of the clapper may be so adapted to wicked. God and his Apostles, elethe power of the apparatus, as to vated in glory, preside over this awcause small bells to continue ring- ful scene. The lateral parts repreing without intermission, for years sent, on the one side, the gate of Paratogether. dise, where St. Peter admits the just, and on the other, the entrance to Hell, by which Devils are carrying off the wicked. The ungoverned imagination, and the whim which reign in the composition of this picture, are doubtless that which most pleases the multitude; but it merits the atten

some of its heads, by their general truth of expression, and, in fine, by the justness of the movements of most of the figures. The artist to whom we owe this picture is better known under the name of John of Bruges, than under that of Van Eyck: helived about the commencement of the 15th century.

Mr. Mayer Oppenheim, of London, has obtained a patent for making a red transparent glass. In making this we are directed to take the materials that compound the flint-glass; to purify them, and add an equal quantity of bran-steen, a species of manganese ore, mix them well together, and tion of the artists, by the beauty of place them in a reverberatory furnace for thirty-six hours, when the calcination will be completed. This must be cohobated, or repeatedly exposed to the action of warm water, till no saline particles remain, when it may be dried, and an equal quantity of sal ammoniac put into it; it is then to be reduced to powder by the help of distilled vinegar. It is next put into a retort, well secured, placed in a sand furnace, and exposed eighteen hours to a fire sufficiently strong for sublimation; after this, the calx is to be separated from the sublimed matter. To this sublimate, an equal quantity of sal ammoniac is to be added, and again to be levigated as before. The mixture is to be brought back into the retort, and a fire applied strong enough to convert the brann-stein to a liquid. Of this liquid, half an ounce is to be taken, and to this thirty grains of dissolved Dutch gold are to be added. This quantity is to be mixed with every pound of the flint materials, and the mixture being placed in a reverberatory furnace, there will be produced a white flint glass, which on a second exposure to the same heat, will be red and transparent. The above-named compounds of the flint glass, contain two parts of lead, one part of sand, and one part of salt petre or borax.

FOREIGN LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

France.

Among the productions of the Flemish school, now at Paris, that which draws the greatest notice is, the Last Judgment, by Van Eyck. In the centre of the picture appears the Archangel Michael, girt with a cuirass, and holding in his hand a balance, in which be weighs the just and the

The paintings of Cranach, who was of a satirical character, also attract crowds. His picture of the Fountain of Youth is full of comic and original designs; and those in which he represents the different parts of the passion of Christ, are full of grotesque figures, where popes and cardinals almost always act the principal part; one would almost believe that, in his picture where Melancthon, under the aspect of John the Baptist is preaching in the desert, he designed to satirise the little success attending the conferences held at Augsburgh.

Cranach belongs to the German school: like all the artists of that time, he paints the carnations in a dry manner, but his draperies are exceed ingly correct.

There is also a painting of Breughei d'Enfer, thus surnamed on account of his taste for painting devils, and the place of their abode. This painting presents a history of the world: in one of its departments is represented the fall of the angels, the creation, and the disobedience of man; in two other parts of the picture are displayed the various torments which are the effect of original sin. Calot, so much vaunted for the extravagance of his ideas, has produced nothing so whimsical as the details of this piece.

The cultivation of the soda plant has been very successful in several parts of the district of Terrascou, not

less than ten miles from the coast, ber of our citizens; and to gratify and has been found the most profit- those who are at a distance, the folable crop that could be raised. Moist lowing description of him, and parsoils and those contiguous to them ticulars concerning him, may be rehave hitherto always been found the lied on. most favourable to this culture, so that the distance of this successful experiment from the sea, renders it so much more remarkable.

A detached spire was the only part of the cathedral of Cambray, which had escaped the revolutionary bands. M. Pommereuil, prefect of the department du Nord, has consecrated it to the memory of Fenelon. A chapel is to be constructed in the lower part, to contain his mortal remains; his statue is to be placed on the top, which commands the prospect of a public walk, formed on the scite where for merly stood the palace be inhabited, and the church where he so often preached Christian charity, and gave the example of repentance, and of submission to legitimate power!

