Ackermann’s Repository of Arts/Series 1/Volume 1/January 1809/Literary Intelligence
LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.
The Medical and Chirurgical Society of London will shortly publish the first volume of their Records. It will contain some very valuable contributions from practitioners of first-rate eminence in the metropolis.
Mr. George Montague’s supplement to his History of British Shells is nearly ready for publication.
The Rev.. R. Wares will shortly put to press a Dictionary of the Middle Language of England, or the Age of Shakspeare, on the plan of Johnson’s Dictionary.
Dr. C. Burney has nearly completed, at the Cambridge press, his very learned work on the Chorusses of Æschylus, and it will soon be published.
Mr. Beloe’s third volume of Anecdotes of Literature and scarce Books will appear in the course of this month.
The author of the Military Mentor is preparing for publication three volumes of Essays on the Art of War, and on Modern Military Tactics.
Mr. John Murdoch of Hart-street, has nearly completed a work which he intends to publish by subscription, to be entitled the Dictionary of Distinctions, which is to consist of three alphabets, containing, 1. Words the same in sound, but of different spelling and signification, including such as have any similarity of sound. 2. Words that vary in pronunciation and meaning, as accentuated or connected. 3. The changes in sound and sense produced by the addition of the letter e.
The Board of Agriculture proceed in their design of completing the County Reports. Berkshire, Leicestershire, Oxfordshire, and Derbyshire, are in the press, and expected to appear shortly.
We allow a greater proportion of room to our examination of the two following articles, because we think their merits are not sufficiently known or appreciated.
Among the few publications of merit which the science of numbers has had to boast of for some years past, the above two works bear a prominent rank. To those students who value mathematical knowledge as much on account of the practical use of its rules, as for the habit of demonstrative deduction which the young mind imbibes step by step, the chain of unerring evidence on which its theorems are progressively foundedMr. Dubost’s Commercial Arithmetic will prove a most useful and interesting production. The author appears, very justly, to differ in opinion, from the generality of our writers on elementary arithmetics, who, to judge from their works, conceive that to be the easiest mode of teaching mathematics, which (dispensing with all reasoning) drily and mechanically dictates rule after rule, and depends on the credulity or confidence of the pupil for taking upon trust a volume of abstract precepts without any evidence of their truth; or which (advancing one step farther) ventures to add in abstruse algebraical notes (generally overlooked by the learner,) the proofs of the rules given in the text; methods which reduce the most elevated, and indeed the only certain branch of human knowledge to a mere mechanical operation, and cannot be too soon or too strongly discouraged, because they are founded on error; for experience has shewn, that the pupil will more readily understand, and more firmly retain, that of which the truth has been brought home to his understanding, than a chaos of rules, which he has been made to learn by rote, however carefully and neatly he may have recorded the whole mass in his cyphering-book.
We do not apologize to our readen tor this apparent aberration. It is the pedantic manner of teaching arithmetic of many of our private seminaries (for most of our eminent public schools consider any thing but Latin and Greek, and mathematics in particular, either below their dignity or beyond their province); it is, we are convinced, this pedantry of system that creates the disgust in our youth for numerical science, and launches them into the counting-houses or public offices so totally ignorant of a branch of knowledge, the want of which they feel at every step in their career, without then having either the application or the time for supplying that chasm in their education.
Mr. Dubost’s Commercial Arithmetic sets out from the first elements of the science, and gradually leads the learner from one problem to another, through every rule necessary for the purposes of a commercial life. His method, although singularly concise, is perspicuous; and his demonstrations will be found intelligible to the most common capacity, being unincumbered by algebraical notations. The manner in which he introduces the doctrine of decimals at the very outset of the work, by combining it at once with our numeral system, is novel and ingenious; the rule given for division of decimals (a stumbling-block in many arithmetical treatises) is both simple and well explained. The chapter on fractions is divested of its usually mysterious and dry complexion, and the rules for their multiplication and division are well defined and demonstrated. The rule of three is, as it ought to be, built upon geometrical proportion; and from the same doctrine Mr. D. has deduced one of the most important, though least understood, rules in commercial arithmetic, the rule of equation, or, as it is generally termed by such of our English arithmeticians as have noticed this species of calculation at all, conjoined proportion, upon which, as he justly observes, the principal calculations on business are founded.
