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the Sixth delivering to the Lord Mayor the royal charter by which he gave up his palace of Bridewell to be converted into an hospital and workhouse. There are many genuine portraits by him in the mansions of the nobility. At Basle, in the town-house, are eight pictures of the Passion of our Saviour; and in the library of the University a Dead Christ painted on panel

in 1521.

The celebrated Dance of Death seems to have been designed by Holbein, although some doubts have arisen as to the fact; but these have been occasioned by confounding the set of prints of the Dance of Death engraved by Matthew Merian after a much older master than Holbein, with the wood-cuts by that master after his own designs; the originals of which are preserved in the public library at Basle.

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As an engraver on wood Holbein deserves particular notice. He is said to have begun to practise that art as early as 1511, when he was thirteen years of age, and that before his departure from Switzerland he had executed a great number of wood-cuts. In these he was employed by the most celebrated publishers of his time, at Basle, Zurich, Lyons, and at Leyden. Of his productions as an engraver the most remarkable are the following:A set of wood-cuts known by the name of Death's Dance engraved from original designs by Holbein; when complete it consists of fifty-three prints, though it is seldom to be met with above forty-six. They are small upright prints surrounded with a border. The first impression of them is said to have been made in 1530; but there are later publications of them, particularly one at Lyons, entitled, Simolachri Historie, e figure della Morte, in Lyone oppresso Giov. Frelloni, M.DXLIX. They have been copied on wood by an old artist, but in a manner very inferior to the originals. There is also ascribed to Holbein a set of ninety small cuts of subjects from the Old Testament, executed in a bold masterly style, yet with great delicacy. The best impression of these was published at Lyons in 1539, by Melchior and Gaspar Treschel. There is a later impression of them with two Latin verses in praise of Holbein. This set was copied by Hans Brosamer in a poor style. Holbein also engraved a variety of vignettes, frontispieces, and ornaments for goldsmiths. He usually marked his prints with the ciphers HB or BI, or signed them HANS. HOLB.

Holbein painted in oil distemper, and sometimes in miniature; which last he is said to have learned in England from Lucas Cornelli, and carried it to the highest perfection. "The portraits of Holbein," says Bryan, "are distinguished by a pure and simple design, peculiarly characteristic of his model; his carnations are tender and clear, and his heads, without much shadow, have a surprising relief." Another of his biographers says: "His paintings in miniature have all the force of oil colours, and are finished with the utmost delicacy. In general he painted on a green ground, but in his small pictures frequently he painted on a blue. The invention of Holbein was surprisingly fruitful, and often poetical; his execution was remarkably quick, and his application indefatigable. His pencil was exceedingly delicate, his colouring had a wonderful degree of force, he finished his pictures with exquisite neatness, and his carnations were life itself. His genuine works are always distinguishable by the fine, round, lively imitation of flesh, visible in all his portraits, and also by the amazing delicacy of his finishing."

It is commonly reported that Holbein painted with his left hand; but in a portrait of the artist painted by himself, which was in the Arundelian collection, he is represented holding the pencil in the right hand. This is mentioned by Walpole as a proof against the tradition: but the writer of the life of Holbein subjoined to De Piles' treatise, mentions a print by Holbein still extant, which describes Holbein drawing with his left hand.

In the reign of George the Second, Queen Caroline discovered in a bureau at Kensington, an invaluable collection of Holbein's drawings of the portraits of the

[JANUARY 20,

most illustrious personages of the court of Henry the
Eighth. "How they came there," says Walpole, in his
Anecdotes of Painting, " is quite unknown. After Holbein's
death they had been sold into France, from whence they
were bought, and presented to Charles the First by Mons.
Liancourt. Charles changed them with William Earl of
Lord Pembroke gave them to the Earl of Arundel; and at
Pembroke for a St. George by Raphael, now at Paris.
the dispersion of that collection they might be bought by
or for the king. There are eighty-nine of them, a few of
which are duplicates. A great part are exceedingly fine,
and in one respect preferable to his finished pictures, as
they are drawn in a bold and free manner, and though they
have little more than the outlines, being drawn with chalk,
all, there is a strength and vivacity in them equal to the
upon a paper stained of a flesh colour, and scarce shaded at
most perfect portraits. The heads of Sir Thomas More,
are master-pieces."
Bishop Fisher, Sir Thomas Wyat, and Broke Lord Cobham,

The same writer adds that the pictures were first removed by the Queen to Richmond, but afterwards to Kensington; "but this," says his lordship, "is a very improper place for them, many of them hanging against the light, or with scarce any, and some so high as not to be discernible; especially a most graceful head of the Duchess of Suffolk."

