Incalculable will be the benefits conferred upon literature and upon science by the man who can substitute, for this barbarous system of notation, an alphabet and an orthography corresponding with the true principles of human speech.

So sensible were the Greeks and Romans of these defects, that it was a practice amongst their authors to abbreviate their words either by occasionally using arbitrary characters for whole words, by letting the roots of words stand for the words them selves, or at most by affixing to such roots short and easy marks to represent their prepositive and terminational additions.

But it does not appear that the ancients had any other ideas of what we now call Brachygraphy, Stenography, or Short-hand. So young is the science in modern Europe, that even Mr. Locke, in his Essay upon Education, speaks of its being in the most crude and undigested state, and complains that its advantages were then but little appreciated. Until within these few years it was an art exclusively confined to this country, and even now how few amongst us are there that understand it. But its immense advantages are beginning to be generally appreciated, for we find that even in the elementary national schools of Columbia, amongst the arts, that are directed to be taught to the public scholars, that of short hand bears a conspicuous place.

From what we have now observed it is obvious that the principles of Stenography, if the art is an object of general study, must be confined to three views. The spelling of words as they are pronounced, by attaching to each elementary sound a distinct character; the abridging the forms of the alphabetical charac ters; and, lastly by the representing of the prepositions and terminations of words by short arbitrary marks. If the art be intended for professional purposes, to these three principles must be added the omission of vowel sounds, and a more copious use of arbitrary characters for long words of frequent occurrence. These are the sole principles of the art, and as all authors agree in this point, and agree moreover in making their al

plabets consist of curves and straight lines applied horizontally, perpendicularly, and diagonally, the common reader may be at a loss to conceive what can give rise to so many new publications upon the subject.

For our parts, we cannot agree with the present author in the propriety of his styling his work an easy introduction, for to our view it is the most difficult system of Stenography that we have ever perused. Mavor has nearly accurately adapted his alphabet to the analysis of the voice, established by our best orthoepists, and has, therefore, made his alphabet, excluding vowels, to consist of twenty-three letters. This is admirably simple, but our present author actually gives us four alphabets, consisting of 41, 35, 35, and 35 letters respectively; and, not content with this, we have seven arbitrary characters, and sixteen other arbitrary characters for double letters in the middle and at the end of words. We need not say that to learn such an art would be the business of a whole life; and if, in writing, it may be called short-hand, in learning it must be viewed as the longest hand that ever tortured human ingenuity to invent.

Our author's observations are not always correct, are frequently far from pertinent to his subject, and not unfrequently contradictory of each other. For instance, in page two, he talks of the correct stenographic reports of the speeches of Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt, and in the very next page, he tells us, that it is impossible for a speaker to be followed verbatim by the short-hand writer, unless he have an impediment in his speech. But the author should have known, that the speeches in Parliament are not reported by short-hand at all, but by merely taking down, in common hand, the prominent words of each argument, the reporter afterwards filling up the interstices according to his me mory and judgment.

The two systems which have superceded all others are those of Gurney and Mavor. Gurney's system is incomplete, whilst Mavor has reduced his to the most obvious and simple principles. Of these systems

the first is the easiest to read, and the last the most easy to write. But it may be observed, that the facilities of writing and reading in this art are, in their nature, opposing qualities; the one being always attained at the expense of the other. Whatever system a person may study he will find himself disposed to modify that system in some respects to his peculiarities of mind, but we conceive these two systems of Gurney and Mavor to have so fully attained all the objects of the art as to supercede the necessity of any thing more than, perhaps, a few improvements in some of their details.

Our author, in classing the letters, tells us that the liquids are letters sui generis; not more so, we apprehend, than the vowels, semi-vowels, or mutes. He classes s, sh, st, ch, &c. under the head of hissing sounds, and informs us, that B. and P. F. and V. &c. are sounds differing only in intensity, and his character representing them are made to differ only in size. Now it must be obvious, that the confounding of such distinct sounds as s, sh, ch, B, and P, would, even in common hand, create endless perplexity; how great

then would be the perplexity created by such a practice in short-hand, where the most able practitioners of the most able system find it so difficult to peruse their own writing. In short the system of Mr. Moon is entirely useless, except to men whose minds are what he says of the liquids, 1, m, n, r, that is to say, sui gene ris, and moreover, unless men of such minds would devote all their lives to its acquisition. Mr. Moon, however, displays some ingenuity and great industry in the work before us, and he deserves our praise for a laudable although an unsuccessful attempt to improve a highly useful art.

