whom endeavoured to extinguish all the fire that was then in the earth, and that the other, in order to prevent his brother's intention, set fire to all the surrounding woods; that one of them killed a relation, and transformed him into a dog, from which all the New Zealanders' dogs proceed. They have also inferior gods, who, they conceive, have no power to save, but only to destroy. The Tamewat, or god of the sea, is supposed to be made up of the spirits of those children who have died in infancy, or from the womb. His power is very great, he being able to cast a ship on the shore, or to destroy a canoe, &c. They have also gods of the sky, such as Thunder, Lightning, &c.; and of the earth, such as Lizards, Caterpillars, and insects of different kinds. | Every evil is likewise a god, and so is every thing odious and hurtful; hence a dead body is a god, because it excites fear. Death, also, and the miseries which have fallen upon men on account of disobedience, are looked upon as gods. tend. It will not accommodate more than about 1200 persons, and in addition to this, it is highly probable that, after the present year, it will be no longer obtainable; and how strange soever it may appear to those who have not minutely examined the subject, there is not an attainable edifice in any part of the metropolis, adapted for the purpose. It must be obvious, that multitudes are now prevented from attending on public occasions, through the want of accommodations; while vast numbers in the country, despairing of obtaining admission, remain at home, against their inclination and their wishes. It is therefore by no means improbable, if a building sufficiently commodious were procured, that the numbers of those who now attend would be more than doubled; and, as a natural consequence, the funds of the various institutions would be considerably increased. In the present state of things, public meetings are attended with great expense, which would be much diminished, if a suitable building could be procured. For such an edifice an eligible piece of ground, it appears, may now be obtained, in an open and airy situation; but if the present opportunity be suffered to slip, years advantageous, may present itself. may elapse before another, equally The shares already covered by subscriptions amount to about threefourths of the sum required; and as the building is to be erected on a broad foundation, for the accommodation of all parties, without being under the influence of any sectarian peculiarities, the appeal is made to the friends of Christianity of every denomination, and we can hardly entertain a doubt of its ultimate success. BRITISH MUSEUM-MR. GOODWYN'S It is well known, that although pure Benevolence has for many years erected her standard in Great Britain, there is not a building in the kingdom which she can justly call her temple. This has been long felt, and sincerely deplored, by her numerous friends, but until the present time no vigorous measures have been adopted, to remedy the evil of which all complain. -From an advertisement, however, which appears on the wrapper of this number of our magazine, we learn, that this inconvenience is likely very shortly to be removed; and it will af- THOSE who are interested in matheford us much pleasure, if any observa-matical computations, and the tabutions of ours tend in any degree to lation of their results for practical facilitate this truly philanthropic de- | purposes, will learn with pleasure sign, in favour of which many con- that the curious and extensive manucurring circumstances appear to co- script tables of the late Henry Goodoperate. wyn, Esq. of Blackheath, have, by the advice of Dr. Gregory, professor of mathematics in the Royal Military Academy, been deposited by Mr. Goodwyn's family in the library of the British Museum. The following Our readers need not be told that Freemason's Hall has generally been the place of resort at public anniversaries. But this is much too small to contain the numbers who wish to at copy of Dr. Gregory's account of the general nature of the manuscripts will serve to convey the requisite information to our readers :: "The late Henry Goodwyn, Esq. of Blackheath, being for several years kept, by ill health, from the more active pursuits of life, devoted a great portion of his time to the most laborious computations; many of them relating to topics, and leading to results, that are exceedingly curious and interesting. "Some of these he applied to practical inquiries relative to interest and annuities; others to the determination of powers and roots; others to the reduction and comparison of weights and measures, whether British or foreign, and to the