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were three of these arches, each formed of six ribs of cast iron, and two such piers as have been described; the land abutments being of stone-work joining the embankment of the railway. It was stated that this mode of construction was found to be more economical in that peculiar situation than the usual method of fixing timber coffer-dams and building the piers within them; the total cost of the bridge being only £10,192; and the navigation of the river was not interrupted during the progress of the work. The paper was illustrated by eighteen remarkably well executed drawings by Mr.

Butterton.-Lit. Gaz.

FOSSIL FOREST.-Mr. H. Beckett, in a letter to Mr. Hill, president of the Wolverhampton branch of the Dudley and Midland Geological Society, announces the discovery of a remarkable assemblage of stumps of fossil trees in the Parkfield colliery, all upright, and evidently in situ. There are two fossil forests, the one above the other. In the upper, Mr. Beckett counted 73 trees in about a quarter of an acre; and in the lower, they appear to be equally numerous. Dr. Ick describes three distinct beds of coal, each exhibiting on its surface the remains of a forest, all included in an assemblage of strata not more than twelve feet in thickness. He considers the trees to have been mostly coniferous, and concludes that they grew on the spot where they are now found.-Lit. Gaz.

LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPE.-Professor Stevelly, in a lecture delivered lately at the Belfast Institution, showed, by reference to a large diagram, "the slight difference between the spherical figure to which a speculum is easily ground, and the figure of a paraboloid, which was formerly to be attained only by great labor, and a considerable display of mechanical skill. The nicety required in the process by which the true figure is given, may be judged of by the fact, that, if the spherical surface, which is a bad figure, and the paraboloid, of equal curvature at the vertex, were laid together at the centre, when ground of the size of Lord Rosse's great six-feet speculum, their distance, the one from the other, at the circumference, would be little more than the ten-thousandth part of an inch."Northern Whig.

on the 6th of January, among several valuable do nations was the first volume of a very erudite German dictionary on Indian Antiquities, which the director observed was worthy of publication and extensive circulation in this country.

A paper was read by Mr. Jas. Ferguson, on the decayed temples or caves used as places of worship by the Buddhists during the whole era of the prevalence of their superstition, in the west of India particularly. These embrace a very long period of time, extending through a series of from 1000 to 1200 years, the time of the existence of this delusion in India. The most celebrated of these are the Ajunda caves, which are described as singular specimens of early Indian architecture. They are all decorated in the interior with sculpture and paintings, and some of them have additional cells fitted up as if they belonged to monasteries. One of these may suffice as an instance of the wholethe Zodiac cave, which was constructed about two centuries before the Christian era. It is 64 feet in length by 63 in breadth, and is supported by 20 pillars, being fitted up with series of benches. At the entrance is the picture of a procession, at the head of which are represented three elephants, showing that at that early period these animals were held in as much respect as they are now by the Siamese and Burmese. Here, as in other temples, many of the portraits are of the Chinese character, which has led to the belief that they were delineated by Chinese artists who visited this country at a very early period. Amongst other peculiarities in these drawings was the representation of African negroes, who were very black, and had curled hair. Although there were some paintings of animals in the Zodiac cave, it had no other resemblance to the Zodiacal temples of the Egyptians. Professor Wilson, the director, suggested the desirableness of memorializing the East India Com pany to obtain drawings and delineations of these caves and their interiors. The majority of them, having been filled with mud, require to be excavated.-Gentleman's Mag.

OBSERVATORY ON VESUVIUS.-Letters from Na

ples mention, that a meteorological observatory has

ly, when they visit the mountain. This observatory is placed under the same direction as the Royal Observatory at Naples. It will be opened in the course of the next month.-Athenæum.

been erected on Vesuvius. It is in the form of a tower, and stands a little above the Hermitage, 2,082 feet above the level of the sea. On the upper ANCIENT MANUSCRIFTS.-M. Minoi de Minas has floor it contains a small, but splendidly furnished, returned from a scientific mission in Greece, Thes-apartment for the accommodation of the royal famisaly, and Constantinople, which lasted three years, and was undertaken at the desire of the Minister of Public Instruction. Amongst the valuable manuscripts, discovered and brought to France by M. Minas may be noticed, Fables by Babryas, a fragment of the 20th book of Polybius, several extracts from Dexippus and Eusebius, two historians but little known to us, a fragment of the historian Pryseas, a treaty of the celebrated Gallien which was deficient in his collection, a new edition of Esop's Fables, with a life of the fabulist, a Treatise on Greek Syntax by Gregory of Corinth, an unpublished grammar of Theodosius of Alexandria, a history of the conquest of China by the Tartars, and various other works, which have safely arrived at Paris.-Gentleman's Mag.

PARIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.-M. Coulvin Gravier read a paper on the phenomenon of shooting stars. The object of the paper is to show that atmospheric variations may be known beforehand by the course of these meteors, and that a storm may be predicted three days before its occurrence. -M. Lame read a report on some improvements in steam-engines by M. Clapeyron. It states that by these improvements the power of the engine is considerably increased, whilst the consumption of fuel is diminished. Previously to the application of M. Clapeyron's system, the largest locomotives on the Paris and Versailles Railroad (right bank), could only drag eight waggons over a portion of the line, but the same locomotives can now perform ten leagues an hour over the same ground, at the head of twelve waggons, and with less fuel. The improvement consists merely in a new arrangeINDIAN ANTIQUITIES.-At the first meeting for ment of the apparatus for the emission of the steam. the present year of the Royal Asiatic Society, held-A paper was received from M. Goudot, on a var

Silver Mine. We learn, from Stockholm, that a silver mine, which is expected to be very productive, has been discovered near the town of Lindsberg.—Ath.

nish obtained from the Arbol de Cera, a tree of South America. The resin from which this varnish is made is first boiled in water, in order to get rid of all impurities, and the color to be given to it is put into the water. It is then taken out and worked by the hand into sheets as thin as paper, in which state it is laid upon the object to be varnished. It resists, when thus applied, the action of either cold or hot water, and is not affected by any change of temperature.-Ath.

CARVING IN WOOD.-There has of late years sprung up a general and pure taste for one very beautiful department of art-we mean wood-carving. Those persons who are at all acquainted with the exquisite sculptures of Grinling Gibbons-and there are few ignorant of them-will know to what perfection this branch of art can be carried; how capable it is of exciting admiration in the beholder, and of gratifying those imaginative faculties which are affected by graceful and fanciful designs, executed with the most delicate skill. The altar of St. James's Church, Piccadilly, is adorned with some carvings from the hand of the great artist we have mentioned, almost unrivalled for their effect, depth, and workmanship. The foliage and fruit hang by the slenderest stems, and stand out from the background in the finest relief. So deep is the carving that birds might well build their nests in its recesses unperceived, and yet so exact and delicate that the very leaves are veined, as we find them in nature, while the disposition of the whole is as carelessly graceful as the wreaths hung by the bacchanals of old round the form of the god they worshipped.

which form very handsome, convenient, and appropriate, furniture for any library, and yet are sold as cheap as clumsy articles of modern manufacture, entirely unornamented. We imagine the invention only requires to be known to be very generally patronized, as it ministers to the gratification of a refined taste, without making an unreasonable demand upon the pocket. For fittings to libraries the process is particularly applicable.-Court Journal.

Charlemagne, author of La Kabale, and a Hebrew, Franck, professor of philosophy in the College has been elected a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, in the room of M. de Gerando, deceased.-Lit. Gaz.

OBITUARY.

