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tory. Among these last are prefented fome feemingly fatisfactory data, with a view to explain the formation of thofe numerous and prodigious islands, or rather mountains, of ice, which are fo dangerous to veffels that navigate the feas near Hudfon's Straits; and which, according to his ideas, owe their origin to large mailes of frozen fnow. On this occafion Mr. Wales contraverts the hypothefis concerning the long duration and flow motion attributed to these ifiands by Capt. Middleton; who fuppofes that they are fome hundreds of years in diffolving, and travelling into the latitude of 50°. One evening the Author counted 58 of them, going at the rate of several miles per hour; and fays, that their motion and diffolution are apparently fo very quick, that he is of opinion that it must be a pretty large island which is not diffolved in one fummer.

The horizontal refraction, in confequence of the refractive power of the haze, fo frequent in thofe feas, is fo very great, that ice fcarcely higher than the furface of the water is, at the distance of eight or ten miles, lifted up two or three degrees. Another more fingular appearance noticed by the Author is that, in this ftate of the air, the land which was feen extremely plain, and appeared highly elevated, from the deck, could not be seen at all, by the man at the mast head. Of the truth of this fingularity he was convinced by going up to the main-maft head himself. It appears from an observation here incidentally mentioned, that the process of evaporation in certain fluids goes on even during the most violent frofts in this climate. At a time when the cold was fo intenfe, that a bason of brandy expofed to the open air became in less than two minutes as thick as treacle, and in five had a strong ice at the top, the spirit of wine which he was obliged to use for the plummet of his quadrant, was evaporated to about half the quantity in the space of a fortnight; the fpirituous part shooting up along the plumb-line, and fides of the glafs, like white coral. A fmall quantity inclofed in a vial during the whole winter had not its fluidity altered in the least. We omit the mention of fome other curious remarks contained in this journal, which fhews the Author to be a very intelligent obferver.

In the 35th article an account is given of a folid piece of the rock of Gibraltar, lately blown up, and now in the poffeffion of Dr. Hunter, which was originally about ten feet from the neareft furface, and in which fome bones were found, fuppofed to be petrified; being blended with pieces of the marble, of which the entire rock of Gibraltar is faid to be compofed. Thele bones, the Doctor obferves, are thofe of quadrupeds, and are not petrified in any other fenfe than that the waters paffing through the cavern in which they were lodged, have

foaked

foaked into the porous fubftance of every bone, and there depofited granulated chryftallifations of the calcareous earth or italactite, with which they were impregnated.-M. Rafpe, whose fyftem we have alluded to above, would probably attribute the formation of the whole rock of Gibraltar to this caufe.

ZOOLOGY and BOTANY.

Article 3. A Letter on a Camelopardalis, found about the Cape of Good Hope, from Capt. Carteret to Matthew Maty, M. D. Sec. R. S.

The existence of this fcarce and fingular animal, which owes its name to its fomewhat refembling the camel in its figure, and the panther in its fpots, has been doubted by many; as none, the Autho: apprehends, have been seen in Europe fince the time of Julius Cæfar. It exiftence has been completely afcertained by one of the parties, which the prefent governor of the Cape of Good Hope has of late sent out to make discoveries in the interior parts of Africa; fome of which have been absent two years, and have difcovered many curiofities, that, it is hoped, will be communicated to the world. One of these parties difcovered two of thefe creatures, but caught only the youngest, which unfortunately died before they reached the Cape-town. They took off its fkin, which has been fent to Holland; where Dr. Maty faw it last year, in the cabinet of natural history at Leyden. A drawing of this large and elegant animal is here given; from a table annexed, to which we collect that its height, which is its greatest dimenfion, taken from the lower point of the fore-leg to the top of its head, which it holds almoft erect, is 17 feet: behind, it measures in height only about 10 feet.

