therefore, whom we must invoke to instruct | us with any degree of certitude as to the state of knowledge in the ages which he sung; he alone can give us correct details on the history of those ages, their manners, their customs, and their arts. I consider the writings of Homer as the Encyclopedia of the heroic ages, and the Greeks had the same opinion of them. His geographical notions relative to the countries he had visited, were so exact, that long after his time, the enumeration of the troops in the 2nd book of the Iliad, served frequently to terminate differences in Greece. The Eolians were obliged to cede Calydon to the Etolians, because Homer in his enumeration, had placed this city among those which belonged to the latter. The same reason induced the Athenians to give Sestos to the inhabitants of Abydos. SoJon, on a single verse of this poet, put the same people in possession of Salamine. The inhabitants of Priene, and those of Miletus, disputed the city of Mycale: the authority of Homer, stronger than all other titles, adjudged it to the former. Homer knew all that was known in his time," &c. &c. &c. Preface. The learned author follows the system of Wallerius; he treats first on earths, then on sands, afterwards on stones and salts, and lastly, on bitumens and metals. M. Millio, proves, that only two kinds of earths were known in the time of Homer; vegetable and argillaceous: the consideration of the latter induces an inquiry into the invention of the potter's wheel, usually ascribed to Anacharsis. Ephorus, Posidonius, and Seneca among the ancients were of this opinion: Strabo e contra, whose authority was the verse of Homer. Posidonius asserted it to be an interpolation: latterly, M. Heyne formed the same opinion, and M. Millin cedes the point, in favour of the positive assertion of those ancient, and these opinions of the modern Hellenists. If, however, we consider that "the potter's wheel," was well known to the Jews, and afforded similies to the prophets of the Old Testament, we may be pardoned for believing the passage of Ho mer in question to be genuine, and the invention of the potter's wheel, consequently to be anterior to the time of Anacharsis. Class II. Sands.-Homer uses several expressions to designate sand, without clearly announcing the different species. M. Millin is of opinion, that by the words xvis and xin he means the finest sand, the dust which may be obtained from sandy earths, the Glarece of Wallerius: and by those of Vámos, apatos, he means sand ❤mposed of particles not so fine, Arena; With submission to our learned anthor, we think differently; the line would have been unworthy of Homer, if having two words to express the same idea, he had not used them on such an occasion: if he had not, the line would have been flat and prosaic. On the other hand, if Homer meant two different species, either we must arraign his skill, or the correct. ness of the translation of the two words. It is well known, and the laws of nature are invariable on the point, that on the sea. shore, the finest sand lies at the top, and the substratum is either coarser saud, or gra vel; so that the line translated, would read thus; "Mycon struck by Antilochus, fell head-foremost from his car, and sunk to his shoulders in the coarse sand," for the fine sand was deep:-thus reversing the law of nature. We must, however, refer our readers to the work itself to form their conclusions. In considering the class of Stones, M. M. observes, that "Homer gives to stones dif ferent names, of which several appear synanimous. He employs these in ten fines to express the same thing, by varying his expressions." [This confirms our opinion supra.]-" Homer divides stones into rough and polished, which proves that the art of cutting stone, erroneously attributed by Pliny to Cadmus, was known at the time: be fore its discovery, men dug caves in the rocks, or lived in caverns formed by nature. Such is the description of the abode of Polyphe mus, in Homer. This leads our author to consider, whether the art of sculpture was known in Homer's time, which he does not attempt to decide. The stones known in Homer's time, appear to be marble, fluors, agates, jasper, alabaster, aud pudding stone. Of salts, sea salt only. In treating of the inflammable substances known to Homer, our author gives a highly curious article on Succinum, (the Electron of Homer,) in which he reconciles many difficulties, and displays considerable geuius and profound research. The ancient mode of tempering metal, is dwelt on at length, and the long contested question of the nature of the bronze of the ancients, is fully discussed and completely set at rest. Our limits prevent our extending the ana lysis further, but in conclusion, we bave no hesitation in saying, that the present work will be highly relished by the classic | lent, and of which the eye of genius alone scholar, as well as the more general reader, could discover the remains. and that, it adds considerably to the well earned fame of the author. ROYAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. Funeral of M. Desmarest, Sept. 29, 1815. The Royal Institute, in execution of a decree made in its sitting of the 25th Frimaire, year 7, attended the funeral of M. Nicholas Desmarest, Member of the Class of Mathematical and Philosophical Sciences. On arriving at the place of sepulture (the cemetery of Pere la Chaise). M. the Chevalier Cuvier, Counsellor of State, perpetual Secretary of the Class, pronounced the following discourse: Gentlemen, These hills even, the bosom of which