GENERAL BERTRAND-The tomb of Marshal Drouet D'Erlon was scarcely closed, when the country had to deplore a still more mournful loss. The faithful friend of the Emperor, the companion of his labors and long exile, General Bertrand, died on the 31st of January, at Chateauroux, his native town. Bertrand, serving as a National Guard, in 1793 joined a batt; hon voluntarily marching to the Tuileries to pro-eeking. He shortly afterwards entered the cor, of engineers, rapidly rose to eminence, accoped the expedition to Egypt, The patronage recently afforded to this descrip- where he fortified several places, deserved the contion of carving has called the pencils of many excel-fidence of Bonaparte, and received almost at the lent artists, and the hands of many skilful work- same time the brevets of lieutenant-colonel, colonel, men, into requisition. Among the best specimens and general of brigade. After the battle of Auswe have seen are those executed by Mr. H. Wood, terlitz, where General Bertrand covered himself of Henrietta-street, Covent-Garden. An oppor- with glory, Napoleon took him as one of his aidestunity was afforded us this week of inspecting a de-camp. He equally distinguished himself at beautiful screen, not yet quite finished, designed for Spandau, at Friedland, but particularly at the conSt. Mary's Church, Taunton. The church, we be-struction of the bridges on the Danube, destined to lieve, has lately been restored, and the minister, facilitate the passage of the French army advanc with very commendable liberality, proposes to de-ing on Wagram. That campaign, and the camfray the greater part of the expense of this screen, which, of course, will be considerable. It is impossible to give any correct idea of its form by the pen alone. Its design is chaste, but bold and striking, and its execution, even to the minutest details, positively superb. Every portion is carved with the most careful finish, and in its general effect it carries the mind two centuries back, when the art attained its highest perfection. It must be, when erected,an object of universal admiration, reflecting great credit upon the liberality of the congregation and minister, upon the taste and skill of the artist, Mr. Ferrey, and upon Mr. Wood, under whose superintendence it has been executed.

paign of Russia, placed his talent and courage in so conspicuous a light, that the Emperor named him Grand Marshal of the Palace, after the death of Marshal Duroc. His achievements were as glorious at Lutzen, Bautzen, and Leipsic; and, if he sustained a check at the passage of the Elbe against Blucher, it must be ascribed to the fortune of war, which was just beginning to waver. It was Bertrand, however, who protected the retreat after the battle of Leipsic, by seizing on Weissenfeld and the bridge of the Saalh. His services were not less important after the battle of Hanau. On those two occasions, and in circumstances which followed the departure of the Emperor for Paris, Count PerIt may perhaps be new to our readers to learn trand displayed the greatest activity in saving the that the latter gentleman has recently taken out remnants of the army, and generally saw all his a patent for a process of wood-carving, by which plans and efforts crowned with all the success all the effect of mechanical execution, whether which it was possible to expect amidst so many in boldness or delicacy, can be produced at one-disastrous events. On his return to Paris in 1814, third of the cost. Many of the objects in his General Bertrand was appointed Deputy Majorrooms are excellent specimens of the practical General of the National Guard, fought throughout working of his invention. Ornamented doors or the campaign of France, so astonishing by its succhairs, or almost any articles of domestic furni- cesses and reverses, and followed Napoleon to the ture, can thus be manufactured at a price astonish-island of Elba. Having returned with the Emperor, ingly low, when their elaborate workmanship is taken into consideration. Our notice was particularly taken by some handsome chairs, made after the pattern of that one belonging to the abbots of Glastonbury, recently sold at Strawberry Hill,

he served him with his wonted devotedness. Subsequently to the fatal day of Waterloo he never quitted him; he accompanied him in his last exile, shared and soothed his misfortunes, and only returned to France when he had received his last

