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PART IV. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. Natural History in Foreign Countries. 



ITALY. 



An Eruption of Mount Vesumus took place on the morning of the 22d 

 of March last, which has been well described in the Athenceum for April 18th. 

 A correspondent who was at Naples at the time thus writes : " The cone 

 of the mountain puts you in mind of an immense piece of artillery, firing 

 red hot stones and ashes and smoke into the atmosphere ; or, of a huge 

 animal in pain, groaning, crying, and vomiting ; or like an immense whale 

 in the arctic circle, blowing after it has been struck with several harpoons.'* 

 — R, F. Naples, April 1. 



ASIA. 



Cedars of Lebanon on Mount hehanus. — We went to the cedars of Le- 

 banon. I counted thirteen large and ancient cedars, besides the numerous 

 small ones, which make, in the whole, 387 trees. {Wolff* s Missionary 

 Journal, 1823 and 1824) — The largest of these trees was 8^ cubits high, 

 which, taking the cubit, or fore-arm, at 1 ft. 9 in., will give a tree of about 

 15 ft., not one-third of the height of hundreds of English cedars; for 

 instance, those at Whitton, Pains Hill, and Caenwood. — Cond, 



Art. II. Natural History in London, 



The British Museum. — Since the publication of Art. II., in the First Num- 

 ber of your Magazine, which contained observations on the collections of 

 natural history in the British Museum, I was informed that considerable, 

 improvements had recently been made in some of the departments. I have, 

 therefore, been induced to revisit the different rooms accessible to the pub- 

 lic, and I think it but justice to state the results of my examination. 



Every Englishman with correct and honourable feelings, must wish to see 

 the scientific institutions of his own country rival, if not excel, those of other 

 nations. He will hail the successful labours of men of science in every 

 department ; and, without stopping to enquire whether they belong to his 

 own coterie, or are members of his own society, he will exclaim, 



" Je prends part a leur gloire, leur bonheur est le mien." 



I can truly say, it gave me much pleasure to observe that the spirit of 

 improvement had visited the British Museum, and that some of the arrange- 

 ments which had so long been left incomplete, were at length accomplished 

 in a satisfactory manner. On the upper landing of the grand staircase, the 

 giraffes present a very different appearance from that which I remember 



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