1816.] Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 



59 



hand of Giotto, one of the finest manii- 

 sct ipt copies of the Sacred \yiiting's ex- 

 tant; witii oilier clioice mant'.scripts of 

 tlie IJihIe and other subjects, rielily orna- 

 mented, and in tine preservation. 



A work is preparing- tjy the Rev. S. 

 Barrow, whose imj)orfancc maj be said 

 to be in tlie inverse ratio of its bnlk, on 

 the Social Ri;j:ii}s and Dnties of Yonng 

 iJritons. It is in tiie form of a cate- 

 chism, and on a plan similar to that sug- 

 gested by Mr. Copsey in a former part 

 of this number. Of course it will be re- 

 ceived with avidity in all the po|)nlar 

 scliools, and be eng^rafted in the educa- 

 tion of all classes. 



The important Report of the Police 

 Committee of tlic House of Commons 

 is re-])rlnting' forjniblic circulation, \vith 

 notes and observations, by a majjistrate 

 of the county of Middlesex. 'I'hc la- 

 fjours of this committee, conducted by 

 the assiduity and inteiliji^cnce of the 

 Hon. H. G. Bennett, have developed 

 scenesof magisterial and |>oliee iniquity 

 of vvhicii the public could have no con- 

 ception, and which cajinot fail to lead 

 to the most salutary reforms. On the 

 subject of licensing public-houses under 

 tlic inlluence of brewers, on tlie dispen- 

 siiii? powers and corrupt practices of 

 police-ollicers, and on the systematic 

 arrangements of criminals, little inferior 

 to those developed in the Beggar's 

 Opera, this volume abounds in luminous 

 and interesting; details. 



The improved machine called the Se- 

 maphore, has been worked between the 

 Admiralty and Chatham. 'J'he couiniu- 

 iiications far surpass the 'I'cle^raph re- 

 cently ill use, boih in celerity and per- 

 spicuity. One anmng many advanla;;-es 

 is the di.-!fin''tness of the apparatus from 

 one station to another. Tiie Teleg;ra|ih 

 consisted of six shutters, or flajis, and 

 could not produce a hundred combina- 

 tions; but so su|)erior are the pctwrrs of 

 this inaeliine, that with only two arms it 

 produces not merely letters and words, 

 but wiiole sentences, and ui)wards of two 

 thousand dilferent symbols. 



Translations are announced, both at 

 licipsic and Brussels, of Dr. Robinson's 

 Tiieological Dictionary, a work which, 

 we learn, has been generally iiifroilucted 

 to the divinity classes of the IJniveisitics 

 of the Linite<l Kingdom, as well as those 

 of the United States of j\inerica. 



The mimerous admirers of Mr. 

 ^^'ElsI,r.'s (jlees, and of this species of 

 niiisie for which he was most disfin- 

 fCuished, will be gratified to learn that 

 Jiis latter} ears were employed in i)rc- 



paring and publishing a selection, in 

 three volumes, of all tiiat has been most 

 admired amongst his works during tha 

 last fifty years ; and that the third vo- 

 lume of the selection was arranged only 

 a short time betbre his deatli. These 

 volumes are now in the hands of Mr. S. 

 Webbe, of Newman-street, his sou and 

 executor. 



'J'lie Loudon Society for preventing 

 Mars are pre|)aring their second tract, 

 fio.ii the writings of Grotiiis and other 

 writers, on the Law of Nations. Tlit* 

 fitst tract has passed through several 

 large editions. 



J\Ir. Ryan's method of ventilating 

 coal-mines (noticed in our last), obviates 

 all dangers, and carries off every par- 

 ticle of the hydrogen g«s the instant it 

 is liberated from the coal. His first 

 operation is to insulate the wlio'e mine, 

 or field, as it is teelmieally called, by 

 cutting round it a course or passage. 

 This is what he calls his gas course ; and 

 it is always made of a size sufficient to 

 carry off all the gas which would other- 

 wise accumulate in the mine. Within 

 the body of the mine itself, hole's ars 

 cut of dilferent iliameters, entering into 

 this gas course from the higher ])arts, or 

 roof of tjie mine. Between this gas 

 course and the lower part of the upcast 

 shalt of the mine, a communicatiou is 

 made, and the gas, by its levity, natu- 

 rally ascends. Heat, how ever, is occa- 

 sionally applied at the lower jiartof this 

 sliaft to acccterate the exit of the gas. 

 Our philosophical readers must be 

 aware, tliat no mine w hatevcr can pro- 

 duce the quantity of hydrogen which a 

 gas course on this priiicijjle is capable 

 of discharging. Intact, on the old sys- 

 tem of ventilating by the labyrinth |uo- 

 eess, the atmospheric air remains at 

 least twenty hours in a mine of common 

 dimensions, during wliich it traverses a 

 space of forty miles, and becomes every 

 second more and more impregnated w itii 

 li3drogeii gas, and conscquehtly increa- 

 sing the danger throughout its whole 

 passage tlirough the workings of the 

 mine. On j\Ir. Rya.'i's system, the.ii}- 

 flammablc gas, as fast as it flows from 

 the workings, takes the nearest course 

 to the upjier gallery or reservoir for gas, 

 wh(!iice it finds its way by the shortest 

 course to the iipeast shalt, through 

 which it passes into the open air. Mr. 

 R>aii has introduced his valuable dis- 

 covery with the hap|)iest results into 

 some of the most destructive and fiery 

 coal-mines of Stafl'ordshirc and Wor- 

 cestershire, and hasobtahicd ccrliiicutes 

 13 of 



