historians to write against them. But it is incredible that à Scotch historian, liberal, enlightened, and learned, such as Laing, should not have shaken off such antiquated prejudices. And that he should, at the same time that he accuses, with becoming spirit, the cruelties and. massacres committed by the English in his own country, be guilty of the inconsistency of justifying the same crimes, when committed upon the Irish. He has drawn a picture of the massacres by the army of O'Neil, with all the glowing colours of the poet, and yet has cited neither time, place, or person. He has contradicted the most circumstantial, correct, and authentic Irish historians, upon no better authority than certain manuscripts in Trinity College, of all other things the most suspicious, as this university was one dowed with the very confiscations that took place. These manuscripts are moreover the same from which Temple derived his information, when he says, hundreds of the ghosts of Protes tants who were drowned by the rebels at Portnadown bridge, were seen in the river, bol upright, and ,were heard to cry out for revenge on the e rebels." "One of these ghoss," says he, was seen with his hands lifted up, and standing, froin the 29th of December, to the latter end of the following lent," A principal deposition was by Maxwell, bishop of Kilmore, whose credit is principally relied on. has described the different postures and gestures of the ghosts, somejimes having been seen by day and night, walking upon the river; somermes brandishing their naked words; sometimes singing psalins; and at-other times shrieking in a must fearful and hideous manuer,' He adds, ... that he never so much as hedid any man doubt, the 46 that He as One word more, and I shall have wound up the history of the Popery code. In the reign of George I. (A. D. 1723) heads of a bill were framed for explaining and amending the act to prevent the growth of Popery, into which was introduced a clause for the castration of all the Irish priests, and presented on the 15th of November, 1724, to the Lord Lieutenant, by the Commons, at the castle; who most earnestly requested, his Grace to recommend the same in the most effectual manner to his Majesty, humbly hoping from his Majesty's goodness, and his Grace's zeal for his service, and the Protestant interest of the kingdom, that the same might be passed into a law. It was said to have been owing to the interposition of Cardinal Fleury, and his interest with Mr. Walpole, that this bill, which was transmitted with such recommendstion to England, was there thrown Out. The Duke of Grafton (Lord Lieutenant) condoled with the Irish parliament upon the loss of their favorite bill; apologised for its reJection, upon the ground that it was brought forward too late in the session; and recommended a more vigorous execution of the laws against the growing evil. I believe you will be now convinced, that the history of the Universe contains nothing more atrocious than the persecutions of the Irish by the English; nothing With this remark I shall close my letter. I have snatched from repose, and from my daily occupa tions the hours devoted to this task. The night is nearly wasted-the historic muse begins to droop her wing, and sleep sits heavy, heavy, ..on her votary's eyelids.-Good night." Foreign Literature. The catalogue of books which appeared at the last Easter fair at Leipsic, includes in the whole two thousand articles; among which are one hundred and twenty-eight novels, fifty theatrical pieces, and between three and four hundred translati ons. A German author, in a work lately published, states the following curious fact—A person having an artificial magnet suspended from the wall of his study, with a piece of iron adhering to it, remarked, for several years, that the flies in the room, though they frequently alighted on other iron articles, never settled on the artificial magnet; and even that, if any of those in sects approached it, they again in a moment removed to some dis nce. It is worth the trouble," says professor Voigt, who repeats this circumstance in his journal, "to make further observations on this phenomenon; and were it con.. firmed, mgnetised iron might be employed to preserve it from being soiled by flies, and perhaps also for other purposes," The Austrian government has, lately proposed the following prizequestions, relative to substitutes for various foreign articles in the materia medica. 1. What indigenous or European productions, distinguished by specific effects, may be. substituted for these now brought from India? 2. A substitute for 2 camphor? 3. A substitute for Peruvian bark? 4. What species of plants may replace senna, jalap. and ipecacuanha? 