1 821.] Report of Chemigfry and Experimental Philosophy. 



67 



shop; au -oilman's; a wiue shop, \\\i\\ 

 money in the till; a school, with a 

 pulpit with steps up to it, in the middle 

 of the apartment ; a great theatre, a 



"temple of justice, an amphitheatre 220 

 feet long ; various temples ; a barrack 

 for soldiers, the columns of which are 

 scribbled with their names and jests ; 

 wells, cisterns, seats, tricliniums, beiiu- 

 tiful mosaic altars, inscriptions, and 



-fragments of statues; pipes of terra 

 cotta, to convey the water to the dif- 

 ferent streets, and stocks for prisoners, 

 in one of wliich a skeleton was found, 

 are among the many striking vestiges 

 of the arts of ancient Italy. The 

 houses are in general low, not more 

 than ten feet hi^h. The principal 

 streets are about sixteen feet in width, 

 with side pavements of about three 

 feet ; some of the subordinate streets 

 are from six to ten feet wide, with side 

 pavements in proportion ; these are 

 occasionally high, and are reached by 

 steps. 



A late traveller in Italy describes the 

 Empress Maria Louisa, as being still 

 under the surveillance of Count Neip- 



l)erg. She is negligent in her dresiJ 

 pale in her complexion, care-worn and 

 melancholy. We have long heard that 

 she is little better than a prisoner at 

 large. 



We learn, on the authority of a fo- 

 reign journal, that among the new and 

 superior editions of foreign works, 

 which are issuing from the continental 

 press, an enlarged and beautiful re- 

 print of the Poems of Petrarch, by 

 Professor Mars, is not the least dis- 

 tinguished. It consists of two quarto vo- 

 lumes, and is considered the most cor- 

 rect as well as beautiful edition which 

 has yet appeared. It is also illustrated 

 with numerous engravings, taken from 

 the first Italian masters, containing 

 among others, a portrait of Petrarch, 

 by Gandolfi, and one of the celebrated 

 Laura, by Raphael Morghen. In a 

 discourse delivered by Lignor Mene- 

 ghelli, Professor in the Academy of 

 Venice, it has been mentioned in terms 

 of high commendation, as well as in 

 many of the foreign journals, both of 

 France and Italy. 



REPORT OF CHEMISTRY AND EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY. 



:T^0 discovery, says Mr. Brandt, in the 

 j^ last Journal of the Royal Institution, 

 has, for a loupr time, so strongly excited tbe 

 iittentiou of the philosophic world, as that of 

 the magnetic phenomena belonging to the 

 Voltaic apparatus ; we shall therefore en- 

 deavour to give our readers a full statement 

 .of what has been done in this department of 

 science, though it will occupy a greater 

 Kpace than we are usually able to devote to 

 this subject. 



1. If the extremes of a voltaic battery 

 (we will suppose it to consist of 20 pairs of 

 8-inch plates,) be connected by & platinum 

 .wire, it becomes heated, and, if of suiBciently 

 small diameter, it suffers ignition. Let us 

 suppose such a wire, W, lying upon the sup- 

 ports P and N, which represent the positive 



/ 71 'Vy^ AZ—y 



and negative conductors of the active voltaic 

 apparatus, P being connected with the first 

 sine plate, and N with tbe last copper plate ; 

 upon bringing the north pole of a common 

 magnetic needle below and at a right angle 

 to the platinum wire, it will be repelled or 

 driven downwards ; if we now remove the 

 needle, keeping it in the same position, so 

 that itsnorib pole may be above tlie platinum 

 wire, it will then bo attracted towards it. Jf 



the electric poles be reversed, these pheno- 

 mena will also be reversed. 



If we suppose tbe conjunctive platinum 

 wire to be vertical, instead of horizontal, 

 and in that position approach it with either 

 end of the magnetic needle, tbe needle will 

 oscillate, but will not be permanently at- 

 tracled or repelled by any part of the con- 

 junctive wire.^Professor Oersted. 



2. If a small steel bur be attached to the 

 conjunctive wire, and parallel to it, it does 

 not become a polar magnet ; but if it be at- 

 tached transversely, it does become polar, 

 and it becomes north and south, and south 

 and north, according to the direction of the 

 supposed electric current traversing the con- 

 junctive wire, according as one or the other 

 end of it is positive or negative. Thus sup- 

 posing W to represent the platinum con- 

 junctive wire of the voltaic apparatus, and 



wz: 



N .S a wire of iron attached transversely to it, 

 the latter becomes permanently niBgnetic. — 

 Sir H.Davy. 



3. K 



