_ a8;i ^Ifdoral Academy of Sciences at ILrfurt. 



tion refpecling fcveral places in the interior of Africa. TIvc 

 means employed by Paul Lucas to obtain this information 

 were the fame as thofe employed by fome lale Englifli tra- 

 vellers : he confultcd the caravans which fet out every year 

 from Cairo for Africa. 



C. Langles, by his ficill in oriental literature, has been 

 able to procure fome information, which he has communi- 

 cated to the Clafs, refpefling a people in India called the 

 Seeks. Thcfc people, whofc capital is Labor, acknowledge 

 as their founder a Hindu born in 1469, who gave them in 

 one book thpir code of laws and the ritual of their religion. 

 They adore one God, to whom thcv afcribe neither paflions 

 nor human wcakncfs. As they are ftrangers to the fliacklcs 

 of fuperftition, they have not received thofe of defpotifm, 

 which, by oppreffing the other tribes of India, enchains their 

 courage as well as their ideas. As they are induftrious, opu- 

 lent, and brave, and are protected by natural ran'iparts im- 

 penetrable to cavalry, thev have never yet been fubdued 

 even by the Mogul princes, their neighbours. 



ELECTORAL ACADEMY OF THE USEFUL SCIENCES 

 AT EUFURT. 



In the fitting of September 2, 1799, A. F. Hecker read a 

 treatife on the care and education of orphans 5 on hofpitals 

 for foundlings, and on child-murder. 



J.J. BcUermann, communicated iomc obfervations on five 

 oriental nianufcripts which had been prefenlcd to the Aca- 

 demy. 



C. Cramp communicated his analyfis of aftronomical and 

 terreftrial refraclions. 



In the filtiug of Oftober 2, Charles Theodore Anlhonv 

 ?.Iaria Baron von Dalberg read a paper on fteatites, and the 

 ufes to which it may be applied in the arts by lapidaries ; 

 and CGmmunicated at the fame time fome obfervations which 

 he had made on the fteatites of Baireuth [talcum Jhatites). 

 Steatites is an cxceedingl'y foft ftone, which can be cut or 

 turned with great cafe, and which, when burnt in a clofe 

 veflel, acquires fuch a hardnefs as to withftand the file. In 

 this manner an artift, with very little expence, might prepare 

 7 cameos, 



