to their security.-While you view with complacency the multitude of ships floating on the extended ocean, should you at the same moment take into consideration the immense value of their cargoes, and the many thousands of seamen by which they are navigated, you would then be able to form some judgment of the extensive advantages which must result from the execution of a plan so highly useful and beneficent. If prompted by curiosity, you have ever surveyed the formidable rocks which line the adjacent shore, and have observed the foaming waves of the stormy ocean dashing with irresistible fury against the perpendicular cliffs, the sight alone must have filled you with astonishment and dread!Figure then to yourselves the melancholy scene of some unfortunate vessel enveloped in midnight darkness, driven by the tempest, and suddenly stranded on the tremendous coastpain paint to your imaginations the crew of helpless seamen sinking among the overwhelming billows, and raising their supplicating voices, in vain, for aid!-reflect on the inexpressible agony of their tender connections, deprived in one sad moment of all that is esteemed dear in life, and left perhaps desolate and forlorn, in a state of helpless indigence, to mourn the loss of a husband, a father, or a son!-these are not visionary ideas, they are scenes, alas, which have too frequently been realized. With such impressions on your minds you must assuredly acknowledge the utility of a design calculated, under Providence, to prevent consequences so wounding to the tender sensibilities of human nature. Had this building been erected at a more early period, the loss of his Majesty's ship the Nautilus, Captain Gunter, from the Baltic, and several of the vessels under her convoy, with many valuable lives, might, in all human probability, have been prevented. From the exhibition of these brilliant lights, innumerable will be the advantages to navigation. I will detail the most prominent-the sight of them will dispel the gloom which frequently seizes the boldest and most skilful navigator, in a critical moment; and direct him, when surrounded by the obscurity of a winter's night, to avoid the dangers of this projecting coast. They will guide the tempest-beaten mariner to the Humber, or to a safe anchorage in Bridlington-bay, famed for its convenience and security-diffusing their friendly lustre afar, they will shine as leading stars to enable ships in a large offing, to ascertain their situations with accuracy, and to take a new departure; and also warn others contending with eastern gales, to keep at a proper distance from the dangers of a leeshore to the fishermen, who are frequently exposed to great perils on the unstable element, they will be eminently useful in the night: they will guide them to the proper

fishing grounds, and direct them on their return to the shore, to a place of safety. Numerous have been the disasters of this industrious race of men at Flamborough-I am persuaded that many of you who are now present, have witnessed the painful scene of the whole village in mourning !-the lamentations of the disconsolate widow and mother must have pierced your souls-with inexpressible anguish, I have seen the tears of the helpless orphan flow for an indulgent parent, who perished in the merciless wave: while I retain the faculty of memory, the sad impression will never be erased; and at this moment it is difficult to restrain my emotions; but the consideration that my humble exertions have been instrumental in promoting a design to prevent those calamities in future, will be a source of satisfaction to me to the remotest period of life. This description of an undertaking so conducive to the security of navigation, will not, I trust, be deemed too highly coloured-the facts are incontrovertible, the utility is indisputable. So long as this noble edifice shall stand unshaken on its firm foundation, and lift its aspiring summit to the view of the admiring spectator, it will remain a conspicuous monument of the humanity and munificence of the British nation, unparalleled by any other of the maritime states on the face of the globe. May the kind Providence of Almighty God favour' this and every other effort of national utility with success, and crown with glory the ardent courage and determined resolution of our matchless seamen, in the defence of their native land! While afflicted Europe mourns her desolated provinces and subjugated states, may this United Kingdom, firm in loyalty, in patriotism, and every exalted virtue, oppose an insurmountable barrier to the impetuous torrent which threatens to overwhelm the earth. May Britain ever continue in the envied possession of the empire of the main, and lifting her unclouded head with distinguished lustre amid the gloom, which at this awful crisis, overshadows the world, exhibit to desponding nations a bright example of glory-invincible by every hostile shock, unshaken as the rocks which guard our sea-girt shore.

PROPOSAL FOR EMPLOYING FUMIGATIONS AS A REMEDY FOR CONSUMPTION.

