has ascertained that water is compressible in a much greater degree than it appeared to be from the experiments of Canton and Zimmerman. 'Having filled a cylinder, three feet long and four inches diameter, with water, into which a rod or piston was passed through a stuffing-box, and having a sliding ring upon the rod, the whole was lowered 300 fathoms into the sea, when it appeared, by the situation of the sliding ring, that the column of water which pressed upon the piston, had sunk it so as to have compressed the water one hundredth part of its bulk. The same apparatus was placed in a cannon filled with water, and secured very tight, when a pressure equal to 500 fathoms, was forced in by means of the hydraulic press, and the same results as in the experiment in the ocean took place." ANTIQUARIAN AND PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCHES. DISCOVERY OF THE ORIGINAL OSSIAN'S "On opening a vault where stood the · EXCAVATIONS AT POMPEII. The excavators have just discovered, near the forum of Pompeii, a public edifice which is supposed to be the Chalcidicum, and an inscription importing that the edifice was built at the expence of the priestess Eumachia. A few days after the above discovery, a statue of the same priestess was found in perfect preservation. This statue far surpasses in grace, elegance, and grandeur, all the works of art that had previously been dug from the ruins of Pompeii. ANTIENT LATIN MSS. Baron Niebuhr, Prussian Ambassador to the Holy See, has again discovered and published several antient MSS. hitherto unknown. They are chiefly fragments of Cicero's Orationes pro M. Fonteio, et pro C. Rabirio; a fragment of the 91st book of Livy; two works of Seneca, &c. Baron Niebuhr has dedicated this edition to the Pope, by whose favour he was enabled to discover these literary treasures in the library of the Vatican. TEMPLE OF JUPITER AMMON. M. Frediani, an Italian traveller, writes from Egypt that he has succeeded, after sixteen days of excessive fatigue across the deserts of Libya and Marmorique, in reaching the famous temple of Jupiter Ammon, called the Great Temple, which no person appears to have visited since the time of Alexander the Great. M. Frediani had with him an escort of 2,000 men, and had to fight his way to this celebrated monument. ANTIENT CEMETERY. A subterraneous cemetery of very remote antiquity, was lately discovered by a farmer on the Carmichael estate near Hyndford Bridge, between Douglas and Lanark. Several stone coffins have been found. GEOLOGY. M. Pallissot de Beauvois has acquainted the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris with a rather singular geological appearance, which he observed in the county of Rowan in North Carolina. There is found, in the middle of a hill formed of very fine sand, mixed with small quartzose stones, and with numerous pieces of silver-coloured mica, a vein of stones so regularly placed, that the inhabitants, who for a long time have noticed the appearance, gave it, the name of the natu ral ral wall; and some naturalists have even maintained that it was a true wall, which might have been constructed in very remote ages by some people now unknown. The stones have generally four faces, are narrower at one of their ends, and have a small notch below their top. They are ranged horizontally. The kind of wall which they form is about eighteen inches thick; its height, in the place where it is uncovered, is from six to nine feet; but, upon digging into the ground it has been followed to twelve and eighteen feet deep, and it is already known to extend three hundred feet, and even more, in length. A kind of argillaceous cement fills the intervals between the stones, and coats them externally; each of the stones is also covered with a layer of ochreous sandy earth. RED SNOW. The nature of this substance was explained in Mr. Bauer's paper read before the Royal Society on the 11th of May, as noticed in a former number. In the winter he put some of the red globules forming this substance into a phial with compressed snow, and placed the phial in the open air. A thaw having melted the snow, he poured off the water and added fresh snow. In two days the mass of fungi was found raised in little heaps, which gradually rose higher, filling the cells of the ice. Another thaw came on, and the fungi fell to the bottom, but of about twice their original bulk. They appeared capable of vegetating in water, but in this case the globules produced were not red, but green. The author found that excessive cold killed the original fungi; but their seeds still retained vitality, and if immersed in snow produced new fungi, generally of a red colour. - Snow, then, seems to be the proper soil of these fungi. THE MAGNET. A paper read at the Cambridge Philosophical Society by Mr. Christie, "On the Laws according to which Masses of Irou influence the Magnetic Needles" states, that instead of a mass of iron, disturbing a needle by becoming a magnet, having its North and South poles in the upper and lower part respectively, he supposes that the needle is guided in its horizontal direction by magnetic particles passing through its centre in the direction of its natural dip; and the iron to act principally, if not wholly, on these particles, causing, by their deviation towards it, a corresponding deviation of the horizontal needle. In confirmation of this, he found by experiment, that when the disturbing mass is placed at the same distance from the magnetic axis and the centre of the needle, the deviation of the horizontal needle, when