The few pages devoted to the article of exchanges are sufficient to give correct ideas of a subject which, in most elementary treatises we know of, is little more than a confused compilation of antiquated and erroneous statements, copied from preceding works equally loose and incorrect in that respect. A short chapter comprehending the first rudiments of algebra closes the work. Here the few analytical questions appear to us so judiciously chosen, and their solution developed in so clear and systematic a manner, as to persuade us that this little appendix will tend, not only to remove the terror with which young beginners in mathematics are accustomed to view that science, but even to stimulate their ardour for the attainment of ulterior perfection therein.
Such are the leading features of this valuable little treatise. It is but justice due to its author, whom we have not the pleasure of knowing, to give our most cordial approbation to his efforts, and strongly to recommend his Commercial Arithmetic as a standard work both for our seminaries and for private or self instruction, convinced as we are, that it will not fail to extend and diffuse mathematical knowledge among the rising generation.
Mr. Dubost’s Elements of Commerce may be looked upon as the sequel to his Commercial Arithmetic. Its principal contents will be found enumerated in the title-page. That a work of this description, involving the whole theory of commerce, should so long have remained a desideratum in a country where trade has been carried to the greatest extent and highest degree of perfectibility, has, in some measure, the appearance of a paradox; but it ought to be remembered, that the best treatises on subjects of any particular science have rarely emanated from the country where that science has been most successfully cultivated. The publications both old and modern, exclusively treating of exchange, monies, weights, and measures, which, from time to time, have been published in this country, do not contradict our assertion. The greater number of them term with errors of incorrectness or ignorance, nay, frequently with downright nonsense, copied from the nonsense of preceding publications. Their authors have preferred such a mode of writing to the trouble of searching into the classic works of a Kruse, Gerhardt, Nelekenbrecher, Paucton, Riccard, Giraudeau, and others on the same subject. A reproach of this nature does not attach to Mr. Dubost: he not only appears to have diligently consulted many of the above writers, but also to have obtained much original information from personal experience and observation, embracing the most recent changes in different countries.
It is not within our limits to present our readers with a regular abstract of the contents of a work so elaborate and comprehensive as the present treatise; we therefore shall content ourselves with tracing a short sketch of the author’s plan. It sets out with an exposition of the different calculations occurring in mercantile transactions, as Tare, Tret, Commission, Insurance, Interest, Discount, &c. exemplified by apposite practical questions. This chapter, as well as every subsequent one, is preceded by an appropriate and in many instances philosophical introduction, setting forth the nature and primary principles of the particular subject under consideration. Mr. D. next proceeds to the subject of exchange, which he prefaces by a full illustration of the necessary arithmetical rules, and particularly of the Rule of Equation universally adopted throughout his work. After elucidating the operations of exchange for every commercial place of note throughout the world, in upwards of 200 pages, he enters on the important doctrine of arbitrations of exchanges, and illustrates, by copious and well selected examples, the mode of deducing a proportionate rate of exchange between two places, from the known quotations of the courses or more intermediate cities: and in the next chapter, on banking operations. Mr. D. points out the rules for computing the profit or loss on projected speculations in matters of exchange by means of arbitrations.
The first volume concludes with a view of Exchange Circulations, which are classed under two heads:
“1. Operations by which the possessors of limited capital are enabled to undertake and sustain concerns of far greater magnitude, or by which a competency to future responsibility is made subservient to immediate or ultimate advantage.
“2. Operations to which government and public establishments have occasional recourse, either to fulfil subsidiary treaties, or to procure the importation of bullion and specie, or to effect a rise or fall in exchanges.”
