By way of apology for dwelling longer upon Mr. Sheridan's treatise than that of his antagonist, we muft fay, with Milton in his defence of art and study, In re mediocriter laudandâ maxime • elucere vim eloquentiæ.' FOREIGN LITERATURE. ART. XII. Mémoire pour le Peuple François. ART. XII. Memorial in Favour of the Commonalty of France. SINCE the French government has tolerated the publication of writings on political subjects, the prefs conftantly teems with pamphlets, twenty fometimes appearing in a day. Some of them breathe a spirit of freedom that would do honour to a land of liberty; and the tendency of all is to point out the neceffity of a reform in the government. Of all that have yet engaged the attention of the public, none has been more defervedly noticed than the work before us, It is the production of M. Corutti, who was formerly of the order of Jefuits, and who was charged by that fociety to make their apology at the time of their fuppreffion. He now defends a better caufe, the rights of the commoners of France against the pretenfions of the nobility and clergy. Bold without licentioufnefs, and vigorous without violence, his ftyle neither rifes to the flighty vehemence of declamation, nor finks to the level of common-place. He fhews that many of the privileges of the nobility and clergy are derogatory from the purposes of their inftitution. Though the chain of reasoning in which he proves the rights of the nation at large, is highly forcible, perhaps there is no other of his arguments that will have fo much weight with the two first orders of the state, as the neceffity of their yielding to the circumftances of the times. The words of Otway, The public ftate's a beggar, One Venetian trufts not another," may at this moment be fairly applied to the French nation. While M. Corutti points out to the commoners that their claims are not only founded on the principles of general equity, but also, in many refpects, on the ancient ufages of the monarchy, be advifes them to continue to urge them in a firm but peaceable manner; obferving, that the people have generally loft more than they have gained by having recourse to arms in civil diffenfions. His dedication to the memory of the late dauphin, father of the prefent king, is a model of eloquence. ART. ART. XIII. FOREIGN INTELLIGENCË. PROGRESS OF ARTS, SCIENCES, &c. METEOROLOGY. WHILST treating of the fcience of meteorology, we cannot omit an account of a remarkable electrical meteor obferved by the Abbé Hervieu, profellor of philosophy at Falaife. On the 25th of February laft, the weather being very rainy, the barometer being conftantly at 26 inches 7 lines, and the wind due fouth, violent hurricanes arofe at fhort intervals, attended by very heavy fhowers. About half after eight at night the wind abated fuddenly, and what little there was was northweft. The abbé was in his chamber, pretty near a taper, when fo vivid a light came in at the window, that it extinguifhed that of the taper. Inquifitive to know whence it came, he went into the court-yard, whither the curiofity of feveral ftudents had drawn them, on obferving this extraordinary light. The sky, towards the fouth, was clear; at the north-weft it was clouded; the air was extremely moift, and there fell a gentle mift. Doubting whence this light came, the spectators foon faw the fame phenomenon repeated, and observed, in the northweft, flashes of lightning far more vivid than any they had ever feen before; thefe were followed, at confiderable intervals, by very violent thunderclaps. In the fpace of time between two flashes, they perceived, towards the lower part of the church St. Gervais, to which they were very near, a pretty vivid light. On a fudden a lambent flame rofe and covered the whole roof of the chapels placed against the tower, whence it instantly afcended to the top of the steeple. This phenomenon might have lafted two or three feconds; and gave us fufficient time to observe it; it firft difappeared on the upper part of the steeple. A light was ftill perceived, although more feeble, on the chapels, when behold a flash of lightning, fimilar to the preceding ones, and all difappeared. There was a confiderable interval betwixt this flash and the clap of thunder which followed. This truly furprifing phenomenon was undoubtedly caused by electricity; and the direction we faw it take leaves no doubt but it rofe from the earth towards the clouds. But why difplay itself in fo large a volume, and how did it discharge itself w.thout without explofion? Thefe facts, it appears to me, fays the abbé, may be thus explained: The wind, by drifting the rain against the walls of the tower, had prepared excellent conductors for the electricity. This fluid, accumulated in the bowels of the earth, and impelled to rife by the proximity of certain negative clouds, must have followed the trains of water which were along the wall ; arrived at the top of the chapels, the roof of which was completely moistened, it must have uniformly spread itself. Near, and even upon, these chapels, are several stone columns of gothic architecture, armed with a great many points, which were likewife moiftened. Thefe points must have discharged a very great quantity of the electric fluid; but it rofe from the earth ftill more abundantly: it is not