It is intended to convert the elegant building which was lately the depository of the Leverian Museum, into a literary institution, on the plan of the Royal and the London Institutions. We wish well to this design, because it will accommodate parts of the town remote from the other institutions, and add another means to the general diffusion of knowledge. Sir Joseph Banks has recently stated the advantages to be obtained by inuring tender plants,natives of warmer climates, to bear the severity of that of England. In the case of annuals, he mentions this is effected with little trouble, as all that is required is to enable them to ripen their seed in a comparitively cold summer, after which the hardest frost will have no power to injure it; but a perennial has to encounter frosts with its buds and annual shoots, that have sometimes been so severe with us as to rend asunder the trunks of our indigenous forest-trees. In 1791, some seeds of Zizania aquatica were procured from Canada, and sown in a pond at Spring Grove, near Hounslow. They grew, and produced strong plants, which ripened their seeds. These vegetated in the succeeding spring, and so on every year, the plants springing up from the seeds of the preceding year, and becoming visibly stronger and larger, and rising from deeper parts of the pond, till the year 1804, when several of the plants were six feet high, and the whole pond was in every part covered with them. From this, and other similar experiments, Sir Joseph proposes to sow the seeds of such shrubs as occasionally ripen them in the English climate, after the example of the Zizania, which, in fourteen years, became completely naturalized to our climate. The Bishop of London has transferred 12001. stock to the Master and Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge, and directed the interest of it to be laid out annually in the purchase of three gold med als, to be contended for by the students of that college; one of fifteen guineas, a prize for the best Latin dissertation on some evidence of Christianity; another of fifteen guineas,a prize for the best English composition on some moral precept of the gospel; and one of ten guineas, a prize to the most distinct and graceful reader in, and regular attendant at, chapel; and the surplus, if any, to be laid out in books, and distributed by the Master. There has been published atHalle a work entitled, Letters on the interior relations of the Court of Prussia, since the time of Frederick II. These letters have excited the publick curiosity to a high degree, and are said to be very interesting. The University of Leipzig has resolved henceforth to call by the name of Napoleon that group of stars which lies between the girdle and sword of Orion; and a numerous deputation of the University was appointed to present the conqueror with a map of the group so named. The new organization of the Academy of Sciences at Munich still occupies the attention of the Bavarian government. Its labours are to be more extensive than those of any similar institution in Europe; for it is to have, under the direction of the ministry, immediate superintendance over all the establishments for publick instruction in the kingdom of Bavaria. The president of the academy is to be the privy counsellor Jacobi, a' man respected throughout Germany, as well for his philosophical writings as for his personal character. Among the other academicians whose names have been announced to the publick, are those of M. Seyffer, an astronomer, late director of the observatory of Gottingen; M. Eichhorn, the celebrated historian and orientalist, also from Gottingen ; M. Wiebeking, from Vienna, distinguished for his knowledge in hydraulicks; and M. Wolf, known by a valuable History of the Jesuits. The royal library at Munich, already very considerable, is about to be augmented by a commission, empowered to select for it every valuable article found in the libraries of the suppressed monasteries. The collection of pictures at Munich,by the addition of the galleries of Mauheim and Dusseldorf, is become one of the finest in Europe, the Museum Napoleon alone excepted. Mr. Olbers, the celebrated astronomer of Bremen, discovered, on the 29th of March, a new planet; the second for the knowledge of which we are indebted to that indefatigable observer, as it is well known that he is likewise the discoverer of the planet Pallas. The beautiful gallery of Salzthal, which belonged to the late duke of Brunswick, has arrived in France. It is particularly rich in the firstrate productions of the Flemish school. The duke had made considerable additions to it during the first ten years of his government. M. Lechenhault, one of the naturalists belonging to the expedition under Captain Baudin, who was detained at Batavia by illness, is arrived at Nantz with a superb collection of natural history, and one of the most valuable collections of arms and instruments, &c. procured from Otaheite, Java, and the adjacent islands. He has neglected no means of enriching natural history, by furnishing several kinds hitherto unknown. Bonaparte has, founded at Marseilles a Professorship of the Arabick language, to which he has appointed Don GABRIEL, formerly Missionary at Cairo, with a salary of 8,000 francs. The new planet discovered by Dr. OLBERS has likewise been seen at Paris. It is visible to the naked eye, and its size seems to be nearly that of a star of the fifth magnitude; and its distance nearly the same as that of the other newly discovered planets, Ceres, Pallas, and Juno. M. Hesse, a native of Germany, who has been settled some years as a bookseller at Amsterdam, has undertaken the publication of a collection of Greek classics. He purposes printing three different editions, two in octavo, and one in quarto. Of the latter, only fifty copies will be taken off, and they cannot be obtained without sub The numerous objects of the fine arts collected in the Museum of Cassel, as well as the beautiful gallery of pictures in that city, and the colossal statue of Hercules, which decorated Weisscnstein,near Cassel, have also reached the French capital. The collections of Paris have been further enriched by the antiquities found