168 Miscellanies. 



" As these experiments were fairly made, and by horses of the 

 common breed used by farmers, and upon ploughs from various coun- 

 ties, these numbers may be considei'ed as a pretty accurate measure 

 of the force actually exerted by horses at plough, and which they 

 are able to do without injury, for many weeks ; but it should be re- 

 membered that if these horses had been put out of their usual walk- 

 ing pace, the result would have been very different." — Idem. 



6. Composition of Size for Illuminators, Artists, 8fC. — (Bull. 

 Univ.) — Four ounces of Flanders Glue, and four ounces of white soap, 

 are to be dissolved on the fire in a pint of vi^ater, two ounces of pow- 

 dered alum added, the whole stirred and left to cool. It is to be 

 spread cold with a sponge or pencil on the paper to be prepared, 

 and is much used by those who have to color unsized paper, as artists, 

 topographers, &c. — Idem. 



STATISTICS. 



1. Yorkshire Philosophical Society. — This society, in the ancient 

 and venerable city of York, was established in December, 1822, by 

 the voluntary association of gentlemen of the city and county, for the 

 purpose of encouraging scientific and literary pursuits. The annual 

 report of the council in 1824, two years after the institution of the 

 society, states that the donations to the geological collection had then 

 amounted to nearly two thousand Jive hundred, independent of more 

 than two hundred specimens added to the mineralogical cases. A 

 collection of zoology and comparative anatomy had been deposited 

 in the museum, and the library was beginning to assume a respecta- 

 ble appearance. In 1827 a grant was made to the institution, by the 

 late king, of about three acres of ground, part of the site of the once 

 rich and powerful abbey of St. Mary. The venerable ruins of the 

 abbey occupy the north western side of the enclosure ; the Roman 

 multangular tower and ancient city walls separate it from the city to 

 the south east. 



In this enclosure the society has erected a museum for its collec- 

 tions, its meetings, and for the lectures which are given under its 

 auspices. On an eminence in the centre, the museum rears its noble 

 front, looking down upon the river, and to the extensive landscape 

 beyond. The entrance to the grounds from the city, is by a Doric 

 gateway, or propyl^um, opening out of Lendal street. On each side 

 of the walk leading thence to the museum, the ground is appropriated 