5. A substiture for opium-The prize for each question is five hundred ducats. For the inquisitive traveller, a ba rometer is an instrument of the highest necessity, as it is not only serviceable for meteorological ob servations, but also for measuring heights in the countries through whichhe passes. The common barometers are unfit for this purpose, as the weight of the quicksilver would break the glass tubes in the carriage. For this reason, M. de Luc, of Gottingen, a considerable time since, contrived a travelling barometer, which was highly ap-" proved. Dr. Schultes has recently invented a new instrument of this decription, which may be placed horizontally, or vertically, without suffering the air to penetrate into' the interior cavity. M. Lampadius, of Freiberg, has discovered a method of condensing valours in distillation, more rapidly than has yet been done. This is accomplished by means of a disk,' attacked to the tube, of the still, which has the figure of a lens flatrened as much as possible, and is made of copper. It produces a much better effect than the worms hitherto employed for that parpose. M. Geitner has, by the aid of she rious substances, extracted from the green shells of burse chesnuns very jbeaut fa G g beautiful yellow and brown colours, and the latter in the greatest diversity of hues. They are found to stand both on woollens and silks, though the stuffs have been wetted and wrong out, and some of them even washed in caustic liquids. Christopher Heeren, organ-builder, at Gottesbuhren, in Westphalia, has invented a loom, which performs all the operations of itself. Without the intervention of the weaver, it sets the treadles in motion, throws the shuttle, and stops it at the opposite side; loosens the web, when a certain portion is finished, and winds the cloth upon the axle. Every thing is kept in proper order; and the piece of stuff, when finished, is smoothed. An index, attached to the machine, shows at any time the number of ells that are woven. This machine has as yet only been exhibited on a small scale to connoisseurs, and has obtained the highest approbation. Many ladies of Munich have learned to knit without needles. The inventor of this art is M. Nellisen, a native of the country of Limburg, who teaches it himself in the Bavarian capital. It is, how ever, yet very imperfect; as by this method, they can only knit breadthwise, and not circularly. M. Rockstroh, of Berlin. has invented a machine for cutting paper straight, with any kind of seissars, which is likely to be of use to men of business. We have already noticed the experiments of M. Degen, of Vienna, to raise himself into the air. As his weight exceeded the power of the machinery with which he effected this, by thirty-four pounds, he conceived the idea of combining airballoon, imagining that, by means of the latter, he could be supported in the air, and at the same time have it sufficiently under his command. The experiments which he made with it, towards the conclusion of last year. in the Prater, before a numerous company, were completely successful. He flew at pleasure in all directions; raised and lowered himself; ard the balloon followed him spontaneously whichever way he turned. The diameter of the latter was nineteen feet five inches. After deducting the weight of Degen and his flying-machine, the balloon possessed a power equal to thirty-rwo pounds.. While the Prussian states were occupied by French troops, the Academy of Sciences at Berlin lost many of the treasures of art which it' possessed, and which it was obliged to cede to the museums of Paris. As some compensation, the French government intends to send it casts of all the anriques at Paris, ta ken off with care. The successes of the French armies, and their long residence in Germany, have procured them an advantage which they formerly dispensed with in their victories, but of which they will not fail to avail themselves in their future military enterprizes. They have put them in possession of a map of Germany, surpassing all its predecessors in perfection and accuracy. Hanover was surveyed by Epaillo, chef de bataillon, immediately after its occupation by the corps of Mortier. In Brandenburg and Silesia, the French had two year's time to collect the requisite topographical information; and it is not improbable that the beautiful maps of several provinces, drawn up by order of the Prussian government, have fallen into their hands; as their entrance into Berlin was so sudden, that a great quantity of important papers and valuable effects could not be secrered. Saxony caused a portion of its states to be surveyed every year: at the request of the French govern ment, the work has been for some years accelerated; and the court of Dresden Dresden has made such communica... tions as were required. It is believ. ed, that the same has been done by Denmark, in regard to the duchy of Holstein, and perhaps of the whole Cimbrian peninsula. The French government has caused not only the northernmost provinces of Germany to the North Sea and Baltic, but likewise the counties of Stolberg, and the duchies of Weimar, Co-. burg, Meinungen, Hildburghausen, &c. to be surveyed by engineers. It probably possesses fewer materials of the former circle of Franconia: but it is possible that the grand duke of Wurtzburg may have furnished information, to extend the topographical knowledge of those countries. Of Swabia and Upper Austria, the geographical bnak at Paris has a beautiful manuscript map. Bavaria has been surveyed for some time, and the map of the Tyrol is already engraved and sold at Paris. In respect to Austria alone, the materials are perhaps rather scanty, as the French have remain.brary of Grenoble, have been placed ed there too short a time to undertake the busts of the nine dauphins who extensive measurements. It is con It is con- reigned in Dauphiné. cluded, that this large and complete map will be given to the public, from the circumstance that Suabia has already been engraved at Paris. M., von Hammer, a skilful orienralist, and formerly agent of the Austrian government in Moldavia, has lately been sent to Paris to claim the restitution of a great part of the Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian manuscripts, taken