second word, a trochee, and a substantive of the same gender aud number, always beginning with a consonant; the third, an iambic, of an adverbial signification; the fourth, a verb of the third person plural, consisting of three long syllables; the fifth and sixth, a dactyl and spondee, of similar construction with the first and second words, and with which they can be transposed without altering the structure of the verse. Now for the experiments. Of the above four verses write down the twenty-four words on as many loose slips of paper, numbering their respective places in the line from 1 to 6; and at every transposition of the slips, you will produce a new verse correct in grammar and prosody, though sometimes equivocal in sense. Increase the number of words, similarly formed, to twenty or thirty for each line; and you will then have the means of forming some thousands of hexameter lines, as fast as you can shuffle and distribute the slips, without the probability of the same verse ever recurring a second time. For school-boys and Latin students, it may be a very curious and instructive amusement,-but nothing more. It is on this simple principle, and not by letters, as affirmed, that the "Eureka" constructs its verse; which can be as readily performed in the way I have described, as by the machine. Yours, &c., -Athenæum. P. A. NUTTALL. MODEL OF THE MOON-Sir John Herschel, in the British Association, exhibited and enlarged upon the exceedingly beautiful model of the moon, the work of a female amateur astronomer. The figures of the mountains in relief were all taken by micrometrical measurements, and their precision in the model was most marvellous: the material employed was a composition of mastic and wax. In speaking of the atmosphere of the moon, Sir John Herschel again referred to the probable altered character of the heat reflected from the moon He said, that during a fortnight's unmitigated day the moon must grow immensely hot, but that we had no experiments to show this, and probably, though the heat may not be in a condition to penetrate our atmosphere, yet it may tend to clear it. He did not insist upon this, but thought it highly probable, and instanced in support of this view the remarkable quantity of clear sky prevailing just about full The effect of this strong heat must be to evaporate all water; and if any remain, it must exist on the hinder part, and perhaps in the state of ice. Besides several other prominent and wellknown mountains, Sir John pointed out Aristarchus, which glows at different times with a peculiar reflection, and which has been repeatedly mistaken for a volcano. A great many streaks down its sides are visible: these are not lavastreams, but lava-cracks filled with other matter. This and other peculiarities of the lunar craters resemble those of our earth, and reference was especially made for proof to the Baron Waltershausen's map of Etna. moon. tioned by Sir J Herschel. They were numerous on Etna, and filled with black hornblende. He supposed those of Aristarchus, the white streams, were feldspar-Lit. Guz. SINGULAR PHENOMENON-At the last meeting of the British Association, Sir D Brewster described the existence of crystals in the cavities of topaz, which melted under the influence of heat. In pursuing this investigation, he observed a phenomenon produced by heat of the most novel and surprising kind, and one which he felt himself utterly unable to explain Upon the first application of heat, one or two of the crystals leaped from their resting-place, and darted to the opposite side of the cavity In a few seconds the others quitted their places, one after the other, performing the most rapid and extraordinary rotations. One crystal joined another, and four of them thus united revolved with such rapidity as completely to efface their respective shapes. They separated on the withdrawal of the heat, and took the position which their gravity assigned to them. Prisms also performed the same rotation; and the small crystals have been driven between the inclined edges of the cavity The pyro-electricity of topaz suggests itself as a moving power: it may produce attractions and repulsions, or certain motions in straight lines; but how could it turn a crystal on its axis? The experiments of Libri and Fresnel on the repulsions which heated bodies exert upon each other at sensible distances, afford but little aid. They may assist to account for the mere displacement of the crystals by the application of heat, or for their sudden start from their places of rest, but they do not supply a force fitted to give and to sustain a rapid rotatory movement Why the crystals rotate is not known.-Lit. Gaz. PAGING MACHINE-A machine designed to page account books has been recently patented by Mr. W. Shaw, of Liverpool. The machine, which occupies a space less than three feet square, is so constructed as to number the pages of a book, whether bound or unbound, progressively, from one to ten thousand-the simple movement of a lever performing the combined operations of taking and distributing ink, transferring the same to the figures, making the impression, and changing the figures to the succeeding number. The machine, it should be remarked, is equally applicable to the numbering of bank notes, and railway tickets. Athenæum. PROFESSOR BUCKLAND'S HYENA.