before our æra, the use of clarified butter is prescribed in various rites.

Vol. 111. Garden flowers. Most of the flowers introduced into our gardens, and now cultivated either on account of their beauty, or the pleasantness of their smell, have been procured from plants which grew wild, and which have been changed, or, according to the opinion of florists, improved by the art of the gardener. The greater part of them, however, came originally from distant countries, where they grow in as great perfection as ours, without the assistance of man.' Professor B. thinks that the modern taste for flowers came from Persia to Constantinople, and was imported thence to Europe in the 16th century.The florist may discover in this essay the native soil of some of the finest ornaments of the parterre.

Lending-houses. By this appellation, we are to understand what is known on the Continent by the name of “ monts de piété ;” public institutions, where money is lent to necessitous persons, at a low interest, on pledges. The first was established at Perugia, by the suggestions of Barnabas Interamnensis, a Franciscan friar, who died in 1474. Being obviously calculated to relieve the indigent from the oppressive practices and usurious exactions of the Jews and Lombards, it obtained the countenance of Pope Pius II.; and similar establishments, before the conclusion of the century, became prevalent throughout Italy. The interest demanded was originally intended only to defray the necessary expences of the institution.

Chemical Names of Metals. The obscure and fanciful analo

, which I & I gies, bestowed on certain metals at the names and characters

appropriated to particular planets, are here the objects of investigation but more and profounder researches are still requisite to trace this practice to its origin; and we apprehend that the learning and industry necessary to its success might be much more beneficially applied.

Zine. We have remarked no facts relating to this semi-metal which would prove new to the chemists of this country.

Book-censors. The earliest instance of a book printed with a permission from government is commonly supposed to occur in the year 1480.' The book was printed at Heidelberg, intitled "Nosce te ipsum," and accompanied with several solemn attestations in its favour: but the Professor has discovered two books printed in Cologne a year soover, with the imprimatur of the public censor.

Many centuries, however, before the invention of printing, books were forbidden by different governments, and even condemned to the Яames. A variety of proofs can be produced that this was the case among both the antient Greeks and Romans. At Athens the works

af

of Protagoras were prohibited; and all the copies of them which could be collected were burnt by the public crier, At Rome the writings of Numa, which had been found in his grave, were, by order of the senate, condemned to the fire, because they were contrary to the religion which he had introduced. As the populace at Rome were in times of public calamity more addicted to superstition than seemed proper to the government, an order was issued that all superstitious and astrological books should be delivered into the hands of the prætor. This order was often repeated; and the Emperor Augustus caused more than twenty thousand of these books to be burnt at one time. Under the same Emperor the satirical works of Labienus were condemned to the fire, which was the first instance of this nature; and it is related as something singular, that, a few years after, the writings of the person who had been the cause of the order for that purpose shared the same fate.-The burning of these works having induced Cassius Severus to say, in a sneering manner, that it would be necessary to burn him alive, as he had got by heart the writings of his friend Labienus, this expression gave rise to a law of Augustus against abusive writings. When Cremutius Cordus, in his history, called C. Cassius the last of the Romans, the senate, in or der to flatter Tiberius, caused the book to be burnt; but a number of copies were saved by being concealed. Antiochus Epiphanes caused the books of the Jews to be burnt; and in the first centuries of our æra the books of the Christians were treated with equal_severity, of which Arnobius bitterly complains. We are told by Eusebius that Diocletian caused the sacred scriptures to be burnt. After the spreading of the Christian religion, the clergy exercised against books that were either unfavorable or disagreeable to them, the same severity which they had censured in the heathens as foolish and prejudicial to their own cause. Thus were the writings of Arius condemned to the flames at the council of Nice; and Constantine threatened with the punishment of death those who should conceal them. The clergy assembled at the council of Ephesus requested the Emperor Theodosius II. to cause the works of Nestorius to be burnt; and this desire was complied with. The writings of Eutyches shared the like fate at the council of Chalcedon; and it would not be difficult to collect instances of the same kind from each of the following centuries.'

Exclusive Privilege of printing Books. The oldest instance of this kind, known at present, is that which was granted by Henry bishop of Bamberg, in 1490, to the following book, "Liber missalis secundum ordinem ecclesia Bambergensis."

Catalogues of Books. The first printers published books at their own expence, and sold them themselves: but the capital which this required soon rendered it expedient to divide the hazard and the profit. Booksellers were thus enabled to procure a much greater variety of publications; and catalogues became necessary. The oldest was printed at Frankfort (which preceded Leipsic as a literary mart) in the year 1554.

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Aurum

Aurum fulminans. The method of obtaining this precipi tate, its dreadful explosion, and its prodigious report, are described by a German monk of the order of St. Benedict; who, it is probable, was the inventor, as early as A. D. 1413. The Professor remarks, with much gravity, that, notwithstanding these properties, it is impossible that this precipitate (of gold) should ever be substituted for gunpowder.

Carp. Whether this fish was known to the antients by the names of cyprinus and lepidatus is a problem, which, after much learned discussion, remains nearly where it stood before. It seems, however, certain that their introduction to France, England, and the northern countries of Europe, is comparatively

recent.

Camp-mills. These machines, being moveable, may be used in time of war, when no others can be found. They were invented by Targone, engineer to the celebrated Marquis Spinola, about the conclusion of the 16th century.

