Regulus from cobalt, M. Cronstedt from nickel, and M. Gohn' from manganefe. A faving has been made of the fourth part of the coal that was formerly employed in the furnaces, where the bars of iron are prepared. The fcoria is formed into ftones for building. Iron and fteel are greatly improved by the practice of melting caft iron in reverberatory furnaces for works of a finer kind. At Efkituna, a town which was enfranchised in 1771 (in favour of the artificers, who are there employed in the refining of iron and fteel), there are at prefent 66 mafter-workmen, of whom 29 have no other occupation than what they call the Fine fufion. The exportation of copper, in the year 1780, was very confiderable, and the metals and minerals, fent to foreign countries, in the space of the last twenty years, have brought up very little less than 46,153,000 of rixdollars, exclufive of the tin and the finer metal manufactures.

IV. SUPPLEMENTUM Novi Thefauri Juris Civilis et Canonici, &c. i. e. A SUPPLEMENT to the New Thefaurus of Civil and Canon Law, containing various Works of the best French and chiefly Spanish Civilians and Commentators, diftinguished both by their Merit and Rarity, fome of which are now published for the firft Time; the whole selected from the Library and Collection of the late M. GERARD MEERMAN, and published and enriched with a Preface by his Son, JOHN L. B. MEERMAN, LL. D. and Lord of the Manors of Dalem and Vuren. One Volume in Folio. Hague. 1780.

The late M. MEERMAN is well known in the republic of letters, not only by his extenfive and folid erudition, but also by the protection, which a generous fpirit and an opulent fortune excited and enabled him to grant to men of learning. His famous book on the Origin of Printing difplayed a rich fund of knowledge, and an uncommon acuteness in critical invefligation. His Thefaurus Juris Civilis et Canonici, publifhed fome years before his death, in feven volumes in folio, was well received by the learned in all the nations of Europe. The SUPPLEMENT, now before us, completes that celebrated collection, and does honour to the literary zeal and capacity of his worthy and learned fon. The greatest part of this 8th volume is occupied by the Manuale Legum of the ancient Civilian, CONSTANTINE HARMENOPULUS, revised and accompanied with a Latin tranflation, and critical notes by the learned Mr. G. O. REITZ, This new edition of Harmenopulus must naturally be confidered · as a valuable publication by thofe who have a tafte for the ftudy of ancient jurifprudence, as the former editions of this work are become very rare, the latest being that of Stephen Gothofred, which was printed in 1587. The other works we meet with in this volume are, a Treatife concerning Municipal Low, by PETER PONCET.-A nonymous Diflertation on the following quef

tion, Whether a Judge ought to decide according to the depofition of witneffes or his own knowledge and confcience, in cafe of a competition, or, as the title expreffes it, Utrum judex fecundum allegata et probata, ut aiunt, judicare debeat, an fecundum confcientiam? A very rare and curious piece, which was formerly published in 12mo, without date, but whofe Author was in all probability FRANCIS DE ROYE, Profeffor at Angers, who died in 1686.-Three Differtations of SAMUEL FERMAT, concerning certain Roman Military Laws-concerning the Authority of HOMER in Matters of ancient Jurifprudence—and concerning Natural Hiftory-together with fome poems by the fame Author.-Two Differtations of Profeffor CORNELIUS VAN ECK of Utrecht, De VII. Damnatis Legibus Pandectarum and De Quota Litis-ADR. VAN DER HOOP Difputatio de iis, qui antiquitus apud Romanos de Criminibus Judicarunt, i. e. of thofe among the Romans who judged in criminal cafes.-PETRI TRONCHINI Differt. de Variis Capitibus Juris.-CHRISTII Hiftoria Legis Scatinie.

M. MEERMAN has given, in his judicious Preface, the literary history of each of thefe pieces; and, under his infpection, a General Table or Index has been compofed of all the authors that are mentioned, and of all the laws that are explained and corrected in the eight volumes of the Thefaurus. This Table, which has been just published, makes a part of the Supplement, and completes the work.

V. Voyage Pittorefque des Iles de Sicile, de Malthe, et de Lipari, &c. i. e. Travels, reprefented in a series of Engravings, through Sicily, Malta, and Lipari: In which accurate Accounts are given of the Antiquities yet remaining in thefe Countries, the natural Phenomena they exhibit,---as alfo the Character and Cultoms of their Inhabitants. By M. JOHN HOUEL, Painter to the King of France, Folio. 1782. Twelve Livres each NUMBER.

