1823.] 
country would feel so highly gratified, 
rendered all objections futile and un- 
necessary; and urged me to exert 
myself in the career of my laborious 
investigation. In the privacy of soli- 
tude, no ‘part of my body but was 
twisted into a thousand shapes (tort7- 
colis), to add to the notoriety of the 
objects. 
““My researches, my observations, 
my labours, were interrupted by the 
over-officious anxiety of the sheik of 
the village, who wanted to rid the 
country of our presence. On the first 
day of my arrival, he made it his bu- 
siness to collect the contribution, and 
éarry it to the general: it was not 
long ere our troops were recalled, and 
my expedition was, of course, ter- 
minated.” 
The drawing of the circular zodiac, 
by M. Denon, has doubtless its errors ; 
but, all circumstances considered, the 
difficulties that arose, and which he 
has by no means magnified, with the 
rapidity of his execution, his fidelity 
in general is of an astonishing nature, 
rather than otherwise. 
Fig. 1. 
__ Now, I submit to Mr. W. whether 
his Musicus Ventusorum, as shown by 
Figs. 1 and 2, isnot of a much more 
convenient and elegant shape than in 
Fig. 3. In Fig. 1, let a and b be the 
musical cylinder and its axis; let c and 
d be the ends of two slips, running 
longitudinally from one end of the 
machine to the other; let e and f be 
flaps, one within the other, the outer 
one (f) fixed with hinges to the upper 
part of the box or case (at the end of 
the line ¢), to open outwards in the 
direction of g, to be held back by a 
tape, to loop on some appropriate 
pin; the inner one e opening down 
(outwards), with hinges so constructed 
as to prevent its falling lower than 
the line h, in the figure. Thus, it will 
be perceived that c and g, and d and h, 
Serve as compressors. This explana- 
tion extends also to Fig. 2, with a 
circular outer box. 
Again, the float-wheels placed on 
the outside of the ends, as m Mr. W.’s 
plan, are manifestly in a very preca- 
Montuty Mac. No. 385, 
Improvement in Mr. Weekes’? Musicus Ventusorum. 
33 
Not only this, but many other, draw- 
ings were copied in Egypt by M. 
Denon, the result of which, on the 
whole, is, that the same active curi- 
osity, the same ardent thirst of anti- 
quarian knowledge, that uniformly 
designated his character, impelled him, 
distinctly, rigidly to scrutinize into 
the architectural and | astronomical 
systems of the Egyptians ; theiracqui- 
sitions of knowledge, the stores of 
their traditional wisdom, that had de-~ 
scended down, in their works: of art, 
through the channel of ages. 
SENEX. 
sates : 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
EADING in your valuable Mis- 
cellany for this month, the de- 
scription given by Mr. Weekes of his 
new Musicus Ventusorum, 1 cannot 
refrain from suggesting to that gentle- 
man the following alterations, which I 
think he will agree with me in consi- 
dering improvements. . Figs. 1 and 2 
are end-views of the instrument in its 
amended shape; Fig. 3 is the view 
given by Mr. Weekes. 
Fig. 3. 
rious situation, and certainly do not 
at all improve the appearance of the 
instrument. Could not these floats 
be placed on the inner cylinder, con- 
cealed from sight, and secure from 
accident: let them be as near the ends 
as possible, and formed to catch the 
air rushing in through the aperture of 
the compressors, If it is objected 
that they will not receive sufficient 
impetus to turn the cylinder, I an- 
swer, that they are much more likely 
to turn it.in this situation than on the 
outside, because~the flat floats in the 
latter position, though they are more 
exposed to the wind, yet the backs, as 
they come round wnderneath, will 
meet the wind, and receive its impetus 
just as much as those above: thus the 
wheel will stand still. 
I leave these things to the conside- 
ration of Mr. W. and, as a fellow-lover 
of the wild sweetness of olian 
musio, render him thanks for his atten- 
tion to the subject. J.S. K. 
July 2, 1823. 
F To 
a oa 