formation of a general system; and others he rendered applicable to the rules of mensuration, and to still higher inquiries among mathematicians. "In the pursuit of these researches he developed various interesting properties indicative of the mutual connexion between circulating decimals and prime numbers entering either simply or compositively into the denominators of fractions respectively equivalent to those decimals; of which properties some have been long known to mathematicians, while others had almost, if not altogether, escaped their notice. A few of these are explained in the appendix to the quarto pamphlet to which this paper is attached; and in that appendix one of Mr. Goodwyn's ingenious improvements in computation is described and applied. "The results of his persevering and long continued labours have, as yet, been only very partially laid before the public, in a few detached pamphlets, volumes, &c. copies of all of which are transmitted herewith. "But his two works of greatest labour, the one denominated a Table of Complete Decimal Quotients, and the other a Tabular Series of Decimal Quotients for all the Proper Vulgar Fractions, of which, when in their lowest terms, neither the numerator nor the denominator is greater than 1000, still remain in manuscript. The former of these is comprised in four folio vo Entitled "The First Centenary of a Series of Concise and Useful Tables." lumes of manuscripts, lettered Table of Complete Quotients: Mr. Goodwyn had finished their computation, and, by subsequent calculations, had nearly, if not entirely, verified the correctness of the whole. He had also advanced considerably in the computation of the Tabular Series, the results being entered and duly arranged in five volumes large quarto; in the last of which, however, the platform of his labour is alone exhibited. A comparison of the respective manuscripts, with the two royal octavo printed volumes entitled Table of the Circles, and Tabular Series, and with the quarto pamphlet to which this is annexed, will enable any competent judge to appreciate the extent of these classes of Mr. Goodwyn's labours, their utility, and the comparative value of those portions which still remain unpublished. "Mr. Goodwyn's family, anxious to consign these manuscripts of their revered relative to some institution where they may be occasionally consulted by the friends and promoters of mathematical science, do now, with the consent of the governors of the British Museum, deposit them in the library of that magnificent national institution. "OLINTHUS GREGORY. "Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Nov. 1824." MR. WILSON LOWRY. IN our preceding number we gave a portrait, accompanied with a memoir, of this distinguished artist. Since that time we have been favoured with the following observations from his widow and relatives, to which we most gladly give publicity. His friends state, that" during the last twenty-four years of his life he was liberally remunerated for his labour; that he never occupied any situation in St. Thomas's Hospital, but was admitted simply as a student; that he never invented any machine for striking parabolical and hyperbolical curves; and that he has left his family in circumstances which furnish them with no occasion for regret." That Mr. Lowry was amply rewarded for his labours as an operative artist, we never doubted; but from a large commercial and scientific nation, to the honour of which he had FROM the tables of M. de Lalande we have the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th satellites respectively, 5.67; 9; 14:38; and 25.3, semidiameters of Jupiter from bis centre. Then, by trigonometry: as, rad. even at the outset, and that it will increase rapidly every year, until the price of steam will cause the charge for carriage to be raised to so high a rate, as to make the existing chan Mushet's Process for alloying Copper for Ships. -In order to increase the tenacity of pure copper, to render it more fibrous, and to prevent the common effects of sea water upon it, Mr. Mushet has taken out a patent for the following process:-He mixes with the copper, of two ounces of zinc to 100lbs. weight of as an alloy, regalas of zinc, in the proportion copper; or two ounces of block or grain tin; or four ounces of regulas of antimony; or eight ounces of regulus of arsenic, in the same quantity of copper. Or, instead of employing these substances alone in the above-mentioned proportions, to 100lbs. of copper he proposes to add balf an ounce of regulus of zinc, half an ounce of grain or block tin, one ounce of regulus of antimony, and two ounces of regulas of arsenic. Brandy from Potatoes.