3l6 On the Establishment of 



It will probably gratify some of our 

 English readers, to learn the present 

 mode of choosing a Scotch jury in cri- 

 minal cases: — In trials at Edinbnrgh, 

 where the higli Court of Justiciary re- 

 sides, the sheriflof the county summons 

 forty-five jurymen, chosen by him 

 from his list of those liable to serve. 

 At the circuit courts, which usually 

 include three or four counties, the 

 sheriffs of the several counties in the 

 district send fifteen jurymen each. 

 From the whole numberinei (her case, 

 (forty-five or sixty, as the case may 

 happen,) the judges select fifteen 

 for the petit-jury ; and, of these, tlie 

 prosecutor and the prisoner, may eacli 

 clialleuge five peremplurily, that is, 

 without assigning any cause, and the 

 panel must then be filled up from the 

 other jurors. Now the improvements 

 proposed by the reviewer, are, in the 

 first place, that the sherifl" shall be 

 obliged to return his jurymen from his 

 list by rotation, which he is now only 

 recommended to do; and, secondly, 

 that the fifteen jurors, presented to the 

 court, shall not be picked from the 

 forty-five at the discretion of the judge, 

 but diaion by lot. When the fifteen 

 jnrymen are impanelled, they decide 

 by majority ; and eight to seven is 

 sufficient to condemn or acquit the pri- 

 soner. It may seem hard to an Eng- 

 lishman that a man should be hanged 

 when seven of the jury wish to save his 

 life ; but a Scotchman is still more as- 

 tonished to hear, (as is generally 

 believed,) that our law proeltices una- 

 nimity by the threat of starvation ! 



The Builder's Guide, on which not a 

 single word is bestowed, gives occasion 

 for remarks on the Duty on Slate and 

 Stone carried Coastwise. These duties 

 in the average of seven years, from 

 181.5 to 1821 inclusive, have not 

 amounted to 50,0001. per annum, be- 

 cause, in most cases, 26 per cent, of 

 the value amounts to a prohibition. 

 In the mode of exaction, too, there are 

 absurdities of a glaring kint' ; such as, 

 if carried by hand, they pay no duty, 

 so that a biidge saves the whole ; and 

 such are the Custom-house regulations, 

 tliat, although shipped, they may at 

 .some places be sent forty or fifty mile* 

 without paying any thing; while, in 

 others, a single mile makes tiiem liable 

 in the duty: and all this may occur at the 

 s.ame quarry. 



The 13th and last article, is entitled, 

 T/ic Holy Alliance versus Spain; and 

 imrports to be " a statement of such 



a Meteorological Society . [May T, 



facts and arguments as may enable 

 us to estimate the justness of the war 

 now threatened by the ultra-royalists of 

 France against Spain.'' Since this 

 article was written, threatened war has 

 actually begun ; and this, together with 

 the documents laid before the House, 

 have so changed the view of the ques- 

 tion, that any observations upon the re- 

 viewer's statement would be perfectly 

 nugatory. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



ALLOW me to express my hearty 

 good wishes for the success of the 

 plan alluded to in your last number by 

 Mr. Tatem, of establishing a Meteoro- 

 logical Society. It is, indeed, matter 

 of surprise, sir, that such a design 

 should not have been carried into effect 

 long ago. Many branches of know- 

 ledge, for the promotion of which so- 

 cieties have been instituted, arc of 

 doubtful, and some of at least remote 

 utility, compared with meteorology, 

 which in this country comes home to 

 the feelings and fire-sides of all, for it 

 touches the comfort and the health 

 of all. 



It would be easy to enlarge on the 

 proverbially fluctuating nature of our 

 climate, the continual eflorts we arc 

 compelled to exert in order to guard 

 against its eftccts; and, in despite of 

 all that can be done, the many baneful 

 diseases to which they give rise. But 

 sucli a task woidd be superfluous on a 

 subject so generally admitted and un- 

 derstood. Besides, each of these, or 

 even a part of these, topics, were it 

 properly discussed, would of itself 

 aflbrd scope for a separate treatise. 



It may be remarked, however, that 

 the subject of climate, or what ma}' be 

 called its Economics, is one tiiat has 

 not received the philosophical conside- 

 ration, even from medical writers, 

 which it ought to have received. Un- 

 doubtedly, there are to be met with in 

 many of the journals, valuable notices 

 and registers of the weather, &c. but 

 they are so scattered through a thou- 

 sand volumes, and are in themselves 

 so isolated, that few useful deductions 

 can be obtained from them. 



It is likewise true, that the subject 

 of atmospherical phenomena has un- 

 dergone much able investigation in 

 some individual works. But tiien the 

 \iews have been too general. Climate 

 has been discussed upon the great 

 scale, while its localities have been but 

 slenderly 



