226 Antique Glass.—Vestiges revived. 
peated experiments have proved, that the first four, as well alore 
as intermixed, are absolutely unfruitful. If this be true, many 
thousand plants, whieh now thrive only in vegetable mould, could 
not grow on our earth some thousand years ago. Must we adopt 
the opinion, that plants and vegetables have risen gradually? In 
East Friesland, if earths are dug up on the sea coast, &c. from 
a depth of ten or twelve feet, plants then grow, which are not 
otherwise to be met with in those paris of the country. Did 
these plants exist in the ancient world? Have their seeds re- 
tained the germinating power for some thousand years? Cam 
this power be retained so long? or whence do ‘these plants 
come? —— 
ANTIQUE GLASS. 
A cabinet has been opened in Naples in the Studi palace for 
the antique glasses found in Pompeii and Herculaneum. The 
collection contains a great variety of forms and eolours, and 
proves that the ancients made use of glass as the moderns do, 
both in decorating their rooms and in instruments of chemistry. 
The cabinet contains also a number of cinerary urns, for the most 
part inclosed in vases of lead. 
VESTIGES REVIVED. 
The mausoleuins at Surat belonging to the English, erected 
about the middle and end of the 17th century, are in the ara- 
besque style. One, to the memory of Governor Oxenden, 1669, 
must have been built at an enormous expense; the dome rises 
to the height of 49 feet surmounted with gothic arches, forming 
an upper story supported by massive pillars, with stair-eases in 
the angles leading also to a terrace and entablatures ; the dia- 
meter of the building 25 feet. . This is not so magnificent as one 
built over a Dutch chief who died about the same time; the in- 
ner room of this, where the body is deposited, is of an octagon 
shape, with regular doors and windows; the sides of it orna- 
mented with Scripture inscriptions and the escutcheons of his fa- 
mily, the whole surmounted with a dome supported by elegant 
pillars, forming a piazza round it; it is of much larger dimen- 
sions than the former one: the name is Vander Heft, 1679. These 
lofty piles accord not with the humility of the Christian religion, 
and are evidently borrowed from the Mahomedans, who fequired 
room in their mausoleums for the performance of their religious 
rites: that is, for the attendance of Priests, Fakirs, and Devotees, 
a fund being allotted for their maintenance by the deceased.— 
Bombay Gaz, Dec, 27. 
THE 
