OBSERVANDA EXTERNA.

AMERICA.

Astronomical Observations. Annular eclipses [of the sun of course] are very rare; they are proportionately interesting to astronomers: in order to observe that of June 16, 1806. M. de Ferrer, a Spanish astronomer, who resides in New York, went towards Albany under latitude 42° 23′ where he knew the eclipse would be central. He observed the total obscuration to be from 11 o'clock, 755" to 11 o'clock 12′ 32"; from whence M. Delalande concludes, that the conjunction was at 11 o'clock 25′ 33′′; and what is more interesting, he concludes also that we should add 2" to the semi-diameter of the moon.

But a more singular phenomenon observed by M. de Ferrer, is, that the disk of the moon appeared luminous, seven seconds before the end of the obscuration. This appears, to be occasioned by a small portion of atmos phere.

It

He also observed a luminous ring concentric with the sun, whose diameter was between 45 and 50 minutes. and which had not been observed in former eclipses. appears to proceed from the light of the terrestrial atmosphere of those countries, bordering on the parts where the eclipse is total. The borders of the moon were but faintly delineated; slender columns of vapours were seen darting from it, proceeding either from the sun or from the moon, and terminating at the ring.

The total obscuration did not occasion so great a darkness as had been expected: six principal stars only were seen: we suppose Venus and Mercury, Sirius and Procyon, the two stars of Orion, the Goat and the Lyre. Birds were seen going to roost, and a little dew was felt. The light from the ring prevented a complete darkness.

Esquimaux Christians.

At the latter end of the year 1804, the mumber of Esquimaux whom the Moravian nissionaries were instructing amounted to 221. Classical Literature.

Messrs. Poyntell and Co. have just issued from their Classical Press in Phiadelphia, in a neat and correct style, the first American edition of Xenophon's Cyropedia in eight books. The American editors copied from Hutchinson's London edition, and announce, that under the critical inspection of Mr. John Watts, they have corrected many errors of the London edition.

Indian Duelling.

Natches (America), July 1.-The following very extraordinary circumstance occurred a few days since. If the advocates for duelling were compelled to settle their " affairs of honour" in a similar manner-substituting a common hangman to terminate the scene, in

place of a son to one of the parties; it is very probable that the practice would in a short time become less fashionable.

At about 2 o'clock P. M. an Indian was discovered, by the family, entering the South end of Cirault's lane. He drew their attention, being painted in an uncommon manner; his whole body appeared red. He held in his right hand a gun, which he brandished with many gesticulations; in his left hand he held a bottle. He was attended by two other Indians, who advanced at rather a sober pace. At the opposite end of the lane, some more Indians were discovered, among whom was a man painted in like manner, but unarmed. He was held and detained by a woman; but when the one brandishing his gun came within about twenty yards of him, he burst from the embrace of his wife and rushed towards his antagonist. At about four yards distance they both halted: when the unarmed man presented his naked breast to the other, who took deliberate aim, but, appearing to recollect himself, he suddenly dropt his gun, and drank from the bottle, which at the time was tied to his wrist; the other patiently and resolutely holding his breast open and presented all the while. Having finished his drink, he gave a whoop, and took fresh aim; and, in an instant, the other dropt dead almost at his feet. This done, he once more loaded his gun with all possible speed, and gave it to a by-stander (son to the deceased). He then in turn, bared and presented his breast, and was instantaneously sent into eternity.

The dead bodies were each carried the way they came, and by their respective friends interred one at each end of the lane. The wife and relatives of the unarmed one, who was first killed, howled over his remains three days and nights, and then disappeared. On Friday last they returned again, fired several guns on approaching the grave, gave a general howl about a quarter of an hour, and retired.

We learned from some among them, who spoke broken English, that they had quarrelled over a bottle some considerable time ago, when the Indian who was first killed had his finger bit by the other in such a manner, that his arm became inflamed; he declared he was spoiled," and that they must both die. They agreed, and formed the arrangement as related.

66

FRANCE.

Proposed Canals to be executed in France. Grand Northern Canal. This is divided into two branches totally distinct from each other. The first is the junction of the Scheld with the Meuse from Antwerp to Venlo. The second is the junction of the Meuse with the Rhine.

