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Vr Vr For the Earth r1; but for Saturn 9, and for Uranus 19: hence, if we suppose planets (placed beyond Uranus, at a distance from the Sun, making 100) to have burst asunder, it would have required only an explosion capable of producing a velocity less than 12 or 15 times that of a cannon ball, to form of the fragments comets, elliptic or parabolic, in every possible direction and magnitude. Velocities greater than those limits would have produced byperbolic comets, which would have entirely disappeared, after their first production. Should it be supposed that the fragments of the planet, when exploded, should continue to move in orbits, about equal to that of the planet, but differ. ently situated, we will have only to make this formula, a=b=r; when we shall have

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70 m

nearly, and that for these planets we have r = 2,7; the velocities belonging to the explosion, will be less than 20.

With respect to the Earth, if we suppose a fragment equal to one thousandth part of the globe, and consequently equal to a globe having for diameter the tenth part of that of the Earth, be detached from it and projected with a velocity capable of changing it into a parabolic comet; this velocity will be expressed by 70 (3 X cos. i); and the max2A imum, as before found, will be 121 or

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156, according as the comet is direct or retrograde; but in this case, to this velocity must be added that required to overcome the action of gravity, or the attraction of the Earth, which will diminish the effect of the explosion, and alter

a little the elements of the orbit. It will be difficult to ascertain these alterations; but it is evident that this additional velocity can never be greater than that requisite for a projectile to proceed to an infinite distance, without considering the resistance of the air. This last is the same with the velocity which the projectile should receive, to describe a parabola round the Earth: and it is to the velocity with which it would describe a circle at the same distance from the Earth, as 1/2 to 1, as Newton has shown.

Now we know from Huyghens, that in order to render the centrifugal force at the surface of the Earth equal to gravity, times as great as the velocity of rotation the velocity of rotation must be 17 of a point at the equator. Hence, taking for unity this last velocity which differs but little from that of a cannon-ball, the velocity impressed on a projectile will be expressed by 17 1/2, or by nearly 24. It will be necessary then to increase by 24 the numbers 121 and 156, which will carry the maxima of the velocities to 145 and 180.

Many other consequences may be known from these formula; but I will not enter further on this subject, contenting myself with having given a general solution of the problem. We thus have a complete hypothesis on the origin of the whole planetary system, more conformable to the nature and to the laws of mechanics, than all the others hitherto proposed.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine,

SIR,

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1814.] trials is

Mr. Marsh's Harmonics; and the Fossil Skeletons.

and this, by the question, is to be equal to the probability of doing 31*

it, or

1

; whence, from the nature of logarithms, × × log. = log. † ; or x X (log. 3-log. 4) log. 1log. 1-log. 2 log. 3-log. 4

log. 2; or log. 2 log. 4-log. 3 3010300 1249387

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2.4, nearly the number of

trials, or in 24 trials it might be expected to be done 10 times.

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J. Marsh, in 1810, p. 14, he says, speak ing of tuning keyed instruments, "§ 30, For in proceeding from C upwards by fifths, and taking twelve in succession, (the number of keys in the octave,) the 12th will fall short of the note set out from, or its octave, in the same degree as the three third-mentioned in § 27." An anonymous review of this work, lately published, says, this 30th § is erroneous; without assigning any reasons, or noticing that the author, in p. 23, on this same principle (with equal impropriety,iferrone ous) recommends, a double or divided key for G and Ab, which key, being distinguished from all the rest, (as the centre of three short keys throughout the instrument,) performers, in general, would soon get into the habit of managing their fingering,"&c. and, by which simple addition of one note,they would,he says,do away with the great wolf," "or chord of GX, C, Eb, instead of Ab, C, Eb," in the key of Ab, or on the fourth, or subdo. minant Eb, (p. 20.) See also the last paragraph in Mr. M.'s work, where the same things are likewise asserted.

Now, although in all systems of intervals or modes of tuning, except one, this assumption of Mr. Marsh's is necessarily incorrect; yet in case of the bearing fifth G Eb, being equally sharpened with the bearing major third G ✯ C; a system which I have calculated by my theorems, in the Philosophical Magazine, vol. 36, (to which vol. the reviewers refer,) p. 45, Schol. 3; and have shewn that a flat temperament, of one-third of a comma, to each of the other eleven fifths, (besides G* Eb), will produce such a system,

20 as enables the removing the wolf third GC, along with the wolf fifth G Eb, (and leaving of their proper tempe raments instead,) by the introduction of a new or thirteenth note, Ab, that cam on these occasions be substituted for G.

