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marks established for astronomical purposes; and, 7. Altars to Gods. Of all these various opinions, that which supposes the pyramids to be mausoleums, is considered by the learned most nearly to approach the truth. And the reasons are very obvious why this should be the predominant opinion; because, if the internal arrangement be viewed, particularly if the chambers and galleries of the great pyramid of Ghiza be examined, it will be found that they are exactly suited to the reception of dead bodies. But then, on the other hand, the first gallery which is entered in this pyramid leads down by an easy descent to a well, which is at present filled with rubbish; from this proceeds a long gallery upwards to the several chambers, where no trace whatever of any human bodies is found. Another circumstance, too, which is highly calculated to destroy that theory, is, that there is no possible mode by which bodies could be carried there at any time, except during the time of its being built. Thus, travellers have found the extreme parts of the upper gallery so extremely difficult to be pass, that they were obliged to creep on their bellies. The author of the present work does not by any means, pretend to solve the question. He merely presents a view of the present state of the knowledge which is ascertained upon this great subject, with the view of calling public attention to it, that being the surest way of ultimately arriving at the truth.

ART. XX.-The Description of

a new Lightning Conductor; and
Observations on the Phenomena of
Thunder Storms. By JOHN MUR-
RAY, F. S. A., &c. London:
Highley. 1833.

MR. MURRAY is absolutely indefatigable in his persevering attempts to enlighten the public mind upon this

interesting topic of lightning and thunder; and, really, as a casualty to which we are all, without exception, subject, it is deeply worthy of much more sober consideration than we are disposed to impute to it.

He begins by explaining the phenomena and the variety of lightning, and shews that the colour, which is sometimes purplish, sometimes reddish, supplies a test of the amount of destructive power which it possesses. We need not say that this is a practical discovery of the deepest importance. The zig-zag lightning is always formidable, as it is the proof of a great concentration of the electrical fluid; and, as it generally strikes a terrestrial object, it must, in certain cases, prove destructive. Another form of this electric phenomenon is the appearance of fire-balls,. which move-sometimes run-along the ground, or stop when any obstacle arrests their progress, and then burst like a shell. Mr. Murray next proceeds to describe that awful phenomena, a thunder-storm, going through its various stages, and arriving at last at the explosion.

Without entering into all the details which Mr. Murray furnishes on this subject, it is quite sufficient for us to say, that a perfect security is to be found in the form of lightning conductors which he describes and recommends. The conductor must have a fine point; it must be capable of rapidly and uniformly conducting the electric fluid downwards; it must be at such an elevation as to overtop the loftiest pinnacle of the building to which it is attached; and the conductor should be carefully preform the best material for a conducserved from oxidation. Silver would tor; but copper nearly answers as well, and it is much more economical. Several conductors, on Mr. Murray's plan, have been recently fitted up to churches, other public buildings, and gentlemen's seats.

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Commercial Ingenuity. The method by which the nutmeg merchants succeed in evading a heavy duty on certain sorts of nutmeg imported into this country, is very ingenions. A considerable portion is brought to us from Holland: if we import them direct for consumption they must pay a duty of 3s. 6d. the pound: but if the same article be merely entered for re-exportation, there is no duty demanded at all. Now, the usual course is for the merchant to take up these articles and send them to the Cape of Good Hope at his own expense. When there, the nutmegs put on an entirely new character they come under the privilege of colonial produce, and as such must be imported into Great Britain at only 2s. 6d. the pound. The difference between the two duties is one shilling in the pound, and the expense of the freight, insurance, &c., from London to the Cape and back again, is only 4d. per pound, so that it is obvious that a saving of 8d. per pound is made by this apparently very complicated process.