are about to receive his mortal - remains, and which for so many ages have witnessed nothing but the monuments and operations of society, these agitations so hitle, so miserable! cruel, and criminal, as they sometimes are, M. Desmarest was the first. he was the first to discover to study :— traces of those revolutions, truly worthy of their name, in which living nature was swallowed up entire: where after intervals of science and night, new beings and a new earth presented themselves to the face of day. May they serve for his funeral pyramid, and remain monuments of his labours, until a new cataclysin equalizes them in their turn with the rest of the soil, and sweeps with them in its torrent the remembrance of all that man has done. Would that those might approach this tomb who are ignorant of that tranquil happiness which Science yields to those who only live for her. The plain good Good and happy mortal! whose lasting old man whom we here deposit, a stranger remembrance will not have been purchased to the factions which tore, and to the m-by the tears of thy contemporaries; this. trigues and crimes which dishonoured, his country, was also exempt from the mis fortunes which overwhelmed so many illustrious and virtuous men. Peaceable, and universally respected, he completed a long and honourable career, and descends to the tomb in the fuluess of old age: his Irours were divided between the study of nature and that of the useful arts; to know, and to do good, were the only objects of his wishes. Beloved by the Turgots, the Larochefoucaults, the Malesherbes, he learned in the school of those friends of humanity, to consecrate the sciences to the well being of mankind. earth, with which thou wast so well ac quainted, offers an asylum to thy ashes. They will here repose in peace; and as our pious ancestors observed, it will lie light on them; or rather, thou hast already escaped from it: already thou hast learned all these secrets which thou so long aspired to attain: and we, my dear brethren, when ever we render these last duties to one of those respectable old men, who, in their time, were our masters, whenever we recal to memory their long and peaceable lives, entirely consecrated to the search of truth, let us redouble our ardour and our courage, and congratulate ourselves on having chosen the only path in which we can be useful to mankind, without becoming the objects of their envy, or of their ingratitude!" His country owes to him the perfection of many of her manufactures; and even to his latest hour the artists were always sure of receiving from him the counsels of an enlightened experience, while those high theories, those eternal, truths, so superior to the practice of our arts, did not cease, nevertheless to occupy his mind. He penetrated the depths of the earth, he scaled her rudest summits, and every where he discovered traces and authentic docu-ments of those terrible catastrophes to which the globe had been a prey before man covered it with his works. To our provinces, now the most delightful and the most fertile, he revealed those dreadful eruptions which, in remote ages covered their fields with flames and lava. Under The first section contains Plants which the meads where the shepherds of may be made use of instead of bread, pulse, Auvergne tend their flocks in the greatest sallads, and sweet herbs. The author security, he was the first to discover, and points out fifty-five substitutes for wheaten follow to their utmost limits, the traces of bread; seventy-six for ordinary pulse; fortythose ruins of fire on which history is si-five for sallads usually cultivated; aud The Voyages of Ali-Bey el Abassi, in Africa and Asia, 3 vol. 8vo. with an Atlas, in 41o. containing nearly one hundred plates, will be published in the course of the present month, by Didot Ainé. The | Paris price will be seventy francs. GERMANY. Deutchlands Nahrungsmittel, &c.-Alimentary plants, which grow spontaneously in Germany, with their characters when good, when falsified, &c. by J. G. Bergemann, Barth. eighty-seven for exotic spiceries, or aromatic herbs of various fragrance. It must be evident that such a work is useful, not only in cases of scarcity, when wheat, &c. may not be easily procured; but also, in times of plenty, since it adds to the variety of those condiments which nature, the liberal mother, supplies with no niggard bounty for the use of man. Inoculation of Sheep: salutary. In the annals of the Agricultural Society of Mecklenburgh, Vol. III. for 1809, is recorded an account of an experiment made in the Inoculation of Sheep, with virus taken from other sheep, under the direction of M. Fock, a Dutchman. It does not clearly appear for what disorder they were inoculated; or against what disorder this process was used as a preservative; but, the hint may be useful in some cases, and therefore we insert it. The success is reported to have been complete, as out of 483 sheep inoculated, only six died. If this were against the rot in sheep, it deserves especial attention. De l'astre bienfaisant des jours, Son doux regard, comme sa douce voix. Console encore les adieux de la vie. Euclid's Geometry: re-discovery.