1829.] 
Slaves, or persons detained as «slaves, 
seized in war, are to be forfeited, to” his 
Majesty as prizes, for the purpose of divest-_. 
ing) all right,..yhich may be .claimed by 
others; they.are not, however, to be treated 
as slavés, ‘but may, by order of the King in 
‘ouncil, be entered into the army or navy, 
aod apprentices for seven years; and 
persons so apprenticed, in case of ill-usage, 
may. £0, before the nearest judge of a Vice- 
Ity.court, who may, if the case be 
substantiated, fine the master in any sum 
not exceeding £100, and cancel the inden-. 
tures. A bounty, not exceeding £20 for 
each, person, may be paid to the ‘captors’ of 
slaves in war; £10 to every commander of 
a vessel who may seize slaves illegally dealt 
with at Sea; and £7. 10s. to every other 
person by whose exertions slaves so dealt 
with shall be forfeited. 
The enactments of 59 Geo. ITT. c. 120, 
respecting the appointment of a Registrar 
of Colonial Slaves, his office, salary and 
duties,” and thé registry of slaves under his 
eontroul, are recited and re-enacted in the 
F ms ‘of that statute. 
‘The act then recites, at length, the treaty 
with’ Portagar of 22d January, 1815; the 
treaty” with: Portugal of 28th July, 1817; 
the. additional articles, to the convention 
Spirit of Philosophical Discovery. 
527 
with Portugal, dated 15th March, 1823 ; 
the treaty with Spain, 23d September, 1817, 
and_additional articles ; and the treaty with 
the Netherlands, 4th May, 1818, with sub- 
sequent. explanatory _articles,—all relative 
to. the abolition of the slave trade; and 
enacts the provisions, of several former, sta- 
tutes, for empowering the crown to appoint 
commissioners, judges, and arbitrators, to 
examine and decide on all eases of detention, 
seizure and capture, according to the stipu- 
lations of those treaties. The act, then, 
provides for the appointment of a secretary 
to the commission courts; for the filling wp 
vacancies in the commission, by Governors 
of colonies; and for granting bounties on 
forfeitures, declared in those courts, on the 
same principle with the bounties on con- 
demnations, in courts of Admiralty. When 
judgment shall be given against the captor, 
the treasurer may direct the payment. of 
costs and damages: though his liability shall 
continue. Returns of all seizures are, once 
in six months, to be made to the Lords of 
the Treasury. 
The operation of this act commences ' Ist, 
January, 1825. 
This statute is the last act, of general 
importance or interest, passed during the 
session. 
“SPIRIT OF" PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOVERY, 
AND OF THE 
VARIOUS SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 
=a 
NHE Revolution.of Double Stars, one of 
_ them round the,other, has now been 
placed. beyond any. doubt, by the observa- 
tions,,of ML. Sturvye of Dorpart, and Pro- 
fessor, Amici of Modena, following up the 
observations which were so ably began by 
M. Mayer in 1756, and by M. Herschel in 
1781. The double star in Bootes, marked 
4 being of the sixth and the seventh or 
th magnitudes, R. ase. 14h. 58m., 
del. 48° 21’ N., appears from the observa- 
tions upon. its angle of position, made in 
1781 and in 1819, to have experienced at 
least one revolution in thirty-eight years : 
a period so short, that we trust one or more 
young astronomers will henceforward direct 
their attention to the making of such fre- 
quent and exact observations on these two 
stars, as may afford them a confident hope 
of being able. to succeed in deducing the 
magnitude and position of the orbits of the 
he ie star in this case. The double star 
pentarius, marked "70, of the fourth 
seventh magnitudes, R.asc. 17h. 56m. 
deel 2° BY, has, since 1779, changed its 
ngle of pos ition. three-fourths ofa circle, 
nearing periodic. time to be about forty 
m._a,very elliptical. orbit, as appears 
Geen inequality of ‘its, motion, at 
j di periods. In Ursa major, the double 
star} Sy 
magnitudes, Will. probably, coxiplete @ revo~ 
lution inabout sixty, years, im a veryyellip-, 
. of the-fourth or. fifth and the sixth . 
tical orbit. These seem amongst the short- 
est periods yet assignable to the revolu- 
tions of the double stars. An abstract of 
M. Sturve’s observations may be seen” in 
Jameson’s Edinburgh Philosophical Jour- 
nal, No. 18. 
Phosphorescent Surfaces of the Moon and 
Planets occasion their Light, in great part at 
least, and not mere reflection from the sun. 
This has lately been concluded by Professor 
Leslie, after an able investigation of the 
subject, inserted in Jameson’s Edinburgh 
Philosophical Journal, No. 22. The light 
from the sun, falling on the moon’s surface, 
is, the Professor thinks, almost, entirely 
absorbed, and exerts there a power to cause 
the projection of a still greater quantity of 
luminous particles, which had previously 
lain combined with the substance; which 
substance he supposes somewhat to re- 
semble the Bolognian stone, or sulphate of 
barytes, the subject of so much wonder near 
two centuries ago. 
The Laws of Radiation from heated Bodies 
have been sought for, by Mr, W. Ritchie, in a 
course of experiments, which are at de- 
tailed in Jameson’s Philosophical our- 
nal, No. 22; his conclusions are, thaf the 
quantity of "the radiant heat from, the sur- 
face of a body, is directly as its capaci . for 
caloric, and inversely-as its traction ; thus 
the metals, having a_powertu attraction for 
caloric, 