As an instance of a speculation of the latter kind, Mr. D. gives a very interesting account of an operation by which Spain was enabled to discharge her subsidy to the French government in the year 1804, at a time when the resources of that peninsula had, by epidemical disease, famine, a paralized commerce, and the non-arrival of the expected galleons from America, been reduced to the lowest ebb of insolvency, and when the modern Attila, unmoved by such accumulated distress, sternly insisted on the immediate payment of his tribute. In this dilemma French ingenuity, which has perfected the art of rapine and plunder into a system, was not deficient in expedients. An exchange circulation, in which London itself acted a prominent part, was forthwith set on foot between the principal commercial cities in Europe, whose wealthy merchants supported the operation with their capital and credit. Bills were drawn from one place on a second, from a second on a third, and so on. For these bills France obtained present cash, while the period consumed by their circulation enabled Spain to await the arrival of bullion from her colonies, and thereby to appropriate in time sufficient funds for the discharge of the debt afloat; an object which appears to have been attained in the end with even considerable advantage to Spain.
In the second volume Mr. D. proceeds to the operations of specie and bullion. The examples given under this head, embracing not only the principal gold and silver coins of every country, but also the mode of estimating those metals in bars, are copious and clear. His definition and illustration of Par of Exchange, an expression so frequently used and so little understood by many merchants themselves, are at once novel, correct, and intelligible to any reader of common sense. A separate chapter on practical speculations in merchandize is next introduced, and immediately followed by the important subject of monies, weights, and measures, alphabetically arranged according to the names of the countries and places which have any pretensions to mercantile notice. The republican innovations in the monies, coins, weights, and measures of France, are here fully explained under their proper heads; and other modern changes relating to this subject, are duly noticed in their respective places. Eleven voluminous tables are added, exhibiting at one view the comparative proportions between the monies of exchange, coins, measures, and weights of foreign countries, and those of England. And this volume, finally, concludes with a brief exposition of the doctrine of logarithms, and a logarithmical table especially adapted to this treatise. Such an appendix was necessary to the plan of the author, since, wherever his calculations throughout the work could be abridged by the use of logarithms, he has availed himself of their assistance; not, however, without explaining the nature of their application in every case so fully as to enable the student to adopt them in any other corresponding calculation.
Such are the outlines of a performance which reflects the highest degree of credit on its author. We feel pleasure in taking upon ourselves the responsibility of an unqualified recommendation, and sincerely hope Mr. Dubost’s labours will be rewarded by the introduction of his Elements of Commerce into every counting-house of respectability in this country.
There are but few of the musical productions of the last year that can support any pretensions beyond those of humble mediocrity. That the English nation can be pleased, or even amused, with the wretched operatical olios which have been produced during this period, is a strong proof (if others were wanting), that our taste for music is on the decline. That we have exchanged melody for counterpoint, and difficulties of laboured execution for substantial harmony, has long been observed and regretted; but since the revival of a taste for music in this country, we have seldom had the opportunity of noticing compositions so destitute even of novelty. It will afford us much higher satisfaction to recommend the effusions of taste and science, than to undergo the drudgery of examining productions revolting to every principle of both. We shall only notice a few.
The music of the Opera of Kais, by Braham and Reeve, is inferior to their former productions. The only pieces entitled to praise are, “Sad, sad is my heart,” Braham’s songs, “Slow broke the morn,” and “On this cold flinty rock.” The quartet at the end of the first act is also well managed.
The Jew of Mogadore. The music of this opera is in the worst style of compilation by Kelly. With the exception of Braham’s song, “Relics of my faithful crew,” there is nothing worth notice.
