great an extent, as even to connive at the appropriation of parts of the cathedral, and other places of worship, to the accommodation of courtesans. Persons thus privileged were distinguished by the appellation of cathedral swallows (birondelles de la cathedrale); and it was not till the year 1521, that they were forced out by order of the magistracy. From the arrét, of which a copy is given, it appears that fifteen days. were allowed for these swallows to take their flight to other places assigned for them. Account of a Literary Society which existed at Strasburg towards the Close of the 15th and the Commencement of the 16th Century. By the Same. This society was established by James Wimpheling. It is supposed to have terminated in the great school which was founded in the year 1538 by Sturm, an élève of Wimpheling, which was afterward elevated to the dignity of an academy, and finally to that of an university. Geographical Remarks on the Islands of Dina and Marsaveen. By M. BUACHE.-From the inspection of an antient map, and from various collateral considerations, the author is induced to conclude that the two islands, of which he here treats, are only one, answering to the modern island of Bourbon. Memoir on the Morals of Cicero. By M. BOUCHAUD. In its more early and virtuous periods, the Roman republic entertained considerable distrust of the philosophy of the Greeks; and particular care was taken to prevent its dissemination in the metropolis. To so great an extent had the distaste to the introduction of philosophy and eloquence prevailed, that a decree of the senate was once obtained for the dismissal of Greek philo sophers from Rome; because it was feared that, by the influence of their systems, the minds of the Romans (like those of the Greeks) would shortly be enervated: but the progress of wealth, power, and luxury, soon introduced a relish for mental gratifications; and the principles of morals, which had hitherto been few, simple, and practical, expanded into voluminous systems. M. BOUCHAUD presents these memoirs as the commencement of an inquiry into the more prominent features of the Roman philosophy; and he proposes, in some future papers, to complete his view of the subject by an examination of the principles of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Both Cicero and Seneca acknowleged the existence of the laws of nature, which they considered as eternal and immutable, and as the only proper foundation for every human institution. They also admitted the immortality of the soul, and the existence of a * future future state, in which the virtuous should enjoy perpetual felicity but it appears to the author that they possessed very indistinct and erroneous ideas respecting the final portion of the wicked.-Cicero rejected the fables of the poets with regard to Tartarus, and seemed to be of opinion that death would either make us happy or annihilate us. Seneca equally discredited the punishments of the infernal regions; and, in that part of his work in which he treats of this subject, he observes, ❝ that death can operate on us only as annihilation or release: if the latter, we have nothing but happiness to expect: if the former, all is ended; good and evil no longer exist.” On the Use of Money in a large State. By M. TOULONGEON. -The author here considers money as the common representative of every kind of wealth. He introduces a variety of discussions on the effects of its diffusion in different degrees among the members of a state; and at length he comes to the conclusion that it is advantageous to the public that it should be principally confined to the labouring part of the community: while the credit and confidence which result from the public opinion of individual character constitute the most convenient coin of the rich, and that which is best adapted for commercial intercourse. Analysis of the different Opinions on the Origin of Printing. By M. DAUNOU.-This paper exhibits, at great length, the various opinions entertained on the subject which it treats, and concludes by stating that which the writer deems the most probable. He regards it as likely, That tabular printing which existed long since in China, was applied by the Europeans, towards the end of the fourteenth century, or the commencement of the fifteenth, to the printing of cards and figures:that, before the year 1440, there were printed at Haarlem, or elsewhere, several collections of figures, with short inscriptions annexed to them, and afterward little books of devotion and schoolbooks, particularly small grammatical abridgments called Donats :that also before the year 1440, Guttemberg of Strasburg had conceived the idea of employing moveable types: but that this speculation had only given rise, in Strasburg and Mayence, to laborious, expensive, and unproductive trials:- that no book can be pointed out which was printed by Guttemberg at Strasburg; and that those Donats, which are supposed to have issued from his press at Mayence, come under the description only of tabular printing :-that every book printed before the year 1457 has either been executed by means of letters engraved on wood, or by those of cast metal, such as are now used; and that the latter were probably invented by Guttemberg, or by Faust, undoubtedly brought to perfection by Schoeffer, and employed for the first time by Schoeffer, Faust, and Guttemberg, in printing printing an edition of the Bible, consisting of about 637 or 640 leaves, without date.' M. DAUNOU's paper is calculated, by its extensive research, to gratify those who are inquisitive on this point of history. On the Metaphysics of Kant; being Observations on a Work on Pure Reason, by J. Kinker, translated from the Dutch by J. le F. 1 vol. 8vo. Amsterdam, 1801. By M. DESTUTT-TRACY.The author does not here enter into an examination of the whole scope of the Kantian philosophy, but confines his observations to the ideology; from which, as the foundation of the system, he regards it as fair to form an estimate of the whole. He is of opinion that the reasoning