Between the years 1792 and 1800 many of these portraits were admirably engraved in the style of the original drawings by Mr. Bartalozzi, with descriptions by Mr. John Chamberlaine, keeper of the King's drawings and medals, from whom we learn that early in the reign of George the Third these valuable drawings were taken from Kensington to the Queen's House, and by his majesty's order were taken out of the frames in which they had most injudiciously been suffered to remain for some years, and were bound up in two volumes. According to Walpole, some had been rubbed, and others traced over with a pen on the outlines by an unskilful hand. In an old inventory belonging to the family of Lumley, mention was made of such a collection in that family; with a remarkable note that it had belonged to Edward the Sixth, and that the names of the persons were written on them by Sir John Cheke. Most of these drawings have names in an old hand. Walpole says that Vertue the engraver had undertaken to engrave broke off, I do not know why, after having traced off in oil these portraits, "and after spending three years in it paper but about five and thirty. These I bought at his sale: and they are so exactly taken as to be little inferior to the originals."

of

guished names of Colet, dean of St. Paul's; Melanc
Among the portraits in this collection are the distin
thon; Sir John More; Sir Thomas More; and Arch-
bishop Wareham, the friend and patron of Erasmus.
In allusion to the drawing of Chancellor More, Walpole
says, "Holbein was equal to dignified character; he
could express the piercing genius of More, or the grace
Anne Boleyn. Employed by More, Holbein was employed
pencil; from painting the author he rose to the philosopher,
as he ought to be. This was the happy moment of his
single countenance in which any master has poured greater
and then sunk to work for the king. I do not know a
energy of expression than in the drawing of Sir Thomas
thought, and an acuteness of penetration, that attest the
More, at Kensington. It has a freedom, a boldness of
sincerity of the resemblance. It is Sir Thomas More in the
vigour of his sense, not in the sweetness of his pleasantry.
Here he is the unblemished magistrate, not that amiable
elate, and whose mirth even martyrdom could not spoil.
philosopher, whose humility neither power nor piety could
Here he is rather that single cruel judge, whom one knows
not how to hate, and who in the vigour of abilities, of know
ledge, and good humour, persecuted others in defence of
superstitions that he himself had exposed; and who, capa-
ble of disdaining life at the price of his sincerity, yet
thought that God was to be served by promoting an impos-
ture; who triumphed over Henry and death, and sunk to
Kent."
be the accomplice, at least the dupe, of the holy maid of

tion of portraits, and remarks upon its peculiar charac
Mr. Lodge has also copied this portrait in his collec-

ter, "where the artist to the archness of a lively fancy, or the complacency of a benign mind, has most judiciously preferred the deliberating brow and the doubtful but penetrating eye of the judge on the bench, searching for truth in the features as well as in the words of the culprit or witness supposed to be in his presence."

Mr. Lodge also gives a fac-simile of another portrait of More, by Holbein, in which is brought before us the More, not of Westminster Hall, but of Chelsea; the More of Erasmus, "conversing affably with his family,his wife, his son and daughter-in-law, his three daughters and their husbands, and eleven grand-children; no man living so affectionate to his children as he, and loving his old wife as if she were a young maid; so excellent of temper, that whatsoever happeneth that could not be helped, he loveth it as though nothing could have happened more happily."

In speaking of the choice of subjects in this collection of drawings by Holbein, Mr. Lodge says:-"The defects of it were in a great measure unavoidable: it was intended rather to exhibit choice specimens of a particular master, than portraits of distinguished characters. It presents, therefore, a motley mixture of eminence and obscurity; of the resemblances of princes, heroes, and statesmen, who never could have been forgotten, with those of inoffensive country gentlemen and their wives, of whose very existence we should have remained ignorant, but for the immortalizing pencil of Holbein."