properly estimated from the magnetic axis, is always the same, whether the mass be placed at the North, or the South, or any other point of the compass with respect to the needle. The Leven sailed recently from Portsmouth, having on board various instruments for Philosophical Experiments. The most interesting of these relate to certain magnetical discoveries, for which we are indebted to Mr. Barlow, one of the Mathematical Professors in the Royal Military Academy. The leading facts are these, viz. that in every ball or mass of iron, if a plane be conceived to pass from North to South, inclining, in these latitudes, at an angle of 1940 (or from the complement of the dip), and a compass be pointed any where in this plane, it will not be affected by the iron, but point due North and South, the same as if no iron were in its vicinity. This plane, Mr. B. has every reason to suppose, will change its position with the dip, or latitude, so as to become parallel to the horizon at the pole, and perpendicular to it at the equator; and it is this fact which Capt. Bartholomew is charged to determine, as far as it can be done, in the parts he is about to visit, while Lieutenant Parry is supposed to be making corresponding observations in Baffin's Bay. Mr. Barlow has also discovered that the magnetic quality of the iron resides wholly resides in the surface, so that an iron shell weighing only 3lbs. 14oz. will act as powerfully on the needle as a solid ball of the same dimensions weighing upwards of 300lbs. and by a judicious applica tion and combination of these two facts, be has projected an extremely easy method of counteracting the local attraction of vessels. THE ISLE OF ASCENSION. Mr. Rallier, a Frenchman of science and research, has written and published an inquiry as to the origin of those colossal statues which are found in the Isle of Ascension. His hypothesis is, that this island forms the summit of a mountain, consecrated and set apart for national rites, religious or civic, in a continent which has disappeared in consequence of a deplacement of the earth's centre of gravity. This catastrophe submerged, according to his idea, the Southern continents, while, in the North, a part of Europe, of Asia, and of Africa, rose from out of the waters. The fact on which his supposition rests is, that we find, in the Isle of Ascension, the customs, dress, and arms, which are found in the very distant islands of Sonda, with the language of Hayti, and even of New Zealand. METEORIC METEORIC STONE PRESENTED TO THE The following is an authentic account of a meteoric stone which was lately brought from India by Lieut.Colonel Pennington, and presented to the Hou. East India Company, who have deposited it in their museum.—It is an Extract of a Letter from Capt. G. Bird, first Assistant in the Political Department, to Major General Sir D. Ochterlony, bart. K. G. C. B. to Major Pennington. Lodiano, 5th April, 1815. "My dear Major-I lost no time, after my receipt of your letter, to take the measures for obtaining the information you desire relative to the meteorolite, which lately fell near the village of Dooralla. Accounts of this extraordinary phenomonon had spread over the whole of the Seik country; and for more than a month before your letter reached me, the account of its fall, connected with a great number of wonders, had been reported to me, and that the people from all the neighbouring villages had assembled at Dooralla to pay their devotions to it, but now, after a very full inquiry, I feel quite satisfied that you may rest confident in the accuracy of the following statement. On the 18th February last, about noon, some people who were at work in a field about half a mile distant from the village of Dooralla, were suddenly alarmed by the explosion of what they conceived to be a large cannon, the report being louder than that of any other gun they had ever heard,' which report was a rushing noise, like that of a cannon ball in its greatest force. When looking towards the quarter whence the noise proceeded, they perceived a large black body in the air, apparently moving directly towards them, but passing with inconceivable velocity, buried itself in the earth, at the distance of about sixty paces from the spot where they stood. As soon as they could recover from the terror with which this terrific vision had appalled them, they ran towards the village, where they found the people no less terrified than themselves, though not having seen the stone, imagining that a marauding party was ap. proaching, and as but too frequently happens, would sack their village. When the Brahmins of the village were told what had really happened, they determined to proceed, and were followed by all the people, to the spot where the stone fell, having with them instruments for digging it out. On their arrival at the place, they found the surface broken and the fresh earth and sand thrown about to a considerable distance; and at the depth of rather more than five feet, in a soil of mingled sand and loam, they found the stone, which they cannot doubt was what actually fell, being altogether unlike any thing known in that part of the country. The Brahmins taking immediate charge of the stone, conveyed it to the village, where they commenced a Poosa, and covering it with wreaths of flowers, set on foot a subscription for the purpose of erecting a small temple over it, not doubting from the respect paid to it by the Hindoos, to turn it to a profitable account. As I said before, it fell on the 18th of February, about mid-day, in a field near