1825.] Domestic 
of tortoise-shell or rose-wood. The pro- 
cess, the same as tanning hides: after it is 
swelled by moisture, it is to: be put be- 
tween layers of tan, from four to six inches 
thick; and, in that state, to be placed. in a 
tub, at the bottom of which is the requisite 
quantity. of water. If the astringency of 
the tan be dissipated before the operation 
is complete, it must be watered with a so- 
lution of*small tan. The tanned gelatine 
is perfectly insoluble and unalterable, -either 
by) water, or air. -It is semi-transparent 
while, fresh, but becomes opaque by dry- 
ing; and) will then, according to the 
method, pursued, assume the appearance 
of, smore. or less; dark rose-wood, and 
may be streaked with gold or silver, and 
worked as tortoise-shell, or turned as bone 
or ivory: it will take the tan after having 
been) shaped; but,-then, care must be 
taken that it isnot warped. while drying. 
M. d’A. has treated a disc of ivory-in this 
way, and dropped upon it a solution of gold, 
whieh, with other toys that he valued 
highly, might have been thouglit to be 
-made of fine red shell. Tanned gelatine 
will soften in boiling water, with an alkali, 
as does horn or shell. In this state it 
easily takes the form required, and will 
mix with liguid shell. Shavings of bone 
and, ivory may be tanned with a solution 
of tan; which is convenient and economical. 
M. aA. hopes to obtain light-coloured 
shell also, but we have not yet heard of his 
success in that experiment. ‘This chemist 
has made a kind of paper by grinding ani- 
mal. gelatine, as they do rags in making 
common paper. The material obtained is 
‘a strong and useful kind of parchment. 
At the mineral water-works at Gros Cai- 
lon, the use of gelatine has been intro- 
duced in the composition for sulphureous 
water-baths, to prevent that irritation of 
skin of which patients complain so much. 
The hygrometrie insensibility and insolu- 
bility, of; gelatine, in. cold water, gave M. 
Ginchardierre, hat-maker at Paris, the 
idea,.in. which he has perfectly succeeded, 
of using it in stiffening hats. 
It appears that, in Hampshire alone, the 
quantity of .corn destroyed by game would 
be. sufficient for the yearly sustenance of 
2,000 »persons;, and that the labour ue 
‘those, confined, in the same county, f 
offences against the game laws, would be 
adequate - to carry on a manufactory em- 
ploying a eapital of £100,000. 
The prince who entertained the Italian 
poet Dante, observed to him, that he could 
‘not feel for a poet, of pure and blameless 
character;.the, same affection as for a 
worthless parasite. Dante replied, “ that 
conformity of disposition was essential. to 
Sriendship?? § 
Wit A poor woman in New- 
port,-not. Jong since, became mother, of a 
fine -boy Withy tai hinsidenhe thumbs on each 
on 
Varieties. 165 
Antiquities. —In making the. common 
sewer in London-street, Glasgow,: from 
the part near.the Cross, there was found a 
few days ago, at the depth of about. ten feet, 
the remains of a boat, lying in'a bed: of 
blue clay, covered and surrounded. by fine 
sand, like that found on the shores of a 
navigable river or wide frith. . Some of the 
clinker nails, used as fastenings, were found 
in the wood, which was fine oak, beeome 
quite black by long immersion under.the 
earth. The caulking appeared to haye 
been wool dipped in tar. It is a curious 
fact, that some years ago, when the com- 
mon sewer was cutting in the Stockwell, a 
boat of a similar description was found, a 
little above Jackson-street ; which would 
indicate that these places were once the 
line of the shore of the frith, or bed of the 
river. These boats must have lain in the 
places where they were found.for many 
centuries. Though probably belonging to, 
or constructed by the aborigines of the 
country, the workmanship would indi- 
cate that they were formed by a people 
considerably advanced in ciyilization—per- 
haps by the Romans, about the period. of 
Agricola’s expedition into Caledonia, nearly 
1,740 years ago; at which period there 
seems little reason to doubt that the greater 
part of the ground on which Glasgow now 
stands, and all the lowlands,.on both sides 
of the river, to a considerable distance, 
were covered by the waters of the. Frith 
of Clyde. 
Some workmen, employed in making a 
new road without the walls of the city of 
Syracuse, digging in the isthmus of Or- 
tygia, next to Acradina, on the spot often 
mentioned by Cicero in his Orations against 
Verres, by the name of Forum Maximum, 
Pulcherrime Portus, &e., found two male 
statues, habited in the toga and pallium, of 
Parian marble, and of one piece. The 
first is six palms from the shoulder to the 
edge of the garment, the other rather more 
than three palms from the neck to the 
thighs. The heads, feet, and hands are 
wanting. ‘They are of Greek workman- 
ship, and worthy of the best age of the arts. 
‘At the same place a. torso was found, 
which, measuring only three palms, must 
have belonged to a smaller figure. They 
have been placed in the Museum at .Sy- 
racuse. 
Alphabets. The English contains twenty- 
four letters; to which, if we addj and y, 
consonants, there will ‘be twenty-six ; the 
French contains: twenty-three; the He- 
brew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Samaritan, 
twenty-two each; the Arabic, twenty- 
eight; the Persian, thirty-one; the Turk- 
ish, 0 gage the Georgian, thirty-six ; 
the Coptic, thirty-two; the Muscovite, 
forty-three ; the Greek, twenty-four ;, the 
Latin, twenty-two ; the Sclavonic, twenty- 
seyen; the Dutch, twenty-six; the Spa- 
nish, ‘twenty-seven ; ; the Italian, twenty ; 
the 
