The detail of these papers, which form two volumes in folio, does not promise much information to either the historian or the antiquary, Notices of family-papers, however, are always to be encouraged; for there are undoubtedly many manuscript treasures, which are withholden from the public by supineness or false delicacy. 1. nisu dom start Account of four circular Plates of Gold found in Ireland. By Ralph Ousley, M. R. I. A... 2. The number of antique golden ornaments, discovered in different parts of Ireland, furnishes a curious subject of inquiry to the antiquary. Mr.Ousley observes, in this very brief paper, that. Ireland must formerly have possessed mines of that precious metal, or a lucrative traffic with nations abounding in it. Papers in SCIENCE concluded." Remarks on the Causes and Cure of some Diseases of Infancy." By Joseph Clarke, M. D. & M. R. I. A. Dr. Clarke controverts the opinion that greenness of the fæces, in infants, is the effect of a superabundant acid. He is inclined to believe them to be bilious; especially as he has found that the green colour disappears in the course of a few hours after the evacuation has taken place. Instead of giving absorbents, therefore, he exhibited calomel, and with the best effects. He speaks of this as a new practice: but, though it may have been little known in Ireland, we believe that it has long been pursued in this country. Children are often subject to superfluous secretion of bile, and sometimes to astonishing accumulations of that fluid. In such cases, we have seen great. benefit accrue from repeated doses of calomel, joined with James's powder, or emetic tartar. Dr. C. has also found calomel useful in convulsions, occurring on the ninth day of the infant's life. He considers the cutaneous eruptions, to which children at the breast are liable, as designed to free the system from redundant fluids. On this subject, our readers may refer to the accurate and valuable work of Dr. Willan. (See Rev. May last, p. 75-) History of a Case in which very uncommon Worms were discharged from the Stomach; with Observations thereon. By Samuel Crumpe, M. D. & M. R. I. A. This is the case of a lady, who, after repeated pneumonic attacks, and symptoms of consumption, was seized with vomiting of blood, and in the course of the complaint threw up a number of worms, which are particularly described, and engraved. With the vomiting of the worms, her complaints. abated, and at length entirely ceased. Dr. Crumpe observes, on these appearances, They appear to me to be the larvæ of some insect, but of what particular species I am not naturalist minute enough to determine. The large one appears very similar to the larva of the common beetle. We have many instances related by various authors, of different species of worms discharged from the intestinal canal; but of the different descriptions I have read, or specimens I have seen preserved in anatomical collections, none have struck me as in any degree similar to those discharged by the patient whose case has been just related. It is probable, as has before been mentioned, that the worms discharged were the larva of some insect which does not usually deposit its eggs in any part of the human frame; but which having been accidentally deposited in, or conveyed into the body, were hatched, and acquired the size and form we have delineated.' There can however I believe be little doubt that the complaints of the stomach with which she was seized, and the vomiting of blood, were occasioned by their presence; and that they formed for themselves a nidus in the coats of the stomach appears pretty evident from the purulent and bloody matter which accompanied the discharge of the last portion of them.' On the Composition and Proportion of Carbon in Bitumens and Mineral Coal By Richard Kirwan, Esq. LL. D. F. R. S. & M. R. 1. A. Mr. Kirwan's method of analysing coals and bitumens consisted in combustion, and the decomposition of nitre, by their means. For the results, we must refer to the paper. Synoptical View of the State of the Weather in Dublin. By the same. For this curious attempt to form rules of prognostication for the seasons, it will be necessary to consult the author's tables. Thoughts on Magnetism. By the same. Mr. Kirwan thinks that the phænomena of magnetism are explicable on the principle of crystallization. He observes; The assemblage of these ultimate particles into visible aggre gates, similarly arranged, necessarily requires that one of their sur faces should be attractive of that particular surface of the other, which presents a corresponding angle, and repulsive of that which presents a different angle; otherwise the various regular rhomboidal and other polygon prisms and pyramids, which crystals present us, could never exist; consequently the minutest prism, being once formed, could never be prolonged if one end of such prisms were not attractive, and the other repulsive of the same given surface.' Having noticed the attractive and repulsive powers of crystals in particular instances, he proceeds to apply this doctrine to magnetism. After having pointed out the great quantity of iron existing in the globe, he deduces the following corollaries: • 1st. That 1st. That the ferruginous matter in the globe being by far the most copious, its universal attractive power is principally seated in the ferruginous part. zd. That as all terraqueous matter was originally in a soft state, its parts were at liberty to arrange themselves according to the laws of their mutual attraction, and in fact did coalesce and crystallize in the direction in which they were least impeded by the rotatory mo tion of the globe, namely in that which extends from North to South, and principally and most perfectly in the parts least agitated by that motion, namely those next the centre. 