This great artist died at the age of fifty-six, of the plague, at London, in 1554; some think at his lodgings in Whitehall, where he had lived from the time that the king became his patron; but Vertue rather thought at the Duke of Norfolk's house in the priory of Christ Church near Aldgate, then called Duke's Place. Strype says that he was buried in St. Catherine Cree Church; but this seems doubtful, for in the reign of Charles the First, Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, the great patron of artists, was desirous of erecting a monument to the memory of Holbein, but gave up the intention, because he was unable to discover the place of the artist's interment.

LIBERTY of speech is good, liberty of action better, but liberty of thought best of all; for the worst of all shackles are those riveted into the soul.

DOGMATISM often results from a full and serious conviction of truth in a strong understanding, joined to an arrogant or irritable temper.

GROUND-ICE.
I.

IN offering to the notice of our readers a subject which has been viewed with incredulity by many superficial observers, we may adopt the language of a gentleman (the Rev. Mr. Eisdale) who has contributed some valuable information respecting ground-ice. "It is always delightful to explore the mysteries of nature; and the Author of our being has provided in such researches unbounded exercise for the highest powers of our understanding and reason. Even brute matter gives us some idea of the immensity of its Creator; for notwithstanding the immense strides that have been made in investigating the properties of matter, we may be said to be at this moment only on the threshold of science; and future generations, if the mind goes on to improve, will look back on our most profound researches merely as forming the rude elements of that more perfect knowledge which they will have

reached."

Every one who has watched the freezing of a lake or pond, or any other collection of still water, must be well aware that the ice begins to form on the surface in thin plates or layers, which on the continuance of the frost gradually become thicker and more solid, until the water is affected in a downward direction, and becomes, perhaps, a solid mass of ice. This is universally the case in stagnant water, but it has been repeatedly proved, that in rapid and rugged streams, the process of In direct opposition, as freezing is often very different. it would seem, to the laws of the propagation of heat, the ice in running water frequently begins to form at fact, while it is received with doubt by some, even the bottom of the stream, instead of the top; and this among the scientific, is frequently attested by those connected with rivers. Millers, fishermen, and waterwhose business leads them to observe the phenomena men, find that the masses of ice with which many rivers are crowded in the winter season, rise from the bottom or bed of the stream. They say that they have seen them come up to the surface, and have also borne them up with their hooks. The under part of these masses of ice they have found covered with mud, or encrusted with gravel, thus bearing plain marks of the ground on which the ice had rested. The testimony of people of this class in our country, agrees with that of a similar class in Germany, where there is a peculiar term made use of to designate floating ice, i. e., grundeis (groundice).

The examples given of the formation of ice at the Such as relate to our own bottom, are very numerous. country will be first selected.

In the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1835, is a memoir by the Rev. James Farquharson, on the formation of ground-ice in the river Don and Leochal. The following particulars are on that gentleman's authority:

MATTER is sublime or beautiful only as it is significant of mind. Here pleasure is, as in every other case, made instrumental to the moral purposes of our being. While the objects of the material world are made to attract our infant eyes, there are latent ties by which they reach our hearts; and wherever they afford us delight, they are always the signs or expressions of higher qualities, by which our moral sensibilities are called forth. It may not be our The ice formed at the bottom of streams does not fortune, perhaps, to be born amid its nobler scenes. But wander where we will, trees wave, rivers flow, mountains resemble the solid glass-like plates which are formed ascend, clouds darken, or winds animate, the face of heaven; on the surface. It has nearly the aspect of the and over the whole scenery the sun sheds the cheerfulness aggregated masses of snow, as they are seen floating of his morning, the splendour of his noon-day, or the ten- in rivers during a heavy snow shower; but on rederness of his evening light. There is not one of these moving it from the water, it is found to be of a much features of scenery which is not fitted to awaken us to moral firmer consistence than these, although never approachemotion; to lead us, when once the key of our imagination ing to the firmness and solidity of surface ice. is struck, to trains of fascinating and endless imagery; and is a cavernous mass of various sized, but all small, in the indulgence of them make our bosoms either glow with conceptions of mental excellence, or melt in the dreams pieces or crystals of ice, adhering together in an appaof moral good. Even upon the man of the most unculti-rently irregular manner, by their sides or angles or vated taste, the scenes of nature have some inexplicable charm: there is not a chord, perhaps, of the human heart, which may not be wakened by their influence; and I believe there is no man of genuine taste who has not often felt, in the lone majesty of nature, some unseen spirit to dwell, which, in his happier hours, touched, as if with magic hand, all the springs of his moral sensibility, and rekindled in his heart the original conceptions of the moral and intellectual excellence of his nature. --ALISON.