-Professor Buckland has had for some time in his possession the bones of an animal discovered in à cave. He believes them to be those of the hyena; but not being quite certain on the point, we must pre sume, he bespoke the skeleton of an old hyena, now in the Surrey Zoological Gardens, and which became the property of Mr. Cross more than thirty years ago, in order that he may compare his bones with those found in the cave. The old hyena is, however, perverse, and will not die The Baron said that in the moon there were to gratify Professor Buckland. The Professor two different systems of mountains: 1. mountain called at the Gardens some short time since to chains, not so extensive as those of the earth; 2 inquire after his subject; he found him alive and craters elliptic and circular, larger and more per- healthy "He may survive myself,' said the fectly constructed. He pointed out the perfect Professor; and thus it may be that a great geoloanalogies between the lunar and terrestrial vol-gical theory is kept in suspense by the perverse canic formations, and especially the cracks men- vitality of an old hyena.—Spectator. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. Great Britain. Amarakosha; ou Vocabulaire d'Amarasinha, publié en Sanscrit, avec une Traduction Francaise, des Notes, un Index et des Vocabula res. Par A Loiseleur Deslongchamps. Seconde Partie. Paris, Duprat. part, for which he states we are indebted to the indefatigable industry of the well-known translator of the Harivansa,' M. Langlois.—Athe næum. The Physiology of the Human Voice; being a THOSE who take an interest in Sanscrit literature will see with pleasure that the second part of the Amarakosha' has at last made its appearance. It contains the Index and the Sanscrit and French Vocabularies to that important lexicogra- We would wish to call the attention of physiolphical work, the publication of which its learned ogists, as well as of the musical world, to this cueditor has survived but a few days. rious essay, the object of which is fully expressed The value which every Sanscrit scholar attach-in the title-page. We do not feel ourselves quite es to the Amarakosha' renders a detailed ac count of the work superfluous, its merits have long been acknowledged; to lay them before the uninitiated would be an useless and ungrateful task; and nothing remains but to lament that the man who has bestowed on Indian literature this judicious and well-timed edition of a standard work, should have been called away from his friends and his labors in the prime of his man hood and the dawn of his fame. Auguste Louis Armand Loiseleur Deslongchamps was born at Paris, on the 14th of August 1805. Destined to the medical profession, in which his bereaved father enjoys a high reputation, he passed the earlier part of his academical career in the study of botany and the other branches of Natural Philosophy, subservient to the science of Medicine. He soon, however, turned his attention to the Oriental languages He learnt Persian and Arabic, and in 1825 he be ་ gan to read Sanscrit wih the late De Chézy. As early as 1830, a new edition of The Laws of Manu' appeared at Paris under his superintendence, accompanied by a judicious selection of notes. In 1833, he publ shed the French translation of the Code, which he elucidated to the general reader by annotations of considerable value. In the mean time, viz. in 1832, he obtained an appointment in the Manuscript Department of the Bibliothèque du Roi, where his services proved as valuable as they were well appreciated, and his remarkable talents procured him as many admirers as he gained friends by his amiable temper. The work which he next published is conspicuous among others of the same kind for the extent of research and erudition it displays; indeed the Essai sur les Fables Indiennes et sur leur Introduction en Europe,' which appeared in 1838, fully established the reputation of its author. This was followed by a new edition of Galland's translation of the Thousand and One Nights,' to which he added numerous notes, and appended the Contes Turcs, translated by l'etis de la Croix. The last labor to which he devoted his energies was the revision of the text and a French translation of the Amarakosha,' the first part of which appeared in the last days of December 1839. On the 9th of January 1840 he breathed his last. He died of consumption competent to give an opinion upon so abstruse a subject; in which the sciences of anatomy, physiology, acoustics, and music, are all brought to bear upon the points mooted. We are satisfied, however, by a perusal of the work, that the best and latest authorities have been consulted and carefully digested before Mr Romer has ventured to put forth views which he has long entertained, and which appear to present quite a new field in the art of teaching Mr. R argues that the larynx and glottis are not the sole points which produce the musical tones of the voice; while his explanation of the said musical voice, as distinguished from the speaking voice, being a vibrated column of air, depending upon the openness of the tube, alone indicates what a change such considerations are calculated to induce in the system of vocal tuition.-Lit. Gaz. Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, accompanied by a geological map, sections, and diagrams, and figures of the organic remains. By P. E. De Strzelecki. Octavo, pp. 462 Longman & Co. This, so far as we are aware, is the first systematic and complete Natural or Physical history of the great southern region which has lately been added to the civilized world. The circumstance of its being given to us by a foreigner is of no significance whatever; science being happily a cosmopolite. The author has been a traveller and voyager round the globe for twelve years, several of which have been devoted to Australia, in exploring which he seems to have been subjected to considerable peril. In these countries he made a tour of seven thousand miles on foot. The work opens with a retrospective view of what others have already done in surveying New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, in their different Physical aspects; and proceeds, through distinct sections, to treat of their geology and mineralogy, climatology, their fossils, and existing flora and fauna, and with notices on the state of the aborigines, concludes with a view of the condition and prospects of colonial agriculture, and of the yet undeveloped or untouched natural resources of the great Southern Lands. What is to be expected from a country into which This notice of his life is extracted from his the first ram was imported a little more than minute biography by M Dubeux, which accompa- thirty years since, and which has now nine milnies the volume before us, and to which the lions of sheep! Our author goes deeper into the portrait of the deceased is a welcome addition. subject than most casual observers, when he asThere is also an advertisement of his father con-cribes the sad reverses, the total ruin of so many cerning the delay in the publication of the second emigrant settlers, not to natural obstacles or im efits of vaccination, and consequently producing | SELECT LIST OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS. an annual saving of from 15,000 to 20,000 lives, all will admit that an annual grant of £5000 or £6000, which would probably cover the expenses of such establishments, would be well bestowed. The subject is well worth the attention of the Legislature, and Dr. Stark deserves praise, both for the object, and the execution, of his inquiry; although, until a few of the First-born of Egypt are swept away by small-pox during some lent epidemic, Wisdom will, too probably, lift up her voice in vain.-Tuit's Magazine. Viru The Chemistry of Vegetable and Animal Physiology. By Dr. G. J. Mulder. Translated from the Dutch. Part I. GREAT BRITAIN. The World Surveyed in the Nineteenth Century, by W. D. Cooley. Twelve Hundred Questions and Answers on the Bible, intended principally for the use of Schools and Young Persons, by M. H. and J. H. Myers. Credit the Life of Commerce, by J. H. Elliott. Jacob's Ladder: Eighteen Practical Addresses, by Rev. George Oliver, D. D. Abercrombie's (John) Pathological and Practical Researches on Diseases of the Brain and the Spinal Cord, 4th edit. Harrison's (Rev. B.) Historical Enquiry into the Interpretation of the Rubric. History of our Own Times, by the author of Court and Times of Frederick the Great.' M'Farlan's (J. M.) Version of the Prophecies of Ezekiel, retaining the Order of the Hebrew Original. Thiers' History of the Consulate and Empire, translated by D. F. Campbell, Esq. Vol. IV. (Colburn's Edition). So far as it can be judged of by a fragment like the present, this work promises to be a very valuable contribution to zoo-chemistry. The science is one the importance of which is universally admitted; and one, too, of whose fundamental principles and laws we are as yet profoundly ignorant. With regard to the very first principle in the science-are the molecular forces of inorganic nature sufficient to explain the phenomena of organized being; or are we entitled from these phenomena to deduce the existence in the latter of a peculiar force, superseding or modifying those of the former-chemi-ts and physiologists are at issue alike with each other, and among themselves. Dr. Mulder adopts the first, and we believe the less prevalent, of these views; and shows with much originality and clearness, how entirely unwarranted by facts is the assumption of a so-called vital force; and how perfecily adequate the chemical forces of inorganic nature are to achieve the most complex phenomena of animal and vegetable life. The present portion of the work is for the most part introductory; treat- H. Ritter, Thiel 7. ing of these chemical forces, and of the atmosphere, water and the soil, in their general relations to organic nature. Till the specific applications of the views propounded are before us, it were premature to pronounce any judgment more special than this-that the author exhibits qualifications for his task of no common order; possesses much of that openness of mind, without which the man who searches into nature will find only himself and his prejudications; and of that fearlessness of speculation which, when conjoined, as in him, with accuracy of observation and fidelity of induction, has been the true instrument of human discovery. The translation bears marks of being faithfully executed; though we must regret that clearness should not unfrequently be sacrificed in the attempt to preserve the construction and idioms of the original. Occasionally, too, manifest errors of rendering occur-as, for instance, one of the sections is headed, Apparent quiescence of the forces during combination;' the true reading evidently being, 'Apparent rendering quiescent, or neutralization of the forces by combination.' GERMANY. Geschichte der Philosophie. Von Dr. Dante und die Katholische Philosophie des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts. Von A. F. Ozanam. Fr. Schleiermacher's literarischer Nachlass zur Theologie. Chrestomathia Persica. Von F. Spiegel. FRANCE. Cours de Microscopie complementaire des études medicales. Par Donné et Foucault. Liv. I. et II. Recherches sur les établissemens des Greçs en Sicile. Par Brunet de Treale. Histoire des Cabinets de l'Europe pendant le Consulat et l'Empire. Par Lefeb |