But some men's minds, trace such divinity, With cubes and oblongs; not with soul and nerves: The child become a youth: to manhood climb; Equal in power, to the lives involv'd: Will not coursing: assimilate as well: combin'd: The hare making four leaps, whilst the dog three. And contravene learned authority! Time! join with life? pray what analogy? Much more by far; than timeless decrements; Solving more truly: life-term agreements. Science-spun theorems, in harmonics: Throwing Olympus hy opinion, Upon Ossa's mountainous atomics: And Ossa then hurl, on mount Pelion: Unite both sense and nonsense together: With some things else; how remote soever. Curvilinear fluxionary germ, Of quadruply-refin'd mathematics, From Hyde park corner to Trinity-term: Wou'd equate life's-span by conic-tactics; At which Price and De Moivre labour'd; till, Their mountain deliver'd; produc'd a nil, Let us decline learned pomposities, And seek for plain truth, by simple traces: What others style "fluxions"; we'll name velocities; What they call "fluents": we shall think spaces; Leaving indefinites, from sun to sun, That curves abscisse, ordinately chime To life-span terms, is but a curv'd-span And often bewilder, when they shou'd guide. Seems metamorphos'd: what is it, I pray? Cannot life-solvers: this phantom portray? As well as life square, curve, cube, chance, and split? As bats in the twilight': purblindly flit? Life's timeless code, of abracadabra, As error in error, still enhances. Oh! what a Rule! in Science to advance : No. 64, Cubical Square, Nov. 24, 1813. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, Na letter from Sir William Jones, I dated 1776, Nov. 13, he says, hasten to impart to you the pleasure I received to-day from seeing a series of experiments, exhibited by Mr. Walsh, on the American eel, by which he clearly proved that this animal has a sensation wholly distinct from the five senses. four wires about two inches in the water "His first experiment was by fixing where the fish was swimming, one in each quarter of the elliptical trough; each of these wires communicated with a large glass of water placed on a table at a little distance. While the four glasses rémained separate, the gymnotus was perfectly insensible of the wires, but in the very instant when a communication was made by an instrument between any two of the glasses, he seemed to start, and swam directly to the wires which were thus joined, paying no attention to the others, until a junction was made between them also. This could not be sight, because he did not heed the wires while they were insulated, though they were equally conspicuous. It could not be feeling, at least not like our feeling: because the water was not agitated, or heated, or cooled, or altered to our senses; still less could it be hearing, sinell, or taste. It was therefore a dis tinct electrical sense of feeling. "Other analogous experiments were shown- A triangular instrument of brass was held over the tub, and one of the legs was placed gently in the water, to which the fish was wholly inattentive; but when the other leg was just immersed, he ins stantly started." Surely these experiments deserve a careful repetition, in the present more advanced state of Galvanic knowledge, and not with American eels only, but 1814:] Eccentric Dedication.-Bite of Snakes: with our own native fish, several of which possibly have, in some degree, a sensibility to Galvanic irritation. Those parts of the human frame which are usually kept moist, such as the tongue, certainly possess this sensitive power. T. "To God, "The One Eternal! the Incomprehensible! the Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Almighty Creator of all things that exist! from Orbs immeasurably great, to the minutest points of matter, this atom is dedicated and devoted with all possible Gratitude, Humiliation, Worship, and the highest Adoration both of body and mind, "By his most resigned, Low, and humble Creature, GEORGE EDWARDS." What would the puritans of James's days have said to this, from a subject, if they could arraign the conduct of their king for a less offence? NORVICENSIS, Norwich, Nov. 13, 1813. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. THE HE following short account of the cure of the bite of snakes of the most venomous kind may be useful, as well as interesting to your readers. The case detailed is from a well known and highly respectable contributor to the Asiatic Researches. On the Cure of Persons bitten by Snakes, &c. By John Williams, esq. This is merely a statement of facts, reJative to the cure of persons bitten by snakes, by means of the volatile alcali, given either in the form of eau de luce, or in that of the caustic alcaline spirit. Mr. Williams previously observes, that "from the effect of a ligature applied between the part bitten and the heart, it is evident that the poison diffuses itself over the body by the returning venous blood; destroying irritability, and rendering the system paralytic. It is therefore probable, that the volatile 113 caustic alcali does not act so much as a spe cific in discharging its quality, as by coun teracting its effect on the system by stimu lected out of many. In four, the species lating." The cases, in number 7, are seof snake causing the