Notices respecting New Books, 293 
Tn one of the notes to the same essay we are told that * Boer- 
haave, who had a botanical garden of eight acres, and who was 
so intent upon stocking it with every exotic that he could pro- 
cure, as once to have styled a present of a few American seeds 
‘munera auro cariora,’ gifts more precious than gold, was, not- 
withstanding, so captivated with chemistry, that he sometimes 
spent whole days and nights successively in the study and pro- 
cesses of the art.” 
The essay on TEMPERATURE Is divided into two branches, viz. 
natural and artificial. The variety of climate in the different 
regions of the earth, the effects of caloric on animal and vegeta- 
ble life, and the nature of its agency on combustible substances, 
are arranged under the first division of the subject ; while that on 
artificial temperature contains a detail of a variety of expedients 
for procuring fire; for modifying the effects of heat aud cold ; for 
economizing fuel; and for improving many operations which have 
a considerable influence on the success of many of the manufac- 
tures of the country. 
In speaking of the means which have been employed by dif- 
ferent nations, and in different periods of the world, for producing 
fire, Mr. Parkes says, “ In ancient times fire was always employed 
in the rites of religion; it consumed the burnt offerings of the 
Patriarchs ; was kept continually burning in the Jewish taber- 
nacle; was looked upon as the origin of life *, the soul of the 
world, the symbol of Deity; and considering it as the visible sign 
of an invisible Being, it has from time immemorial been actually 
worshipped by the Persians, and by some other Asiatic nationst+. 
** According to Pliny, fire was for a long time unknown to some 
of the ancient Egyptians; and when Eudoxus the astronomer 
showed it them, they were absolutely in raptures. The produc- 
tion of fire by collision, and the use of flint and steel t, were 
however known long before the time of Pliny.” 
In that part of the essay which relates to the subject of pro- 
ducing artificial cold, several chemical processes are related which 
can be conducted to better advantage at a temperature below 
freezing than at any other; and having remarked that “ it might 
be worth while to inquire whether an ice-house might not be em- 
~ * Fire was so generally considered as the image of life, that lighted torches 
were usually placed in the hands of the newly married; and at their deaths 
extinguished torches were placed upon their tombs. Essai sur le Feu sacré, 
&e. 8vo. 1768. 
+ The sacred fire of the Vestal virgins, among the Romans, was beheld by 
them with little Jess than adoration. Numa built a temple to Vesta,’ the 
goddess of fire, which in after aves was rebuilt with great magnificence, 
t The Laplanders begin their contracts of marriage with the fire and flint; 
for fire with them is the author of life; and the flint, say they, is eternal, for 
the treasure of fire within it never fails. 
T3 ployed 