I have also shewn in your last volume, p. 219, that in this system, the notes very nearly approached nineteen equal intervals in the octave, and it might easily be shewn that sixteen of these notes are necessary, to remove all its remaining wolves (or Db, Gb, and Cb, in addition); that ten of its major sixths, and as many of its minor thirds are perfect, or without any temperament, (by the use of Ab with F): and consequently, that, a tempered fifth would only be required to be tuned, by the beats, above and another such below C, and all the other ten notes by perfect sixths only. And nine of its & major thirds are each flattened comma,

But how such large temperaments could be borne, on the fifths, (on the organ in particular,) or these flattened thirds, or the effect that each of these would produce on the ear, with the perfeet intervals, and these especially, with the occasional dissonances of the other 3 third and 2 sixth wolves, (each almost 8, and 24 commas sharpened, respective ly,) I will leave Mr. Marsh to explain: but who can, from the unalterable nature of the scale, refer to no other system than this, in defence of thể passages in his Harmonics, that have been censured as above.

Mr. Marsh, or any of your musical readers, can have little difficulty in calculating and forming a table, of the thirteen. notes of Mr. M.'s system, expressed in my artificial commas, either calculating by fifths, each 3544, orby nineteenths of the octave, each 32, as explained in your last volume, p. 219; and of forming tables, shewing the temperaments of all the concords that can be taken, on each of these twelve, or thirteen, notes, considered as key-notes; but if this task appear to have any difficulties in it, I would readily send such tables, for insertion in your work, on being so requested.

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discovery of course disturbs the many fine-spun theories, relative to the comparatively recent formation of the human species." Now, although several different theories seem here (perhaps artfully, as a cover for the real intention) alluded to, I am aware of no application which this remark can have, but to call in question the received Mosaic account of the origin and date of our species.

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I am far from wishing others, or think ing that I ought myself, to shrink from the free examination of any and every truth or position, presented to us through the medium of writing or the press, as this Mosaic account is; but certainly, something more like general evidence must he adduced, before the facts of a solitary spot, even were these undoubted skeletons of the strata, that Sir Alexander and the foreign geognosts of Bloomsbury have stumbled on, can be admitted to disturb much the uniform tenor of all geological observations, up to the present time: but as this is a subject that will doubt less rouse the zeal of your venerable and more able correspondent M. De Luc, I will leave it thus, for the present.

I cannot however avoid remarking, that several years ago, (it was before I began to attend to geology, and therefore preserved no notes, or references,) I met, in the course of my reading, with a very circumstantial account of the ancient Caribee burying-place above alluded to, and of the stoney hardness that the soil had acquired, which was formerly loose and capable of being dug for graves: this account, as far as I can recollect, agreed in every particular, as to the considerable number of bodies, at near the same depth, their straight and parallel positions, their arms being laid upon them, &c. which the best accounts that I have heard lately, state respecting the bodies in question; for it is admitted, that numbers of them remain behind, and that the inhabitants, who sold this, (at a price somewhat proportionate to the credulity of the parties, if I am not mistaken,) spoke familiarly of this skeleton, and the mass of stone in which it was almost entirely enveloped, by the naine of a Galib, the ancient, and I believe the French name of the inhabitants of those parts.

When this block of stone arrived at the Museum, so exceeding small were the appearances externally, of the bones within it, that I have been told, many were for sawing it in two at once, thinking it improbable that it contained any thing curious; a proof among others, I think, that the persons that quarried this stone, knew

well by experience, and the positions of the adjoining graves, (which probably they cut through,) exactly where and how this skeleton laid, and sent the perfect one, as I understood, which is now so unfortu nately mutilated.

In case any of your numerous readers should have met with the printed account that I have mentioned, or any other, of these Caribee burial-places, I, and many others, will esteem it a favor, if they will make reference to, or extract all such acJOHN FAREY, SEN.

counts.