at Berlin and Potsdam, which alone filled onescribing. hundred chests of prodigious size. M. Peyron has announced at Paris the publication of an account of the voyage and discoveries in the South Seas in the corvettes Geographe and Naturaliste, in the years 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804. This work will be in two volumes quarto, and will contain forty-one charts. M. Peyron was the naturalist to the expedition, and has compiled this account of the voyage by command of Bonaparte. A new monthly publication has been begun at Madras, called the Indian Magazine, and European Miscellany, containing a selection of literary and other intelligence from Europe; and original information on subjects connected with the British possessions in India. The first number,embellished with a view of Madras from the beach, made its appearance on 1st of February. AMERICAN. Letter from W. Thornton, Esq. to the Members of the North Caro lina Gold Mine Company. Gentlemen, I lately visited the land in North Carolina belonging to the company, and rode several days in various parts of it. The fertility of the soil exceeded very much the most favourable idea I had formed of it. I saw some of the best corn in it that I saw during our whole route through Virginia and North Carolina, and I was informed by general Steele, late comptroller of the United States, who resides not far from the lands, that he had made particular enquiries respecting them, since my former visit, and learnt that they were very good corn and cotton lands, and it was his opinion, if the company kept the lands a little while till they could select such portions for the gold as they might Încline to retain, they might sell the remainder for the whole purchase money they gave, viz. 110,000 dollars. Some of the corn I thought so fine, was in ground that had been in cultivation for ten years and this is the driest year that the oldest inhabitants remember for fifty years. The grounds,except in a few cultivated places, are generally covered with good timber. Some company viewing the land with me, measured one of the trees by the road side, and found it nine feet six inches circumference, and above a hundred feet high: orchards of apples, peaches, &c. flourish in a very luxuriant manner, and red clover, with plaister of Paris for a manure, grows astonishingly, 1 Before I mention the gold runs, it may be proper to observe that the healing springs are surrounded within the distance of half a mile by the company's land. These are powerfully chalybeate, and were resorted to from various parts of the country, as well as South CarVol. IV. No. 11. 4G 1 olina, not only on account of the tonic virtues of the water, but also in consequence of the salubrity of the air and healthiness of the country. From the number who have visited these springs this summer, (the first) it is imagined they will be much resorted to hereafter. This was one of the most unfavourable seasons I could have selected for an examination of the runs for gold. They were dry, like most of those we passed in Virginia and North Carolina; indeed so dry that no examination could be made of them for gold but with great trouble, as it was necessary to carry the sand and gravel in small portions, sometimes above a mile, before water could be found; and what gold was obtained was principally found by washing the gravel and sand where there was water, rather than by searching for the gold where there were indications; and though this was the case, I did not see a single frying-pan full of gravel and sand washed without gold being found therein. Some fine specimens were thus obtained, one about two pennyweights, and some smaller but after we had obtained about twenty dollars worth, we were prevented from proceeding by the want of water to wash for more-though, from what I saw, I am of opinion we might have got some hundred dollars worth in a very short distance if the branch had not dried up. While we were engaged in washing for gold, Mr. Love, one of the proprietors of the adjoining mine of Mr. Read, on washing some of our gravel and sand, in which he found gold, said in my hearing, that he really thought our prospect as good as theirs. They have only four hundred acres ; and though it is said that they have obtained between thirty and forty thousand dollars worth of gold from this small place, they value it still at one hundred thousand dollars. We possess thirty-five thousand acres at least! The gold of our land is perfectly pure, and requires no refining. I visited Mr.Read's mine, and found that by amalgamation with quicksilver, which is very easy, and which answers completely, a great quantity of gold is obtained from the sand, after picking out all the lump gold. I was informed they got about six or seven ounces at a distillation, several times a week, from a very small still. I afterwards visited the mines of Mrs. Parker and Mr.Harris. They lie in a hill that intersects the company's land. Mr. Harris, in ploughing across a small branch in his land, turned up a good sized piece of gold. Having no regular weights, he tried it in a pair of scales against a pewter plate and spoon, which it outweighed. He then searched the run, and was successful in finding gold. This little branch runs immediately into the company's land, lying between it and Mrs. Parker's. But it was dry, and I consequently made no search in it, nor in any of the branches on that side, though I heard of gold being found in several. Mrs. Parker's mine was discovered in a very unexpected manner. Hearing of several discoveries, she said in a joking manner to some company while drinking tea with her, I wish, gentlemen, any of you could find a gold mine in my land." On which Mr. Etherton said, "I will go, madam, and search for you." He went, and in a little time returned with a very good specimen. After this they found six hundred dollars worth, and this season three hundred more, though they had not yet prepared any apparatus for even washing the gravel and sand. They were making a small wooden maIchine when I was there. I cannot pretend to give an account of all the places where gold has been discovered in the grounds belonging to the company, for