Mirrors. It is in the 13th century that the Professor finds the first undoubted mention of glass mirrors, covered at the back with tin or lead. John Peckham, an English Franciscan monk, who taught at Oxford, Paris, and Rome, and who died in 1292, wrote about the year 1279 a treatise of optics. In this work, besides mirrors made of iron, steel, and polished marble, the author speaks often not only of glass mirrors, but says that they were covered on the back with lead, and that no image was reflected when the lead was scraped off.' The contrary opinion having been supported by the highly respectable authority of the Bishop of Llandaff, our author reviews the passages on which his Lordship has founded his judgment. One quotation from Pliny cannot, indeed, be proved to refer to glass. Another demonstrates that the Sydonians actually manufactured glass mirrors: but Professor B. thinks that the cursory manner in which so great an improvement is mentioned by a writer treating expressly on the subject, the silence of succeeding writers, and the subsequent ignorance of the process, authorise the supposition that the discovery had not attained to any perfection.

Glass-cutting. This art was undoubtedly known to the antients, though afterward lost. It was revived in the beginning of the last century by Lehman, an artist in the service of the emperor Rodolphus II. Etching on glass was discovered accidentally by Schwanhard in 1670. We are told, that some aqua regia having fallen by accident upon his spectacles, the glass, was corroded by it; and that he thence learned to make a liquid by which he could etch writing and figures upon plates of glass.'

Soap.

Soap. Pliny says, that soap (sapo) was made of tallow and ashes; that the best was composed of goat's tallow and the ashes of the beech tree, and that there were two kinds of it, hard and soft. The invention he ascribes to the Gauls, though he gives the preference to the German soap. Professor B. afterward mentions that the word sapo first occurs in Martial, an incon sistency which we are unable to reconcile.-The inquisitive reader will find much information collected under this title, on the several detersive substances employed by the antients, and on the manipulations of the Roman fullers, Ars fullonia.

Madder. This plant is considered by our author as the erythrodanum of Pliny.

Jugglers. If this article may not be considered as the most instructive, it certainly will not be thought the least amusing of the volume, in which it occupies so considerable a place. Professor B. contends that the employment of these persons is at any rate as useful as that of any other class who administer solely to the luxuries of the community: but that it may boast even superior commendation; because it frequently depends on the ingenious application of mechanical, chemical, and magnetic properties; and also because it has greatly contributed to expel superstition by discovering the wonderful effects of simple but unknown agents, and thus serves as an antidote to that popular belief in miracles, exorcisms, conjuration, sorcery, and witchcraft, from which our ancestors suffered so severely. The art of legerdemain, as practised by the antients, is next eluci dated. The particular feats and deceptions here mentioned are those of breathing flames; lighting a recently extinguished candle by applying it to a wall; walking through burning coals, which was performed by the Hirpi; the cups and balls (acetabula & calculi). Rope-dancers were distinguished by a variety of classes, schenobate, oribata, neurobata, pataminarii, and funambuli. Aristotle mentions puppets, which moved their head, hands, and limbs, in a very natural manner. It is strange to reflect that so late as the year 1601, a horse, which had been taught to perform a number of tricks, was tried as possessed by the Devil, and condemned to be burnt at Lisbon.'

Camel. The machine so called was invented in Holland by a citizen of Amsterdam named Bakkir, to facilitate the passage of large vessels through the Pampus, where the depth of water is insufficient.

It consists of two half ships, built in such a manner that it can be applied, below water, on each side of the hull, to a large vessel. On the deck of each part of the camel there are a great many horizontal windlasses; from which ropes proceed through openings in the one half, and, being carried under the keel of the vessel, enter 'like openings

X 4

openings in the other, from which they are conveyed to the wind. lasses on its deck. When they are to be used, as much water as may be necessary is suffered to run into them; all the ropes are cast loose; the vessel is conducted between them; and large beams are placed horizontally through the port-holes, with their ends resting on the camel on each side. When the ropes are made fast, so that the ship is secured between the two parts of the camel, the water is pumped from it; and it then rises, and raises the ship along with it.'

Artificial Ice. The several gradations, in bringing this greatest luxury of warm climates to perfection, were perhaps the following: first, preserving snow in pits, which probably was practised in very early ages, and mixing it with the beverage; next, boiling the water and placing it in a vessel in the midst of snow, which is mentioned (at least the principle is recognized) by Aristotle and Galen; then, the aid of evapora tion was called, by which artificial ice is procured throughout Hindustan; lastly, nitre was employed to refrigerate the water containing the liquor to be used. The last discovery is claimed by Villa Franca, a Spaniard, in 1550: but we think it more probable that the Portuguese found it in their Indian possessions.

Hydrometer. This instrument serves to determine the weight or specific gravity of different fluid masses, by the depth to which it sinks in them. The Professor thinks it not improbable that Archimedes was the inventor; though the first mention of it occurs in the fifth century, and is to be found in the letters of Synesius to Hypatia. It was afterward forgotten, and is not again mentioned till it occurs in a treatise written by Tholden, an overseer of the salt-works in Thuringia, in 1600.

Lighting of Streets. M. St. Evremond says, "the invention of lighting the streets of Paris, during the night, by a multitude of lamps, deserves that the most distant nations should go to see what neither the Greeks nor Romans ever thought of for the police of their republics." The Professor deems this assertion true with regard to Rome, which is not illu minated at this day but there is reason to think that some of the cities of Asia, in particular Antioch and Edessa, were lighted.

Night-watch. This, like some other topics of inquiry, is a practice manifestly of too old a date to admit of ascertaining a determinate commencement.

Leaf-skeletons. Marcus Aurelius Severinus, professor of anatomy at Naples, who died of the plague in 1656, first conceived the idea of employing decomposition to divest leaves, fruits, and roots, of the pulpy substance which conceals their internal construction,