Canal of La Censée. To unite the Scheld and the Scarpe. This fluvial communication is designed as an appendix to the grand canal of St. Quentin.

Lateral Canal of La Haine. To improve the navigation of that river.

Canal of the Lys to Liperlée. To shorten the passage between Lille, and other cities of Flanders, and the sea.

Canal of Charleroy to Brussels. A canal of indispensable utility for the conveyance of coal from the numerous mines near the river Sambre.

Canal of Reims. To follow the river above Braime; join the ancient Egmond canal; and then follow the bed of the Vesle to its junction with the Aisne opposite the village of Condé.

Lateral Canal of the Loire. Very advantageous to the neighbouring departments for the exportation of their territorial productions and manufactures.

Canal from Niort to Rochelle. Prisoners of war to be employed on it until they are exchanged.

Cominunication from Nantes to Brest. A project of incalculable advantage for supplying the ci-devant Brittany with naval stores. The plan is as follows: the junction of the Loire and the Vilaine; junction of the Vilaine with the Blavet; this navigation to be continued to Port-Launay and Brest, by the rivers Doré, Hières, and Anne. Thus there will be four communications with the sea. The plan, also, embraces a branch extending to Quimper, by the little river Odet. The canal from Nantes to Port-Launay, will be about 96 leagues in length.

Persian Professor.

M. Sylvestre de Sacy, the celebrated Orientalist, and member of the Institute, is appointed Persian Professor in the College of France.

Will of a Deaf and Dumb Person. The civil tribunal of Verdun is engaged in the decision of a cause of importance. The question is to know whether an individual born deaf and dumb, was eligible to make a will, and whether the legacies were valid. On the 18th of August, the Procureur Impérial had given his sentence before the Court, on which occasion, a great concourse of spectators attended. Our correspondent observes, that at Commercy, there is a poor girl, also born deaf and dumb, whom a curate of this town, forty years ago,

taught to read and write, mithout using the method of the Abbé de l'Epée, or of that of the Abbé Sicard.-This latter, he adds, might make a will, since she is capable of conversation, by writing.

Ancient Ceremony re-established.

By a letter from Beauvais, dated Oct. 14, we learn that, with permission of the Prefeet, the procession, in which the women of this town have the precedency over the men has been re-established. It had been instituted to perpetuate the memory of the courageous Jeane Laisné, called in history Jeane Hachette. When Beauvais was besieged by the Burgundians in 1471, she wrested a standard from the hand of an enemy, who was attempting to fix it on the wall, and threw him head-long into the ditch, by which he roic deed she saved the town. This procession, which had been abolished by the revolution, took place last Sunday, for the first time since, among discharges of artillery and the applauses of our fellow citizens. Á young woman, personated Jeane Hachette, carrying the standard taken from the Burgundians; the tassels were held by other young women; then came the rest of the female corps, and after them the municipal officers and the rest of the followers. whole was headed by a numerous body of clergy and the shrine of Sainte Angadreme. Prize Question.

The

The free society of physical and medical science of Liege, proposed, in their meeting of 12th June, 1806, as a prize question: "To determine the influence of the passions "in the production of diseases." The society wishes that the authors will be particular in indicating the connection that exists between certain affections of the mind and the origin of certain physical affections. The prize will be a gold medal, value 200 francs, to be given at the public meeting, June, 1807. The memoirs may be written, either in French or in Latin, and directed (post paid) to M. Saveur, the secretary, previous to April 1.

New invented safe Carriages.

M. Durivoire, late Captain in the Regiment of Rohan-Soubise, advertises his having invented carriages of a new kind, for which he has obtained a patent. He affirms that these carriages are more convenient, more solid, and yet lighter, than any hitherto built; that they neither catch, nor break, nor can be overset; in short, that they offer to travellers the advantage of avoiding danger by getting out of the vehicle, although the horses should be frightened and running away. The inventor proposes to supply travellers on the road to St. Germain-en-Laye. Astronomy.