We have entered at more than ordinary length into this subject, convinced that the art of Short-hand, to a certain extent, ought to be taught in all our higher classes of schools. It would incalculably abridge the labours of the students, as well as facilitate their acqu sition of knowledge in general. Its utility would be still greater to the professional man, and to the scholar of laborious research and literary application its benefits would be in calculable.

SOUTH AMERICA.

at

A census, taken in 1790 and 1791, makes the population of Peru 1,500,000, inhabiting 14 cities, 14 boroughs, and 977 hamlets, or single houses. The country contains 44,000 square leagues (Castilian) equal to about 100,000 French port leagues. The inhabitants are, therefore, about 15 to a square league French. But it must be remembered that a great part of this country is covered by the Upper Andes. The agriculture, grazing, and manufactures are estimated of the annual value of 39,000,000 of francs, the tithes being nearly 2,000,000. The balance of trade is 6,000,000 of francs annually in favour of Peru. The church property, before the present

revolution, was estimated at 11,500,000 francs. The revenue exceeded the expenditure by more than 10,000,000, and yet there was a public debt of more than 60,000,000 of francs. But the greater part of this debt had been raised for the service of Old Spain; the republic of Peru holds itself liable only for that part which was expended in the colony, and which being but of small amount, the new government may be considered free from debt.

The Bell and Lancasterian systems of education, which have happily been introduced throughout the greater part of the civilized world, producing such an evident melioration in the public morals, have been adopted in the kingdom of Chili, where they

have been productive of great advantage. The Chili Gazette of the 19th of January last, announces that the government is determined upon promoting, by all possible means, the general education of the people.

NORTH AMERICA.

In January last was published in Boston the first number of a periodical work, called "The New Monthly Magazine," by Mr. Oliver Everett.

Discovery relating to the Blue Iris. -Professor Ormstead, a member of the University of North Carolina, has discovered that the petals of the garden Iris or Fleur de Lis, will produce a blue dye superior to any yet known. It may be turned to a red, like the turnsol, by introducing a stream of carbonic acid gas. It is more suited for dying than the violet, because the flowers furnish more liquid; and the colour produced is very beautiful. Professor Ormstead will soon publish the process.

Population of the United States
In 1753......1,051,000

1774...... 1790... ..3,929,328

...3,026,678

1800....

1810......

1820......

.5,306,032

.7,239,903

.9,637,999

AFRICA.

A letter of the 30th of November last, from Cape Coast, speaks of a Tartar merchant, who, after incredible difficulties, had succeeded in penetrating into the interior of Africa. He set out from Tripoli and travelled to Alexandria, thence through the desert to Angela, Zula, and Mozoock, Bournon, Knackua, Nyku, Zeppoo, Moossedoo, and Jennee, from which he repaired to Timbuctoo, and then over the mountains of Hong at Diambella, in the country of Mundinga, towards Sierra Leone. He visited the capital of the Ashantees, and pursued his route to Cape Coast. This traveller lost his camels and all his goods in the desert, and suffered incredible hardships. He contrived to gain a subsistence by making a dye for the eye-brows. His accounts agree with what is already known of many parts of Africa, so that there is no doubt of the veracity of his journal, and which is of great importance to the geography of that continent.

Captain Laing, of the African light infantry regiment, has arrived in England from his travels into the country of Soolima Looso, into which no Euro

DENMARK.

The bookseller, Gyldendahl, at Copenhagen, has advertised a Danish translation of Sir Walter Scott's novels to appear in monthly volumes. Professor Rahbeck has translated Sir Walter's Halidon Hill, with a Latin dedication to the Baronet.

Captain le Chevalier d'Abrahamson, in a letter dated 14th April last, states the great success of the Danish Lancastrian schools. He states that on the 21st August, 1822, the King first authorised this system to be tried in eighteen schools; on the 1st of January last it was introduced into 100 schools; and on the 14th of April, it was extended to 147.-Captain d'Abrahamson has been appointed President of a Commission to reorganize the Deaf and Dumb Institution.