it will take some time before they can be sufficiently explored, and but few of the streams and small runs have been searched in the slightest manner. Every place examined, though some lie many miles apart, has furnished gold, except one, and that had but a very slight examination, and perhaps not deep enough. Among the principal places that promise well, from the small trials made, I must mention the Rock-hole creeks, which are branches that join about three miles below their sources. The one where I got most of the gold, in consequence of there being a small supply of water, is the west branch. The upper end could not be examined, nor any place but one, for want of water. The east branch is supposed from a single trial to be good, but the want of water prevented any further search. Three forks of Island creek, about three miles each, contain gold; but little search could be made for the same reason. Mr. Robins, who lives below, told me he found gold below the junction of these branches— some was found in Cucumber creek. The prospect good. Some in the Camp branch of Island creek, also in Long creek and below Mr. Harris's. Mrs. Osburn took only as much sand and gravel as she could carry between her hands, from a small spring in the company's land between the Rock-hole branches, and on washing it found a piece equal to a dollar, and two pieces equal to half a dollar in value, besides some smaller pieces. It appears on examination that some of the hills are rich in gold; and I think it is not carried far by the currents, but only falls down into the small hollows and little branches near which it originally lies, as it has been found in considerable quantities in the smallest depressions on the hills, as well as in the more deep runs and branches. Were we to measure all the runs, the small branches, the springs and depressions where gold has been found in the company's land, I think I may admit the truth of the current opinion there, that the com pany possess 100 miles of gold land. Though it may be highly advantageous to work some of the places already discovered,and particularly Rock-hole branch, and the Spring branch, I think a further examination of the runs essential, as it is admitted our discoveries already 'made entitle us to expect immense returns, if our operations be well directed in the first instance. The expenses are so very trifling, that the whole necessary apparatus will not cost two hundred dollars; but the particulars will be laid before the directors, for their consideration. I am, gentlemen, Very respectfully, &c. City of Washington, A new epick poem, entitled THE COLUMBIAD, in ten books, by Joel Barlow will shortly be published by C. and A. Conard, in a splendid quarto. This work will be ornamented with twelve engravings, from original paintings, by English artists of the first celebrity. The paper is from the manufactory of Amies, the types from the foundry of Binny and Ronaldson, and the printing is executed by Messrs. Fry and Kammerer. Dr. Ramsay has prepared for the press a new edition of his History of the American Revolution. He has carefully revised what was formerly published, and added two chapters of original matter: One exhibiting a connected history of the British colonies, now the United States, as far as the same is illustrative of the revolution, its origin, principles, predisposing causes, and of such events as prepared the way for the grand event. The last chapter, or rather appendix to the revolutionary history, will contain a brief view of the United States, since the revolution, down so near to the present time as will be suitable. In this chapter the order of time will not be followed, but the order of things connected together in one unbroken view relative to the same subject. The relations between this country, Britain, France and Spain, for example, will be unfolded, each separately from first to last. If the blessings of peace are continued to our country, we may expect soon to be favoured with this valuable and popular works, which has long been out of print. THE Rev. Dr. Trumbull, who has published, with much reputation to himself and his country, the first volume of his history of Connecticut, has for several years past been engaged, at the request of the General association in Connecticut, in writing a GENERAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, for the purpose of displaying the divine agency in their settlement, growth, and protection, and specially during the late memmorable revolution. The work will probably be comprised in three octavo vols. of about 500 pages each, of the size of the English edition of Dr. Gordon's history of the revolutionary war. The first vol., which is ready for the press, brings down the history to the year 1760. The second volume is in forwardness, and it is expected the whole will be completed in such period, as that, after the first volume shall have been put to press, (which will be the next spring at farthest) the others will be in readiness to succeed it, without delay. The manuscript of the first volume of this work has been submitted to the critical inspection of the Rev. Dr Dwight and the Hon. John Trumbull, judge of the supreme court, both well known in the literary world, and has received their decided approbation. Messrs. Belcher & Armstrong, prin. ters, of Boston, have just published the second edition of an abridgment of the History of New England, for the use of young persons, by Hannah Adams. To which is added a valuable Appen. dix In the opinion of the most re spectable British criticks, this elegant and instructive summary is not only creditable to the ingenious and industrious author, but is incomparably the best synopsis of events that has yet appeared in America. Some of the first political and literary characters in the state of Massachusetts have strongly sanction. ed the use of this abridgment in schools and academies. The recom mendation which these gentlemen have published in most of the Boston Jour. nals is expressed in glowing terms of praise, and a literary club of no mean renown, have advised the general adop tion of this little manual. We once had an opportunity of witnessing the collo. |