surprising, then, that the flame should rise to the top of the fteeple, the form of which, pretty nearly that of a very fharp cone, and the great number of fanes, must have contributed not a little to convey it to the clouds without explosion. The electricity ceafing to rife from the earth in fo great a quantity as before, the points of the columns became fufficient to discharge it: this accounts for the flame difappearing at the top of the fteeple, whilft it was ftill feen on the chapels. The negative cloud which received this abundance of electrical fluid without doubt became pofitive; and if we suppose that it found pretty near it another negative cloud, it fhould have inftantly difcharged the electrical fluid with explosion; and this feems to explain the above phenomenon terminating by a flash of lightning and a thunderclap, which, however, came from a part more diftant from us than the church of St. Gervais. The Meteorological Article, a part of which was given in our laft ART. ART. XIV. SUMMARY of FOREIGN SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS For the Month of M A Y. Paris. Defcription des Gites de Minerdi des Forges et des Salines des Pyrenées, fuivie d'Obfervations fur le fer Mazé et fur les Mines de Sards en Poitou. Par Monf. le Baron de Dietrick, Secrétaire Général des Suiffes et Grifons, &c. Defcription of the Layers of forge and faline Mineral Earths in the Pyrenees; followed by Obfervations on polished Iron, and the Mines of Sards in Poitou. By the Baron de Dietrick, SecretaryGeneral to the Swiss Nation and the Grifons, &c. 4to. 2 vol. THIS HIS work has received the privilege and approbation of the commiffioners of the Academy of Sciences appointed to examine it. Paris. Octava Differtatio botanica Erythroxilon et Malpighiam complectens, 18 Tabulis ornata. Auctore Antoni-Jofepho Cavanilles. Eighth botanical Differtation, comprehending the Erythroxilon and Malpighia; ornamented with 18 Plates. By Antonio-Jofepho Cavanilles. The Chevalier de la Marck carried the kinds of Erythroxilon as far as eight. This author has added three new fpecies, one of which, however, appeared to M. Marck to be diftinét from. this genus. Linneus defcribed only nine fpecies, Malpighi and Cavanilles make them amount to fifteen, two of which are taken from the works of d'Aublet and Jacquin. This differtation too has received the approbation and privilege of the academy. Paris. Collection des Papillons d'Europe, &c. nouvelle livraison. Collection of European Butterflies, &c. Published in Numbers. The present number, which is very carefully executed, contains twelve plates, and ends with the two hundred and thirtieth. Paris. Annales de Chymie, ou Recueil de Mémoires concernant la Chymie et les Arts qui en dépendent. Par M. M. de Morveau, Lavoifier, Monge, Bertholet, De Fourcroy, le Baron de Diétrick, Haffenfratz, et Adet. Tome Premier. Annals of Chemistry; or, A Collection of Treatifes concerning that Science and the Arts which depend on it. The Authors as above. 8vo. I vol. The refpectable names affixed to this work are fufficient to teftify its value. Mayence. Mayence. Beytrage zur Naturgs Hiftiche des Mainzer landes, &c. Memoirs relative to the Natural Hiftory of Mayence. By M. Nau, Profeffor of Finances. Two 8vo. Numbers. The author defcribes with exactnefs, from his own obfervations, the objects of natural history he has accurately examined; explaining, in a fatisfactory way, why he differs, in fome refpects, from his predeceffors. The firft number, and the beginning of the fecond, treat of twenty-fix fifhes; the latter part of the fecond comprehends amphibii and birds. Tubinge. Beytrage zur naturge Hifliche des Herzog Thumps Wirtemberg, &c. A Tract on the Natural Hiftory of the. Duchy of Wirtemberg, following the Order of the Rivers, and the Countries they water. 8vo. 240 Pages. Of all Germany, the duchy of Wirtemberg is the spot moft favoured by nature. In this tract the defcription is accurate and well detailed. Leipfick. Chemifche Aneckdoten, &c. Chemical Anecdotes, &c. 8vo. 253 Pages. In these anecdotes the author, M. Becker, fupports the ancient doctrine of chemistry, in oppofition to the attacks of the new school. Strafbourg. Amphibiorum Virtutis medicata Defenfio, &c. Defence of the medical Virtue of Amphibii continued; containing the Hiftory of the Scinc. By M. Hermann, public Profeffor in Ordinary of Medicine, &c. 4to. 33 Pages. This continuation is compofed of two fections, in the first of which M. Hermann relates fuccinctly the effect of aliments on the animal organisation. The fecond fection treats of aphrodifiacs, and contains the hiftory of the fea fcinc. The author, as a confummate naturalift, describes this animal perfectly; and, as an able profeffor, leaves nothing undetermined as to its medicinal properties. Hankenhaufen. Handbuch fur Gartenfsgunde und angetrende Botaniker, &c. Manual or Catalogue, arranged fyftematically, of 2261 Species of Seeds and Plants, for Fruit, Flower, and Nursery Gardens. By M. Nuenhahn, jun. 8vo. 100 Pages. The names and arrangement are according to the system of Linneus, with a German nomenclature. This catalogue has in particular the advantage of pointing out the means of procuring a great number of articles, at once necefiary and uncommon. ENG. REV. VOL. XIV. JULY 1789. E MONTHLY |