not remove the evil, the succeeding pope, Clement XII, who died in 1740, followed the example of our German princes, and caused a lottery to be established even at Rome.* Since that time, permission for the same purpose has been renewed from year to year.† It was not till a much later period that the Genoese lottery was introduced into Germany. According to the account of J. A. Kalzabigi, who had made himself known in Italy by many projects, and was appointed a Prussian privy-counsellor of commerce and finance, the first was drawn at Berlin on the 31st of August 1763. In 1769, one was established in the principality of Anspach and Bayreuth, where it was continued till the year 1788. In 1774, a person named Wenceslaus Maurer came to Neufchatel, with permission from the king, and established a Lotto there, much against the will of the prudent inhabitants; but some one having won a capital prize, for which the undertakers ought to have paid 30,000 francs, after * Le Bret, in Algemeiner Welthistor. xlvi. 3, p. 235. In Raccolta d'opuscoli scientifici, in Venezia 1735, tom. xii. p. 243, we find: Alea Januensis Romam traductæ ratio, auctore Golmario Marsigliano, elegiacon. The poet has here taken a great deal of trouble to explain in Latin verse the terms umben, ternen, &c., together with the gain assigned to them. Those who wish to know how far the present establishment differs from the original form may consult this poem. ↑ A permission may be seen in Grellmann's Staats-Anzeigen von Italien, i. 1, p. 20. Versuch einer histor. Schilderung der Stadt Berlin, v. 1, p. 257. VOL. IV. 2 E procrastinating as long as they could, under various pretences, they at length became bankrupts, and made their escape from the country.* These pernicious lotteries continued till the end of the eighteenth century, when they were almost every where abolished and forbidden. They are now permitted only in a very few states, which are not able to give up the paltry income derived from them. To the honour of the Hanoverian government, no Lotto was ever introduced into it, though many foreigners have offered large sums for permission to cheat the people in this manner. Those who wish to see the prohibitions issued against the Lotto, after making a great part of the people lazy, indigent, and thievish, many find them by the help of the index in Schlözer's Staats-Anzeigen. Si son execrable mémoire Parvient à la posterité, C'est que le crime, aussi bien que la gloire, BOLOGNA STONE. THE Bologna stone, in consequence of its property of shining in the dark, which was observed by accident, has given rise to many laborious re * Beschreibung des fürstenthums Welsch-Neuenburg und Vallengin. Berlin 1783, 8vo. p. 104. searches and experiments, and to writings almost without number, which have not so much enlarged our knowledge of light, as proved that all the bypotheses hitherto offered by philosophers for explaining it, if not entirely false, are at least insufficient and uncertain. The history of this stone, therefore, though not unknown, deserves to be here repeated, especially as many parts of it require to be rectified. As a complete description of it would be superfluous to mineralogists, it may be sufficient to remark, that this kind of stone is found in plates or single pieces, which in general are more or less of a conical form have a dirty white or semi-transparent water-colour, and a foliaceous structure, which is observed on its being broken, though the stone, considered in another direction, appears to be fibrous. The surface of single pieces is uneven. But what distinguishes this species from the gypseous spars, to which it bears the greatest resemblance, is its extraordinary weight; and this it has in common with all ponderous spars, to which, according to its component parts, it belongs. This stone is found on different eminences around Bologna, and particularly on the hill of Paderno,* * Poter, whom I shall have occasion to name hereafter, says,In agro vulgo monte Paterno, et in agro vulgo Pradalbino --- - in rivulo quodam innominato prope Ronchariam, verius Ronchriam. Some later writers, such as Linnæus, have mentioned these places, without telling us where they are to be found. They are situated in the neighbourhood of Bologna, but are not marked in any map. which is situated at the distance of about a German mile from the city, loose and scattered about between gypseous stones, in a marly earth, some of which is still seen adhering to pieces in my possession. It is found most readily after heavy rains, particularly in the streams which run down the sides of the hill; and it is there collected by persons who sell it at Bologna. In the year 1730, when Keysler was there, a pound of it could be purchased for a paolo. Some have asserted that this stone is found in many other parts of Italy; but of this I have seen no proof. Kircher, however, says that he found it between the aluminous stones of Tolfa;* but this is improbable, and has not been confirmed by any other writer. What Estner states, that for several years past it has been found in the neighbourhood of Rimini, is more probable. I shall take this opportunity of remarking, that the Bologna stone, according to its external characteristics, heaviness and hardness excepted, has a great similarity to those gypseous spars or selenites which were first described by Lehman, ‡ and at the time, perhaps, by him alone; according to whose account, it is mentioned also by Vogels * Magnes. Coloniæ Agrip. 1643, 4to. iii. 4, p. 481. ↑ Versuch einer Mineralogie. Wien. 1797, 8vo. ii. 2, p. 1183. Versuch einer Geschichte von Flötz-Gebürgen. Berlin 1756, 8vo. p. 229. § Mineralsystem. Leipzig 1762, 8vo. p. 160. and by Wallerius,* under the name of Selenites globosus: on the other hand, it has not been mentioned by the newer systematics under any particular appellation. In the county of Mansfeld it is found in detached masses or single pieces, more or less conical; and, to judge from the earth purposely left on the specimens in my possession, which were picked up in the neighbourhood of Sangershausen, in a yellowish red sandy clay. The pieces, many of which are round balls, two or three inches in diameter, and others longish rolls, have, externally as well as internally, a dark isabella colour, appear foliated on the fracture, or seem to consist of cuneiform radii, which meet in the centre of the ball. Many are hollow in the inside; and in this case the ends of the cunei or needles, which have between them a granulated gypsum mixed with a little clay, project into the cavity. Lehman says that the leaves, when placed in a heated stove, emit a hesperus, that is, shine; and this circumstance made Wallerius doubtful whether this selenite did not belong to the sparry fluors; but it is undoubtedly a gypsum. When the raw stone is put into acids, a very faint effervescence is observed; but when burnt pieces are employed, this effect is much stronger. It does not crack or break in the fire; but if exposed only a short time to a red heat it becomes totally opake, whiter, and void of all lustre; it is also more fri * Systema Mineralog. Holmiæ, 1772, 8vo. i. p. 162. |