320 



Varieties. 



[iMAHCH, 



names enrolled upon vellum, and the docu- 

 ment to be consigned to immortality, in the 

 British Museum, while a medal struck, in 

 honour of the bard of Avon, was likewise lo 

 bear each subscriber's name, cfec. <fee. <fec. 

 cfec. A similar expedient has now been bad 

 recourse to by a French printer, distinguished 

 for wearing out the patience of all the sub- 

 scribers to the interminable works which are 

 issuing from his hands this is M. Pan- 

 kouche. The voluminous description of 

 Egypt by the French savans is well known. 

 Were there no other than the internal evi- 

 dence of the inaccuracy of this work, the 

 Frenchified air of all the figures, would 

 be sufficient; however, this work is to be 

 re-printed, but the expense is great, .and it 

 must be done by subscription. A medal is 

 announced, to perpetuate the names of all 

 who subscribe to this truly national under- 

 taking, <fec. <fce. M. Champollian design 

 the medal, at least describes it, and with 

 the characteristic effrontery of his nation, and 

 the peculiar assurance which has fallen to his 

 exclusive share, positively denies that any 

 other nation beside his own has contributed to 

 dispel the darkness which hung over Egypt ; 

 or any person except himself has advanced 

 one step in decyphering the hieroglyphics. 

 Why will France, who possesses 'so much of 

 which to be proud, encourage the preten- 

 sions of this weak man ? Whatever he may 

 have subsequently done, Dr. Young first 

 opened the path, to follow it was compara- 

 tively easy. But the most ridiculous part 

 of this farce is the execution of the medal ; 

 on the obverse side of which, in a border of 

 Egyptian gods and godesses, is the genius of 

 France, holding a standard in one hand, 

 with the singular impertinence of a cock for 

 its device ; while the other is designed to 

 raise a veil, beneath which the genius of 

 Egypt has been concealed ; her back is 

 supported against a crocodile, who has 

 turned its tail upon the Frenchman, but in 

 apparent surprise, has moved round its head 

 into a position parallel to its body a degree 

 of flexibility of which even a snake might 

 be jealous. 



The Institutes of Gaius.This work, 

 recently discovered in Italy by some German 

 literati, is the elementary book of Roman 

 law, which the professors (antecessores) at 

 Rome, placed in the hands of youth, as we 

 learn from one of the constitutions of Jus- 

 tinian, who from these very Institutes of 

 Gaius derived the greater number of those to 

 which his name is attached. They were 

 known to the world only by some fragments 

 to be met with in the Digest, and by what is 

 contained in the Brevarium Alaricianum, 

 when in 1816, M. Niebuhr deciphered in a 

 palimpsestus of the library of the chapter of 

 Verona the first pages of a book, which was 

 at length entirely restored by the labours of 

 Messrs. Goesched, Bekher, and Hoburg. 

 Soon after the publication of this discovery, 



this new classic, containing the elements of a 

 legislation more than three hundred years 

 anterior to that of Justinian, and of which 

 the various branches ceased to be in harmony 

 when that emperor introduced very many 

 innovations, some of which were inconsistent 

 with the ancient principles, was introduced 

 wherever the study of the civil law was 

 pursued. A corrupted text, however, and 

 general inaccuracy rendeied the work at least 

 difficult to be undesrtood ; but a French 

 advocate, M. Boulet, has just succeeded in 

 amending the text which he has translated for 

 the benefit of other jurisconsults ; and we 

 may now express a hope to see the original 

 work issue from one of our university presses, 

 a worthy companion to those with which 

 classical literature has been enriched by the 

 labours of the Abbe Maio. 



Mean Equatorial Temperature. Baron 

 Humboldt, as a result from his own observa- 

 tions in America, was led to consider the 

 mean temperature of the Equator as 81 5. 

 Other investigations seem to indicate that 

 it cannot be placed higher than 83 Fahrenheit 

 nor lower than 81. Generally speaking 

 let T represent the mean temperature of any 

 latitude L, then, according to Mayer, the 

 equatorial temperature may be represented 

 T 



by = Dr. Brewster represents it as 



Cos 2 L 

 T 



CosL. 



Ornithology. It is a remarkable circum- 

 stance, that in works on zoology, the al- 

 batross is always mentioned as peculiar to 

 the southern hemisphere. Although the 

 occurrence of the bird in the north Pacific 

 has attracted but little attention, it was 

 ascertained long ago by Mr. Menzies, is 

 recorded in Vancouvre's voyage, nnd was 

 observed near the shores of New Albion, foy 

 Mr. Scouler, in a voyage to those regions, 

 performed in the years 1824-5. It is also 

 worthy of notice, that though the albatross 

 is so common on both sides of the tropics in 

 the Pacific, no one has ever detected it in 

 the Northern Atlantic Ocean. After repeat- 

 ed examinations and dissections, Mr. S. 

 could detect no difference either in its ex- 

 ternal appearance or internal structure, from 

 that of the D. Fuliginora, taken off the 

 coast of Terra del Fuego. 



Nebula in Orion. A small star, between 

 the seventeenth and eighteenth magnitude, 

 has recently been discovered by Mr. Struve, 

 near the trapezium, in the nebula, in the 

 sword-handle of Orion, and if it be not a 

 new star, which seems most probable, it must 

 occasion some surprise, that as it is distinctly 

 visible with a mirror of twelve inches aper- 

 ture, it should have escaped the observation 

 of the able astronomers in this country, who 

 have directed their attention to this magni- 

 ficent object, 