-Professor Metternich, at Meutz, announces that he has obtained an exact Geometrical de-. monstration of the eleventh principle of Euclid's Elements; and thereby is enabled to supply a lacuna that has been felt in' Geometry for two thousand years. He purposes to publish this discovery under the title of Voistaendige Theorie, &o. Complete Theory of parallel lines; accompanied by a supplement, in which is described the fundamental principle of the construction of a right line. A Plate of of instructions will be added. HUNGARY. National Museums: emulatory. The Archduke Palatine of Hungary has lately obtained possession of an extensive ground, to which he intends to transfer the National Museum of Pesth. This Mueum is daily augmented and enriched by voluntary donations and acquisitions, the number of which has been very considerable during the years 1812, and 1813. M. Paul has lately published at Tubingen, in 1 vol. pp. 379, under the title of Museum, a Collection of Essays, some of which, by their subjects, possess considerable novelty and interest. The first article proposes coujectures on sundry phenomena offered by Animal Magnetism. Others are on the The Johanneum, or, National Museum of origin of the first plants, the first animals, Stiriu, at Gratz, rivals that of Pesth, and and the first men. Another is, wherefore even seems to surpass it. According to a among the most agreeable of our recollec-Report from the Directors at the beginning tions, are the recollections of infancy always assigned the principal place?-why are they the most delightful-A glance into the country of Dreams-A question proposed during sleep, answered while wide awake On the art of being always contented, &c. Essai de Poesies Religieuses Par M. M. Meister, Zurich, 1815. These specimens are fifty in number, we select one, written by the author, as a prayer, at the age of seventy years. Après tous les dons précieux, Si tu permets encore une seule prière, Que ma froide et faible paupière of 1815, they had opened public courses of Mineralogy, of Chemistry, of Botany, of Technology, and of Astronomy. The construction of an Observatory is begun. M. de Bruckenthal, who died in 1803, had founded a Transylvanian Museum, at Hermaustadt in Transylvania: but it has not yet been open to the public. have proposed a prize of one hundred The Directors of the Theatre at Vienna, ducats for an Opera, the subject of which is to be the Return of the Emperor to his Capital, after having conquered Peace.The composition may be in either two or three acts. Notices on the Manuscripts discovered in while the fate of Italy hung in suspence, and while the Kingdom of Naples was sub Herculaneum. M. SCHURART has addressed to the So-ject to foreign dominion, it was of little ciety of Sciences of Copenhagen, a letter containing some of the latest particulars resp cting the manner of unrolling the ancient Manuscripts extant in Herculaneum. It is well known that these MSS. are burut, and are reduced to the state of charcoal, without having lost their form. They are susceptible of being read, when mrolled, and the process of unrolling, in which consists the labour, has succeeded hitherto on about three hundred of these Votunes. consequence to treat on this subject; but, now, when Peace offers better hopes, aud when we may indulge an expectation of the return of learned leisure, it will not, we trust, be taken amiss in us, if we recall this interesting enquiry to the recollection of those who have the power, the opportunity, and the disposition, to pursue and complete it. May Fortune favour them by the discovery of Works far exceeding in importance those already recovered from this mine of ancient lore! The following is a description of the ancient Library in which they were found;-deep under the earth, &c. which covered Herculaneum. The operation of unrolling is not only a work of difficulty and delicacy; but, it demands patience without limits, or end. It consists in gluing the burnt cinder of the M. strip by strip, on gold-beater's skin, by means of water strongly gummed: -this process, takes place as the portious of the MS. are successively unrolled. When, after having employed years of time and every possible assiduity of labour, for this purpose, the operator, has at length arrived at the farther extremity of the 'roll, at which the title of the work is placed the discovery turus out to be nothing more than that of a eontract for. sale, or some other document equally insig-wood of which the presses had been made nificant But, other works possessing real importance have also been found. Such 4to. 4. The same: On the affinity between cer-· tain Virtues and certain Vices. 5. The same: On the Vices. 6. The same: On the Poets.. 7. The same: Philosophical Fragments. 8. Deometricus Geometricus, Fragments. 9. Philostratus, On Unreasonable Contempt. 10 Carnisius, Or Friendship. 11. Colothes On Plato's Dialogue, entitled Iss. 12. Philodemus, On Religion. 13. Chrysippus. On Providence. Of these thirteen recovered MSS. only the first two have hitherto been communicated to the learned, by publication, The apartment which contained the MSS. was fitted up with wooden presses around the walls, about six feet in height, and another double row of presses stood isolated in the middle of the room, so as to admit a free passage on all sides. The was burnt of course to a cinder, and gave way at the first touch; but the volumes, composed of a much more perishable subtance, the Egyptian or Syracusan papy. rus, were, although completely carbonized through the effects of the heat, yet so dual removal to a similar set of modern far preserved as to admit of their indivipresses, with glass doors, in the Museum. About 1500 were thus conveyed from antiquity into the modern world; and 1500 volumes, permit me to observe, is by no meaus to be considered as a despicable number for the colection of a private Roman. In point of expence it may fairly be estimated equal