1823.

covered at Rosieres-aux Salines, at the depth of 201 feet, and at the total depth, 326 feet, to which they sounded, they bored through three different beds, the thickness of which was about 30 feet. At Mulcey, between Dieuze and Marsal, at 150 feet from the surface a bed of salt has been found, and other beds lying below to the depth of 300 feet, of great thickness. At Petoncourt,on the right bank of the Seille, salt has been found at the depth of 270 feet. A fourth boring was effected near Mezieres, on the road from Paris to Strasburgh by Metz, but no salt was found at the depth of 324 feet; a fifth attempt was made at Haboudaye near Château Salins, and salt was found. These researches have established the existence of the strata of salt over a rectangular space of 12 or 14 square leagues.

There is a curious fact connected with the composition of Beniowski, or the Exiles of Kamstchatka, a comic opera in three acts, by M. Duval. At the period of terror about the end of 1792, Talma, who then lived in the Rue Chantereine (in a house afterwards inhabited by Bonaparte) collected round him every evening, according to custom, a crowd of celebrated men, among whom was the famous Dumourier. This meeting became suspected by the Jacobins. The infamous Marat had the insolence to intrude himself on them, to address the most injurious speeches to all of any consideration in the room. They mocked the wretch, pushed him from side to side, and at length, to get rid of him sooner, one of the guests followed him from chamber to chamber with a lighted pan on which perfumes were burning. The rage of the monster may be easily imagined. The next day his fearful journal denounced Talma to all France, and from that moment the tragedian was in danger of his life; for then, as in the time of the Venetian oligarchy, there was too much foundation for saying, "Executioners were ready when suspicion began." One evening, after having acted in tragedy, Talma was more depressed than usual, (his name had just been inscribed on one of the fatal lists.) M. Alexander Duval, to dissipate his fears, or at least to share his danger, came home with him to sup and sleep. It was in the middle of a long and gloomy night: anxious for the fate of his friend, anxious also for his own, unable to sleep, M. Duval went into the library, and took up by chance the Memoirs of Beniowski; these immediately gave him the idea of a piece for the stage. "In spite of my alarm, I found my head (says he) clear to sketch the plot of an Opera, which the publie has received fa

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vourably, though without knowing that this unfortunate offspring of my imagination was born amid fear and danger.'

On the 12th of last November, there was inserted in the Moniteur a notice rclative to the adoption in France of a system of signals in use in England, and which is designated under the name of a Universal Telegraphic Language. His excellency the Minister of Marine and Colonies addressed, upon this subject, the following circular, dated December 17, to the Commissioners of Marine at Dunkirk, Havre, St. Malo, Nantes, Bordeaux, Bayonne, and Marseilles :

"Sir,-Messrs. Luscombe, agents of the association called Lloyd's, at London, have caused to be translated into French, a work entitled Universal Telegraphic Language, or Code of Signals. By means of this work, and of the signs which it contains, the ships of France and England may carry on, at sea, easy and certain communications. Vessels provided with this work, and with these signs, may convey, with greater rapidity, assistance to others in distress, or demand assistance themselves; they will be able to give and receive important indications as to shoals that should be avoided, what courses should be followed, and with respect to anchorages, the entrance of ports, &c. There are various reasons which combine to induce the French navy to adopt a system already practised in England, and which, in many circumstances, may be attended with results the most beneficial to humanity, to commerce, and to navigation in general. I have, therefore, given orders in the five military ports, that the commanders of king's ships should be successively supplied with the work and the signs in question; and I instruct you to inform the Chamber of Commerce of this. (Signed)

"Marquis de CLERMONT-TONNERRE."

GERMANY.

German Universities.-Great sensation has been excited in Germany by a Work bearing the following title:-" On the disgraceful Proceedings in German Universities, Gymnasiums, and Lyceums; or History of the Academical Conspiracy against Royalty, Christianity, and Property. By K. M. E. Fabricius, Librarian at Bruchsal." This work, of about 200 pages, is dedicated to all the Founders and German Members of the Holy Alliance, their Ministers and Ambassadors to the Diet and tells them things that make the hair stand on end. Men such as Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Campe, Loffler, Paulus, Krug, and a long et cetera of names, to the number of 60,000 writers, are here denounced as corrupters and se

ducers of youth, blasphemers, liars, incendiaries; who have formed, directly and indirectly, an association by which all thrones are threatened, and from which all the revolutions we have witnessed proceeded. M. Fabricius knows this Association; he even prints the oath taken by the Members. He proposes to abolish all the Universities, or at least to place them under the most rigid surveillance; for the tutelage under which they now are is very far from satisfying him!

