APRIL to JUNE, 1828. MEMOIR on a New Calculation of the Latitudes of Montjouy and Barcelona; being a Supplement to the Base du Systême Mé- trique. By J. N. Nicollet, of the Royal Observatory, Paris On the Annealing of the Specula of Reflecting Telescopes. By J. MAC CULLOCH, M.D., F.R.S., &c. Comments on Corpulency. By WILLIAM WADD, Esq., F.L.S. Experiments on Heated Iron, in reference to the Magnetic and Electric Fluids. By WILLIAM RITCHIE, A.M., Rector of the Modern Improvements in Horticulture De l'Influence des Agens Physiques sur la Vie. Par W. F. ED- A Copy of the Law in relation to Weights and Measures recently established in the State of New York Remarks on the Ruins at Palenque in Guatemala, and on the Origin of the American Indians, with a note on Fossil Remains. Account of a New Hygrometer, by George Cumming, M.D. Report of the Commissioners appointed by His Majesty to inquire into the State of the Supply of Water in the Metropolis Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain Courses of Lectures delivered at the Royal Institution during the i. Astronomical Chronology, deduced from Ptolemy, and his ii. Principal Lunar Occultations of the fixed Stars, calculated TO OUR READERS AND CORRESPONDETNS. We have received two letters upon the subject of the Thames Tunnel : that signed "A Shareholder," is anticipated as to its contents by a Letter which has been published. The other, from "A Contributor to the Subscription," we recommend for the newspapers. We cannot, at present, enter upon the subject of London Bridge and Thames-street; but believe that the apprehensions entertained by “An admirer of Sir Christopher Wren" are quite groundless. A. B., on the Influence of Knowledge, &c., is not quite suited to this Journal. As very partial and often garbled extracts from the Report upon the Supply of Water to the Metropolis, have hitherto only appeared in the newspapers, we have thought it right to publish the whole of that docu ment. We have again been obliged, in consequence of the pressure of other matter, to postpone the greater portion of Reviews of Books: the subject shall be attended to in our next Number. Several original communications and others have, for the same reason, been deferred. Dr. Harwood's paper on the Whale tribe, being the substance of his discourse upon that subject referred to in the Proceedings of the Royal Institution, will be printed in our next Number: we much regret having been obliged to omit it in its proper place. We have also been under the necessity of postponing an interesting Communication from Captain Sabine, upon the Steam Boats of the United States. As we have declined the insertion of some communications upon the subject of the London University, we also think it right, for the present at least, to withhold the letter signed "Verulam," upon the subject of the new King's College. Just Published, CHEMICAL TABLES for the use of Students and Manufacturers. By WILLIAM THOMAS BRANDE, F.R.S., Prof. Chem. Royal Institution, &c. 8vo. price 8s. 6d. THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. On the Inland Navigation of the United States of America. PART I. (Communicated by the Author.) It is now some time since the United States of America have ranked as a maritime nation, second to Great Britain alone. It is, however, only recently that the public attention has been turned, in that country, to the improvement of internal navigation; but such rapid progress has been made in that direction, within the last ten years, that, in this respect also, it may be considered as having surpassed any other nation except England: nay, such is the demand for inland water communication, arising from the wide spread of an agricultural population, whose products are of great bulk, and nearly all of whose artificial wants are supplied from foreign countries, that the time cannot be far distant when, in the extent and number of its canals, the United States will probably exceed any civilized nation. Previous to the year 1816 the artificial inland communications of the United States were limited to a very few imperfect. and partial attempts. With the exception of the Merrimack Canal in Massachusetts, and the Santee Canal in South Carolina, no continuous and complete line of artificial navigation existed; in all other cases, nothing more had been actually effected, than to deepen and improve the channels of a few rivers, and to pass their more abrupt rapids and falls by means of locks. Thus, a boat navigation, of a precarious kind, had been extended from JAN.-MARCH, 1828. B |