This is, at least, the fourth publication, relative to Sicily, that has been mentioned in our Review in the course of the year 1782, and it is the fecond that bears the title of Voyage Pittorefque. That of which we gave a short account, in our Foreign Correspondence for the month of June, comprehended alfo the kingdom of Naples. The Travels here announced are confined to Sicily, Malta, and Lipari; but thefe offer fo large a field for obfervation, that the last comer, befides the last word (which is an advantage here, as well as in controverfy), has always fomething to tell that had been omitted by those who went over the ground before him. A refidence of four years in the towns of Sicily that are the most remarkable for the ancient monuments they contain, a complete knowledge of the language of the country, and the united talents of painter and architect, have enabled M. HURL to obferve, inquire, defcribe, and delineate, in a manner that muit render this noble and expensive work pecu liarly valuable. The drawings that are to exhibit, in the progrefs of this work, the ancient monuments of the arts in Sicily, and the Other islands already mentioned, amount to three hundied, and there

M +

has

has been no care nor expence omitted that could contribute to render them accurate and elegant. The author has described and delineated (for his pen is as inftructive as his pencil is exact) two amphitheatres, fix theatres, twenty-fix temples, of which two are ftanding and well preferved; three triumphal edifices, palaces, walls of cities, bridges with their ancient pavements, naumachies, aqueducts, wells dug in rocks, with fubterraneous communications; baths of various kinds; tombs of different forms, fize, and construction; ftatues, basso relicvoes, marble vases adorned with fculpture; Etrurian, Grecian, and other vafes of baked earth, fragments of architecture, household furniture, utenfils, and every object that can convey an idea of the manner of living in ancient times.

We have the two first NUMBERS of this publication now before us. The firft contains fix plates. The most remarkable of these is the plate which reprefents the temple of Segeftus. It is fituated upon a hill about five hundred paces from the road which leads to Trapani, and the noble fimplicity of its architecture appears to great advantage amidst the barren plain which furrounds it. There are, as we find in Baron Riedefel's Travels through Sicily, fome peculiarities to be ob-ferved in the structure of this temple, which cannot be explained without a drawing; and thefe are well expreffed in the drawing of our author. The outward part of this temple remains entire. Riedefel's Defcription of it is, as far as it goes, conformable to that before us; but M. HOUEL's is much more circumftantial; and the three laft plates of this number contain details which difplay the art of the architect, point out the proportions of the columns, and exhibit views both of the infide and the exterior of this curious ancient edifice.

The fecond NUMBER Contains fix plates. The two first, which are the 7th and 8th of the work, reprefent a geometrical plan of the theatre of Segeftus, and the view of its outfide. From hence our author proceeded to Trapani, which he calls a miferable little town, though Riedefel speaks of it in a different manner. It is built upon Mount St. Julian, the ancient Eryx, the highest in the whole island, after Etna. It rifes above the clouds, which bear, to the astonished fpectator, the afpect of an icy ocean extending to the horizon, while, through the void spaces that are between these clouds, the portions of the earth below appear like ifles, submerged amidst heaps of ice. On the thore at Irapani M. HoUEL found the shell called Camé, which is about two or three inches in diameter, and is generally covered with a kind of mofs, resembling the finest green velvet. The artifts of Trapani make of it small basso relievos, which are set and worn in rings and bracelets. He thinks that the agates of two or three coJours, on which heads and other fubjects are engraven, derive the name of Cameo, or Camaieu, from this hell.

Our author's vifit to the island of St. Pantaleo, where Hercules is faid to have built the city of Mottya, afterwards poffeffed by the Carthaginians, and, in later times, deftroyed by the Saracens, furnished the fubject of the 9th PLATE, which exhibits a view of the ruins of that city, together with a plan of the falt-works between Trapani and Marfala (the ancient Lilybaum), whofe harbour is reprefented in the Toth Piate, together with feveral ancient remains, and three heads in marble, one of which is Efculapius, furrounded with medals, and