breath. General Bertrand hailed with happiness full speed one of the mamelons of the Arapiles, the revolution of July, and the triumph of the na- which he maintained against all the attacks of the tional colors, illustrated by so many victories. It English and Portuguese. He then seized the vilwas with a deep emotion that ten years later he lage of the Arapiles, which he defended during saluted the return of the ashes of the Emperor, four hours, against the English guards, and lost 550 brought back across the ocean by the Prince de men and twenty-two officers. General Marmont Joinville, and that he beheld France paying to his sent during the attack, to compliment Colonel d'great shade a glorious and unanimous homage.— Orsay upon his brilliant conduct At the retreat The name of General Bertrand was associated in of Vittoria he formed the rear-guard of the whole that homage to the name of the Emperor, as the army, and saved the King Joseph, whom he placed noblest model of honor and fidelity. It will remain in the middle of a company of his voltiguers. At united to it in future ages. History had seldom to Pampeluna he received a ball in the knee, from an record so pious a devotion, so unmovable a fidelity, English soldier; and was saved by the devotion of so pure and noble a memory. It was not enough the sappers of his regiment. The Emperor named to have rendered himself illustrious by his own la-him General of Brigade and Officer of the Legion bors, and the services he had rendered his country. of Honor. After the abdication of the Emperor, Bertrand, by the worship he devoted to genius and he took the oath of allegiance to Louis the Eightmisfortune, has elevated himself to the high regions eenth. In 1815, the Emperor sent one of his aidesin which the glory of Napoleon soars-that glory de-camp to offer him the command of a division. will save him from oblivion.-Court Journal. General d'Orsay finding himself bound by an oath, from which he had not been freed, would not accept these offers. On the formation of the guard he took the command of the second brigade of the first division. He was afterwards named Lieutenant-General, Commander of the Legion of Honor, and some years later, Grand Cordon of St. Louis, and Gentleman of the King's Chamber. An important post in Spain was confided to him. He commanded the line of the Ebro, and established his general quarters at Vittoria. Touched by his paternal administration, the town of Vittoria made him a present of a sword of honor, as a proof of its gratitude. Offered by a hostile town, such a recompense was the noblest that an old soldier could desire. From that epoch Comte d'Orsay retired to his estate, where he did so much good that his name remains, with the memory of his good deeds, as indestructible as the old tower of Rupt, which is the most remarkable monument on the banks of the Saone. Here it was that he finished his career of military glory and chivalric loyalty."

BOGHOS BEY-His Excellency Boghos Youssouff Bey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Commerce to Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, died at Alexandria, on the afternoon of the 10th of January, at the age of about 71, after an illness of several days. His funeral took place on the following day, attended by the consuls, and the majority of the European residents at Alexandria. The ceremony was, however, very simple, and not a single Turk was present, although Boghos Bey was considered the highest person in Egypt after Mehemet Ali and his family —Court Journal.

died at Bath on Monday last, aged 79. He was at COUNT MAZZING HI-This eminent composer a very early age appointed director of the Italian Opera, and he composed several operas for Covent Garden and Drury Lane Theatres. He has been a member of the Royal Society of Musicians for fiftyseven years! Mazzinghi's compositions for the pianoforte were, in former days, extremely popular. He has retired from the profession for many years, and must have died a very wealthy man. He has left a son and daughter, (the latter married to Baron French, of Florence,) who are at Bath.— Court Journal.

THE LATE GENERAL COMTE D'ORSAY.-The following is from La Presse of the 5th :-"Lieutenant-General Comte d'Orsay died in the arms of his children, at his Chateau de Rupt (Haute Saone), deeply regretted by all the inhabitants of the country. His funeral gave rise to the most touching demonstrations of public attachment, to the most-Examiner. honorable testimonies of regret and grief. Impatient again to see his country, from which the French Revolution had driven him, Comte d'Orsay returned to France before the emigrants were permitted to do so. He was arrested, and conducted to the Temple, out of which he only came at the intercession of Madame de Beauharnois, afterwards the Empress Josephine, who threw herself at the feet of Barras to obtain his pardon; he was then carried to the frontier. A few years after, profiting by the general amnesty granted by the Emperor Napoleon to the emigrants, he entered the service of France, and became chief of a battalion in the 112th regiment of the line. He distinguished himself in the campaigns of Italy, making part of the corps of Prince Eugene, who had just joined the grand army at the time of the battle of Wagram. He was wounded at Raab by a shot in the ankle, but still remained at the head of his soldiers during the rest of the campaign. He was the first to enter the town. Some days afterwards the Emperor, passing before him, took off his own Cross of the Legion of Honor, and presented it to him, saying, 'Vous êtes aussi brave que vous êtes beau.' He at the same time received the title of Baron, which the Emperor conferred upon him, with a pension The Life of Reuchlin. By Francis Barham, Esq. of 8,000 francs, and this consoled him for the loss This volume may be read with Jortin's Life of of his annual income of 800,000 francs, which the Erasmus, and other biographies of those illustrious revolution bad taken from him. Appointed colonel scholars and churchmen who were instrumental in of the 122d regiment of the line in Spain, he re- spreading the light of knowledge, both sacred and joined the division of Bossuet, at the battle of Sala- profane, over the darkened face of Europe. The manca. In view of the whole army, he distin-Life of Reuchlin had been written by Maius, in guished himself by a noble feat of arms in taking at | Latin, a book of rare occurrence, and by others;

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

Great Britain.