To the Editor of the LITERARY PANORAMA,

SIR; The following instance of medical heroism cannot be too extensively known; I therefore beg you to insert it at length, and to this I have added, an extract from a French Journal, which is to the same purpose.

An experiment tried at Carthagena, not long ago, of the efficacy of anti-contagious

fumigations, has been liberally rewarded by the King of Spain, as stated in the following Royal Decree.

"The King has read the different reports made by Don François de Bergo, Commandant General of Carthagena, relative to the important and distinguished services rendered by Don Michel Cabanellas, during the contagion which made such havoc in that place. His Majesty was especially much pleased with the merits of the experiment tried by Don Michel Cabanellas, in the hospital of the Antegones of the same city, where he shut himself up with 50 other persons, to prove the efficacy of the fumigations of Mr. Guyton de Morveau, and slept with every one of those individuals, including two of his own children, in the very same beds in which many victims of the contagion had expired, who had left horrible marks of blood and vomiting without having used any other preservative than acid mineral fumigations. His Majesty has felt great satisfaction upon being informed that the result had been attended with such success, that the fifty-one individuals after having been strictly confined in the lazaretto, were in a perfect state of health when they left it. In consequence, His Majesty, as a testimony of his Roval munificence, has granted each of the galley. slaves, who have voluntarily submitted to the experiment, without having previously had the vellow fever, to be released from his confinement a twelvemonth sooner than his sentence ordained; and moreover approves of the gratification granted to them by his Captain General. With regard to Don Michel Cabanellas, His Majesty grants him the privileges attached to the situation of physician of the chamber, with an annual pension of 24,000 reals, to be paid monthly, out of the chest of the community of Carthagena; and entitles him to vote with the municipal corporation of that city, as if he were a member by birth. The munificence of the King will also reward the trial to which his two children, after their father's example, have exposed their lives, for the welfare of the state and of their fellow-creatures."

This preventive discovered by M. Guyton, is now in universal use in France. M. Desgenettes has been very attentive in ascertaining its efficacy, in the military hospital of Val-de-Grace; and from the comparative returns which he has made, it is evident that these fumigations not only prevent the infection, but appear to be advantageous to the patient.

Mr. Pinel has met with the same success in the most infected wards of the hospital de la Salpêtrière."

I would request any of your medical correspondents to inform me whether they have ever known fumigations employed as a remedy against consumptions? I am persuaded that if some composition, equally cheap and familiar as that of the muriatic acid, but supplying that kind of gas which is most beneficial to consumptive lungs could be devised, it might prove restorative. I do not mean that it should be inhaled, in draughts, like as in certain late experiments: but that a small room should be filled with it, and the patient residing in this room, suppose for several hours in a day, should breathe this air thus impregnated. We all know the effect which the smell of vegetation, when we walk out into the fields, has on us: and the reviving effect of the smell of certain plants. I would, however, caution against the adoption of perfumes, generally and conceiving, that, in consumption, the lungs part too freely with certain gases which abound in the atmosphere, I would propose to try the effect of the vaporisation of substances of the most solid kinds, in which these gases predominate: thereby to restore to the lungs what they too freely part with : or otherwise endeavouring to brace them up, and enable them to retain it, instead of parting with it

Perhaps experiment may lead to the ingredients of a mixture proper for such fumigation. The observation of what trades, &c. are least exposed to this disorder, might assist. The powers of fumigation, as having immediate access to the lungs, are very great and we know that in the last plague of London, the disorder never penetrated into Bucklersbury, then filled with dealers in herbs, &c. called simplers: nor into Petticoat Lane, then occupied by those who burnt various offensive matters, &c. called horners. If those trades were salutary by fumigation, and if fumigation be salutary to the extent announced in the Spanish communication, I see no reason why it may not be pushed one degree further, and become salutary by opposing, neutraliz ing, or correcting that state of the lungs, which appears to be one cause of consumption. Possibly, another kind of mixture might under similar management relieve the asthma. Yours, &c. SPES.

GREAT EFFECTS FROM LITTLE CAUSES:
ISLANDS PRODUCED BY INSECTS.

