7^ Spirit of Philosophical Discovery 



sands of superficial miles have been 

 formed liy tlie deposits of tiiat river. 

 1'\v\ whole stat5 of Louisia?ia is a coun- 

 try but just emerging from its water ; 

 and, as Ihe Mississippi is ascended, the 

 banks of the river fcradually rise and 

 again descend towards the swamps. 

 The Mississippi may be considered as 

 a river rnnninfj on the top of a hill 



[Feb. I, 



every two or three years under beds of 

 sand and leaves, by wiiich the bed of 

 the Acliaf'alaya is alternately removed 

 four or five miles to the East, or two or 

 three to the West. Mr. Bringier 

 landed at the mouth of that river in 

 1812 (the river itself being but a mouth 

 branch of the Mississippi,) and he 

 counted the large trees which were 



twenty -four feet in its highest position, perpetually carried into its current in 



the base three miles in its average di- a given time, and tound them to amount 



ametcr, and reposing in tlie swamps, to 8000 cubic feet for a minute. To 



•which are more than 9 feet above the these may be added the leaves, bark, 



marshes, on the sea-shore, for a dis- reeds,andmuddy sediment, making oil 



tauce or215 miles. What has escaped a moderate calculation thirty-six cubic 



over its banks in its overilowings never miles oi' deposit annually. The large 



returns to it again, J'.normous beds raft at Red River is sixty miles in 



or timber, leaves, and other substances, length, and in many places fifteen in 



are spread over tlie plains by its wa- breadth, in some places composed of 



ters. In the Ach;ifa!aya river, several pines heaped togetiicr with their leaves 



hundreds of miles are converted into into compact rafts, 

 solid raftsofwood, and these disappear 



SPIRIT OF PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOVERY. 



[The great increase of Journals detoted to Suienct, and i?ie consequent accumulaiinn of 

 facts, Imve determined us, as a means of putting our readers into possession ofercry notelly, 

 to devdie from three to four pages regularly to Notices of the New Discoveries and 

 interesliiig Fads scattered through seven or eight costly publicalions. fVe hope /hereby to 

 add to the value and utiliitj of the Monthly Magazine, and leave our readers nothing to desire 

 in regard to u'hut is passing in the philosophical as well as literary ivortd. The Belles 

 Letties dipartmenls of this Miscellany are, we believe, inferior to no icork in the interest and 

 taste of the articlis, while, as an assemblage of useful materials, ive have confessedly no rival 

 either at home or abroad. Our only ground of lumenlatiun is the limitation if space, by the 

 limitation of our price ; but we have resisted every overture to raise it above two shillings, — 

 it being our ambition to present the public with the best Miscellany at the luwest price. This 

 we are enabled to effect by an established circulation, and by not expending our small profits 

 ■on meretricious advertisements. fVe culculute tiial every Number of our Miscellany is its 

 own best advertisement, in the sterling merits of its contents ; and tunt the commendation of 

 the public will continue to prove more advantageous than the equivocal representations of 

 newspaper advertisements.] 



TklEAR Halberstadt, in Saxony, a 

 JL^ hurying place of very high anti- 

 quity has lately been discovered ; as 

 is inferred from the numerous skulls 

 found therein, differing widely from 

 those of the present inhabitants, or 

 even those of the European race, and 

 approaching nearer to tlie Coptic form; 

 yet, from having, as is asserted, no 

 incisors, but grimiing teeth, some are 

 disposed to consider these as the re- 

 mains of a frugivorous race of men, 

 more ancient than the flood of Noah. 

 If so, why not coeval with the garden 

 of Eden ? 



So numerous are Comets, that in the 

 last fifty years the elements of the 

 orbits of 125 have been collected by 

 Schumacher, and at least as many 

 more must liave escaped accurate 

 observation. This aveiages five in two 



years. Thatwhich appeared in January 

 1786 is believed to have been seen 

 again in December 17y7, Nov. 1806, 

 Jan. 1819, and May ly22. In 1790, 

 1805, 1811, and 18'22, three were ob- 

 served ; and in 1819, no less than four. 

 The flying fish appears in its aerial 

 excursions, assisted by ils long, broad, 

 and thin, gill-fins, perhaps less singular 

 and surprising than the feats of the 

 skipper or leaping-fish ( Esost saurus), 

 lately described by Mr. J. Coucii, of 

 Cornwall, in the " Linnean Transac- 

 tions," which, though possessing only 

 very small pectoral fins, is enabled, by 

 the action of its tail and finlets, to 

 spring from the surface of the sea, and 

 pass over the space of thirty or forty 

 ieet, before immerging for an instant, 

 and then taking another such leap, 

 and often several of them in succes-? 



sion. 