GREAT BRITAIN.

Two Years in France and Switzerland. By Martha M. Lamont.

The Wrongs of Women. Part IV. "The Lace-Runners."

and a tolerably full account of him may be found in | SELECT LIST OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS. D'Aubigné's History of the Reformation; but, on the whole, Mr. Barham's biography is the most complete, rectifying some errors, and supplying some omissions found in the others. There is also in this volume the most correct and copious account we have met with of the history and authorship of the thrice famous Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum; a work whose fame once sounded through all Europe, but which-partly owing to the language On Superstitions connected with the Hisin which it is written, partly to the extreme coarse-tory and Practice of Medicine and Surgery. ness of its jokes and wit, and partly to the subject By Thomas Joseph Pettigrew, F. R. S., being no longer of interest-is scarcely ever opened F. S. A., etc., etc. by scholars; but to those whose stomachs are not queasy, it will still repay the perusal. When Maittaire edited this book he dedicated it to Sir R. Steele, and both the editor and patron took it for a serious and genuine work.-Gentleman's Magazine.

Exposition of Hebrews xi. as setting forth the nature, discoveries, and effects of faith. By an Indian Layman. Fcp. 8vo. pp. xiv. 316.

The author of the Natural History of Enthusiasm has remarked, that "a writer and a layman is no recognized functionary in the Church; he may therefore choose his style without violating any rules or proprieties of office." (p. 21.) The volume now before us makes no obtrusive professions; it appears to have resulted, as far as style is concerned, from the frequent perusal of expositions and sermons; and, if it had not openly professed to be written by a layman, we should have presumed it to be the production of a clergyman. The title, perhaps, is not so clear as it ought to be, for some would infer that "an Indian layman" meant a native Indian, though it probably meant a layman who has passed part of his life in India. We are not aware that the chapter here treated of has previously formed the subject of a volume; the idea of grouping the several characters mentioned in it was a fortunate one; and the author has satisfactorily executed his task, as we can justly say, after an attentive perusal. We wish, indeed, that he had learned to compress his sentences, for periods of twenty-five lines (such as occur at pp. 9 and 59), exceed the powers of most readers to follow the clue. To the errata, which are not numerous, we may add idolatrous for indolatrous, at p. 214. The author's residence in India supplies him with occasional matter of illustration; and we would respectfully invite the attention of persons in high places to the abuse alluded to at page 126.—Ibid.

France.

Histoire critique du Rationalisme en Allemagne depuis son origine jusqu'à nos jours; par M. Amand Saintes. Deuxième édition revueet augmentée, imprimée à Hambourg. Paris, 1843. (Critical History of Rationalism in Germany, from its origin down to our own day. By M. Amand Saintes, etc.)

This work of M. Saintes has received, in this second edition, some real emendations. The disposition of the matter has been modified, the voids have been filled, errors have been corrected. We can but be obliged to an author who applies himself so sincerely to perfect a book, whose imperfections are doubtless owing, in a great measure, to its compass, and to the difficulty of the subject. We rejoice to see this second edition almost entirely re-written, and hope M. Saintes will find opportunity to complete the amendments which may still

seem necessary.-Le Semeur.

Hora Apocalypticæ, or a Commentary on the Apocalypse, Critical and Historical; including also an Examination of the Chief Prophecies of Daniel, illustrated by an Apocalyptic Chart, and sundry Engravings from Medals, and other extant Monuments of Antiquity. By the Rev. E. B. Elliott, A. M.

Illustrations of the Theory and Practice of
Ventilation. By D. B. Reid, M. D.
Manual of Electricity, Magnetism, and
Meteorology. By Dr. Lardner and C. V.
Walker.

The Logic of Political Economy. By T.
De Quincey.

On the Connection of Geology with Terrestrial Magnetism. By E. Hopkins. Wanderings in Spain in 1843. By M. Haverty.

Beaumont and Fletcher's Works. By Dice. Vol. V.

Pindari Carmina, Part Sec. English Notes.

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