314 



Varieties. 



[SEPT. 



de Dessollfis, peer of France, nnd at that time 

 chief of Moreau's staff, renewed the project 

 (in 1801), to which Bonaparte gave much 

 attention ; and doubtless, but for the subse- 

 quent convulsions of Europe, would have en- 

 sured its completion. The subject is again 

 agitated ; and the design seems to be to 

 ascend the course of the Altmuhl from Kel- 

 heim, where it discharges its waters into the 

 Danube, to Graben, to form a canal from 

 thence to both, so as to connect the Altmuhl 

 and the Retdnitz. The canal need not be 

 more than five leagues in length, and the 

 plain through which it would run presents no 

 difficulty. At three-quarters of a league from 

 Bamberg, the Reidnitz falls into the Mein, 

 which latter, at Mayence, unites its waters 

 to the Rhine. The advantages resulting from 

 this extensive line of navigation are too ma- 

 nifest to require any comment ; and it is to 

 be hoped that no considerations of a private 

 or local nature will be allowed to interfere 

 with the interests of Europe. 



Commerce of Russia. During the last five 

 years the importations of spun cotton into 

 Russia amounted to, in 1822, 14,641,483 

 paper roubles ; in 1823, 20,353,698 ; in 1824, 

 37,223,625; in 1825, 33,277,436; in 1826, 

 33,120,544. The whole product of the 

 Russian manufactures, in 1824, amounted in 

 paper roubles to 



Cloths, casimirs, drugs, 

 shells, and woollen goods 59,748,085 



Silk goods 10,154,791 



Cotton goods 37,033,354 



Linens 10,689,504 



117,625,734 



Importation of Foreign Manufactures : 

 1820. 



Woollen goods 22,350,1 14 



Silks , 10,491 ,039 



Cottons 22,932,933 



Linens 2,381,028 



58,155,114 



1824. 



Woollen goods 9,1 96,733 



Silks 6,687,327 



Cottons 10,408,299 



Linens 189,420 



26,481,779 



Manuscript of Boccacio. Professor 

 Ciumpi has discovered, in the Magliabecchi 

 library at Florence, a manuscript, which is 

 found to be the common-place book of the 

 celebrated John Boccaciode Cestaldo. This 

 curious manuscript not only throws some light 

 on the different circumstances of the life of 



this great writer, but shews how learned and 

 laborious he was. It comprises many valua- 

 ble particulars of a period when the disco- 

 very of America was in agitation, and lite- 

 rature was dawning in Italy. M. Ciampi has 

 communicated this work io the public, with 

 notes, and a fac-simile of the writing of 

 Boccacio. 



Steam-Gun. On the 29th October 1826, 

 M. Besetzny, a native of Austrian Silesia, 

 made some experiments at Presburg with a 

 steam-gun of his invention, in presence of a 

 great assemblage of military men, who were 

 astonished at its extraordinary power. The 

 furnace of iron-plate which contains the 

 steam-boiler has the form of an alembic, and 

 holds twenty (pots ?). It rests upon a frame 

 having two wheels. This machine, with all 

 its apparatus, and carrying 2,000 balls, can 

 easily be dragged by one man on a level 

 road. The barrel which receives the balls 

 through a funnel is fixed by some mechanism 

 to the right of the furnace. In fifteen mi- 

 nutes the steam is sufficiently raised to bring 

 the engine into play. Each movement of the 

 handle disengages a ball ; and the discharges 

 succeed each other so quickly, that they 

 scarcely can be counted. Every one of the 

 balls pierced a plank three-quarters of an 

 inch thick, at the distance of eighty paces ; 

 and many pierced a second plank, of the 

 same thickness, at the distance of 150 paces. 

 M. B. expects to bring this machine to a 

 much higher degree of perfection, #nd the 

 details will then be communicated to the 

 public. 



Parlby Rockets. The following account 

 of the effect of Major Parlby's rockets has 

 appeared in the Asiatic Journal, extracted 

 from the Government Gazette of Calcutta of 

 February last. The experiments were insti- 

 tuted at Meerut. Twenty- four of the 32- 

 pounder rockets and twelve 18-pounders 

 were discharged without a single failure. 

 They were fired with hand-shafts only twelve 

 feet long, and, at the following elevations, 

 gave the ranges severally attached. Three 

 rockets were fired from each elevation. 



32- POUNDERS. 

 Elevation. Average Range in Yards. 



20 .,. 1,000 



25 , 1,120 



30 1,080 



35 J,600 



40 2,080 



45 2,210 



50 2,283 



54 2,123 



18-POUNDERS. 



20 1,308 



25 2,133 



30 2,833 



35 2,870 



