receive illustration from analogies in the animal kingdom. Ducks are rendered so ill-tasted from stuffing down garbage at the kitchen door, as sometimes to be offensive when brought as food to the table. The quality of pork is acknowledged to be modified by the food of the swine. The bitterness of partridges has been ascribed to the buds upon which they live; and the peculiar flavour of piscivorous wild fowl, is rationally traced to the fish they devour. Thus a portion of nutrimental matter passes into the living bodies of plants and animals, in certain proportion, without having been entirely subdued, or assimilated. It becomes, therefore, a subject of curious and important reflection. The horticulturist mostly calculates on the quantity of his crop. It is, however, a becoming subject of research, that he should likewise attend to the quality; or perhaps the consumer, his customer, may inform him that an offended palate and injured health, will induce a careful provider to seek uncontaminated articles for his table.-Dr Mitchill's Discourse at the Anniversary of the New York Horticultural Society, 1826.

ARTS.

10. New Mode of applying Graphite, or Black Lead, in Drawings.-Mr C. Galpin, the inventor of this improvement in the management of graphite, as applied to drawing, having long regretted that a material of so pleasing a neutral colour, should only be capable of producing broad shades, by means of a laborious repetition of lines or touches, commenced a series of experiments with reference to this subject, which, however, did not at first lead to any useful result, on account of the granular separation of the substance, when applied to paper. At length, having thought of reducing it to an impalpable powder, and using it with a brush, he obtained the most complete success, having found that every possible degree of shade can be produced with the nicest uniformity, and in less than a twentieth part of the time required in the ordinary manner. The process is described as follows:-The instruments required are, a small piece of muslin, filled with black-lead reduced to fine powder, which is called a shader; a palette, made of thick card board; and a brush of medium size. The shader is rubbed two or

three times on the palette, near one extremity, by which a small portion of the lead is sifted, as it were, through the muslin; the brush is passed round in the pulverised graphite, and on some other part of the palette, to adjust the shade required; the brush is then applied to the paper, to produce a sky, or other expanse of shade, with a circulating motion. To produce a darker shade, the graphite may be rubbed in with alder, pith, or any similar substance, brought to a point.-Gill's Technical Repository, 1827.

11. On Etching and Dyeing at once figures on Ivory; by Mr J. Cathery.-The usual mode of ornamenting ivory in black, is to engrave the pattern or design, and then to fill up the cavities thus produced with hard black varnish. The demand for engraved ivory in ornamented inlaying, and for other purposes, is considerable, although the price paid for it is not such as to encourage artists of much ability to devote themselves to this work, which consequently is trivial in design, and coarse in execution. Mr Cathery's improvement consists in covering the ivory with engraver's varnish, and drawing the design with an etching needle. He then pours on a menstruum composed of 120 grains of fine silver, dissolved in one ounce measure of nitric acid, and then diluted with one quart of pure distilled water. After half an hour, more or less, according to the required depth of tint, the liquor is to be poured off, and the surface is to be washed with distilled water, and dried with blotting paper; it is then to be exposed to the light for an hour, after which the varnish may be removed by means of oil of turpentine. The design will now appear impressed on the ivory, and of a black or blackish-brown colour, which will come to its full tint after exposure for a day or two to the light. The property which nitrate of silver possesses, of giving a permanent dark stain to ivory, and many other substances, has been long known; but Mr Cathery has the merit of having advantageously applied it in a department of art in which it is likely to be of considerable service, by improving the quality of the ornament, and at the same time of diminishing the cost. Varieties of colour may also be given, by substituting the salts of gold, platina, copper, &c. for the solution of silver.-Gill's Repository, Feb. 1827.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

1. Essay on the Theory of the Earth. By Baron GEORGE CUVIER; with Geological Illustrations by Professor JAMESON. Fifth edition. Translated from the last French edition, with numerous additions by the Author and Translator. Eleven Plates. Blackwood, Edinburgh; Cadell, London. 14s.

ON the suggestion of Professor Jameson, the celebrated essay of Cuvier was translated by the late Robert Kerr, Esq. F. R. S. E., and under the revisal of the present editor, who also added to the original a series of notes and illustrations. The success of the work was great. It was speedily republished in America, and translated, with its notes and illustrations, into the German and Italian languages. Another edition was soon required. This, in its turn, was speedily exhausted. Although, in the third edition, as in the former, the impression, was great, a fourth and enlarged edition appeared in 1822. The present, which is the fifth edition, is translated from the last edition of the illustrious author, and may be considered nearly as a new work, from the numerous additional facts and views which it contains. The many thousand copies of this work now circulated throughout the British Empire, and indeed in every country where the English language is known, is a proof not only of the very general interest excited by geological facts and reasonings, but also of the absurdity of the opinion still entertained by some of the inutility of this branch of natural history. On this subject, Professor Jameson, in the preface to the present edition, has the following remarks :