It

points promiscuously. Both the firmness of the adhesion, and the dimensions of the interstices, are, however, greatly modified by the intensity and continuance of the previous cold. When the ice begins first to form on the bottoms of the streams, it presents a rudely symmetrical appearance, which for illustration may be compared to little hearts of cauliflowers, fixed in the bottom, having a similar uniform circular outline, and a protuberance in the centre, with coral-like projections.

These pieces have a shining silvery aspect; they are dispersed, at first irregularly, in small numbers, but increase, both in size and numbers, till the whole bottom is covered, and if the frost continues severe, grow in height, but in a very irregular manner, so as to obliterate the earlier somewhat symmetrical shapes, till the streams are raised high above their former levels, and frequently made to overflow their banks.

The name applied to the ground-ice to which the above description refers, is a better one even than that of the Germans. In a district where it occurs almost every winter, and often repeatedly during that season, and where many of the rivers are crossed by means of fords, its existence influences too much their economical arrangements not to excite their particular attention, especially as many horses refuse to enter any stream even slightly impeded by it, being greatly alarmed by the pieces which break and float up from the bottom by the action of their feet. A substance with which all are so well acquainted, is known by an appropriate name. It is called ground-gru; gru being the term applied to snow saturated with, or swimming in, water. The formation of ground-gru occurs only when the temperature of the whole mass of water is reduced to, or nearly to, 32°, the temperature of the air being several degrees below that point. It is preceded by a continuance for some time of a clear state of the sky. But while forming under the continuance of a cloudless sky, its increase is impeded during the day, but when a densely clouded state of the sky occurs, and continues for twenty-four hours, the gru becomes detached from the bottom, and floats down the stream. Should the temperature of the air continue low, with a clouded sky, or get lower, the ground-gru is not renewed, but the river is speedily frozen over at the surface. In fact, it frequently occurs in frosty winters, that the rivers, filled and so impeded by ground-gru, as to be raised above their banks, are found returned into their natural channels, and there frozen over at the surface, but flowing over a clear bottom, in a space of time so short as to appear very wonderful to those who have not investigated the cause. The process is named, by the country people, the flitting of the ice.

Some interesting observations on the same subject were made by the Rev. Mr. Eisdale, and read by him before the Philosophical Society of Perth, in December, 1831, being subsequently communicated to JAMESON's New Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. From thence we gain the following particulars. Ground-ice, as observed by Mr. Eisdale, is produced only in the most rapid and rugged streams: it commences at the bottom of the water, and extends upwards to the surface. He speaks of that kind of ice as being well known in all northern climates from its annoying effects in obstructing all works which are carried on by the impelling power of water. When ice collects on the surface of mill-streams, it is easily managed and broken up, but when ground-ice forms, the case is perfectly hopeless, the streams being obstructed and gorged up from the very bottom. This kind of ice is called in the south of Scotland "lappered ice," an epithet which the common people apply to the natural coagulation of milk.

The first appearance of this ice at Perth occurs on the setting-in of a severe frost, before the true ice has made much progress in advancing from the sides to the centre of the river: nearly the whole body of the stream above the bridge is then occupied by large irregular masses of floating ice of very considerable thickness, far beyond anything that could be effected by the natural operation of the frost in surface freezings. These masses are formed in the most rugged currents, adhering to the projecting rocks, and rough inequalities at the bottom, and increasing upwards, till their bulk and smaller specific gravity as compared with water, enable the stream to tear them from their fastenings.

and hurry them down the river; until being stopped by the flow of the tide, they became closely compacted together, and agglutinated by the frost, by which means great obstacles are presented to navigation. A curious example of the formation of the ground-ice was reaed to Mr. Eisdale by a miller in the western part of Scotland. During a severe frost, when the mill-lead was entirely free from any kind of ice, the miller had occa sion one day to lop some branches from a tree which overhung the lead; one of them fell into the water, and was left there, as he did not apprehend any ill conse quences from so trifling an occurrence. Next day, how. ever, to his astonishment, the water was turned entirely out of the lead, and had overflowed a large portion of an adjoining meadow. On proceeding to ascertain the cause, he found that a solid barrier of ice had been formed across the lead, where the branch had fallen in, so as completely to prevent any water from passing, whilst the rest of the lead was free from ice.

