its origin to igneous liquefaction; for instance, it is frequently found cryftallized in company with calcareous fpar, fluors, lead ores, &c. on ftones of a mixed nature, as Petrofilex, Hornblends, &c. Now it is well known that though pure quartz or fpars will not melt alone, yet in company with ftones of another kind they will readily melt and unire into one common mafs; when, therefore, they are found in diftinct maffes, close by each other, it is evident that they were not formed by fufion, but in fome other manner; and there is no other than aqueous folution. Of this they bear the marks, for they decrepitate for the moft part when heated, and become opake from the lofs of their watery particles; though the quantity of thefe involved in their texture be exceeding minute. Have not fhells and chalk, and even water, been found inclofed in filex? The impreffion of Thorls has often been found on the quartz that inveloped it. This laft must therefore have been in a foft ftate, while the fhorl was in a hard ftate; now this could not happen if the quartz were foftened by heat, for fhorl, being infinitely more fufible, muft have been in a foft ftate alfo, and concrete long after the quartz: nay, if we credit Mr. Gerhard and others, cryftal has been detected in a foft ftate. We have already quoted Mr. Laffone as an eye witnefs of the aqueous formation of filiceous ftones. I fhall only add, that petrofiliceous and other fufible ftones of this clafs have quite a different afpect when they pass through a ftate of fufion from that which they prefent in their natural flate. I alfo pafs over the moffes and other vegetable and animal fubftances inclofed in agates, &c. as our author pretends to account for their prefervation in the midst of the most raging heat by virtue of a compreffion, originating, one knows not how, which prevents their combuftion or charring." P. 71.

That many difficulties alfo accompany the fuppofition of an aqueous folution, Mr. Kirwan freely confeffes. In the actual conftitution of things, he allows, both phyfical and moral, many inexplicable difficulties occur: but he afks, must we not diftinguish thofe which efcape our reafon, from thofe that fermally contradict it? The former he affirms to be the cafe with thofe in the aqueous fyftem, the latter in the igneous. Without attempting to decide between thefe contending philofophers on a point of fo much difficulty, we cannot fail to remark that Mr. Kirwan writes with a correct and comprehensive knowledge of this fubject, which muft give him an advantage over almost every antagonist; and that the whole paper is of the highest value to thofe who are attached to fimilar enquiries. V. A Method of preparing a fulphureous medicinal Water. By the Rev. Edward Kenney. P. 83.

Sulphur and magnefia intimately mixed, and infufed for three weeks, in the proportion of four drachms of each to a quart of cold water, form a folution of magnefiac liver of fulphur, an ounce of which mixed with a quart of pure water, makes the medicinal water fit for ufe. This has been found of ufe

in the cure of the land fcurvy, the itch, worms, chronic rheumatifm; and appeared to have good effects in a few cafes of fcrofula.

VI. On the Solution of Lead by Lime. By Robert Perceval, M. D. M. R. J. A. P. 89.

Dr. Perceval found by various experiments that lime acts imperfectly, perhaps not at all, upon lead, without the affiftance of air to calcine the metal. He endeavoured alfo by other experiments to afcertain the action of lime upon lead in different states of calcination.

VII. A new Kind of portable Barometer for measuring Heights. By the Rev. James Archibald Hamilton, D. D. M. R. 7. A. P. 95.

VIII. A Letter to the Author of the preceding Paper, with Remarks and Hints for the further Improvement of Barometers. By H. Hamilton, D. D. Dean of Armagh, F. R. S. and M. R. 7. 4. P. 117.

Thefe papers are too intimately connected to admit of feparation. On the permeability of cork to air, and its refiftance. to the paffage of mercury, the plan of this barometer depends, which is thus defcribed by its inventor.

"The barometer confifts of a tube not much more than thirty inches long, an ivory cylinder about two inches in length, and upwards of one inch in diameter, open at one end, closed at the other by a cover that is to be fitted on with a fcrew, fo fine and true as to prevent the efcape of any quickfilver when the inftrument is put together.

"A found, clean, and porous cork, of about three-fourths of an inch in length, and one in diameter, fhould be very nicely fitted to enter with a moderate preffure at the bottom of the ivory cylinder, which fhould be turned fo truly throughout that the cork may be pushed up to the extremity of the opening, where there should be left a fmall fhoulder to ftop the farther progrefs of the cork, and to retain it in its proper place. When the cork is in this fituation it should be carefully bored with a circular file to receive the end of the glass tube tightly through its axis, fo that the end of the tube may rife beyond it, and project about half an inch into the empty part of the cylinder, and that the axis of the tube, and of the cylinder, may be exactly in the fame right line.

"The tube should then be carefully filled in the ufual manner, and the mercury poured over the end into the ivory cylinder till such a quantity is admitted as may be fufficient, when the lid is fcrewed down tight, to cover the end of the gla's tube in any poffible pofition of the inftrument: to wit, when held either parallel, oblique, or perpendicular to the horizon, a bored mahogany staff with a brafs fcale and vernier, a thermometer cafe, and caps of brafs to flide or screw on each end, is to be prepared to receive the barometer and its at

Lached

tached thermometer, which being firmly and carefully introduced and fitted to their places, the whole is completed and fit for ufe." P. 97.

Dr. Hamilton declares, that from continued and cautious experience, he is certain that thefe barometers fhew the smallest changes in the weight of the atmosphere, as accurately as thofe whofe cifterns are open, and that repeatedly tried against the most perfect inftruments, the refults have never varied two inches, in altitudes of above three hundred feet. Dr. H. Hamilton, however, propofes a floating gage and fcrew as an improvement, and fuggefts fome other alterations.

(To be continned.)