Upper Crown Street, January 8, 1814.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

YOUR

YOUR Correspondent "Jacobus" enquires, in your number for this mouth, for a "method of preventing the mischief done to books and MSS. by the worm or moth, and also for preventing its spreading." Some years ago many of my books began to be damaged by some insect, but none have been injured since I put here and there upon the shelves small bags containing powdered pepper. Books bound in Russia leather rarely (I believe, never) are attacked by worms, and therefore I have little doubt but a few so bound, mixed with others, will prove some protection to the whole. I have known scraps or clippings of Russia leather, prove of essential service.

I have stayed the progress of the mischief already commenced in books by putting a quantity of pepper among the leaves. J. BELLA.

January 5, 1814.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

HROUGH the medium of your most

Trespectable miscellany, I request to

offer a few observations on the important advantages of a new method I have adopted for constructing models for intended buildings.

Probably it is known to most of your numerous readers, that the uniform practice of architects, when consulted re specting any intended building, is to depict their ideas in a series of diagrams, technically designated plans, elevations, and sections. By these they profess to explain the interior accommodations, and external effect, of the proposed erection; not seeming to reflect that, however intelligible graphic representations may be to artists, they are with difficulty under stood by those who have not made archi. tecture their particular study.

2

1814.] Mr. Cumberland on the Having repeatedly experienced the inconveniences arising from this practice, I have been induced to prepare models. These models I construct in a manner as new as explicit, and by a resource, so much more luminous and satisfactory than that of any drawings, I am enabled, before a brick is laid, to exhibit every part of the intended edifice, as distinctly as if it were already in existence.

The advantages of this method to those who propose to build, are too obvious to require to be dwelt upon. It is sufficient to observe that, while architectural drawings mislead,or evade, the judgment, a model,on the plan I adopt, is so intelligible as to enable every observer to form as correct an opinion upon the merits of the proposed structure as even the author of the design. Though by this improvement upon the professional custom, I have imposed upon. myself much extra trouble and expence, yet the concomitant facilities of substantial exhibition have been found so superior to those offered by drawings, that I have been encouraged to extend my system to almost every necessary variety; not omitting the models of several public and domestic structures, which have been raised under my direction in different parts of the united kingdom. 33, Berner's Street, January 12, 1814.

C. A. BUSBY.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

Where, that promises wonders.

E have set up a new steam-engine

A Mr. ONION is the inventor. I have seen it, and like it much. The principle is a hollow wheel whose interior is half filled with a fluid metal; in fact, the fly wheel loaded and charged with steam by means of two tubes that enter at the nave, and two valves that act alternately as the wheel revolves. The steam is supplied by means of a common boiler; it makes no noise whatever,and saves half the coals. We shall grind corn with it shortly; the saving will be very great every way.

25

Arts and Artists of Bristol.
of a Fray. The Job has been painted
for the Institute.

Mr. BURGE, of this place, has also introduced a stove in the form of an urn, which has a pot introduced into it, for the fire, and is supplied with air from above, so that you may enjoy the fire and the store at once; they sell for about 50s. and are very useful, as they give much heat, and can be placed any where,

Mr. BIRD has finished and will send up next week his Job, a noble picture, superior to any he has yet executed. Also, a brilliant scene in an alehouse MONTHLY MAG. No. 251.

Mr. EAGLES, a new artist, has also sent up four landscapes of great excellence. They are grand and well co., loured, being founded on a long study of nature. G. CUMBERLAND, Bristol, Dec. 25.

For the Monthly Magazine. ACCOUNT of the LANSDOWNE MSS. lately deposited in the BRITISH MUSEUM compiled for the RECORD COMMISSION, by H. ELLIS, ESQ.

division of the Lansdowne MSS. HE Burleigh papers form the first One volume of these papers contains copies of charters and other documents of an early period; but the remainder, amounting to one hundred and twentyone volumes in folio, consist of state papers, interspersed with miscellaneous correspondence, during the long reign of Queen Elizabeth; and among these is the private memorandum book of Lord Burleigh.