Geology, now deservedly one of the most popular and attractive of the physical sciences, was, not many years ago, held in little estimation; and, even at present, there are not wanting some who do not hesitate to maintain, that it is a mere tissue of ill observed phenomena, and of hypotheses of boundless extravagance. The work of Cuvier now laid before the public, contains, in itself, not only a complete answer to these ignorant imputations, but also demonstrates the accuracy, extent and importance of many of the facts and reasonings of this delightful branch of Natural History. Can it be maintained of a science, which requires for its successful prosecution an intimate quaintance with Chemistry, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy,-wie details and views of Zoology, Botany and Mineralogy, and which these different departments of knowledge in a most interestin manner, that it is of no value? Can it be maintained discloses to us the history of the first origin of organic

their gradual developement from the monade to m

merates and describes the changes that plants, animals, and minerals, the atmosphere, and the waters of the globe, have undergone from the earliest geological periods up to our own time, and which even instructs us in the earliest history of the human species, that it offers no gratification to the philosopher? Can even those who estimate the value of science, not by intellectual desires, but by practical advantages, deny the importance of Geology, certainly one of the foundations of agriculture, and which enables us to search out materials for numberless important economical purposes?

Positive geology or geognosy, as Cuvier, in his life of Werner, remarks, originated with that remarkable man; and all that has been done towards unravelling the structure of the crust of the earth since his views were made known, has been in harmony with them. The Editor remarks,

"Geology took its rise in the Academy of Freyberg, with the illustrious Werner, to whom we owe its present interesting condition. This being the case, we ought not, (as is at present too much the practice), amidst the numerous discoveries in the mineral kingdom which have been made since the system of investigation of that great interpreter of nature was made known, forget the master, and arrogate all to ourselves. In this island, Geology first took firm root in the north: in Edinburgh, the Wernerian geognostical views and method of investigation, combined with the theory of Hutton; the experiments and speculations of Hall; the illustrations of Playfair; and the labours of the Royal and Wernerian Natural History Societies, excited a spirit of inquiry which rapidly spread throughout the empire; and now Great Britain presents to the scientific world a scene of geological acuteness, activity and enterprise, not surpassed in any other country.'

Independent of the numerous additions to the text of the Essay, the editor has added upwards of two hundred pages of notes and illustrations on the following important topics.

On the Subsidence of Strata. Deluge. Formation of Primitive Mountains. The distribution of Boulder-Stones in Scotland, Holland, Germany, Switzerland and America.

The Alluvial Sand of the Danish Islands in the Baltic, and on the coast of Sleswigh.

The Sand-Flood.-Sand-Flood in Morayshire. Sand-Flood in the Hebrides, &c. Moving Sands of the African Deserts.

Action of the Sea upon Coasts.

The Growth of Coral Islands.

The Level of the Baltic.

Fossil Remains of the Human Species.

Account of the Displacement of that part of the Coast of the Adriatic which

is occupied by the Mouths of the Po.

The Universal Deluge.

The Action of Running Waters.

Connection of Geology with Agriculture and Planting.

Account of the Fossil Elk of Ireland.

Account of the Living Species of Elephant, and of the Extinct Species of Elephant or Mammoth.

Account of the Caves in which Bones of Carnivorous Animals

quantities.

Cave containing Bones at Adelsberg, in Carniola.

View of the Genera of Fossil Mammifera, Cetacea, Aves,

secta; with their Geognostical Number and Distributio View of the Classes, Orders, or Families of Animals, occu Fossil state; with their Geognostical Distribution.

at

This work, so rich in well authenticated and well arranged geological facts, and abounding in beautiful views of the mineral and animal kingdoms, cannot be too strongly recommended. It ought to find a place in the library of every one who takes an interest in the natural, and even the civil, history of the planet. we inhabit.

2. Illustration of the Geology of Sussex, containing a general view of the Geological relations of the South Eastern part of England; with Figures and Descriptions of the Fossils of Tilgate Forest. By GIDEON MANTELL, Esq. F. R. S. Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, F. L. S. M. G. S. &c. One volume quarto.

M. MANTELL is already advantageously known to geologists, by his interesting and valuable volume on the geology of Sussex. The present elegant work is a further proof of his skill and activity; and, therefore, we truly regret to find, from the preface, that this will, in all probability, be the last time we shall have an opportunity of noticing his geològical labours, as he intimates his intention of taking leave of this department of Natural History. Sussex, Mr Mantell informs us, is composed of portions of all the secondary formations of England, from the Purbeck limestone to the tertiary deposits; outliers of the London and Isle of Wight basin, and accumulations of diluvial and alluvial matters. The regular deposits are the plastic clay and London clay, chalk, shanklin sand, weald clay, and the sands and clays of Hastings. All these different deposits are carefully and luminously described; the various organic remains with which they abound well described, and many of the more remarkable represented in a series of twenty beautiful lithographic plates. The stratification of the Forest of Tilgate, which has excited so much interest on account of its organic remains, is fully described, and evidence adduced of its being older than chalk. The description of the organic remains of Tilgate Forest is concluded with the following striking observations, which also close the work.

"In concluding this description of the organic remains of Tilgate Forest, we would repeat, what we have elsewhere remarked, that the vast preponde