In the month of March, says Mr. Zach, a large spot, with two smaller ones within it,

appeared in the sun; these I observed at 9° N. of the solar equator; which differs but little from the well defined spots which served me to determine the rotation of the sun in the memoirs of the Academy for 1776, which were at 11 or 12°. This seems to be a confirmation of my discovery at that time; proving that there are certain points of the sun peculiarly adapted to produce large spots; perhaps, they are mountains which attract and retain the scoria of that immense furnace. The parallel of 9° S. of the equator, is most subject to those large spots.

Similar spots with two smaller ones within them have been seen at different times; (Mem. 1776, page 487; and 1778). These seem to destroy the system of volcanoes proposed by Mr. Herschel.

The centre of the well defined spot seen in March was at 10° declination. That, whose appearance I calculated, (Mem. 1776, page 496) had from 11° to 14°; but a spot of one minute occupies nearly 4°; thus the mountain which I suppose to have served as a foundation, or obstacle to impede it, might, in fact, taking it from a different point, have attracted it 2° or 3° farther, seen under one aspect than in the other.

M. de Flangergues saw that beautiful spot in the sun, in April, and this return has given him, for the rotation of the sun, 25 days 12 hours 6 minutes.

M. Piazzi, a celebrated astronomer of Palermo, writes that he has observed the principal stars in the opposite seasons of the year, when the difference of the situation of the earth in its orbit, must produce the greatest apparent difference in the situation of the stars. Astronomers have been disputing during two centuries on that effect of the motion of the earth, which is termed the annual parallax. M. Piazzi found it, in three months, 15 for Aldebaran, 3′′ for Froevon, 4" for Sirius, from whence it follows that these stars are not, as was thought, distant above 7 millions of millions of leagues; but he proposes to continue these important observa

tions.

Extraordinary vivification of Insects.

A

The inhabitants of Narcy, a village fifteen miles from Nevers, having neither rivers nor fountains in their neighbourhood, are compelled to drink the thick water of two small rivulets, which run on a muddy bed full of insects. This is necessary to be known, in order to understand the extraordinary occurrence, which lately happened there. young lady of Narcy, 19 years of age, had been for eight months tormented with pains in her stomach; they became so acute as to rain her health, which was naturally robust and florid. This, and other symptoms, led to the opinion, that she was attacked by the tape-worm; and the remedies proper to

that case were determined on; when suddenly she was seized with violent convulsive fits, and threw up above 100 small insects, which ran about the floor, with incredible swiftness. M. Rauque, the lady's physician, having succeeded in catching some of them, ascertained that they were aquatic Millepedes. The young lady was considerably relieved; and ever since has enjoyed good health. The authenticity of this circumstance might be doubted, if it had not taken place in the presence of the mayor of the village; of the father, mother, and sisters of the lady, and of many other persons, who all vouch for the truth of it. Many have even affirmed, that similar accidents are by no means new, in that country; and have named four other inhabitants of Narcy, who have experienced the same thing. -Mémorial Européen.

We should have been glad if the physician had determined whether these Millepedes were of the same species as those with which the rivulets (or one of them) abound: and had given us the scientific name of the insect, whereby we might have been able to form comparisons as well as conjectures concerning it.

Persia.-Black Sea--Caspian Sea.

No one is ignorant how much geography is indebted to naturalists, who have travelled: Mr. Olivier has given a fresh proof of the utility of their observations, in the topography of Persia, which he has very lately presented to the public.

He

He has described the chains of mountains, and the courses of the different rivers. explains the nature of the productions of a country by their analogy to the climate. In Persia, the nearly general drought is the cause that one twentieth part of that extensive empire is not cultivated; there are whole provinces which have not a tree in them, unless it be planted and watered by the hands of man. The evil increases continually, owing to the destruction of those canals which formerly brought the water from the mountains, so that the deserted lands become impregnated with salt, which renders them barren for ever.

M. Olivier has also enquired whether there be any truth in the opinion that the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea formerly communicated. He thinks that this has really been the case towards the north of Caucasus; but that the earth brought down by the inunda tions of the rivers Cuban, Volga, and Don, have interrupted it.

From thence he infers that the Caspian Sea, no longer receiving from those rivers which fall into it a suflicient quantity of water to compensate what it loses by evaporation, its level is continually decreasing—it is now sixty feet lower than the Euxine.

By the same means it has separated from

the Lake Aral, and has left behind it, immense plains of briny sand, which surround it at the north and east.