The whole group of the Thousand Islands, and indeed the greater part of all those whose surfaces are flat, in the neighbourhood of the equator, owe their origin to the labours of that order of marine worms which Linnæus has arranged under the name of Zoophyta. These little animals, in a most surprising manner, construct their calcareous habita

tions, under an infinite variety of forms, yet with that order and regularity, each after its own manner, which, to the minute inquirer, is so discernible in every part of the creation. But, although the eye may be convinced of the fact, it is difficult for the human mind to conceive the possibility of insects so small being endued with the power, much less of being furnished in their own bodies with the materials of constructing the immense fabrics which, in almost every part of the Eastern and Pacific Oceans lying between the tropics, are met with in the shape of detached rocks, or reefs of great extent, just even with the surface, or islands already clothed with plants, whose bases are fixed at the bottom of the sea, several hundred feet in depth, where light and heat, so very essential to animal life, if not excluded, are sparingly received and feebly felt. Thousands of such rocks, and reefs, and islands, are known to exist in the Eastern ocean, within, and even beyond, the limits of the tropics. The eastern coast of New Holland is almost wholly girt with reefs and islands of coral rock, rising perpendicularly from the bottom of the abyss. Captain Kent, of the Buffalo, speaking of a coral reef of many miles in extent, on the southwest coast of New Caledonia, observes, that "it is level with the water's edge, and towards the sea, as steep to as a wall of a house; that he sounded frequently within twice the ship's length of it with a line of one hundred and fifty fathoms, or nine hundred feet, without being able to reach the bottom." How wonderful, how inconceivable, that such stupendous fabrics should rise into existence from the silent but incessant, and almost imperceptible, labours of such insignificant

'worms!

GENERAL

Barrow's Voyage to Cochin-China, p. p. 165. 166.

PRO

VIEW OF THE QUESTIONS
POSED BY THE SOCIETY OF SCIENCES AT
HAERLEM.

This Society held its fifty-fourth general assembly May 21; but their transactions were very unimportant, owing to the small number of Prize essays come in.

Out of twelve standing questions, only one had found a competent answer; that on the Scotch Pine (Pinus Silvestris), and other trees for the cultivation of dry sandy aistricts. Of five answers, that of Mr. A.P.C. van der Borch, of Verwolde, near Zutphen, received the prize; and the accessit was decreed to an essay in the German language. Of the unanswered questions, some are annulled; some prolonged to November 1, 1807. Seven new questions are proposed against the same time; with others for an indefinite period.

The questions announced as unanswered are the following:

1st. How much do we know, since the latest advances in the knowledge of the nature of plants, in what manner different kinds of manures, on different soils, encourage the growth of plants? And what instruction can be educed from the knowledge acquired in manuring or fructifying the poor and uncultivated sand districts?

2. What have the latest observations taught, on the influence of the oxygen of the atmosphere, when united with light or not, on the change of colours? and what advantage can be drawn from such knowledge?

3. What do we at present know of the course or motion of the sap in plants and trees? and how can we attain to more perfect knowledge of what is obscure or doubtful therein? Can any useful information be educed for the cultivation of trees and plants, out of what has been proved on this subject by experiments?

4. As experience from time to time teaches us the more fully, that rain-water, which runs through leaden spouts, or stands in leaden cisterns, takes from them so' much of the matter of lead as to be very injurious to health (indeed it occasions mortal disorders); and as meats and drinks which by other means are charged with the matter of lead, are injurious to health in various degrees, the Society wishes to see this subject treated in a clear, concise, valid, and, at the same time, full and complete manner; that the means whereby the danger of poison from lead may be avoided, may be more generally known, and as much as possible improved. The Society requires especially, that it be shewn by experiments and observations, in what cases the lead communicates matter to the water? If lead in this or the other manner prepared is less subject to it? If any danger may be apprehended from the use of ceruse, or white lead, in leaden spouts? and further, what is the surest micans of counteracting the poison of lead in the use of leaden spouts? That it be shewn, if sufficient proof has been alleged (as was insisted a few years ago) for the assertion, that the glazing of certain and dishes communicates lead to pots some kinds of food, and what means should be taken to obviate this evil?

