Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 



554 



inches of this standard, at the temperature 

 of 62" of Fahrenheit, have been found equal 

 to the length of a pendulum supposed to 

 vibrate seconds in London, on the level of 

 the sea, and in a vacuum. 



2. That the Parliamentary standard 

 Troy pound, according' to the two-pound 

 weight made in 1758, remain unaltered ; 

 and that 7000 Troy grains be declared to 

 constitute an Avoirdupois pound ; the 

 cubic inch of distilled water being found 

 to weigh at 62 deg. in a vacuum, 252-72 

 parliamentary grains. 



3^ TTiat the ale and corn gallon be re- 

 stored to their original quality, by taking, 

 for the statutable common gal!on of the 

 British empire, a mean value, such that a 

 gallon of common water may weigh ten 

 pounds avoirdupois in ordinary circum- 

 Btances, its contents being nearly 277-3 

 cubic inches ; and that correct standards 

 of this imperial gallon, and of the bushel, 

 peck, quart, and pint, derived from it, and 

 of theirparts, be procured without delay for 

 the exchequer, and for such other offices in 

 your Majesty's dominions as may be judged 

 most convenient for the ready use of your 

 Majesty's subjects. 



4. Whether any further legislative enact- 

 ments are required, for enforcing an uni- 

 formity of practice throughout the British 

 empire, we do not feel ourselves compe- 

 tent to determine ; but it appears to us, 

 that nothing would be more conducive to 

 the attainment of this end, than to increase, 

 as far as possible, the facility of a ready 

 recuiTence to the legal standards, which 

 we apprehend to be id a great measure at- 

 tainable by the means that we have recom- 

 mended. It would also, in all probability, 

 be of advantage to give a greater degree of 

 publicity to the appendix of our last report, 

 containing a comparison of the customary 

 measures employed throughout the coun- 

 try. (Signed) 



George Clerk, Davies Gilbert, Wm. H. 

 Wollaston, Thomas Yonng, Henry Kater. 



London, March 31, 1821. 



POLAND. 



The following is taken from a report 

 presented to the Emperor, in Septem- 

 ber, 1820, by the Council of State, re- 

 lating to certain points of the public 

 athninistration. 



" The bishops have acquired a more 

 plenary authority over the clergy in 

 point of discipline ; iu particular, that 

 of suspending, e.r-o^c/o, all subordinate 

 priests that may have incurred that 

 penalty. The Pope has consented to 

 the suppression of several abbeys, and 

 their funds will be employed for the 

 advantage of the chapters and semina- 

 ries, and for the relief of such parochial 

 clergy as are but indifferently provided 



f July I, 



for. The revenue of the convents may 

 amount to 950^)00 florins, or 600,0(X> 

 francs, out of which 471 monks and 

 nuns are to be maintained, and conside- 

 rable debts to be paid. 



" The number of churches in a state 

 of decay, is 121 ; works are in progress 

 for their reparation. i.. 



" The number of young ecclesiastics 

 examined and found capable of holding 

 parishes is 109. The apprehension of 

 wanting ecclesiastics was groundless, 

 as there are 4091 priests, secular and 

 regular, without including 25.'J semi- 

 narists; so that one priest may be rated 

 to 600 inhabitants. In the seminaries 

 there is much want of reform. Until 

 the requisite funds be provided, the 

 most able young men at the universi- 

 ties are in a state of previous iustnic-' 

 tion, to qualify them as professors of 

 seminaries. Their number is already 

 thirty. • r; '- 



RUSSI4. 



The Russian American Company has 

 received intelligence from their colony 

 at Sitka, which states that there are 

 Russian families in (he north of 

 Behring's Straits, under 67 deg. north 

 latitude, whose ancestors were driven 

 there by a storm above a century ago. 



It appears from a recent census, that 

 the population of the Russian empii;e, 

 amounts to 53,316,707 individuals, 

 among whom are 38,262,000 «ho pro- 

 fess the Greek religion. Poland has a 

 population of 2,732,324. 



UNITED STATES. 



The voyage undertaken by Captain 

 Rich of Boston, in 1818, for the pur- 

 pose of taking the sea serpent, of which 

 so much had been reported in 1817, but 

 which voyage terminated in his catching 

 a tunny, or horse mackerel, served 

 for a time to throw discredit on all the 

 statements which had been published 

 respecting this wonder of the deep. 

 The subject, Jiowever, has undergone 

 fresh discussion, and Professor Bige- 

 low of Boston, has collected and pub- 

 lished so many documents (in Silliraan's 

 Journal.) as seem to put the truth of 

 the existence of this serpent beyond all 

 doubt. 



Capt. Perkins saw a monster rtf this 

 description at Gloucester in 1817. On 

 the 6tli of June, 1819, Capt. Wheeler, 

 then in his sloop Concord, sailing from 

 New York to Salem, fourteen miles 

 west of Race Point, about five in the 

 morning, saw a sea snake directly a- 

 liead, about 100 yards from the slorip, 

 moving in a SW. direction, which it kept 



till 