ancient

ancient coins of the towns of Segeftus, Mottya, Drepanum, and Lilybœum. A fine vafe of white marble, with beautiful handles, and a foliage furrounding it, with other vafes, and a ftatue of the god Pan, are represented on the 11th Plate. On the 12th we find the famous grotto of Sibylla, which is the excavation of a rock carried to the depth of eighteen feet, and discovers many veftiges of its ancient magnificence. Nothing can be more ingenious than the method our author has followed in delineating this grotto, fo as to render both its outward form and its internal ftructure diftin&tly perceivable. There is a church built upon this grotto in honour of St. John of Jerufalem; but this change has not entirely effaced the reputation of the Sybil: For the eve preceding the Fettival of St. John, the women, particularly in the lower claffes, come in crowds to confult the ancient prophetels; the matrons to learn whether or no their husbands have been faithful to the marriage-bed during the past year; and maidens to enquire whether they thall get hufbands in the courfe of the prefent? To obtain the information they defire, they drink of the water that forms a canal at the bottom of the grotto, which, by the force of fancy, produces a kind of intoxication, and then they pronounce certain words, which this fonorous cavity fends back, modified by the echo of the place in various ways, which the fupplicants underftand as they can, and interpret as they chufe; and concluding, as fufpicion, defire, or the caprice of the moment fuggeft, that their husbands are inconftant or faithful, direct their conduct accordingly. The Reader will find, in this fecond number, many interefting particularities relative to the manners and customs of the Sicilians; though fome de tails of this kind might be confiderably abridged, and others fuppreffed, without impairing the merit of the work.

VI. Toberni Bergman Opufcula Phyfica, &c. Philofophical and Chemical Effays, &c. By Tobern Bergman, F. R. S. &c. Vol. II. Concluded. See Review for December laft, p. 458. DISSERTATION XVIII. On Platina.

We shall select some of the Author's experiments on this fingular fubftance; in the course of which he was, in some meafure, fuccessful: though it is ftill to be lamented that it remains a defideratum in chemiftry to procure the easy fufion of this metal; which would be extremely valuable, could a method be difcovered of melting it in fuch maffes as might be manufactured.

In the Appendix to our 57th volume, p. 562, we took notice of a method difcovered by M. Delifle, by which platina was faid to be rendered more fufible, after it had been reduced to the ftate of a precipitate, thrown down from a folution of it in aqua regia, by means of fal ammoniac. The Author repeated this experiment with fuccefs; but only procured a malleable regulus, or metal, when he used a very fmall quantity of the precipitate, and a very intenfe fire. Employing the fame precipitate, he even fucceeded in melting it, merely by the heat produced by the blow pipe, with the addition of a little microcofmic falt. He thus obtained, in a few feconds, a pure, but small,

metallic

metallic globule; which, on being beat on an anvil, bore ex. tenfion fo as to become of one line in diameter. He even melted, in the fame manner, feven or eight of thefe globules, firft beat thin into one; which likewise bore extenfion under the hammer. In this ftate he again melted it on a piece of charcoal, as before; but he found that this larger mafs had not undergone fo perfect a fufion as in the preceding experiment; for, on trial, it broke under the hammer.

In this manner, however, the Author obtained feveral minute globules, perfectly bright, and remarkably extenfile; and which, by repeated fufions with microcofmic falt, were freed from iron better than in any other known method. Here follow fome of their properties:

1. They were of the most perfect filvery whiteness; and 2. Extenfible in a very great degree, fingly. 3. A very powerful magnet produced no effects on them; nor did they affect the moft fenfible magnetic needle. 4. They could not be diffolved by any fimple menftruum, except the dephlogisticated marine acid; and, 5. No precipitate was formed in a folution of thefe globules, on the addition of the pureft faturated Pruffian alcali. On this occafion, there was not the flighteft appearance of Pruffian blue; which nevertheless would have been the cafe, on adding to the folution only as much green vitriol as is equal in weight to a one thousandth part of the platina.-As the Author has elsewhere fhewn, this part of green vitriol contains only vote parts of iron.

The Author, in his laft fection, difcuffes the question, whether platina be a pure and diftinct metal, fui generis; and he ftrongly maintains the affirmative. Some chemists of great character affirm, that it is only a compound of gold and iron. Both thefe metals are certainly found in the crude platina: but what metal, fays the Author, is found perfectly pure? Gold is more or less contaminated with filver, copper, or iron; filver, with copper and arfenic, &c.: but the iron contained in platina can be fo far feparated from it, as to give no indications of its prefence, either by the magnet, or that delicate teft, the Pruffian alcali. What probability is there, he adds, that in 100,000 parts of platina, previously purified, there should be contained 99,977 parts of gold, united with 23 parts of iron; and yet no known chemical tuft fhall fhew the prefence of either of thefe metals in it?

The Author had long wifhed to poffefs fome platina, on which no artificial operations had been performed; for it is well known, that, in general, it is triturated with mercury in iron mills, in Peru, in order to extract from it the gold grains which are mixed with it. At length he received from two Spanish gentlemen, who had travelled to Upfal, two fpecimens of pla