Germany.

It is in agitation to extend the plan of the institution called at Vienna the Oriental Academy. It was founded in 1754 by Prince Kaunitz, then prime minister, under the auspices of the Empress Maria Theresa; and has produced a considerable number of eminent oriental scholars, many of whom have been employed in the legation to Constantinople, and published many works of great interest on eastern literature.

A terrible water spout fell on the night of the 27th of August last at Hermagor in Illyrian Carinthia. The water flowed from the vicinity into the market place, and even penetrated the windows of the first floors, More than fifty persons were hurried away by the torrent, many of whom were alive, and called piteously for assistance, which no one could afford. All the bridges and twelve houses were washed away, and a great quantity of cattle perished in the fields. North America.

New York, Sept. 5. Doctor Davis, consul of the United States at Tripoli, has imported into this city, from that Regency, a sheep which was presented to him by the bashaw of Tripoli, This animal has excited very deservedly the curiosity of a great num

The body is longer than the erdinary sheep of our country; his legs are so long that he may be compared, in point of size, to a yearling calf; his head is long and large, the ferehead arched; his horns spiral, but not large; has a fine eye, with a bold demeanour; his neck is long, with a large dewlap of hair; his head and legs are not covered with wool, as some of the Merino sheep are, but with a short white shining covering of silky hair; except that around his eyes, for about half an inch in breadth, the hair is black; and about the half of his ears, towards the end, are black. At a small distance his covering appears of the dirty brown of the Merino; but on examination of the fleece, there is a mixture of straight hair or wool, of a soft silky feeling and appearance, mixed with a coarser white hair, such as you find in camel's hair shawls. The fleece at present is from an inch and half to two inches long; his tail is long and thin, resembling somewhat that of the tiger.

Fezzen, from whence the animal was brought is described as a circular dormain, in a vast wilderness, like an island in the ocean, lying to the south of Tripoli. There is an annual present of these rams made to the bashaw of Tripoli. No females are ever per mitted to come from thence; and, from the amazing length of the jour ney across the deserts, which requires from 70 to 90 days, generally very few of those that are sent survive the jour ney-out of four which were sent with the one now here, two only arrived at Tripoli, one of which died on his pas sage to America.

The origin of the Merino race of sheep is involved in so much obscurity, that scarcely any two writers have been found to agree as to the probable origin of the race. From some circumstances detailed by Doctor Davis, as collected from various persons in Tripoli and Spain, ard comparing the make, form, and marks of this animal, with some sheep inported into this city from Spain, it

may be conjectured that the race of niture with the composition of the Merinos have sprung from a mixture electric battery, is entirely fanciful, of the Fezzen ram with the common and seems no wise calculated for sheep of Spain and Barbary. assisting us in the explication of the The Fezzen Ram differs from the phenomena. The brilliant science Barbary Ram in some particulars; one of electricity, it must be confessed, is or two of the most prominent are, still in its infancy. Philosophers have that the tails of the Barbary sheep are assumed the existence of an electric short and about five inches broad, fluid without proof, and talk of the whereas the tails of the Fezzen sheep galvanic current as familiarly as if are very thin and long. From the they were describing the operation carcase of the Barbary and Merino of a real and tangible substance. sheep there exudes a fat or grease, Were such expressions merely figutechnically known by the name of rative, and forced upon us by the yolk. The Fezzen appears perfectly poverty of language, they would be

free from it.

This animal is now at the residence of Mr. Wm. A. Davis, Bloomingdale, about seven miles from this city, who, it is understood, has determined to dispense his usefulness the present season only, to a reasonable extent; from that stock we shall be able to judge of the value of the ram; and there can be no doubt, from the information obtained, though small, that he will be a valuable acquisition to this country, and particularly so as he is supposed to be only about two years

and a half old.