Mr. Knight, the celebrated botanist, has related an observation which is the more valuable, as it seems in some respects to afford a clue to the secret of the for mation of ice in the bottom of rivers; he says:

I first witnessed the existence of ice in the bottom of the water in the river Teme, which passes near my resi dence in Herefordshire. In a morning which succeeded an intensely cold night, the stones in the rocky bed of the river appeared to be covered over with frozen matter, which reflected a kind of silvery whiteness, and which upon examination, I found to consist of numerous frozen spicula, crossing each other in every direction, as in snow, but not having anywhere, except very near the shore, assumed the state of firm compact ice. The river was not at this time frozen over in any part; but the temperature pieces of ice had everywhere formed upon it in its more of the water was obviously at the freezing-point, for small above the shallow stream (in the bottom of which I had stagnant parts near the shores; and upon a mill-pond, just observed the ice), I noticed millions of little frozen spicula floating upon the water. At the end of this mill-pond the water fell over a low weir, and entered a narrow channel, where its course was obstructed by points of rock and large stones. By these, numerous eddies and gyrations were under water; and I found the frozen matter to accumulate occasioned, which apparently drew the floating spicula stood opposed to the current, where that was not very rapid, much more abundantly upon such parts of these stones as below the little falls or very rapid parts of the river. I have reason to believe that it would have accumulated in very large quantities if the weather had continued suffi ciently cold; for I had previously heard from persons of respectable character, who had no interest, nor, I believe, intention to deceive me, that during a long and severe frost some years ago, before I became an inhabitant of my prementioned had been covered over with a thick coat of ice. sent house, the whole bed of the river in the part aboveBut it was not till the month of February that I witnessed the apparent deposition of ice in the manner which I have described; and as the day afterwards became bright, the spicula soon ceased to form, and the ice to accumulate; and before the middle of the day the greater part of it had dis

appeared.

Upon some large stones near the shore, of which parts under similar circumstances, the ice beneath the water had were out of the water, and upon pieces of native rock, acquired a firmer texture, but appeared from its whiteness to have been first formed of congregated spicula, and to have subsequently frozen into a firm mass, owing to the lower temperature of the stone or rock. Ice of this kind and lay three or four inches from the level of the surface extended in a few places, eighteen inches from the shore, of the water, and did not dissolve near so rapidly as that which was deposited upon stones more distant from the shores.

The fact, of which the above instances give abundant evidence, had been noticed by fishermen and others, long before it became the subject of discussion with scientific men.

temperature of nearly 16° Fahr., a person named Hales In the year 1730, when the atmosphere was at the saw at Teddington, the surface of the Thames, near the

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banks, covered with a layer of ice one third of an inch in thickness. There was also at the same time, a second layer below, of greater thickness, which followed the depth of the river, as it adhered to the bottom. This sheet was united to the upper one, even on the water-side; but it was gradually separated in proportion, as, in proceeding into the river, the depth of the water increased. It was not solid as the first, and was mixed with sand, and even stones, which the flakes sometimes carried with them in their movement upwards.

A few more instances of the occurrence of groundice in rivers, and the mode in which the circumstance is explained by scientific men, will be given on another occasion.

. The spirit of domestic peace, Though calm and gentle as the brooding dove And ever murmuring forth a quiet song, Guards powerful as the sword of Cherubim, The hallowed porch. She hath an heavenly smile, That sinks into the sullen soul of vice, And wins him o'er to virtue.-WILSON.

WHERE there are no roads there are always many ways.

AMONG the fathers of the Arabian philosophy may be numbered Honain, an eminent Christian physician, who translated the Elements of Euclid, and other Greek authors, into Arabic. He flourished in the ninth century, under the caliph Al-Mamon, who was not only an illustrious patron of learning, but was himself no mean adept in several branches of science.