SWEDEN.

The Committee of the Constitution has recommended to the States of the kingdom to suppress the indirect censorship of the journals and periodical works exercised by the Chancellor, and they have required that the Courts should declare the degree of responsibility attached to journalists.

The academy of Fine Arts, History, and Antiquity, has published the eleventh volume of its memoirs; in which is a well written article on the Scarabaeus of Egypt, by M. Palin, Swedish Minister at Constantinople.

RUSSIA.

A work entitled Boreo-Orientalis et Occidentalis Tartarorum linguæ Polyglotta is now in the press: it consists of a vocabulary of names, numbers, and other principal words of thirty-three

different nations, which inhabit European and Asiatic Tartary, Bulgaria, Kamschatka, &c. with maps of each kingdom, and astronomical observations. Each vocabulary is preceded by a short description of the country to which it refers. After which follows an archeological disquisition upon the origin of each nation, as well as a sketch of its religion, manners, and customs; also a description of its seaports, rivers, canals, and productions.

The plant, polygonum minus, abounds in the deserts of the Ukraine. About the end of June they pluck up the roots, which are covered with a worm that indurates immediately it is exposed to the air. The roots are sold for culinary purposes, and the worms being immersed in water and alum, dye the water of the finest crimson. The Cossac women use it for dying their thread, and the Russian merchants purchase it as a rouge for ladies. The Polish and Armenian Jews sell it to the Turks, who use it to dye clothes, and to colour the tails and manes of their horses, as well as to dye their own hair, beards and nails. These worms are called Coccus Polonorum. From an experiment made at Moscow it appears that a pound of these worms, which cost only one rouble, yields as much dye as half a pound of cochineal,

The Golovnin and Baranof, vessels fitted out by the Russian American Company to explore the N.W. Coast of America, are on their return home, having discovered a large Island called Mumirak, situated, according to their calculation, in lat. 59° 54′ 57′′ N., and in long. 190° 17′ 12′′ E.

The Synod of St. Petersburg has published an official report of the population of the Empire in 1820. The births have been 827,729 males, 742,670 females, making 1,570,399; the deaths were 467,683 males, and 449,997 females, in all 917,680; giving a surplus of births of 652,719. The births of 1820 have exceeded those of 1819 by 48,265, and the deaths have decreased by 1,429; 243,029 of children (about one half of the total number of that age) have died before reaching the age of five years. Among the deaths in 1820, are the following ages, viz.:-1 of 145, 4 of 135, 7 of 130, 14 of 125, 41 of 120, 78 of 115, 143 of 110, 301 of 105, and 807 of 100 years. The numbers married in 1820 were 317,805 or less than in 1819 by 22470. The population of Siberia is 1,604,495 souls, that of Kamschatka only 4,506.

Hesse Darmstadt.-As a fine instance of a tolerant and Christian spirit, we may relate that the Doctor Leandre Van Ess, a Catholic priest and professor of Darmstadt, known for his translation of the Bible into German, has just published, at a low price, several volumes of the excellent dis courses of Doctor Reinhard, a Lutheran preacher at Dresden, as well as a complete collection of the prayers of Reinhard. For these and similar good works he has been vituperated in the Catholic Journal of Strasburgh, but the theological faculties of Breslaw, Bonne and Tubingen, have bestowed their, applause upon this conduct.

Halle Mr. Philip Rung, lecturer on the English language to the University of Halle, died on the 11th of February last, aged 70. Among his many esteemed works was his Dictionary of Jews and Jewesses distinguished by their literature, and comprehending the Patriarchs, the Prophets, and the must celebrated Rabbins. This Dic tionary was published at Leipsick in 1817, and in 1820. Mr. Rung, who was an Englishman, published an Eng. lish translation of a German play brought out at Halle.

Mon. André, of Stutgard, member of the Aulic Council, and editor of a periodical collection of pieces called Hesperus, has just offered a prize of 100 ducats for the best Defence of the Liberty of the Press as the Security of the Rights of Citizens. The question to be determined on the 1st of January, 1825. Communications upon the subject are to be addressed to Mon. Andrè, at Stutgard.

