406 



Philosophical, Chemical, and Scientific Miscellanies. [Apkil, 



ceiving gi'eater attention, it is a subject of 

 <leep regret to the friends of science, that 

 while some of tlie best instruments in the 

 world are in the possession of amateurs in 

 this country, so little is done, or, if done, 

 so little is communicated to the public. 

 With the exception of the invaluable labours 

 of Messrs. Herschell and South, which in- 

 deed, it may justly be urged, are sutficient 

 to redeem the character of the nation, and 

 an occasional notice from Colonel Beaufoy, 

 we are not aware of any obsenations ema- 

 nating from the regal and numerous private 

 observatories erected in England. One ob- 

 ject, we believe, in the establishment of 

 the Astronoraica! Society was to collect all 

 detached observations, which, nearly useless 

 by themselves, when incoqjorated together 

 might acquire some importance — the result 

 we think has proved that persons who will 

 incur the expense of purchasing instiii- 

 ments will rarely encounter the labour of 

 using them. To practical men we submit 

 the following equations, ananged by the late 

 Dr. Ilutton ; wt are not certain if they ap- 

 pear in any of his works. 



Let a= the right ascension, d = the de- 

 clination, 1 = latitude, m = longitude, p = 

 angle of position, i = obliquity of the eclip- 

 tic, — then, for all the stars and heavenly 

 bodies, 



tan a = tan m, cos i — tan 1, sec 1, sin i. 



sin d = sin m, cos 1, sin i -|- sin 1, cos i. 



sin 1 = sin d, cos i — sin a, cos d, sin i. 



cos a, cos d= cos 1, cos m. 



tan m = sin i, tan d, sec a -\- tan a, cos i. 



sin p, cos d = shi i, cos m, sin p, cos m 

 = sin i, cos a. 



cotan p = cos d, sec a, cot i -f- sin d, tan 

 a = cos 1, sec ra, cot i — sin 1, tan m. 



tan a =tan m, cos i, ) ^^^^^^ i = o, as is 



cos m ^cos a, cos d, ) 

 always the case with the sun. 



Medals. — In the month of September 

 182'i, a collection of coins, apparently con- 

 cealed by design, was found under a flat 

 stone at the foot of the great ridge of rocks 

 which lies to the north of the village of 

 Dombresson, in the principality of Neuf- 

 chatel in Switzerland. They are Roman, 

 and nearly all of the consular families ; the 

 rest are of the first emperors, down to Nero ; 

 with tlie exception of one of Tiberius, which 

 is of gold, these coins are of silver, but none 

 of them are considered rare. 



Chess. — The astronomical origin of this 

 game, established by the Egyptian Ca- 

 lendar, is a discovery which its most zea- 

 lous votaries could scarcely have anticipated, 

 and which is announced ^a ith great confi- 

 dence by a French gentleman of the name 

 of Tissot. In a series of researches in 

 which he has been engaged concerning the 

 Egyptian astronomy, he has perceived that 

 calendars or astronomical tables are to be 

 found on numerous monuments, and that 

 they are denoted by chequered squares ; 

 a>jd has observed an extraordinary coinci- 

 dence existing between the game of chess 



and the laws to which the different com- 

 birfations of the hoiu-s, days, months and 

 years are subject, in the triple calendars of 

 the Egyptians — a very singular circum- 

 stiince, and which, by incontestable affini- 

 ties that can scarcely be attributed to 

 chance, seems to prove that this form of 

 the calendar was known to the ancients. 



Statistics- — The revenue of the following 

 departments of France is estimated at— 

 For that of the Seine 4.9,921,466 francs— of 

 the Norths?, 431,192— Calvados 33,54.3,307 

 — Gironde 32,111,111. Among the less 

 wealthy departments — theZa/!des4,842,767 

 —Lower Alps 3,498,205— High Alps 

 2,963,491. 



Rousseau. — A posthumous work of 

 Rousseau, entitled " Thoughts of an Honest 

 Mind, and Sentiments of a Virtuous 

 Heart," has just been published at Paris. 

 Had the original of this, in the hand-writ- 

 ing of Rousseau not been left for inspec- 

 tion, internal e^^dence in the work itself 

 would point out the author. The manu- 

 script, among other papers left witli the 

 Marshal de Luxembourg, was lost when 

 the philosopher made his precipitate flight 

 into Switzerland, and in its present form is 

 accompanied by what appears to have been 

 the first sketch of the " Confessions." 



Mechanics. — A French engineer of the 

 name of Poidebard, in the Russian service, 

 enjoyed a patent which has recently ex- 

 pired, for a machine by which vessels could 

 be towed against the «tream of a river. 

 By this invention, v.hich is of incalculable 

 advantage to the prosperity of the Russian 

 empire, the labour of no less than 160,000 

 men is saved annually in the navigation of 

 the Volga alone. — Eevue Enct/c. 



Lonfieviti/. — Jn addition to the instances 

 of longevity recorded in our last number, 

 we may mention that there is now living 

 at Moscow a man 126 years of age — his 

 name is Serge Borodovkine. He served as a 

 soldier in the seven-years' war ; but having 

 retired in consequence of a wound, he com- 

 menced the trade of shoe-making, which he 

 still continues, in the full enjojinent of his 

 faculties. — Rev. Encyc. 



Statistics.— From authentic documents 

 the population of Sweden amounted, at the 

 end of 1823, to 2,687,457 souls — giving an 

 excess of 102,767 above that of 1820. In 

 1823, 98,259 children, of whom 7,210 were 

 natural ones, were bom in Sweden, and 

 42,192 deaths took place. In the same 

 year the population of Stockholm was 

 73,210 persons, that is 2,359 less than in 

 1820. — Mcssag. Franc, du Nord. 



Steam Boats — A company has been 

 formed in the Grand Duchy of Baden for 

 the navigation of the Rhine by steam boats, 

 from the place where it leaves the Canton 

 of Basle to the northern- frontier of the 

 Grand Duchy ; the first vessel it is stipw- 

 lated shall be ready in nine months. 



SiereotypePrinting. — Senefelder to whom 

 the worid is indebted for the invention of 