5. What are the general and certain rules, agreeing with the laws of music, which, in language, accurately define harmony in the pronunciation, and how far does the beauty of language depend thereon?

6. An accurate specification of the suckling animals, birds, and amphibia, which are natural (not introduced from other countries) inhabitants of these countries, with the ad

dition of their different names in the several districts of the Netherlands, with their generic and specific distinctions, according to the Linnæan System, accompanied with one or more drawings of each animal.

7. What light have modern discoveries, in relation to the combination of water and atmospherical air, thrown on the manner in which plants receive their nourishment; and what instruction can be educed from what is already known on this subject, in the cultivation of useful vegetables?

8. What has experience satisfactorily established with regard to the purification of foul water, and other unclean substances, by charcoal? And how far can we explain the manner in which this takes place, on chemical principles; and what further advantages can be drawn from them?

NEW QUESTIONS.

9. What is properly the difference in properties and elementary parts, between sugar extracted from the sugar-cane, and the slimy sugar-like matter of some trees and plants? does the latter contain real sugar, or can it be transformed into it?

10. What is the cause of the luminous appearance of the sea-water? does this arise from the presence of living animalculæ ? What are these animalcule? and may they have a tendency to communicate to the atmosphere properties noxious to man? It is requested that this may be determined by actual observations or experiments; and that, above all, may be examined, how far the ilJumination of the sea water, which is very remarkable in some part of our country, may have a connexion with epidemical sicknesses in unhealthy seasons.

11. To remove the uncertainty which exists in distilling the several sorts of vinegar for different uses, as for food, against putrefaction, and in some manufactories, &c. &c. also for the fundamental improvement of the vinegar manufactories, it is asked, what are the peculiar properties and component parts of the different sorts of vinegar which are in use amongst us, and which are either manufactured here or imported from other countries; and how can the strength of the different sorts of vinegar be sufficiently determined in a simple manner, without an extensive chemical apparatus? Which of the kinds of vinegar, according to these chemical experiments, is the fittest for the several uses to which vinegar is applied, and what inferences arise from these enquiries tending to the improvement of the manufacture of vinegar?

12. What is the apparent origin of spermaceti, so called? Can this material be separated from train oil, or produced therein and can this be done with advantage?

13. As it is a rule in agriculture, confirmed by experience, that different kinds of vegetables should be interchangeably planted on the same soil, and as it is highly important for the growth of vegetables, and to keep up the fruitfulness of the soil, that a proper succession be observed; the Society, therefore, requires, that it be shewn by experiments in agriculture, according to the principles of natural philosophy and chemistry, in what order and succession the different plants grown among us may be cultivated with the most advantage on the same field, on clay, moor, sand, and mixed soils. Especially, what change of herbs, of fodder, and other plants, must be observed on high sandy soils: and principally, when it is nearly broken up, to save dunging, and to exhaust the fertility of the soil as little as possible.

14. What of all the prognostics of a continuance or change of weather may be considered as true, and well established, which are believed to be found in the flight of birds, in the cries and sounds which these or other animals make, and also, from noises made by many kinds of animals? Has experience, in this country, sufficiently confirmed one or the other, so that they may be depended upon? What is doubtful on this subject, or contradicted by experience, in what has been asserted on it; can a reason be given for what we perceive on this subject, from the known nature of the different animals?

15. What diseases are the fruit trees common amongst us subject to and from what different causes do they for the most part arise, and what are the best means to counteract or heal them?

The period of the following questions is indefinite:

16. What does experience teach on the uses of some animals which appear to be noxious, especially in the Netherlands, and what means are therefore to be observed to extirpate the same?

17. What domestic plants, hitherto little used, may be introduced into our apothecaries' shops, and used with advantage, instead of foreign medicines ?

18. What domestic plants, hitherto not used, may be applied as a good and cheap nourishment; and what foreign plants, not used, can be cultivated for this object in this

country?

19. What domestic plants, hitherto not used, will yield a good matter of colour, according to proofs made and verified, which may be prepared with advantage and brought into use; and what foreign plants may be cultivated here, especially on poor and uncultivated grounds, which yield with advantage a colouring matter?

The prize is a gold medal, or thirty ducats.