3d. That this crystallization like that of salts might have taken place in one or more separate shoots, or as we may here call them, im mense separate masses, each having its poles distinct from those of the other, those in the same direction repulsive of and distant from each other.' The magnet, therefore, is a mass of iron, or iron ore; of which the particles are arranged in a direction similar to that of the great internal central magnets of the globe. The superior attraction of the magnet for iron is supposed to depend on the superior attraction of the particles of iron for each other. We cannot help thinking, however, that the limitation of the magnetic power to iron is an insuperable objection to the explanation attempted from a general principle. If crystallization implies attractive and repulsive properties in the crystals, as Mr. Kirwan asserts in his general propositions, all metals ought to shew some degree of magnetism. If there be still some peculiar property in iron, which exempts it from the common laws of crystallization, the magnetic property remains unexplained. On the Primitive State of the Globe, and its subsequent Catastrophe. By the same. It has been a subject of regret, to many serious and welldisposed persons, that the progress of natural philosophy has been generally supposed to weaken the authority of the Mosaic account of the creation, and of the first ages of the world. Mr. Kirwan has here stepped forwards, to reconcile the facts of the Hebrew legislator with the opinions of modern philosophers; and he has certainly made out a case sufficiently credible to quiet the alarms of tender consciences. The only objection to his conciliatory plan is, that there are different opinions concerning the primary state of the earth; Mr. K. is a philosopher by water: but there are philosophers by fire; and while this original difference subsists, it will be difficult to re-instate the book of Genesis, as the arbiter of philosophical systems. Besides, Mr. Kirwan absolutely gives up the point of physical explanation, (p. 279,) when he has recourse to a supernatural cause for the elevation of the waters over the highest mountains. We must therefore consider the deluge as a miraculous effusion of water, both from the clouds and from the great abyss; if the waters, situated partly within and partly without the caverns of the globe, were once sufficient to cover even the highest mountains, as I have shewn in the former essay, they must have been sufficient to do so a second time when miraculously educed out of those caverns.' There is much ingenuity, combined with instructive research, in the subsequent part of this paper. Synoptical View of the State of the Weather in the Years 1796 and 1797.. By the same. We shall extract the only part of the first of these papers that can be separated: the comparison of the table with the rules of probability : The Spring being wet, the probability of a wet Summer was the greatest, and that of a variable wet Summer the next greatest; the first the other by the 6th table. The Spring being wet and the Summer variable, the probability of a dry Autumn was the greatest by the Loth table. The observation that the more it rains in May the less it rains in September was also remarkably verified this year, it rained still less in October. Σ But the observation that the absence of storms in March prognosticates a dry Summer was falsified this year. For some years past I have remarked that a change of weather most commonly happens on the 7th, 14th, and 21st of every month, a day before or a day after, but sometimes though rarely the weather continues for three or four of these periods.' The observations for 1797 consist merely of a table, and do not admit of any particular view. Having thus completed our survey of this volume, we make our bow to the Society for the present, and shall be happy to attend them in the future progress of their labours. Fer...r. ART. VII. The Beauties of Saurin, being select and interesting 2s. 6d. sewed. Lee and Hurst. J^ AMES SAURIN was unquestionably the most elegant, though not the most learned, of all the French Calvinists (the emigrants of those days) who were obliged to leave their country. by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. The account of his life prefixed to this little volume is jejune, partial, and incomplete; and satisfactory memoirs of him are yet wanting. They should should not however be written by the pen of a panegyrist, nor by an enemy to his enemies; among whom we rank in the first place the celebrated P. Bayle. A just portrait of Saurin and his antagonists requires the pencil of a master; and it may possibly have been already drawn by some learned German. The volume before us contains a small collection of choice passages, or what the editor deemed such, with a complete sermon on the Christian Religion, from the text For we know in part *.-Running over these Beauties, perhaps with too superficial a glance, we confess that we find not much in them which deserves great admiration. We see an artful eloquence blended with much real devotion: but we find not the reasoning of a Bourdaloue, nor the pathos of a Massillon. We give two specimens; not as either the worst or the best, but fortuitously taken: OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. Behold an epitome of religion! Behold a morality in three words! -Return to your houses, and every where carry this reflection with you:"God seeth me." To all the wiles of the devil, to all the snares of the world, to all the baits of cupidity, oppose this reflec tion:-" God seeth me." If cloathed with a human form he were always in your path; were he to follow you to every place; were he always before you with his majestic face, with eyes flashing with lightning, with looks inspiring terror-dare ye, before his august presence, give a loose to your passions? But you have been hearing that his majestic face is every where; those sparkling eyes do inspect you in every place; those terrible looks do consider you every where. Let each examine his own heart, and endeavour to search into his conscience, where he may discover so much weakness, so much corruption, so much hardness, so many unclean sources overflowing with so many excesses, and let this idea strike each of you :-" God seeth me"-God seeth me as I see myself-unclean, ungrateful, and rebellious. Happy, if after our examination we have a new heart-a heart agreeable to those eyes that search and try it.' THE JUSTICE OF GOD. God is as amiable and adorable when he exerciseth his justice, as when he exerciseth his goodness. That which makes me adore God, believe his word, hope in his promises, and love him above all things, is the eminence of his perfections. Were not God possessed of such an eminence of perfections he would not be a proper object of adoration. I should be in danger of being deceived were I to believe his word, or trust his promises; and I should be guilty of idolatry were I to love him with that supreme affection which is due to none but the Supreme Being. But the goodness and justice of God being equal emanations of the eminence of his perfection, and of his love of order, I ought equally to adore and love him when he rewardeth and when REY. AUG. 1799. * 1 Cor. xiii. 9. Ee he |