202 



Varieties. 



of this Tauro-Scythian king ; and the dis- 

 covery is of much importance to ancient 

 iconography. The same enterprizing anti- 

 quarian, in his last researches on the shores 

 of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, perceived, at 

 the distance of four versts from Kertch, near 

 the battery Pawlowsky, traces of the ancient 

 city of Nymphea, a Greek colony, which at 

 one time belonged to the Athenians, and 

 subsequently to the kings of the Bosphorus. 

 Traces of walls, and great flags of hard 

 stone, were found dispersed along the shores 

 of the strait, and pointed out the site of the 

 ancient harbour of Nymphea, mentioned by 

 Strabo. 



Ancient Egyptian Cubit. The following 

 is a summary of a memoir on some stand- 

 ards of the ancient Egyptian cubit, recently 

 discovered, communicated by M. Girard to 

 the Academy of Sciences of Paris. The 

 first was found in 1799, by M. Girard him- 

 self, in the ancient nilometer of the isle of 

 Elephantine, described by Strabo. This 

 unit of measure was divided into twenty- 

 eight fingers, and into seven palms ; its 

 absolute length was 527 millimetres = 

 20*748 English inches. A second standard 

 w.as found in 1822, in the ruins of Memphis, 

 by M. Drovetti, the French consul-general 

 in Egypt. This cubit was divided into 

 seven palms ; its length, measured with the 

 greatest precision by MM. Plana and Bi- 

 done, is 523-53 millimetres=20-61 English 

 inches. A third standard of the same de- 

 scription was also found at Memphis by M. 

 Drovetti, and is now in Paris in the Royal 

 Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, which is 

 soon to be opened to the public ; this is also 

 divided into seven parts, and 'its absolute 

 length is 525 millimetres=20-669. Lastly, 

 a. fourth standard, destined for the Museum 

 at Florence, was discovered by M. Anastasy, 

 Swedish consul in Egypt: its length is 

 526-5 millimetres=20-728 English inches. 

 Like the others, it is divided into seven 

 palms, or twenty-eight fingers. From these 

 data, M. Girard considers the length of 

 the Egyptian cubit as irrevocably fixed, and 

 its mean value may be stated at 20-C8875 

 inches English measure. The difference 

 Between the extreme limits above mentioned 

 serves to explain in the clearest manner a 

 passage of Pliny, concerning the length of 

 a side of the great pyramid, and to deter- 

 mine the true length of the stadium (of 700 

 to a degree) known to geographers by the 

 name of the stadium of Eratosthenes. This 

 discovery of the true length of the stadium 

 o/ Alexandria, allows, what has long been 

 denied, a comparison to be madeof the degree 

 of the terrestrial meridian, measured by Era- 

 tosthenes, with that which the known figure 

 of the earth assigns, and it appears that the 

 result obtained by this great mathematician, 

 whose labours excited the admiration of an- 

 tiquity, is a mean between the length of a 

 degree at 45, and that which Bouguer 

 ascertained under the equator, and exactly 

 i the proportion to be expected from the 



position of places situated between Syene 

 and Alexandria, the extreme points of the 

 arc which Eratosthenes measured. 



Antiquities. An account has recently 

 been given to the Society of Scottish Anti- 

 quaries of an unique bronze relic found three 

 or four years ago on the sand hills of Cul- > 

 bin, near the estuary of the river Tindhorn. 

 It is formed like a coiled-up snake, having 

 rather more than three complete convolu-. 

 tions, lying spirally on each other. The 

 whole coil is hollowed out on the in- 

 ner side, a wide hemispherical groove run- 

 ning round the interior of the spiral firm 

 one extremity to the other. The whole 

 seems to have been formed at length, and 

 then twisted up into the coil. The ser- 

 pents' heads, at the two extremities, are only 

 to be recognised from the carving of the 

 hoods, the faces and the eyes, in which last 

 are inserted prominent eye-balls, of a deep 

 blue enamel or glass. About 3-5 inches 

 from each extremity there are somewhat 

 similar indications of snakes' heads, with 

 eyes also, filled with similar globules of the 

 same blue glass. On the other side of each 

 extremity there is a perfect circle of nearly 

 an inch in diameter, surrounding and en- 

 closing a flat hollow space of about one-. 

 sixth of an inch in depth, having a deeper 

 and minute hole in the centre of each ; and, 

 from the appearance of the metal, there 

 can be no doubt that the circular cavity was 

 filled with some gem or artificial stone. It 

 stands 3-5 inches high, and is 3-5 inches in 

 diameter, externally; the interior diameter 

 is 2-5 inches. Its weight is 2 pounds 9.5 

 inches avoirdupois. The metal is the very 

 finest and richest Corinthian brass, and is 

 estimated to contain about 14 ounces 5 

 drachms of gold. It is conjectured to have 

 belonged to a Druid, and to have been the 

 ornament worn on the left shoulder, through 

 which the gathered robe was drawn, as re- 

 presented in a bas-relief found at Autun, 

 depicting the costume of a Druid. 



Natural History -- The following re- 

 markable phenomenon is recorded in the 

 last volume of the Transactions of the Phi- 

 losophical Society at New York. In boring 

 for salt at Rocky Hill, in Ohio, about a 

 mile and a half from Lake Erie, after pro- 

 ceeding to the depth of 197 feet the auger 

 fell, and salt water spouted out for several 

 hours. After the exhaustion of this water 

 great volumes of inflammable air issued 

 through the aperture for a long time, and 

 formed a cloud ; and by ignition by the fire 

 in the shops of the workmen, consumed and 

 destroyed every thing in the vicinity. 



German Industry. Among some anec- 

 dotes of his contemporaries, which Voss, the 

 celebrated Grecian, has recently published, 

 is the following memorandum of the labours 

 of the late C. G. Heyne and himself. The 

 former reviewed, in different journals, be- 

 tween 7 and 8,000 new publications, and he 

 himself wrote about 100 dissertations and 

 other works ; wrote every year 1^000 letters; 