Another rare and fingular animal is defcribed and delineated in the 5th article. It is a new fpecies of the Manis, or fealy lizard, a German ell and five-eighths in length, and was dif covered in the wall of a houfe at Tranquebar; where, coiling itself into an oval form, it was killed with difficulty: its hard and impenetrable scales refifting the repeated ftrokes of wooden poles fhod with iron, fo as to strike fire at each blow. Article 16. On a Method of preparing Birds for Prefervation. In a Letter from Capt. Davies to John Ellis, Efq; F. R. S. Article 26. On the Prefervation of dead Birds. In four Letters, addreffed to the Royal Society, by T. S. Kuckahan.

With a view to enlarge the funds of natural history, and increase the collections of the curious, the Author of the first of thefe articles gives fome fhort directions, and the recipe of a dry compofition, the use of which he recommends to those who may have opportunities of thereby preferving and bringing over any extraordinary productions of nature, in the animal kingdom, which they may meet with abroad: a task which Capt.

Davies very properly recommends to the officers of the navy and army in particular.

The Author of the fecond article treats the preceding subject more methodically and diffufely, and with greater taste. He not only attends to the preservation of the carcafes and plumage of birds or other animals, from putrefaction and the devaftation of infects, so as to afford proper fpecimens for the study and gratification of the Naturalift and Virtuofo; but aims likewife at preferving their natural graces. In fhort, his fcope is to reanimate them, or at least to give them the appearance of life and motion, by putting them into expreffive attitudes: taking the word in a fenfe which comprehends every pofition of the head, body, legs, wings, or feathers, which may contribute to exprefs, in the most picturesque manner, fome particular action or paffion beft adapted to the peculiar quality of each Bird. The Author difplays his tafte and fancy on this part of his fubject, particularly in defcribing the manner of grouping of dead birds, fo as to be expreffive of their particular habitudes or paffions; fuch as, the grouping of eagles or hawks with their refpective prey, fo as to exprefs the cruelty and audacity of the former, with the extreme terror, and the feeble and dying efforts of the latter. The Author refines fo far on this fubject as to obferve, that regard fhould be had to the particular part at which the bird begins to devour its prey. We cannot, however, approve the choice of fuch horrid fubjects; and think that the Virtuofo, whofe ftudies have not deftroyed his feelings, will turn away his eye from this fine contraft,' as the Author terms it, to contemplate another, and more pleasingly affecting, fubject; a bird feeding its young, whofe clamorours hunger is expreffed by their gaping mouths and extended pinions; while the anxious perplexity, and tender joy of the mother bird, is ftrongly marked by the fpreading tail, the drooping wings, and peculiar pofition of the head.'

Obfervations of this kind form the fubject of the two first letters. In the two remaining, the Author gives particular directions for the diffection of birds or other animals, and the preferving them afterwards, by means of two compofitions, which are a liquid varnish and a dry powder. After the loss of much time, and of many fine fubjects, by using the methods hitherto published and practifed, he here gives the refult of his best experience on this fubject. Referring the Naturalift to the perufal of the directions and recipes here given, we fhall only obferve, that the curious collector may poffibly be deterred from the ufe of the Author's laft mentioned precious conditement; which is rendered moft formidably coftly, by the addition of no less a quantity than a quarter of a pound of mufk to 3 pounds and a half of the other materials. The mufk, may poffibly after all not be a neceflary ingredient, and is certainly

a very expenfive one; as the prime coft of that drug, we apprehend, in the quantity here directed, will not amount to much lefs than fix guineas.

Article 22. An Account of the Manna-Tree, and of the Tarantula : By Dominico Cirillo, M. D. &c.

The process by which manna is procured has been greatly mifunderstood by thofe who have hitherto defcribed it. Dr. Cirillo here particularly relates the manner in which it is ob tained in Calabria and Sicily, from the Ornus, a fpecies of the afh, denominated Fraxinus Ornus by Linneus. It is not procured from the leaves, but is an exudation and fudden concretion of the juice naturally flowing from incifions made in the body of this tree, after a fmall oblong piece of the bark has been taken off. The juice very quickly thickens and hardens, and does not undergo any preparation whatever. In the fubfequent part of this article, the Doctor adds his teftimony against the fabulous relations of the diforders fuppofed to be produced by the bite of the Tarantula, and their miraculous cure, by mufic. The Calabrian Tarantism, it feems, lofes ground daily, and is now practifed only by ignorant enthufiafts, or by others who want to get a little money by the exhibition of the extraordinary scenes fo gravely described by the learned Baglivi and others.