South America.

liable to no material objection. But if they only serve to fill the imagination, and supply the want of solid argument, it is high time to reject them. We may safely affirm, that the supposition of an electric fluid has not contributed in any degree to explain the appearances. All that we know of electric agency consists in a system of attractions and repulsions, of which the chief relations have been clearly disclosed. When a substance receives or conveys an electric shock, all its particles, during a certain minute portion of time, suffer a mutual and violent distension. The degree of effect which is produced, must hence Curious account of the electric Eel:- depend on the intensity of action The rivers and lakes of the low pro- combined with its duration.-The convinces of Venzuela, and the Caraccas vulsive agitation excited in the animal abound with the gymnotus electricus, frame by an electric discharge, is or electric cel-called temblador by caused by the general, though mothe Spanish colonists, and anguille mentary, repulsion which it commutromblante by the French settlers of nicates to the train of nerves. The Guyana, which possesses the singular faculty of stunning its prey by an electric discharge. It is, however, met with most frequently in the small stagnant pools that are dispersed at intervals over the immense plains which extend from the Orenocco and Apure. The old road near Uruticu has been actually abandoned, on account of the danger experienced in crossing a ford, where the mules were, from the effects of concealed shocks, often paralyzed and drowned. Even the anglersometimes receives a stroke, conveyed along his wetted rod and fishing line.

The electric eel is of considerable size, being about six feet in length. The structure of its nervous system has been accurately described; but the comparison of its cellular fur

gymnotus electricus appears to have the power of reversing this process.— By an effort of volition, perhaps, it can suddenly give its nervous system the internal derangement appropriate to the electric agency, and thus dart its influence among the bodies in its vicinity. The sensation which the gymnotus occasions is highly painful, and leaves a numbness in the parts affected. It indeed resembles more the effect of a blow on the head, than the shock of a common electric discharge. Analogous to the galvanic excitement, it may however depend less on the absolute intensity of action, than on the length of its duration. In both cases, the diffuse shock received is more akin to the impression made by the residuum of an immense battery, than to the sharp

twitch occasioned by the explosion of or climbing along the extended a small charged jar. branches of the trees, armed with long The Indians entertain such a dread bamboos or harpoons, they, with loud of the gymnotus, and shew so much cries, push the animals forward, and reluctance to approach it when alive prevent their retreat. The gymnoti, and active, that Humboldt found ex- roused from their slumbers by this trenie ditficulty in procuring a few noise and tumult, mount near the of those cels to serve as the subject of surface, and swimming like so many his experiments. For this express livid water serpents, briskly pursue purpose he stopt some days on his the intruders, and gliding under their journey across the Llanos to the river bellies, discharge through them the Apure, at the small town of Calabozo, most violent and repeated shocks. in the neighbourhood of which he was The horses, convulsed and terrified, informed that they are very numerous. their mane erect, and their eyes starBut, though his landlord took the ing with pain and anguish, make unutmost pains to gratify his wish, he availing struggles to escape. In less was, after repeated attempts, con- than five minutes, two of them sunk stantly unsuccessful. Tired at last under the water and were drowned, of disappointment, he resolved to Vistory seemed to declare for the proceed himself to the principal spot electric eels. But their activity which the gymnoti frequent. He now began to relax. Fatigued by was conducted to the Cagno de Bera, such expence of nervous energy, they a piece of shallow water, stagnant shot their electric discharges with less and muddy, but of the heat of 79 frequency and effect. The surviving degrees, and surrounded by a rich horses gradually recovered from the vegetation of the clusia rosca, the shocks, and became more composed hymenoa courbaril, the great Indian and vigorous. In about a quarter of fig-trees, and the sensitive plants with an hour the gymnoti finally retired odoriferous flowers. Here the travel- from the contest, and in such a state lers soon witnessed a spectacle of the of langour and complete exhaustion, most novel and extraordinary kind: that they were easily dragged on shore About thirty horses and mules were by the help of small harpoons fastened quickly collected from the adjacent to cords. This very singular plan of savannahs, where they run half wild, being only valued at seven shillings a-head when their owner happens to be known. These the Indians hem in on all sides, and drive into the marsh; then pressing to the edge of the water,

obtaining the electric ecl is, in allu sion to the mode of catching fish by means of the infusion of narcotic plants, termed embarbascar concaballos, or poisoning with horses.

MEMOIRS OF REMARKABLE PERSONS.

