1823.3 Literary and Philosophical Intelligence, 



to see a nation advertising for laws ; 

 but this is better than to persist in 

 erroneous old ones ; and, if native 

 talent for this purpose be wanted, it is 

 no disgrace to apply for the advice of 

 those who have distinguished them- 

 selves in theoretical legislation. 'J'lie 

 reward for the most a])proved system 

 is 30,000 crusartoes of gold, or al)0ut 

 j£IO,000; but this sum is only to be 

 ]);iid in several years. Tlie unsuc- 

 cessful candidates are to be rewarded 

 according to their merits. 



An Italian paper states that t!ic 

 Queen of Thibet has requested no less 

 than eiglity missionaries from St. 

 Propaganda, m order to convert her 

 semi-barbaroiis subjects toChristiaJiity, 

 slio herself having been converted by 

 an Italian, wlio has found his « ay 

 thitiicr, and is now exercising the 

 office of chief minister. 



Letters upon the Art of Miniature 

 Painting, containing the most clear, 

 and, at the same liuic, ])rogressivc 

 instructions in that art, and the pro- 

 cesses for attaining perfection in it, 

 will appear in a few days. 



A Latin Grammar, liy C. G. Zumpt, 

 professor in tiie Frederick's Gymna- 

 sium, Berlin, translated from the 

 German, with additions, ])y the Rev. 

 John Kenrick, M.A. is in tiie press. 



A curious work is in tlie press, and 

 will be published in the course of 

 February, entitled "Za^cCio-^v^avooXoyia, 

 or the Doctrine of Bodi/, Life, imd 

 Mind, considered as distinct princi- 

 ples, as well as the doctrine of future 

 and eternal existence, shewn to be 

 scrij)tural, and not physiological. It 

 professes to exhibit the futility of the 

 enquiries of MM. Lawrence, Aberne- 

 thy, Hennell, Larclay, and others, 

 respecting tiio nature of the percipient 

 jirineiple ; shewing that the proofs of 

 the life to couie arc iu possession of 

 the catholic church as connected with 

 the see of Kome, vulgarly called Roman 

 Catholic. 



Napoleon Anecdotes, part iv. em- 

 liellislied with a beautiful engraving, 

 ^vill appear on Februaiy 1. This 

 weli-conduetcd work w ill iu its series 

 contain every-thing which it can be 

 desirable to know relative to the 

 extraordinary career of this great 

 statesman and warrior. 



lUISSIA. 



In many parts of northern Russia, 

 particularly in the governments of 

 'J'wer and Novogrod, «here at i)re- 

 «ent no trees grow, innumerable largo 



71 



trees are found, which supply fuel to 

 the inhabitants, by digging through 

 loose sand or clay to the depth of a 

 few feet : in some few places, the 

 wood is in part petrified ; but generally, 

 in most places, it is well preserved, 

 and fit, when slowly dried, for other 

 purposes, besides tuel. Great num- 

 bers of the trees are oaks, and all of 

 them are lying along, apparently 

 where they grew, either broken of , 

 or having their torn-np roots adheriu"-; 

 their tops generally lie to the south- 

 ward, indicating that to have hern the 

 direction of the tempest, and probably 

 of the flood of waters also, which 

 prostrated and overwhelmed these 

 forests. 



GEllMANY. 



Observations of very considerable 

 interest ha\e lately been made iu 

 Germany, hy AIr. Thomas VVeavek, 

 and published here in the " Annals 

 of Philosophy," on detached human 

 bones, not entire skeletons like those 

 from the long known Carib bury inc_ 

 grounds .in Guadaloupc, which havo 

 been found copiously mixed with de- 

 tached bones of great numbers of 

 large and of small animals, some car- 

 nivorous and some otherwise, some 

 of extinct species, and some of the 

 existing animal species; the whole 

 enveloped in hardened nnid or loam, 

 in certain fissures or caviti"s, which 

 once had been open spaces in several 

 gypsum quarries, in a low situation 

 by the river Elsler, near Kostritz. 

 The facts stated are too numerous lo 

 be recited in our limit< d space : but 

 we wish to throw out the suggestion, 

 that many centuries ago, at periods 

 when the waters of the J^lster were 

 low, the fissures in the gypsum, now 

 close filled. with clay and bones, may, 

 as empty cavities connecting with the 

 day, have been the retreats of animals 

 of prey, although perhaps not of bone- 

 eaters, like the hya!nas formerly oc- 

 cupying the Kirkdale Gave in York- 

 shire, who may have shared amongst 

 them upon the surface, and bornAo 

 their dens, the mangled carcases both 

 of men and animals, inebuUuic some 

 of the now perhaps extinct animal con- 

 temporaries of our early German 

 forefathers ; and that rejieaieilly 

 flooded and thick slates of tlie rivers 

 tilling these dens have de|)0sit(d the 

 nnul, iKnv become loam, which sue- 

 eessi\ely enveloped, and since has 

 IMOserved, the bones therein. 