The Exile. Mr. Mazzinghi deserves considerable praise for the knowledge of instrumental effect that he has displayed in the overture to this melo-dramatic opera. The slow movement is particularly good. We are sorry we cannot be equal commendation on the vocal part. The two songs by Mrs. Dickons are the only good ones in the piece, and these suffer much by the affected manner in which sings them. This lady’s singing would produce more effect, if she were to determine not to suffer her naturally good taste to be vitiated by the present rage for exuberant ornaments and unmeaning flourishes. We think also, that the too frequent use of wind instruments in accompanying the voice, produces a monotonous effect. The songs allotted to Incledon are not at all adapted to the display of his powers to advantage.
Venoni. Kelly has selected a very fine opening to the overture of this piece: the transition to the key of D-flat is masterly, and prepares the hearer for something superior to the usual, trifling, contemptible style of modern overtures; but it ends in disappointment, as the allegro movement is a mere collection of common-place, vulgar passages. The glee sung by Mr. Smith, Masters Durousset and Huckel, is pretty, but the melody too closely resembles the air of “The Beggar Girl,” and some part of “All’s well.” Master Durousset possesses an excellent voice, particularly in his lower tones; he has also a very fine shake: but his ear appears to us very defective, as he is sometimes nearly half a note too sharp. Mr. Smith has a fine voice, but his style is neither chaste or polished.
The Rev. Dr. Vincent is preparing to publish the Greek Text of Arrian’s Indica and the Periplus; with a translation, to accompany his comments on those works.
The Rev. Dr. Rees, editor of the New Cyclopedia, has in the press two volumes of Sermons, on practical and interesting subjects, which will be published early in the Spring.
Mr. C. Sylvester, of Derby, has in the press an Elementary Treatise on Chemistry, the plan of which is said to be in many respects original.
The Rev. John Robinson, of Ravenstondale, is engaged on a Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Dictionary; a work of considerable interest, being intended to comprise whatever is known concerning the antiquities of the Hebrews, and to form a body of scripture history, geography, chronology, divinity, and ecclesiastical opinions.
The Rev. W. L. Bowles will shortly publish a third volume of Poems.
Mr. Francis Lathom is engaged on a fiction, entitled the Romance of the Hebrides.
Mr. Polwhele is employed in collecting the correspondence and papers of his late friend and neighbour, Mr. Whitaker, with a view to the publication of his Memoirs in a quarto volume.
Mr. Bigland’s View of the World is in a state of great forwardness at press, and will extend to five octavo volumes.
Mr. Donovan is preparing for publication a Continuation of his History of British Birds.
Mr. Oulton has in the press a Collection of Poems, chiefly comic, containing burlesque translations of Ovid and Horace, dramatic and miscellaneous pieces.Also, Letters from a Father to a Daughter on Female Education, with appropriate directions for instructing young ladies.
Mr. Tannton, surgeon to the City and Finsbury Dispensaries, will shortly publish a small work on Pathology, illustrated by engravings.
Mr. Thomas Green, of Liverpool, a youth of 17, has in the press a volume of Poems, which will appear early in this month.
The Musws’ Bower, a selection of the most favourite poetical pieces, in four small volumes, is on the eve of publication.
Mr. Molineux, of Macclesfield, has in the press, in post quarto, the Shorthand Instructor, or Stenographical Copy-book; designed as a companion to his Introduction to Mr. Byron’s Shorthand. A new edition, very much improved and corrected, o fLangborne’s Plutarch, by the Rev. Francis Wrangham, will appear this month.
A new edition of Mr. Thornton'a Present State of Turkey, with very considerable additions and alterations, including a map of the Turkish empire and a plan of Constantinople, is expected to appear this month.
The Rev. J. Gordon’s History of Ireland has been translated into French, and published at Paris in three octavo volumes.
The History of Chili, natural, civil, and political, translated from the Italian of Abbé Molina, with notes from the Spanish and French versions, is in the press at New-York, in two octavo volumes. This work will be reprinted in London.