on this subject is vague and inaccurate; and that the theory is pervaded by an affected and imposing obscurity, which is often, but erroneously, supposed to originate in philosophical acumen and profundity. This memoir terminates the volume relative to the Moral and Political Sciences. In our next Appendix, we shall resume the consideration of the Mathematical and Physical volume, and attend to that which relates to Literature and the Fine Arts. [To be continued.] Art. IX. Histoire de l'Introduction des Moutons, &c.; i. e. A His M LI Yell. see p. 506. : depend on the long journeys which the sheep are forced to take, nor on any peculiarity in the soil, climate, or pasture of Spain but that it is owing to different causes; and that it is possible to obtain, in France or in any other country, wool of the same quality as that which is imported from Spain,' yet the many proofs which he adduces, in support of this position, may serve to encourage fresh experiments, and to facilitate the general naturalization of the Merinos throughout the states of Europe. In my travels,' says he, through the northern parts of Europe, I found in general that the flocks carried fleeces, which to the eye and the hand seemed equal, in fineness and beauty, to those of Segovia and Lecn; so that, according to my judgment, it is proved, beyond dispute, that it is possible to grow superfine wool in all those countries which furnish pasture, or where winter-food for sheep can be obtained.' To establish this fact, he first gives a history of the introduction of flocks of the Spanish breed, or Mérinos, into Sweden, Denmark, Saxony, Prussia, the Austrian States, France, Holland, the Cape of Good Hope, Italy, and Great Britain; and, secondly, he details the different methods of treatment, in order to support this precious race and to prevent its deterioration. That country which might have been supposed to have been the last, in making trials on the Spanish breed, was the first to commence these important experiments. M. Alstroemer, in 1715, endeavoured to improve the Swedish breed; and in 1725, he brought a flock of Merinos from Spain into Sweden, where he naturalized and propagated this breed of sheep, though it had been imagined that it could only be maintained to advantage in warm countries. He was seconded in his exertions by the Swedish government; who in 1739 established an institution, and offered premiums, for the express purpose of keeping up and propagating this new race. Such was the success with which these measures were attended, as it appears from authentic documents, that the value of fine wool of the country sold to the public magazines, and to the manufacturers of Sweden, from 1751 to 1790, amounted to 3,402,961 franks; that the government has expended, during that time, in premiums, &c. to encourage this kind of industry, 1,413,450 franks; and that the quantity of fine wool, the actual growth of Sweden, exceeded the quantity imported from Spain, for the same period, by 779,920 lbs. In his visit to Sweden, the present author ascertained the fact that considerable care and attention were requisite to prevent the Spanish race from degenerating. He examined many flocks of this breed in Sweden, and uniformly found that they lost their beauty, and that their wool became shorter, less fine, and and less soft to the touch, when they were in unskilful and inattentive hands; while the breed preserved all the primitive. qualities of their wool, under intelligent and careful management. He remarked this fact also in Holland, and in several parts of Germany: but the circumstance of their degenerating, when neglected, ought not to discourage the agriculturist, since without proper care they are liable to deteriorate even in Spain. The mixture of the Mérinos with the indigenous sheep of Sweden has injured the breed; while the difficulty of obtaining a sufficiency of food, in a country in which the severity of the weather obliges the farmer to keep his sheep in the stable for six or seven months together, throws great obstacles in the way of their multiplication. Nevertheless, as this species is more advantageous than any other, the number has been always increasing. In 1764, there were 65,369 of the pure breed, and 23,384 of the crossed breed; and at this time they amount, pure and crossed together, to about 100,000; which is of the whole number of sheep in the kingdom. The Spanish race, when habituated to the climate of Sweden, become larger and stronger than in their own country; and M. LASTEYRIE mentions rams which have produced fleeces weighing 13 lbs. Similar observations are made respecting the introduction of the Mérinos into Denmark, Saxony, &c. with the advantages. which have resulted from their naturalization; and the author gives also a particular account of the result of the experiments. made with this breed in France: from which we learn that the French agriculturists were so anxious to grow fine wool, that the departments of the Lower Alps, Aveyron, Cantal, Drôme, Eure, Gaud, Upper Garonne, Léman, Upper and Lower Loire, Lot and Garonne, Mont Blanc, Moselle, Oise, Puy-de-Dôme, Rhône, Saone and Loire, Lower Seine and Marne, Tarn, and of the Mouths of the Rhône, solicited the government to procure sheep from Spain. This application of the French farmers has not been overlooked by their rulers: for the Directory, by a secret article in the treaty of Basle, claimed the privilege of drawing annually from Spain, for the space of five years, a thousand ewes and a hundred rams; though they at first neglected to avail themselves of it, till M. Gilbert, by a Memoir read at the Institute in the 6th year, awakened their attention to the subject. They then adopted this gentleman's ideas, and sent him into Spain to choose and purchase 5500 Merinos: but, falling a sacrifice to chagrin and mortification, the object of his mission was imperfectly accomplished; he having purchased only 1000 sheep, which were sent to France after his death *. See an account of M. Gilbert, pp. 497, 498. of this Appendix. L1 2 Some |