At Engern, in the district of Minden, the birth-day of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was solemnized by bringing back the bones of Wittekind. This renowned General of the Saxons, and enemy of Charlemagne, was buried at Engern in the year 807; but on account of the troubles of the times, his body was removed in the year 1414 to Munster, and in 1673 to Herford, from which latter place the bones are now brought to their original place of repose, in the choir of the church. A charitable institution for the distribution of gifts to the children in the schools at Engern on the day of the hero's death, still subsists.

In the month of August, last year, in a heavy shower of rain, there fell, near the Castle of Schoenbrunn, an immense quantity of insects unknown in Austria. They were about the size of beetles, and had some resemblance to them in form; they were covered with a kind of shell, and only kept alive by putting them in water, as if water had been their element. The conjecture assigned is, that they were brought away from some remote country into Austria by a water-spout.

Shocks of earthquake were felt in Germany on the 25th and 28th ult. particularly about Sulz and Stutgardt.

New Solar Theory.-Dr. Hoyer, of Minden, has published in the Sunday Journal of that town, a detailed account of his hypothesis that the Nucleus of the Sun consists of molten gold.

Egyptian Antiquities.-The antiquities and works of art brought from Egypt by General Meau Minutoli, which are placed for the present in a hall of the Palace of Monbijou, will probably be purchased by the Government and added to the Berlin Museum. Among them are the remarkable collections made in the catacombs of ancient Thebes, such as well-preserved mummies in triple coffins, rare rolls of papyrus, which Professors Böckle and Bellermann will apply their talents to decipher.

NETHERLANDS.

Messrs. Wahlen and Co. of Bruxelles, are republishing, in fifteen volumes, oc

tavo, with 500 lithographic plates, the several Voyages Pittoresques. ChoiseulGouffier will make two volumes, with a hundred plates; Melling's Constantinople, one volume, with fifty plates; Zurlauben's Switzerland, four volumes, with a hundred plates; St. Non's Naples and Sicily, five volumes, with a hundred plates; and La Borde's Spain, three volumes, with a hundred plates.

DENMARK.

Copenhagen.-The Royal Museum has been enriched with an antique marble figure, sent by the Danish Consul-General at Tunis, lately deceased. The head, arms, and feet, are unfortunately wanting; but the excellence of the parts still uninjured proves that the statue must be of the golden age of ancient art. This admirable Torso was found near Tunis at a considerable depth under ground. Dr. Wallich, at Calcutta, well known to the learned world as an able botanist, has lately returned to Calcutta from a twelvemonth's tour in the monntains of Nepaul, and will shortly communicate the result of this journey, which promises an ample accession to our Botanical knowledge. Tables of the distances of the Moon and the four planets, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, as well as their places on every day of the year 1824, together with Tables for the calculation of the Longitude by means of Observations of the Polar Star for 1824, by Professor Schumacher, have just been published in the Magazine for Maritime Charts.

AMERICA.

Geology. An extraordinary cavern has been discovered in America on the estate of Mr. J. L. Rayz, opposite the village of Watertown, the entrance of which is about 600 paces from the river. A traveller who has descended into it says, "It is entered by a crooked path about five feet below the surface of the surrounding soil. After descending sixteen feet and a half, you enter the first chamber, which is twenty feet long and sixteen wide. In front of the entrance is a large flat stone or table, formed by a rock, twelve or fourteen feet square, two feet thick, and four high,

Enormous stalactites hang from the vault as far as this table-stone; to the left is a vaulted passage 150 feet long; and on the right another vaulted passage six feet in height and length, leading to a large chamber. Pursuing the same passage, you arrive in a gallery 100 fect long and ten wide, varying in height from eight to five feet. The vault above is sustained by columns and arcades, and the sides covered with stalactites white as snow, forming different folds, resembling rich

