ART. XIII. CONCLUSION of the Philofophical Transactions. Vo For the Year 1769. See our laft Month's Review.

LIX.

ANTIQUITIES.

Article 27. An Account of feveral fepulch al Infcriptions and Figures in Bas-relief, difcovered in 1755, at Bonn in Lower Germany. By John Strange, Efq; F. R. S.

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HE Author in his paffage through Germany and the Tyrol, in his way to Italy, had an opportunity of obferving fome curious remains of Roman antiquity, confifting of basreliefs in the highest preservation, which had been discovered on digging certain foundations in a garden belonging to the Elector of Cologne, together with fome infcriptions. Two plates exhibiting these antiquities accompany this article. Article 61. An Attempt to elucidate two Samnite Coins, never before fully explained, &c. By the Rev. John Swinton, B. D. F. R. S. &c. &c.

The most eminent antiquarians, as Mr. Swinton, with his accustomed gravity, obferves, have not fcrupled to affert' that the word SAFINIM, found on the reverfe of a certain Samnite denarius of Papius Mutilus, must be equivalent to Sabini or Samnites, the Sabines or the Samnites; whereas, with much erudition, he makes it nearly evident, from the nature and genius of the coin itself; from the Samnite mode of abbreviation; and from its fimilarity to other coins, bearing the names of Italian captains, and adorned with the fame fymbols, that it stands for SAFINIus Marci filius, poffibly an Italian general who had diftinguished himfelt in the focial war ;-whofe exploits indeed are not come down to us, and whofe very name, that fingle evidence of his ever having existed, though recorded on braís, appears to have been filently pofting on the high road to utter oblivion, till our alert antiquarian outpoft challenged and topped it on the very borders of the gulph; after it had cluded the fcrutiny of the Marquis Scipio Maffei, Signior Olivieri, M. Pellerin, and his numerous brother centinels, who inceffantly guard the paffes into that region.-May the Philofophical Tranfactions, Ere perenniores, in which it is now depofited, and commences a fresh æra of exiflence, preferve and tranfmit the folitary name of Safinius-(for even they can do no more) and the prænomen of his venerable father, to the latest posterity, more faithfully than the medal of Papius Mutilus! Article 66. Extract from the fournals of the Royal Society, refpect

ing a Letter addreffed to the Society by a Member of the House of Jefuits at Pekin in China. By Charles Morton, M. D. Sec. R. S. &c.

The controverfy which has lately arifen among the literati of Europe, on the occafion of fome conjectures of the ingenious

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Mr. Turberville Needham, publifhed in 1761, relative to a fuppofed connection between the hieroglyphical writing of the ancient Egyptians, and the characteristic writing now in ufe among the Chinefe, are not unknown to our learned Readers *. The Egyptian fymbols or characters infcribed on the celebrated buft of his, at Turin †, appeared to him to resemble several Chinese characters, which are to be found in the great dictionary Thing, thee, tong; from whence he conjectured, firft, that the Chinese characters are the fame, in many respects, as the hieroglyphics of Egypt; and, fecondly, that the fenfe of hierogh pics may be inveftigated by the comparative and appropriated fignification of the Chinefe characters. As the fimilarity between thefe two fpecies of writing has however been contefted, an appeal has been made to the only competent judges of this queftion, the literati of China. The Secretary of the Royal Society has accordingly addrefied himfelf on this fubject to the Jefuits at Pekin. Among other queftions propofed to them, which we omit, they were in particular defired to inform the Society whether certain characters, to the number of 29, copied from the buit at Turin, together with divers other characters, to the number of 200, copied from undoubted monuments of Egypt, are really and indeed Chinese characters; and, if they be, of what dialect and of what age are they?'