en masse from the imperial library of Vienna, last sum. mer; M. Denon having given assu❤ rances, that only such should be kept but softened by heat, and bent over, a parabolic mould. Several pieces. were broken before he succeeded; so that it cost originally from 8co. to 1200 guineas. Ie is 3 leer 3 inches. in diameter, and of eight feet four: inches focus; composed of two pieces of glass united together by an iron hoop, so as to form a hollow vessel, capable of holding eighty or ninety. quarts of spirit of wine. M. Jacquin, of Vienna, and several men of science, who witnessed the experiments, declare, that it burned a diamond in a few seconds, and fused platina in a few minutes. A bution of platina, weighing twenty-nine grains, was melted by it, and made in part to boil. The diameter of the focus does not appear to exceed four hues. It weigs 550ibs. avoirdupoise. as were not to be found in the imperial library at Paris. A remarkably large parabolic lens was recently purchased at Vienna, for the French government. it was made at Gratz, in Styria, by Ros. piné, a celebrated nechanist, for sume alchemists. It was not cast, FRANCE. In the vestibule of the public li the Acedemy and Medical Society Dr. Lous Valentin, member of of Marseilles, has publicly called upon the French nation to bestow on Dr. Edward Jenner a reward worthy of the services which he has rendered to mankind. "It is ter years," says he," since Dr. Jenner ascertained that vaccine inoculation is a preservative against the smallpox. It is upwards of thirty since he commenced his researches into the nature of the corpox. It that invaluable discovery; and it is nine since he made public is seven since his practice was introduced into France. It is now spread Several millions have experienced over almost every part of the globe. 's beneficial effects, and every day is marked with new and uniform success. What a debt of gratitude do do we owe to the author of this new method! All nations pour forth their benedictions upon him. Every country, every city, would fain offer him a civic crown, and each individual express his gratitude, What mortal was ever more useful to society? No kind of reward, no dignity, can be an adequate compensation for such a service. The noble and generous manner in which Jenner communicated his knowledge, his solicitude to ascertain the results of his experiments, are beyond all praise. Engaged in accomplishing a great revolution in this important part of medicine, and in promoting the welfare of his fellow-creatures, by a practice as simple as it was extraordinary, he thought nothing, so that he could but ultimately succeed, either of time, trouble, or the expense incurred by a very extensive correspondence. The French physicians were not the last to proclaim him the benefactor of mankind; and in this they are joined by the public opinion. The central committee of vaccination, established at Paris, under the auspices of government, observes in the report published by it in 1803: "The committee will not conclude this sketch of its pro-, ceedings, without paying a just tri-. bute of gratitude to Dr. Jenner, the illustrious author of this discovery, who will henceforth be numbered among those men who have done the most honor to science, and the. greatest service to humanity. The reward conferred on Jenner, by the English parliament, in 1802, though accompanied withthe most gratify ing expressions, is very inadequare to the incalculable advantages which will result from his discovery. If the English nation, during the reign of queen Anne, loaded the duke of Marlborough with honors; if to reward his military achievements, they presented him with princely domains, built for him the magnificent palace of Blenheim, and erected on a hill in his park a splendid monument, whose base, covered with inscriptions, attests his martial exploits, and whose summit is crowned with a statue of that general; there is nothing astonishing in all this. But what excites much greater surprise is, that the same nation has, since 1822, done nothing more for Jens ner; except that in 1805, the lord mayor, and common council of London, bestowed on him a testimony of the public gratitude, by presen ting him with the freedom of the city, in a gold box, enriched with diamonds and emblems allusive to science, for the salutary discovery of the vaccine inoculation, owing to his indefatigable researches." Jenner has become the man of all nations. Like Hippocrates, he belongs to every country. His name will live to the most remote posterity. It is the present generation which owes him a great remuneration. May it be worthy of one of the fairest epochs of the world! May the French nation, which is capable of appreciating great things, not delay it too long! Induced by these considerations, I would suggest to all the societies in the French em pire for promoting the advancement of the healing art, the following propositions:- 1. To open, with the consent and under the patronage of government, a subcription for Dr. Jenner. 2 The committee of the central vaccine society, and the medical societies of the metropolis, should be exclusively empowered to determine the nature of the recompence to be decreed to that great man. 3. These societies might depute some of their mem bers, to present a plan to that effect; and to obtain permission of the mi nister of the interior, to invite the medical societies of the departments to contribute to the present, by vò-" luutary |