The second division of the Lansdowne MS3. comprises the papers and correspondence of Sir Julius Cæsar, judge of the Admiralty in Queen Elizabeth's time, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Master of the Rolls, in the time of James I. and Charles I. Of fiftyfour volumes in this series, thirty-one relate directly or in part to Admiralty concerns; ten to Court of Requests, Chancery, Treasury, and Exchequer business; three to Ecclesiastical matters; one contains treaties; two are catalogues of the Cæsar papers; and seven are historical, parliamentary, &c,

The third and last division of these MSS. is the largest, and comprehends many valuable works upon various subjects, Amongst these are, a fair transcript of Andrew of Wyntown, and a most beautifully illuminated copy of Hardyng's Chronicle, as it was presented to King Henry the Sixth; and two volumes of Letters, &c. written by royal, noble, and eminent persons of Great Britain, from the time of King Henry the Sixth to the reign of his present Majesty; the greater part originals. Here are also eleven volumes of the Papers of Dr. John Pell, Envoy from Oliver Cromwell to the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland, between 1654 and 1688, and five volumes of Sir Paul. Rycaut's Papers. These latter volumes contain not only letters, &c. of a public nature while Sir Paul Rycaut was Secretary to the Earl of Clarendon in

Ireiauda

Ireland in the reign of James II. but also his letters and papers relating to public transactions while resident at Hamburgh and the other Hanse towns.

Upon coin and coinage there is a valuable work, which seems to have been intended for publication by its author, entitled, "Brief Memoires relating to the Silver and Gold Coins of England, with an Account of the Corruption of the hammer'd Monys, and of the Reform by the late grand Coynage at the Tower and the Five Country Mints, in the Years 1696, 1697, 1698, and 1699," by Hopton Haynes, esq. Assay Master of the Mint, 1700.

The Heraldical and Armorial Manuscripts in this collection, are numerous; and a large collection of papers of the Fifteenth Century, illustrating the Institutions of Chivalry in England. In illustration of the History of Scotland there is "A Collection of Laws, Statutes, Orders, Commissions, and Treaties, relating to the Marches or Borders of Scotland, as made and agreed on by the respective Sovereigns of England and Scotland, from 1249 to 1597."

Of the Kennet papers, many relate to English Ecclesiastical History, contain ing Notes from various Abbey and Cathedral Registers, with Transcripts from many old manuscript tracts and printed books, Collections for the History of Convocations, &c.; eight volumes are Dr. Hutton's collections from Ecclesiastical Records, the two last including some Notes only by Bishop Kennet; eleven volumes contain the Bishop's Biographical Memorials, mostly of the English Clergy, from 1500 to 1717; eight relate to the Church and Diocese of Peterborough. Some of these manuscripts have been the materials for the Bishop's printed works, but the Jarger and more miscellaneous quantity, particularly in biography and local his tory, have been unused.

In this division there are also several old collections of Statutes, written on vellum, from the earliest date down to 23 Hen. VI.; also, a “Treatise on the Court of Star-Chamber, by William

The last and strongest class of this third division of the Lansdowne Manuscripts, is that of Topography, comprising Mr. Warburton's Collections for Yorkshire; and also the Chartularies of the Abbies of St. Alban, Lunda, Gerondon, and Chertsey.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine

SIR,

HINKING that much valuable in

Tformation might be obtained in regard to the depreciation of the precious metals, by a comparison of their value in relation to the prices of corn upon the Continent, I should be much obliged to any of your correspondents who would inform me, through the me dium of your valuable publication, whether any regular returns of the prices of corn have been made to the French, or to any other government upon the Continent, as has been done in England; and if any such documents exist, I should be glad to learn in what publications they are to be found. Birmingham,

14th Jan. 1814.

S. T. G.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

THAT public-spirited and accom

plished gentleman, Mr. Campbell, of Stackpool Court, in Pembrokeshire, who now dignifies nobility under the title of Lord Cawdor, planted, a few years since, an Arboreum, consisting of several hundred different species of trees, with a view to ascertain their compara tive produce and profit.

I have seen it, and have reverenced the feeling that excited the experiments but I have never heard the result, or whether any result is yet ascertained. At any rate, some particulars would highly interest the patriotic readers of your valuable miscellany. Canterbury, Dec. 5, 1813.

AGRICOLA.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR, OBSERVE there

Hudson, esq., Collection of Royal I taken in your last Number, of the

Proclamations, from 19 Hen. VII. to 17 Car. I.; and several Manuscripts which relate to Parliamentary History and Proceedings, principally Transcripts. There is also a Transcript of the Testa de Nevill, and fifteen volumes of Selec tions from the Patent Rolls preserved in the Tower,

establishment of Passage Steam-boats in America. Had it not been for the unhappy war in that country, a regu lar communication between Montreal, Quebec, and New York, in the United States, would by this time have been opened almost entirely by steam-boats the relative situation of Hudson's, or

North

T

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