OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 255 



Satyricon, and that the communication mentioned in Tacitus as having 

 been sent by Petronius to the Emperor Nero was the Satyricon ; and 

 after showing that this hypothesis, however plausible, is untenable, 

 he adverted to some of the principal difficulties in satisfactorily an- 

 swering the question concerning the age of Petronius. One is the 

 absence of all external evidence ; since the passage in Tacitus, which 

 by some has been considered as external evidence, unquestionably 

 does not refer to the author of the Satyricon. 



" This being the case, internal evidence alone remains, and this is 

 naturally divided into two kinds, — the historical and linguistic. The 

 foi'mer consists in allusions to persons, events, customs, and institu- 

 tions, political as well as religious and social ; the latter in peculiari- 

 ties of language and style. The historical evidence leads, in Mr. 

 Beck's opinion, to the conclusion that the work was written during the 

 latter part of the reign of Augustus or the beginning of that of Tibe- 

 rius, some time between the year 6 and 30 after Christ-; and the evi- 

 dence of language is not only compatible with that conclusion, but 

 confirms it. 



" After referring to the circumstance that one of the greatest liter- 

 ary excellences of the book, namely, the variety of styles occurring 

 in the book, — since, besides the language of the narrative, which is 

 simple and elegant, each character introduced into the story is rep- 

 resented, and with remarkable skill too, as using such language as 

 is suited to his age, social station, and degree of education, — in- 

 creased the difficulty of settling the question of the age of Petronius, 

 he closed with the account given by Gellius of the word frimiscor, 

 which is, in the Satyricon, put into the mouths of several individuals, 

 as a specimen of the evidence of language having a bearing on the 

 point in question." 



Professor Jeffries Wyman gave an account of the peculiar 

 structure of the organs of voice in the male Surinam toad. 



Dr. A. A. Hayes exhibited a peculiar deposit in the tubes 

 of the boilers of the Collins steamers, and explained his theory 

 of its formation. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson exhibited specimens of aluminium re- 

 ceived from De Yille. The price of the metal in Paris is 

 $100 a pound. Even if it should not be of great value in the 

 arts, it would be very serviceable, from its extreme lightness, 

 for delicate balances and weights. 