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silver stuffs in elegant drapery. About the middle of this gallery, facing the entrance, is an opening in the arcade, by which you pass into another large chamber, which, as well as the first, is orna. mented with crystallizations. turning the same way into the large gallery, you enter by another vaulted passage or arcade, into a number of apartments communicating with each other, and filled with stalactites. From this range of apartments, descending about ten feet, you enter a chamber twenty feet square and twelve high. In a corner of this chamber is a little elevation, about twelve feet across and three feet high. The summit is hollowed, and full of the water, which drops from the stalactites. Leaving this chamber you enter a large gallery, in which there is another basin of limpid water. The number and size of the chambers; the beauty of the stalactites covering the walls; the drops of water suspended at the extremities of the innumerable crystallizations which hang from the vault; the columns of spar resting on pedestals which seem formed to sustain them; the reflection of the lights, the variety of the effects produced by the crystallizations, give to this wonderful cave an appearance of magic, and form one of the finest spectacles that can be seen." This discovery drew many persons to Watertown, who broke off pieces of the stalactites and took them away, till the proprietor was obliged to put up a door at the entrance, and secure it with a key. The cave is yet considered to be but imperfectly known, and those who have entered it are supposed to have visited only a small part, some affirming that its ramifications extend over an hundred acres.

A new and interesting work will soon be published by Mr. John D. Hunter, of New York, under the title of " Manners and Customs of several Indian tribes located west of the Mississippi; including some account of the soil, climate, and vegetable productions, and the Indian Materia Medica: with the history of the author's life, during a residence of fourteen or fifteen years among them." From the personal acquaintance we have with Mr. Hunter, we feel much pleasure in recommending his work to the patronage of the public. He is certainly a young man of great power and intelligence, and excites interest in all who have the honour of his intimacy. A correspondent of a Salem paper has afforded the following

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information respecting Mr. Hunter, which we know to be correct, and we beg leave heartily to join in the opinion given of that gentleman in the first, as well as in all that is so well expressed in the concluding paragraph." He was, when an infant, taken on our western frontiers by Indians, and raised among them. They gave him the name of the Hunter, which he has adopted as his patronymic. About five or six years since, a party of the tribe with whom he was, had formed the design of murdering a Col. W. and others who were hunting on their grounds; his feelings revolted against the deed, and he gave intelligence to W. He had of course to fly; he has since lived among the whites, and has inade great progress in our language, and is in a course of study. He has been advised to write an account of the Indians, from his own knowledge and observation. A history of the Aborigines of our country from such a hand cannot but be highly Interesting. He is a young man of inteliigence, and of the strictest honour and probity, and the utmost reliance may be placed on his relations." Amer. Journal.

INDIA.

Bengalee Newspaper.-The Bombay papers contain a notice of a new weekly paper, published in the Bengalee language, the first attempt of the kind, and edited by a learned Hindoo. In the first and second numbers were articles on the liberty of the native press, and on the trial by jury, which had been purchased with so much avidity that both were out of print. It appears under the title of "Sungbaud, Cowmuddy," or "the Moon of Intelligence."

Indian Curiosities.-Capt. J. Betham has brought from Madras a collection of curiosities illustrative of the manners and science amongst the natives of India, consisting of agricultural implements, carriages, Masulah boats, cattamarans, musical and warlike instruments, a collection of drawings of the costumes of the various casts, carved and painted figures of the different trades, Hindoo deities, Pegue weights, female ornaments, a few valuable manuscripts, (particularly an Armenian version of the New Testament, 570 years old,) some ancient coins, and other curiosities; forming all together an Asiatic Museum, which we are led to expect he intends to have exhibited. He has also brought home an Indian Cosmorama, consisting of 104 extremely curious historical drawings.