In answer to this and other enquiries relative to this subject, the Society have received a paper from Pekin, of which the prefent article is an abftract. It is accompanied with 27 plates reprefenting feveral of the ancient and modern Chinese characters ufed in writing; together with copies of feveral ancient Chinefe infcriptions, drawings of vafes, and other antiquities. With regard to the queftion abovementioned, the writer of the paper fent from Pekin (who appears, from fome mifcarriage or other accident befallen fome of the packets fent to him, to have received only that which contained the Turin characters) decides, that though four or five of thefe characters have a fenfible refemblance to the like number, to be found in the abovementioned Chinese dictionary; yet that they are not genuine Chinele characters; having no connected fenfe, nor a proper refemblance to any of their forms of writing; and that the whole of the infcription has nothing of Chinefe upon the face of it. Many of the literali of that country, whofe province it is to ftudy the ancient writings, and whom he confulted upon this occafion, concur with him in this opinion; declaring that thefe fymbols are abfolutely unintelligible and new to them.

Sce Review, vol. xxix. p. 31 ---34•

A caft of this venerable remain of antiquity has been procured, and fent hither, by Mr. Montagu, and is now, through the bounty of his Majefly, depofited in the British Mufeum.

The

The Author does not however abfolutely renounce Mr. Needham's general conjecture; and accordingly prefents the Society with a collation of 73 Egyptian hieroglyphics, collected principally from Kircher, and has placed by them a number of ancient and modern Chinese characters, which more or lefs refemble them; and recommends the farther investigation of this curious fubject to the learned. He likewife gives what he calls an historical picture of the Chinese tongue, and an account of the rules which have been obferved in the formation of its characters. He is profufe in his praifes of this language, and extols its force, grace, energy, amenity, grandeur, and fimplicity,' particularly in many of the paffages of the King: obferv ing, at the fame time, that, notwithstanding all its different idioms or varieties, that tongue contains only about 330 words, every one of which, however, is nearly multiplied into four, by as many different accents or inflexions of the voice, of which it is difficult to give an European an idea; and that, nevertheless, it is neither monotous, barren, or hard to underftand, as has been fuppofed by Europeans. He obferves too that the accents give a certain harmony and pointed cadence to the most ordinary phrafes,' and, with regard to clearness, affirms, that the Chinese fpeak as faft as we do, exprefs more meaning in fewer words, and nevertheless understand one another.

It does not however appear from this paper, how, with the ufe of only four times 330 words, all this clearness is attained. For our own parts, notwithstanding our learned Mifionary's eulogia, we rejoice that we are mafters of that fimple but noble invention, the four and twenty letters, and of the thoufands and tens of thousands of words that are formed out of them. As Reviewers particularly, we have reafon to be more than ordinarily thankful on this account. Taking our whole corps together, we may modeftly reckon ourfelves tolerable, masters of half a dozen alphabetical languages at least: but had we the 80,000 Chinese characters to cope with, to qualify us for our office-(fuppofing it could exift under fuch a fuppofition)-inftead of treating duly every month, at our eafe, as we now do, de omni feib.li, our whole body, one or two greybeards excepted, would fcarce be got half way through their horn-, books. But to conclude with a more ferious reflection; we fhall add, that we know not whether the confiderable progress which the Chinese have made in feveral of the fciences, under all the difadvantages of a written language, fo unfavourable, from its very fructure, to the diffution and propagation of knowledge, does not furnish a stronger and more fatisfactory proof of the high antiquity to which they pretend, than any which are founded on their history.