-The introduction of Siemen's Improvement on the Process of making this process, which has been adopted in many parts of Germany and in the north of Europe, 5-67:1:1:1763668 tang. of 10° 0' 0"47" has been recommended to the Swedish govern 9:1:1:1111111 14:38:1:1:0695411 25.3:1:1: 0395256 6 20 24 39 2 15 48 31 which are the respective angles the semidiameter of Jupiter subtends, as seen from each satellite. Consequently, 20° 0′ 1′′ 34′′"; 12° 40' 49" 18"; 7° 57' 30" 44"; and 4° 31' 37" 2"" are the apparent diameters. Also, since the semidiameter of 256847 miles. =401265 641132 1128000 GLEANINGS. New University.-In consequence of the overflow of students at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, it is in contemplation to found a third university in the neighbourhood of York; to which, it is said, Earl Fitzwilliam has promised to subscribe fifty thousand pounds. Missionary Zeal.-The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts expended last year £23,733. 3s. 8d. Its estimate for the present year is £28,775, of which £15,000. will be by parliamentary grant. Rail-Roads.-A writer in the Oxford Journal, on the subject of rail-roads, calculates, that to form a mile of single road, 184 tons 16 cwts. of iron will be required, in the manufacture of which 757 tons 13 cwts. of coal will be used. He supposes that to make all the proposed rail-roads, there will be required 8,142,316 tons of coal; and to maintain them, 2,363,606 tons annually. He considers that such a demand for coal must raise its price ment by M. Berzelius, and to the Danish government by Professor Oersted. From the trials made at Copenhagen, it would appear by the usual processes. In Professor Oerthat one-third more brandy is produced than sted's report, we find the following account of the process :-The potatoes are put into a close wooden vessel, and exposed to the action of steam, which heats them more than boiling water. The potatoes can thus be regreatest facility, it being necessary only to stir duced to the state of the finest paste with the them with an iron instrument furnished with cross pieces. Boiling water is then added to the paste, and afterwards a little potash, renthe vegetable albumen which opposes the dered caustic by quicklime. This dissolves complete conversion of the potato starch into a fluid. Professor Oersted frees the potato brandy from its peculiar flavour by means of the chlorate of potash, which is said to make it equal to the best brandy made from wine.— Gill's Tech. Repos. his new edition of " Recherches sur les Ossemens Geology.-Baron Cuvier has just completed Fossiles," (Researches into the Nature of Fossil Bones,) in which that celebrated naturalist lays down the distinctive characters of several animals, the species of which have been destroyed by the revolutions of the globe. This valuable work consists of 7 volumes, quarto, adorned with 316 engravings, and will be read selves in the study of natural history, and parwith attention by all those who interest themticularly of the science of geology, Britain, by examination in the year 1794, were £30,173,850 per annum to the nation! received from New South Wales give an ac- count of the discovery of an island in the Southern Ocean, by Captain Hunter, of the Donna Carmelita, on the 29th of June, 1824. A number of natives in canoes, on seeing the ship, fled with great precipitation; but a canoe being intercepted, one of the people was persuaded to go on board the ship, where, having received a present, which he exhibited to his countrymen, they soon dispelled their fears and visited the vessel. These people are about the colour of the Malays, but have more of the European features. The ship's boat was sent on shore with the chief officer, who being conveyed to the monarch, found him surrounded by attendants, armed with spears. A shirt was presented to the king, and another to his brother; and afterwards a looking-glass was given, which excited great surprise. The king gave the donor a shell from his neck, and afterwards accompanied him to the beach, where the queen and other females attended. All the men had their little fingers cut off at the second joint on the left hand, and the women had their cheek-bones perforated-and some of them were tattooed. A ram and an ewe were left on the island for the benefit of future navigators, and signs were made to the natives not to kill them. The women wore a small covering only round the body, and the men a mat, with leaves of trees woven in them. The island was entirely composed of lava, in some places almost a metal; it lies in lat. 15. 31 South, long. 176. 11. East. Prognostication of a Change of Wind.