The second part of the Philosophical Transactions contains,
xii. Observations of a comet, made with a view to investigate its magnitude and the nature of its illumination: to which is added an account of a new irregularity lately perceived in the apparent figure of the planet Saturn, by William Herschel, LL.D. F.R.S....p. 145.
xiii. Hydraulic investigations subservient to an intended Croonian Lecture on the motion of the blood, by Thomas Young, M.D. For. Sec. R.S....p. 164.
xiv. A letter on the alterations that have taken place in the structure of rocks on the surface of the basaltic country in the counties of Derry and Antrim, addressed to Humphry Davy, Esq. Sec. R.S. by William Richardson, D.D. p. 187.
xv. A letter on the differences in the structure of calculi, which arise from their being formed in different parts of the urinary passages, and on the effects that are produced on them by the internal use of solvent medicines, from Mr. William Brande to Edward Home, Esq. F.R.S....p. 223.
xvi. Some observations on Mr. Brande’s paper on catculi, by Everard Home, Esq. F.R.S....p. 244.
xvii. On the changes preduced in atmospheric air and oxygen gas by respiration, by William Allen, Esq. F.R.S.and W. H. Pepys, Esq. F.R.S....p. 249.
xviii. Description of an apparatus for the analysis of the compound inflammable gases by slow combustion, with experiments on the gas from coal, explaining its application, by William Henry, M. D. vice-president of the Lit. and Phil. Society, and physician to the infirmarv at Manchester, communicated by Humphry Davy, Esq. Sec. R.S....p. 282.
xix. An account of some peculiarities in the anatomical structure of the womb, with observations on the female organs of generation, by Everard Home, Esq. F.R.S....p. 304.
xx. On the origin and office the alburnum of trees, in a letter from T. A. Knight, Esq. F.R.S. to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. K.B. F.R.S....p. 313.
xxi. Eclipses of the satellites of Jupiter, observed by John Goldingham, Esq. F. R. S. and under his superintendence at Madras in the East Indies....p. 322.
xxii. Electro-chemical researches on the decomposition of the earths, with observations on the metals obtained from the alkaline earths, and on the amalgam procured from ammonia, by Humphry Davy, Esq. Sec. R.S. M.R.I.A.....p. 333.
Presents received by the Royal Society from November 1807, to July 1808....p. 371.
Index....p. 377.
The ninth volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society is published, and the following are the contents:1. The genus apion of Herbst’s Natursystem considered, its character laid down, and many of the species described, by the Rev. William Kirby, F.L.S. 2. Description of several marine animals found on the south coast of Devonshire, by George Montagu, Esq. F.L.S.3. An account of the Indian badger, the ursus Indicus of Shaw’s Zoology, by Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Hardwick, F.L.S.4. A botanical sketch of the genus conchium, by James Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S.5. An inquiry into the genus of the tree called by Pona Ablicea cretica, by James Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S.6. An inquiry into the real daucus gingidium of Linnaeus, by James Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S.7. Descriptions of eight new British lichens, by Dawson Turner, Esq. F.R.S. A.S. and L.S.8. An illustration of the species of lycium, which grow wild at the Cape of Good Hope, by Sir Charles Peter Thunberg, Knight of the Order of Wasa, professor of botany at Upsal, F.M.L.S.9. Some observations on an insect that destroys the wheat, supposed to be the wire-worm, by Thomas Watford, Esq. F.A.S. and L.S. with an additional note by Thomas Marsham, Esq. Treas. L.S.10. An account of the larger and lesser species of horseshoe bats, proving them to be distinct, together with a description of vespertilio barbastellus, taken in the south of Devonshire, by George Montagu, Esq. F.R.S.11. Descriptions of two new species of didelphis, from Van Diemen’s Land, by G. P. Harris, Esq. communicated by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. K.B. Pres. R.S.H. M.L.S.12. Description of a species of dimorpha, by Edward Rudge, Esq. F.R.S. and L.S.13. Some interesting additions to the natural history of falcocyaneus and pygargus, together with remarks on some other British birds, by George Montagu, Esq. F.R.S.14. An account of some new species of piper, with a few cursory observations on the genus, by Mr. John Vaughan