664. 
Mexican Antiquities. — A city, upon 
whieltthe name of , Old. Palenqui.was_be- 
stowed,,-extending. about. five. miles from 
-of the last, century by,some hunters in the 
province. of Las Chiepas,, eighty, leagues 
from Ciudad, Real,, in. the southern part of 
Mexico. Humboldt has slightly alluded to 
this deserted, though not ruined place; and 
inthis. country .a sufficiently accurate, 
though by no means adequate account of it 
was given, ina translation of Del Rio’s nar- 
rative of its discoyery. Public curiosity 
was much awakened on the subject, and 
some regret has been expressed that no 
enterprizing traveller had extended his re- 
searches in this direction, Very recently, 
however, an American gentleman_ has 
brought.to Europe 120 drawings, made on 
the spot by M. Dupaix, whom the Spanish 
government had employed in 1805 to exa- 
mine all the remaining Mexican antiquities. 
Together with these sketches of all that is 
interesting in this singular place, are many 
curious monuments, statues, instruments of 
music and of sacrifice, &c. &e. One sta- 
tue, in particular, is well worthy of notice ; 
it is composed of a green stone, haying a 
liqueous appearance, brilliant and sonorous, 
having perhaps some analogy with the 
sounding marble of China. There are also 
twelve sheets of the large Maguay paper, 
covered with the ancient Mexican symbo- 
lical figures—from. which it,is to be hoped 
some information may be gathered relative 
to the migration and origin of the people 
who-oceupied this country, at the .time of 
the Spanish invasion. In a future number 
we shall give a more detailed account of 
these curiosities. 
Mining.—In the last number of. the 
Edinburgh Journal of Science, Dr, W. 
Dyce has inserted an account of a cheap 
and effeetual method of blasting granite 
rock. The whole process may be summed 
up under the three following heads: to 
inflame the gunpowder at the bottom of the 
charge, by means of sulphuric acid, char- 
coal, and sulphur ; to take advantage of the 
propelling power of gunpowder, as is done 
with acannon-ball, only reversing its mode 
of action, and, instead’ of a spherical, to 
apply one of a conical form, by which the 
full effect of the wedge is given in every 
direction at the lower part of the charge, 
but particularly downwards; and, in the 
last place, to add to the effect of the whole, 
to insure a fourth part of the depth of the 
bore at the bottom to be free from the gun- 
powder, so that, when inflammation ensues, 
a red heat may be communicated to the air 
in the lower chamber, whereby it will be 
expanded to such a degree as to have the 
power of at least one hundred times ‘the 
atmospheric pressure, and thereby give this 
additional momentum to the ‘explosive 
power of the gunpowder. 
Scopoli, the Naturalist.—This learned 
man, in his admirable Delicie Flore et 
Varieties. 
(Dec. 
HE EY res 
Faune Insubria, has made two -tutious 
mistakes;.the one at Tab..xx,.where «t 
Physis Intestinalis is_represented as anew 
genus of Vermes, but which is nothing more 
than, the trachea of a guinea-fowl, Nuinidia 
Meleagris, which some, wicked - ‘students 
pretended had been vomited by a woman 
in, the hospital. And again, at Tab. xxiv, 
where a plate.of insects is dedicated, with 
some. propriety perhaps, to Mr. Benjamin 
White, an eminent natural history bookseller 
of London. . Mr, White had, however, for 
a sign.of the literary character of his shop, 
a large gilded head of Horace over his door 
in Fleet-street... Hence the address was, 
“Mr. B. White, at. Horace’s Head, Fleet- 
street.”” But Seopoli, probably. from his 
ignorance of the English language, had the 
impression that Mr. Horace Head was a 
partner in the firm, and therefore deter- 
mined to dedicate the plate to the two in- 
dividuals jointly. The artist, indeed, added 
to the blunder, and inscribed pon. he 
copper-plate, Auspiciis Benjamini White et 
Horatit Head, Bibliopol. Londinensium. . 
Dimensions of the Terrestrial Globe.— 
The following dimensions have been de- 
duced by, M. Puissart from the measures 
taken in France and Italy... Flattening at 
the poles sg%.%,3 axis a =6376920 me- 
tres ; semi-axis. b = 6356076; quarter of 
the meridian = 10000401. ears 
Remarkable phosphorescent Fluor.— At. a 
very recent meeting of the Philomathic. So- 
ciety of..Paris, M.,Becquerek exhibited a: 
singular species of fluor spar, sent.by. M,-Le- 
man, and.found inthe granite.rocks of Si- 
beria. It shines in the dark with a very 
remarkable phosphoric light, which increases 
as its temperature is raised. The light aug- 
ments when it-is»plunged in water; in 
boiling water it is so luminous that the let- 
ters of a ‘printed’’book can’ be seen Near 
the transparent vase which contains it; ‘in 
boiling ale the Jight-is ‘still greater; and in 
boiling mereury itemits such alight that we 
may read by it at a distance of five: inches. 
M. Eyries mentioned, at the-same meeting, 
the fact ‘stated ‘by Sir John Mandeville— 
that at the entrance of a town in Great 
Tartary were two columns surmounted by 
stone which shine brightly in the dark.— 
Le Globes os ) HL) ER 
Statistics: According to an official’ ae- 
countpublishied by the police, there were 306 
births, '77 marriages, and 247 *deatlisoat 
Brussels during the month of September « 
Survey of the Pyrenves:—Some'edle- 
brated French geographical enginéers have 
lately:been employed to ‘obtain thé vexaet 
measurement of the western patécofotle 
Upper Pyrenees, at <Argelez, where the 
crater of a high mountain’ fornis'the! lithit 
between France and) Spain.‘ MiPeytiér, 
the engineer-in-chief, was obligédto® pldée 
his ‘instruments. upon ‘theemost @levated 
summits, which were sometinies very diffi- 
cult of ‘access, and as they were’ ‘subjected 
to every. Yariation of the atiosphéve) ithe 
y Aeidin 
4, he fe 