injury, was ascertained to be the Cobra di Capello, and it was probably so in two more. The constant symptoms of this poison, are convulsions about the throat and fauces, occasioning difficulty in swallowing; but when the patient has been able to swallow, Mr. Williams has never known the volatile alcali fail in its effect. Doses of thirty, or sixty drops in water, were repeated every five or ten minutes, till the dangerous symptoms were over, together with external application of the same to the wound. The recovery was generally very speedy. Mr. Williams canoil, as it impedes the efficacy of the alcaline tions against the previous administration of spirit. The last case relates to the bite of a snake, called by the natives Krait, a species of Boa; in this instance, the alcali, once exhibited, seemed to have removed the dangerous symptoms, and the patient was taken away without repetition of the dose, but died shortly after. I shall conclude, Mr. Editor, by ob. serving, that it appears to me very doubtful,whether it be to the bite of this animal in every instance, that the effect is to be attributed. I witnessed at Birmingham, in the year 1800, an experiment certainly of no entertaining, though very interesting nature. A rabbit was put into a cage, which contained a rattle-snake, then exposed as a curiosity, and which had been exhibited for a long time previously in London. The snake seemed to recoil, as it were contracting its muscles transversely, and becoming necessarily thicker; the poor rabbit appeared on the instant fascinated, and set up a most alarming, and almost human squeal, which was repeated, without effect, upon its relentless opponent, who poisoned, or darted at it in about half a minute after its entrance, leaving it dead on the spot; and with the speed of lightning, again recovered its former wild position. We carefully examined the spot, and indeed every part of the surface of the animal, without perceiving the slightest mark of violence. The body intumesced, and speedily became putrid; and the medical men present, were all agreed that the effect was attributable to a dart of the tongue; which is a question perhaps capable of better solution by some of your more learned and practised naturalists, to whom I should refer for further information on a subject, in itself, at all events, very curious, J. S. For Totals 428 4,090 355 10,801 12,345 23,146 130,019 31.480212630 11,700|17,027| 2.753 |73,366|77,053 150,419 To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, PAMPHLET has lately been pul amongst men; he added as an auxiliary (and not a very feeble) argument, that all who should oppose him, and blindly per A lished at Paris giving an account of sist in their errors, were to be considered the Wahabis, a new religious sect, which has lately overrun Arabia, and now threatens other eastern countries. It seems that Suleiman, a poor shepherd of the Negedi tribe, having, while asleep, seen a bright flame proceed from his body, and consume all that opposed its progress, related the portentous dream to some sagacious Sheikhs or Elders; they assured him that his son would be the founder of a new power, and would bring into obedience all the Arabs of the de sert. This prediction has been verified, not in the son of Suleiman, but in his grandson, Sheikh Mohammed: and although the dream may have been fabricated by this able sectary, he availed himself of the influence which it gave him in the minds of his fellow countrymen, who began to regard him as a personage designed by Heaven as the instrument of great events. He abolished the multiplicity of traditions which are deemed authentic by the bigotted Mussulmans, yet he took the Koran as a foundation for his doctrine, giving its precepts such an interpretation as was most conducive to the attainment of his own ambitious objects. He affirmed that the Arabian prophet was nothing more than a man, but a man eminently favoured by the Almighty. Ile allowed that the Koran was a divine composition, and he preached the unity, eternity, and omnipotence, the mercy and justice of God, who puuishes the wicked and rewards the good; but who, offended at the homage paid by Jews, Christians, and Mussulmans, to mortals like themselves, bad sent him to purify the world by destroying this kind of idolatry, and to restore the true faith as impious heretics, and exterminated accordingly. Wishing, however, for the protection and assistance of some powerful chief, he issued with a few proselytes of his own tribe from Yemen, (Arabia Felix,) and having visited many cities on the banks of the river Euphrates, and others of Syria, having been rejected at Mecca and at Damascus, driven from Bagdad and Bassora, he returned to Arabia, after a fruitless expedition of three years: but there he found in Ebr Sehoud, Prince of Drehyeh and Lahsa, the support and assistance which he desired. The doctrines of Sheikh Mohammed were soon adopted by an entire people, and he bestowed on the new proselytes a name commemorating his father, Abd-alwahab; he was declared Supreme Pontiff, and his patron, Ebn Sehoud, assumed the title of Prince and General of the Wahabis. Such was the division of spiritual and temporal supremacy, which has continued among the descendants of those two celebrated