Thompson, communicated by the Right Hon. Lord Seaforth, F.R.S. and L.S.15. An inquiry into the structure of seeds, and especially into the true nature of that part called by Gærtner the vitellus, by James Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S.16. Observations on nauclea gambir, the plant producing the drug called gutta gambeer, with characters of two other species, by William Hunter, Esq. secretary to the Asiatic Society, communicated by the president.17. Observations respecting several British species of hieracium, by James Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S.18. Specific characters of the decandrous papilionaceous plants of New Holland, by James Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S.19. On the variegation of plants, in a letter to Richard Anthony Salisbury, Esq. F.R.S. and L.S. by Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. F.R.S. and L.S.20. Characters of Hookeria, a new genus of mosses, with descriptions often species, by James Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S.21. Description of notoclea, a new genus of coleopterous insects from New Holland, by Thomas Marsham, Esq. Tr. L.S.22. Some remarks on the plants now referred to sophora, with characters of the genus Edwardsia, by R. A. Salisbury, Esq.23. Characters of platylobium, bossicœa, and of a new genus named poireta, by James Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S.24. Musci nepalenses, or descriptions of several new mosses from Nepal, by W. Jackson Hooker, Esq. F.L.S.25. Extracts from the minute-book of the Linnean Society of Londoncatalogue of the library of the Linnean Societylist of donors to the library of the Linnean Society.
ROYAL SOCIETY.
This society assembled after the summer vacation on Thursday, Nov. 10, 1808, the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, president, in the chair. The secretary read a summary of M. de Luc’s paper on the action of electricity and galvanism, or the electroscopical agency of electric and galvanic matter. In this paper M. de Luc proved, that the galvanic and electric fluid are essentially the same: he also stated, that it passes through bodies without producing any chemical changes, unless the bodies were previously prepared and the electricity highly concentrated.
November 17—24. The Croonian lecture on the muscles of the heart and the motion of the blood, by Dr. Young (Foreign Sec. R. S.) was read. This lecture was a continuation of the author’s former paper on the motion of fluids in elastic or flexible tubes. Dr. Y. took a view of the nature of fever, and its effects on the blood. He also gave a theory of mortification, which the Germans call a "cold burning.”
A paper by Mr. Childers was read, containing some observations and experiments on the most economical means of constructing very powerful galvanic batteries.
WERNERIAN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.
At the meeting of the Wernerian Natural History Society, 1st Aug. Dr. James Ogilby of Dublin, read a very interesting account of the mineralogy of East Lothian, which appeared to have been drawn up from a series of observations, made with great skill, and was illustrated by a suite of 350 specimens laid upon the table. It is only by investigations like those of Dr. Ogilby, that we obtain any certainty respecting the mineral treasures of a country; and such alone can afford us data for a legitimate theory of the formation of the globe.
At the same meeting a communication from Colonel Montagu was read, describing a new species of fasciola, of a red colour, and about an inch long, which sometimes lodges in the trachea of chickens, and which the colonel found to be the occasion of the distemper called the gapes, so fatal to these useful tenants of the poultry-yard. The knowledge of the true cause of this malady will, it is hoped, soon be followed by the discovery of a specific cure; in the mean time, a very simple, popular remedy is employed in Devonshire: the meat of the chicks (barley or oatmeal) is merely mixed up with urine, in place of water: and this prescription is very generally attended with the best effects.
At the meeting of this society on the 12th of November, the Rev. Andrew Jameson, minister of St. Mungo, Dumfriesshire, read observations on meteorological tables, with a description of a new anemometer. The anemometer which he described, will, by a very simple and ingenious arrangement of parts, enable the most common observer to ascertain the velocity of the wind with perfect accuracy.