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ELECTRICITY and METEOR S. The two firft papers belonging to the firft of thefe claffes are the 9th and 10th articles, in which Dr. Priestley relates fome curious experiments on the force and direction of electrical explofions. These were publifhed fome time ago in the Additions to his Hiflory, and have been already noticed in our Review +. In the 13th article, an account is given by the Rev. Mr. Paxton, of the effects of a violent thunder-ftorm on the tower of the church of Buckland Brew r in Devonshire; from the pinnacle of which stones were, by the force of the electrical explofion, projected and difperfed in all directions, and to different diftances; fome of which (if there is no typographical error in the number) weighed feven hundred pounds. The 14th and 20th articles contain meteorological journals of the weather in the year 1768, kept at Plymouth, Bridgewater, and Ludgvan In the 15th and 49th articles, accounts are given of two remarkable Aurora boreales; the first oblerved at Paris, by M. Meffier, and the latter at Oxford by Mr. Swinton. The remaining articles of this clafs are the two following:

Article 21. Propofal of a Method for fecuring the Cathedral of St. Paul's from Damage ; Lightning; in Consequence of a Letter from the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's to James Weft, Efq;

Pr. R. S.

While the intrepid and fagacious wardens or other guardians of the parochial church of St. Bride's, after repeated electric fhocks from above, and reiterated admonitions and remonftrances from us and others, ftill continue to brave the utmost fury of an electrified cloud; the Dean and Chapter of their metropolitan church, lefs daring, and doubtlefs more enlightened, have applied to the Royal Society for their opinion and particular directions, relative to the best and most effectual method of fixing electrical conductors to that building: incited to this measure by a confideration that the old church of St. Paul's had twice already fuffered by lightning,' and by a prudent folicitude to fecure the prefent fabric from fimilar accidents; which, but for the interception of the ftorm by St. Bride's church, within these few years, might, they obferve, have already happened.' In confequence of this application a committee was appointed by the Royal Society, confisting of Dr. Franklyn and Dr. Watlon, and Meffrs. Canton, Delaval, and Willon, who were affifted, in the examination of the building, by Mr. Mylne, furveyor of St. Paul's.

+ See vol. xliii. September, page 214.

See Monthly Review, vol. xxxvii. October 1767, p. 247, vol. xlii. March 1770, p. 204, and vol. xliii. September 1770, p. 216.

As

As we have lately had feveral occafions of explaining the nature, and fhewing the advantages, of metallic electrical conductors, and in our review of Dr. Franklyn's laft publication, gave a pretty large and circumftantial account of feveral particulars relating to the improvement of them, which had been fuggefted by certain accidents that had befallen fome buildings furnished with metal rods*; we fhall only observe, th regard to the prefent article, that the advice and direchere given are principally of a local nature, and in genete to circumstances refpecting the materials and their 7, in the conftruction of this particular building;

onnecting together the great quantities of lead and iron, which already occur in the different parts of the cathedral, by means of metallic communications, and thus faving a confiderable part of the expence, &c. We fhall only add that as, in a matter fo new, and of which we have had fo little experience, it has not yet been determined to what distance the prefervative power of a conducting apparatus extends; this philofophical committee have judged it expedient, or at leaft prudent, in a fabric of fuch height and extent, and which prefents fo large a metallic furface to the clouds, that the two towers, as well as the cupola, fhould be provided with a complete electrical communication with the earth +.

Article 47. Of the different Quantities of Rain, which appear to fall, at different Heights, over the fame Spot of Ground. By William Heberden, M. D. F. R. S.

The novelty and fingularity of the obfervation contained in this article will recommend it to the notice of philofophers in general, as well as to the confideration of those who keep meteorological journals in particular. The Author, on making a comparison between the quantities of rain which fell in two places in London, about a mile diftant from one another, found that the rain in one of them conftantly exceeded that in the other, not only every month, but almost every time that it rained. This difference could not be imputed to the apparatus, which was accurately conftructed in both places; nor to any other probable caufe, except this circumftance; that one

• See Monthly Review, vol. xlii. March 1770, from page 200 to page 206.

Signior Beccaria, who had two infulated rods fixed to his houfe, at the distance of 140 feet from each other, one of which was 30 feet higher than the other, obferved that on taking a fpark from the first, the electricity of the latter was fenfibly diminished; but though he continued to touch the higher rod, the lower would nevertheless thew figns of increafing electricity. Lettere dell' Ellettricifmo, p. 176.

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