Average duration of life.-Nothing is more proverbially uncertain than the duration of human life, where the maxim is applied to an individual; yet there are few things less subject to fluctuation than the average duration oflife of a multitude of individuals. The number of deaths happening amongst persons of our own acquaintance is frequently very different in different years; and it is not an uncommon event that this number shall be double, treble, or even many times larger in one year

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than in the next succeeding. If we consider larger societies of individuals, as the inhabitants of a village or small town, the number of deaths is more uniform; and in still larger bodies, as among the inhabitants of a kingdom, the uniformity is such, that the excess of deaths in any year above the average number seldom exceeds a small fractional part of the whole. In the two periods, each of fifteen years, beginning at 1780, the number of deaths occurring in England and Wales in any year did not fall short of, or exceed, the average number, one-thirteenth part, of the whole; nor did the number dying in any year differ from the number of those dying in the next by a tenth part.

Method of making Salt.-In Guiana, in the Western Continent, a species of palm is found, in which the flowers are surrounded by a sheath of great density and strength of structure. This sheath is capable of containing several pints of water, and even resists the action of fire to such a degree, that it is employed by the natives to evaporate the sea water for the purpose of obtaining a speedy supply of salt.

Curious illustration of the excnt of the British Empire.-When it is winter in England, it is summer in Van Dieman's Land; when winter there, summer here; all the appearances of the year, in short, are completely reversed in the two countries. Thus the spring quarter of the Van Dieman's Land year begins in September, on the first day of which month, in Van Dieman's Land, the sun rises and sets at the same hours

as it does with us on the 4th of March; and the day is lengthening as in our spring. It continues to do so till the 21st of December (our shortest day), when it is at the longest; and then it gradually diminishes in length through the summer and autumnal months of January, February, March, April, and May, till, on the 21st of June (our longest day) it reaches the utmost limits of its contraction. The latitude of Hobart Town, however, now being not quite so high as ours, the longest day there is not so long, nor the shortest day so short, as with us. The length of their 21st of December is about 15 hours 12 minutes, that of our 21st of June being 16 hours 34 minutes; and that of their 21st of June is 8 hours 48 minutes, that of our 21st of December being only 7 hours 44 minutes. Our earliest sunrise is at 43 minutes past 3, theirs at 24 minutes past 4; our latest sunset is at 17 minutes past 8, theirs at 36 minutes past 7. At no period of the year, therefore, do their days either increase or decrease so fast

as ours..

Butter. The consumption of butter in the metropolis may be averaged at about one half pound per week for each individual, being at the rate of 26 lbs. a-year; and, supposing the population to amount to 1,450,000, the total annual consumption would (on this hypothesis) be 37,700,000 lbs., or 16,830 tons: but to this may be added 4,000 tons for the butter required for the 'victualling of ships and other purposes, making the total consumption in round numbers 21,000 tons, or 47,040,000 lbs., which, at 10d. per pound, would be worth 1,960,000l.

Inconsistency in High Quarters. -The Government plan for the amelioration of slavery limits the work to be performed by slaves, for

their masters, to 45 hours per week. Lord Althorp's factory bill allows children under 11, 12, and 13 years of age, to work 48 hours per week; and above that age to 18, 72 hours per week, with the slight intermission of an hour and half per diem for meals. Is this even-handed justice?

Barbarous state of the Isle of Man in the Nineteenth Century. The following manifesto is from the proprietor of the Manx Sun:— "In this island, such is the state of the press, that it cannot afford to defray the expenses of either editor or reporter; consequently the duty, beyond that of compiling, may be considered as entirely gratuitous; both our predecessors and self may fairly be considered as amateurs. The united journals do not actually together receive payment for more than 400 copies weekly. The week. ly sales of the two journals, therefore, amount to 6l. or 7.! for which two printing-offices are engaged, and the copies are delivered over the whole island gratis."

The First Book Auction.-The first book auction of which we have any record in England, was the sale of Dr. Seaman's library, which was brought to the hammer in 1676. The address prefixed to the catalogue ran thus: -" Reader, it hath not been usual here in England to make sale of books by way of auction, or who will give most for them; but it having been practised in other countries, to the advantage of both buyers and sellers, it was therefore conceived for the encouragement of learning to publish the sale of these books in this manner of way."