the village of Dooralla, which lies about lat. 308, 23, 76, 4, long. within the territory belonging to the Pattialah Rajah, sixteen or seventeen miles from Umbellah, and eighty from Lodiana. The day was very clear and serene, and as usual at that season of the year, not a cloud was to be seen, nor was there in the temperature of the air any thing to engage their attention; the thermometer, of course, may be stated at about 68 in shade. The report was heard in all the circumjacent towns and villages, to the distance of 20 coss, or 25 miles, from Dooralla. The Pattialah Rajah's Vakeel, being in attendance here when your letter reached me, I desired him to express my wish to the Rajah to have this stone; and as it appears that he had been led to consider it rather as a messenger of ill omen, he gave immediate orders for its conveyance to Lodiana, but with positive injunctions, that it should not approach Pattialah, his place of residence. It arrived here yesterday, escorted by a party of Brahmins and some Seik Horse. It weighs rather more than 25 pounds, and is covered with a pellicle, SELECT SELECT POETRY. ELEGY, On the Death of FREDERICA CHARLOTTA The anguish'd tear by Want's pale vic- Tears the sole refuge of their heartfelt woe, When thought connects thee with the silent dead. In thee the sympathetic friend they mourn; Who o'er thy sorrows threw soft Pity's balm, Who pluck'd from Misery's breast the rankling thorn, And bade the agitated soul be calm. Who stretch'd the liberal hand with prompt relief, From Sorrow's plaintive tale ne'er turn'd aside; Bid Hope relume the eye bedimm'd by grief, And prais'd of honest Industry the pride. The victim of Despair with secret aid, Rous'd to exertion, and to conscious power; Sought out the wand'rer who from peace had stray'd, Pointed to Heav'n, and bade her "sin no more." But not confin'd to Misery alone, The tears Ulrica's grave that now bedew, Each anguish'd drop shall soft affection Pure was the source from whence her virtues flow'd, Religion's fount supplied the living stream; Aud Faith's bright flame that in her bosom glow'd, Shed o'er each moral grace its radiant beam. But hush, thou mourner! ask thy throbbing heart, Shall love, shall virtue, shall affection die? The hope there fix'd the answer shall im. part, They're destined all for immortality! To join the seraph's song Ulrica soars, From life's unnumbered woes for ever With soul unfetter'd Heav'nly love adores, The MERRY DEVILL of EDMONTON, Shewing how Maister Peter Fabell de- And fair and free was son, And for his pleasant pranks, was called The Merry Devill-for so This Ballad, with respect to the second Deception which the hero practised on the Devil, is very similar to that of Tinvelly, which is to be found in Rose's Court of Beasts, in which Notrodamus uses the same cheat. The Quarterly Review for last February, mentious another story of the same mould, relating to one Jack of Keut,— In Weever's Funeral Monuments, the following mention is made of the tradition on which the present production is founded-" Here (i. e. at Edmonton) lieth interred under a seemelie tombe, without inscription, the body of Peter Fabell (as the report goes) upon whom this Fable was fathered, that he by his wittie devises beguiled the Devill: belike he was some ingenious conceited Gentn who did use some fleightie tricks for his own disporte," A play of this Title ("The Merry Devil of Edmonton") was in much estimation in the days of Shakspeare, and has been ascribed to him, but to his geuius, though of considerable merit, it most assuredly possesses no pretensions.-J. A. H. + So called in the History, "Mad Maister Peter, and my red-faced Host," &e. A wiser wight ne'er woman bore, Strange mysteries withall- Pleasant, free-hearted, kind, was he Replete with charity and ruth To the needy and the poor; Ay from his purse abroad, and eke, I pass the trick he played the Friar, I pass the trick that Smug played him, The Author of all Evil. Now, Peter was initiate in The art of magic lore, 'Till this officious Demon thought When the contract was made firm)— Importunately he required His guerdon's fatal fee : "I've serv'd thee well-I've serv'd thee long, Thy soul resign to me !" "Why, have I not a promise made That thou shalt have it ?-yea, And horribly he grinned. "Set thee a time of payment, quick !”— The Maister knew not how or what GENT. MAG, August, 1820. For burning Lucifer Looks for that forfeit soul of thine- "Is there no remedy? Will ye To bid my friends farewell, and make "Why, how long time desirest thou?" "Though scarce a minute I dare stay, -Or light the blame on me!" "Yet, once more-'tis the last request,- "For all the world reputes thee, knave”— 11 'By Lucifer, and his, As with a thousand souls, I hope To cram the great abyss!" He scarce had sworn, when Maister Peter And in his pocket locked it up- But Peter laughed aloud-quoth he, I'll take good heed this candle's end And so the Devil was deceived With execration fell, From Maister Peter Fabell he There, brooding with infernal spite, And, sleeping sound, the Fiend, he found And from his pocket, lo, he took The inch-long candle's end, Cried, "Wake, my merry friend! "Look here-here's that which thou didst keep, To keep from me my right, And soon thy soul must burn with mine- Peter sore gazed upon the Fiend, "Spare me a little longer!"—" No !”— And bitterly he swore "Thou hast deceived me once, but, no, Shalt ne'er deceive me more! 'Tis a good world when men have learned The art of guile so well, As to deceive the Devil himself The readier thou for hell!" -" Yet, |