In the 15th article fome rare, and one non-defcript, fpecimen of Spongia, from the coaft of Italy, are defcribed by Mr. Strange. The 27th article contains Mr. James Robertson's defcription of a whale, termed by the Naturalifts the bluntheaded Cachelot, which was run on fhore near Leith. In the 37th are contained fome miscellaneous obfervations made in the Eaft Indies, by the late Capt. Rofe. The 44th article is a copy of a letter, addreffed by John Ellis, Efq; to Linneus, with the figure and characters of that elegant American Evergreen tree, called by the gardiners the Loblolly-Bay, or the Alcea Floridana, in Catefby's hiftory of Carolina; the culti vation of which has lately been fuccefsful; fome well-blown flowers having lately been produced near London. Mr. Ellis fhews it is not of the genus of Hibifcus, under which Mr. Miller has placed it; nor is it an Hypericum, as Linneus fuppofes it; but an entire new genus, to which he gives the name of Gordonia. In the next article Mr. Ellis defcribes a new species of Illicium anifatum Floridanum, or the ftarry anifeed-tree lately difcovered in Weft Florida, raised here by Mr. Aiton, botanicgardener to the late Princess of Wales; and which, there is reafon to fuppofe, will ftand the feverity of our winters, and become a highly ornamental addition to our plantations of ever-greens. This clafs is terminated by the ufual catalogue of the 50 plants annually presented to the Royal Scociety.

[To be concluded in the next Number:]

B.-J.

ART. II. A Difcourfe upon Religion. In two Parts.

8vo.

5 5.

Edinburgh, printed. London, fold by Cadell, &c. 1772. HE information we receive, in the previous advertisement, concerning the origin of this work, and the defign with which it was compofed, is fuch as naturally excites a kind of prejudice in its favour. The deceased Author appears to have been a North-Briton; and, probably, was a clergyman. He did not, the Editors obferve, intend this performance for the world, as, they add, is evident from the introductory address to his children. For them, only, he wrote, unambitious of fame, and carelefs of profit. At an early period of life, being thrown into melancholy reflections by the death of a beloved wife, and afraid left, by an event of the fame nature, his children might be left orphans in the hands of ftrangers, he thought himself naturally called upon to employ the leifure his fituation then afforded, in putting on paper his thoughts on fome fubjects, the confideration of which he reckoned highly interesting to their present and future happiness.'

We agree with the editors of this volume, that it breathe's a fpirit of charity, mildness and humanity; that the ftyle is marked by an agreeable fimplicity; and that the language is generally pure, except where fome few peculiarities announce the land of its nativity: yet we cannot fay that, on the perufal of its contents, our expectations were entirely anfwered. We apprehended, that it would have prefented us with affectionate addreffes, judicious obfervations and plain advice, to guard, direct, and affift his children in the hazardous progrefs of life; but, inftead of these, we have rather a kind of philofophical differtations, with reafonings that require much attention, together with fingular notions in religion, verging fometimes toward the borders of whim and fancy. The performance difcovers the author to have poffcffed a very fpeculative turn; and, it is probable, that he had been, at times, greatly perplexed with fome of the difficult fubjects of divinity. It alfo manifefts his good fenfe and ingenuity, and, at the fame time, his great and folid piety, and rectitude of heart: yet, though we can by no means rank him among our modern enthufiafts and rhapfodifts, his difcourfe feems to have a confiderable tendency towards mysticism.

As the writer fhews that he was not unacquainted with either ancient or modern learning, fo it was evidently his defign and endeavour, (a defign highly worthy of a parent, fenfible of the objections that are too frequently raifed against religion, and the difcouragements which his children might meet with in its practice,) to fix deep the foundations of their faith, and arm them beforehand with fufficient reafons for its fupport, that they might be enabled to maintain its principles unfraken, and

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