to a moderu ibrary of 8,000 volumes. The discovery of so considerable a aumber of ancient manuscripts was hailed at the time by every lover of antiquity throughout Europe, as an event witch bid fair to add to our catalogue of Creek and Roman classics, many authors, the existence of whose works might hitherto have been utterly unknown; or others, whose writings were mented as lost. At. We take this opportunity of setting be ali events it was hoped that the explorafore our readers a more complete description of this hidden treasure would be the means not only of supplying many of the tion of the manner of unrolling and copying chasms, with which a barbarous age had these Antient Volumes, than we hitherto handed to us some of the most invalua have had occasion for doing. Indeed, ble remains of ancient learning, but also of correcting a number of spurious read-may be allowed to use the expression, unings, by which ignorance and pedautry til the work is completed. The whole is had defaced them. afterwards published, both in letterpress and correct engravings of each page, at the expence of the government. Tedious as the method is, it would have led to far more ostensible results, had its application been constant, and had a sufficicht number of hands been at all times employed to put it in practice. But, frequently the undertaking was discontinued for a length of time, and often when it was resumed, want of funds and of energy prevented any decisive progress. Until very lately the establishment had been almost a dead letter, when through British aid it was called into action, and put on a footing of effectiveness from which more productive results might reasonably be expected. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, from a zeal for the advancement of learn ing, which reflects honour on the British character, and calls for the gratitude of the Literati of all Europe, sent thither Mr. Hayter, a gentleman of classic at tainments, who, under the sanction of the Neapolitan government, superintended the whole establishment, and directed its operations with indefatigable diligence. 66 The following is the latest account of British exertion in favour of these MSS. It is taken from Mr. Ackerman's the favour of that Gentleman, we are also Repository of Arts." Vol. iv. p. 31. By enabled to offer a fuc simile impression of a line of the poem referred to, by which a judgment may be formed on the most an: cient characters known in Latin Paieography. These fragments have been printed, in oblong folio,—(for the lines are written venience of our page)-The MS. is written at full length, though divided for the conin two columns, each containing eight or nine lines: the letters are all uncial (or capitals) very distinctly formed, less angular than generally, they are, in inscriptions; and every word is separated by a point, which contributes essentially to distinctness, and to facily of reading, We have annexed the whole of the passage to which the fac simile line refers, and can only express our regret, that other parts of the same poem have not been equally well preserved: they are mostly unintelligible, As the different lamina of which the roll is composed, would break off with the slightest touch, a fresh back is successively formed by the application of gold-beater's skin affixed with gum water. Such, however, is the damaged state of the material, that without using very minute patches of gold-beater's skin (generally not exceeding the size of a common peal, an npper stratum would often "The Rev. Mr. Hayter, who since 1802, be glued to one or more under ones, has been superintendants of the Herculathrough the little holes or breaks which nean MSS. for his Royal Highness the sometimes penetrate several of the lamina. Prince of Wales, has arrived in London, In proportion as the laborious operation from Palermo (1810.) We regret to have of forming a new back proceeds, the work it confirmed, that the whole museum at is gently and progressively wound up by Portici, including 1500 of those MSS. turning certain pegs, until one entire page which had not been unfolded, and 230 is unfolded, which is forthwith sepa- originals,, which had been unfolded, parrated from the roll, and spread on a flat tially or wholly, by Mr. Hayter, were sufboard or frame. A draftsman, unacfered to fall into the hands of the French, quainted with the language of the manu- notwithstanding the remonstrance of this script, makes a faithful facsimile of it, geatleman to the Neapolitan court, to have with all its chasms, blemishes, or irregu- them removed, or sent to England. We Jarities. The taking of this copy is no learn, however, that Mr. Hayter had preless a work of extreme patience and nicety, viously copied and corrected 94 of those as it is only by a particular reflection of which he had unfolded, and that these light, that the characters, whose black copies, which are fac-similes, were transcolour differs very little from that of the mitted by him to the Prince of Wales, and carbonized papyrus, can be distinguished. have since been presented by bis Royal The facsimile is next handed to an anti-highness to the university of Oxford. quary, who separates the words and sentences, supplies any hiatus, and other wise endeavours to restore the sense of the original. By a like process the succeeding pages are unrolled aud decyphered, if I Among these was a Latia poem, which Mr. Hayter conjectures to have been a composition of Varius, a friend of Virgil. Of this Latin poem, as well as of an ingenious treatise on death, by Philo |