352 
of tortor, which extend all the way to 
the top. These accidents relieve, in-an 
admirable manner, the gloomy colour of 
the ground. When the lid is on, this 
monument, by'the richness of the mate- 
rial, its colossal dimensions; and: its ma- 
jestic form, presents a coup-d’eil, of 
which no similar monument, hitherto 
known, can give an adequate idea. What 
adds still more to its importance is, 
that there are no other blemishes than 
two slight notches in the upper edges of 
the case, made, without doubt, by those 
who formerly wished to remove the lid, 
to carry off the contents of the tomb.— 
French Papers. : 
French Exhibition.—It is estimated 
this year, that 782 artists, of both sexes, 
have contributed to the Exhibition of 
Painting and Sculpture at Paris, namely, 
602 painters, of which 81 were females ; 
54 sculptors; 92 engravers; 23 litho- 
graphers ; and 11] architects. These 782 
artists have supplied 2,180 pictures, 
drawings, engravings, lithographics, or 
pieces of sculpture. 
Bust of Gotthe.—The statuary Flat- 
ters, at Paris, has just finished a bust 
of Goéthe for the Duc of Saxe-Weimar. 
It is intended for a companion to the 
bust of Lord Byron, which the same 
artist has lately offered for sale. 
Fossil Bones.—Whilst learned men 
are engaged in discussions upon the 
pretended fossil man, the Lyonese have 
just discovered, not far from their walls, 
a real fossil elephant, in ground which 
has not till now been dug up. M. Bre- 
din, Director of the Royal Veterinary 
School, has visited the openings, and 
has ascertained that the petrified bones 
found therein have really belonged to 
an elephant. The less learned persons 
of the neighbourhood believed them to 
be the bones of a giant, others of 
a mammoth; while the amateurs of 
historical memorials consider them as 
the remains of one of the elephants of 
Hannibal’s army; but the learned wri- 
ter who gave, in the Gazette de Lyon, 
the details of this discovery, traces the 
origin of this skeleton to the revolutions 
of the globe, anterior to all the docu- 
ments of antiquity. The excavations 
are still carried on. Amongst the ele- 
phant bones have also been found some 
bones of the ox. 
A Glacier melied by Hot Water.— 
Mention has been already made by us 
of the labours directed» by M. Venetz, 
engineer of the bridges and roads of the 
department of the Valais, to accomplish 
the destruction of the ice, which covers 
Literary and Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
~ 
[ Nov. 1, 
the Dranse. Last autumn there remain- 
ed only 292 feet. The work has been 
re-commenced this summer; but the 
avalanches which have fallen from the 
upper glacier, during the winter, have 
so filled the breaches which were made 
last year in the lower glacier; that at 
the beginning of June the Dranse was 
covered again to an extent of more than 
1,000 feet. During the course)of the 
same month the work was considerably 
impeded by avalanches, whichfell every 
instant, and:even on the 8th July, a 
great part of the pipes» were: covered 
with a huge mass of ice. In placing 
some new ones at the commencement 
of the month of August; they discovered 
some remains of the last, atmore than 
thirty feet deep. It is truly a war 
against nature that. they carry on; 
scarcely have they been overcome on 
one point ere they attack another; and 
when M. Venetz cannot reach the gla- 
cier by falls of water, he dams up and 
makes the Dranse overflow itself,. in 
order to undermine it at the foot. . It 
is thus that he is continually impeded 
by a thousand foreseen and unforeseen 
obstacles. Unfortunately, to this is 
added the most distressing circum- 
stance of all, that of an illness brought 
on by the excess of his fatigues, and 
from which he is scarcely recovered at 
this: moment.. But he: hopes: still, in 
spite of all, to free the Dranse <entirely 
this year. The whole mass ofthe gla- 
cier is already reduced aboutione-half of 
its cubic bulk. Ten currents. of water 
at present fall upon it ; and» by means 
of a breach effected in its centre; the 
spectator may observe at a’ glance; by 
the enormous heighth which» ‘still re- 
mains, the incredible effect ‘which these 
little water-falls have. produced.» M. 
Venetz is unable to comprehend: how 
he bad the courage to begin undertak- 
ing the destruction of this glacier, but 
he now assures himself of success. 
Historical Painting. — Monsieur de 
Thierey, the president of the French 
Academy at Rome, who. exhibited the 
Judgment of Brutus about two ‘years’ 
since in London, has just finished a very 
superb painting for the university of 
Paris, representing the Founding of the 
College by Francis the «First: This 
elaborate work is highly spoken of by 
all foreigners who have seen it, particu- 
larly the English, who think at superior 
to- any of the works: of David. M. 
Thierey is also employed om a great 
work, the Death of Virginia, which: he 
intends for exhihition in England. 
RUSSIA. 
