1828.] 



Varieties. 



203 



and 2,000 notes ; delivered several courses 

 of lectures, watched over the financial ma* 

 nagement of several public institutions, &c. 



Chinese Literature. We know not if 

 the groundwork of the story of the Ephesian 

 matron was originally furnished by the 

 orientals, to whom Europe is indebted for 

 most of her tales ; but the following version 

 of the memorable widow's adventure is to 

 -be met with in the volume of tales, tran- 

 slated from the Chinese, just published 

 by M. Abel Remusat. A philosopher falls 

 'in with a young widow in deep mourning, 

 who, bending over a small mound recently 

 heaped together, is most earnest in playing 

 an enormous fan over the fresh earth. This 

 .mound contains the body of the beloved 

 husband she had lately lost. Why occupy 

 .herself in thus fanning the grave ? Be- 

 cause, when dying, he had conjured her to 

 wait till at least the surface of the ground 

 which covered him should be dry before 

 .she thought of a second marriage. 



Mineralogy. A mass of native platinum, 

 .weighing 4,166 grammes, has recently been 

 .found in the Russian mines at Hijne- 

 Taguilski. Its shape was round ; its sur- 

 face granulated, and in some places it bore 

 a metallic lustre. Its specific gravity being 

 ,only 16, it must have contained the various 

 .alloys met with in platinum. It is singular 

 that this specimen was met with in digging 

 an argillaceous stratum. 



Antiquities. In a field nearly opposite 

 .Old Brisach, the Mons Brisiacus of the 

 .Roman itineraries, a great number of an- 

 cient foundations have been discovered. The 

 charcoal and cinders bear evidence of a con- 

 flagration, which is confirmed by the name 



of the canton, Edenburgh or Oedenburgh. 

 Many cinerary urns have been f jund among 

 the rubbish, some entire vases of elegant 

 forms, medals, domestic utensils, styla, 

 articles for the toilet, and fragments of 

 bolts ; and, what is much more important in 

 regard to ancient geography, a brick, with 

 the inscription, L. XXI." Now it is 

 known that the 21st legion was established 

 in Upper Germany. Further researches 

 are now making under the direction of a 

 learned antiquarian. 



Position of the Focus of the Eye From 

 some experiments instituted by an ingenious 

 surgeon of the name of Rumball, he has 

 been led to believe that the images of ob- 

 jects which enter the eye are not painted in 

 an inverted position on the retina. He 

 found that when the axis of the eye is 

 slightly elongated the image of the object is 

 inverted: there is, therefore, a sufficient 

 proof that the rays of light proceeding from 

 it must have crossed each other before their 

 exit from the eye. The focus is, therefore, 

 within the axis. Also, when the axis is 

 shortened, the real and apparent position of 

 the object being the same, demonstrates that 

 the rays have not crossed, consequently the 

 focus of the eye is in a point posterior to it. 

 But as the retina is situate between the point 

 where, in the first instance, the rays are 

 proved to have crossed, and the point whicfy 

 in the second case, is determined to be an- 

 terior to their crossing, and as these extreme 

 points approximate closely to each other, as 

 in the first case, the focus is within, and in 

 the second without, the axis, and as the 

 retina is situate between them, he concludes 

 that the focus of the eye is upon the retina* 



WORKS IN THE PRESS AND NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



WORKS IH PREPARATION. 



A Second Series of Discourses, preached 

 before the University of Oxford, by the Rev. 

 J. Rose. 



Elements of Geography, on a new plan, 

 illustrated with cuts and maps. 



The Betrothed Lover, a Milanese Tale 

 of the Seventeenth Century, translated from 

 the Italian of Alexandro Manzoni, in 3 vols, 

 post 8vo. 



Letters of an Architect, from France, 

 Italy, and Greece ; containing Observa- 



tions on Ancient and Modern Architecture, 

 intended to give an idea of the Effect 

 of each Building, and -to explain the Prin- 



ciples on which that Effect is produced. By 

 Joseph Woods. 



Three Sermons, by Sir Walter Scott. 



The Omnipotence of the Deity, a Poem. 

 By Mr. Montgomery. 



Torpidiana, or an Inquiry into the Lite- 

 rary Pretensions of the Officers and Mem- 

 bers of the Council of the Society of Anti- 



quaries, from the year 1815 to the present 

 time, including Critical Remarks upon their 

 Works. 



The Second Report of Doctor Faustus, 

 written by an English Gentleman, is to 

 form the Eleventh Part of Mr. W. J. Thorn's 

 Early Prose Romances. 



Military Reflections on Turkey. By the 

 Baron Von Valentine, Major-General in 

 the Russian Service. Translated by a Milf- 

 tary Officer. In 8vo. 



A New Edition of Bishop Middleton*s 

 Doctrine of the Greek Article. Revised by 

 the Rev. J. Scholefield, M.A. 



A Treatise on Algebra, in 8vo. By the 

 Rev. George Peacock. 



A New Work on the Evidences of Natu- 

 ral and Revealed Religion. By the Rev. Dr. 

 Gerard. 



Tales of the Talmud, by Dr. Maginn, are 

 announced. 



The Beggar of the Leas ; or, Belgium 

 in the time of the Duke of Alba. 



An Essay on the Application of Mathe- 



2 D 2 