At the same meeting, the Rev. John Fleming, F.R.S. Ed. minister of Bressay in Shetland, communicated an interesting account of the geognostic relations of the rocks in the islands of Unst and Papa Stour. As Mr. Fleming announced his intention of again examining the whole of the Shetland Islands, and of constructing mineralogical maps of them, in which the rocks should be laid down according to their relative antiquity and extent, much valuable information may be expected.
At the meeting of the society on the 19th of November, Mr. Mackenzie, jun. of Applecross, read a short account of the coal-formation in the vicinity of Durham.
At the same meeting, Dr. Ogilby of Dublin, read the continuation of his mineralogical description of East Lothian, describing the different veins which he observed in that tract of country.
At this meeting, also, Mr. P. Neill read an account of a great sea snake, lately cast ashore in Orkney. This curious animal it appears, was stranded in Rothesholm bay, in the island of Stronsa: the body was unluckily knocked to pieces by a tempest, but the fragments have been collected by Mr. Laing, and are to be transmitted to the museum at Edinburgh. Mr. Neill concluded with remarking, that no doubt could be entertained, that this was the kind ofanimal described by Ramus, Egede, and Pontoppidan, but which scientific and systematic naturalists have hitherto rejected as spurious and ideal.
DUBLIN SOCIETY.
A letter, dated Manchester, and signed John Bradbury, was laid before the society at their late meeting, stating, that the proprietors of the Liverpool botanic garden had resolved on forming an establishment at New Orleans, America, with a view to collect the plants of Kentucky and Louisiana, and to transmit to England living duplicates of the plants which should be so collected and multiplied on such establishment; and desiring to be informed if the Dublin Society would, in consideration of green specimens of the same, contribute to the expence, their quota not to exceed 100l. per annum.
The secretary laid before the society a list of several valuable West Indian plants, presented to the society by Captain Burgh.
LECTURES.
Royal Institution.The following arrangement is made for the lectures of the ensuing season; they commenced on Saturday the 17th of December, with an introductory lecture by Mr. Davy.
Experimental chemistry and electro-cbemical science, by Humphry Davy, Esq. Sec. R.S.
Botany, by James Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S.
Astronomy, by John Pond, Esq. F.R.S.
Grecian history and historians, by the Rev. William Crowe, public orator at the university of Oxford.
Perspective, by Mr. John Geo. Wood.
Music, by Mr. Samuel Wesley.
We cannot close this article of Literary Intelligence, without giving a brief retrospect of the periodical publications which relate to natural history that have lately appeared in this country. Natural history is a plant, which, even in a soil the most congenial to its growth, refuses to thrive, if unassisted by the fostering hand of power and wealth: there is no country more favourably situated tor its cultivation than ours; none that can boast of greater resources, and of men better qualified for promoting itbut still England does not appear to be the soil in which it exhibits its most luxuriant growth.
On taking a view of the numerous, splendid, and costly periodical publications in this science, with which the presses of a neighbouring nation (our rivals both in arms and science) are incessantly teemingVaillant’s Oiseaux d'Afrique, Audebert’s Singes, Oiseaux Dorés, Ventenat’s Jardin de Malmaison, Jardin de Cels, Redorte’s Liliacées, &c. We cannot conceal our astonishment at seeing such a multiplicity of the most sumptuous works go on at the same time without interfering: not to mention the host of cotemporary minor publications in this department of science, which are unworthy of support. In England, the promoters of natural history appear to be less ardent or less numerous, if we may judge from the number of publications that are daily commenced, and, after lingering for a short time, discontinued for want of encouragement: witness Bawer’s incomparable work, the "Kew Plants" in the three published numbers of which the most remarkable heaths are depicted in a style of excellence eclipsing all similar works that have preceded in this or in any other country. Perhaps the price of this work was deemed too high; and indeed half-a-guinea a plate may be a consideration to many. But Roxburgh’s "Plants of Coromandel,” a work than which (at least as to the uncoloured copies) nothing has ever been sold at a cheaper rate, is likewise discontinued. Dr. Smith’s "Exotic Botany"But to give a list of all the monthly and other periodical publications on natural history that have met with an untimely fate within the last ten years, would occupy more space than we are willing to devote to such a melancholy subject: suffice it therefore to say a word or two of the living.