The Maturation of Fruit.-M. Berard being convinced by a series of experiments that the loss of carbon was absolutely necessary for the maturation of unripe fruits, it appeared probable that they might be preserved for a long time unchanged, if they were confined in a medium in which they could not generate carbonic acid, particularly those which spontaneously ripen when gathered green. It would be sufficient for this purpose to confine them either in a vacuum, or in an atmosphere of carbonic acid, or any gas not containing oxygen. I found, however, upon trial, that green fruits, under these circumstances, give out a certain quantity of carbonic acid for the first two or three days, but not afterwards. On the 1st of October I put a green, hard, sound pear under a small bell-glass, and exhausted the air by an air-pump. The next day the glass contained some carbonic acid, given out by the fruit, which I pumped out, and repeated this for four or five days successively, after which no more gas was generated. On the 15th of January following I examined the pear, It had kept perfectly well, and was quite hard. I let it remain for five or six days in a room exposed to the air, during which it ripened, and was perfectly well tasted. At the same period, and with the same success, I succeeded in preserving another pear, which I had suspended in a jar filled with carbonic acid gas. These, and other similar experiments, gave me great hopes of being able to preserve fruits for a long time by the methods above mentioned, but they have not been entirely realized. I have operated on cherries, gooseberries, apricots, plums, pears, and apples. I selected very sound fruits, within about a week to a fortnight of their natural term of ripening, and enclosed them in vacuo, others in carbonic acid, in hydrogen, or in azotic gas. All these fruits have been preserved for a certain time; but if the experiment has lasted too long, though they are still preserved from decay, they lose their fragrance and sweet taste, and they all acquire nearly the same flavour, which is peculiar, not easily described, and disagreeable. They also turn sour, and this is owing to the formation of malic acid alone. Cherries and apricots, long enclosed in jars, without the presence of oxygen, sweat out in a few days a liquid of the colour of the fruit. If they are withdrawn after twenty days, and then exposed for a day to the open air, they retain their agreeable taste; but I found a specimen of cherries, which I examined, after an enclosure of about five months, to retain their smell, indeed, and their proper colour a little weakened, but to have lost their peculiar taste, and to have be

come acid, with that particular unpleasant flavour which I have already mentioned. I have at this moment before me (December 25) a jar enclosing two peaches in azotic gas, which have remained in this situation since October 6; to appearance they would be thought just gathered, but they have lost their delicious perfume and flavour, whilst a similar sample, opened November 5, and then exposed for two days to the air, have turned out quite good. Pears and apples are, of all the fruits that I have tried, those that are the longest preserved in a medium deprived of oxygen. I have preserved pears in a vacuum from October to the following July, which remained quite sound, but had exchanged their agreeable flavour for the sour and unpleasant taste already described. But after three months enclosure in vacuo, and a few days subsequent exposure to the air, they remain quite good in every respect. May we rot hence presume, that the fruits which ripen of themselves when severed from the tree, retain this quality in virtue of a certain degree of vegetable force which remains in them, and lies dormant for a time when they are immersed in a nonoxygenous medium, but which is lost in the end, when the power of maturation can no longer be recalled? My apparatus for enclosing fruits in a vacuum was the following:-I first put them into a jar, and closed it with a good cork, covered carefully with resinous cement, and having a very small hole bored through its centre with a red-hot knitting-needle. This being done, I put the jar on the airpump plate, whelmed over it a glass receiver, fitted with a copper stem, which could be raised or sunk through an airtight leather collar. When a vacuum was made in both jars, I pressed down upon the hole of the cork of the inner jar, the copper stem, which carried a small plug of wax at its extremity, and thus the cork was made air-tight by the wax-plug that was left in the hole. To fill the jar with carbonic acid or hydrogen gas, two holes were made in the cork, to receive two bent glass tubes, one proceeding from the vessel in which the materials for furnishing the gas were put, and the other dipping under water or mercury; a current of the required gas was then passed through the jar, till it was presumed that all the atmospheric air was displaced. To fill it with azotic gas, the bottom of the jar was covered with a stratum of moistened protoxyd of iron, recently prepared, and the fruit was then put in on a small partition of tin-plate, and the jar sealed up; and thus the air of the jar was left to be deprived of its oxygen by the action of the protoxyd of iron, leaving its azote untouched."-An. de Chimie.

Universal Cement.-To an ounce of mastic add as much highly rectified spirits-ofwine as will dissolve it. Soak an ounce of isinglass in water until quite soft, then dissolve it in pure rum or brandy, until it forms a strong glue, to which add about a quarter of an ounce of gum ammoniac, well rubbed and mixed. Put the two mixtures together in an earthen vessel over a gentle heat; when well united, the mixture may be put into a phial and kept well stopped. When wanted for use, the bottle must be set in warm water, when the china or glass articles must be also warmed, and the cement applied. It will be proper that the broken surfaces, when carefully fitted, shall be kept in close contact for twelve hours at least, until the cement is fully set; after which the fracture will be found as secure as any part of the vessel, and scarcely perceptible.

