy. In the space of ten years the number of deaths was 1666, and from 1816 to 1819 exclusively, there were 1053 deaths occasioned by this malady; whence it results that in Prussia 2719 persons have died in consequence of being bitten by mad dogs. These numerous accidents have excited the attention of the Government, and it has been acknowledged, that the only means of diminishing the evil is the imposition of a heavy sumptuary tax upon all individuals who shall keep dogs without having occasion for their services. The Commentary of Eustathius is about to be reprinted at Bonn, having now become so rare as scarcely any where to be found. This work, called Παρεκβολαι, treats of the Iliad and Odyssey. There never have been more than two editions, each with the text, in three volumes folio, one printed at Rome in 1542, the second at Bâle 1560. and Lives of the Ancient Dutch German Painters.-In consequence of the attention now paid to ancient German art, a book giving an account of the first masters is projected by J. Schopenhauer (well known as an agreeable writer), from the scarce and extensive works of Charles Von Mander, Descamps, Sandruss, Murr, and others, whence he will complete the Memoirs of Van Eyck, Hemling, Hugo von der Goes, Roger Bruges, Quintin Matsis, Schorrel, Lucas Von Leyden, Albert Durer, Kranach, Mabuse, Holbein, Hemskirk, &c. asserts A Mr. Leinberger, an ingenious machine-maker, at Nuremberg, that he has solved the problem of giving an horizontal direction to the air-balloon; and he offers to set out on his aërostatic voyage from Nuremberg to London, as soon as the Royal Academy of Sciences (the Royal Society) will engage to pay him on his arrival in London the reward of 20,000. sterling, which it has offered for this discovery. POLAND. The Count de Romanzoff, member of the Society of Friends of the Sciences at Warsaw, has offered 5000 crowns for the MS. of M. Dogiel, entitled Coder diplomaticus. In 1773, the King Stanislaus Augustus formed the project to print this work at his own expense, but circumstances prevented the completion of his intention. DENMARK. Copenhagen, May 11.-The Royal Academy of Sciences has chosen M. Leopold Buch, of the Academy of Berlin, and Sir H. Davy, President of the Royal Society of London, foreign associates for the class of natural philosophy; and Professor Gauss, of Gottingen, and Professor Ressel, of Konigsben, foreign associates of the mathematical class. The Icelandic Society has elected the celebrated Baron de la Motte Fouque, (author of Undine, &c.) one of its members. Oehlinschlager's new tragedy, "Erich and Abel," had been performed for the first time with great applause. * Quere, When? |