University Shrewdness.-In St. John's College, Oxford, there is a very curious portrait of Charles I., done with a pen, in such a manner that the lines are formed by verses from the Psalms, and so contrived

as to contain every psalm. When Charles II. was once at Oxford, he was greatly struck with this portrait, begged it of the college, and promised, in return, to grant them whatever request they should make. This they consented to, and gave his majesty the picture, accompanied with the request, that he would return it.

Anful magnitudes of Comets.The tail of the great comet of 1680, immediately after its perihelion passage, was found by Newton to have been no less than 20,000,000 of leagues in length, and to have occupied only two days in its emission from the Comet's body! a decisive proof this of its being dashed forth by some active force, the origin of which, to judge from the direction of the tail, must be sought in the sun itself. Its greatest length amounted to 41,000,000 leagues, a length much exceeding the whole interval between the sun and the earth. The tail of the comet of 1769 exceeded 16,000,000 leagues, and that of the great comet of 1811, 36,000,000. The portion of the head of this last comprised within the transparent atmospheric envelope, which separated it from the tail, was 180,000 leagues in diameter. It is hardly conceivable that matter once projected to such enor-,

mous distances should ever be collected again by the feeble attraction of such a body as a comet-a consideration which accounts for the rapid progressive diminution of the tails of such as have been frequently observed.

Warning to Will-makers.-The late Mr. Thelluson, by one of the most imbecile acts that ever disgraced the human intellect, so arranged his will, that the whole of this fine property, which he intended to give his heirs, was for mamy years in the Court of Chancery. If the good, but foolish old man were now to look from his grave and see the amount of the reckoning which that property has now to pay for his foolish and ridiculous gratification, he would scarcely stand such a shock. The reader will stare at the account. The amount of costs

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LITERARY NOTICES.

Shortly will be published, a new and correct translation of the last edition of Cuvier's great work, “Le Regne Animal;" or, "the Animal Kingdom," with numerous Notes by the Translator-a life of the Baron, and of M. Latreille, with Portraits of each of those celebrated persons. The work will be illustrated with a variety of steel engravings, of birds, beasts, fishes, and every class of animated nature, from drawings executed by the Baron himself; the whole forming the most splendid and complete Natural History ever offered to the British public.

"Sermons on various Subjects." By Samuel Warren, LL.D.

"Dialogues," Moral and Scientific. In 1 thick vol. royal 18mo. "The Biographical Record." By James Dredge. In 1 vol. 12mo.

"Travels and Researches in Caffraria;" describing the character, customs, and moral condition of the tribes inhabiting that portion of Southern Africa. By Stephen Kay, Corresponding Member of the South African Institution, &c. In 1 thick vol. 12mo.

"Two Letters on Tithes and Corn Laws." Addressed to William Duncombe, M.P. By Thomas Meare.

"A Present for an Apprentice." "Counsels and Consolations for those in trouble and affliction." By Jonathan Farr.

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"A Collection of Tunes; comprising the most approved standard, with a great variety of original compositions, adapted to the Hymns in use by the Wesleyan Methodist Societies, arranged in Classes, and designed for Choirs and Congregations generally. By Thomas Hawkes, of Willerton, Somerset.

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"The Oriental Annual."-This forthcoming new Annual is designed to present whatever is most grand and beautiful in the natural or artificial features of the Eastern World, commencing with India, owing to its immediate interest and connection with this country. It will be published on the first of October, containing 25 engravings, executed in the first style of the art, from original drawings by William Daniell, Esq., Royal Academician.

"The Biblical Annual."-New supplies of this valuable companion to the Holy Scriptures will be issued on the first of October.

A small volume, entitled "Reasons for Christianity," is just ready for publication.

"Landseer's Illustrated Edition of the Romance of History."-This new edition of the "Romance of History" is to be published in monthly volumes, each containing six plates of its mostriking and interesting scenes, fro original designs by Mr. Thomas Landseer. It is to be commenced on the first of November, and continued on the first of every succeeding month, until its completion.

"The Geographical Annual for 1884," will include all be latest discoveries and changes that have taken place, and will be published early in October.

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