ART. II. The Life of Hubert. A narrative, defcriptive, and didactic Poem. Book the Firft. Twelve others are defigned to complete the Work. To which are added fome original and tranflated Poems. By the Rev. Thomas Cole, L. L. B. Vicar of Dulverton in the County of Somerfet. 8vo. 190 pp. 5. Law. 1795.

WE E have received particular gratification from the perufal of this volume. The poems unite fimplicity with force, and the principal defect feems to be that the author has fometimes been negligent of harmony in the structure of his verfe. We thould have fuppofed that Mr. Cole had propofed Cowper as his model, but that it appears many of thefe compofitions were written at leaft as early as the Task of that ingenious and juftly celebrated poet. We are very defirous to fee the Life of Hubert completed; and, that our readers may know what they have to expect from its final accomplishment, we fhall give a fketch of the writer's plan, and a fpecimen of its execution. Mr. Cole traces a boy from his puerile amufements through the four feafons of the year at home, to his removal to Eaton, thence to the univerfity, and to his final fettlement in lite. He propofes to difcufs the defects of private and public feminaries, academical ufages, rural retirement contrafted with refidence in the metropolis, and will introduce various epifodical adventures of a ferious as well as ludicrous nature. The firft book is now publifhed as a fpecimen, and it proves the author fully adequate to the tafk he has undertaken. In his obfervations of nature he appears to be admirably minute and correct; and if he has not much of the "thoughts that breathe and words that burn," he will always

intereit,

intereft, and often delight his readers. The following descrip tion is alike recommended by its fidelity and beauty,

"The blue expanfe of hyacinthine bloom
'Midft whofe fweet pendent bells on crouding ftalks,
The wild anemone can fcarce find room
To rear in white array its mingled flow'rs,
Attracts our gaze. More ftill are we amus'd
To fee the frequent nimble rabbit scud
Acrofs our path; and mark the mingled figns.
Of caution, and of courage in the hare,
Who popping from the thicket juft before us,
Halts as we halt; and ftroking firft her face
With dewy paws, uprais'd on hinder legs
Awhile fhe ftands, one lift'ning ear erect,
As fingly beft to catch the flighteft found.
Then dropping prone fhe flamps with doubtful heels
Repeatedly, and loud against the ground:
And as of perfect fafety hence affur'd,
Calmly begins to crop the wayfide grafs ;
But the leaft crackling from dry brittle fprigs,
That lightly ftrew the ground where'er we tread,

Her nibbling checks and fcares her quick from fight,
We linger fill to lift the various founds,
Which waken'd by the love-infpiring warmth
Of ether's genial breath, difiufive fpread
Through ev'ry quarter of the breeding woods;
And hark! we hear the flow-repeated note
Of cuckoo, never failing to recal

Delightful thoughts, fince firft on May-day eve,
Wafted by vernal breeze, it caught our ear;
And made us loiter long at ev'ry ftile

That croffed our meadow pathway; whilft around,
In fresheft bloom and youthful verdure clad,
All nature finil'd. And now from diff'rent points
Ring out at once, of loud magpie and jay
The chatt'ring courtship, and more clam'rous love
Of woodpecker, that knocks with hamm'ring bill
The timber tree, detecting by the found,
Where latent grubs their cavern'd paffage eat.
In fearch of thefe, on fharp tenacious claws
Sufpended, fure as fly that rambles light
O'er cafement pane, he nimbly roves around
The fmooth-bark'd gloffy trunk of fpreading beech.
Nor heedlefs do we hear the crowing voice
Of mated pheafant; the protracted moan
From ivy-mantled lodge with berries fraught
Of wild wood-pidgeon, faithful as the tame :
And tender cooings of the turtle dove,
Emblem of all that's facred, pure, and true,"

Among

Among the other poems in this collection, the attention of the reader will be forcibly drawn to the Epiftle on Happinefs, and the Arboret, an Ode to Love. From the first we have much pleasure in extracting the following lines.

"Of worldly bleflings health we deem the best,
As 'tis the chief fupport of all the reft;

No lefs effential to the joys of fenfe,
And fuch as Fortune's bounty can difpenfe,
Than this enlivening earth to thefe fupplies
Of fruits and flowers, which from its nurture rife.
When health departs our fpirits with it fly,
All nature fickens, and her pleasures die.
In vain her various gifts will the difpenfe,
In vain prefent her charms to every sense;
No more her art-corrected fcenes delight,
No more her wilder views enchant the SIGHT.
The loathing TASTE reluctantly receives
The richest flavour that the nectarine gives;
Joylefs the SMELL, while we the fweets inhale
Of rofe and jeffamine in the fragrant gale;
And deaf our EARS, or heedlefs to the found,

Tho' birds and ftreains harmonious warble round."

The following also, from the Arboret, breathe a delightful fpirit of fimplicity and tenderness.

Let luft her meaner fons excite,
To fteal the grofs unchafte delight,
To glory in the guilty flame,

That blafts the heedlefs virgin's name.

Their fouls, indelicate and unrefin'd,

Such fordid joys alone were found to prove,
They ne'er fhall feel the raptures of the mind,
Or tafte the sweets of fentimental love.
They still are deemed to feek for blifs in vain,
Who think it plac'd within the reach of sense,
Or fondly hope its bleffed fruits to gain,

Without the guide of confcious innocence.
The foft follicitude, the tender care,

Nay e'en the tears of virtuous love's distress,
Far greater pleafures yield than they shall share,
When flufh'd with all the triumph of fuccefs.

But wherefore fhall my peaceful heart appeal
To cares which hapless lovers only feel;
The tears of love's diftrefs! ah, whence
Should fuch a foreign thought arife?
Could e'er the quick difcerning eye
Of prying apprehenfive jealoufy
Difcover ought might breed the leaft furmife,
To break the calm repofe of confidence.

Shall