

of characters ; but what was especially wor- 

 thy of remark, charcoal was spread over the 

 corpses, as if its antiseptic properties were 

 even then known. There are some frag- 

 ments of pottery, but very much injured ; 

 and a small piece of glass was found orna- 

 mented with plates of silver, but there were 

 neither stone nor brazen vases. 



Auriscope. The difficulty of inspecting 

 the meatus auditorius, or passage of the 

 ear, from its peculiar winding structure, is 

 well known ; hence the uncertainty that 

 often arises in ascertaining the cause of 

 diseases of this organ. In consequence of 

 n. greater attention being paid to diseases of 

 the ear than formerly, an ingenious French 

 aurist has lately invented a novel instru- 

 ment, termed an auriscopc, which allows a 

 complete inspection of the parts. It con- 

 sists of a circular brass plate, with straps 

 that go completely round the head, and at 

 the angle over each ear is affixed a hook 

 and srrew, together witli a lever, so as to 

 pull the ear backwards and forwards in 

 different directions, and thus lay the ineatus 

 open to the membrane of the tympanum. 

 But this instrument being complex in its 

 mechanism, and painful in its application, 

 has been reduced to greater simplicity and 

 effect by Mr. J. Harrison Curtis, the Sur- 

 geon to the Royal Dispensary for Diseases 

 of the Ear, where, since making these 

 alterations, he has had ample opportuni- 

 ties of appreciating its merits. 



Ancient Roman Foot. From the inquiries 

 of M. Cagnazzi, to whom the scientific ex- 

 amination of the monuments of antiquity 

 found in Herculaneum and Pompeii was 

 intrusted by the Neapolitan government, 

 it appears that the ancient Roman foot was 

 0-29624 of a metre, or 131 '325 lines French 

 measure- 



Statistical Account of Warsaw in 1826. 

 The extent of Warsaw, and of the suburb 

 of Prague situated on the other side of the 

 Vistula, is 156 or 157 acres. The city is di- 

 vided into eight districts, containing 214 

 streets, 3, 132 houses, 112 palaces, 61 public 

 edifices, 5,818 manufactories. The value 

 of the whole property insured against fire is 

 51-,512,528 Polish florins, about ,141,670. 

 The population amounts to 126,433 persons 

 (62,851 males, 63,582 females) without 

 reckoning the imperial royal guards, the 

 garrison, nor the persons without any per- 

 manent residence. The population may be 

 thus divided : 15,306 nobles, 83,083 of the 

 middle and lower class Jews forming a se- 

 parate nation, deprived of the rights of citi- 

 zens, having a distinct language, &c. Ac- 

 cording to their religions, the population 

 may be thus classed : 92,132 papists, 469 

 Greeks, 5,170 Lutherans, 593 protestants 

 of the Ausburg confession, 274 regular 

 popish clergy, 282 monks, 94 nuns, 3 pro- 

 testant ministers, 6 Greek ecclesiastics, and 

 50 Jews. There are inscribed on the civil 

 registers 19,631 married men, 19,303 

 married women, 2,176 widowers, 7,062 

 M.M- New -Strips..-. VOL. III. No. IS. 



widow*, 901 women and 800 men divorced, 

 40,578 bachelors, 34,092 spinsters. The 

 most aged persons are, one of 101 years, 

 one of 102, one of 103, two of 104, one of 

 105, two of 110. 



Spontaneous Combustion of Lamp- JBIick. 

 We insert from the Indian Gazette the 

 following extract from the ship Catherine's 

 log-book, Feb. 3, 1826 : " Lat. 1. 37 N. 

 long. 86. 55' E., at 1 p. M., a strong smell 

 of burning, and an appearance of smoke, 

 as if rising from the fore-hold, was observed 

 by some of the people between decks ; 

 this was immediately reported to the officer 

 on the quarter-deck, in consequence of 

 which the fore-hatches and fore-scuttle 

 were taken off, when a suffocating smell 

 of fire and clouds of smoke began to issue 

 from both places. On going into the fore- 

 hold, and clearing away the goods near the 

 hatchway, found that a large cask of lamp- 

 black, in the starboard wing, had taken fire, 

 and was giving out dense columns of smoke ; 

 the cask, although not in a blaze, was too 

 hot to be handled. All the ship's com- 

 pany and passengers were instantly em- 

 ployed in handing down water and wet 

 blankets, the latter being found of the 

 greatest use in stifling the smoke : these 

 enabled the officers and people in the hold, 

 who were indefatigable in their exertions, 

 to remove the surrounding articles, chiefly 

 large jars of linseed and neat's-foot oil, 

 which were immediately hoisted on deck 

 by the prompt assistance of the pas- 

 sengers, and at the same time a constant 

 supply of water passed down the hatchway; 

 and although the people in the hold were 

 frequently driven back by the strong suffo- 

 cating smell, they at last succeeded in 

 getting the cask, which was on fire, and 

 muffled by wet blankets, brought to the 

 hatchway. This was instantly hoisted on 

 deck and thrown overboard, before it had 

 completely ignited or burst into a flame ; 

 had it done so in the hold, instant destruc- 

 tion must have inevitably followed, it being 

 surrounded by 200 barrels of tar, and up- 

 wards of 80 large jars of oil. As no apparent 

 cause could be assigned for this catas- 

 trophe, as no leak either from the deck or 

 from any of the jars could be perceived, 

 and as no light had ever been suffered in 

 the hold since leaving England, it wag 

 reasonable to conclude that spontaneous 

 combustion must have taken place in the 

 cask ; and as there were many more casks of 

 the same material on board, it was con- 

 sidered absolutely necessary, for the safety 

 of the ship and cargo, as well as the lives 

 of the crew and passengers, to throw the 

 whole overboard. Employed during the 

 rest of the day in hoisting up and throwing 

 overboard the remaining casks of lamp- 

 black, sixty-one in number." 



" N. B. Two other casks of lamp-black 

 were observed to smoke, while floating 

 past the ship." 