R. GRIGNION, (whose death we His engraving was not the imitation

MR. of our of Audran, Edelinck, or Fry, it was

last number,) was in his 94th year. the emanation of a natively vigorous This artist Hourished in this country mind, skilfully directed by a familiar as an historical engraver, upwards of study of the ablest models. His best half a century. He passed a part of his early youth at Paris under the celebrated Le Bas, from whom he imbibed such principles as laid the foundation of a style at once energetic and elegant. Having commenced his career in this school, he could draw as well as engrave; and as he possessed that rare talent in his art, the power of giving a free and faithful translation of a picture, the quality and cast of his productions were bold and original.

works not only possess in an eminent degree whatever constitutes character and expression, as the print he engraved from one of logarth's series of election pictures, abundantly prove; but they partake of that happy care lessness of execution, which is as much a characteristic beauty in the style of painting or engraving, as it is in that` of poetry. As Mr. Grignion advanced in life, his pure old-fashioned style was superseded by a more imposin

a more finished, but a less intelligent suppose that the laws of nature would manner. This revolution in engrav- be suspended for the contradictory ing threw him into obscurity, and re- requests of men; and that if prayer duced him also to poverty; but a few was notoriously useless, there was artists and lovers of art to whom his little sense in continuing the symvirtues and talents were equally dear, phony. The book was reviewed, by a prompt and efficient subscrip- abused as atheistical, and the poor tion, smoothed the path of his de- author out of employ, fell into exclining age, and enabled him to close treme want. On the 14th of January his days in the bosom of his family, 1774, being then about five and with a contented and grateful mind. thirty, he attempted to destroy himHe resigned his life without any ap- self with a pen knife; but not sucparent pain or struggle. ceeding, he determined on the slower process of voluntarily starving himself.

JOHN PETER DRIESS, Mendelsohn, Hagen, Nicholai, and HIS Gentlemam was born about other humane men visited him and T 1740, and educated at the cele- endeavoured to awaken the love of brated seminary of Joachims Thal. life. Independence or insanity gave His relations intended him for the a frankness to his discourse, which ecclesiastical line, and he had made a enabled them to succeed. They inprogress in classical acquirements duced Prince Henry of Prussia to commensurate with their solicitude. leave his card, and carried word to But his curiosity led him into bolder poor Driess that he might be appointinvestigations than were consistent ed lecturer to his Royal Highness. with his intended profession and employment, and by the study of Brucker's History of Philosophy, Bayle's Dictionary, and Spinoza's works, it is said he attained a state of mind which indisposed him to conformity with the religious opinions of his countrymen. When the time for his ordination arrived, he disdained to that ceremony. His family who could with difficulty afford to support the expence of his education, soon after by degrees withdrew their assistance; however confident in his intellectual resources, he flattered himself that he should obtain a liberal maintenance by writing for the booksellers of Berlin. His first productions were anonymous, and concealed in various periodical publications; at length he advertised a Dissertation on the propriety of abolishing Public Prayer. He contended that it was absurd to

Driess now accepted nourishment and recovered. Prince Henry allotted him a stipend; and indicated certain days for his attendance in the library. Life had again charms while the dream of ambition could endure. He went in new clothes to thank the benevolent Jew, Mendelsohn, and to consult about winning further trophies from ambition. The humanity of the Prince had given an audience, but intended no acquaintance. The next work of Driess, which defended suicide, was as unpopular as his first. Another attack of hypochondriasis came on, which necessitated his removal to a public mad-house, where, for want of some implement of destruction, he beat out his own brains against the wall. Thus it is inferred that free-thinking has its martyrs as well as superstition.

STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

THE last month continued to pre- and confusion; the great, a prey to all sent the same melancholy state the factions, which too often surround of public affairs, which must naturally a court; and the merchants incapable take place, when the sovereign is so of carrying on commerce from the afflicted as to be incapable of per- number of bankruptcies, which weekforming the duties of his office. This ly fill the gazettes. That difficulties of course would be exaggerated in the have arisen from both causes cannot foreign journals, which paint our be doubted, yet neither the perplexicountry as overwhelmed with anarchy ties of the commercial world, nor the