Dr. Shaw continues to make us acquainted with many interesting subjects of natural history in his "Naturalist’s Miscellany,” a work particularly interesting, on account of the great variety of objects it comprehends, the materials of which are partly original and partly taken from works not accessible to the generality of the students in zoology. The figures are by the able hand of Mr. Nodder. The text accompanying them, it must be acknowledged, is much to the purpose; but the author appears at present to be more brief and laconic in his descriptions than he originally proposed. Both Mr. Sowerby and Mr. Donovan continue their laudable exertions to render their countrymen familiar with indigenous natural productions, the former in his "British Miscellany,” the latter in his "Birds and Insects of Great Britain.” The figures they give are of various and unequal merit.
Botany has of late offered a richer harvest than the other branches of natural science. Not half a century ago, when the knowledge of the vegetable world was thought to possess no charms beyond those derived from converting herbs into nauseous medicines, this lovely science was almost exclusively cultivated by the physician and druggist; and “what is it good for?” was the first question suggested by the sight of a new or unknown plant. But when a less selfish philosophy taught us that vegetables, as well as other objects, are capable of creating interest, and of affording rational pleasure, by the beauty of their form alone, and by the various relations in which we see them; and when thus the idea of physic merged in one far more pleasing, botany gradually became the general and favourite pursuit of the cultivated part of society, and proved a study equally well adapted to the turn of mind of the gravest philosopher, and to the task of the gayest among the fair, provided her heart be still open to those softer emotions which the contemplation of blooming nature seldom fails to produce. Indigenous botany appears to possess a greater number of votaries in this than in an other country, and publications relating to it are for the most part favourably received. But none, we suppose, ever met with greater success than "English Botany,” the result of the joint labours of Dr. Smith and Dr. Sowerby; and deservedly too, for we know of no work on the Continent that can be compared with it: when completed, this work will be indispensable to the student of indigenous botany. Curtis’s "Botanical Magazine,” continued, ever since the death of the original author, by Dr. John Sims, is the best conducted work of this kind we possess: the figures, by Mr. Edwards, though small, are uncommonly characteristic; and Dr. Sims’s text, though often very concise, is amusing and instructive. Mr. Gawler, a gentleman who has made the liliaceous plants his particular study, likewise furnishes materials for this work, which appears to have a greater sale than any other publication of this kind, either in this country or abroad. A comparatively new periodical work is Mr. Hooker’s "Paradisus Londinensis,” written by Mr. Salisbury, a profound botanist, though too much addicted to paradoxes. Mr. Hooker’s figures are elegant, and upon the whole, botanically correct. We wish this publication may not be discontinued. Mr. Andrews’s "Botanist Repository" is taken up again, and continues to make the lovers of exotic botany acquainted with many curious productions of our hot-houses and gardens. Mr. Andrews’s style of painting is peculiar to himself: the "Heaths" and "Roses" of this artist are well known to amateurs. We must not forget a work relating to indigenous botany, Mr. Dawson Turner’s elaborate and elegant publication, "The British Fuci.” Whoever is acquainted with the difficulties attending the examination and study of the cryptogamous marine plants, the most intricate of all the vegetable tribes, will readily join us in our wishes, that such a meritorious undertaking may be crowned with all the success it deserves. Mr. Dilwyr’s "British Confervæ" we suppose is discontinued.
In mineralogy we have to notice a periodical publication of the indefatigable Mr. Sowerby, entitled "British Mineralogy,” in which he endeavours to depict, in their natural colours, the various minerals with which this island abounds. The idea is new, at least in this country, and executed with as much success as can be reasonably expected from so difficult undertaking.