M. Dureau de la Malle, the son of a member of the Institute, has found in several Greek and Roman authors, numberless instances of this former extent of the Caspian sea, and of its communication with the Euxine and Aral. He has collected them all in a memoir of some length, which he has presented to the class of ancient natural history, and to that of mathematical and physical science.

GERMANY.

Cure of Ophthalmia in a Tiger.

A circumstance has lately occurred at the Menagerie, at Schoenbrunn, near Vienna, which merits the attention of Naturalists. The Bengal tiger there is generally fed with raw meat; but when he is attacked with his ordinary disorder (a species of ophthalmia) they give him young animals alive, whose warm blood contributes to his cure. A few weeks since, they threw into his den a young bitch, when he was couched with his head reposing on his fore-legs. The bitch, after recovering her fears, began to lick his eyes; the tiger found himself so much better, that he not only spared the animal, but shewed his gratitude by caresses. The bitch continuing the operation, in a few days the tiger was entirely cured. Since that, the two animals live together in perfect union. Before he touches his food, the tiger 'waits till his companion has satisfied her appetite with the choicest pieces. If the bitch even bites him in play, he shews no resentment, but continues his caresses.

New Musical Instrument.

The number of musical instruments has very much increased within these few years. An artist, of the name of Holbein, at Prague, has invented one which he styles the uranicon. One of its properties is to swell the tones progressively from the pianissimo to the fortissimo; and vice versa. To this instrument is added a horn, whose echo appears to resound among the mountains; then adagio is played ad libitum, by a very sweet female voice.

Roman Ruins.

We hear from Frankfort that a quantity of ruins of fortifications, colonies, barracks, &c. have been discovered in ancient Nordgau, and in the forest which extends in the countries of Pappenheim, Eichstett, and Weissembourg. A well preserved part of a paved high-way, and of a wall, which the Romans had built to protect their dominions from the inhabitants of the north of Germany, have also been discovered. In digging, several Roman tombs have been found. The wall is far superior to that built by Cæsar, from the lake of Geneva to Mount Jura, or to that which the Emperor

Adrian, Antoninus Pius, and Septimus-Seve rus caused to be erected to prevent the incursions of the Scots. The most considerable of these was not above 16 German leagues in length, whereas this great German barrier was 130. This gigantic work of Roman Architecture is the subject of general admiration; in the excavations which were made in presence of General Sahuc, the skeleton of a Roman warrior with his sword has been discovered; and in another tomb, a head-pin and clasp of a Roman matron.

Prize Questions.

The Society of Görlitz has offered a prize of 30 crowns for the best solution of the following question. "In cloudy weather it never freezes but when Reaumur's thermometer has descended to zero or at least very nearly to that point. Why then does it freeze in serene weather, when the same thermometer stands at three or four degrees above zero?"

The Royal Bohemian Society offers 700 ducats for the best answer to the following question "By what method can the various adulterations of the different necessaries of life be best ascertained, or lessened, by radical examination or otherwise?"

Paper currency, and its effects.

The last great fair of Vienna, which is commonly called the fair of Marguerite, and is held in the last fortnight of July, was one of the most profitable that has ever taken place in that metropolis. The dispositions of some of the neighbouring states, respecting the Vienna bank notes, appear to have contributed to this. Most of the articles were sold before they had been unpacked. A great number of strangers made their first appearance on the occasion, and bought at any price, to get rid of the bank notes they had received to a considerable amount. Several venders, and particularly the merchants of Vienna, seized the opportunity, and raised the price of their goods from 10 to 20 per cent. The Austrian administration, in consequence of the circumstance being known, issued a proclamation on the 22d of July, with a most formal promise never to lower the nominal value of the bank notes; and the paper currency experienced a rise of fifteen per cent. Many of the foreign buyers now would willingly return the goods, although they were to lose by them.

HUNGARY.

Catholic Students.

The number of students who have attended the catholic pædagogia in the five literary circles of Hungary, in the course of the year 1804, amounts to 11,832, out of which 4553 were pupils to the Piaristes; 1228 to the Benedictines, Cordeliers, and Minorites; and 6047 were educated in those colleges where the instruction of youth is committed to the care of lay professors.