-A writer in a late number of the Philosophical Magazine says," Having frequently amused myself on fine evenings in summer with a very large paper kite, in order to watch the different currents of wind in the air, I had occasion to notice the following curious fact,that when a kite on mounting very high acquired a different direction from getting into a different current of air, the wind usually blew from the same quarter on the earth's surface before the expiration of 24 hours. Thus the changes of the wind seem to take place first in the higher regions of the air, and are propagated downwards. I have confirmed this experiment, and established the fact, by the use of small air-balloons, but the kite answers the purpose quite as well." Motion of the Electric Fluid. It has long been received as a fact, that an electrical discharge was capable of being transmitted through a very considerable distance (say three or four miles) instantaneously, and without any sensible diminution of its intensity. Mr. Barlow, however, by employing wires of various lengths up to 840 feet, and measuring the energy of the electric action by the deflection produced in a magnetic needle, has found that the intensity diminishes very rapidly, and very nearly as the inverse square of the distance. Hence the idea of constructing electrical telegraphs is quite chimerical. He found, also, that the effect was greater with a wire of a certain size, than with one smaller, yet that nothing was gained by increasing the diameter of the wire beyond a given limit. Important Invention.-A person of the name of Roberts, who is at present in Bolton, has constructed an apparatus which will prove useful and valuable in the highest degree. Its object is the safety of life and property, in cases of fire, or where any suffocating or noxious vapour exists. It consists of a hood and mouth-piece, so contrived as to enable the wearer to breathe, with perfect ease and safety, in the midst of the densest smoke. In case of dwelling-houses, warehouses, factories, ships at sea, &c. being on fire, its advantages are incalculable. In one trial of the apparatus, he went into a stove-room, in which sulphur, hay, &c. were burning at the same time. He was shut in for the space of twenty minutes, and came out, at the expiration of that time, perfectly sound and uninjured. Had any one without the apparatus remained in the room longer than a minute, it would have been attended with certain death. during long journeys or voyages, may, it is To preserve Fish.-The preservation of fish said, be effected by removing their entrails, and sprinkling them internally and externally with a mixture of sugar and pounded charcoal, which will, for a considerable period, prevent the least taint, and may be washed clean off, previous to cooking the fish so preserved. Mexican Canal.-The President of the Mexican Republic, on the 4th of November last, is said, in pursuance of an order of the Sovereign Congress, to have advertised for plans and between the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, proposals for cutting open a communication rendering navigable the following rivers, viz. across the Isthmus of Tehuantapac; and for the Alvarado, the Panuco, the Bravo del Norte, the Santiago, and the Colorado of the West. Portable Masts.-Framed masts, in portable pieces, are now in preparation in Portsmouth dock-yard, on Sir R. Sepping's plan, such as can be carried out, for the replacing of damaged or lost masts. Mr. Rice is going out with a set of these masts to South America, to superintend their fitting in the Spartiate, manof-war, of 78 guns, which lies there, disabled, from rotten masts; and afterwards to sail in her, and observe carefully, and report on, their sufficiency in blowing weather. Literary Notices. Just Published. Lectures on the Essentials of Religion, Personal, Domestic, and Social. By H. F. Burder, M.A. 9s. The Christian Father's Reasons for Christianity, in Conversation between a Father and his Children, on Paganism, Judaism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity. By the Rev. T. Simpson. 1 vol. 18mo. boards. The Christian Father's Present to his Children. By the Rev. J. A. James. Second Edition. 1 vol. 12mo. 7s. boards. "The Blessedness of the Dead, that die in the Lord;" A Funeral Sermon, occasioned by the lamented death of the late Mrs. Rachel Harbottle, with a brief Memoir of the Deceased. By W. Roby. Advice on Playing the Pianoforte and Singing. 3s. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Embellished Works on Architectural Antiquities and Topography. By J. Britton. The Protestant Reformation vindicated. By Joseph Fletcher, M.A. On the Prophecies concerning Antichrist. By Joseph Fletcher. The Christian's Great Interest. By the Rev. William Guthrie. With an Introductory Essay by Thomas Chalmers, D.D. 3s. bds. Butler's Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed. With an Introductory Essay, by the Rev. Daniel Wilson, A.M. London. 6s. boards. Works of the Rev. John Maclaurin, late Minister of Glasgow. With an Introductory Essay by the Rev. John Brown, Edinburgh. 6s. 6d. boards. The Mourner's Companion. With an Introductory Essay by Robert Gordon, D.D. Edinburgh. 4s. boards. The Christian Philosopher, or the Connexion of Science and Philosophy with Religion. By Thomas Dick. 8s. boards. The Life of Bernard Gilpin. By William Gilpin, A.M. With an Introductory Essay by the Rev. Edward Irving, A.M. London. 3s. boards. Poems, by William Cowper, Esq. With an Introductory Essay by James Montgomery, Esq. Author of "The World before the Flood," &c. 6s. boards. Essays on various subjects of Ecclesiastical History and Antiquity. By the Rev. James Townley, D.D. The Saints' Everlasting Rest. By the Rev. Richard Baxter. Abridged by B. Fawcett, With an Introductory Essay by Thomas Erskine, Esq. 5s. boards. A.M. Memoirs of the Rev. Thomas Halyburton. With an Introductory Essay by the Rev. David Young, Perth. 4s. boards. The Scrap Book, a collection of Amusing Pieces. With an Introductory Essay and Occasional Remarks, by John M'Diarmid. Vol. II. 8s. 6d. boards. In the Press, &c. History of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren. By the Rev. J. Holmes, Author of " Historical Sketches of the Missions of the United Brethren," &c. This work is divided into Two Parts. The former contains a Narrative of the principal events in the Brethren's Church, from its Origin in Moravia, in 1457, to its suppression in that country, in 1624. In the Second Part a relation is given of the Revival of the Church in Saxony, in 1722, by the descendants of the ancient Moravians, and the history continued to the present time. A New and Splendid Edition of "The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century," with 4 coloured copper-plates and 60 singular hieroglyphical illustrations, will be ready for delivery in the ensuing month. An Historic Defence of Experimental Religion, and the Doctrine of Divine Influence. By Thomas Williams. 7s. boards. the A new work of considerable interest, from pen of Mr. Taylor, of Ongar, with a plate on steel from Corbould's designs. Foolscap 8vo. In two elegant post 8vo. volumes, November Nights, a series of Tales. By the Author of "The Innkeeper's Album," "Warrenia," &c. &c. The Author of "Tales from Switzerland" has in the press a Tale of considerable pathos, called The Shepherdess of the Mountains, interspersed with Poetry. Triumphs of Genius and Perseverance; being the Lives of Men eminent for their abilities, and remarkable for the obstacles they have surmounted in the cultivation of them. By the Author of "Self-Advancement" and Practical Wisdom." QUERIES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 1. R. O. asks-What is the best method of preparing quills for writing? 2. A Subscriber at Orrell has a circular piece of land, 200 yards in diameter, which, lying low, is overflowed in wet weather. To prevent this, he designs to make a ditch round it, of equal breadth and depth, so that the earth thrown out of it, and spread over the remaining part of the land, shall raise it 18 inches higher; required the breadth and depth of the ditch? 3. Another Subscriber asks-How far are the Wesleyan Methodists to be legally considered as Dissenters ? 4. R. N. inquires-When an individual is balloted into the militia, and procures a substitute, what proportion of the sum paid does the parish advance, and under what circumstances, and by whom can it be legally claimed? Amount of Duty on Paper paid into the England, £542,073.- -Scotland, £61,400. In our number for Feb. 1824, we took an occasion to notice the improved and improving state of the revenue. Since that time it has been regularly advancing in prosperity; and notwithstanding the repeal of taxes amounting to between £1,100,000 and £1,200,000, there has been an increase during the year of £1,67,691. The last quarter alone has furnished an increase of £146,000. This tangible proof of prosperity encourages a hope, that during the ensuing session of parliament a forther reduction of imposts will take place. We shall rejoice in having an opportunity of stating that all the assessed taxes are abolished.The vast consumption of paper furnishes a conclusive evidence, that the state of literature in this country is in a flourishing condition. Reading and Printing keep pace with each other. LONDON: PRINTED AT THE CAXTON PRESS, BY H. FISHER. |