One day, after some medical conversation, the caliph said to Honain, "Teach me a prescription by which I may take off any enemy I please, without being discovered." Honain declining to give an answer, and pleading ignorance, was imprisoned. Being brought again, after a year's interval, into the caliph's presence, and still persisting in ignorance, though threatened with death, the caliph smiled upon him, and said, "Be of good cheer, we were only trying thee, that we might have the greater confidence in thee." As Honain upon this bowed down and kissed the earth, "What hindered thee," said the caliph, "from granting our request, when thou sawest us appear so ready to perform what we threatened?" "Two things," replied Honain; "my religion and my profession. My religion, which commands me to do good to my enemies; and my profession, which was purely instituted for the benefit of mankind." "Two noble laws!" said the caliph; and immediately presented him, according to the eastern usage, with rich garments, and a sum of money.

As many natural bodies, whilst they are still entire, are corrupted and putrefy, so the solid knowledge of things often degenerates into subtile, vain, and silly speculations, which, although they may not seem altogether destitute of ingenuity, are insipid and useless. This kind of unsound learning, which preys upon itself, has often appeared among men who have much leisure, quick parts, and little reading; and being, moreover, in a great measure, ignorant of the history both of nature and of the world; out of very flimsy materials, but with the most rapid and violent motion of the shuttle of thought, they have woven those laborious webs which are preserved in their writings. The truth is, that the human mind, when it is employed upon external objects, is directed in its operations by the nature of the materials upon which its faculties are exercised: but if, like the spider, it draws its materials from within itself, it produces cobwebs of learning, wonderful indeed for the fineness of the threads, and the delicacy of the workmanship, but of no real value or use.-LORD BACON,

CHESS.

In our recent notice of the solution of M. Calvi's problem, it was stated that when a pawn arrived at its eighth square it is sometimes necessary to exchange it for some other piece than a Queen; but that, as the •See Saturday Magazine, Vol XXIII., pp. 102 and 256

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Queen has the powers of all the other pieces except the Knight, it is not necessary to choose a Bishop or a Rook; but that it may be desirable to choose a Knight on account of his peculiar checking power. We have been reminded by a correspondent, Mr. E. J. Catlow, that it may happen that the player advancing his pawn to the eighth square and claiming a Queen, would stale-mate his adversary; while by claiming a Bishop in one case, and a Rook in another, he may win the game. Our correspondent has invented two such positions, which are given below. It will be seen from the solutions that in either case it is possible to have too much mating power; for the Queen, combining the moves of the Bishop and the Rook, leaves no move to the adverse King, and consequently he is stale-mated.

I. White to move, and to check-mate in two moves.

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THE BERLIN CAST-IRON ORNAMENTS. ONE of the most interesting establishments in the city of Berlin is the Iron Foundry, at which are cast the celebrated black iron trinkets commonly called Berlin

ware.

This manufacture originated at the time of the commencement of the final struggle between Prussia and Napoleon. The country, impoverished by long and unsuccessful wars, was enabled to cope with her oppressor chiefly by the patriotism of her sons who yielded their active services, and of her daughters who, with a noble generosity, sent their jewels and trinkets to the royal treasury. Those who made this sacrifice received in return rings, crosses, and other ornaments, in cast-iron, which bore the inscription, Ich gab Gold um Eisen: "I gave gold for iron:" and to the present day these articles are much valued by the possessors and their families.

Strangers are freely admitted to the Iron Foundry to see the casting, which usually takes place in the evening. The castings are not, however, confined to trinkets; busts, statues, bas-reliefs, copies of pictures, monumental slabs, &c., are cast with equal success; for whether the object cast be a colossal statue, or the minute filagree ornaments of a lady's toilet, the casting cannot be equalled in delicacy and fineness of impression in any other part of Europe. It is said that this excellence is due to the quality of the Silesian iron; others attribute it to the care bestowed on the moulds, which are formed of a very fine sand mixed with a small portion of clay.

Dr. Friedenberg, in his translation into German of Mr. Babbage's work on the Economy of Manufactures,

mentions the Berlin cast-iron ornaments as an interesting example of the increased value of manufactured articles in comparison with the raw material.