chiefs. As capital of this new empire, the ci ty of Drehyeh was chosen, and here Ebn Sehoud formed his vast projects of aggrandisement. He inspired his fanatic soldiers with a perfect contempt of death; their swords, he declared, would render them rich at the expense of others, and he promised that kings should trem ble before them. The new Pontiff, or prophet, seconded the arguments of his prince-"The Almighty," said he, "combats on your side, and it is his divine will that all should perish who do not acknow. ledge the true faith; on earth you will be recompensed by the plunder taken from your. your enemies, and the eternal enjoyments of Paradise await you in the other world." After accomplishing many of his ambitious projects, Ebn Sehoud died, and bequeathed to his son, Abdalaziz, a path ready opened, which might lead him to the dominion of all Aralia. This active prince followed the track of his father, and soon overcame all those tribes who had hitherto resisted. Nothing is more prompt, nothing more efficacious, than the Wahabis mode of fighting. "Believe or die," is the motto they have adopted. Until the year 1801, no measures were adopted to check the alarming progress of these new sectaries by the Ottoman government; at last, Suleiman, Pasha of Bagdad, received an order to attack them, and a combined army of Turks and Arabs, under Ali Kiaya, penetrated, al though with much loss and considerable difficulty, into the district of Lahsa, but Abdalaziz, the Wahabi Chief, having bribed Shawi zadeh, the principal adviser of Ali Kiaya, this Musulman general retreated to Bagdad. These successes encouraged the Wahabis to greater achievements, and the severest wound which could be inflicted on the Mahomedan faith, was the surrender of Mecca, the holy city; where, as the inhabitants had not resisted, their lives were spared, with the exception of twenty Sheikhs, who had publicly declaimed against the new religion. The Wahabis were induced, on this OCcasion, to act with less cruelty than usual, by the respect which they entertain for the Cauba. In the midst of this successful career, Abdalaziz was assassinated, (November 13, 1803,) by a Persian, who had lost his three sons, and from a desire of ravenge had assumed the character of a Wahabi: he was burnt alive, but the Musulmans, who regard him as a holy martyr, declare that the flames not having deprived him of life, he was delivered to an executi oner, and suffered decapitation. Sehoud was proclaimed successor to his father Abdalaziz, by the unanimous suffrages of the Wahabis, and he continues to preserve amongst them such a spirit of religious fanaticism, and ambition of conquest, as not only renders them a terror to bordering nations, but seems to insure them the universal monarchy of Asia. During the year 1806, several pious Musulmans, who formed the caravan of Hajis, or pilgrims, on their way to Mecca, were massacred by the Wahabis; 1 these sectaries levied a heavy contribution on those whom they suffered to live, and broke the sacred mahmel, or box, containing the Grand Signior's offerings to the tomb of Mohammed, a circumstance regarded by the Turks at Aleppo as portending the fall of Musulmanism. The few pilgrims who were permitted to enter Mecca, had the mortification of finding all the mosques destroyed, the exterior ceremonies of their worship abolished, and the ministers of their holy religion exterminated; the Caaba alone remained uninjured. Medina has since become a prey to these fanatics; and although they have experienced occasional repulses, yet there is reason to believe that Syria and Mesopotamia will also yield to their power. Bagdad, Bassora, Mousul, Aleppo, and Damascus, the principal cities of those provinces, however fortified they may be, cannot long resist the overwhelming torrent; for although the Wahabis never think of besieging a place according to the rules of military art, yet by plundering the villages, stripping all caravans, and preventing all means of obtaining relief or provisions, their enterprises are generally rendered successful. In 1807, the town of Ana, situated on the river Euphrates, was sacked by the Wahabis, who destroyed by fire aud sword, not only the place, but most of the male inhabitants, carrying off immense booty, and a great number of women and children, whom they keep as slaves. It seems therefore not unlikely but that this new sect may, in a certain degree, supersede the authority of Maho. met in many eastern countries, and be the means of effecting considerable revo lutions, as well political as religious. Dover, Jan. 8, 1814. X. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, M R. ZACKARY CLARK, an opulent farmer residing at Downham, in the county of Norfolk, having found that some town lands belonging to the poor in two several parishes adjoining, had been improperly disposed of, so effectually interfered as to succeed in restoring the proceeds of the land to the original intention of the donor: viz. the relief of the poor. It then occurred to Mr. Clark, that similar instances of neg lect of the poors' rights, might exist in many other parishes; and encouraged by his former success, he determined upon the laborious and expensive task of col lecting accounts of the different charities belonging |