Guard against Burglars.-The outward appearance of this invention is that of a narrow slip of canvass about four inches in length, with a small ring affixed at each end, the centre part being enclosed within a piece of coloured paper. These rings are intended to be fastened upon hooks or nails, the one upon the frame or stationary part, the other on the moveable part of a door or window. When so placed, should any person attempt to enter, a tension of the canvass of course takes place, and this causes an instant explosion of detonating balls or powder as

loud as the report of a fowling-piece; the combustible matter being confined within the paper already spoken of.

Method of Casting Stereotype Plates, by M. Didot. This method consists in striking moveable characters (cast of a composition hereafter to be described) into lead, without the assistance of heat. Moveable characters formed of that composition, cast in the usual manner, are composed line by line, according to the common methods, till a page is formed. This page is placed in a frame of suitable dimensions, and in this frame two quadrats are placed, which by means of screws press all these moveable letters so as to form a solid mass. A brass or iron frame is made to the size of the page, and a plate of iron is fastened to it by screws, to serve as a bottom; this frame is then filled with a plate of pure lead. The whole being thus prepared, the page composed of the moveable characters is put upon the lead intended for a matrix : it is then placed under a strong press, which forces down the letters into this lead, which thus becomes a solid matrix. In this matrix as many stereotype forms may be cast as can be wanted. The composition for casting the moveable characters is formed of seven parts, by weight, of lead; two of regulus of antimony; and one of an alloy of tin and copper, in the proportion of nine of tin to one of

copper.

J. Egg, of Piccadilly, for improveincuts in the construction of guns and fire arms, upon the selfpriming and detonating principle. Nov. 26, 1822.

H. Ibbotson, of Sheffield, for a fender capable of being extended or contracted in length, so as to fit fire-places of different dimensions. Nov. 28.

J. Dixon, of Wolverhampton, for improvements on cocks, such as are used for drawing off liquids. Nov. 28, 1822.

J.Woollams, of Wells, for improvements in wheeled carriages, of various descriptions, to counteract the falling, and facilitate the labour, of animals attached to them; and to render persons and property in and near them more secure from injury. Dec. 5, 1822.

W. Robson, of St Dunstan's-hill, for a method to prevent or protect against fraudulent practices upou bankers' checks, bills of exchange, and various species of mercantile, corimercial, and other correspondence. Dec. 10, 1822.

J. Perkins, late of Philadelphia, but now of Fleetstreet, for improvements in steam-engines. Communicated to him by a certain foreigner residing abroad. Dec. 10, 1822.

S. Parker, the younger, of Argyle-street, for improvements in the construction of lamps. Dec. 10. J. Nicholson, of Brook-street, Lambeth, for apparatus for the more conveniently applying heat to certain instruments of domestic use. Dec. 16, 1822.

J. Dumbell, of Warrington, for improvements relative to carriages, which may be applied thereto, or in improving of the organization, driving, actuating,

accelerating, or moving, of vehicles and carriages in general. Dec. 16, 1822.

J. Bainbridge, of Bread-street, for improvements on rotatory steam engines. Communicated to him by Amos Thayer, jun, of Albany, America. Dec. 16.

T. B. W. Dudley, of Westminster, for a method of making malleable cast-metal shoes for draft and riding horses, and other animals, upon a new and improved plan or principle. Dec. 16, 1822.

W. Bundy, of Fulham, for a machine for breaking. cleaning, and preparing, flax, hemp. and other vegetable substances containing fibre. Dec, 16,

1822.

Sir J. Jelf, of Oaklans, for a combination of machinery for working and ornamenting marble and other stone for jambs, mantles, chimney-pieces, and other purposes. Dec. 20, 1822.

T Linley, of Sheffield, for a method, different from any that has hitherto been invented or known, of increasing the force or power of bellows. Dec.20.

J. I. Hawkins, of Pentonville, and S. Mordan, of Union-street, for improvements on pencil-holders, or port crayons, and on pens, for the purpose of facilitating writing and drawing, by rendering the frequent cutting or mending of the points or nibs unnecessary. Dec. 20, 1822.

W. Pass, of Saint Leonard, Shoreditch, for an improvement in calcining and smelting of various descriptions of ores. Dec. 20, 1822.