In one of the principal manufactures of these ornaments, such is the fineness and delicacy of those separate arabesques, rosettes, medallions, &c., of which the larger ornaments are composed, that it requires nearly ten thousand of them to make up a pound weight. The price increases in proportion to the fineness, as will be seen by the following table, which gives the prices of one eminent Berlin manufacturer.

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Taking the price of the grey iron, from which these ornaments are made, at 6s. per cwt., on an average, the value of the material is increased 1100 times in the coarser articles, and 9827 times in the finest.

The above are the retail prices, and wholesale prices are probably one-sixth or one-eighth less. But compared with old prices the present ones are much reduced. About the year 1827 they were twice as high, and about the year 1820 three times, so that at that time Berlin cast iron was nearly of equal value with gold,—a remarkable example, and, perhaps, one of the strongest proofs of the influence of the industry of manufacturers on the wealth of the state, especially when we consider that the cast-iron ornaments are

made of native material, and exported in large quantities abroad, and even, indeed, to America. This branch of native industry, however, has been greatly injured by the extensive imitation of the articles, and the sale of them at a cheaper rate. The facility of imitation of the most saleable objects, by purchasing them at a low price, using them as models, and then casting articles of the same description, enables the imitator to offer his goods at such a low price that the original manufacturer, who has been at the expense of much time and capital in the designing and forming a brass model, finds it impossible to enter into competition with him. So that the manufacturer not ventur ing to expend much capital on new models, which do not repay the outlay, the articles by repeated castings lose much of their sharpness and beauty, and the natural consequence is that their reputation abroad is injured, and, notwithstanding the moderate prices, the sale must decline. On this account some of the first manufacturers have given up the business, and the task of improving and perfecting this branch of industry now rests in the hands of a few.

Dr. Friedenberg's account of the deterioration of this interesting branch of manufacture is verified by experience. We have recently inspected some cast-iron ornamental articles from Berlin, and found them entirely deficient in that sharpness of outline and precision of form for which they were once celebrated.

EFFECTS OF A SOLAR ECLIPSE ON ANIMALS.

IN his report on the eclipse of July 8th, 1842, M. Araro always disbelieved, that a friend of his put five healthy and mentions, in support of a popular notion which he had lively linnets in a cage together, and fed them immediately before the eclipse. At the end of it three of them were found dead. Other indications of the alarm it produced were seen in a dog which had long been kept fasting, and which was eating hungrily when the eclipse commenced, but left his food as soon as the darkness set in. A colony from their labours at the same moment. of ants which had been working actively, suddenly ceased

ON THE DURABILITY OF STONE
BUILDINGS.
I.

ON THE CHOICE OF A STONE FOR BUILDING
PURPOSES.

EVERYTHING belonging to the earth, whether in its primitive state, or modified by human hands, is submitted to certain and innumerable laws of destruction, as permanent and universal as those which produce the planetary motions, The operations of nature, when slow, are no less sure; however man may for a time usurp dominion over her she is certain of recovering her empire. He converts her rocks, her stones, her trees, into forms of palaces, houses, and ships; he employs the metals found in the bosom of the earth as instruments of power, and the sands and clays which constitute its surface as ornaments and resources of luxury; he imprisons air by water, and tortures water by fire to change, to modify, or destroy the natural forms of things. But in some lustrums his works begin to change, and in a few centuries they decay and are in ruins; and his mighty temples, framed, as it were, for divine purposes, and his bridges formed of granite, and ribbed with iron, and his walls for defence, and the splendid monuments by which he has endeavoured to give eternity even to its structures which have resisted the waves of the ocean, the perishable remains, are gradually destroyed; and these tempest of the sky, and the stroke of the lightning, shall yield to the operation of the dews of heaven, of frost, rain, vapour, and imperceptible atmospheric influences; and as the worm devours the lineaments of his mortal beauty, so the lichens and the moss, and the most insignificant plants, shall feed upon his columns and his pyramids, and the most humble and insignificant insects shall undermine and sap tations amongst the ruins of his palaces, and the falling the foundations of his colossal works, and make their habi seats of his earthly glory.-SIR HUMPHREY DAVY.

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