The dome of Spires will soon be ornamented by a colossal statue of the Em. peror Adolphus of Nassau, which is now completing by the celebrated sculptor Ohmacht of Strasburg. The Emperor is represented on his knees, his hands joined in prayer, and his eyes turned towards Heaven. Adolphus was destitute of fortune, but born of a noble family; he owed his elevation to his sword, to his cousin the

Arch-bishop of Mayence, and to the hatred which the other Electors bore to the imperious Albert, of Austria, the successor of Rodolph of Hapsburg. Adolphus, however, could not have gained the crown but by the pecuniary assistance of his cousin, and by his submitting to be paid by England for opposing Philippe-le-Bel of France. The pride of Adolphus soon roused against him several of the Electors, and, although assisted by his powerful family, he was soon reduced to a few faithful companions at arms, and shortly after he fell by the hand of his rival at the battle of Gelheim, near Worms. His ashes, having been deposited in the Cathedral of Spires, were fated to be mixed with those of his enemy by the subsequent destruction of that building. The reigning Duke of Nassau, being a descendant of Adolphus, has obtained from the King of Bavaria permission to erect the statue upon the dome of Spires, where his first funeral monument had been erected.

M. Thienemann has just published, at Munic, an embellished description of the Lithographic drawings of the Royal Gallery of Painting at Munic. This gallery consists of eight large halls, and contains many of the prin cipal works of the most distinguished masters.

The Mosaic pavement found in 1815 among the ruins of the ancient city of Suvavia, near Saltsburgh, has been removed, for the purpose of cleaning it, to Schonbrun. The four divisions of it represent the destruction of the Minotaur by Theseus.

There has been discovered on the banks of the Necker, near Stutgard, in a stratum of clay, some bones of a prodigious size, which are supposed to have been those of a mammoth.

The fine royal domain of Schleishem is to be converted into a School of Agriculture. The pupils are to be divided into three classes, which will be thus disposed of by a decree of the King: the first class will comprehend those destined to subaltern employments, or professions relative to agriculture; the second, those who desire to obtain information as to the arts connected with agriculture; and the third will be formed of those, who, principally attending to theory, wish to make themselves deeply acquainted with the auxiliary sciences.

A Dutchman, named Loothausen, carried with him, and exhibited to the public for money, two young Chinese, who had no other means of subsistence

in Europe. The King has paid the price of their redemption, and has sent them to the University of Halle, where they are to be instructed in European languages, in order to teach their own.

NETHERLANDS.

The learned Professor, Herman Tollius, who assisted in the education of the reigning Sovereign of the Low Countries, died at Leyden, the 29th of April, 1822, aged 80 years.

PORTUGAL.

The government have just invited into Portugal M. Bourg, a Swede, who has distinguished himself by his method of instructing the deaf and dumb. M. Bourg is to establish, at Lisbon, two institutions, one for the deaf and dumb, and the other for the blind.

ITALY.

The last publication of the Court Almanack at Rome makes the number of Cardinals now living to be 44. The number of congregations at Rome, of which that of the Inquisition is the first, is 26. Those of the Patriarchs, Archbishops, and Bishops, (exclusive of those in partibus infidelium) amount to 550. There are 1450 Priests, 1532 Monks, 1464 Nuns, and 332 Instructors. In 1821, the population of Rome, exclusive of the Jews, amounted to 146,000.

The Convent of the Capuchins of the Redeemer at Venice, and the order of the Philippines at Chioggio, have been re-established during the last year. At Toulouse they have re-established the Holy Brotherhoods of the Black and Grey Friars.

On the 10th of March last, the Pope created ten cardinals, all of them Italians. The oldest was Luigi Pandolfi, born on the 6th September, 1751; and the youngest was Carlo Odescalchi, born on the 5th of March, 1785.

Academical Society of Savoy.-Several individuals, by permission of the government, have associated under the above title, and have since increased the number of their members, and have elected several correspondents. Several useful papers had already been produced, when the events of March, 1821, led to the suspension of the establishment. In the middle of last year the government authorized the Society to meet again under its original laws. From the zeal and intelligence of its members it is to be hoped, that the Society will dissipate those prejudices, which at present totally prevent the